As Prince Charles and Prince William run around London making asses out of themselves, the Queen has only issued that one statement in reaction to Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview. Part of me believed the play was “the Queen will bury her head in the sand and pretend that nothing happened.” And hey, she still might do that, but her courtiers are telling Rebecca English that the Queen will try to have some kind of private reconciliation with Prince Harry.
The Queen is to extend a personal olive branch to Harry and Meghan as she takes charge of the fallout from their bombshell television interview. With senior royals still ‘reeling’ following a series of explosive allegations by the couple, she has issued a ‘three-line whip’ to prevent staff discussing the situation publicly.
It is understood that she intends to try to pour oil on troubled waters by reaching out to her grandson and his wife in California instead. It is expected that they will speak on the phone in the next few days.
Although Harry and Meghan were informed of Buckingham Palace’s statement on the issue prior to its release on Tuesday evening, this was done through officials. But the Queen believes now is the time for a more personal approach. The 94-year-old monarch’s determination to seize the initiative is deemed to be a sensible one.
Both Harry and Meghan made a point of trying to ‘ring fence’ his grandparents from criticism, with the duchess saying how ‘wonderful’ and generous the Queen had been and boasting of being able to call her without needing to speak to officials. Harry also insisted he hadn’t ‘blindsided’ her with their decision to step down from royal duties as he had too much respect for his ‘colonel in chief’. And he told Oprah to make clear in publicity for the show that the unidentified family member who Meghan claims expressed ‘concern’ about how ‘dark’ their child would be was neither of his grandparents.
Courtiers now hope and believe the Queen’s approach will help to ‘de-toxify’ such a volatile situation.
‘It is difficult to underestimate how shell-shocked everyone is by what has happened,’ a source told the Daily Mail. ‘People are literally reeling from what has happened and some staff would dearly love to publicly rebut some of what has been said about them. But the Queen has taken a very measured, sensible approach. She is leading by example. This is a matter for her and the family to deal with.’
Insiders fear even if Harry does manage to patch up relations with his family, irrevocable damage has been done.
“Insiders fear even if Harry does manage to patch up relations with his family, irrevocable damage has been done.” Because of the interview. Not all of the sh-t the family did to Harry and Meghan. The irrevocable damage, in the Windsors’ minds, was the fact that Harry and Meghan wouldn’t sit there for years on end, being battered, harassed, abused and gaslighted. I just feel like I have to keep repeating this sh-t because it’s really awful how twisted everything has become. Anyway, I do think Harry and Meghan went into the interview with a plan to not bash Liz and Philip whatsoever. I think Harry would love nothing more for his family to really be able to face what happened and what they did to him, his wife and his children and for there to be some kind of reconciliation. That being said, Harry knows his family. And I doubt he’s expecting much of anything from them.
(Also, it used to be Philip who was assigned these kinds of tasks, to bring in a wayward royal, to act as family therapist. Philip did that with Diana, for all the good it did. The Queen trying to take on a task she used to give to Philip… well…)
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Thus Liz CAN intervene but she CHOOSES not to do so. What more do people need to understand the buck stops with her and it always has.
So she’s plugging all the leaks now? Why didn’t she speak up for Meghan then? Too little too late. The firm’s reputation is already in the gutter.
I hope people wake up and see how selective Liz and The Firm are when giving protection. They are such dolts and incapable of deep thought that they are selective based on color of skin and not by the actual person. Case in point: her son Andrew.
Well – they’re breeders, it’s that simple. Horses, dogs, other royals…it’s all the same to them. Folks that used racism to justify the slave trade and colonial oppression will even now find it impossible to see people who don’t look like them as “good stock.”
Enjoying “All my best colonies are Black” comments. Worst. Possible. Defense.
Yes…she could have said something to her horde early on and they probably would have listened. Too much water has passed under the dam, so, really don’t think her,” Betty come lately”, approach will work. Just feel as if she’s trying to smooth things over so their planned pageantries can go on this summer.
Liz isn’t as sharp as she once was and the buck stops with regent Charles now.
And Charles bows to William.
