Prince Harry’s interview on Joe Marler’s podcast came out last week. Harry filmed and recorded it during the week he was in the UK. Given all the drama swirling around Harry and his UK visit, it’s sort of remarkable that he was so light and personable on the pod. He joked around, he teased Marler, he played some games and he talked about Invictus. It was perfectly pleasant and loose. Which is not The Royal Way
At the height of the heatwave sweeping Britain last month, 250 delegates gathered in the Throne Room at St James’s Palace for a reception on climate change. The historic London building does not have air conditioning and the guests struggled to cope with the soaring temperatures, even though the curtains had been drawn in an attempt to keep out the heat and large fans were dotted around. There was, however, one man who refused to give in to the heat: King Charles. Immaculately dressed as always, the top button of his shirt remained fastened and there was no question of him removing the jacket of his grey Anderson & Sheppard suit. His only concession to the stifling atmosphere was to mop his brow discreetly from time to time using the lilac silk handkerchief that matched the colour of his Turnbull & Asser tie.
The Master of the Household, Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, was so worried about the monarch, who is still being treated for an unspecified form of cancer, that he held an electric fan next to the King’s head in a desperate attempt to cool him down.
It was only the latest example of the King’s determination to maintain standards in a world where such matters are increasingly considered to be of little or no importance.
The trend towards more relaxed dress codes was highlighted this week by our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, a career politician who likes to burnish his ‘man of the people’ credentials by dressing as informally as possible. Indeed, Burnham’s aides let it be known that he would wear a shirt and tie only when he was at the Houses of Parliament. On other occasions, he would wear casual outfits such as his favourite dark blue T-shirt and jeans.
Burnham donned a suit and tie for his visit to Buckingham Palace on Monday when he met the King and was asked to form a government. He promptly discovered that he would not be known as ‘Andy’ by the palace but the more formal ‘Andrew’. The Court Circular, the official record of royal engagements undertaken by working members of the Royal Family, reported the next day: ‘His Majesty received in audience the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration.’ The moniker may have come as a surprise to Burnham, whose Labour campaign posters in the Makerfield by-election had all screamed: ‘Vote Andy’.
While the King tried valiantly to uphold standards, his younger son seems determined to lower them. Prince Harry appeared in a podcast which was so un-regal that it came with a warning on the BBC Sounds website: ‘Contains very strong language, adult humour and some scenes of a sexual nature.’
On the X-rated podcast, Joe Marler Will See You Now, Harry gave his occupation as ‘Prince of England’ before proceeding to use foul language in the discussion with the former England rugby player, which covered subjects such as the grooming of their body hair.
This week, I asked a friend of the King about his determination to maintain standards. He told me: ‘His Majesty believes that monarchy needs to be dignified.’
Clearly, that message hasn’t got through to all members of his family…
I love how they continue to pick and choose when Harry is a royal prince who must maintain royal protocols versus when Harry is a nobody who is not entitled to security or duty of care. Harry has become Schrodinger’s Prince to them – completely outside the institution, completely on his own and owed nothing from his family or the institution… and yet he also must follow all of their ever-changing royal rules and he must stop overshadowing them and he must tell them where he is and what he’s doing at all times. And he must stop being so famous and popular and charismatic.
The other thing is that King Charles wasn’t the only person to wander around in a suit in stifling, dangerous and deadly heat. That event was full of men in suits. Charles was the only one with a man-servant following him around with a handheld fan though. But what about royal fan protocol???
Incidentally, Marler’s team released a cute behind-the-scenes video of Harry’s visit to the podcast. Enjoy!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, screencaps from Joe Marler Will See You Now.
