Queen Camilla has a good number of personal skills and charms. She reportedly enjoys gardening and swimming in the sea, and loves to read. But about that reading—the passion is there, but the ability to do individual character voices in Harry Potter? Not so much.
In a clip from the first episode of The Queen’s Reading Room Podcast released Monday, the monarch said that she enjoys reading the beloved seven-part book series to her grandchildren, “more than anything else,” but that when it comes to grunting out Hagrid’s lines declaring his passion for Blast-Ended Skrewts or Professor McGonagall’s morsels of Transfiguration wisdom, someone else in the house wears the crown.
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“I can’t mimic voices for love or money, I’m completely hopeless at it,” she said. “I was a really bad actor at school, and I’ve never been able to master the art of mimicry. But my husband [King Charles], he does it brilliantly. He can do all the voices.”
However, this latest tidbit is well out of spoiler territory (though we’d pay all the Galleons in Gringotts to hear Charles toss out his best “nitwit, oddment, blubber, tweak!”): Camilla revealed Charles’ voice acting skills in the 2018 documentary Prince, Son, and Heir: Charles at 70.
“He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices,” she said, “and I think children really appreciate that.”
This week, a new tranche of documents from a court case related to late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were unsealed, bringing the name of Prince Andrew back into the center of the story. Though little new information was uncovered in the first set of documents, it did lead the anti-monarchy pressure group Republic to ask the Metropolitan Police to open an investigation into the disgraced prince. A spokesperson for the police force told the BBC that there were no plans to open a new investigation. The spokesperson said, “As with any matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention we will assess it.” (Prince Andrew has long denied any wrongdoing regarding sexual abuse accusations made against him.)
Still, the return of the controversy has made an impact on King Charles III, according to the Daily Mail. Royal sources told the tabloid that it will only “crystalize” the king’s determination to solve the “Andrew problem” and could lead Charles to renew a push to evict Andrew from Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion where he lives with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
When reached by Vanity Fair, Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Daily Mail’s report, citing a policy against commenting on “private family matters.”
Since the beginning of his reign 15 months ago, the monarch has sought a middle ground when it comes to his much-discussed younger brother. Though Andrew was stripped of his military titles and his HRH status the month before he came to a 2022 settlement with accuser Virginia Giuffre, he has been permitted to play a public role as a family member at events like the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation last May. During last month’s family walk to Christmas services, Andrew was a part of the larger group alongside his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
That hasn’t stopped the king from attempting to cast Andrew further from the royal spotlight, and last spring, The Mirror reported that Charles was planning to evict Andrew from Royal Lodge to reflect his status. The plans reportedly failed after Andrew refused to leave, and after surgery for breast cancer last summer, Ferguson spent weeks recovering in the house, and the relocation plans were reportedly shelved.
There is reason to doubt that future attempts to move Andrew and Ferguson are the consequence of the recent revival of the Epstein story, however, and directly responsive to the king’s will. Andrew reportedly signed a long-term lease to Royal Lodge upon moving into the house in 2003, and it is managed by the Crown Estate, an independent property arm that manages property held in right of the crown.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were asked to leave Frogmore Cottage last year, the message didn’t come directly from the king. In the book Endgame,Omid Scobiereports that the eviction notice came in the form of a letter from Sir Michael John Stevens, the keeper of the Privy Purse. Still, the dispute’s timing left little ambiguity on its relation to the king and his wishes. According to the New York Post, the decision to evict Meghan and Harry took place one day after the release of the prince’s revealing memoir, Spare, in January 2023.
Camilla Shand married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. She had already dated and broken up with Prince Charles, but they remained friends. So, it raised a few eyebrows when the couple asked Prince Charles to be the godfather of the first child, Thomas Henry Charles, born December 18, 1974. Their daughter, Laura Rose, completed the family when she was born on January 1, 1978.
“People blame their upbringing for everything, but my childhood—and my sister’s—was absolutely idyllic,” Tom said in an interview with The Telegraph. The couple raised their children on large, shabby-chic estates in the Wiltshire countryside. According to Queen Consort, they were very close to Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot’s children, Ben,Alice, and Catherine. While Andrew was often away for work, Camilla was a lively, hands-on, easy-going mother. “Don’t worry, darling,” Tom once recalled her saying whenever he got in trouble.
According to Angela Levin, author of Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort, the children loved when Prince Charles, who they called “Sir,” would come to visit. “I’ve always adored my stepfather; he’s always been kind and good and a lovely man,” Tom has noted, per Camilla. “He is a man of warmth, intelligence and humanity.”
But occasionally the children were part of the dramas enfolding their parents’ lives, even if they didn’t know it. According to Penny Junor’s Queen Consort, Diana, already aware of Prince Charles and Camilla’s continuing relationship, firmly vetoed Tom serving as a page at their 1981 wedding. Prince Charles relented, and Tom instead attended the ceremony with his mother, according to Queen Consort, standing on his seat at times for a better view.
This innocence would be shattered in the early ’90s, when Prince Charles and Camilla’s affair became a worldwide scandal. “When it first started we thought it was entirely normal growing up to have five or six paparazzi hanging around—we would go up there with binoculars and say, ‘Oh, look, Mummy, there’s five today,’” Tom once recalled, according to Queen Consort. “They’re bullies…and they made you very angry. When you were 15 or 16 and you’re coming out of an airport and they were really winding you up, all I wanted to do was smack them in the face and beat the hell out of them. But you couldn’t do that.”
When the royals gather for Christmas this year, there will be some notable absentees as well as some new additions around the dinner table at Sandringham.
Despite rumors that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hope to travel to the UK for the holidays, Vanity Fair has learned they will not be coming to England to join King Charles and the royal family for the festive season.
According to one royal insider, there is “no chance” of Harry, Meghan, and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, being invited to join the royal family because there is still so much “hostility” toward them.
Last month, Harry and Meghan spoke with King Charles for his 75th birthday, with Archie and Lilibet sweetly singing “Happy Birthday” to the monarch in a video recording, which led to speculation about the possibility of a reunion. Yet VF has learned there has been little communication between the Sussexes and the king since then.
The source added that while King Charles “would love” to have all of his family together at Christmas he is “nervous” about inviting Harry and Meghan into the inner sanctum. “The king would love nothing more than to have Christmas with his sons and all his grandchildren, but it’s not that simple and there is no chance the Sussexes will be coming. It would make things very difficult because there is still so much hostility towards Harry and Meghan, particularly from the Prince and Princess of Wales,” they said. “Charles is also deeply nervous about the risks of conversations being leaked by the Sussex camp, which is why there have been very few of them.”
