WHY 2020 IS MAKE OR BREAK FOR THE ROYALS
2020 could be the year that decides the long-term future of the Royal Family. In her Christmas address the Queen called 2019 a ‘bumpy’ year – not just for Britain but for the monarchy as well. Here two of Britain’s top Royal historians give their thoughts on a difficult year and look ahead to what they think could be a key 12 months for the future fortunes of ‘The Firm’.
IT WAS the year that started and ended with a car crash. Prince Philip’s unfortunate road accident kicked things off and Prince Andrew’s agonised TV grilling by journalist Emily Maitlis brought the year to a close. Even the Queen was forced to confess in her Christmas Day message that things hadn’t gone as well as they might.
So as 2020 fast approaches, how can the House of Windsor put things back on track?
Many believe it’s the absence of Prince Philip, allowed home from hospital in time to join the family celebrations, which has allowed a lapse in the discipline which governed the royal house for decades.
And it’s their conviction that it is Prince Charles, perhaps too preoccupied with his future role as monarch, who must now step into his father’s shoes and impose a tighter grip on the wider family.
Traditionally the Queen has undertaken her constitutional duties while ceding the role of head of the family to her husband.
But with Philip now off the scene, the time has come for a royal re-boot. Someone else needs to take charge.
Top of the to-do list, inevitably, is Prince Andrew, who presents the greatest danger to The Firm’s standing nationally and internationally.
Charles’s determination to be photographed with his younger brother at Sandringham on Christmas Day underlined the united front the House of Windsor has decided on over this damaging issue.
But there are wider considerations beyond family loyalty.
Public opinion has to be taken into account.
The prospect of the Duke of York wearing uniforms or decorations in the current climate would be unwelcome to many. Were he to insist, it could well puncture the reassuring image the family presents when it stands on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
It’s a fine line between defending family members and offending the public who support you.
Charles needs to address this crucial issue quickly, before Andrew decides to blunderbuss his way back on to the public stage. Less challenging, but still a major problem, is what to do with Harry and Meghan. When they disappeared from public view before Christmas it came as a welcome relief. The public fight with William and Kate, the awkward and disruptive attempt to create their own royal brand, their regrettable extravagance and their contempt for the media, all led to a toxic situation which could not continue.
It’s only 18 months since their magical wedding at Windsor. The public had fallen in love with this most unusual royal pairing and pinned their hopes on a happy future for them. But it’s been a struggle. Lecturing the world on global warming while travelling thousands of miles by private jet; airlifting a fleet of personal vehicles into Africa to ferry them round some of the poorest areas on the continent; splashing out vast amounts of cash on Frogmore Cottage when a colossal apartment at Kensington Palace lay waiting, gave us a very different vision of their expectations.
That they feel stifled by the constraints of royalty is obvious, but the House of windsor for all its faults has honed its act over the years, and understands the need for a personal modesty which has somehow eluded the Duke and Duchess.
Their attempts to update royalty, to create a Windsor 2.0, ended in disarray at the back end of the year and Charles, if he is to show he has a grip on The Firm, cannot allow the Sussex tail to wag thewindsor dog.
By comparison, only a light touch on the tiller will improve the standing of William and Kate.
To some of their fans, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can do no wrong.
But to others they ration their public appearances too much and the reluctance of Kate to undertake engagements taking her far from home is a matter for regret.
To most, the couple’s shielding of their children from the public gaze is nothing short of ungracious.
These are deficits which can easily be adjusted in a new, re-booted Royal Family.
The House of Cambridge is greeted by a high level of approval and one of the most powerful images of recent times was seeing the three future kings – Charles, William and George – stepping out in style together. We could do with a bit more of that.
A more difficult problem to tackle from Charles’s point of view is the Queen herself.
She’s a remarkable individual, soldiering on in her 94th year as if nothing has altered in the near seven decades since she, as a 25-year-old, ascended the throne.
But to some it seems a little odd that our sovereign allows her duties to crowd out the quality time she should be enjoying with Prince Philip who, approaching his 99th birthday, sits in isolation at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate.
