Meg is just like Wallis Simpson – difficult, hates sister-in-law & always wants to be star of show

Meg is just like Wallis Simpson – difficult, hates sister-in-law & always wants to be star of show

the Catherine versus Megan rivalry is sort of like Elizabeth versus Wallace 2.0 it almost was just taken as red that this time they wouldn’t meet we have the potential for you know a kind of rival monito householder yes you do that is a very real [Music] possibility hello welcome to Royal exclusive I’m Matt Wilkinson the sun’s Royal editor and with me is Royal historian and author Gareth Russell welcome Gareth thanks Matt um let’s go straight in now the king and Prince William showed uh you know a real kind of public display of unity this week with the unveiling of of William in charge of the army aircore this massive contrast to his relationship that we’ve seen with Prince Harry in the last couple of weeks how do how do we break this down well I think within the monarchy framework it’s logical that it goes to Prince William you know the king had it when he was Prince of Wales he spoke about that uh I think some people have seen it as a bit of a slight on the Duke of Sussex but as he’s no longer a working Royal I think it was it was always pretty natural that it would go to William but I do think that point about how close the king and the prince of wheals seemed and that very obvious affection between them that was pretty palpable watching it well it’s it’s it’s a thing I mean it goes back to the coronation yeah um when William I think they kissed him on the cheek and then and um the king you know said Thank you to his son there’s been um you know maybe lots of debate over the kind of years about the relationship between Charles and his two sons or which one is the favorite but it’s the fact that William is the heir isn’t it and William has to kind of fulfill the role you know backing up Charles how do you think William is is doing at the moment do you think he’s really stepping up at the moment or it’s a great question yeah I think he is I mean look I I think many people will be aware of how difficult it is in any position much less a public facing one when you have a loved one in his case two loved ones dealing with cancer but I do think we’re seeing him more public visible more publicly confident and that transition from him being dukee of Cambridge and being second in line to first in line is quite a big one you know I think it was always a kind of understanding that the second in line in the in that the younger generation is given a bit more time for their family because eventually that will be seed to the public responsibility so that’s what you’re seeing happen at the moment um and I suppose you know also it it’s that what we saw this week really was also a moment of him standing next to the king who has been out of public visibility for a while so it was two different kinds of public visibility that you saw no you’re obviously a historian okay which I’m glad I’ve got a historian on the show because week after week we talk about the events you know of the past week I’d like to maybe go on a bit of an arc historical Arc and and and kind of compare what we we’ve got here the Rivalry between William and Harry okay and the fact that the king seems to have snubbed his young son and you know William and the King are very cozy at the moment we’ve seen this before in history haven’t we we’ve seen Kings fall out with sons and and and sibling rivalry how how does this compare compared to what’s in the past I mean this is sort of comparing this to some of the previous feuds is like comparing a good cup of tea to a shot of tequila I mean it’s not really um you know you look back on the 18th century Royals you know George II referred to his son as a monster uh Queen Caroline as wife said the only consolation she had in dying was that she would never have to see the face of her son Prince Frederick again so William and Harry’s rivalry is fairly very minor and you know there was obviously civil wars in the Middle Ages but if the Benchmark is um intense loathing and Civil Wars it’s it’s quite hard to live down to that in terms of the more modern Royals yeah there have been tensions within the Windor in the 20th century uh and into the 21st the most obvious case would be George iith and his brother Edward VII or the ex King Edward VII um but part of what sets William and Harry apart and I sort of joking about obviously you know the sort of intense hanian vital but what sets Harry and William apart is this is the first time that we’re seeing a real rupture within the royal family play out in the era of mass mass social media excuse me and that makes it unknown territory for us we we’ve never really had a royal feud in which there are thousands maybe millions of people participating online and picking aside and that’s where it becomes trickier even if they do reconcile for them to win back people who’ve maybe invested in this argument uh online or or personally that’s really interesting because you know as we saying there’s a an insatiable appetite for for Royals and everyone’s kind of got a dog in the fight haven’t they I mean people people are taking sides and we’ve got social media where everyone’s got a point of view where everyone’s got a everyone’s got a story but in the past there would be sibling rivalry but it would be fought out what with with armies or Aids now it’s it’s on Netflix or it’s in books or there’s RS you know um on on on documentaries on Netflix compared to what it happened in the past yeah it’s you know