It’s easy to forget but the start of the year was torrid. Headlines were dominated by the man formerly known as Prince Andrew – so much so that Prince William’s diplomatic tour to Saudi Arabia was nearly knocked off course.
The fallout from the Epstein revelations felt never ending, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was arrested (he denies any wrongdoing) and the mood at Buckingham Palace was pretty bleak. But the senior members of the Firm know to always keep their eyes on the long game.
The Andrew story will continue to bubble away, and most people have formed their own opinion of his actions, regardless of whether he is charged or not. Yet the past couple of months have reminded the UK (and indeed the world) of the benefits of the British Royal Family.
The King and Queen showed what deft diplomats they are on their hugely successful tour to the USA. The King – whose work has so often gone unrecognised – managed to utterly charm the President and First Lady, whilst also delivering a barnstorming speech to the American Congress, which gently rebuked Donald Trump on Ukraine, Nato and climate change.
Did Trump mind? No! He praised it as a great speech, lauded the King to the skies and promptly lifted whiskey tariffs…
Queen Camilla too was widely praised – from beekeeping tips with Melania to promoting reading in New York with Sarah Jessica Parker.
They have just returned from a successful visit to Northern Ireland, and another diplomatically important upcoming state visit to Eire (a personal favourite of the King) beckons.
After her cancer treatment and necessary recovery period, the Princess of Wales is back on form. Fresh from her hugely successful two-day trip to Italy to highlight the importance of nurture and building connection in early childhood, Catherine looked radiant and is planning more international travel.
She and William hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace, with support from Zara Tindall and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – as good a snapshot as we’ll get for the Waleses’ future blueprint as King and Queen.
The Prince of Wales also announced an interesting development as Duke of Cornwall – a tenth of the Duchy’s land will be sold to fund new housing. Yet the patrician overtones of his multi-million pound Duchy were softened by his promotion of the Scilly Isles on Heart FM (where he revealed to host Amanda Holden that he, like his granny, always put cream before jam on scones).
That knowing piece of royal ‘everyman’ PR also sat alongside his fervent public support of Aston Villa to show William very much in control of his image and destiny.
The Edinburghs and Gloucesters are plugging away on the road in the UK, the Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence have just returned from Greece where they commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete and all the royals contributed to the Buckingham Palace, Holyrood and Hillsborough garden parties.
The King and Prince William closely collaborated to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough, a national treasure both love dearly. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are off on an official visit to Portugal next week to mark the 640th anniversary of the Treaty of Windsor – the world’s oldest diplomatic alliance. And of course, there’s the upcoming king’s official birthday of Trooping the Colour.
There is a sense that everyone is working together, in a content and confident manner. And if anything were to underline how successful a royal brand UKmonarchy PLC is, it came from the unlikely source of the Duchess of Sussex.
To celebrate her 8th wedding anniversary (and to launch a £50 new candle dated for her May 19 union with Prince Harry), Meghan posted a treasure trove of unseen pictures from inside Windsor Castle on her Instagram account. Joyous, uplifting and celebratory.
Everything the Royal Family should be: shining the spotlight on others. Long may it continue.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.womanandhome.com ’