At the recent State Opening of Parliament the Queen and Prince Charles presented a reassuring picture of unity, but just how much work experience is this 71-year-old apprentice actually being allowed?
It’s true that on foreign visits Charles is now treated as the de facto head of state, but at home the joint appearances with his mother are rare, and serve only to demonstrate the gulf between the present and future administrations. This is something the future king needs to address.
As for the rest, the nation’s first family still provides us with variety, interest and amusement.
Princess Anne can look like a figure out of Gilbert and Sullivan when she dons her over-the-top uniforms, but there is absolutely no denying the colossal good work she puts in.
Though Prince Edward maintains a low profile, his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex remains the hidden gem of the House of Windsor.
Camilla has earned her spurs after years of suspicion and doubt, and now has an easy, enjoyable, relationship with the public – though the thorny question of what she calls herself when Charles ascends to the throne is a nagging problem. He needs to fix that too.
A royal re-boot is overdue. Let’s hope we see it in 2020.
IN HER Christmas message, the Queen referred to the year as being “quite bumpy”. It is a description that will go down in history, along with “annus horribilis” in reference to 1992 and her children’s divorces. This year rivals 1992, and arguably far surpasses it, in terms of its impact on the Royal Family. As they move forwards into 2020 and the next decade they are on a damage limitation exercise.
The beginning of the decade could not have gone better for the royals, with great enthusiasm for the wedding of William and Kate in 2011, the 2012 Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics in which the Queen – we thought – leapt out of a helicopter.
However, it ended very differently when Prince Andrew, in an interview with Emily Maitlis, refused point blank to regret consorting with Jeffrey Epstein, probably one of the biggest sex traffickers and abusers of the age.
His arrogance and failure to express sympathy with the suffering of the victims was shocking.
His flimsy excuses as to why he could not have used Virginia Roberts for sex – from his alibi at Pizza Express in Woking to allegedly not being able to sweat – sparked a thousand internet memes.
It’s impossible for him to come back from this.the royals’ big headache now is how to distance themselves from Andrew.
He may have stepped down but he will still be attending royal occasions. And this while any possible case mounted against Ghislaine Maxwell, girlfriend of Epstein, may yet involve him. I don’t expect to see any comment from the Queen or senior royals – instead what they will do is attempt to work doubly hard and blanket the media with positive stories about their engagements.
As the Queen quite rightly takes a small step back, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will have to step up now, especially Kate, who always gets a very positive response from the public.
The opposite of entitled Andrew, Princess Anne clocked up more than 500 engagements last year yet has always been in the background.
The family should put her and her work in the foreground as she turns 70 next year.
The coverage and criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reached such a height that Prince Harry launched legal action and issued a statement about how he feared his wife was “falling victim to the same powerful forces” as his mother.
The Duchess of Sussex has a natural charm and delights the crowds she meets – it is time they were treated fairly.
If the royals are wise, they will use Harry and Meghan extensively, particularly overseas.
The Queen was right to talk in her message about the work of younger people in protecting the planet.
Charles andwilliam have both talked powerfully about climate change, but they need to back up their words by regularly taking more ecological forms of travel.
The palaces are expensive to maintain and we should consider funding renovations by extending the opening of Buckingham Palace for longer in the summer or possibly open Clarence House to the public.
Meanwhile, the Queen must be particularly careful in dealing with politicians in the uncertain political times ahead.
She took the advice of her Prime Minister to prorogue Parliament – and this was then declared unlawful by the Supreme Court.
The precedent has now been set: if it comes to a disagreement between Parliament and Prime Minister, she has to choose the former.
The next decade will be momentous for the Royal Family with the Queen celebrating 70 years on the throne in 2022 with her Platinum Jubilee.
She is already the longest reigning British monarch and number six on the world table. If she reigns until 2024 she will become the longest reigning monarch of a major European power.
As she moves towards these milestones, her family need to consistently follow her example of hard work and devotion.