it’s it’s less with sort of the battle of his thingss but wasn’t siblings but it was you know distant relatives it’s more with hashtags um and yeah it it it it is tricky because let’s say for some reason Harry and William do reconcile the Damage Done to both of their reputations by people who who felt very strongly one way or the other that will endure it it’s of that thing if you you know it takes a second to say something in a lifetime to retract it and so for both of them it’s a double-edged sword it’s also I think tricky for the monarchy when it’s a symbol of unity to be disunited internally sometimes there’s no choice uh and certainly you know the George II and Edward VII there really wasn’t a choice after some of the decisions that Edward VII made in the 1940s I think recently we’ve come to understand that George V 6 and the future Queen mother were were right uh in their distrust of Edward the and Wallace Simpson and actually Edward the’s collaboration with the Nazis went much further than we thought so when you have someone who is sort of doing a deal with Hitler that he will replace his brother as king it’s quite difficult to to send a warm Christmas card yeah I think we’re on a different level now although spare and you we’re not on that level no it’s not and I think sometimes people make this comparison between them and yeah it is it’s the last serious time you had brothers and at each at odds but in terms of what either William or Harry has done or has allegedly done or perceived to have done it does not compare to some of the really bad uh and Troublesome actions that have happened particularly Edward the e in the 1940s so the comparison doesn’t always stuck up yet we’re only four or five years um what I found interesting is that the king um didn’t meet Harry but there was a lot of debate about it so I think we wrote the idea that Harry was Keen to meet his father because they he’d come over earli this year and had’ seen his father after after the the can after he’ announced he got cancer but there was never any suggestion that the two brothers would would would come face to face where there has been in the past when he’s been over that’s really interesting and I think it’s being picked up on that it almost was just taken as red that this time they wouldn’t meet which in which in itself the silence tells its own story doesn’t it the fact that for this this time no one expected the two of them to meet and we didn’t have any leaks coming from from either camp that there that there was going to be a potential meeting where that one wanted it and one didn’t and that probably suggests that the rift is pretty firmly cemented by this stage don’t go anywhere because we have loads more coming up I don’t think it’s a surprise that we’ve heard the Jess of Sussex you know allegedly say that she wants to move on but the public moves on slower than the personalities do that you know the the public were invited into this I don’t get the impression that he necessar already thought that the consequences of this would be as severe as they have been or that it would land as badly with the public as it has if you a your dirty laundry in public it takes a lot longer for it to dry I don’t I know the crown is fiction sure um but in the in the latest series The Crown one of my favorite scenes is when Harry and William are talking to each other and have talking about William potentially be well you know ultimately becoming King I think William says I’ll be William the F and Harry points out that William II do you remember this scene where he said William II was uh had a terrible history because he was killed by his brother also Prince Harry I thought it was a kind of delicious little um you know little script in in yeah it is um so William II was for a r hunting trip and was hit by a stray arrow and the theory goes that his brother Prince Harry who became Henry the first was just a little bit too quick to get to the treasury and lock down the capital um whether that means Henry the first just really well prepared or knew something was coming we don’t know but yeah I mean it’s again it’s a good William and Harry um and with much higher sticks absolutely and um when Harry was over so when he was over uh in February um which I’ve got to commend him to be quite Frank he he knew his father had cancer he wanted to come over and see him the king didn’t really want to see him he was stopped from going to Sandringham is there anything historically comparable to that kind of situation where the where where the king wanted to avoid his son yeah I mean well not his son but I have to know back of myself after saying you can’t compare him to Edward the it and I will compare him to Edward the um yes so when Edward the the ex King Edward thei after he advocated in 1936 he became dukee of Windsor and when he would come back sometimes for for major events like his brother’s death in 1952 other times for shorter visits his EST strange sister-in-law who became the queen mother made it you know sort of said you had to be careful where you hosted him and they would pick place where the Royals had an out that they could leave at a certain point um because otherwise um the queen mother’s concern was that Edward The Jig sorry would hang around like a bad smell and inevitably ask for an increase in his Alliance so they well this this feels very similar to when Harry was over to be honest but just my view the word was the phrase was that yeah the AIDS were worried they never get rid of him when he was open oh interesting yeah so so that is there is a direct