I very, very much believe that the Queen was letting Charles deal with a lot of the usual stuff the monarchy would be dealing with, but especially anything that would mostly affect his reign, like whether or not to have Meghan be a working royal with funding and security,or whether or not to give Archie a title or change the letters patent to exclude him completely once Charles is king. I think the Queen has always let Charles deal with his own kids, otherwise why are they under CH and not BP still? And she took it even further by letting Charles make huge decisions about media strategy, scheduling, titles, and funding/protection, and even Sussexit and how it would work and if they could be part time royals like the Queen allows her cousins and other family members to be, for Harry and Meghan because all of those things would mostly affect his reign and what he wants it to look like. I think the Queen only stepped in to basically be a mediator/hostess of the Sandringham Summit when everything came to a huge blown up head after Harry and Meghan released their own statement, and then she signed her own name to the statements and pretended she was the one who ultimately made all the decisions about patronages and military honors. And now she’s just grandma to Harry and Meghan now that they’re completely out.
I believe the same and I think Harry basically told us as much in the interview. He’s still in contact with the Queen and Philip and had nothing but lovely things to say about them. Meghan too, Meghan calls the Queen to check up. That relationship is clearly intact.
But Harry’s head almost burst open with rage when asked about Charles’ role in this. The poor man’s face flushed redder than a summer tomato. That was quite a tell.
You know I used to think that but now I don’t. From Harry’s directness in the interview saying she still constantly talking with him (and Meghan! She speaks with Meghan too) and that she had nothing to do with this, I believe him.
He had every reason to throw all the guilty parties under the bus but didn’t with Queen and Phillip, I really do not think they are involved anymore.
I think all the reports we hear about the Queen from the press and her staff are lies and she’s quit doing anything in the firm many years ago. They trot her out for appearances and she lives her life separately from everything else aside from that now.
Really she’s 95, this isn’t exactly a radical notion. She can’t be as sharp as she needs to be to run the Monarchy. To me it’s just common sense that’s probably been sitting right in front of us the whole time.
I think she’s completely retired but in making appearances and the most senior couturiers and Prince Charles are the ones running things and doing all this. There is no “The Queen” making rules anymore. “The Queen”= the palace being run in her name.
If the Queen was capable of issuing a ‘cease and desist’ (smearing the Sussexes) edict this week to her own family, and every one of the Crown’s knuckle-dragging Palace courtiers, aides, and staff. Why was she not capable of doing this in the last 5 years to protect the Sussexes? This is not about FINALLY supporting the Sussexes, this is about protecting the Monarchy. As always, she rises to the occasion when it is duty to the Crown.
And I have the theory about why this was leaked to the press; this was the Queen’s COMM director’s way of unofficially alerting the Royal🐀Rota that —- for the time being —- this would be the order on the playing field between them. Otherwise, what would be the point in making this known?
I agree! That’s part of my confusion as to why the courtiers were not given DIRECT orders to quit leaking like the biased sieves that they are LONG AGO. And I think that’s the crux of H&M feeling utterly let down, abandoned, and quite frankly like sacrificial lambs. Also, why aren’t these leaky courtiers being hit in the face with the NDA’s they’re breaking?
It only proves that the palaces were leaking information.
Yep. So now they can prevent staff from leaking? After all this time? It just proves that the palace has been a part of the smear from day one.
I also think it proves that the queen is finally aware of what’s going on to some extent. Charles and co must have been filtering info and shielding things from her regarding H&M. No wonder nobody wanted Harry to actually see his grandmother in person. And if this is a preview of Charles’ reign, he already sucks at being king. Good Lord, look at how much damage he’s caused. As if the queen could formally step down if she wanted to; Charles inspires no confidence.
She knew. We’ve been told for decades that Elizabeth reads all of the papers before her day starts. Her duty is to the crown. Not her family. If throwing Meghan under the bus will protect the crown, so be it.
I really have to agree with Maliksmama. The Queen prides herself on her duty to her Red boxes. And she has done her duty for 70 years and will ‘die’ doing her duty. She may have handed off much to Charles, but she is still the Queen and everyone in that family knows it. The buck stops with her.
Meghan herself said (in the interview— but then Oprah cut her off) she had a hard time figuring out a way to separate the family from the Firm. I think she was speaking about her relationship with the Queen. Harry loves his grandparents. I think Meghan found a way to make the relationship with the grandparents work because it is so important to Harry. Thus, Meghan the figuring out a way in her head to separate the Queen as grandmother/great grandmother from what she does or allows to be done as head of the Firm.
