Robert Lacey
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  • Home
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    • Latest Books

      Battle of Brothers

      June 24, 2021

      Latest Books

      The Crown Volume 2: The Official Companion

      November 19, 2019

      Latest Books

      The Crown: The Official Companion

      October 1, 2017

      8.3
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      June 16, 2015

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How anger at Harry and Meghan ran deep at Prince Philip’s funeral

June 22, 2021
How anger at Harry and Meghan ran deep at Prince Philip’s funeral

Despite outward appearances of reconciliation, ill feeling still pervaded the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, writes Robert Lacey in this extract from his new book in The Times.

Prince Philip started feeling below par early in February 2021 — and on the evening of Tuesday, February 16 he headed to King Edward VII’s Hospital in central London for a few days of “observation and rest”. After two weeks the duke was transferred to St Bartholomew’s, where he spent some time recuperating following what the palace described as “a successful heart procedure” on March 3. But matters were starting to look more serious. Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview was scheduled for broadcast on March 7 in the US and March 8 in the UK, and commentators were urging CBS and ITV to postpone their screenings. The broadcasters and the Sussexes ignored the appeals and the programmes went ahead.

Philip was unconcerned, according to his friend and biographer Gyles Brandreth. What did worry him, said Brandreth, was “the couple’s preoccupation with their own problems”. “I know from someone close to him,’’ revealed the author and broadcaster, “that he thought Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey was ‘madness’ and ‘no good would come of it’.”

Prince Philip died in his sleep at Windsor Castle three weeks and three days after leaving hospital, unable to play any part in his family’s response to grandson Harry and his wife’s wounding accusations of racism and indifference that had, by Meghan’s account, driven her to the brink of suicide.

The Queen had said all that she wished to in her official four-sentence reply. Prince Charles could only manage a feeble chuckle — yes, chuckle! — in response to a reporter’s shouted question: “What did you think of the interview, sir?” But Prince William had his own response ready and waiting. “We are very much not a racist family,” William declared — speaking out clearly and firmly to a group of reporters through his facemask, with all the anger of a man whose brother had linked him to those lethal code words “unconscious bias”. It was very obvious who was going to be the family’s next Prince Philip — though hopefully without all the gaffes.

When it came to the funeral the following weekend, William and his grandmother worked out together how, in the prevailing circumstances, he could not possibly walk in harmony with Harry behind his grandfather’s coffin in the way that he might have done in the past. The device of recruiting cousin Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s beefy son, to serve as a diplomatic buffer between the two brothers had been deployed before — two years earlier at the Easter Sunday service at Windsor in April 2019, after William and Harry had gone public with the news that they were splitting their combined households.

Prince Philip’s funeral was a moving service that Saturday, April 17, 2021, rendered the more mournful and tender by the pandemic restrictions — the spare and spaced congregation, the black masks that so conveniently kept private emotions private and the purity and simplicity of the sound from the four-person choir echoing in the empty chancel.

But family anger ran deep. It was not by accident that neither Anne nor Sophie exchanged a public word with Harry in the course of the afternoon. People felt incensed by what they saw as the calculated and focused cruelty of the TV interview and by the hypocrisy of Meghan — relating so brightly to Oprah how she had phoned the Queen to show her concern about Philip’s condition without even considering, apparently, the impact that their televised catalogue of grievance might have upon the invalid’s morale and health.

And then came the episode of the wreath. “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul, in the name of God the Father Almighty who created thee . . .” The Dean of Windsor was just addressing the final commendation to the congregation in the chapel when journalists’ phones started to “ping”. Timed at 15.39 BST (British Summer Time), just before the end of the funeral service, it was a tweet from Omid Scobie, the royal editor for Harper’s Bazaar and the co-author of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex biography Finding Freedom, passing on Harper’s Bazaar’s 15.35 report on the “sentimental tribute” from the Sussexes “to the late Prince Philip at his funeral today”.

