People Magazine did two cover stories this week, one for Robert DeNiro and one for King Charles. Their exclusive cover story was written in a hurry, in the 24 hours after the palace announced that Charles has cancer. Previously, I was surprised that People Mag included quotes about how the king has “not looked himself” in recent months, because I wasn’t expecting anyone to admit that. Charles isn’t the only member of the royal family who has seemed visibly unwell over the past year, but at least we’re allowed to talk about it now. Anyway, People dropped more exclusives from their cover story and they’re worth discussing:
Camilla’s importance: “She is his strength and stay like [Prince Philip] was for the late Queen,” a palace insider tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s issue. “She will be great. She will rally him, she will buoy him. She is amazing. She equips him to do the job he has to do.”
It’s up to Prince William and Queen Camilla to be the face of the monarchy. “It is hard with Kate being ill as well, but he will step up,” a source close to the royal household says of Prince William.
There are currently no plans to appoint Counsellors of State to act on King Charles’ behalf. “He wouldn’t want to put that pressure on William,” says the source. “He has always wanted to save his children from having that pressure too early and that will remain. Particularly as William has other priorities [with Kate]. William will do his best, but the King will want to carry on with his duties as best he can,” says the source close to the royal household.
William is in regular contact: A royal source tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s issue that the Prince of Wales, 41, is in regular contact with his father amid the news of the King’s cancer diagnosis.
Charles will work from home: “Yes, he’s going to step back from public duties for a considerable time, but there will be plenty of work for him — it just won’t necessarily be in a room with hundreds of people,” says royal biographer Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy. Adds the palace insider: “He will want to get on with the job. But that will depend on what treatment he is having. It may be utterly draining on him. He will need a lot of support.”
As I said, this was written mostly on Monday and Tuesday. By Tuesday evening, Kensington Palace had informed the Daily Mail that William would disappear back into his gopher hole after his events on Wednesday and that it would probably be another month or two before anyone sees him again. This was also written before William turned up to the Wednesday investiture ceremony visibly under the influence. My point is that all of these pronouncements about “he will step up” are just the 2024 version of “promises to be keen.” Whatever William is doing these days, it’s a huge issue for the monarchy and everyone in Peg’s orbit. Also: they keep basically admitting that Charles and William haven’t seen each other in person at all? It’s crazy even for the dysfunctional Windsors.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of People.
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- Prince William, The Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales photographed as the Royal Family gather on the balcony following the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace in London, UK on 06 May 2023.,Image: 774232621, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- (left to right 1st row) the Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: William Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Catherine Princess of Wales and Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III wearing the St Edward’s Crown and Queen Camilla wearing the Queen Mary’s Crown during their coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: Queen Camilla and King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince Edward, The Prince of Wales kisses his father King Charles III during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: Prince Edward and King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The British Royal family make an appearence on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Coronation Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The British Royal family make an appearence on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Coronation Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince William of Wales during appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the flypast after the procession and the coronation of the new King and Queen at Westminster Abbey in London, UK. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
The man is in his 40s. Putting pressure on him now is not “too early.”
Also, Kate is ill? LOL I thought she was recovering.
Drips and drops.
This!!! Pressure to early? William is over 40!!! He is not QEII who became queen in her 20s, omg.
HeatherC, I read this as having been sourced by Camzilla and to me it drips with sugar-laced venom.
I think Cams is making it clear they won’t be ceding one iota of power to William.
You read my mind, even referring to the sons as children. My God William is 41 years old.
So Punxsutawney Bill crawled out of his hole on Wednesday, saw his brother’s shadow, and decided to crawl back in for another month. Must be the winter of his discontent.
@Water Lilly: chef’s kiss!
Good one, Water Lilly.
If not now, then when??? He’s 40+ years old! Time he started practicing on the job. It’s shameful that an 18 year old in Denmark is more of a man than Peg will ever be!
