‘REALLY CROSS’ How Prince Harry & Meghan Markle UPSET THE QUEEN | Palace Confidential –  Hw

Why do King Charles and Queen Camila spend their weekends apart? What will a King William monarchy look like? And what would realistically happen if Prince Harry were to inherit the throne? We’re answering your questions today. Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Palace Confidential, where our experts answer your most pressing questions.

And the lucky two who are at your beck and call today are Rebecca English, the Daily Mail’s royal editor and royal biographer and male columnist, Robert Harbin. Welcome to you both. Before we get into it, a reminder to like and subscribe to this channel. Please, not only do we put our main Palace Confidential show every Thursday out, but we also upload bonus episodes like this one once a week.

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Uh, for those of you who perhaps are watching this on your phone, you can still sign up by going to the description below and clicking the link there. Did I say it’s free? It’s definitely worth it, too. Now, it’s time for your questions, and we’ll start with this one, which comes from Meredith.

A question in response to Harry’s security obsession. Where do protection officers stay when Prince William and his family are in residence at Royal Lodge? Are there always rooms in royal residences assigned to security personnel? Rebecca, quite a tricky one to answer, I imagine. What What can you tell us, though? >> Yeah, I mean, I do I have to apologize.

I have to be a little bit careful because there’s only so much you can talk about. Security for very obvious reasons. The royal family needs to stay secure. Um but it is right to say that it depending on the size of the house there are rooms put aside for security within that building particularly if it’s something like Balmoral or you know a highrove or Windsor when it comes to what I call the private residences the things that are more like houses um it tends to be onsite so it will be very very close by I mean we’ve seen an

example of that fairly recently when uh the former Prince Andrew moved to Norolk and a uh a mobile home popped up in his garden And that we understand is where the protection officers will be staying in that case. So it tends but it is obviously very very close by. >> And that question leads us to one from Camino Turtle who asks given how many times someone has broken into Buckingham Palace.

I can understand why the royals are reluctant to live full-time in the palace. I remember the time someone broke into the queen’s bedroom. Question. What are some of the more famous times when royal palaces have had people break into the actual buildings? Robert, tell us. >> Well, the incident you refer to, I think, is the most notorious.

That was in 1982 uh when a uh let’s charitably call him a mentally disturbed man called Michael Fagan um twice broke into the palace um and and broke got into the the queen’s quarters. The first time the queen wasn’t there. She was down at Windsor with Ronald Reagan. Um he wandered around, nicked a bottle of wine, thought this is fun.

Came back a few weeks later. uh and this time found himself uh in the queen’s bedroom and I think it remains and I’ve said this in my biography of her Elizabeth II think it is the most single extraordinary story about the late queen is that she woke up on this morning in 1982 there at the end of the bed as a barefoot man he’s clearly out of his head on something he’s dripping blood all over the floor he’s holding a broken glass ashtray and that’s got to be the most terrifying thing for any woman and she stayed completely calm. She tried ringing the

buzzer. Um, and because of various security malfunctions, the policeman had gone off duty. Nothing happened. She had to keep the guy talking. Um, and she did. And eventually her maid came in um as as she she she always did in the morning and came up with the immortal line, flipping an egg, man. What’s he doing in here? Um, at which point security was called and Michael Fagan was ushered off.

And to the Queen’s eternal credit, she had an investature that morning at 11:00 and most people would have just sort of, you know, just just gone into therapy for a year, but she said, “No, I’ve got all these people coming at 11:00 and they put on the best clothes.” She went ahead with the invested shirt.

Nobody had the faintest idea what had happened. But I still think that is one of the most shocking things. But at the same time, similar thing happened in the Second World War when um the queen, then Queen Elizabeth, later Queen Mother, she was sitting at her dressing table in Windsor Castle and suddenly this strange man appeared from behind a curtain and started grabbing her leg.