You see how she has apparently prevent staff from discussing the Sussexes PUBLICLY yet the same staff continues to leak PRIVATELY via #mypalacesources
So I assume it is publicly keep quiet but you can leak and leak and leak to royal gossiper rats (copied from twitter 🙂 )
Yes she is petty, cold, conniving, and any other adjectives you can think of. But she is also 94 years old. Even if she is sharp for her age, I don’t think she is as up to date as she once was. I don’t think she is apart the operations as she was a decade ago. Isn’t that the point of Charles taking over some of her duties? Harry says she’s getting bad advice, so to me that she says she isn’t personally in the loop. At this point people should be questioning is this coming from the QUEEN ( Elizabeth) or the queen (Charles).
yes. And now they’re engaged in victim blaming. H&M are the VICTIMS of this operation, but now they’re the cause for its downfall because they…talked about it? Talking publicly about racism, etc., is the crime here — not the racism itself? Interesting logic.
By how the interview came across, she has the least reconciling to do of everyone in that family.
I don’t believe it. There are many stories with palace sources after the interview.
GK it says “publicly”. Clearly, the leaking continues.
Why didn’t the Queen prevent staff from discussing the Sussexes when Meghan was suicidal?
Did she even know about it? Did it get that far?
By Meghan’s own public words in the interview, NONE of them get a pass.
Meghan states very clearly in the first half (and some in the second half) of the interview that she:
*First reached out to a VERY senior member of the royal family
*She then told Harry
*She then spoke to HR
*She then spoke to a close from of Diana’s who was enormously helpful
Meghan stated also that everyone in the family and the staff knew.
LowcountryLady, I believe she talked to Harry first and then the Senior STAFF member. Does anyone else remember who or when?
To clarify Saucy&Sassy — She clear said a senior royal.
Quote from New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/world/europe/recap-of-harry-meghan-oprah-interview.html
“Meghan said that at one point she asked a senior royal about the possibility of seeking inpatient care, and was told that would not be possible because it “wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
But staff can still leak to the press though.
Immediately after the queen told them to stop speaking about the Sussexes, they all went to speak about the Sussexes. Now who is disrespecting the queen?
That tells me that the queen never ordered such a thing. This is a pr strategy. If the sussexes do come out publicly exposing the brf. They can say: “they’re hurting the queen, she wanted to fix things behind closed doors”
That makes sense. They’re pretending to ask for a ceasefire but stirring trouble by using proxies.
Right? This is a whole article about how the Queen told the staff not to discuss the Sussexes to the press….and we know this b/c the staff is discussing it with the press.
Why can’t these courtiers stop talking to the press? They aren’t PR people or crisis managers. It all feels so high school.
Because the royal family has bigger secrets to hide. It’s a tit for tat. The press keeps certain stories hidden for something else. Anti- meghan articles seem to be doing well with their bigoted base, ergo other secrets got buried with fabricated dirt on meghan
If a family member releases a statement to the press BEFORE even calling you, they clearly don’t give a damn about your feelings (as if that wasn’t obvious enough the last few years). This family is so f*cked up. The Sussexes would be better off of they just stopped trying to have any relationship with the Windsors. Show the receipts and destroy it all.
Instead of leaking about how the Queen will call Harry she should just pick up the damn phone and call him. This family is beyond dysfunctional.
RIght? I mean, how busy is she right now that 5 days after the interview was shown in the US and four days after it was shown in the UK, she still hasn’t called Prince Harry and Meghan? What is she waiting for?
It’s Thomas Markle calling TMZ instead of returning Meghan’s calls. Harry and Meghan really came from the same kind of family through their dads.
“…some staff would dearly love to publicly rebut some of what has been said about them.” Oh the irony and the TINIEST of violins playing for them.
They can try but Meghan has proof and will no doubt release it. They are running scared.
I think the point is, the staff haven’t shut up once. There is a non-stop river of gossip flowing from royal staff to RR’s.
I think they know she has receipts.
And the funny thing about that is that Meghan didnt name any names. So if Jason Knauf comes out and says, “I never told her she couldnt go to a mental health facility, she completely twisted that conversation” now we know it was Jason who had the convo (and I dont think it was Jason, I think it was someone more senior than that.)
Meg said she asked a senior ROYAL. Not a staffer. The ONLY senior royals w/enough clout to make that call are TQ and Charles. *Perhaps* William. That’s it. No one else has the “seniority” to tell her no.
