A major backstage change in the Cambridge office points to one thing: the royal family is improving their game in the battle of the brothers.
The last British monarch to lead his troops on the battlefield was George II in 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, which involved several kings folded in contention to discuss whether to allow a woman ruling the Habsburg empire. Over the centuries since then, the various kings and queens who have sat on the throne in the United Kingdom have preferred to stay away from the front lines and anything sharp and sharp, rather than prefer to stay. it is much closer to a decent, tonic gin. Smart.
But all rulers need capable and tactical gifted soldiers to help them, and the future King William V is no different.
Right now there are behind-the-scenes changes to the staff at William’s Kensington Palace office and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, who point to one conclusion: they are quietly preparing for the fight. of their lives.
Last month, the Times’ Royal editor Roya Nikkhah confirmed speculation for months that the Cambrdige family is preparing to leave their home at Kensington Palace in Windsor and that their three children will go to school in the area. (Since then, the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage has been named as its new home.)
But hidden in the same report was the attractive fact that they have hired a new communications secretary.
Unlike previous hirings for the position they have experience in government, this time the Cambridge have chosen Lee Thompson, 34, the outgoing vice president of global communications and NBC’s strategic partnerships. Those who know Thompson, according to the Timethey describe him as “an inspired contract” and “a bright, super-lit guy who really gets things done internationally.”
And it’s those last two words right there – “international stuff” – that tell us so much.
If there’s one thing we’ve been taught for the past nearly two-and-a-half years, it’s how he’s demonstrated the inadequacy of the traditional royal playbook when it comes to managing media and image when the rules of the game suddenly change.
When accusations arose — of institutional racism, of cruelty, of a family, and a business that put the sad-faced survival far above the suffering of some participants — what did the Windsor house do? They resorted to the most powerful tool in their arsenal (duh, duh, DUH): the statement.
Following Oprah, Buckingham Palace considered it opportune to make such a short answer that it would be thought that they had been paying their writer with the word. While he might have questioned the Sussex’s “memories,” he by no means rejected any of his more serious claims.
Definitely, the pen was no more powerful than television.
Clearly, the palace did not want to be attracted to a slingshot party and decided on a strategy of trying to stay well above the prime time fight, which only made them look scornful and, for some, guilty.
It was all a bit like carrying a partridge fork to a knife fight, and it worked, too.
In the UK, the royal family may be enjoying a kind of purple patch in terms of popularity, as the recent platinum jubilee has probably further boosted approval rates, but outside of Britain, the family royal seems to be viewed with deviant skepticism. At best.
Post-Oprah last year said a “senior royal aide.” Time that: “We have a problem in the US.”
This situation probably only worsened in March, when William and Kate abandoned their tour of the Caribbean to fly the flag of the queen and the country without anyone really considering that this would be the first international trip after the global calculation of Black Lives Matter. The Cambridgees reunited with their SPF 50 and their biggest smiles, and instead clashed with the horror of the colonial past and Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.
The photos of the couple driven on a special Land Rover, in front of soldiers of color greeting, seemed something taken from a reel of Cinema Pathé and for many only further confirmed the image of the royal family as an institution oppressive and archaic.
If the situation isn’t great now, well, maybe it’s just about to get a lot worse in terms of how much of the world William and Kate see.
If all goes according to the original schedule, sometime in the next few months the royal notice to end all this will fall when Harry publishes his memoirs. Promising “a first-hand account of my life that is accurate and totally truthful” and having cost Penguin Random House a $ 27 million advance, London loins should be stuck right now.
An angry prince who seems to like settling accounts? Its editor should rub his hands happily and the royal helpers should get their fragrant salts.
In February, a friend of Harry’s told him Mirror that the book “would shake the monarchy to the bottom” and: “If they think it’s soft, they’re wrong.”
Meanwhile, other reports have suggested that Harry could target the black beast of his late mother, his current stepmother Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
A friend of Harry’s said it Telegraph at the end of April, “[Harry] she needs a new goal and she will … I’m sure she’ll say some nasty things about her, or try to turn her into a “bad one,” but that doesn’t mean it’s real. “
There are also the “home” docuseries the Sussex are filming for Netflix.
When Page six Giving the news in late May, the report quoted “a privileged Hollywood person” as saying, “I think it’s fair to say that Netflix is getting its pound of meat.”
That “pound of meat” of nefarious sleep doesn’t exactly suggest that all producers are interested in catching is the couple, a group of trusted staff and a blackboard planning care campaigns and more public relations opportunities for their chickens. Netflix has lost nearly $ 300 billion in value since the beginning of this year; they desperately need the kind of essential success that will get subscribers to cluster in the service and that would mean a show that offers a kind of true view of real life.
The problem here is not just what might be going down, but when it will happen and where. The Cambridges could be landing in America just as it premieres. (Aaron Spelling at the peak of his soap powers could not have arrived with such a dramatic crescendo …)
This year’s second round of Earthshot Awards, the $ 87 million project initiated by the Duke to fund practical solutions to the climate crisis, will take place in the United States and possibly as part of a larger tour.
There is also the fact that the Time has reported, according to royal sources, that “Kensington Palace is ‘very much alive’ to position William in statesman territory” with the Duke of Cambridge who has touched the presidential shoulders at the G7 and Cop26 meetings of the ‘last year.
With so many moving parts, international maneuvers, and incoming public relations mortar shells, the mind is positively baffled by all the skillful planning, tightrope walking, and integral juggling that will be required with all of this.
In this context, the hiring of Thompson by William and Kate, who is, after all, a “man who really gets things done internationally,” is starting to make a lot of sense. It looks like the Cambridges are making their ducks in a row to face the very serious challenges around the corner.
Interestingly, they don’t seem to be alone in this kind of thinking.
Last week, Charles and Camilla’s Clarence House made an announcement that raised eyebrows: they’ve also hired a new head of communications, choosing Tobyn Andreae, the magazine’s former deputy editor. Daily mail. Not only is her decision to go looking for someone with a sensational background interesting, but Meghan has successfully sued the newspaper’s parent company after publishing parts of a letter she had sent to her father separately, while, more recently, Harry also sued them for defaming them for his report. its legal forcefulness with the Home Office on its taxpayer-funded security agreements.
Right now, with the royal family’s annual migration north to Balmoral and the queen’s summer vacation about to begin, things are starting to calm down a bit. But all this can very well be calm before the new international storm …
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with over 15 years of experience working with several of Australia’s leading media titles.
Read related topics: Kate Middleton Prince Harry