I mean, now how scary is that? Turned out the man was a very troubled um uh deserter. His family had been wiped out in the Blitz. I mean, he was essentially certifiable. Um she stayed calm. She actually afterwards expressed rather a lot of sympathy for this guy. But I mean that could have been any kind of horrific outcome. Um in Queen Victoria’s um funeral service um there was a again a veteran of the B war turned up in military uniform gate crashed um and was standing near the grave and no one knew who he was until he said in a very loud voice, “Who’s

that funny old bird pointing at the king of the Belgians?” And someone went, “Who the hell’s he?” Um so he had to be bundled out. So I mean there is a history of people getting in. Um, and it’s it’s an occupational hazard, but it, you know, I I’m always amazed at how cool and calm and collected the royal family are in these situations because most of us would just scream and run away.

>> Well, we’ve often spoke on the program previously about the incident involving Princess Anne on the Mal and that very serious kidnap attempt on her >> people being shot around her and she was still held held absolutely held it together. And we’ve often spoken, haven’t we, about her cool, calm reaction when there were bullets flying and this would be kidnapper insisting that she’s got to leave the car with him and her reaction was not bloody likely.

Um, we can now see where she’s inherited that, you know, cool, calm nature in the face of adversity from. >> And she was most annoyed on that occasion. What really made her cross was that the man kept pulling at her and ripped her dress. And as she said later, it was a very good dress. >> And we say she’s like, >> it’s such a princess thing to say.

We say she’s like the late Duke of Edinburgh, but actually this suggests she might be like her mother, too. >> Oh, totally. I mean, years ago when the queen was driving around Northern Ireland and suddenly this concrete block was thrown off um a tall building onto her car and again, I mean, most people have been terrified.

The queen’s remark was strong car. And more more recently, it’s been Andrew Babbat Windsor who’s who’s faced security issues. I’m thinking not only his new home, but also back at Royal Lodge. >> Indeed. I mean, I think because there’s live proceedings going on, probably best not to talk about those. But we’ve also seen, do you remember with the the King and the Queen? Okay.

It wasn’t in their in their house, but they were on the way. I think it was the Royal Variety performance. >> Yeah. They were in the West >> and they they they their car went through a riot going on and the window was down and someone poked a stick through it towards the Queen. And there is a photograph again of her looking shocked as you would be when something like that happens.

But they carried on and went through, you know, the the proceedings of the evenings that they needed to, you know, quite calm and unruffled. So, fair play to them all. Well, look, we could do a whole program on on royal security. We’ve got other questions to answer. Um, here’s one from Shirley Hammer and she’s talking about um the children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and asks um why do we refer to her the daughter as Lily, Princess Libert, Harry’s daughter, Harry Megan’s daughter? Wasn’t it reported many times that they didn’t have the queen’s

permission to use her childhood name? Uh um it was reported to upset our queen. Um shouldn’t we perhaps you call her Lily or Betty? Um Rebecca, tell us what was your your thought process on this one? >> I’m a mother and I just think when it comes to children, you’ve got to be polite and and and give them the given name or the name that they tend to use.

So I suppose we could sometimes use Lily because that seemingly is what her parents largely refer to her. But her name is Lile. That’s what it is on the birth certificate. Um and it’s true actually our view is right that the queen was very taken back the fact that they had used her very personal family nickname for their child.

And I know they’ve hit back the Sussexes over the years and said that the queen was very touched and supportive of the mood of their move, but that’s definitely not what I heard. uh and what was reported by other papers and and media organizations at the time that it was really presented to her as a fatal comple and she didn’t feel that she could say anything in the circumstances but bar well okay that that’s fine >> indeed it was also written about in your in your book wasn’t it Robert >> well I I yes I I um revealed in in my

book on on on the late queen that um what the real nub of the issue wasn’t so much that they’d appropriated her childhood name. Libert, by the way, was her own name for herself when she was very little. Um, and she tried to say, “I’m Elizabeth.” It came out as I’m Libert. And and and the rest of the family started calling her Libert.

Very sweet name. And it stuck. And for the rest of her life, that’s what she was known as. And as Rebecca says, Yeah. the the the Sussexes suddenly announced that um their daughter was going to be Libert and that it was all fine. Um the Queen wasn’t so much upset at the um fact they they’ used her childhood nickname.

It was what happened next. It was the BBC reported that she hadn’t given her fallen approval and the Sussex’s then um announced they were going to sue the BBC. They announced legal action against the BBC and said to the palace and you will support us in this and the palace went uh no.

