The Wind(sor)s of change
In her latest book, award-winning journalist Tina Brown explores the dramatic saga of the British royal family
The gift that keeps on giving. That’s how Tina Brown, award-winning journalist, editor and author, describes the British royal family’s propensity to be a seemingly endless source of drama. She has drawn on this gift for her latest book, The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil, she tells HT Brunch on a video call from London.
Brown’s editorship of Tatler magazine beginning in 1979 coincided with the arrival of Lady Diana Spencer on the scene. “As staff of a celebrity magazine we came to know her well and, in fact, became the house organ for the engagement and the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana,” Brown says.
Diana and sons
In the more 40 years that have passed since then, Brown remained fascinated by the Royal Family and her narrative in The Palace Papers begins in the post-diana era when “a deep dullness had returned to the Royal Family, a dullness for which they, if not the tabloid newspapers, were extremely grateful. The lack of excitement around them was hardwon. Ever since the death of Diana in 1997, the Queen had made it clear to all those who advised her that it could never happen again—the it being Diana’s explosive celebrity…”
Brown dwells on the difficulties Princes William and Harry faced while barely in their teens: the falling apart of their parents’ marriage, the scandals that made it to the tabloids and tell-all books, and the devastating death of their mother in a car crash. Consequently, they grew close and protective of each other. That has changed in recent years.
“They are somewhat estranged,” Brown says. “I’d like to think it’s not forever. After William married and started his own family, Harry began to feel like Bridget Jones, left out of the bourgeois dream.”
According to Brown, Prince Harry found that the assignments handed to him when he returned from the army didn’t match his accomplishments and his star power.
“The brothers were raised as equals, but they couldn’t really be. That is how it is when you are second in line. So, Harry felt his worth was not being acknowledged,” Brown says.
Brown believes that Meghan is being unfairly tagged as the person who took Harry away. “One of Harry’s advisers told me in confidence that they always knew he would leave one day,” she says.
The Camilla conundrum While William judiciously prepares for the role of king, his father may well be an interim monarch— and a surprisingly accomplished one, Brown predicts.
Prince Charles’s credible, prescient passion for addressing the climate crisis and the environment is at last in sync with what most people see as the existentialist threats of our time, she adds. “If ever there was a time for him to take over, it’s now,” she says.
When Charles is eventually crowned King of England, Camilla Parker-bowles will be his Queen Consort. Brown’s admiration— and empathy—for her comes through in the book.
“Camilla went through so much abuse. It was decades of being called names, of being mocked. But she never complained and kept her sense of humour through it all. She was stoic and stoicism is a quality that the British like,” Brown says.
The Queen agreeing to their marriage and then granting Camilla the title of Queen Consort is an amazing validation of Camilla. “It also tells us that positions can be earned in the royal family,” says Brown. “It’s happened with Kate now, too. I believe Camilla and Kate are now the bedrocks of the future of the monarchy.”
“While the Queen is known for her impeccable ways, she’s also very funny. Her sense of humour is astringent and not for the faint-hearted.” TINA BROWN, author
Queen of hearts
One of the challenges for any member of the royal family is surviving the tactics of the British tabloids and the paparazzi. Brown has devoted a chapter to the subject.
“I was shocked when I reported that chapter,” she says. “It’s horrific what they put the family through. I think it’s a bit less barbaric now. The outlets are less well funded and the power of the tabloids is diminished, compared to what it was in the ‘90s.”
Does she have any favourites among the royals? “It would be a toss-up between the Queen and Camilla. As women get older, they acquire this patina, this richness. While the Queen is known for her sense of duty and impeccable ways, she’s also very funny. Her sense of humour is astringent and not for the faint-hearted,” Brown says. “I quite like Harry too, he has a beguiling quality to him.”