While Harry and Meghan have been quiet about royal matters in recent months, there has been negative fallout following the November release of Omid Scobie’s book Endgame in which the names of the royals who allegedly made comments about the color of Archie’s skin ahead of his birth were published in the Dutch edition. One source who recently spent time with senior members says, “The king finds these suggestions about racism extraordinary and frankly unbelievable. It is all so far removed from the truth and what was actually said.”
Sources close to Prince William and Princess Kate say they would not want to be in the same room as Harry and Meghan “let alone spend Christmas with them.”
In keeping with a tradition they started shortly after their wedding, William and Kate will enjoy Christmas day with the royal family, and then a second Christmas at Anmer Hall with the Middleton family.
And in a break with tradition, Queen Camilla’s children Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, along with their families, have been invited to join the royals this Christmas. In previous years, Camilla has left Sandringham after Christmas dinner to host her own family dinner at Ray Mill, her home in Wiltshire. Camilla is very close with her children and five grandchildren. Her sister Annabel Elliot, who serves as one of Camilla’s personal aides, will also attend the celebrations.
According to reports, because of the additional numbers, Christmas dinner will be served in the white drawing room rather than the dining room where the late queen used to host the festive meal.
While King Charles is ringing in the changes as a new monarch, he is keen to maintain the traditions his mother enjoyed. The entire royal family will attend church on Christmas morning and meet members of the public afterward.
Charles, who is overseeing an extensive refurbishment of Sandringham’s gardens, will also stay in Norfolk for New Year’s Eve. Usually, the king welcomes the New Year in Scotland, but sources say he will extend his Norfolk break and head to the Highlands later in January.
Last year, King Charles IIIdidn’t get to attend the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference due to a request from the government, and the series of events made headlines against the backdrop of political turmoil. The 28th edition of the event, which those in the know usually abbreviate to COP, began in Dubai last week, and though the monarch was one of its highest-profile guests, his presence didn’t attract too much attention. That is, until Friday, when he met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and delivered a speech wearing a tie with a motif of the Greek flag.
Just days before, Sunak had canceled a meeting with Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, due to the long-running dispute over the Elgin Marbles, and nearly instantly, speculative headlines wondered if the king was secretly telegraphing an opinion. Was he showing off his sympathy for the movement to return the legendary artworks questionably residing at the British Museum? Or silently joining the voices in British politics—including Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and George Osborne, former chancellor and current head of the museum’s board—condemning Sunak’s move?
According to the BBC, however, royal sources claimed his sartorial decision was made at random. They also pointed out that he wore the same tie just a week prior during a visit by South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol. “They insisted the tie worn by the king when he met Mr. Sunak did not have any connection with Greece or the diplomatic row about the sculptures,” the outlet wrote. Othersnoted that his late father, Prince Philip, was born in Greece and that Charles has often vacationed in the country.
Still, the entire affair gives us a somewhat unprecedented look into the thought process by which the king picks out his ties every day, and it seems that he doesn’t think too hard about such decisions. At eight years old, Charles Philip Arthur George was first publicly photographed in a necktie when he arrived at the Cheam School for his first day. Since then, he has worn one most days of his life, the obvious exceptions being when he’s played in polo matches and spent time on the ski slopes.
In his biographyThe King,Christopher Andersen noted that Charles even wore them during his years at the University of Cambridge, where fellow students thought he was unusually formal. On casual days, you were likely to see the future king wearing “corduroys, tweed jackets, immaculately polished dress shoes, button-down shirts, and a tie.” If you’ve spent nearly seven decades wearing ties almost daily, it makes sense that you might not give them too much thought.
Still, he clearly cares about curating his wardrobe, down to the smallest elements. “I mind about detail and color and things like that—and color combinations,” he told Edward Enninful in a 2020 British Vogue interview. “I’m lucky because I can find marvelous people who are brilliant makers of the things that I appreciate, and because of that, I try to keep them going for longer.”
Since the beginning of his reign, the monarch has mostly worn ties with royal blue graphic elements, including poppies, arrows, and intricate filigree, along with a few striped ties matching his chosen suits or tartans on trips to Scotland. His modest yet extensive collection also includes a few off-the-wall examples, however, like a purple zebra tie he has worn at least three times over the last few months (including twice in Kenya) and one featuring cats and owls. Other than periodic repetition over two to three weeks and a bit of seasonal variation, there isn’t too much rhyme or reason.
On Tuesday, the king wore yet another tie with a connection to Greece, which featured the blue-and-white cross design that appears on both the current flag and older iterations of its monarchy’s royal standard. It could have been a bit of cheek from an independent-minded king, or it could have been just another choice from the rotation—he’d already worn it at least four other times this year.
Three years ago, Omid Scobie became one of the first journalists to get to the bottom of the mystery of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal exit when he and coauthor Carolyn Durand published the bestselling biography, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. Soon, the book’s sympathetic approach to the Sussexes and its runaway success turned Scobie into part of the story. When his reporting came up as a part of Meghan’s case against the Mail on Sunday’s parent company, Associated Newspapers, the British tabloids opened fire.
This week, Scobie is back for another round with his new book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival. It’s equally well-sourced and full of just as many details as its predecessor, but this time around Scobie is stepping out of the role of omniscient narrator and breaking down what the palace is really like behind-the-scenes—something he told Vanity Fair he had to do “completely without favor or fear.” He shares specific details about his more contentious conversations with royal aides and makes allegations about the palace press team’s machinations with the media. “Yes, I realize it closes the door in many places and burns bridges,” Scobie added. “I also think that it’s the right time to tell this story.”
Though Endgame revisits past controversies and details a few of the bumps in the road for Meghan and Harry after their exit from the royal family, it mainly centers on the challenges faced by Prince William, Princess Kate, King Charles III, and Queen Camilla as they lead the monarchy forward into the future. He makes the case that the discord between the various factions in the royal family and their staff isn’t trivial. Instead, it’s a reflection of how well the family is adapting to its role in a nation in flux. Though the book’s title might seem pessimistic, Scobie doesn’t think the monarchy is in its final throes.
Last week, he spoke with VF to explain his belief that the royals need to learn to make a better case for themselves in the 21st century, and that challenge starts behind the scenes. “Having a household that’s reflective of modern day society is incredibly important to them, yet we still look at the people around the senior members of the royal family and mostly see people from exactly the same background, be it socioeconomically or ethnically,” he said. “Ultimately it’s a case of reaffirming the need and importance of the royal family in modern Britain 2023, which I think many times they struggle to do.”
Vanity Fair:By the time the book is released, a few of the stories may have already been revealed in excerpts and headlines. Beyond that, what do you hope that people will really understand before they dive in?