Um and the fact that the um palace were not going to um prop up the uh Sussex’s account um in in a legal action against the BBC spoke volumes. And so they dropped the legal action. But what really annoyed the queen was the fact that she was being expected to effectively uh reconsider possibly re-recollect her version of the truth um to suit um their lawyers.

And that’s what made her really cross. So it wasn’t so much the Libbert is the use of the name Libbert, but the way in which this whole rather um unfortunate um business um came into the public domain. Let’s stick with the Sussex children uh for another question which comes uh from Yerta Toggy who asks would Archie and Lily’s kids be princes or princesses? Are usually and Beatatric’s kids prince or princesses? Is Zara a princess? Any of the Wales kids future kids? Would they be prince or princesses? From a confused listener, Robert, what’s the

answer here? A few questions there. >> Rebecca will back me up on this. You’re right. It is it is confusing, but let’s have a go. Um, uh, it was George the Fifth who laid down the rules on who gets to be a prince and princess and HR and all this stuff. And the prince and princess, it goes to the children of the sovereign and then it goes to the children of those children if they’re male in the male line.

Um, they are prince and princess and then it stops beyond that they’re not. So that’s why for example um the the late King George V 6th he had several children including the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Kent’s children who are the current Duke of Kent, Princess Prince Michael of Kent, Princess Alexander of Kent.

They are all prince and princess because they’re the grandchildren through the male line of a monarch. Their children don’t get prince or princess. Um they might get different titles. Um and there is a the courtesy title of lord and lady um which goes to to the next rung down. So if for example Archie he is a prince he doesn’t use the title but Harry’s boy Archie um if he has children um they won’t be prince and princess but they can be called lord and lady >> if they choose to.

>> Very interesting. And um usually in bitch’s kids they won’t be prince or princess. >> No they’re not they’re not prince and princess. And because um and because it’s gone now the female line um they’re they’re just Mr. and Mrs. >> Okay. Uh Zara we can answer is not a princess. Um that was partly because >> that was because of Princess Royal when she married Mark Phillips back in 1973 was offered by the queen.

said, “Well, shall I give um Captain Mark Phillips a title?” In the same way that when Princess Margaret married Tony Snowden, he was Tony Armstrong Jones at the time, she made him all of Snowden so that the children would have a title. Back in the 60s, this was deemed to be a big deal. They were going to be they were effectively grandchildren of of George 6. Therefore, they should have titles.

Um, Princess Anne said, “My children don’t need titles. This is a different world. Uh, they’re going to be Mr. and Miss.” So actually the queen the late queen’s firstborn eldest grandchild was a mister Peter Mr. Peter Phillips >> and I think Zara has spoken about that hasn’t she over the years and said we’re quite grateful for her decision um to do that because we’ve had to make our own way in the world and we’ve quite enjoyed making our own way in the world not encumbered >> by the by these titles or these hes

>> but there is one last bit to this question will any of the Wales kids future kids be princes or princesses? Well, because it’s slightly different then because uh they will because in in in due course when um Prince William becomes king uh then um all uh all all their children um will will be effectively they’ll be the children of the monarch and um in the male line um uh well in the old days it would have been in the male line.

I think the rules have changed now. in both male and female line. Yes. >> Um they will be uh so the children of >> George and Charlotte and Louis will be prince or princess. >> Uh and thereafter um it will it’ll it’ll it’ll fade out. It goes you basically got to follow the the main line of succession down from the monarch.

But who knows by by then they may have changed the rules all over again. I mean they changed the rules just for George and Louis and Charlotte um because uh at the the time um the the William was the grandson of the monarch. Technically his children would not have been prince or princess except for the firstborn.

Sorry to add the confusion. So George would have been a prince uh but Charlotte and Louis wouldn’t. And the late queen thought hang on that’s silly. Let’s make them all prince or princess. So you can you can change your rules. And I’ll be fascinated to know, and I probably will not be doing royal reporting, then I might not even be around full stop when it happens.

