Kate is ‘very distressed’ over Mother’s Day photo fallout, why senior royals are ‘frustrated’ at calls for them to ‘step up’ – and how Charles wants to go abroad this autumn: The 14 things we learnt from REBECCA ENGLISH’s Mailbox Q&A
The Mail’s Royal Editor REBECCA ENGLISH
MailOnline readers joined Rebecca English today for a question and answer session in our new Mailbox series.
The Mail’s Royal Editor covered a variety of topics including how Kate feels ‘very distressed’ by the fallout from the Mother’s Day photo row.
She also looked at how some senior royals are ‘frustrated’ at calls for them to ‘step up’ – and how Charles is hoping to go on a foreign trip this autumn.
Other topics included whether Prince Harry would ever be welcomed back as a senior royal – and where he might stay if he visits Britain this summer.
Here, MailOnline goes back through the Q&A to bring you all the highlights:
Kate is ‘very distressed by the fallout’ from photo row
The Princess of Wales is ‘very distressed by the fallout’ after she admitted digitally editing a family portrait taken by Prince William, according to Rebecca.
The picture was released by Kensington Palace to mark Mother’s Day on Sunday and prompted an apology from Kate, which Rebecca said was ‘honest and heartfelt’.
The Princess – who has not been seen at a public royal event since Christmas Day – was ‘simply was trying to put out a nice picture of her children’, Rebecca added.
She also said she hoped ‘lessons have been learnt internally’ at Kensington Palace but that the public should ‘accept the apology equally graciously and move on’.
On Sunday, Kensington Palace released the first picture of the Princess of Wales since surgery
Some senior royals ‘frustrated at ‘stepping up’ suggestion
The slimmed-down monarchy is facing continued pressure to remain visible – and Rebecca wrote that the issue ‘has been at forefront of public thinking recently’.
She said the King has always been a ‘big advocate’ of the idea but ‘never expected to lose his son, daughter-in-law and brother as working royals in one fell swoop’.
Rebecca also said ‘some of the senior royals are a little frustrated at the suggestion they need to ‘step up’ more’, given how many engagements they already carry out.
Princess Anne and the Edinburghs are among those working hard, but Rebecca said: ‘Apart from perhaps the odd extra investiture, how much more can they do?’
She added that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will ‘clearly not become working royals – should they want to, of course – for another decade or two’.
Prince Edward and Sophie at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham yesterday. Rebecca said ‘some of the senior royals are a little frustrated at the suggestion they need to ‘step up’ more’ given what they already do – but did not reveal who these royals were
Harry could only come back as a guest at family occasions
The Duke of Sussex has not been a working royal since he stepped down in early 2020 and moved to the US – and has only made occasional trips to the UK since.
Rebecca believes he would never now be accepted back into the Royal Family because ‘too much water has flown under the bridge’ since his departure.
However, she also wrote that there ‘may come a time’ when Prince Harry ‘would be accepted as a guest at family occasions’ – but not as a working royal.
Charles ‘doesn’t want to humiliate Harry’ by removing titles
Rebecca said she ‘absolutely does not’ believe King Charles will remove royal titles from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex despite the events of recent years.
She revealed she had ‘asked this question many times, of many people’, but Charles believes it would be ‘punitive’ and he ‘would not want to humiliate his son’.
Rebecca added: ‘Some see this as a weakness, but many others think it is a sign of a man who simply loves his son, however personally disappointed he is.’
William, Harry, Meghan and Charles at the Commonwealth Service in London in March 2019
Harry is most likely to return to Balmoral this summer
In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America last month, Prince Harry said he had trips planned that ‘would take me through the UK or back to the UK’.
He added that he would ‘stop in and see my family as much as I can’ – and Rebecca said she believes the Duke will bring his children with him at some point.
She added that her ‘best guess’ is that he will visit Balmoral in summer because the estate is ‘exceptionally private’ compared to the likes of Windsor and Sandringham.
She wrote that there are a ‘number of properties’ there, so other relatives ‘wouldn’t have to be under the same roof, and there is a lot of space if it gets too much.’
Addressing whether Meghan would come with him, Rebecca said: ‘Harry, as we know, was very keen to have her at Balmoral with him when the Queen died.’
The front entrance to Balmoral Castle, pictured on September 8, 2023 with flowers outside to mark the first anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II
William won’t want George to inherit Duchy for a while
Rebecca was asked by a reader whether there was an age requirement in order to hold the title Prince of Wales, and she replied: ‘Historically, no.’
She said Charles could have been made Prince of Wales aged three, but Queen Elizabeth II decided there was ‘no rush’ and announced it when he was nine.
Charles was eventually 20 when he was invested, and Rebecca added: ‘The modern-day Duchy of Cornwall, which is the private estate which funds the heir to the throne, is nowadays a very complex organisation worth more than £1billion’.
She said she would ‘expect that is something William wouldn’t want Prince George to inherit until he was significantly older’. George is currently ten years old.
William and Kate with Prince George at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in July last year
More pressure on Kate to share medical procedure details
Rebecca agreed with a reader suggesting there was more pressure for Kate to share her medical details ‘considering King Charles and Fergie were so transparent’.