Ok but I’m starting to wonder after the interview, when the palace refers to the *queen* …
is it actually Charles?
Since her private secretary (which is like a CEO per Meghan) is “his man” and Harry and Meghan’s eyes seemed to be screaming no she is not in charge of even her sched and she isn’t in a position to help us (during the interview when talking about Harry’s visit being cancelled.)
Sounds like Charles has been essentially the regent for almost five years and has tried to shield himself from criticism while throwing everyone else but Camilla under the bus, his mother, sons, and anyone else in the family if it’s convenient. Not that anyone comes out of this looking good except for Meghan, but if we’re trying to properly assign the hierarchy of blame…
Just going by Harry’s comments alone, the Queen is not in charge. Charles is the one making the decisions and I’m starting to believe that it was him who prohibited the laying of a wreath on Harry’s behalf on Remembrance Day not the Queen.
This, as everything else from the daily mail, is a lie. And im sorry but if my name is trashed PUBLICLY on your behalf the apology needs to be just as loud. Nobody seems to want to tell the windsors that the best pr strategy is just to publicly say sorry. And then move on.
I doubt the family will ever learn. No need to pursue educating this family. If they’re serious and sincere, they will educate themselves and look at their “HR” policies.
It’s more practical to pursue these in the long term:
1) for more Commonwealth nations to drop them as Head of State and become republics
2) occupy and strengthen the republican movement in the UK
3) more diverse representation in UK Parliament so that it can push for Swedish model of royalty, reformation of House of Lords, demand transparency over the royal finances and remove the Royal Rota system
As for reformation of the UK press, that will be another long term battle for the country.
Does the BRF lose funding if Commonwealth nations drop them as Head of State?
No.
@Amy Bee, thanks! So what are the consequences of Commonwealth nations dropping out? A perception that their sphere of influence is diminishing?
We would still have to pay the Royal Family money even if we (Can) are no longer in the CW? How on earth does that work?
There’s a difference between dropping the Queen as head of state and actually leaving the commonwealth altogether right?
I can’t imagine they’d still have to pay if they dropped out of the commonwealth.
@lady d, amy too
There is a difference between dropping the Queen as HOS and leaving the Commonwealth. There are more Commonwealth members that do not have the Queen as HOS than those who do. My country does not have the Queen as HOS and remain a member. Membership is voluntary and anyone can be voted as Head of Commonwealth. The Head doesn’t have to be a royal.
When you leave, you stop paying membership fees as a Commonwealth member. BUT in the first place I don’t know where membership fees go to. I assume it goes to a common fund, not the BRF. Nonetheless, I can’t find its financials.
If you leave and the Queen is still your HOS my guess is you still pay something for her services.
Thank you, Alexandria.
On the one hand, it’s kind of normal/peak grandma for her to have tried to stay out of this and not make anyone too mad. My grandma owned a business that both my mom and aunt worked for, and my grandma – who did really love all of us – was really terrible at navigating anything that caused discord among my mom and aunt. And while the things said/done at times were obviously not racist, they were deeply hurtful. My mom and my aunt will never have the relationship they would have had if they never worked together.
But where this falls apart is that the queen is, ya know, the queen. And has been navigating this for basically her whole damn life. It’s pretty clear to me though that Meghan and Harry wouldn’t go out of their way to shield her and the rotting from the inside out Phillip unless she really is shielded and not in control. Which leaves Charles in Charge, and well, that tracks. I’m not sure the queen can rein him in at this point, either, if all of the staff are mostly his people?
That’s kinda what it sounds like to me, that Charles is truly running things now, and she can’t do much about him at this point, but maybe he’s willing to let her have this (how very magnanimous of him…). The “personal reconciliation” would be just that–personal. Not intervening on behalf of any other family members (except maybe Philip?), just a very old woman who doesn’t want to die with bad blood between herself and a grandchild. If Harry and Meghan are open to that, great.
I guess bodycams are on the cards for all staff.
Yet someone is leaking to the press about not leaking to the press.
The palace staff is still leaking to the press though. How about we deal with that before the Sussexes go nuclear?
This interview was proof that Harry and a Meghan are done. They have no desire to return for Trooping, Christmas or any family event. Once the Queen dies, I feel like the gloves will really come off.