Omid Scobie: I hope that people understand that despite press coverage, this is not a book about Harry and Meghan. This is not Finding Freedom part two. It’s a really important look at the current state of the British royal family written in a way I don’t think anyone has ever done before at a time when I think is more important than ever. And I hope that rather than trying to ignore or reject this kind of dialogue that it’s embraced because I think that ultimately it always leads to better things.
It’s confrontational, but you’re not trying to tear things down. When you announced the title, I remember reading comments from a few people who perhaps misunderstood the definition of the word “endgame” and were taking it to be a declaration of the end of the royal family, which is quite clearly not what you think! What influenced the title choice? What is the current match that is in the end stages?
We’ve reached this pinnacle moment with the royal family where the firm as we know it, is essentially at risk. I say “as we know it” because I’m certainly not one to go out declaring the end of the monarchy—I think that that’s very unlikely. Regardless of any Republican movement or apathy amongst younger people, those days are far away. But we’ve only recently reached the end of a 70-year reign, which we celebrated and felt upheld the values and the morals of what the Crown promotes and champions. I thought it was a really important time to look at whether that’s still the case because the recent events, actions, decisions, and goings on within the House of Windsor in the last five or six years give us a completely different story.
As it is a publicly funded institution, I think it’s important that we’re able to actually stand back and take a look at the big picture. It’s for those of us who feel more comfortable questioning the purpose and the relevance of the monarchy, but also for those within it who have the ability to either take it forward in a really positive direction where growth and modernization and all of those things are possible. Or whether they’ll be completely ignored and we see perhaps what’s happened across other parts of Europe, where monarchies have shrunk in importance and relevance.
DUBAI — The war in Gaza crashed into the United Nations climate summit on Friday, as furious sideline diplomacy, blunt censures of violence and an Iranian boycott shoved global warming to the side.
It was a sharp change in tone from the COP28 opening on Thursday, which ended on an upbeat note as countries promised to support climate-stricken communities. The mood darkened the following day as news broke that the week-old truce between Israel and Hamas was collapsing.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spent much of the morning in meetings telling fellow leaders about “how Hamas blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,” according to a post on his X account. He ended up skipping a speech he was meant to give during Friday’s parade of world leaders.
There were other conspicuous no-shows. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was absent, despite being listed as an early speaker. And Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, also disappeared from the final speakers’ list after initially being scheduled to talk just a few slots after Herzog.
Then, shortly after leaders posed for a group photo in the Dubai venue on Friday, the Iranian delegation announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s energy minister told his country’s official news agency: The “political, biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” — referring to Israel.
By Friday afternoon, the Iranian pavilion had emptied out.
The backroom drama played out even as leader after leader took the stage in the vast Expo City campus to make allotted three-minute statements on their efforts to stop the planet from boiling. The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that 2023 was almost certain to be the hottest year ever recorded.
U.N. climate talks are often buffeted by outside events. This is the second such meetingheld after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That war provoked some public barbs and backroom discussions at last year’s summit in Egypt, but leaders still maintained their scheduled speaking slots and a veneer of focus on the matter they were supposedly there to discuss.
This year, that veneer cracked.
“There are currently a number of very, very serious crises that are causing great suffering for many people. It was clear that these would also affect the mood at the COP,” a German diplomat, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, told POLITICO.
But that can’t distract officials working on climate change, the diplomat added: “It is also clear that no one on our planet, no country on Earth, can escape the destructive effects of the climate crisis.”
Tell-tale signals
There had been early signs that the conflict would spill over into discussions at the climate summit.
Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate conference and Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of COP28 | Sean Gallup/Getty Images
At Thursday’s opening ceremony, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry — president of last year’s COP27 summit — asked all delegates to stand for a moment of silence in memory of two climate negotiators who had recently died, “as well as all civilians who have perished during the current conflict in Gaza.”
On Friday, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the leaders who used their COP28 speeches to draw attention to the war.
“This year’s COP must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us,” Abdullah said. “As we speak, the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives and wellbeing.”
Ramaphosa went further: “South Africa is appalled at the cruel tragedy that is underway in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now.
But, he added, “we cannot lose momentum in the fight against climate change.”
Asked for comment, an official from the United Arab Emirates, which is overseeing COP28, said the country had invited all parties to the conference and “are pleased with the exceptionally high level of attendance this year.”
The official added: “Climate change is a global issue and as the host for this significant, momentous conference, the UAE welcomes constructive dialogue and continues to work with all international partners and stakeholders across the board to deliver impactful results for COP28.”
The other summit in Dubai
In the back rooms of the conference venue, leaders were holding urgent talks on the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with Herzog on Thursday, according to a post on Herzog’s X account.
“In addition to participating in the COP, I’ll have an opportunity to meet with Arab partners to discuss the conflict in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday while in Brussels for a NATO gathering. He didn’t offer further details.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters Vice President Kamala Harris would also be “having discussions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas” during her trip to Dubai.
On his X account, Herzog said he had met with “dozens” of leaders at the summit. His post featured photographs of Britain’s King Charles III, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He also posted about meetings with Blinken and UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed.
Erdoğan met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at COP28 to discuss the war in Gaza, according to a statement by the Turkish communications directorate that made no mention of climate action.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security | Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“I’ll be speaking to lots of leaders … not just [about] climate change, but also the situation in the Middle East,” he told reporters on his flight outof the U.K. Thursday night.
The reignited Israel-Hamas conflict came to dominate his time at the summit. Meetings with other leaders were arranged with regional tensions in mind — not climate. Sunak met Israel’s Herzog and Jordan’s Abdullah, as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi and the emir of Qatar.
“Given the events of this morning in Israel and Gaza, the prime minister has spent most of his bilateral meetings discussing that situation,” Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters in Dubai.
The meetings focused on “what more we can do both to support the innocent civilians in Gaza, to de-escalate tensions, to get more hostages out and more aid in,” the spokesperson said.
Even the U.K.’s ostensibly nonpolitical head of state, King Charles III — in Dubai to give an opening address to world leaders — was deployed to aid the diplomatic effort. Buckingham Palace said the king would “have the opportunity to meet regional leaders to support the U.K.’s efforts to promote peace in the region.”
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron was planning to meet various leaders on the security situation and then fly on for talks in Qatar, according to an Elysée Palace official.
Meanwhile, three of Europe’s leaders who have been the strongest backers of the Palestinians — Irish leader Leo Varadkar, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — held talks on the fringes of COP on Friday morning.
Earlier on Friday, Israel withdrew its ambassador to Spain, blasting what it called Sánchez’s “shameful remarks” on the situation.