But I’d be fascinated to know if the children of George, Charlotte, and Louie choose to use titles. They might decide by then that’s just not something they want to do or pursue. >> Or you can, you know, is like Prince Edward’s children. I mean, they’re Prince and Princess, but they don’t use um their their Prince and Princess title.

They don’t use the HR, but it is Lady Louise and and the Wessex. So you could, you know, you can have gradations of title um or you can be mister. >> And Sophie Edwards said that it was going to be their choice when they’re older whether they wanted to. And certainly in Louise’s case, she’s definitely chosen not to. So >> very interesting.

I hope that has answered all your questions there. We’re going to stick with um we’ll come back to what king what King William monarchy would look like. Um but we also going to stick with a bit more royal protocol now. And this one comes from Dr. Michelle Lambert um who asks, “I have a question about bowing and curtsying. I’ve seen Princess Katherine bowing to the king and queen, but I’ve never seen Prince William bow.

Is that because he’s heir to the throne or because his son wouldn’t bow to his father?” Um and that leads me to the next question. Would Princess Charlotte and Prince Louie be expected to bow to their brother, Prince George, when he becomes king? Um thank you, Rebecca. Let’s go to the first question.

Um I think the king William would bow to the king in in a formal circumstance. Is that right? >> Absolutely. Although they do have an affectionate relationship where they kiss each other on the cheek. So people are more drawn to that. Maybe people haven’t spotted a very kind of small bow that he’s done. And of course don’t forget he’s only expected to do that the first time he sees his father.

And often when it is the first time we’ve seen them on a public engagement, it’s not the first time they’ve met because they’ve been in one of the anti rooms privately. So he would have bowed to his father in private, but when they see each other in a room, he doesn’t need to do it again. Otherwise, of course, they’d spend all day bowing to each other every time they see each other.

So I my understanding is that he would bow to his father. And I I’m trying to think, have I seen him do it? I’m pretty sure I must have, but just not even noticed. >> That’s very interesting. Coronation coronation. >> Yes. Yeah, definitely. >> What happened there? Robert, a follow-up question now from from that. Would would Charlotte and Louie be expected to bow to George when he becomes king? >> Uh it I think it would be treated as entirely optional.

I mean yes the the technically they would be expected to um if you remember one of the u most moving sights I think of the whole um 10 days after the death of the late queen was when the her coffin reached the palace of Hollywood house there was princess an she did that amazing curtsy uh to the coffin because there’s a daughter curtsing to her late mother’s coffin and that sums up um yes it’s it’s privately as a family you know you’re you’re like any other family But there are certain rituals and formal occasions I would expect um Charlotte and Louie to uh to

curtsy or or to bow to their older brother but um probably moments later be very rude to him as well. >> Yes, exactly. The way that children are. And I think it’s worth noting actually on the whole bowing and curtsying issue because it’s where we’ve got kind of ancient tradition in the modern age, isn’t it? And we we’ve seen and we’ve spoken about on the program a lot that although theoretically that’s what you do.

It’s it’s not encouraged or disenouraged now. It’s whatever you feel comfortable with. And interestingly, there’s some people I’ve I’ve spoken to that actually like to do it because they want to show respect and they feel like a handshake doesn’t quite equate to to actually showing a little bit more respect. I think I’ve mentioned on the program before when we talk about staff, you know, I’ve once asked them, why do you always curtsy or bow when a member of the royal family comes into the room, they said because we work as part of this household and we actually want to.

It’s our way of of of showing respect. >> And it was it was discussed I think when when William and Harry were first starting out, the staff were they they made they insisted on standing up when they came into the room almost as a sort of preparation for them to understand the sort of importance of their role.

>> Yeah. I I mean I think some members of the royal family embrace it more enthusiastically than others and this is it’s not my tale but I’ve heard it told by by colleagues that um Andrew Mountbatten Windsor when he was a working member of the royal family even when he was on a you know a private occasion there was a a tale of he was on a shooting weekend and he came down for for breakfast and everyone was already sitting there eating their you know kery and reading their papers and he walked into the room and kind of, you know,

people looked up and nodded and said, “Good morning, sir.” You know, and he he turned around and said, “Shall we try that again?” He went out and as he came in, everyone stood up. >> I heard the story that they still stayed sitting down. >> You see, maybe it’s a bit of an urban myth, but I heard it from someone who knew someone that was at it, but >> I’d say a rural myth, but anyway, >> I think very I think says a lot.

