The Palace’s stilted, fusty response echoes death of Diana – but Meghan’s interview is different

While nobody was expecting the royal family to fly Black Lives Matter banners from the crenellated walls of Windsor Castle – though more’s the pity, writes Andrew Buncombe – is this all they are going to say?

Friday 12 March 2021 18:03 EST
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The palace bowed to public pressure after the death of Diana
The palace bowed to public pressure after the death of Diana (AFP/Getty)

Years ago, I was ordered by the news editor of a mid-market tabloid to go to the picture desk and take a look at two images of Princess Diana.  One showed her wearing a green swimsuit. The other, in a costume that was blue. I was given the number of the photographer who’d provided the images and told he would fill me in on “the story”.

The “story”, the photographer (either sitting in the Caribbean or at his desk in his London agency) explained, was that both images had been taken the same day. Diana was very clearly sending a message by her change of swimsuit! The message, the photographer claimed, was aimed at her sometimes boyfriend Dodi Fayed, son of  tycoon Mohamed al-Fayed, then the owner of Harrods.

Back at my computer, I bashed out some paragraphs, assuming my words would never see the light of day. As it was, the next morning my story about Diana and her swimsuit “message” was splashed over the entirety of page three. 

Much of the British public was cast into strange grief. Tony Blair spoke of the ‘people’s princess’ ... but the palace was marked by silence and apparent indifference

Friends called to poke fun; here was me, a staunch anti-monarchist, sounding off about Diana’s swimwear. I was moderately embarrassed but also rather pleased. I was new to Fleet Street, and who would turn their nose up at such a show in one of Britain’s best-read newspapers. Anyway, there was no harm done, right? It was all a bit of fun.

A couple of weeks later, Diana and Dodi died when their car crashed in the Pont de l’Alma in Paris, and very quickly things stopped being fun. The suddenly sombre media – some members of which had been pursuing Diana’s car – heaped blame on Dodi’s driver. Much of the British public was cast into strange grief. Tony Blair spoke of the “people’s princess”.

The palace, meanwhile, was marked by silence and apparent indifference. As flowers piled up at the fences at Kensington Palace, the Queen remained at her Balmoral estate. Even as Prince Charles flew to France to collect the body of his ex-wife, there was shuddering quiet. No flags were ordered at half-staff, there was uncertainty as to whether there would be a state funeral.  

Meghan explains how she wasn't offered any royal 'training'

We now know that following behind-the-scenes poking from Blair, and Alistair Campbell, the palace did eventually show “it cared”. Charles led princes William and Harry, baby-faced boys in stiff suits, to look at the flowers left for Diana and speak to well-wishers. There was a huge, ornate ceremony at Westminster Abbey – though technically not a state funeral – and millions sobbed as Elton John performed.

Those events have echoed this past week, as the royal family reels from another crisis, following claims of racism and inhumanity levelled at the palace by Meghan Markle and Harry. 

Obviously, the parallels are not entirely the same; most pointedly nobody has died. Yet, what has struck many was the stilted, almost begrudging way in which the palace responded.

Two days after the couple told Oprah Winfrey that Markle felt suicidal and trapped in the royal family, and that someone there had asked after the likely skin tone of their yet-to-be born son, Buckingham Palace eventually issued a brief statement that was almost a denial. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning,” it said. “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”

On Thursday, William, the Duke of Cambridge, visiting Stratford in London, managed a few more words. “We’re very much not a racist family,” he told a reporter who had asked if it was him. He said he had not yet talked to Harry, but that he would.

Prince William and Kate arrive at an east London school on Thursday. William told reporters that the royal family is not racist
Prince William and Kate arrive at an east London school on Thursday. William told reporters that the royal family is not racist (AP)

Is that it? Is that all we are going to get? So, 17 million Americans and 11 million Britons tune in to hear Markle and the prince make assertions about a toxic, tabloid media culture in Britain and an out-of-touch, racist institution that to many will ring utterly true, and we get just a couple of sentences, and a promise to address the claims “privately”? 

While nobody was expecting the royal family to fly Black Lives Matter banners from the crenellated walls of Windsor Castle – though more’s the pity – is this all they are going to say? Is this the best Britain can expect from its unelected, unaccountable head of state? (Another thing that has not changed is a personal belief that Britain should elect its head of state.)

Perhaps it is. And the reason for that? It appears there is far less sympathy for Markle and Harry than there was was for Diana. Here in the US, much of the coverage has been supportive of their claims, and people have been genuinely shocked, particularly by the assertions of racism.

In Britain, it appears that many more people agree with the view of professional provocateur Piers Morgan, that Markle was a “social climber” and plainly lying. This time, there are no symbolic flowers being heaped up for Meghan, but there is a petition for Morgan to get his job back at Good Morning Britain, which he left this week by storming off the set after being challenged by a fellow presenter.

Yet that may not be the full picture. A survey by YouGov suggests that while more people (36 per cent) have sympathies with the Queen than with Markle (22 per cent), there is a generational divide. Indeed, about half of those aged between 18 and 24 (48 per cent) feel more sympathy for Harry and Meghan, while 15 per cent are more sympathetic to the royals.

Where will this end. Who knows? But as we have seen, history often repeats itself with the royal family. If public support for Meghan and Harry grows, then the palace might be forced to commit to some more genuine soul-searching and reform. 

The ex-royal couple might even be invited back for tea.

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