They act like being the king is important and that he has some sort of real work to do. he doesn’t run the country, so many people openly dislike him, he’s not needed for international affairs. sure, he does some charitable stuff, but i seriously doubt anything changes at all, which is the real proof that the royals are just lazy scammers who live off the dole and are not necessary at all. abolish the monarchy, they’re leeches.
Amen. All Charles has to do is have a standing meeting with the PM and appear for some ceremonies in Parliament. The rest of his ‘work’ is optional. I do give Charles some credit for advocating for historic preservation and organic farming. That’s it.
Which is why the fact William is being kept hidden is so strange. The monarchists should be insisting he be seen daily right now. And they aren’t. So whatever is going on with him and Kate is very very bad. This is the end of the monarchy. Because with only Camilla being seen for the next few months. Everyone will realize that nothing has really changed. And that they honestly don’t do anything.
Pressure too early?!!! What exactly is the point of this guy? His entire life has been supposedly in training for his ” duty”, “service” or whatever else they claim the Sussexes have ” abandoned”. How is it pressure to have him step up and do the job? He’s in his 40s for goodness sake. They don’t want to stress him? I would be having a rage aneurysm if I was a British citizen on my way to work, probably for wages which are not what I am deserving reading this tripe.
I said similar below. Can you imagine?
Regular Britt’s have parents in poor health, spouses in poor health, no full time staff, and they still have to get up and go to their real job and manage their house every day.
And they have to hear about Poor William?!
They never use their favorite phrase ‘a safe pair of hands’ to describe Billy do they? NOPE, he has other priorities.
No they don’t. We saw this when the Queen was slowing down because no one doubted Charles could take over. They are not saying the same about William.
They are making William out to be a delicate child. He’s being even more infantilized than Kate at this point.
Spot on.
“I was born to lead men” 🤣🤣🤣
A minute of silence for the brave journalists that fought a battle against common sense and facts. By ” stepping up” what they mean is that William is trampling on their little hearts. But they have to carry on because journalism is dead and nobody will care about their reports tomorrow.
Anyway, every time they write Williams´s POV, their noses grow an inch longer.
I would pay a good amount of money to watch any of these royals work a real job. “Putting too much pressure on William”…to do…what exactly?
I really hope this whole debacle is showing the British public how useless these people are.
I see Will took a breather from rage briefing against Harry to get in a “I’m not going to work just because Pa’s ill” brief.
Its going to be pretty sad seeing Charles clock in more engagements while getting treatments than Willnot.
Yeah, but that will likely, finally, lead to open criticisms of Blinky. Hiding behind his kids will get old real fast, unless something unspeakable happens to Kate.
Maybe that’s what he’s planning to do? Incapacitate Keen to hide behind the children’s so-called ‘needs’. What this man is doing in plain sight is reprehensible. He’s had many chances to find a purpose or a passion, or to build his portfolio before he ascends the throne and what is he doing? Going into lockdown because he’s terrified of his own shadow. This is the heir his father deserves.
So, if the gov’t would ask for a senior royal to visit a country, meet a visiting dignitary, hold a state dinner or attend a funeral, they’ll just be told the pow has other priorities and the king doesn’t want COS’s filing in. I guess it’s Anne, Ed and Sophie(who?). QEII is turning over in her grave, her entire live was duty to the crown.
I know Elizabeth and Philip take a lot of criticism on this site, but they were absolute workhorses almost up until their deaths at such elderly ages. They were so devoted to the Crown and Britain and they would be horrified to see how little William is able to manage.
He will step up…. eventually…maybe. It’s been more than a decade that we are told that William is keen to….. We still haven’t seen anything.
W did something bad. Most likely to K. (To her face, if I were to continue guessing, because that would explain why she hasn’t been seen. She literally hasn’t shown her face since Xmas.)
Whatever it is, it’s so bad that everyone outside KP and the RR with ties to it are actively distancing themselves away. KC3 wasn’t good at face to face meetings about anything significant with family anyway. There’s no way he’d want to be around his rageaholic son now, given whatever W did and KC3 cancer stricken state.