Um, a question about royal residences, of which of course there are many. Joanna White wrote to us and said, “Really enjoyed this Q&A session.” She’s obviously talking about the last one. I wanted to ask, I know that there are castles and palaces the royal family use in England and Scotland, but is there one in Wales that they use? Uh, Robert, what is the answer to that? >> Uh, the answer is um there sort of is and there was.

Um, yes, as um king of uh or queen of of England, the Windsor Castle is an official residence. Buckingham Palace is official residence when the monarch is in Scotland. The Palace of Hollywood House is an official residence when the monarch is in Northern Ireland. Uh Hillsborough uh the the that grand um Georgian um mansion um is a lovely spot.

Um Hillsborough is the official residence of the monik there. In Wales, Wales being a principality is slightly different and there isn’t an official residence. Um there is Cardiff Castle which tends to be used by the family for official events in uh when they’re in the Welsh capital where that doesn’t actually belong to the family.

It’s not a royal residence actually belongs to Cardiff Council and it used to belong to the Marquis of but that’s a sort of de facto official residence. The king when he was Prince of Wales he did actually decide that there ought to be a Welsh residence and bought a farm in Wales called Wormod.

I hope I pronounced that correctly. >> So glad you’ve been asked that question. got a lot of L’s in it. It’s it’s got very few vows, but it’s a charming um Welsh um farm. And he bought that not as to to have yet another holiday home. He did it to to promote Welsh tourism, to promote Welsh arts, crafts, and design. And and and anybody could rent it out.

I mean, it was on the open market. He would stay in it. You you’ve been there, haven’t you, Rebecca? >> I’ve been there a couple of times. I actually was there with him on his last um visit to it. >> Yeah, he he he took it. He was very fond of it. Um but Prince William decided um he wants to shrink the property portfolio.

So when he became Prince of Wales, it was a duchy was owned by the duche of Cormal. Uh William just sort of put it back on the market. So he doesn’t stay there at all. That’s a very good answer. Thank you very much indeed. Now we’re going to talk even more about royal residences. We have a couple of questions which I’m going to uh fuse together for you, Rebecca.

This one from Camo who asks, “Is there any chance that Charles could leave Highrove uh to Harry?” Um, we also received a similar question from Rebecca Hansen who says, “Is it possible with Harry’s reinstatement with the family that the king would leave private lands to him such as Balmoral or Sandringham?” Rebecca, is this in the realms of possibility or is it William who will decide as as he’s in charge of the Duchy of Cormal? >> Very simple answer, no.

So High Grove is a bit of a kind of misnomer because actually isn’t owned by uh the king. Um and he didn’t own it. Well, actually he did own it as as Prince of Wales when he was also Duke of Cornwall. Um because it actually comes with the the Duchy of Cornwall estate. So actually he now pays his son, Prince William, rent for that property.

Um I wrote about this the other day. I’ve got a feeling it was in the in the million pounds a year, I think. >> Yeah. um we found out for the first time in in in the royal account. So it’s not an insamous sum, but he adors high grove. So no, it it would actually go down to successive prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall after that.

So it will actually go down to you know Prince George next and then to to his eldest um Balmoral uh no that although it’s a private property that that is always the property of used by the the monarch. Uh Sandringham is a private estate. I mean, theoretically he could, but I think it’s very very unlikely.

I think that would um be inherited um by Prince William and then Prince George again. And obviously the Wales have a strong foothold in Norfolk and they absolutely adore it. So >> there are Robert of course houses and buildings that get passed down thinking like things like Burkeall and so on. They’re they’re sort of out of perhaps the the main the main estate.

>> Well, they they’re still part of the the overall um package if you like. I mean, you know, the way that um these great landed estates passed down through the generations and it’s not just the royal family, but you know, whether it’s the Duke of North Thumberland or old Spencer or whoever else it is.