Brazil’s Lula, whose country will host a major COP conference in 2025, lamented that just as more joint action is needed to prevent climate catastrophe, war and violence were cleaving the world apart.
“We are facing what may be the greatest challenge that humanity has faced till now,” he said. “Instead of uniting forces, the world is going to wars. It feeds divisions and deepens poverty and inequalities.”
Zia Weise, Suzanne Lynch and Charlie Cooper reported from Dubai. Karl Mathiesen reported from London.
Clea Calcutt contributed reporting from Paris. Nahal Toosi contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
Prince Harry made the “first steps” to reach out to King Charles III after the publication of his bombshell memoir but was met with a “cold” and “awkward” reception, according to a new book by the prince’s biographer, Omid Scobie.
In his new book, Endgame, which charts the monarchy’s “fight for survival” in the 21st century, Scobie has written extensively about the issues faced and exposed by Harry and Meghan Markle in relation to other senior members of the royal family.
Following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s split from the monarchy in 2020, they have since spoken publicly about the motivation for doing so, citing issues including the hostile tabloid press, palace aides and royal family members.
In January 2023, Harry published the most revealing account of behind palace walls life since his mother, Princess Diana, covertly cooperated on a 1992 biography exposing the breakdown of her marriage and infidelity of her husband, Charles.
From left, Prince Harry in Windsor, September 10, 2022, and King Charles III in Scotland, July 3, 2023. According to a new book, Harry and Charles exchanged an “awkward” phone call after the publication of the princes’ bombshell memoir. Chris Jackson/Getty Images/ Andrew Milligan – WPA Pool/Getty Images
No members of the family addressed the book in public, in line with a blanket “no comment” position taken by Buckingham Palace. The book saw the popularity of the monarchy and its individual members drop, most significantly affecting Harry and Meghan themselves.
In Endgame, Scobie writes that in the fallout of the book’s publication, it was Harry who made the first move to establish contact with his father.
“Encouraged by a close friend, the Duke of Sussex reached out to Charles by phone to try to discuss some of the unresolved issues between them,” he said, before citing a “friend of the prince,” who told him: “It was an awkward conversation, but he knew if he didn’t make those first steps, there would never be any progress. There were no raised voices, no arguments…but the King was cold and brief rather than open to any proper dialogue.”
Scobie told readers that with “no significant resolution or outcome” from the conversation between father and son, Charles had “once again wasted an opportunity to take the upper hand and let bygones be bygones for the sake of family harmony.”
The continued strain in the relationships between Harry and royal family members was highlighted on the world stage in May 2023, when the prince traveled to London to attend his father’s coronation.
No longer a working member of the family, Harry (who attended without Meghan) was seated not with his brother and sister-in-law, William and Kate, but two rows behind in Westminster Abbey, between an elderly royal relative and the husband of his cousin, Princess Eugenie.
The continuation of the royal rift, has, Scobie suggests, been met with frustration by those in connection with the monarchy.
“It’s complex, but there’s increasing frustration from some of the wider circle of family members that Charles won’t just fix things for the sake of everyone,” Scobie quoted a “royal source” as saying in his book, before telling readers: “The institution needs it. Just three months after the publication of Spare, the royal family’s approval rating fell to its-lowest level in years.”
Endgame was published by Dey Street, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
William and Kate Middleton were sent to the Caribbean on what the palace had described as a “charm offensive” in March 2022, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee, but were told by Charles’ aides it could be tricky.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are seen at the Jamaica Defence Force, in Kingston, on March 24, 2022, during a tour that was described as a disaster. A new book, Endgame, says Charles warned William it might be a difficult tour. Karwai Tang/WireImage
Seemingly failing to heed the warnings, the couple were ambushed with protests, calls for slavery reparations and a pledge from Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness to pursue a potential break from the British monarchy.
In the aftermath, William’s top aide told reporters that in future the prince planned to do things his own way, ditching the “never complain, never explain” motto that the book says was “favored by his father and grandmother.”
“Though he was not yet next in line,” Scobie wrote, “William’s remarks came across like a man just years from taking the throne.
“Charles (who allegedly derived some schadenfreude from his son’s recent missteps and public humiliation) was said to be furious over William’s affrontery.
“This kind of declaration was for either the queen or the direct heir to make, not for the second in line.”
One of William’s staff said the prince would halve the number of staff Charles employed when he took over and told The Sun it was not a criticism but “times are changing.”
The book said an aide “huffed” that: “It was disrespectful … Not only was he dangling the carrot of something his father could not deliver, but he also failed to address how he could actually deliver any of that.”
“Another source added at the time that William was ‘out of order,'” Scobie wrote, “and Charles saw this as a deliberate attempt to upstage him.
“The Duke of Cambridge [as Prince William was then known] screwed up, but he effectively leveraged the moment to tease the public that he could soon be able to bring change.
“As often envious of his own son’s popularity and favored status in the institution as [then] Prince Charles was, this was already a sensitive topic with him, so this breach in royal etiquette, which he has never spoken about directly with William, apparently ‘left a mark’.”
It all came after a tour in which William and Kate were awkwardly photographed greeting children through the holes in a mesh fence and a poorly received photo shoot standing up in a Land Rover which some felt had colonial undertones.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s awkward photo greeting school children through a wire mesh fence, in Trench Town, Jamaica, on March 22, 2022, came to symbolize the issues with a difficult tour of the Caribbean. Samir Hussein/WireImage
Charles’ ego was also “bruised” because William seemed not to take his advice to be “alert and prepared” for potential conversations about reparations during the visit.
“Though [Charles and William] share a number of passions and interests, their style of leadership is quite different,” according to a source on William’s side quoted in the book.
Meanwhile, an “insider in Charles’s camp” said: “Contrary to public belief, [Charles] leads with his head and his heart. [William] is colder in that respect. He just wants to get the job done and has no problem taking prisoners along the way.”
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
One is a king who has spent most of his adult life campaigning for bold action on global warming — but is now bound by ancient convention to stick to his government’s skeptical script.
The second is a prime minister who just scaled back Britain’s net zero ambitions and wants to “max out” fossil fuel production at home — and stands accused by former colleagues of being “uninterested” in environmental policies.
And the third? A former prime minister — now the U.K. foreign secretary — who once pledged to lead the “greenest government ever,” but then grew tired of what he called “the green crap” … and is already showing signs of overshadowing his new boss.
All three — King Charles III, Rishi Sunak, and David Cameron — are due to descend on the United Nations climate conference, COP28, which starts in Dubai next week, rounding off a year set to be the hottest ever recorded. (Sunak and the king are already confirmed to attend, while Cameron is due to do so in the coming days.)