Also might be why W is briefing so much against Harry – super mad that his dad is seeing Harry but not him.
Remember that UK journo who tweeted something about how he can’t wait until the BM can finally say what they know about W?
There’s something in the air. The BM seem both excited and afraid.
Desperately trying to back track from the vile Sussex coverage as a hedge against fallout in case they see a path to turn on the brother they’ve been protecting all this time. They trashed Charles back in the day, so “but protect the monarchy!!!” wasn’t something the UK press cared so much about 20-30 years ago.
This is an interesting angle. That William is furious about Harry’s visit is bc Charles refuses to see him.
Not only did Charles see Harry Charles also has his office make arrangements for a full security team to meet Harry at the airport and bring him to Clarence House. And it was filmed like breaking news.
I’d be willing to bet that sent a message to William that he was in deep trouble with Charles.
I hadn’t considered that Charles might be refusing to see William. It would be understandable as he does not need that rage in his life. Sorry for speculating, but if, and it’s a big if, Kate suffered a stroke during surgery she might not be able to speak clearly and for sure wouldn’t want a photo for quite a while.
Chuck refuses to see Willy and is broadcasting that Will is not the person he can handover important matters during cancer treatment? Wow, someone is in trouble.
It is such a perfect opportunity to show continuity, how capable the heir is, how much trust king has in his heir. There is also easy way to ensure that king still has power but can perfectly delegate some parts of kinging.
Wills is either incapable (whatever reason) or is getting banned. It is getting interesting.
“if, Kate suffered a stroke during surgery she might not be able to speak clearly”
Lulu, Kate already couldn’t speak clearly…
That’s a probable conclusion to draw, that’s why there’s been the obvious freezing out of William by BP and Charles since her hospitalization briefing.
Whatever has happened to Kate is both egregious and embarrassing to “The Institution”, therefore Charles is distancing himself from William.
Whatever happened to Kate, she can’t be photographed, at all. An abdominal surgery would not account for that – with an abdominal surgery we would still have gotten a picture of Kate in the car waving bravely as she left the clinic (even if she immediately reclined the seat afterwards).
Given that it’s been over a month since she’s been seen in any capacity, and almost a month since her surgery, I’m….not sure what to think. I think a stroke makes a lot of sense – it could explain the lack of pictures, it could explain not seeing her leave the hospital if she can’t walk, etc.
But I am also starting to think there is some credence to the theories about domestic violence- more so than I thought a week ago. William looked unhealthy and…..just a little nervous, almost scared at that investiture. There’s a reason he isn’t seeing Charles, especially after Harry’s visit made international headlines. If he was seeing him, we would hear something like “while harry’s visit was news around the world, William has been seeing his father in a more private capacity on a regular basis.” But we haven’t heard that, which means that KP can’t put that out there bc they’re afraid BP will shoot it down.
This is just so messy and weird.
It is indeed messy and weird.
The total radio silence is what is eerie. No pictures. No day-to-day updates about how she’s focused on getting better, how the kids are doing. No “they’re concentrating on their family but Will will step up to help is dad like a statesman would.” Will did two events and then said ‘no more’ (and he looks BAD and seemed drunk at the first event).
The weirded part to me are two things:
1) the total silence and lack of visibility from the Middletons. We know CarolE loves being royal adjacent, and she loves everyone knowing how much access she has to the FFK. We also know her reputation is in the toilet and that a dose of “CarolE steps up to help her ailing daughter and is a lynchpin for her grandkids” would generate sympathetic coverage. I mean, look at the glowing coverage Queen Sidepiece has gotten for how she’s handled Chuck’s illness! Which makes it even more bizarre that we haven’t seen any of the Middletons (especially CarolE) or heard about how they’re helping the Wails during this time of trouble.