Um they they they go tend to stick with the male line. I mean, people may disagree with that, but male primogenature is is has been the tradition through the centuries. Um so that you you know, it might seem very unfair that you it all goes to one boy. You might have three blameless girls and all they get is a a nice painting and a dining room table and a few shares, but that’s that’s your lot, mate.

You know, the the estate sticks with the title sticks with the male line. Uh and that’s certainly the way it’s been with the royal estates. Um there is the whole question of uh inheritance tax. Monarch to monarch um bequests are are are exempt from um inheritance tax. Um and I would be very surprised if um any of the Balmoral and Sandringham which as Rebecca says they’re private estates, they will go from monarch to monarch to monarch.

Burke Hall is part of that estate. Um it’s it’s a a sort of secondary house on the Balmoral estate. Um the king loves living there. The queen mother before him uh used to live there. Um but that will go down with the Balmoral estate. It won’t be won’t be packaged off. If you’re a younger royal child, you want a house, you got to go and buy one.

Yeah, I have to say Burke Hall is a really interesting one because it’s been described to me as the actual one place the king and queen see as their home as a couple. They absolutely adore Burke Hall and have poured heart and soul into putting it up in the garden. >> Palace call it the marital home. If that is the one place that they both love jointly, it’s Burke Hall.

>> And they they spend a lot of time there when they can. And I do wonder what will happen to that. And I wonder if that might become the seat of residence more in Scotland and they open more of Balmoral to the public, which is what they hope to do over the years to to generate more income. >> Yeah.

I mean, the the king will stay at Balmoral for a few at the main castle for a few weeks in the summer so that it keeps it as a royal res. It keeps the sort of the the aura, the authenticity of it as a as a as a um as as a as a proper royal residence. you know, when the prime minister comes to stay, as Andy Bernham will do in the autumn, he will go to Balmoral Castle.

Um, but for most of the year, um, the royals don’t live there. Um, the king lets it out to his lets his siblings have a few days. You know, it’s it’s been a sort of family holiday home all their lives. But for him, um, home in Scotland, home home is Burke Hall, not the castle. >> And they can welcome the rest of the family to Balmoral as well.

It’s a it’s a family get together >> and and now it’s they’re opening up more and more of it to the public. I think we’re going to see more of that as as time goes on. >> Now, with so many properties to choose from, as we’ve just detailed just some of them, then uh Camila, Queen Camila, often chooses to spend her weekends at her own house, Ray Milhouse, uh while Charles is often in maybe Sandring or nearby Ray Milhouse in Highrove.

Uh this, I think, prompted CS Bolard to ask, “Why do Charles and Camila spend weekends apart?” uh thinking the same thing. Uh art studio girl commented, “Why does Camila always spend weekends away away from her husband?” Uh Rebecca, tell us tell us what your your thoughts are because they are together quite a lot as well.

>> They are, but they also um live quite independent lives. Um and I don’t think it affects their relationship at all. In fact, they’ve lived for, you know, obviously been married for a very long time now, but they’ve also lived apart. They’ve been a couple, but lived apart for long periods of their life.

So, it’s something they’re quite used to. and Ray Mill was bought privately um by the Queen after her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowl. So that’s kind of her family home and there were questions about whether she would keep it on when they got married because of course it does then require a security detail so there’s extra cost but she made very clear she wanted to keep it.

It’s a real bolt hole for her. It’s very informal. She has the children over. she has the grandchildren whereas, you know, the king can potter around his gardens doing his dry stone walling at High Grove. Um, uh, and and he can do his own things. I mean, he does go to Ray as well, but but not often.

It’s where she keeps her dogs largely during the week. So, it’s it’s a real home for her from home. And I I you know, I I can understand why it looks a little odd to people. Um, but it actually works for them. And often when you go on a royal tour, if we’re landing at Bri Norton, Oxfordshire, which we often do because it’s the, you know, it’s where these RAF jet jets are based, you’ll often see two cars turn up and, you know, they’ll give each other a kiss. Oh, see you the weekend, darling.