comparison then yeah the queen mother used to say try to pick summer where there’s something and not just that there would be another event but that you actually the Royal actually had to leave the building that they were in so that there was a a clear and definite end point to the audience I hope this isn’t a curveball but just just generally what what do you think about Harry’s Behavior you taking a step back over over the last four or five years what do you think about his behavior towards his family knowing what we’ve known over the past you know thousand years of raw history whatever that’s a great question um I suppose for me I always I’m slightly dubious of Memoirs and of sit down interviews partly because I think they feel incredibly cathartic at the time but you then want to move on but you in in the Public’s mind you’re trapped forever like a flying Amber with these interviews and Memoirs and what you’ve said lasts much longer than the feelings that you had when you said them and I don’t ever really see an example in history of someone giving one of these interviews and not just royalty but celebrities and politicians who have not become frustrated by its Legacy and for the sussexes to have done so many so close together I think I don’t think it’s a surprise that we’ve heard the doess of Sussex you know allegedly say that she wants to move on but the public moves on slower than the personalities do that you know the the public were invited into this and I think for him one of the more surprising things that that happened was that this man who you know I always thought off as one of the great champions of of privacy in the United Kingdom and especially his family’s privacy you know then did reveal some very private conversations you know including ones in the immediate after immediate aftermath of his grandfather’s funeral uh and that was very surprising to me that that’s that that’s what he chose to do purely conjectural on my part but I I don’t get the impression that he necessarily thought that the consequences of this would be as severe they have been or that it would land as badly with the public as it has it’s important to note there are many people who were very moved by what the susex has said um in a positive way there were many who were outraged or dismissive or skeptical and I think a lot of people who saw those interviews and read it felt that that he had betrayed his family and some of them felt he’ betrayed the country so that takes a lot longer uh to to to reconcile that and I there’s an old phrase there’s something like if you air your dirty laundry in public like it takes a lot longer for it to dry and I think that’s a little bit of what we’re seeing but I also think it’s worth remembering you know he he he was immensely popular before all of this and and I I don’t think anything really last forever so you could see him with that popularity back well I think it’s telling since Spar he’s never gone down that route again you know what I mean he’s never gone down to talking about the family again he’s he’s completely he’s completely changed I remember someone at Buckingham Palace when when the lake Queen was still alive when when things were put into her mouth so when she had a statement or when she said something they said that these words last forever so they’re carefully crafted like for instance the Recollections may vary yes um that kind that kind of statement or or the Anis herbis they know that when the queen says something it’s going to remain I’d wonder whether Harry when he sat down with his Ghost Writer maybe didn’t didn’t really think about that that’s just me thinking no well he he wouldn’t have been encouraged to see a that way um with you know if you’re going into an editorial or publishing process they’re not going to be looking at this um as something that is carved into you know the granite face of History they’re going to be looking at something that is in a memoir and there you know this is a a market that is used to selling celebrity Memoirs and there will be no one around him I would imagine who would have said this will last forever yeah it’s just a different it’s a different form of communication and I think the difficulty is that that he is someone who has you know a very prominent social position and and actually what he says will have impact Beyond simply a memoir but I think I hadn’t thought of that you’re right he has kind of pulled it back uh and actually I think there were even interviews that he did uh with Anderson Cooper and um Tom brbie he did them as well where he tried to he kind of tried to pull some of the stuff back and said like we never said they were rist at all um for many it’s too late but let’s see what happens one thing that Harry and biger have been doing just moving on is Nigeria um loads and loads of pictures we saw Megan in so many outfits I think someone counted up it’s about £125,000 worth of outfits I’m not a fashion expert as as you can probably tell but I think you know she was she wanted to be photographed she wanted to be seen it wasn’t a royal tour um is it is it was it a Troublesome trip do you think for the palace was it a successful trip for Harry and Megan what’s your reading of the of this faux Royal tour yeah it is I mean I mean when is a tour not a tour it’s a bit like Beauties in the eye of the beholder isn’t it um I mean obviously it’s not an an official Royal tour but it looks and acts like one and there were moments that were that seemed quasi official you had the moment of godsy of the king being played at at public