I was surprised to see that most of the royal reporters traveled to Italy for King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Roman Holiday. Charles and Camilla arrived in Rome on Monday, and it’s meant to be a four-day tour. They had a busy day on Tuesday, visiting the Colosseum and witnessing some kind of fly-over? Well, I’m sure the British media dutifully covered it all, but C&C’s Roman Holiday barely got any international coverage. In fact, it actually seems like a lot of the royal reporters are extremely pissed that they weren’t in London for Prince Harry’s surprise appearance in court on Tuesday. I saw lots of clips from British live broadcasts, where they were giving so much space to Harry’s court appearance, his security case and just his presence in London. They treated it like an unfolding breaking-news event. You know Charles and Camilla are royally pissed, but as I said, the royal reporters are incandescent as well. Thus, they’re all writing passive-aggressive “how dare he” pieces from Rome. From the Telegraph:
British diplomats watched with satisfaction as the King embarked on his overseas duties, with “soft power” in action to smooth the path of defence partnerships, trade and that all-important European goodwill.
Meanwhile, in London, the Duke of Sussex arrived at court. With a brief wave, suited and booted, he walked into the Court of Appeal to hear arguments from his legal team about how His Majesty’s Government and the palace alike had failed to protect his family sufficiently. Father and son had not seen each other ahead of the hearing, despite the Duke landing in the UK on Sunday, and there are no signs of them planning to do so once the King is home.
The working King and Queen were on diplomatic duty; the Duke of Sussex hearing debates about his security aired in the court – which works under His Majesty’s name with lawyers holding the title “King’s Counsel”. If that was not enough, the Duchess, at home in the US, topped it off with the launch of her new podcast on the same morning.
At one time, little irritated the palace more than a clash of diaries: one member of the Royal family overshadowing another on an important day. Particularly overseas, where hundreds of people pour hours into perfecting a tour itinerary to suit hosts and guests alike, it was seen as the poorest form to steal the spotlight from a senior member of the Firm – blowing carefully planned photographs and news reports off newspaper pages and off air for newer, more gossipy drama. When it comes to the Sussexes, that ship has sailed.
This time, palace aides were aware of the clash, but none felt moved to complain about it – less still alter the tour programme. In some quarters, it is seen as nearly inevitable – an eye-roll rather than any real objection; irritation rather than anger. Five years after the Sussexes left the working Royal family, it is telling that this is the only apparent way their lives overlap.
The Duke, for clarity, did not choose the date of his court hearing. He did choose to fly over to London from the US, despite not technically being required to contribute, in what has been interpreted as a sign of how much the outcome of the case means to him. The Duchess’s podcast has been scheduled for release on April 8 for weeks.
As the Court of Appeal heard arguments that the Sussexes “felt forced to step back” from their royal roles because they “were not being protected by the institution”, the King and Queen kept calm and carried on. After all, it is far from the first time that Sussex-related activities have threatened to knock the Royal family off course.
“Of course we’re not mad, don’t put it in the Telegraph that we’re mad,” the courtiers huffed, watching the entire media apparatus’s breaking-news coverage of Harry’s court appearance. To be fair, Charles and Camilla could be overshadowed by a plate of undercooked lasagna. The British media was never going to devote much time or energy towards Charles and Camilla staggering around Italy for four days. But the British media wants it both ways – they want to scream at Harry for overshadowing his father’s big Roman Holiday, and they also want to obsessively cover all things Sussex instead of focusing any time or energy on the left-behinds.
“Particularly overseas, where hundreds of people pour hours into perfecting a tour itinerary to suit hosts and guests alike, it was seen as the poorest form to steal the spotlight from a senior member of the Firm” – somewhere, someone is playing the tiniest colonizer violin in the world. It’s even funnier because the whole point of Harry’s security fight is that Charles is perfectly capable of ensuring the Sussexes’ full protection for every visit. Charles could have stopped this whole issue years ago but chose not to, because he doesn’t want Harry to feel comfortable or safe in the UK. So yeah, it’s funny that Charles’s sh-tty behavior continuously comes back to bite him on the royal bum.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.
