Inquiry call into ‘Royal Peter’ and his China ad
THE Cabinet Office was urged yesterday to probe Peter Phillips’ cashing in on his royal links to sell milk for the Chinese state.
Former Home Office minister Norman Baker said strict rules had been broken, while MPs criticised the ‘crass’ adverts on Shanghai television.
The Mail revealed yesterday how the Queen’s grandson filmed two adverts for milk which blatantly trade on his royal status.
Introduced to Chinese consumers as ‘British royal family member Peter Phillips’, he gulps down a glass of ‘Jersey Cattle Fresh Milk’ while a caption urges: ‘Indulge in freshness and richness’. One ad features a replica of the Queen’s state coach plus a liveried footman. A smiling Mr Phillips hails the ‘fantastic reputation’ of Bright Dairies, which owns the brand and is itself owned by the Shanghai government.
Yesterday Mr Baker wrote to Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, the most senior civil servant, demanding an inquiry. Mr Baker, a member of the Privy Council which advises the monarch, wrote: ‘I was most concerned to read the revelations in today’s Daily Mail about the commercial exploitation of the word “royal” by Peter Phillips.
‘The word “royal” is strictly controlled by the royal names team in the Cabinet Office. Can I ask whether permission was sought and given for the use of the word “royal” to sell milk? Assuming it was not, what steps do you and your colleagues intend to take to end this use immediately?’
Mr Baker told the Mail: ‘It seems a royal connection is being milked.
‘Either the Cabinet Office has broken its own rules to give Peter Phillips permission or a serious breach of the strict rules has occurred. Either way this commercial exploitation must stop right away.
‘The use of the word royal is also a rising issue for Harry and Meghan of course, with their Sussex Royal brand.’
Last night a Cabinet Office source said: ‘This isn’t a matter for the Cabinet Office.’ Mr Phillips declined to comment.
Yesterday, Palace sources stressed he had not used the word ‘royal’ in the adverts, but it later emerged that the caption in Chinese bills him as a ‘British Royal Family member’. Yesterday the Palace declined to comment. Courtiers have said Mr Phillips was not a working royal and did not receive taxpayers’ money. Friends have suggested Mr Phillips – like his sister Zara, whose money-making activities have also courted controversy – is entitled to make a living.
The Queen’s former chef Darren McGrady, who also cooked for Princess Diana, ridiculed Mr Phillips’ boast in one advert that he was ‘brought up on’ Jersey milk from the Windsor herd.
Mr Phillips grew up on his mother’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, and went to Port Regis Prep School in Shaftesbury, Dorset, then Gordonstoun. Mr McGrady tweeted: ‘This tickles me! Peter Phillips saying he was “brought up on Windsor Jersey milk”... yeah right! He must be referring to the “couple of days at Christmas and a weekend at Easter”. The royal dairy didn’t deliver to Gatcombe nor Shaftesbury and Gordonstoun.’
In China, there has been some open mocking of the ads. An unsigned article posted on the Sohu social media website is headlined: ‘The son of Princess Anne who was so poor that he had to speak for milk: Does the Queen know about this?’
Labour MP Chris Bryant said: ‘This is enough to curdle the cream on your breakfast cereal. They’re demeaning the very essence of the monarchy.’
The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard said: ‘It makes me sad because the Queen and the core Royal Family are trying to act responsibly, but she has to see the spectacle of extended members of the family using their connections for personal gain. It undermines the institution of the monarchy. Serious questions need to be raised about human rights in China. People need to be very aware this sort of thing will be used to the advantage of the Chinese government.’
Graham Smith, of anti-monarchist pressure group Republic, said: ‘This is what royals look like when you take away their state perks and titles.’
‘Was permission sought?’