dinners and The Jig and dutches of ssex standing for that I think from their perspective from the SS’s perspective and particularly from the Dutchess of susex perspective it was a success I mean the headlines were broadly speaking overwhelmingly positive I think there was some a little bit of push back in the Nigerian press but that’s sort of the exception that proves the role I think mostly the Nigerian media were were uh very positive about the tour likewise in Britain although that again there were some questions asked the palace I wonder would they find it find it troubling I mean I don’t think they would ever want to see an alternative royal family it’s almost it’s almost they’ve set up the um Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex rather than rather than been calling it archwell you know they still call thems archwell as the charitable Foundation s of things but everything from them now is the office of yes they’ve got their own coat of arms and now they’re going on a on a tour we have the potential for and we’re talking medieval history or talking back in the past the Rival King we we’ve got a you know a kind of rival monito household out there yes you do um to all again to all intents and purposes that is a very real possibility um the problem for them for the the sussexes is that once you start doing anything like that people become a lot more critical of what you do outside that so things like commercial Endeavors um or quasi Royal tours people put it under more of a microscope than they would if you were calling it simply the office you know the office of Harry and Megan uh it’s interesting I wonder is it is it part of an attempt to Pivot from you know really some some harsh headlines they’ve had in the last year or two is it maybe to go in a slightly more socially conservative Direction and have themselves as as as you know cause as as sort of um Royals and exile for one of a better word I I wonder is that them acting on advice that people don’t want to hear another interview or another um criticism of the British royal family so it’s possible well it it see it seemed to fit the Royal blueprint um or the at all the Hallmarks of Tours that I’ve seen in the past or definitely with Harry and Megan when they were in South Africa and Australia you kind of ticked all the boxes and I wonder if um we don’t know yet but I just wonder if they must have plans for if if as you say it was a success they must have plans they could do this in America they could do um you know tour of certain areas of America or other parts of Africa or Asia any certain I mean they popularity in America is pretty low at the minute that could that could change uh as I think public opinion you always have to S it’s a bit of a roller coaster uh but they absolutely could and I think there’s indicators that they will to be honest M because you heard you know them talk about what a great success it was for them uh and they you know obviously archwell had some pretty negative headlines that weekend as well so I think that you know for them the tours are probably something very welcome and it does remind them and their supporters and sympathizers of that kind of star potential that Harry and Megan had when they first started stepping out onto foreign tours so I I really would not be surprised if we saw more of these the difficulty for them down the line and not just I mean not just for them but in specifically in this case them will be if there are more and more quasi official tours the question of who pays for it will become trickier um and then they’ll start to put her as they do with all Royal wives and um Royal women the Wardrobe will go under the microscope there’ll be a qu the the headlines will start to generate themselves that’s not to say that they shouldn’t do it but I do think that they’ll they will get a different kind of press coverage a lot of it more positive stay tuned because we have much more to come in the rest of the show here’s a taste the Catherine versus Megan rivalry is sort of like Elizabeth versus Wallace 2.0 in terms of modern Royals Living in America having children who are prince and princess I think there’s going to be trial and error learning about the mechanics of monarchy from Elizabeth II must be like learning about music from Mozart one person we’ve not seen for a while is the Princess of Wales um obviously obv on the show we you know wish send her our best where dides you think she stands like on the kind of historical art that I keep referring to is there anyone in in in the past that we look back or you know past or present or future or whatever we look back and think the Princess of Wales has similarity in qualities or or post or position yeah I mean one of my sort of one of the few you know in my when I really started out years ago um one of the things I sort of feel thank goodness I got in there with an early prediction is that I do think the princess of Wheels is is very like the late Queen Mother and maybe not necessarily in personality but in terms of both of them I mean we forget I think the queen mother’s been dead what 22 years um but the queen mother in her lifetime was an extraordinarily popular figure I mean even into the 1990s she was outp poing Diana sometimes as the nation’s favorite Royal you know I remember when I worked in a biography office an American friend said you know I don’t think the the Brits know that she died in such debt I said no no they they do know just no one cared um they sort of just you know it was uh she was she was hugely hugely um popular and part of the