The unlikely trio, each jostling for their place on the world stage, are symbolic of a wider identity crisis for the U.K. heading into the summit.
The country staked a claim as a world leader on climate when it hosted COP26 just two years ago. But it is now viewed with uncertainty by allies pushing for stronger action on global warming, following Sunak’s embrace of North Sea oil and gas and his retreat on some key domestic net zero targets.
“There is a lot of confusion about what the U.K. is going to do this year,” said one European diplomat, granted anonymity to give a candid assessment ahead of the summit.
“It raises the question, which team are they on? I think we’ll need to find out during COP.”
Green king, Blue Prime Minister
One of the key moments for the U.K. will come early in the conference, when Charles delivers an opening speech at the World Climate Action Summit of world leaders, the grand curtain raiser on a fortnight of talks.
Sunak is expected to fly in the same day to deliver his own speech later in the session.
Rishi Sunak speaks at COP26 in Glasgow | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
At least Charles has been allowed to attend the summit this year. In 2022, then Prime Minister Liz Truss advised the king against travelling to Egypt for COP27.
But anyone looking for signs of friction between Sunak and the climate-conscious king will be unlikely to find them in the text of Charles’ address.
Speeches by the monarch are signed off by No. 10 Downing Street and this one will be no different, said one minister, granted anonymity to discuss interactions between the PM’s office and Buckingham Palace.
That’s not to say tensions don’t exist. Just don’t expect the king to overstep the constitutional ground rules, said Charles’ friend and biographer, the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby.
“I can only imagine that he must be intensely frustrated that the government has granted licenses in the North Sea,” Dimbleby told POLITICO. “Whatever the actual practical implications of the drilling in terms of combating climate change, it will not send a great message to the world from a nation that claims moral leadership on the issue.”
But Charles finds himself in “a unique position,” Dimbleby added.
“He is the only head of state who has a very long track record on insisting that climate change is a threat to the future of humanity … He speaks with great authority — but of course on terms from which the government will not dissent, because he has an overriding commitment, regardless of his own views, to abide by the constitutional obligations of the head of state in this country.”
Others see the speech as a major test for Charles.
“This is one of the most significant speeches he’ll make as king,” said Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at the Royal Holloway university.
Prescott noted the speech will be watched closely for clues as to how Charles maintains “political impartiality while pursuing the environmental issue — striking the right balance.”
“There will be some to-ing and fro-ing between Downing Street and the Palace,” he added. “But fundamentally he has to comply with any advice he gets.”
As is the convention, Downing Street declined to comment on any discussions with Buckingham Palace. The Palace did not respond to a request for comment.
Fossil fuel politics
The king is attending the summit at the invitation of its hosts, the United Arab Emirates — a sign of close ties between the British establishment and the Gulf monarchies presiding over some of the world’s biggest oil and gas-producing countries.
It’s a connection some view as a potential asset for British climate diplomacy.
The then Prince Charles addresses the audience at COP26 | Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
“Trust between these royal families and institutions could provide the chance to have candid conversations” on issues such as fossil fuel reduction and the need to expand renewable energy supply, said Edward Davey, head of the U.K office of the World Resources Institute, where the king is patron.
“One could imagine those issues being discussed in a respectful way, in a way that perhaps other leaders couldn’t achieve.”
“I think it’s perfectly possible for the sovereign and the PM to both attend a COP and for them both to play a complementary role,” Davey added.
Others are much more skeptical. “[The king] has a lot of close friends in the Middle East who are massive producers of oil,” said Graham Smith, boss of the Republic campaign group, which wants to abolish the British monarchy.
“They can use him as a point of access to the British state because he has direct access to the government, and whatever he says to government is entirely secretive.”
Cameron, meanwhile, has his own close ties to the UAE and — before his return to government — took on a teaching post at New York University Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
Negotiation confusion
The U.K.’s big three will be joined in Dubai by Energy Secretary — and Sunak ally — Claire Coutinho. But the head of the British delegation is a junior minister, Graham Stuart, who does not attend Cabinet.
While the country will be officially arguing — alongside the EU — for a “phase-out of unabated fossil fuels,” Stuart sparked confusion earlier this month when he suggested to MPs that he was not troubled by the distinction between a “phase-out” (a total end to production of fossil fuels, where carbon capture is not applied) and a “phase-down,” the softer language preferred by the summit’s president, UAE national oil company boss Sultan Al-Jaber.
Chris Skidmore, an MP and climate activist in Sunak’s Conservative party, and the author of a government-commissioned report on net zero policy, said Stuart was wrong if he thought the distinction was just “semantics.”
“The fate of the world is resting on a distinction between phase-out and phase-down. But the U.K. finds itself now [unable] to argue for phase-out because it’s joined the phase-down club.
“That in itself puts us in an entirely different strategic position to where we were.”
Climate brain drain
London’s climate diplomatic corps are still well-respected around the world, said the same European diplomat quoted above. Even with Sunak’s loosening of net zero policies, the U.K. is seen to be in the group of countries, alongside the EU, leading the push for strong action on cutting emissions.
And there is a chance Cameron’s appointment will see more effort going into the U.K.’s global reputation on climate, according to Skidmore.
Citizen scientist Pat Stirling checks the quality of the River Wye water in Hay-on-Wye | Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images
“It was under his premiership that the U.K. played a leading role in helping to get the Paris Agreement [to limit global warming] signed through … It will be interesting to see if he comes to COP and wants to play on the opportunities for the U.K. to demonstrate its climate credentials,” he said.
But the team that pulled off a relatively successful COP26 now has significantly less firepower, said one former U.K. climate official, who warned their efforts risk being undermined by No. 10’s approach to fossil fuels.
“There was a brain drain of experts working on climate, [the sort of] officials that could help hold government to account internally and try to maintain the level of ambition that we needed,” the former official said.
This spring, the U.K. scrapped the dedicated role of climate envoy, held by the experienced diplomat Nick Bridge since 2017. The remaining team of climate diplomats have been left frustrated, the former official said, by changes to domestic climate policy driven by a Downing Street operation fixated with next year’s U.K. general election, without consideration for how they might affect Britain’s negotiating position on the world stage.
“When Sunak gave his speech in September [rolling back some interim green targets], his team didn’t even realize that a U.N. climate action summit was happening in New York,” the former official said. “His team aren’t thinking in this way. For them it’s just about votes and the election.”
