Last week, Prince William hosted a Buckingham Palace garden party and several of his cousins came out to “help” him. Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Zara and Mike Tindall and Peter Phillips all sloshed through the rain and tried to add some charisma to a very dull event. Royal reporters have spoken of little else since then – what does it all mean, are the royal cousins being added to the slimmed-down monarchy, does Buckingham Palace finally understand that they need some glamour? The thing about all of those “look at the cousins!” conversations is that if the Princess of Wales were well enough to be out in public, the cousins would be ignored and not extended any invitations. William and Kate’s whole deal for YEARS has been “we’re the only ones who matter.” Now that Kate is gone/absent, suddenly William needs backup. The Telegraph devoted yet another long-ass article to whether or not William will bring in his cousins as working royals. Some highlights:

William is close with his cousins: The “slimmed-down monarchy” this was not. Here, subtly, was a glimpse of the instincts of the future king – more visibly in line with his late grandmother than ever. Just as Elizabeth II relied on supportive cousins of her own generation, as well as loyal children and grandchildren, to join her at public events, so the Prince sought out the family he grew up with. The reaction from the public was encouraging. “The cousins are all very close and always have been,” said one source. “I think people liked seeing them being there together and supporting each other.”

No half-in royals though: Palace sources have been swift to downplay suggestions that any of the younger generation will be making an imminent return to official working duties. The “no half in, half out” rule still applies. Some, however, have detected an appetite for more casual but visible public appearances from the late Queen’s “non-working” grandchildren that until recently were thought to be a thing of the past.

William plans to include his cousins more often: The Prince of Wales, The Telegraph understands, would be keen to extend similar invitations again, in the spirit of including the wider family, as his grandmother once did. The King, too, has seemed visibly buoyed by the company of his nieces and nephews, rarely looking happier than he did clasping Zara Tindall in a hug at the Royal Windsor Horse Show this month on his way back from cancer treatment.

The fakakta balcony: [The king] must now decide what to do for this year’s Trooping the Colour, in which the state of the Royal family will be captured in that all-important “balcony moment” displaying who is in and who is out.

The slimmed down monarchy: Insiders reject the idea that it has ever been an official [working royal] policy, or that there is any plan to reverse it. Often, one of them says, the Royal family acts as any other family, inviting relatives along without any grand theory behind it. “They’re very willing to step up and do more at this current time, to help,” said one royal source, of the younger generation. “They’re very fond of their cousin and their uncle, and they want to do everything they can to support them. And they believe in the institution they grew up in.”

No plans for the cousins to become working members of the family: Peter Phillips, and Zara and Mike Tindall, are doing so on an ad hoc basis, when asked, and are sure to continue the tradition of Royal Ascot in a few weeks’ time. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who have full-time jobs, are regularly rumoured to be on the cusp of being elevated back into the royal centre-stage. “I don’t think it means there’s a plan for them to be full-time working members of the Royal family and I’m not sure they’d want that?” said a source of the York sisters. “They have careers and families and they’re very protective of that.” But, they added: “I think the rest of the family respects their charity work. They haven’t ever really put a foot wrong.”

[From The Telegraph]

They’re just twisting themselves in knots to explain why William’s cousins are allowed to “do work” for the family but not be considered working royals because the cousins are half-out, half-in, but that’s not allowed except it is allowed in special circumstances! It’s all Harry and Meghan’s fault too, the Windsors never realized that the ridiculous “rules” they set up to snub the Sussexes would become the whole royal system’s undoing. As I said, this wouldn’t even be a conversation if Kate was around – Kate and William would be lording their specialness over the cousins and making a point to snub them too. Anyway, I still believe that William invited his cousins to this garden party mostly because several Spencer cousins came out to support Prince Harry at his Invictus service.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.