“BAZAAR.com can confirm that Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan [sic] contributed a custom wreath that was laid in honor of the Duke of Edinburgh at his funeral service at Windsor Castle today. A card, handwritten by Meghan herself, also accompanied the wreath.” The Sussexes’ wreath could be seen at that moment leaning among the other eight simple white and green family tributes in St George’s Chapel propped against the stalls on either side of the duke’s coffin, and it had already attracted some attention on account of its unconventional and rather autumnal pinkish-brown flowers.

The detailed Sussex press release explained why this was so. Harry and Meghan had, apparently, invited their favourite Cotswold florist to handpick locally sourced flowers — Acanthus mollis (bear’s breech), the national flower of Greece, to represent the prince’s birthplace, together with Eryngium (sea holly) recognising his connection with the Royal Marines. “The wreath also features campanula for gratitude and everlasting love, rosemary to signify remembrance, lavender for devotion and roses in honour of June being Philip’s birth month.” There had been no press release about any of the other family tributes. They were all “private”, explained Buckingham Palace aides, declining to provide any details. Only the Queen’s funeral wreath had been a matter of some restrained disclosure – “white blooms including lilies, roses, freesia and sweet peas”. These had all been chosen personally by the Queen to be placed on top of her husband’s coffin, together with a concealed handwritten card that was thought to bear the childhood name by which he fondly called her — “Lilibet”.

But when it came to Meghan and Harry’s wreath there was still more data to absorb. In case you might want to commission a wreath like this for yourself, the details were provided of Willow Crossley, the florist “that the Sussexes had turned to time and time again for special occasions”, including their May 2018 wedding reception and Archie’s christening. “Do you feel you got enough recognition for your wreath now, Meghan?” asked one Twitter user sarcastically. “Did your PR work how you wanted?” “She just can’t help herself,” came a response that seemed to speak for many. “Me. Me. Me. It’s quite sickening.”

The wreath from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, second right. GETTY IMAGES

Wreaths aside, there were two powerful memories that most viewers took away from the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle on April 17, 2021. The first was of that final commendation farewell, when the duke’s coffin, draped in his personal standard and bearing his naval sword and cap, started its slow and oh-so-mortal descent into the vault beneath the chapel.

The second more joyful memory, occurred after the service, as Prince Charles emerged into the bright afternoon sunlight and stripped his facemask from his ears. The prince had clearly been crying, but he had the presence of mind to dismiss the waiting funeral cars with a wave of his hand — leading to a finale that no one had expected. Instead of driving up the hill to the castle in the wake of the Queen who left first in her limousine, the rest of the family blinked and straggled out into the fresh air, talking to each other mask-less.

Every TV viewer around the world noted what seemed to be a touching reunion between William and Harry after the funeral. The sight of the two brothers walking together across the courtyard chatting to each other with apparent animation — and even smiling, were they? — was as if their now open and processionally proclaimed rift had never been. And many noted how discreetly Kate, having got the pair of them talking, moved off sideways to leave them together — “Perfect Queen material!” remarked one royal correspondent approvingly.

The apparent reunion inspired one British newspaper to claim hopefully that the brotherly encounter had led to a two-hour family conference or “mini-summit” of reconciliation — but this was firmly denied by both sides.

Harry, for his part, proudly showed around snaps of Archie on his mobile phone, then later let it be known via the ever helpful Scobie that he had seen the Queen twice before he got back on the plane to California on Monday. His grandmother liked to walk her dogs in the grounds of Frogmore House, so it seemed likely that he had joined her there.

Meanwhile, William and Kate, after saying goodbye to Charles, who headed to Wales where he had been mourning at his Llandovery estate, went back to Kensington Palace together to put the children to bed. They told friends that they could see no point in talking to Harry, since any discussion of substance would go straight back to Meghan to be leaked out via Oprah or some other tentacle of the Sussex network that had not stopped spreading stories in the weeks since the interview that the couple’s friends had promised would be their final word.