I agree.
I wonder if Harry will even come back for funerals. He would probably want to pay his respects to his grandma and grandpa, but does that desire outweigh his desire to not see and speak with his brother and dad and have to deal with courtiers and all the BS they could try to do to him once he gets there? If anything, I bet he goes alone, quickly, and he stays at a hotel or friend’s house and doesn’t even talk to any of his family other than having his people talk to their people to figure out the logistics of getting him into the church. He just shows up at the funeral, sits in his pew or whatever, and then goes home.
The staff is still briefing the press so the Queen doesn’t seem to the hold any power. At this point, I think the Queen is a mere figurehead and that Charles is the defacto Monarch.
Harry and Meghan’s New Year’s message has an deeper meaning after the interview. I said this before but Harry confirmed it to me. Charles regularly said to Harry in anger that he was just like his mother and the Palace tried to deny Meghan’s motherhood. There’s a very serious reason why Archie did not return to the UK with Harry and Meghan when visited and it has to do with the family’s treatment of and attitude towards him.
So…she hasn’t called yet? But she will…soon? Are they seriously floating a test balloon on whether or not they should reach out?
I’m reminded of how it took at least a week for them to even concede to have a public funeral for Diana, only after much public backlash.
When I see story after story and leak after leak and misstep after misstep from the BRF, where the only thing that seems to make sense is it you assume Charles is in control of a lot, and has his own agenda, with maybe an assist from William, I keep getting a spin of one of the songs from WandaVision running through my head:
Who’s been messing up everything? It’s been Prince Charles all along!
Who’s been pulling every evil string?
He’s insidious! So perfidious!
That you haven’t even noticed.
And the pity is, the pity is … it’s too late to fix anything. Now that everything has gone wrong. Thanks to Prince Charles – Ha!
Naughty Prince Charles
It’s been Prince Charles all along
And maybe William too!
I want to see some heads roll but am not sure if the queen can even fire anyone. Maybe she’ll give some bollocking to Charles and William.
Our Queen Meghan said that she didn’t understand how the family could expect them to remain quiet while they continued to perpetuate falsehoods about them. Keep it up, bozos. Since the interview, we had Omid release Meghan’s email wondering why the palace couldn’t defend her, and how the response was that the Duchess of Cambridge doesn’t get dragged into royal gossip. Notice how Meghan released more ammo that mentions Kate? Could this be Harry’s preferred strategy … to drip drip drip about Kate until William calls off the dogs? Could an email asking them to stop throwing Meghan to the tabs to cover William’s affair be next? I hope so.
Interesting. So the Sussexes could be releasing proof of a minor way the Palace refused to protect her as a preemptive strike against the bullying claim? And as you said, if this doesn’t work, they could threaten William with dropping the bomb about the affair. I wonder if Harry would go that far though.
I give credit when credit is due- from all that has been reported, the Queen refused the sign off on a harsh response, told her staff to stop talking to the press about the S, wants to reconnect with them, interacted with the three of them over videocalls, sent A a Christmas gift, was nice to both, etc. I see a woman who may have supported in part the wrong people and not enough the good- but who deep down does like the S and intends to not hurt them more.. I may be wrong but she does not appear as the problem and this is what H&M said
The Queen not calling yet is bull***t story placed by the usual suspects. Harry and Meghan still have a relationship with his grandma and grandpa as per their interview. The only new take will be that the Queen was so sheltered she didn’t realise the f**ked up job Charles, William and the courtiers were doing in her name. I’ll bet good money she speaking with Harry and Meghan about the revelations in the interview. She probably thought she’d handed the reign to competent people and could enjoy her retirement in secret. The British people need to stop burying their head in the sand thinking that a 94 years old person was still in charge of the daily running of the monarchy.
Such a red herring. The staff is *never* allowed to speak publicly. Public statements by identified officials is not the problem
Good point.
unless they are directed to it by someone above them (not the queen).
This article actually makes it sound like the Queen cleared her public statement through H&M. Possibly to avoid embarrassment like the last time saying they couldn’t be of service? The smart thing would also be to not leak lies to the press when M says she has receipts. If the receipts are letters and e-mails that she couldn’t outright publish because of possible copyright and privacy issues, being quiet would keep things in line. If they leak and H&M sue the papers again, the proof could legally all be dragged out in court and become public.
