William Has ‘No Plans’ to Tal k About Harry on New York Trip

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William preps for NYC—with no talk of Harry

If there is one subject Prince William will not be talking about on his upcoming New York City trip, it will be Prince Harry. The Sunday Times reports that the main U.S. networks have all bid for sit-downs with William, but “he has no plans to answer inevitable questions about their fractured relationship.”

William’s trip next week is intended to focus attention on his environmental campaigning, and comes after a survey of over 1,000 American adults by Gallup—asking them whether they approved or disapproved of 15 “newsmakers”—found that William came out top of the contenders.

“Of course he’s aware of the poll,” an aide told the paper, insisting the prince is “not distracted by polling—his focus is always on getting on with the job and focusing on his work.”

To which one can only say: “Sure, Jan.”

William will be looking to build the profile of the Earthshot prize, and meet bigwigs including leading environmentalists and UN secretary-general, António Guterres. He will also “wade into the Hudson River to highlight a pioneering water project,” and meet some NYC firefighters “to thank them for their service and to discuss mental health.”

An aide told the paper: “This trip is part of his evolution as a global statesman which is incredibly important, especially since becoming Prince of Wales. He and his courtiers have been thinking about how to manage that transition from Duke of Cambridge to the next king. You’ve seen a number of iterations of that, whether that’s meeting with Joe Biden in Boston or travelling to the border with Ukraine and talking about the importance of fighting for our freedoms.

“The U.S. is very important to him. The world’s climate movers and shakers will be in New York having conversations about the future of the planet and the prince is keen to be part of those conversations and put Earthshot front and center. He has huge ambitions for what the prize can become and is extremely focused on its legacy and impact.”

Mixed bag

The Mail has largely portrayed a wide ranging survey of British attitudes to the monarchy as a resounding endorsement of the king and queen, and it is true there is broad backing for him with 62% of respondents supporting the monarchy. There are more than a few red flags in the results as well: for example, 41% believe the crown should have skipped a generation to William while 50% said Princess Diana would have been a better queen than Camilla, and a lowly 15% said Queen Camilla had made a “positive contribution to the U.K.” Ouch.

Camilla “pushed” for queen title

A flattering profile of Camilla in the Telegraph insists, contrary to the results of the survey in the Mail, that she is “nearing national treasure status.” One source is quoted as saying: “She knows how to handle [Charles]. She’s always been a good wife for him and a good match—there’s no argument about that. She keeps him calm and makes him laugh.”

Intriguingly, however, the paper shines lights on a few cracks in the story that her being made queen was all Charles’ doing with a source saying: “She didn’t have to be called queen, but she pushed for the title from the moment they got married. It was a case of, if you’re going to be king then I’m going to be queen.”

We saw it when she was joined on the Buckingham Palace balcony by her sister Annabel Elliot and her grandchildren [after the coronation]. Of course she engineered that. But in calling yourself queen, you’ve got big shoes to fill and there are still some parts of the country that don’t want Camilla to be filling them, regardless of how well she has performed as the Duchess of Cornwall.”

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Harry and Meghan aim for brand separation

A fascinating report into the Sussex’s finance and brand ambitions by the Daily Mail’s showbiz correspondent Alison Boshoff was overshadowed by the drama of Harry upstaging the royals that took place on the one year anniversary of the queen’s death.

But it is well worth a read, lifting the lid on what Boshoff says is the new Sussex commercial strategy: the separation of Meghan and Harry into two separate brands. Oddly, some might think, cheeky chap Harry is going to be the serious one and clever and thoughtful Meghan is going to be the “fun” one.

This idea, Boshoff says, is behind their increasing reluctance to be seen together in public, and largely being masterminded by ethical venture capitalist Adam Lilling, who also works with Meghan’s friend Ellen DeGeneres. Lilling brokered Harry’s deal with coaching firm BetterUp, and they were recently spotted sitting together at a football match.