The risk, said the European diplomat, is that countries at COP28 pushing for softer targets on fossil fuels — likely to include the Gulf states, China and Russia — could point to Sunak’s statements on a “proportionate, pragmatic” approach to net zero as a reason to ignore the U.K. and its allies when they call for higher ambition.
“This will happen,” the European diplomat said. “They can point to the U.K.’s prime minister and say — ‘Look what the U.K. is doing with its own climate ambitions. So why are you being such a hard-ass about ours?’”
As for Cameron’s potential impact at the FCDO, the European diplomat was skeptical.
“It was a big surprise for everybody, but we’re not sure what he can do,” they said. “Maybe he can call a referendum on the climate?”
On Tuesday night, King Charles brought together a group of senior royals, including Queen Camilla, Prince William, and Kate Middleton to Buckingham Palace for the second state banquet of his reign. The spectacle aimed to celebrate a state visit by South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee and emphasize the importance of the economic relationship between the two nations. But in a speech that made plenty of references to the aspects of Korean pop culture that have become global phenomena, the king illustrated his deep respect and enthusiasm for Korea’s contributions to British life.
“Korea has matched Danny Boyle with Bong Joon-ho, James Bond with Squid Game, and the Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ with BTS’s ‘Dynamite,’” he said. “Our cultures share a remarkable ability to captivate imaginations across the world, transforming a so-called soft power into a shared superpower. I fear, though, that I am unlikely ever to follow in King Sejong’s footsteps and create a whole new alphabet!”
From YUI MOK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.
Along with politicians and dignitaries from both countries, the banquet was attended by Birmingham City soccer star Cho So-hyun and the four members of K-pop group BLACKPINK, Jennie Kim, Kim Ji-soo, Lisa Manobal and Rosé Park In his speech, the king praised the pop stars for their climate change activism, though he admitted that their involvement in his key cause hasn’t given him the swagger of Seoul’s famous Gangnam neighborhood. “I can only admire how they can prioritize these vital issues, as well as being global superstars,” Charles said. “Sadly, when I was in Seoul all those years ago, I am not sure I developed much of what might be called the Gangnam Style!”
The state visit was planned to coincide with the signing of the Downing Street Accords, a free trade agreement that will streamline trade between the two countries and modernize digital trade rules and customs procedures, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunaksaid is a fulfillment of his “promise to grow the economy and support highly skilled jobs.” In the years since the UK left the European Union, the government has shifted its focus to finding trade partners and economic opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region, and the developments with South Korea are an early success in that effort. To emphasize the treaty’s importance, the royal family came out in full force to show South Korea’s delegation a good time.
Early in the day, William and Kate traveled to meet Yoon and Kim at their hotel before traveling to a formal ceremony with the king and queen at Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, which featured a 41-gun salute. After the three couples took part in a carriage procession, they had a private lunch at Buckingham Palace and viewed a selection of objects from the Royal Collection Trust relating to Korea.
From Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty Images.
In reference to the South Korean flag, Kate wore a striking red bespoke wool cape by Catherine Walker, designed to match the red dress she first debuted at her Christmas carol concert back in 2021. She completed the look with a red hat by Jane Taylor, and sapphire and diamond drop earrings (originally belonging to Princess Diana) that referenced the flag’s blue detailing.
The Buckingham Palace banquet was an opportunity for the senior royals to break out their finery, and for the women, this meant tiaras. The surprise of the night was Kate’s choice of the Strathmore Rose tiara, which once belonged to the Queen Mother and hasn’t been seen in public since the 1930s. Queen Camilla made her debut in the Burmese Ruby tiara, which Garrard designed for Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, which she paired with a red gown designed by Fiona Clare. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wore her usual aquamarine tiara, while Princess Anne wore a diamond festoon tiara.
On Sunday, the family reunited for the annual Remembrance ceremony in Whitehall, where a parade of veterans—including Charles and William, who have both served—passed the Cenotaph, a 103-year-old war memorial at which the service men and women laid poppies and wreaths. Charles laid the first wreath, Hello notes. Camilla’s equerry, Major Ollie Plunket, then laid a wreath on her behalf, before William laid one with the emblem of the Prince of Wales.
Catherine, Princess of Wales during the National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph on November 12, 2023 in London, England.
Samir Hussein
Kate and Camilla, as well as other members of the family, watched the ceremonies from above, perched on a balcony at the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. As befits the occasion, the royal clothing was subdued and non-showy, save for Kate’s large, pearl-encrusted earrings. Those are a seeming nod to Queen Elizabeth, who first owned the baubles, Hello confirmed with Kensington Palace.
Following a busy overseas tour and his first State Opening of Parliament, King Charles is preparing to celebrate his 75th birthday next week.
The King will host a party at Highgrove, his home in Gloucestershire, on Monday after a weekend of commemorative events to mark Remembrance. A number of activities have been planned to celebrate the milestone on Tuesday, including the launch of the Coronation Food Project and a reception in honor of National Health Service’s 75th anniversary.
On Tuesday evening, there will be a private birthday party at Clarence House, where sources close to Charles say the guest list is “limited” to immediate family and close friends. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be in attendance as a spokesperson for Archewell recently told People that “there has been no contact regarding an invitation to His Majesty’s upcoming birthday.”
On Monday, Charles will join other 75-year-olds for a tea party in Highgrove’s Orchard Room overlooking the gardens, during which nominated guests and “community champions” will enjoy live music. As for who has been invited, the palace has said attendees are local residents who have been nominated by friends, family and neighbors, with the final guestlist being chosen by ballot.
The celebration will also mark other 75th anniversaries taking place this year, including Windrush 75 and the NHS’s 75th anniversary. A similar birthday party will be held for the local community at Dumfries House, ahead of Charles’s birthday on Tuesday.
Charles’s birthday will also see the launch of the Coronation Food Project which aims to eliminate food waste, something he is passionate about. King Charles and Queen Camila will visit a surplus food distribution center outside London and will speak to staff and volunteers of some of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains about how to distribute the national food surplus. The new legacy project, which will span five years, is one of the King’s ideas to combat the cost of living crisis and reduce waste.
Charles will also use his birthday to announce that the Prince’s Trust, the charity he founded with his Navy severance in 1976, will now become The King’s Trust. Buckingham Palace announced during the period of Charles’ accession that the Trust would evolve and the new branding will avoid any confusion with Prince William’s Royal Foundation.
Nairobi, Kenya — King Charles III is in Kenya for his first state visit to a Commonwealth country as monarch. He will acknowledge the “painful aspects” of the countries’ shared history while underscoring his commitment to an organization that’s been central to Britain’s global power since World War II.
The four-day visit is full of symbolism. Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, learned that she had become the U.K. monarch while visiting a game preserve in the East African nation, at the time a British colony, in 1952.