secret that she had was that she sees it as a marathon not a Sprint and I do think K has that very clear long-term vision of you you know you don’t sweat the everyday you plan 5 10 15 years and you don’t really let yourself get dragged in too easily by the smaller details of the headlines every week and that does she say is trickier in today’s society than it would have been for the queen mother to do but I also think the princess of Wheels is I think she she’s she’s um tough in the best way possible I use that as a compliment in the way I do with the Queen Mother I think you have to be someone who is prepared to keep you know to protect your private life which the Queen Mother very much did with her husband and her two daughters and also kind of keep putting one foot in front of the other and just keep going so that to me is probably her would comp to and actually when I did the book on the Queen Mother one of the people I interviewed who worked for the Queen mom said they see very clear similarities between the two of them and I think you you kind of see a little bit of that in the way we’ve spun the Catherine versus Megan rivalry is sort of like Elizabeth versus Wallace 2.0 it’s it’s you know we we we’ve sort of slaughtered them back in when when you say Elizabeth you mean the Queen the queen mother sorry yeah and I think um and that’s not to say that the comparison is Justified I always defend Megan a bit and say you know she’s not doing um well come on this is pesky we might as well get into it if if the Queen Mother Elizabeth is yeah Catherine is is Katherine Princess of Wales she obviously was married to George the 6 and Edward viith at abdicated over his American Social wife American Social does that make there have always been similarities between Megan because they’re American divorce and they’ve kind of broken up a part of the Royal Family do you think it do you think it’s of all that well I well allegedly Prince Philip made the comparison and he had he had met Wallace um yeah I mean one of the things that that the the dukee and Dodge The Windsor Edward and Wallace did in the 1930s and again a little bit in the 1940s and 1950s is they did these very controversial quasi Royal not Royal tours right oh really yeah yeah and I would have to be very very clear before we go further one of them was to Nazi Germany and I’m not drawing the comparison there uh that’s the most infamous one for very obvious reasons because they were photographed smiling with Hitler yeah um but there were other ones were they were sort of wind and dined um Can this isn’t grip by Franco but but but they did they sort of they had this they did a couple of things in America like you’ve been talking about with the sussexes um they did have tours that aren’t tours that sort of rub the royal family up the wrong way separating the the German and the Spanish ones which the the Spanish um stay he had because they were obviously much more politically incur um I I think Wallace has Wallace Simpson has two kinds of personalities depending on which author you’re listening to right and in many ways of the two that we ascribe to Megan so separating the politics for a minute Wallace is either presented as someone who was um ambitious loathed her sister-in-law uh wanted to be the star player in the monarchy was very very um difficult to work for and uh and essentially moved Edward away from from being a working member of the royal family the alternative view of her is that she was someone who never fully understood the monarchy and in many ways was s quite badly burned by it and by the British Public’s attitude towards it that she didn’t quite fully process and that essentially she was someone who dared to remold life on her own terms and to and to take the steps that she wanted to live yes as a duchess and a member of the royal and sorry a member of the a relation of the Windor um but that she did not want to feel necessarily Shackled by that and in many ways and this is where I think it gets more even more historiographically complicated the best evidence that we have now decades and decades after you know the abdication crisis there are letters that an seba who wrote a biography of Wallace find from 1936 where Wallace is telling people she’s very close to that she feels that Edward always wanted to get out of the monarchy and that actually she’s sort of being used as the as the get out ticket so Megan in some ways has been slotted into those two to those two personality types depending on which team you you you fall on I I tend to think that I tend to think culturally she’s being made very similar to Wallis sson I don’t know if I buy that they were they’re really that similar uh as personality types to be totally honest but that’s just that’s from a biographers perspective I don’t really see I don’t see as many similarities between Megan and Wallace as I do between Catherine and the Queen Mother well the events are quite similar aren’t they between between when I said them in that list Matt I was trying I was like maybe I’m just directly cont your into I I actually kind of I was like oh I’m I’m actually arguing against myself here uh yeah look the events are not dissimilar I remember um when Megan appeared on opra Winfrey I don’t know if you remember the imagery there she was wearing a dress that was so like w yeah and these things often aren’t accidental you know no they’re not although you can kind of sort of extend that point and say was there no one you know there to say this is uncannily like a very famous photograph of the doess of Windsor