Mantel says Royal Family are facing ‘endgame’
AUTHOR Hilary Mantel has said that the Royal Family is facing an “endgame” and said that she “doesn’t know how much longer the institution will go on”.
Mantel, who lives in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, has previously dismissed Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge as a “plastic princess”, whose only purpose is to breed.
And now reflecting on the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Booker Prize winner said that there is “no legitimate public interest behind it”.
She 68-year-old told the Telegraph Magazine: “But what recent events bring home is how far the Monarchy’s arrangements with the media have turned it into a self-punishing institution.
“No other family would be expected to parade a very elderly, newly widowed lady before the TV cameras, and yet it’s taken for granted that’s what will happen – just as it’s taken for granted that a new royal mother will appear beaming on the hospital steps within a day of giving birth.
“There’s no legitimate public interest behind it.” And when asked about the monarchy’s future, she said: “I think it’s the endgame. I don’t know how much longer the institution will go on.
“I’m not sure if it will outlast William. So I think it will be their last big era.”
In 2017, Mantel attacked the “princess myth” appearing to question Diana’s compassion.
The claims, which came days before the 20 anniversary of the Princess’s death, came off the back of Channel 4’s documentary, Diana In Her Own Words.
The Wolf Hall author said the documentary showed her “squirming, twitching, avoiding the camera’s eye, she describes herself hopefully as ‘a rebel’, on the grounds that she liked to do the opposite of everyone else.
“You want to veil the lens and explain: that is reaction, not rebellion. Throwing a tantrum when thwarted doesn’t make you a free spirit.
“Rolling your eyes and shrugging doesn’t prove you are brave.”