bitchy | Nicholl: Prince William & Kate are preparing their kids to be half-in, half-out

We knew a few months ago that Katie Nicholl was doing a new royal book, called (obviously enough) The New Royals. Nicholl’s book is one of a dozen tomes set to be released around the same time as Prince Harry’s memoir. All of these royal biographers and commentators will be lamenting and bashing Harry for telling his own story when they’re all clearly trying to profit from telling highly selective versions of his story. For what it’s worth, Nicholl has always been known as more of a Middleton-specific biographer, although from I can see, she’s trying hard to convince everyone that she has sources deep within the new king’s court, as well the royal court of Montecito. Nicholl’s The New Royals got a lengthy excerpt in Vanity Fair, and I’m splitting up the excerpt into two posts. This is Part One: King Charles III and The Heirs.

Charles’s woes. Closest to home are: his youngest son and daughter-in-law’s familial abdication and the complete disgrace of his brother Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who has been stripped of his honorary titles and royal role. Charles is said to desperately want to reconcile with his son Harry, but it remains to be seen if the rift which caused the queen so much upset will ever be truly resolved. Charles and William, however, are unified in the decision that Prince Andrew will never represent the family on the public stage again.

The Commonwealth & Scotland: Charles is acutely aware that the future of this voluntary group of nations [the Commonwealth] is uncertain, and he has said it is “‘a matter for each member country to decide.” But what worries him more than any of this, according to my sources, is the existential threat to the United Kingdom posed by the Scottish independence movement. “His absolute preoccupation is keeping the union intact,” according to a close friend. “His view is that if he ends up being the King of England, then the kingdom would be diminished and it would become a huge issue in terms of our global status.”

King Charles’s coronation, reportedly code-named Operation Golden Orb: His coronation is expected to be shorter and less expensive than his mother’s, and the new king wants the public to witness the experience just as they did his accession. The ceremony will likely highlight the line of succession, with William, Kate, and their children featured more prominently than other members of the family. Camilla will reportedly wear the Queen Mother’s crown, made for King George VI’s coronation in 1937, with its bewitching central diamond, the 105.6-carat Koh-i-Nûr (meaning “mountain of light” in Persian). In this way Charles will align his wife with his beloved grandmother, the last queen consort to be crowned in the UK, whose memory is still treasured by many Britons.

Charles doesn’t want to see the end of the Commonwealth: “I imagine it is important to Prince Charles that the Commonwealth won’t die with him,” notes constitutional expert Alastair Bruce. “No one wants to be holding the institution when a significant part of its profile is taken away. That’s not going to happen in the next reign, but it’s up to the Commonwealth where it goes in the longer term.”

The photogenic (?) Waleses: They will be showing off their photogenic family, as they are doing more and more. George, Charlotte, and Louis, who had starring roles at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, are being raised by their parents with an awareness of their positions and the roles they will one day carry out in support of the monarchy. George knows that like his papa, he will one day be king, while Charlotte will likely juggle the role of being the spare with a career. Louis could well be a private citizen undertaking occasional royal duties, like William and Harry’s cousins Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, as well as princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Inevitably, because he is an heir, there will be more pressure on George, something William and Kate are acutely aware of.

Another move coming for William and Kate: They recently downsized, moving from Kensington Palace into the much smaller and more discreet Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Home Park and moving their three children into the private Lambrook School in Berkshire this month. Their next move, I am told, will be into Windsor Castle. Their incarnation of British royalty looks more like today’s Spanish royal family with King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia on the throne, or perhaps Denmark’s, where Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian-born wife, Crown Princess Mary, are poised to succeed. And the appealing prospect of King William and Queen Catherine with Prince George next in line may quell any rumblings of discontent in a country reigned over by an aging King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla.

[From Vanity Fair]

The fact that Charles plans to crown Camilla with the Kohinoor is disgusting to me. India wants it back and Britain has every reason to give back the stolen treasure. It also continues to be profoundly disturbing that Charles truly wants his wife draped in his grandmother’s jewels constantly. The Queen Mum left all of her jewelry to Charles, and Charles in turn gave it all to Camilla. He loves when she wears his grandmother’s pieces. It’s… a lot. And now Cam will wear the Queen Mum’s crown? Nope.

As for Charles’s well-placed concerns about Scotland and the Commonwealth… I agree with the people who say that Charles has pretty much given up on the Commonwealth. He knows he’s going to “lose” most if not all of those countries. Which is why he’s so focused on the United Kingdom – if Scotland gets independence, all hell breaks loose for the monarchy. And for the UK as we know it.

As for William and Kate’s kids… Charlotte will be a spare with a career and Louis will be a private citizen? I thought that the Declaration of the Sandringham Summit of 2020 was that there is no “half-in” for HRH royal princes? And now it turns out that Charlotte will have a career AND be a princess, and Lou will be a private citizen? Huh.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, book cover courtesy of VF.