While grander players withered under an intense spotlight, the quieter virtues of less prominent family members shone brightly
Only when the history of this extraordinary time comes to be written will our late Queen’s subtle, silken guidance of her country, extending even beyond the grave, be fully appreciated. Her Majesty’s death at Balmoral, and the subsequent, deeply affecting journey of her coffin to lie in state in Edinburgh (plus the prominent role of pipers at her funeral) entrenched her as Queen of Scots. Thus pretty much snookering the nationalists who seek to sunder the United Kingdom she treasured.
As for republicanism, there is a delicious rumour that delegates at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Saturday will sing the national anthem to prove to a bereft nation that they are not the seething Crown-haters so many of them actually are. This is still a time of official Court mourning, of course, but King Charles can be permitted a wry smile as north London’s leading dialectical Marxists choke on their hemp lozenges as they wish him a long and glorious reign. Thanks to the deep respect and affection in Red Wall seats for his beloved mama.
In his funeral sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury called for prayers for the Royals who have had to grieve in “the brightest spotlight”. It’s interesting how certain less prominent family members have shone, their quieter virtues illuminated under that intense scrutiny, while grander players were darkened and diminished.
Take Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Oh, to have been a fly on the ceiling of the official car transporting the Countess and the Duchess of Sussex to the funeral at Westminster Abbey! Having lost her own mother Mary Rhys-Jones to cancer in 2005, Sophie began calling Her Majesty “Mama”. She is said to have been like a second daughter to the Queen and they clearly adored each other’s company. Sophie has looked almost shipwrecked by grief during official appearances; she is clearly devastated. Her opinion of Meghan and Harry, who allowed their interview with Oprah to go ahead in March 2021 when Prince Philip was desperately ill (he died almost exactly a month later), can easily be imagined. I hope Sophie let Meghan have it. Sadly, she’s far too polite.
The polar opposite of the Sussexes, the Wessexes have taken on a lot of the duller duties and quietly built up public respect. Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn, seem like nice, unspoilt children. Louise, who had a humble Saturday job in a garden centre, is a dead ringer for the late Queen Mary, which helped make her a firm favourite of Queen Elizabeth.
How ironic that the steady example of the “commoner” Sophie should do so much to counter the entitled sleaze machine that is the Duke of York. Making the Wessexes the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, after Edward’s father, would be a well-deserved reward.
As for Prince Andrew, a career as one of Windsor’s leading dog-walkers is practically assured. He has inherited his mother’s corgis, Muick and Sandy, who poignantly sat waiting for their mistress at Windsor Castle. Deprived of Queen Elizabeth’s protective maternal shield, Andrew stands brutally exposed to the winds of change about to blow through his elder brother’s slimmed-down monarchy. Any public role is out of the question after he paid a £12million out-of-court settlement to an accuser in a sex abuse case. He always denied the allegations but his sordid friendship with the deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein exposed his stupidity. Will King Charles extend any leniency to the Duke’s daughters? Don’t be surprised if the entire York clan is banished from the Palace balcony for good.
Now, Prince Harry. If you resign from your job in a huff, and sell The Firm’s secrets, don’t expect to keep the company car and your salary or be upset when you don’t get an invitation to the Christmas party. That much is clear to any normal person. Not to the Duke of Sussex who caused his grandmother a lot of stress in her final years with repugnant and damaging allegations about her family (“Recollections may vary”). Luckily, Her Majesty’s death gave the Prince an ideal opportunity to reflect on his and his wife’s unkind behaviour and make a full apology to his father and brother.
Just kidding! The Sussexes will soon be back in California where Harry can write an extra bonus chapter in his grievance memoir. Which explains why none of his grieving relatives particularly wanted to talk to him. He seemed surprised.
And lastly, to Princess Anne. Underrated for far too long, the Princess Royal has been a star of this tumultuous time. There can be no clearer example of the difficult dual role she has to play than the deep curtsey she made to her mother’s coffin as it arrived at Holyrood. It was a gesture both beautiful and devastating, personal and formal. The loss of her parent, the duty owed to her sovereign; somehow, those feelings must be reconciled. Similarly, the salute to her brother, now the King, when she left to travel with their mother’s coffin to Windsor. It made many people cry, an emotional release the 72-year-old Royal has denied herself as she travelled every (surely exhausting) step of the way with the late Queen.
“I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mother’s life. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journey,” she said in a statement accompanied by the sweetest picture of them together. Anne has the “just got to get on with it” fortitude of her parents. They would be so proud of her. It only occurred to me the other day that the Princess Royal also has her mother’s lovely voice. I hope the new monarch heeds it. King Charles should promote his sister to Counsellor of State, which means she can stand in for him on official duties if he’s abroad or incapacitated.
Absurdly – make that obscenely – Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and his elder daughter Beatrice are all Counsellors of State. As a female, Anne does not get succession rights, bumping the Queen’s third-born child (and his offspring) up the line ahead of her. Let’s face it, the combined wisdom of Princes Harry and Andrew would fit on a golf tee. Beatrice is half her aunt’s age and vastly less experienced. We should hope that one of the first acts of the new King’s reign is to overturn this disgracefully sexist and outdated rule. It insults the Queen’s second-born, a distinguished public servant. The Princess Royal is one hell of a woman, title or no.
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