The king and Queen Camilla touched down in the capital, Nairobi, late Monday and were given a ceremonial welcome Tuesday by Kenyan President William Ruto at State House. Charles later planted an African fern tree seedling in its lawn.
King Charles III is seen during a visit to Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum, Oct. 31, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Tim Rooke/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage
The royal couple also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at gardens named Uhuru, which is Swahili for freedom. The king and Ruto laid wreaths, then proceeded to the site of the declaration of Kenya’s independence in 1963.
Comments by the king and Kenya’s president were not immediately made available.
Kenya is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence this year. It and Britain have enjoyed a close and sometimes challenging relationship after the prolonged struggle against colonial rule, sometimes known as the Mau Mau Rebellion, in which thousands of Kenyans died.
Colonial authorities resorted to executions and detention without trial as they tried to put down the insurrection, and thousands of Kenyans said they were beaten and sexually assaulted by agents of the administration.
The British High Commission said Charles would “meet veterans and give his blessing to efforts by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to ensure Kenyans and Africans who supported British efforts in the World Wars are properly commemorated.”
Salim David Nganga, 64, speaking in Jevanjee Gardens in Nairobi, where colonial statues were brought down in 2020, said the king ought to apologize to Kenyans first.
“The king should never have been allowed to step in this country, considering the dark history of British colonialists,” he said.
The king’s visit reignited some tensions over land in parts of Kenya.
Joel Kimutai Kimetto, 74, said his grandfather and father were kicked out of their ancestral home by the British.
“What is most painful is that years after the brutalities and the stealing of our land, British companies are still in possession of our ancestral homes, earning millions from their comfortable headquarters in the U.K., while our people remain squatters,” he told the AP in a phone interview. “We ask President William Ruto and our leaders to use this golden opportunity to address our plight with the king.”
Elsewhere, a planned protest and press conference by victims of a fire at a conservancy in central Kenya that was allegedly started by British soldiers in training was cancelled ahead of the king’s visit.
The king also plans to visit Nairobi National Park and meet with environmental activist Wanjira Mathai, the daughter of late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, as he emphasizes his commitment to environmental protection.
The royal family has long ties to Africa. In 1947, the future queen pledged lifelong service to Britain and the Commonwealth during a speech from South Africa on her 21st birthday. Five years later, she and her late husband Prince Philip were visiting Aberdare National Park in Kenya when they learned that her father had died and she had become queen.
King Charles III will attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai next month, Buckingham Palace confirmed.
The King — a longstanding advocate of bolder action to combat climate change — will deliver the opening address at the World Climate Action Summit, the gathering of global leaders which will open the two-week annual conference.
It will be the first time he has attended a COP summit as King. Having played a major diplomatic role as Prince of Wales at the U.K.-hosted COP26 in 2021, there was confusion last year as to whether he would attend the COP27 summit in Egypt. Downing Street eventually confirmed that he would not go as it was not the “right occasion.”
This year, the King will attend “at the invitation” of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and “at the request” of the U.K. government, Buckingham Palace said.
He will speak at the summit on Friday 1 December and will “take the opportunity to have meetings with regional leaders” ahead of the event, according to a statement from the palace.
During a Wednesday trip to the City of London, King Charles III delivered a speech that touched on an array of serious issues, from climate change to global unrest and other problems facing the UK. Despite the somber mood of his address, he did find an opportunity to poke fun at the issues he faced with fountain pens soon after his September 2022 accession to the throne.
While speaking about the various sources of strength that the nation can draw on, he mentioned the “healing” power of humor. “The British sense of humor is world-renowned. It is not what we do. It is who we are,” he said. “Our ability to laugh at ourselves is one of our great national characteristics. Just as well, you may say, given some of the vicissitudes I have faced with frustratingly failing fountain pens this past year!”
Just two days after the death of the queen, Charles was filmed as he frantically gestured at a fountain pen as he tried to sign the Accession Protocol, which made his role as the head of the Commonwealth official. The footage made it to the Internet and became one of the first viral moments of his reign. At a signing ceremony in Northern Ireland a few days later, he complained about a leaky pen as he passed it along to his wife. “Oh, God, I hate this,” and the footage once again went viral.
Within weeks, even Charles was in on the joke, laughing as he contended with a fountain pen during his first official engagement after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. “These things are so temperamental,” he said as he passed the pen to his wife.
On Wednesday, Charles delivered his speech during a dinner at the Manor House, the official residence of the City of London’s Lord Mayor. On the visit to the square-mile area which is technically not governed by the monarch, he took part in a longstanding tradition called the Temple Bar ceremony, where the Lord Mayor presents the monarch with the Pearl Sword. At the beginning of the address, he also joked that unlike his ancestors, the Plantagenets, he would not be collecting a “grant of tonnage and poundage” as taxation on the visit.
He went on to say that the last year has made him think about the qualities that make the UK unique. “I have often described the United Kingdom as a ‘community of communities’; an island nation in which our shared values are the force which holds us together, reminding us that there is far, far more that unites us than divides us,” he said. He later described those shared values as “deep wells on which we can draw” to “raise hope, shared purpose and, above all, a genuine togetherness that will see us through good times and bad.”
On Wednesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla made their first visit to the City of London, the one-mile square neighborhood in the metropolitan area with a degree of legal independence from the monarchy. Following a centuries-old tradition, their majesties marked the visit with a Temple Bar ceremony, where Charles was presented with a ceremonial Pearl Sword, and an official dinner at Mansion House, the Lord Mayor’s official residence. In an homage to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla used the dinner to make her debut appearance in the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, one of the Windsors’ most illustrious and historic pieces of jewelry.
The tiara was given to Charles’ great-grandmother Queen Mary on the occasion of her wedding in 1893. When Mary and the future George V were wed, it was customary for groups around the nation to fundraise for wedding gifts for the heir to the throne. Lady Eva Greville led a fundraising drive for women’s associations across the British Isles to purchase Mary a new tiara, and scholars eventually gave the Garrard & Co-designed headpiece its name in their honor. When then-Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947, the widowed Queen Mary gave her the tiara as a wedding present.
Along with the tiara, Camilla also made her first appearance in a necklace and bracelet set that belonged to her late mother-in-law. On the occasion of her 21st birthday in 1947, the late queen received a necklace with 21 diamonds during a visit to South Africa.
Though the visit to the City of London followed in tradition’s footsteps, Charles focused on contemporary issues in a speech he delivered during the dinner. In addition to mentioning climate change and artificial intelligence, he discussed the importance of relationships between people of different faiths.