maybe maybe P something else well I question how many people they have around them at the moment I mean there’s there’s been a situation recently probably won’t touch on it much on the show today but there’s there been a situation where they haven’t filed paperwork yeah and the delinquency order and it’s just they don’t seem I’m not entirely sure how planned a lot of the things the Sussex do yeah that is because some you know it does seem a little bit halfhazard behind the scene sometimes so maybe I’ll give her a break on the on the on the dress but the the general kind of situation the general kind of taking a prce you know some of the examples you give there you know I think it’s right that people can compare yeah abs look I mean one of the things about history is it is it is the great comparison you’ll always find something and you know obviously for me I like to see people getting involved with it um it’s really interesting you say that about who they have around them and does it all feel a bit improvised that does happen to royal families in Exile um that’s not quite what’s happened to them uh although I’m probably about to talk myself back into it but if you if you look at some royal families who had lost power I’m thinking like the royal family of Italy in the 1940s and Greece after the 1970s Sometimes some of the stuff that they do in the aftermath seems really short term and they haven’t quite thought through how will look and that’s possibly because they they just don’t have around them the team that they previously had so it could be the sussexes are struggling there’s no there isn’t really a road map for this is there I mean like okay there’s been the universally disastrous example of Ed Wallace but in terms of modern Royals Living in America having children who are prince and princess I think there’s going to be trial and error with them to be totally honest and yes I do think they they they could could do with an adviser who has experience within the monarchy rather than just within America but then it’s a question of who would that be royals in Exiles um history as you say is the great what was your phrase history is great comparison history is the great comparison is there any other Royal figures that we can touch on that maybe compare to King Charles or maybe Prince William I think Charles has started off really well I was saying this earlier I think that I was worried about him when he came out of his cancer diagnosis um I was concerned that he’d taken on the job after I think it was a record number of years I can’t remember how long now but he had to wait until he eventually got the top job um and I was concerned that maybe it would be his Reign would be defined by the by this by Harry or by by the kind of r with with with with with Harry and the the division between his two sons you know but I’m impressed currently by what he’s doing is there anyone that you think who reminds you of in history two I think actually within sort of his immed not immediate family but um within the the monarchy’s immediate memory would be his grandfather George I 6 who he has spoken of quite a few times uh Charles actually when he was a young boy was in Sandringham on the day that George I 6 died um there’s a sort of quite touching story about Queen Mother came into the nursery and was crying because her husband had just passed and Charles came up and said you know don’t cry granny and she explained that George had been founded when the footman have brought in the tea Charles nodded and said who drank the tea That’s of little things that children focus on so he he he’s always I think had very fond memories of his grandfather and his grandfather did have to overcome things like a stammer which many people will might remember was really movingly dramatized in the King speech again like the qu I know it’s fiction but it’s it’s a it’s a good movie and a good depiction of it um and I think he he referenced George the 6 during his most recent visit to to France the other Monarch I would compare him to is Edward iith who sort of had this record until Charles III record-breaking stint as the Prince of Wales to a very popular mother with great longevity Queen Victoria and when Edward iith became king in 1901 there were concerns about his health um in and around the coronation in fact in terms of having to replan a party Edward II’s coronation had to be rescheduled a couple of days before it happened because his appendix so they they went ahead with the meals that were being provided in workingclass neighborhoods because all the food was there but all the potentates and princes had to go home when they to reschedule it to the next year and a lot of people thought that it was the same thing that you’re saying with Charles II and his battle with cancer that Edward iith would be defined by illness and he recovered remarkably and his re was short it was 9 years he died in in May 1910 but he became immensely popular and there had being concerns with Edward iith because of his life as Prince of Wales he wasn’t going to be sued to being King and he did prove the naysayers wrong he was he was hugely beloved and when he the accounts of his funeral in 1910 are are pretty remarkable sort of they’re talking about people you know sort of crid hundreds of you know hundreds deep to watch the the funeral procession yeah I wonder who King Charles III kind of looks up to cuz I know he’s a keen study of of history in Royal history so there must be some figures I can’t think of it at the moment You’ pulled out some excellent examples really there