Equality, but would any texts or emails that Meghan has to friends be a problem for her to leak? I think is was a great that Janina made sure her friends had texts and emails and knew what was going on. I think the brf needs to take a deep breath, hold it for a count of 3 and let it out slowly. Then stfu.
If it is something she wrote or the friends give her permission I wouldn’t see a problem. I think e-mails are still kind of a gray area as far as copyright. I’m not sure it stands right now. If Kate wrote her a note/letter to apologize that might be difficult to release unless it’s during a court case.
I agree with Petra: I think that if the Queen was ‘aghast or in dismay’ it was probably that she realized she was played by two people (W&C) she knows are incompetent but had let run the show to some extent and did not realize the extent of their implication… H&M were clear
what the hell does “It is understood that she intends to try to pour oil on troubled waters by reaching out to her grandson and his wife in California instead. ”
pour oil? such a weird turn of phrase to use – is the writer saying the Queen will basically tell them how it is/issue an edict knowing full well they won’t absorb it while intimating that the Sussex’s are wrong and will always be in the wrong unless they bend the knee and publicly say they were the problem?
What surprises me honestly is that no one realized that the Queen and Phillip have been talking to Harry and Meghan this whole time. Which makes one wonder how much the Queen held back from Charles. I think that’s what threw everyone. The Corden interview showed he was in contact with them. The Oprah interview showed that Meghan even called the Queen to talk about Phillip. I think Charles and William thought they exiled them and didn’t realize the Queen was still keeping in touch. This blows the whole Charles was secretly waiting until the Queen dies to let Harry and Meghan come back part time. Charles doesn’t want to compete with them, he wants them gone.
“People are literally reeling” gave me a picture of a bunch of courtiers in 18th century ball gowns doing Scottish dances with their heads thrown back, big poofy hair all askew, and wide eyes while screaming into the night “but WHHHYYYY!?!” “What do we do NOOOWWWW!!?!?”
Has she prevented anymore leaks? She should have a long time ago.
I bet those leaking, prevented her from doing anything about it.
What is really upsetting the BRF and BM is that the rota rats are getting little or no air time in the US market. CNN brings on Black Britons that are people of note to talk on this issue; it had the first black member of Parliament on the other day. RRs are relegated to the US gossip press.
I wonder if that YouTube prank video is having an impact?
I think when this interview was first announced, and many including myself wondered if it was a good idea, someone posted that this went beyond the couple, that it was activism ( can’t remember who posted it). Boy were they right. Yes we’re talking about the royal families denial and the fact they haven’t actually done anything since the interview except be petty, and doubt they’ll do anything close to putting themselves in order and just being decent anytime soon. However, the impact this is having on the press ( bye Piers),the role of the tabloids, mental health advocacy, people discussing racism and the dynamics of mixed race families, the impact on the Commonwealth shouldn’t be discounted. A few people who work at charities are also mentioning their interactions with the royals and how useless the Rota press coverage of the event is ( someone on Twitter wrote how the only thing the press mentioned about the visit was Kate’s hair, and how frustrating it is). Of course, the word “woke” is being thrown around a lot, but there are conversations being started that have nothing to do with that family, so hope it continues.
This is the Queen ducking for cover. Remember Prince Pedo must be protected at all costs. She doesn’t want Harry and Meghan bringing his name up in conversation because the more they are out here talking in the US the more likely that will happen especially if Ghilane goes to trial. She needs to bring them back into the fold. Maybe she will offer Prince William of Rose to the press in exchange because Harry and Meghan ain’t having it anymore.
That’s right! There is a new US Atty. General now. The last thing the Windsors want is the Sussexes having a conversation with federal prosecutors about Andrew.
Noticed how quick she called President Biden, it must have been like a nano second.
If we give the Queen any benefit of the doubt at all, then what does this say about how much power her employees have over the family, etc?
If that is part of the problem, then she needs to step up and clean house of the problematic people.
If she is part of the problem, then the rot goes deeper than an PR housecleaning of snotty courtiers can fix.
A big IF all around.
I don’t think the Queen is in charge of anything. Maybe her corgis. Charles is in charge, and has been for a long time. And no, I don’t think he does what William wants unless Charles happens to want it too. Charles cares about Charles, period, and he’s very good at casting blame on others and pretending he has no power.