Boshoff also tackles rumors the couple are going to split up, juiced by Meghan removing her engagement and eternity rings at a Beyoncé concert on Monday. Boshoff says one source told her, “It’s 100 per cent over. That’s what I hear, and I’ve been hearing it for months.” Boshoff says that another source has told her that Netflix won’t renew their deal in two years, for, as she puts it, “the simple reason they don’t expect them to be a couple by that point.”

However, one old friend of Meghan’s, Nick Ede, a brand and culture expert, told Boshoff: “I’ve spoken to mutual friends, and it’s not true they are divorcing. What is actually happening is they are trying now to undo the damage they did with the Harry & Meghan documentary and Spare, which made them into a toxic couple. The first way to do that is to allow Meghan to get away from the victim narrative and away from Harry so people can see who she is.

“Meghan needs to forget about being a duchess and forget about good works. She has been isolated in Montecito and hiding away. But she is fun and funny, which is why we became friends. There wasn’t anything fun in [the documentary] or in the [Spotify] podcasts. If they are wise, they will copy the Beckhams, where each half of the couple has their own “thing” and they do only a small amount together. She could easily earn a million dollars. There is a lot of money which she will make very easily—as long as she does it away from him.”

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When Fergie was “the single greatest threat to the monarchy”

A senior palace aide described Sarah Ferguson as “the single greatest threat to the monarchy” because of her 1989 children’s book, Budgie, the Little Helicopter, and tried to stop it from coming out, the Telegraph reports.

John Sargent, former head of the children’s books at publisher Simon & Schuster, relates the incident in his new memoir, Turning Pages: The Adventures and Misadventures of a Publisher, to be published by Arcade on Sept. 19. Sargent says he rushed to London from America after a U.S. publicity tour was blocked by the palace. He says he asked Fergie whether she wanted to promote the book and she replied, “Of course I do, but they won’t let me.”

He writes, per the Telegraph, that he told an unnamed senior aide “that the Duchess had to come to New York; plans had been made and cancelling would be viewed badly by the press. He explained that the story had to die. Now. The Duchess would be staying in London. The conversation quickly got heated. Finally, I said that I had a great respect for their opinions and expertise, but I had a contract that was signed by the Duchess, and it required her to be in New York… Finally, we all agreed that a short trip to New York would be manageable.”

He adds that as he walked out the aide “asked if he could have a word. He apologized for being difficult. He understood it was about business for me. He explained that the royal family was different from anything I had ever experienced: ‘Think of it this way, John. The royal family is like a Fortune 500 company, but in this case all of the management are relatives, and many of them are in-laws.’ And then he told me that the Duchess of York was the single greatest threat to the monarchy in the current era, and his job was to control that threat. He feared her lack of grace and popularity would stain them all.”

Harry battles on

Despite seeing his media strategy be comprehensively torpedoed by William, Kate, Princess Anne and his cousin’s husband Mike Tindall, who released a splashy video podcast recorded at Windsor Castle just hours before Harry opened the Invictus Games in Germany, Harry isn’t giving up. Yesterday evening he flew by helicopter to the studios of Germany’s pre-eminent sports program to appear as a special guest.

In one of the challenges he had six shots to try and kick a ball into a cut out target. He missed them all, the Daily Mail reports. Also missing was Harry from the front pages of the British newspapers today; those that do have a royal on them have gone with Kate, beaming out of the stands at the opening of the rugby world cup in Paris.

Harry will be in Germany for the Games all week, and Meghan is still expected to join him next weekend for the closing ceremony, despite her name somewhat mysteriously slipping off the official media notices.

This week in royal history

Happy birthday Prince Harry—he turns 39 on September 15.

Unanswered questions

How will Meghan and Harry’s separate business lives end up working—and will the modus operandi prove successful? William and Kate are stepping up their PR game—what next after their torpedoing of Harry’s launch of the Invictus Games?