Keeping the in- laws under control
Until now, dealing with the families of the people her children and grandchildren have chosen to marry has not been too troubling for Her Majesty.
Apart from the occasional disreputable relative – such as Gary Goldsmith, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s uncle, who has a history of drug use and was convicted of assaulting his wife – her family’s in-laws have mostly been law-abiding and discreet folk, keen to stay out of the spotlight.
Sarah, Duchess of York’s late father Major Ron Ferguson – who had been Prince Philip and later Prince Charles’ polo manager – did cause some ructions when it was revealed in the press that he was a member of a somewhat dodgy “health and massage club”.
But he denied any impropriety and then kept quiet.
There was also a hint of scandal attached to Princess Diana’s family. Her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, ran off with another man and left her children with their father, Earl Spencer, and after a chequered relationship, she and Diana weren’t on speaking terms when the princess died in
1997. But neither bleated on in public about their falling out.
The rest of the monarch’s children and their children have all wed commoners whose families have remained under the radar. Their lives changed very little because their child married royalty; in fact, the mother of Captain Mark Phillips – Princess Anne’s first husband – once forlornly declared that “Buckingham Palace doesn’t even know we exist.”
Little has ever been said about the family of Anne’s second husband Tim Laurence or Sophie, Countess of Wessex’s parents. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall’s family has mostly escaped close scrutiny, although her son
Tom Parker Bowles has been accused of cashing in on his royal connections to further his career as a food writer.
Of the next generation, Carole and Michael Middleton have had a high profile due to the huge interest in Kate, as well as in their younger daughter Pippa. The fact that the Queen has broken with tradition to include the senior Middletons in various royal events, such as inviting them to Royal Ascot and shooting parties at Sandringham, is perhaps a payoff because they’ve kept a dignified silence.
So it is likely to have come as somewhat of a shock to the Queen that Meghan’s family has shown so little respect for the royals and the unspoken rule that you don’t air your dirty laundry in public.