However, she said that was ‘not to say I think she should bow to that pressure’, adding: ‘Kate and William have to do what they think is best for their family.’
Rebecca also said there had been a ‘contrast between the very regular appearances of the King in public and the deafening silence from Kensington Palace’.
And she said this lack of public announcements relating to Kate had ‘unfortunately added to fuel to the fires of the rumour-mongers’.
Prince William and Kate were spotted leaving Windsor together by car on Monday afternoon
William and Kate have George’s name down for Eton
Rebecca said George’s name has been down for Eton College for years because it is so close to Windsor, where his parents William and Kate hope to live long-term.
But she said the decision on the Prince’s next school is very complex because ‘there are huge security implications for the family, school and other parents’.
Rebecca also said the Waleses are ‘exploring other options’ for George instead of Eton – which is where Princes Harry and William both attended.
William, Kate and their children at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour in June last year
Charles doesn’t drink water to avoid ‘comfort breaks’
Rebecca wrote at length about how Charles ‘really is a workaholic’ and will often pack in ten to 12 engagements on a royal tour as well as working late into the night.
She added: ‘Notoriously, he never stops for lunch when working – and doesn’t even drink water so to negate the need for what they refer to as ‘comfort breaks’.’
Rebecca said the ‘biggest challenge’ for Charles and his staff when he returns to public-facing duties following his cancer treatment ‘will be trying to pace things’.
She also wrote that he will be ‘raring to get back to work but I’m sure his doctors will want him to take it a bit easier’ as he considers what engagements to carry out.
Charles and Camilla visit the Pakistan town of Pattika in 2006 after it was hit by an earthquake
William is more hurt by Harry on behalf of Kate and Queen
William and Harry have continued to distance themselves from each other in recent months, and appeared at last night’s Diana Legacy Award at different times.
The pair did not meet when Harry spent time with the King at Clarence House after news of his cancer diagnosis last month. Harry published his memoir Spare last year, in which he accused William of pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.
One reader asked Rebecca whether she thought the brothers ‘will ever bury the hatchet’, and she replied that ‘a year or so ago I would have said yes’.
Sources told her that ‘they had been through so much as brothers that they couldn’t envisage a time when they wouldn’t make it up at some point down the line’.
This was even the case after the Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021. But Rebecca said the interviews Harry has since given and the release of Spare had ‘changed that’.
She said William was ‘very hurt and angry’, but ‘on behalf of his wife and late grandmother, the Queen, who he believes Harry has greatly disrespected’.
Harry and William at the unveiling of a Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace in July 2021
Charles is keen to go to Commonwealth meeting in Samoa
Rebecca revealed that she knows Charles is ‘keen’ to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa this autumn, along with Australia.
But this is ‘very much still in the balance’ – with the monarch, who is undergoing treatment for cancer and currently not carrying out public engagements.
Rebecca added: ‘Even if he is back at work by then, that would be a particularly gruelling trip for someone who has so recently undergone cancer treatment.’
King Charles III during the recording of the King’s Commonwealth message in February
William and Harry would not be at war if Diana was around
Rebecca said that the tense situation between Princes Harry and William would be very different if their mother Princess Diana had not died in 1997.
She wrote: ‘Truthfully, I don’t believe things would have got to this stage if Diana hadn’t passed. She would have been a glue that held things together.
‘I think it’s very difficult for many of us to comprehend just how devastating it was for them to lose their mother at such a young and impressionable age.’
Last night, Harry and William made separate addresses to honour those working to further their mother’s legacy at the Diana Legacy Award in London.
The brothers avoided each other, with William appearing in person for the ceremony and Harry speaking to the young people present afterwards via a livestream.
William and Harry together after Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in September 1997
Kate is aware of health rumours and finds them ‘upsetting’
The Princess of Wales has found discussion and rumours about her health and welfare on social media ‘understandably upsetting’ in recent weeks, Rebecca said.
While Kate does not have her own social media accounts, Rebecca said the Princess is ‘not unaware of some of what’s been said’.
She added: ‘The Wales’ attitude has been not to react to the trolls – why give them the oxygen of publicity – which is understandable in many respects.’
However, Rebecca added that Kensington Palace had been a ‘little naïve in thinking that one of the most famous women in the world could disappear without trace for three months without people worrying about her’.
She added that royal aides ‘should have given some more proactive updates sooner’, which ‘would have gone some way to skewering the conjecture’.
Kate was last seen on Christmas Day 2023 with her family attending church at Sandringham
Kate is still expected to return to royal duties after Easter
The Mother’s Day photo saga has intensified speculation concerning Kate, her health and her whereabouts – as she has not been seen at a royal event since Christmas.
Kate had surgery at the London Clinic on January 16, but details of her condition have been kept private, and she is not set to return to official duties until after Easter.
And Rebecca said: ‘It’s unlikely we will hear much more until she is ready to come back to public duties. The last time I checked, this was still likely to be after Easter.’
You can read Rebecca English’s Mailbox Q&A session again by clicking here