And one will go after one and one will go after the other. And it it just works for them. And you I’ve learned not to judge at all. A >> high pressure environment. You got to have make things work for you. You need to escape. And uh >> well, it is an you’re right, Luke. It is a really unusual uh situation where you’re you’re not just kind of living together.

you’re working together and that comes with with pressures and they found a way I think that makes it work for them >> and and you know her grandchildren need to have somewhere that they feel is is is theirs where they can run around. I mean if you you know if her grandchildren want to run around in in Windsor or the palace you know it’s like oh don’t don’t knock that bars over.

Oh you can’t kick a ball in there you know. Um whereas you know when it when they’re at granny’s house it’s granny’s house and everyone can put on jeans and run around and doesn’t have to call anybody ma’am or royal highness or anything else you know it’s it’s it’s a sort of decompression I think. >> Yeah I think it’s a really good way of putting I remember once during um the co lockdown doing an interview uh with the queen um obviously duchess of cornal as she was then about a particular issue that they wanted to get out there. I

think it was about domestic uh abuse and domestic violence and I I mean I don’t have their phone numbers. The call was put through to me via the press office but it was clear that she was at at Ray Mill I think then and um there was obviously a horse clipclopping nearby cuz the dog started barking and I excuse me one minute shut up.

So, it kind of made you realize this really is a homely environment for them away from the formality and pressures of palaces. >> I hope that’s answered all your questions about homes. No doubt there’ll be more. Please do put your questions on that or indeed anything else in the comments below and we’ll try and answer a few more of them in another show like this.

I’ve got a fun question here from Beth Reard who asks, “Would you please explain sashes? Sometimes I see sashes are left shouldered and sometimes right. Is it just a fashion choice or is it something more? Um, Robert, what’s the answer to this? >> Well, I’m going to try and answer this one. Uh, it it’s slightly depends on the order which governs a sash.

So, for example, the order of the thistle, the order of the garter, uh, very ancient um, orders of chivalry. They come with all sorts of regalia, but they come with a sash and they are worn over the left shoulder and they go down to the right side. And that sort of seems to be um the case for um a lot of royal orders.

However, um the order of the bath which comes with a sort of scarlet sash that goes over the right shoulder down to the left. Um don’t ask me exactly why. It’ll be something to do with swords. I can I bet your bottom dollar swords and armor and all that stuff are at the root of it.

Um but they you know they do vary like recollections sashes may vary >> and I think the one thing you can be sure of it’s not down to fashion. to a hypothetical question. Now, those are allowed to. This one comes from Sula Mlan. I have a question. What would happen if, heaven forbid, Harry became the immediate heir to the throne? Following up with, I presume it wouldn’t be actually allowed to happen.

So, what sort of constitutional legal measures would need to be taken to avoid such a catastrophe uh for the monarchy? Robert, are there any measures in place? >> Well, um let’s set aside the sort of, you know, any sort of judgmental issues. Um it’s the way the monarchy goes. Uh there aren’t no I mean if if if uh Harry was the heir to the throne um for for whatever reason um and the time came it would it would go to him.

Now what could happen is I mean the precedent would be uh what we saw in 1936 with Edward VII where you get to the point where um the government of the day and the government of the other realms um together with the Church of England decided that this is someone who uh was um not uh fit for the job.

Now if that happened you could end up with a with a with a constitutional crisis as you have with the abdication. Um uh in that instance um Edward VII was given the choice you can either be king or you can marry Wallace Simpson. You can’t do both. Which is it? You went I’ll marry Wallace and I’ll abdicate. Uh if you had a situation where you had a monarch who didn’t want to abdicate and whom the state did want to get rid of, well I mean that that is a huge hypothetical.

But um look, let’s face it. I mean you know Harry is patriotic. He served his country. Um he’s grown up inside the royal family. um if he was the heir to the throne and the time came, he would become king. That’s it. That’s the system we have. >> Unless he chose, but he said, “I don’t want to do it.” >> He could choose.

He could say he didn’t want to do it. Um if it got beyond that, then I think you’d be in very dicey constitutional territory. If you suddenly had a system where you had a had had a government um trying to dethrone a monarch. I I think that would probably be game over for the monarchy. >> Well, >> let’s hope he doesn’t come to that.