“Is our society, with its deep and ancient roots — nurtured and enriched by our welcome of new citizens from the four corners of the globe since the dawn of our history — up to the challenges and ready to meet them, head-on? I believe so,” he said. “Because at such a juncture in our national life, there are special strengths which we can summon to help us — deep wells on which we can draw, filled not just with our shared histories and experiences, but with literally countless individual stories too; a mix of memories past and ambitions future, to help give ourselves a sense of perspective.”
Thirteen months after King Charles began his reign, writer Hugo Vickers has one small complaint: his majesty’s oft-reported plan to see a more slimmed-down monarchy might be unrealistic. “I don’t know who’s going to do all the work!” Vickers said in a recent interview. “People either want celebrities or they want the royal family, and they’d have a much better deal out of the royal family. I can assure you celebrities are very demanding and not very reliable.”
For nearly half a century, the biographer and broadcaster has been a premier observer of Britain’s aristocracy as it adjusted its traditions and worldviews for the modern age. In the 1970s, he tracked down the reclusive Duchess of Marlborough in a psychiatric hospital and turned what he learned over two years of conversations into a biography, reissued in 2021 as The Sphinx: The Life of Gladys Deacon – Duchess of Marlborough. Ever since, he has documented the royals and their orbit in their highs and lows, even seeking Prince Philip’s personal recollections for a biography about his mother, Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece. His relationships with courtiers and understanding of the royal family’s day-to-day life have given him a unique point of view on the challenges that King Charles has faced as he ascended to the throne.
Along with his books, Vickers has become a lecturer who interprets the history and symbolism of the monarchy for Americans, and it’s turned him into one of the institution’s most committed and visible defenders. This weekend, he will be a marquee speaker at the debut edition of the Empire State Rare Book and Print Fair. Founded by Eve and Edward Lemon of Fine Book Fairs, the event will fill midtown Manhattan’s St. Bartholomew’s Church with over 50 exhibitors and a slate of events aimed at getting a generation of young people excited about collecting. In conversation with writer and auctioneer Nicholas Nicholson, Vickers will discuss his views on the future of the monarchy and the legacy of the late queen.
In an interview before he traveled to New York, Vickers said he knows that promoting a hereditary monarchy might seem outdated, but he’s seen its benefits up close. “I know it’s unfashionable to promote anything being hereditary as opposed to on merit, but it does have its great advantages, because there’s a humility that goes with that. The queen was tremendously aware that she wasn’t there except by accident of birth,” he said, adding that he thinks King Charles has taken a similar approach. “I think it works very well. You wouldn’t invent it, necessarily, but it’s there.”
So far, he is giving Charles positive marks for his performance as king, emphasizing his energy and the success of his trip to Germany in March and France in September. “I think he’s doing a good job—and his two state visits abroad so far have been immensely successful,” Vickers said. “He is a real workaholic. He doesn’t really eat lunch. He has a big dinner in the evening, but he’s at his desk most of the time.”
Vickers notes that the job of monarch is time-consuming. “It’s a bit like being the CEO of a company. The trouble is, as you know, when you get to the top, you spend your time administering rather than doing what you necessarily want to do. You have to deal with so many problems,” he said. “He’s taken on a lot at this age. Suddenly the boxes are coming and he’s got to get through them, and he does it.”
But along with the busywork comes a lot of responsibility. Vickers cited one event as an example of the power a monarch must possess in order to do their job. Days after a tragic fire in Grenfell Tower killed 72 people in June 2017, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William traveled to visit the survivors. “When she went to [visit the victims], in a sense what she did was to bring with her all the other places that she’d been to where there’d been great tragedies, like Aberfan and Dunblane,” he said. “She wasn’t doing it for political purposes, she was comforting her people, her nation, if you like.”
Though King Charles and Queen Camilla have spent much of their recent time carrying out diplomatic engagements, they do still find some time to remind the world of their true passions. On Tuesday, the king visited a sawmill to learn more about the use of timber as a renewable and recyclable building project, and while he was there, he donned a hard hat and high-visibility vest so he could see the process up close.
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Along with Alexander Manson, the Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Charles toured the James Jones & Sons sawmill in Aboyne, Scotland, near Balmoral Castle, where he and the queen have been in residence since August. According to People, the tour was led by Tom R. Bruce-Jones, the company’s chairman, and included a look at the mill’s main operating room along with an inspection of its log sorting and flood defense systems.
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Along with photos from the day’s engagement, the royal family’s social media accounts also featured a throwback image showing then-Prince Charles receiving his first sawmill lesson back in 1958. During his years as the Prince of Wales, Charles was passionate about architecture and building, even helping to create Poundbury, a planned community in the Duchy of Cornwall. In 1999, he made his first visit to the James Jones sawmill, which has been family owned for five generations.
Over the weekend, the queen had a chance to talk about her long-held enthusiasm for dance. To mark the United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons, she shared a photograph of a March 2022 visit to the Royal Academy of Dance along with a message referencing her experiences in a “Silver Swan” ballet class for dancers aged 55 and up.
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The royal family’s website is primarily a repository of information about the working members of the family, but it is also a place where news is released, as well as an important piece of infrastructure that keeps the palace running, which makes it an attractive target for mischief. Hours after a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on the website Sunday, a group of pro-Russia hackers called KillNet claimed responsibility, but their participation hasn’t been confirmed.
At about 10 a.m. local time, royal.uk was inaccessible for approximately 90 minutes. During the outage, a royal source told The Mirror that no sensitive information had been compromised. “The website is down due to a denial-of-service attack,” the source explained. “Denial-of-service attacks see sites bombarded with traffic, as opposed to hacking, which sees people actually gain access to a site. There has been no access to the royal household systems or content. It is impossible to say at this stage who is responsible.”
The Daily Mail reports that KillNet attempted to attack the royal website in November 2022, which also resulted in an outage. KillNet first came to prominence after threatening and claiming responsibility for a series of attacks on health care organizations in the United Kingdom and the United States as retaliation against nations who have backed Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
The royal family has been open about their support for Ukraine since the early days of the conflict in February 2022. During an address to France’s Senate last week, King Charles III praised the country for joining the UK in allying with Ukraine and Ukrainian people. “Our alliance and our resolve are as important as ever,” he said. “Together, we stand in resolute solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Together, we are steadfast in our determination Ukraine will triumph, and that our cherished freedoms will prevail.”
More than a decade ago, royal.uk was the victim of another suspected DoS attack attempt. In April 2011, a hacker allegedly encouraged others to attack the site while it was streaming the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Six months later, a spokesperson for Scotland Yard said a 16-year-old had been detained and questioned in connection with the attack.