©Robert Lacey 2021 Extracted from the updated paperback of Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, to be published by William Collins on June 24 at £9.99

The Battle of Brothers extracts in The Times:

● Extract one: Prince William ‘split his household from Prince Harry after Meghan bullying claims’
● Extract two: What went wrong between Prince Charles and Prince Harry
● Extract three: Meghan’s diamond earrings: the ugly truth about her wedding gift

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Robert Lacey

Robert Lacey

British historian and writer

Robert Lacey is a British historian noted for his original research, which gets him close to – and often living alongside – his subjects. He is the author of numerous international bestsellers. lege felicter - may you read happily

Lege feliciter - may you read happily

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As the Platinum Jubilee begins with news of Camill As the Platinum Jubilee begins with news of Camilla’s elevated status, the Queen, Charles and William are making the big decisions as a trio. 

Robert Lacey writes in @thetimes. Article also on Robert’s website: Robertlacey.com

#robertlacey #platinumjubilee #royalfamily #thequeen
Robert lacey writes for the BBC as The Queen celeb Robert lacey writes for the BBC as The Queen celebrates her #platinumjubilee 

Full article on the BBC website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60201088
As we approach the 70th anniversary of The Queen’s accession on February 6th, Robert Lacey selects his top pick of books about the Royal Family and The Queen. 

shepherd.com/best-books/about-the-queen

#royalfamily #PlatinumJubilee
Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult

First published in hardback: 15 October 2020

What drove Prince William and Prince Harry from the closest of brothers into very different, now distanced men? How has the painful, public unravelling of Prince Charles and Diana’s marriage reverberated through generations? What parts have Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle played in helping their husbands to choose divergent paths? And how does the Queen feel, marshalling her feuding heirs and looking ahead to the future of the British monarchy?

Moving and unvarnished, this is the most intimate insight yet of division in the royal family.

#battleofbrothers #royalfamily #harryandmeghan #williamandkate #britishmonarchy #robertlacey #christmasreads
Little Man - Meyer Lansky and the gangster life by Little Man - Meyer Lansky and the gangster life by Robert Lacey in 1991

Little Man is a book about organised crime unlike any other yet written. If, in the mythology of organised crime, Al Capone symbolised the crude menace of the machine gun and the baseball bat, Meyer Lansky stood for the brains, the sophistication, the hot money, the sheer cleverness of it all. This brilliant biography and social history separates the strands of fact and legend in Meyer Lansky’s – the Godfather of Godfathers – career, revealing a truth about the gangster life in America that is far more fascinating and dramatic than fiction.

#biography 
#meyerlansky 
#americanhistory 
#robertlacey
Extracts from Robert Lacey's book "Battle of Broth Extracts from Robert Lacey's book "Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult" are being featured in The Times this week. 

In Today's article Robert Lacey said allegations against the Duchess of Sussex led to a bitter row between brothers who were once inseparable.

You can read the full article from the link in the bio.

#MeghanandHarry
#WilliamandKate
#TheCrown
#BattleofBrothers
#RoyalFamily
Speaking earlier, Robert Lacey said: “Prince Ph Speaking earlier, Robert Lacey said:

“Prince Philip has been such an integral part of our life. Playing such a key role in the life of the nation.

It was no accident that we decided to feature Prince Philip very strongly in the Crown episode about the moon landing – capturing his interests in science and how he came to understand that science can only take you so far. He went on to develop a strong personal religious faith.

He also helped in bringing the monarchy into touch with everyday life in a fresh way. So many of The Queen’s fresh ideas and fresh initiatives came from this remarkable man.

Prince Philip will be remembered for his sardonic smile, hands behind the back, often unfailingly 2 steps behind Her Majesty. Always there in the most supporting sense.”

Photograph from 1972 in Robert Lacey's book Majesty. “Queen Elizabeth was always front, but Prince Philip was always center.”
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