of people that he maybe could could really use as inspiration and and also one of the thing history is not just a great comparison it’s a great warning you know sometimes one of the things that institutions like the monarchy have is that it can provide you with people that you don’t want to be like okay uh and people that you should really really avoid okay uh George IV is is usually cited as the one that you do not want to he came from 1820 to 1830 and um wildly extravagant and he sort of was the reverse of Charles George ivth started out as the Golden Boy and everyone loved him and he sort of at drank and um slept his way uh away from that you know was really probably the closest Britain’s come to being a republic it was that period in the 1820s with George IV another example like James II in the 1680s he was very very stubborn and he’s usually cited as an example of if you you know if you don’t bend With the Wind You Can Be uprooted by it completely uh so yeah I think he is a keen he is a very keen reader of History um the dutches of Sussex actually interestingly when she married into the family she mentioned that that Charles spoke to her quite a lot about the family history and explained who was who in the portraits he also takes art very seriously and that’s part and parcel of the imagery and the the the history of the monarchy so yeah I do think I I think he’s very aware very very aware of the history the history of the institution he’s inheriting what about what about William cuz he’s the heir to the you know there’s been so many heirs over the years I mean he’s in a different he’s not he’s not in the same situation as his father was um but could you see any resemblance with William with past historical figures well he he has two things or maybe two and a half that um that Mark him out as different in in a positive way the first is that really it has been since it’s been quite a long time since there has been Heir uh a prince of Wales who was known to be the next in line and who was happily married right you know it’s there was the um future Elizabeth II was the Dutchess of Edinburgh um you know Charles had a period where he was married to to Diana and then obviously it fell apart very dramatically so you’re going back to really his um his great great-grandfather George V is the last one of whom you can say that with his his wife Princess Mary future Queen Mary the other things that I think are really interesting just from from a historian’s perspective and I think probably from yours as well of seeing um where it will go in the future is who his mentors were his political mentor and his emotional Mentor right so you know we know that William had a great amount of time with his grandmother Elizabeth II she would have lunches with him they would speak together often and she did try to explain the mechanics of the institution he will lead and learning about the mechanics of monarchy from Elizabeth II must be like learning about music from Mozart um in that sense he’s had a great deal of political and constitutional mentoring from a very successful very popular Monarch who I would say was sort of a conservative figure with a small seat not in any way linked to the political party but but did not believe in radical change for its sake within the monarchy his one of his emotional mentors of course was his late mother and I think people often tend to forget that because in the same way we tend to slot uh the Princess of Wales and the Dutchess of Sussex into these historical archetypes we’ve kind of done the same with the Prince of Wales and the chuk of Sussex we I see William is Charles’s son and Harry is Diana’s son and we sort of forget where they have similarities to the other parent you know William was immensely close to his mother and and Diana was someone who was more of a radical Royal compared to Elizabeth second so he has these these two very different influences and that I think makes him exciting as a future king because potentially If he if he welds those two legacies of the sort of the the willingness to change that Diana had but the enthusiasm for tradition that Elizabeth II had he could prove I think hugely successful as King William I that’s fascinating I’ve never really pieced that together in my mind when yeah when you combine you know the qualities of of Charles and qualities of Diana when I I know you’d say that Harry often gets you know he often talks about his mother more than than William does I think but um when I see William on jobs you know up close he does remind me of Diana although I never saw Diana actually on an engagement he does the way he speaks to people the way his eyes move the way his he moves his head he actually has more of a resemblance I think than how he does the way he acts with people as well generally it’s it’s something that doesn’t really get picked up on but I notice it so often I think he he acts like Diana when he’s with children and when he’s you know when he’s with people you’re not the I’ve actually I’ve heard that from other people before that actually he has that kind of yeah that’s interesting that little glint yeah it’s it’s something about the the movement of the head as well appar yeah I’ve heard that but he has that kind of affection that kind of um authenticity when he talks to people that he actually you know they like him do you think I mean this is this is your area of expertise because I I don’t really know what I think of this do you think it translates onto camera with William or do you think it’s more impressive when you see it in person he’s