British Royal family in strife: health woes and mystery disappearances
William’s personal matters, Kate’s missing princess rumours and Harry’s imperiousness add to King Charles’ health concerns.
If there is a certainty amid the mysterious goings-on behind palace walls of late, it is that King Charles has not had to wait the 40 years it took his mother, Elizabeth, to experience an annus horribilis.
We are just 18 months into Charles’ reign and three months into 2024 and already the monarchy is in a full-blown crisis, and like his mother in 1992 this is not a year on which Charles shall look back with undiluted pleasure.
Charles, 75, has been diagnosed with an unspecified cancer and is looking more dreadful each time when going in for his treatment; his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, has not been seen in public this year and his son and heir, the Prince of Wales, dramatically pulled out of attending Tuesday’s memorial service in Windsor of his godfather, Constantine “Tino”, the last king of Greece, with less than an hour’s notice.
This highly unusual cancellation of an engagement by a senior royal was less than fully explained away by William’s courtiers as being a “personal matter” and not connected to the health of his wife, whom, aides said, was “doing well’’.
None of this has satisfied the British public, who are watching William’s moves most carefully given he is much closer to the throne than most anticipated when he vowed to be Charles’ liegeman of life and limb during the spectacular coronation just 10 months ago.
William and Kate have long prioritised the needs of their three children over royal duties, but that intense family focus has quickly become a tedious and unrelatable excuse to those juggling and struggling with finances and childcare, and there are calls for work-shy William to take on many more Crown responsibilities.
That was amply illustrated this week when Queen Camilla was left to carry the show without her closest supporters at Constantine’s memorial service. And who moved swiftly to fill the void?
None other than the non-working royal son, Prince Andrew, who inserted himself front and centre, fruitlessly trying to regain a semblance of authority since the disgrace of his friendship with sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
In echoes of two years ago at the thanksgiving service of his father, Prince Philip, where Andrew helped the queen into position in front of television cameras, this time Andrew led the family into St George’s Chapel in Windsor for Constantine’s farewell, alongside ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who is recovering from breast cancer and a melanoma.
Just behind him at Windsor was the hardest-working royal, Princess Anne, who channelled the Swinging ’60s with boots and a short black dress, rebelliously choosing the traditional mourning colour in preference to a blue dress code as she helped the queen host the Greek family.
Here more than ever was a thinning British monarchy, deliberately slimmed down by cost-conscious Charles who sidelined Andrew and his two York daughters, and then saw the fast-tracked departure of piqued second son Prince Harry and his actor wife Meghan. Now with his own illness and the bizarre unpredictability of William and Kate, the royal family looks skeletal, inconsequential even.
So just what is going on?
When 42-year-old Kate was admitted to The London Clinic at short notice in mid January for abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace had indicated she would require a lengthy rehabilitation: about two weeks in hospital and then recuperation at home until at least Easter.
What wasn’t expected is for her to completely bunker down without any sighting: for there had been expectations her aides would choreograph a picture of her recovering in the garden, or watching the kids play. It would be a simple scene taken by a single photographer to show the world that she was on the mend.
Such an arrangement had been anticipated after the palace issued a strong warning for the cameras to move away from the hospital entrances and allow the princess and any visitors some privacy.
Instead in the month and a half since there has been complete silence from the Waleses, leading to a flood of social media conspiracies about the “missing princess”, and jokes about her admittance to the “Princess Personal Protection Program” and that she requires the time away from the spotlight to grow out her “bangs” hairstyle.
On top of dealing with her own pain of a serious surgery, on the periphery Kate has been juggling the heartache of her parents, Carole and Mike Middleton, seeing their mail order business, Party Pieces, go into administration; and the grief of her sister, Pippa, whose long-time friend, Thomas Kingston, the 45-year-old husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, died unexpectedly last Sunday, believed to be the reason for William’s last-minute withdrawal from his godfather’s memorial service.
As well, Kate and William have been uncertain about which high school eldest son Prince George should attend, with the couple appearing at this stage to reject William’s alma mater, Eton, which is just down the road from their Adelaide Cottage residence on the Windsor Castle estate.
But with Charles in such sudden ill-health, the couple’s long-established family priorities are now having to be rejigged.
Which makes William’s bewildering no-show for his godfather’s send-off, where he had been listed to give a reading to the congregation, all the more troubling.
The British public are intensely fretting about Kate, particularly as Buckingham Palace has been far more open about Charles’ medical woes. The King has even been seen opening cards from wellwishers, attending church and meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In contrast, the smallest tidbit of news about Kate this week, that the princess is “doing well”, has done little to alleviate the nation’s anxiety. The swirling speculation about her health forced Kensington Palace into a rare updated statement on Friday: “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’s recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.” The statement reiterated that Kate is “doing well”.
All the while Harry, fifth in line to the throne, continues to throw distress bombs from across the Atlantic. Despite his recent 30-minute visit with his father after dashing across the ocean, Harry has once again raised eyebrows with his imperiousness.
Court papers revealed his demands – “I would like that person’s name” – when he discovered at the time of leaving the royal family in 2020 that he would no longer be granted the highest levels of taxpayer-funded police protection.
On Wednesday Harry lost that UK police protection court case but, not liking the decision, said he will appeal.
So here is Charles trying to get well and his two sons are, in various ways, struggling to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. The women in the family, Camilla, Anne and even daughter-in-law Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, are the ones picking up the pieces.
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