The Firm IS IN CRISIS
The ongoing challenges facing the monarchy cast a stark light on the current fragility of the Royal Family. Royal biographer Emily Andrews explains why it is crunch time
Just a year ago, the future of the Royal Family looked bright. It may have been pouring with rain on that May coronation day, but inside the flower-filled Westminster Abbey, King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince of Wales and a radiant Princess of Wales, plus George, Charlotte and
Louis, all shone.
The loss of Queen Elizabeth, a colossus in our national psyche, culture and politics, was keenly felt, but the transition from mother to son felt calm, orderly and even celebratory.
Yet now, the royals appear vulnerable. Just when they expected 2024 to be a year of ‘quiet consolidation’ (a courtier told me), charity visits and foreign tours to the Commonwealth, such as Australia, Canada and Samoa, two of their main players have been sidelined from royal duties due to cancer treatment.
Health shock
It was a shock when it was first announced that the Princess of Wales had undergone planned abdominal surgery and would be out of action until at least Easter; and even more shocking when Kate made her video message to the nation saying she had cancer. For a seemingly fit and healthy 42-year-old to be enduring a course of chemotherapy (even if, as she told us, it was preventive) felt as heartbreaking as considering how she
had to tell her children George, Charlotte and Louis.
And King Charles’ own cancer diagnosis, revealed in February, his withdrawal from public duties, plus the Prince of Wales’ lighter schedule (to support his wife and children) added to concerns about the slimmeddown Royal Family’s ability to continue its duties.
Put simply, there weren’t enough royals – starkly illustrated when Queen Camilla (who had been holding the royal fort) took a week’s holiday, leaving only the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and Princess Anne to carry the royal workload.
The string of devastating blows to the family was intensified by the sudden death of Thomas Kingston, the husband of the King’s cousin Lady Gabriella, who died by apparent suicide earlier this year. Kate’s diagnosis meant William was absent from the memorial of his godfather, King Constantine, and so it was left to the disgraced Prince Andrew to lead the Royal Family into St George’s Chapel (the Queen arrived last, by car, as protocol dictates).
Along with the absence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, since their rocky departure to America in 2020 and William and Harry’s ongoing feud, the current onslaught of issues feels unprecedented.
Instability and upset
The furore over Kate’s Photoshopped Mother’s Day picture only added fuel to the fire for the conspiracy theorists, and raised unwelcome accusations about lack of trust in the royal brand.
‘The monarchy needs to be that anchor in times of trouble, and any sense of instability, which is inevitable when you have two of the key players out of action, is understandable,’ says royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith. Charles’ biographer Catherine Mayer added, ‘This is massively exposing how the Royal Family has gone from too many people to too few in a short space of time.’
As the royals navigate these challenges, the spotlight has intensified on Kate and on Charles, 75. Amid his cancer diagnosis (which type has not been specified), he has remained a central figure and kept up appearances; attending church services, sharing glimpses of his life, including a photo and video clip of him enjoying get-well cards he has received, clips of his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and broadcasts for events like Commonwealth Day in Westminster Abbey.
He is ‘coping well’ with his treatment and still ‘working hard’, a Palace source tells me. And yet… plans for the next accession and Coronation have begun, plus Prince William is thought to want to make substantial changes to the role of the monarchy when his time comes.
Plans for the next monarch’s funeral (code named Operation Menai Bridge after the connection to Anglesey from when he was Prince of Wales) are also well under way – in keeping with the Palace’s wish to plan for all eventualities.
‘Even though he has revealed that he has a form of cancer, that has done nothing to quell the speculation about how seriously ill he may or may not be,’ says Sally Bedell Smith. ‘That is not doing the monarchy any favours.
He is the head of state and there are constitutional implications.’
Uncertain future
The absence of the Princess of Wales from public life in recent months has also shone a light on how crucial she is to the future of the Firm. She is carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders – literally the future of the monarchy in the form of raising young George, 10, Charlotte, who turns nine in May, and Louis, six; and figuratively, in terms of the expectations placed on her to project the glamorous, caring yet down-to-earth royal brand.
Certainly the loss of Harry and Meghan increased the workload for the Waleses – yet there seems no prospect of William and Harry burying the hatchet any time soon. A Palace insider says, ‘Families are complicated. They may be a high-profile family, but they still have a lot of the same issues as everyone else.’ However, their family drama is unfolding on the world stage, where every move is scrutinised and absence met with enquiry.
Too much uncertainty surrounds the monarchy – and with that comes both disquiet and fragility.
As Queen Elizabeth II used to say, they ‘need to be seen to be believed’.
‘The monarchy needs to be an anchor in times of trouble’