bigger than you think yeah yeah um and I think you have to see him in person I think people come away there’s there’s often a thrill like meeting a rock star and when you meet a royal but when he he’s spoken to people on walkabouts um and the people have actually met him face to face that they’ve had you know an incredible time you can tell they’re almost speechless um and I and I think it you’re right I think it translates better when it when it’s face to face on camera it might be you know more difficult to spot um but I look forward to more jobs William and I I’ll tell you about them when next time we meet but yeah honestly he he does come across more like Diana that’s so interesting that’s really interesting finally though your um your book obviously about you are the queen mother expert B you are you are the queen mother expert and there a wonderful book you’ve written about the Queen Mother what do can you tell us your favorite stories I I don’t want to put you under pressure under the spotlight but you obviously you’re a big fan of the Queen Mother you not just a fan but obviously a biographer what kind of um what are your highlights of her life whether they’re funny whether they’re sad or impactful on society yeah do you know it’s funny when I you spend that amount of time with people spectrally when you’re writing about them and then by the end of it you’re like I need you to leave me alone and I need to never see your name again and I didn’t really feel that way with her I actually ended up admiring her a lot more going into it sorry emerging from it than I had going into it and the book do let’s have another drink it’s like 101 anecdotes from some one chapter per decade of her life and I think some of the stuff about you know the just what she went through in the first world war and the brothers that one was killed in the trenches two had PTSD one had alcoholism one was a p and this really moving letter that she writes when she says you know I was 17 years old and I thought I will never be happy again and she said every day you heard someone died and I think that explains a little bit of when she could seem Steeler and tough and it’s not just her it’s that generation you know you can’t really empathize with sort of the touchy feeling of the ‘ 80s and 90s when you grew up every day hearing someone else have been blown apart in the trenches there was there were other some great stories about um her uh I can’t one of them involves swearing so I can’t say it but she was she was at um she was at balm moral and they um they were they were out there sort of one of the little booies that they were going to and one of the the queen had forgotten to bring the key even though the queen mother had said bring it and they were getting it was raining down in all of them there was a Ghillie inside so they tried to open the door and the Gilly shouted who the f is it the queen mother trilled don’t worry it’s only the Queen the Gilly sort of launched himself to get done the one that’s probably most famous I think people enjoy is that um she had on her staff um two gay men who were who were on again off again boyfriends and they were on their on getting to offstage and they were they were arguing and they forgot to bring the Queen Mother her drink and she sealed out you waft of pastels and she said when you two old queens have finished fighting will you get this old Queen her drink um so she she had a good sense of humor she was just remarkable I mean I really I liked her I mean she certainly I think was was tough really really tough and as I said I don’t think that’s necessarily to her demerit but she was utterly fascinating to write about mat she really was well it’s interesting because she she’s often forgotten now with all the characters that we have you know with with Harry and Megan and the Princess of Wales she’s someone that has such a huge important role you know saw everything happen over over her life time was right there at the front seat it’s good that you know she is remembered but listen G thanks very much a pleasure we’ve made history and we’ve covered a lot of stuff so I appreciate you oh thanks had a great time thanks for having me that’s all we have time for this week but thank you for watching if you like the show please let us know in the comments and subscribe for more Royal content

MEGHAN Markle was compared to Wallis Simpson by a senior royal because she hates her sister-in-law and wants to be a star, an expert has said.

Prince Philip allegedly drew comparisons between the Duchess of Sussex and the American socialite wife of King Edward VIII.

Philip is said to have nicknamed Meghan “D.O.W” in a nod to Wallis’ Duchess of Windsor title after she wed Edward in 1937.

Their relationship ultimately led to Edward’s abdication a year earlier, plunging the Royal Family into chaos.

Speaking to The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Historian Gareth Russell revealed why such comparisons have been made between the two.

Read more:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/27961406/meghan-wallis-simpson-senior-royal-hates-sister-expert/

00:00 Intro
02:45 The rivalry between William and Harry
06:00 I know why Harry and Charles’ feud is here to stay
08:00 Prince Harry is like Edward VIII, no one wants him
15:00 Meghan and Harry are trying to be RIVAL royal family
19:00 I’ve seen Kate in action, she’s like the Queen mum
22:00 Meg is just like Wallis Simpson
36:00 I know Prince William will be hugely successful as King

Read more:

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