In the 1970s, a bright spark inside Buckingham Palace had the idea of trying to rebrand twenty-year-old Prince Charles as a dynamic man of action. Windsurfing! Skydiving! Fly a fighter plane!
Reader, are you surprised to hear that this campaign has largely faded away?
The Carles we know and if not so much love who has a certain curious affection for today is a man clearly more interested in reading Jung or writing another long diatribe about the innate superiority of 15th century Tuscan architecture.
Except the events of the past few days have revealed something rather surprising about the new king: the man has guts, at least when it comes to handling the thorny situation of son-in-law and daughter-in-law Harry and Meghan, the Duke. and the Duchess of Sussex.
Charles may never be the type of sovereign to brave battle, although wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, could certainly find him a strapping place, but he is proving to be far more steely and harsh in his handling of the separatist Sussexes. Less than three weeks after taking on the top job, it turns out the 73-year-old might have some serious backbone under his handmade Anderson & Shepherd suits.
Take the big question of the title. During Charles’ first televised address to a grieving nation, he not only stunned everyone by being a truly gifted orator, but announced that he would immediately make his son Prince William Prince of Wales.
During the same time in history, the heir apparent would assume the title 800 years before the coronation of the new sovereign. Clearly, Charles had put a lot of thought into this promotion and wanted to get off the blocks fast.
And yet, what about their other son, Harry? Almost three weeks since then and there hasn’t been a peep at Buckingham Palace despite the growing confusion and speculation now surrounding the issue of titles for the Sussexes’ two young ‘ones’, 3-year-old Archie , and Lilibet, from 1.
Technically, as the monarch’s grandson and granddaughter they automatically became prince and princess under George V’s letters patent of 1917. But as we’ve seen, Charles is (surprisingly) not keen on following precedent and doubts remain. on whether the children will end up with senior royal titles.
This week, the time reported that Charles is still talking about the issue, “raising tensions” with the Sussexes.
“Harry and his father had a ‘brief discussion’ in the days after the Queen’s death, when the King asked if it was something Harry wanted for his children,” he said. Times’ royal editor Roya Nikkhah has written.
“Harry is understood to have expressed his wish to let his children decide when they are older and stressed that would only be possible if they were allowed to keep their titles now. The conversation is understood to have ended without resolve and which has left the Sussexes dismayed.”
Although the royal website was updated just days after Queen Elizabeth’s death to reflect the new titles of the Prince and Princess of Wales (and their children), there has been no change for the children of Harry and Meghan. This omission has only added fuel to speculation that Charles could decide to update the letters patent and could step in to prevent them becoming a prince and princess after all.
Then there’s the fact that on Tuesday it was revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been digitally degraded.
For years, the page on the royal website detailing key members has remained largely unchanged, until now. Previously, Harry and Meghan, along with Prince Andrew, were positioned in the middle, below the remaining royals but in front of Queen Elizabeth’s several older cousins who still open the occasional plate.
Now, following this week’s update, Harry and Meghan (and Andrew) have been unceremoniously moved to the bottom of the page, with Harry now behind Princess Alexandra, 85, who is ranked 56th in the throne line
Meanwhile, Archie and Lili continue to be listed on the succession page with only the distinctly plebeian titles of “Master” and “Miss.”
This is a situation that Charles could surely rectify at any time. There is no attraction because of some arcane rules or some real old red tape. If the king wanted to settle this and immediately calm the growing noise around the title question, all he would have to do is issue a quick statement between receiving the Albanian ambassador and arranging for his prized begonias to be sent to buckingham palace
That he hasn’t done so suggests he has little interest in currying favor with the Sussexes or even vaguely smoothing their ruffled feathers after the events of recent weeks have seen the couple suffer a series of indignities public events, such as being seated in the second row during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Refusing to give in to appease his son and daughter-in-law is a cheeky move by Charles, with the pair preparing to launch their foray into the world of entertainment.
There is, of course, Harry’s upcoming memoir. Although the manuscript was reported to have been completed and signed by lawyers, after his grandmother’s death, it seems almost unthinkable that Harry did not wish to alter or add to his work to include recent events.
And that, in turn, means that if she wants, she could also add anything new she wants to say about her father, a father who right now seems oddly keen to enrage and upset the media-savvy Sussexes.
Despite an awkward story in this week’s Telegraph saying that Charles feels there were “huge glimmers of hope” and that he “loves both of his children”, the king seems largely unwilling to try to placate the duo in conflict by giving them the titles they seem to want (and one could argue, need).
For Charles, this is quite a gamble.
Harry and Meghan were actually on the verge of a full-scale assault on the entertainment market when Queen Elizabeth died, putting their plans on hold temporarily. But with Meghan’s Archetypes podcast series relaunching next week, her Netflix doc moving forward, Harry’s book and any number of planned public appearances, her chances of speaking her truth so high and nasty as they want are about to arrive.
With Charles’ reign in its soft-skull infancy, can the Palace really afford to come under renewed prime-time attack? His first few weeks may have seen him attract more public goodwill than many (myself included) might have predicted, but that support and approval could withstand another round of devastating statements of the kind that were made during the interview with Oprah from Sussex?
No one should lose sight of the fact that Harry and Meghan, with the arrival, finally, of their various commercial projects, must be generating heat and noise. Revealing palace revelations in their interviews and conversations would be a sure way to capture the kind of publicity and global attention that Netflix, Spotify and Penguin Random House are probably counting on.
With the royal family officially out of mourning, we will see a slow resumption of engagements on both sides of the Atlantic. Charles may no longer fit into his flying suit, but the king is proving to be more of a force than anyone would have thought. Who knows? The man might have a few other tricks up his tailoring sleeve.
Daniela Elser is a writer and royal expert with over 15 years’ experience working with various Australian media titles.
Read related topics: Meghan Markle Prince Harry