>> Absolutely. in and and let’s hope that all all goes as planned and William becomes uh king uh after his father on that. Tina Oz asks, “It might sound like a silly question, but what would be looking forward to most about being king one day? He seems to already have a lot of privileges.

What are the obvious differences? Is it a power thing? Making decisions on residences, etc.” Rebecca, what do you think? It’s interesting that the questioner uses the word power because actually I would say that would be the last thing that would appeal to Prince William. He’s not the type of person who sits there going, you know, cracking his knuckles waiting for that moment.

He feels the weight of responsibility of monarchy very keenly. And I think it’s worth recalling an anecdote. um he one of his former private secretaries Jamie Laa Pinkerton um Jamie loads of names as he’s known to us in the um the royal circles really lovely man an incredibly wise uh wise head he remembers doing a job with William in the early days um and they’d been I think it was to Great Orman Street Hospital and in the car kind of coming home and suddenly it was a secret visit but you know word had got round and crowds had come up and William

literally just turned around looked at him and went why are they here? And he was like, well, they’re here for you. And he was like, it’s just so strange. I can’t get used to this. Um, but he turned to him and said, if if this is going to happen to me, then I I want to use this for good. I want to use my convening power.

I want to make, you know, changes that will benefit the people of this country. So, I think that is what will appeal to him, the ability to continue forward with the work that he started um as as Prince William, but in Duke of Cambridge, and then as the Prince of Wales. And I think that’s what he would be keen to do.

And I think he’ll be a great advocate for this country in flying the flag abroad as as will the Princess of Wales. But say I think power is is the last thing that would appeal to him. >> I think there’s it’s not quite power, but I I mean I’ve certainly noticed that the king is happier than I’ve ever seen him as king as opposed to Prince of Wales.

And I’ve followed him for many years as Prince Charles. And he was, you know, he he he was a a fascinating man. um and and and but you know could have his have his moments. sometimes he could he could get quite short-tempered um or or you know he get frustrated um since he’s been king there is as one of his friends put it to me there’s a sort of serenity about him and I think what it boils down to it’s not so much power it’s just you haven’t got to ask anybody else um for permission you’re in charge and I think if you’re a grown man and technically you do have to ask your the

the monarch for permission to leave the country you do have to ask permission to do this or that you’re kind of constantly constrained. Um, and of course monarchs are constrained, too. But once you’re monarch, um, you can decide, you can say, well, actually, I’m going to hang these pictures over there, or I’m going to, you know, I’ve decided I’m I’m I’m not going to spend the weekend.

I don’t have to follow certain conventions. Um, yeah, I’ve got to respect the Constitution. But you you you’re boss at long last, and I think that’s the thing that he will enjoy most. And the constraints I think work for them as well because you know when King Charles was Prince of Wales you know he was constantly looking for a role searching for a role way to define him to wait you know to define his legacy now he’s king that that choice has been taken away from him but in a way that he can see quite clearly what he needs to do and where he’s going to

go and that’s a kind of I think you’re right there’s a definite serenity about him. He he actually seems to be really enjoying the job to me. Really enjoying the job in a way that I think a lot of his naysayers didn’t expect he would and and doing it very well. And I’m I’m confident that William will do the same.

>> Well, I think that leads us to a very nice way of wrapping up this show. A nice positive note to end on. Thank you Tina for that question and indeed to all of you for asking your brilliant questions. A reminder you can of course write your questions uh in the uh comments below. We’d love to read them and hopefully we’ll find them being answered in a future episode.

You can also email us [email protected]. If you have any questions about the royal family protocol, hypothetical or not, we love reading them and we’ll try to answer as many as we can. >> Just make sure if there are any complicated uh names that you need to spell, you give them to Robert Harbin. >> There you go. He can tackle those ones.

Uh thank you very much to Robert Harbin and to Rebecca English for your brilliance and expertise here. We hope to do this again very soon. Uh reminder that if you do like this sort of thing, why not subscribe to the Palace Confidential YouTube channel uh or indeed uh subscribe to our newsletter, Palace Confidential newsletter.

It’s free, it’s on email, and it comes out once a week. Just time to say thank you again and goodbye to you. Bye-bye.