2) The same silence in the face of Chuck’s illness about how Kate is being so brave and concentrating on healing because she’s the “Most Keenest Lynchpin Ever and Is Needed to Hold the Firm Together.” Or how she’s “Reluctant to Become Queen Because the Kids are Still Babies! But She’ll Step Up Without Putting a Foot Wrong Whenever She Becomes Queen!” The usual briefing surrounding her seems to have stopped, and it’s WEIRD.
Me too @Becks1 — and the Midds have gone radio silence, even blabbermouth Uncle Gary. The silence is deafening and William is running scared in case someone spills the beans. More and more I fear what happened to Kate, this IS messy and weird and it make me feel sick.
Hmm, DV. Could’ve been a broken rib that punctured her liver.
Yea, IMO it’s bad enough that she was too poorly to do a staged, filtered-to-the-gods photo through a burry car window. But even if her injuries are too obvious right now, if they were sure she’d eventually heal then they could release an old photo and just pretend it’s new. We know they’re not above sitting on pre-scheduled press campaigns, they do it with her engagements to cover for long absences all the time. It’s really, really bleak that they don’t even feel comfortable doing that at the moment.
The rota have been trotting out some fluff stories, but they almost read as sarcastic to me, as if they’re daring someone to question them. Ingrid Seward had a story about how supposedly Kate was enjoying some homemade curry. Like, curry? After abdominal surgery? And yet we’re the a*holes if we question her precious medical privacy? Like please, that’s bait, they’re desperate to talk about what’s really happening here and the fact they’ve been so restrained thus far speaks volumes about how serious this really is.
Add in those headlines at CarolE’s birthday that this year was CarolE’s annus horribilis and the other reprint of an old story that her deepest fear was losing her daughter. The press knows that Kate is not well. This is too much mystery shrouding an abdominal surgery. There have been no official updates. I hope she is okay but I am getting apprehensive.
The more time passes without a proof of life photo of kate the wilder the potential theories will be. KP has proven to be liars for years now so they won’t be trusted with vague answers. And BP held a masterclass on how to handle a serious medical issue and shut down most questions.
It looks unprofessional at this point.
Oh…Charles refusing to see Will could be a possibility!
Personally, I think they’ve found Charles terminal. It was announced to family at Christmas time and Willy freaked out. That connects to what happened to Kate. Willy hurt her, dumped her and she had a breakdown, or, maybe, he showed such explosive temper she left with the kids.
It’s been fascinating to watch the behaviour of the rota and which stories they are staying pointedly away from. Lots of coverage for Camilla heroically saving the monarchy, tons of stories about Harry’s visit to Charles, but Will and Kate are like a glaring hole in the coverage.
Either the rota has been promised something for holding the stories or they are afraid of printing something that will later turn around to bite them. For example, where are the details about how brave superdad William is taking such great care of his wife? Where are the Middleton sources about how Kate is recovering so well and keen to get back to work? Where are the stories about how of course William is stepping up and comparing him to the queen? Where are the stories about how William is a great, supportive son even if he is quiet, not like some flashy California royals that fly in for a whirlwind visit! They should be having a field day, and instead there’s just a large Wails-shaped hole in the coverage. I can only conclude that whatever the rota knows about what is going on, it’s something which is going to prove such stories to be false. They’ll cover up a lot, but if one or both of the Wails is really in rehab/ treatment or a mental facility right now and they’re writing lies about them all being happy together in Adelaide cottage, it will look terrible.
At this point this has got to be HUGE. I mentioned in another post that the BM had a blackout on Edward VIII’s affair with Wallace Simpson and the public didn’t know anything at all about it until the relationship was revealed the day before the abdication. Imagine suppressing that information the day before the king abdicates. And all the international media covered it but the Brits were kept in the dark. This is history repeating itself with the BM is staying true to form colluding with this cover-up. I’m just hoping that there will be more coverage in the international media to blow this lid wide-open.
This would also fit with them making it known Charles and Camilla visited Kate. They’ll see her, but not him.
That’s the detail that feels so odd. Was it just one rota that reported they visited or was it a consensus from the rota. I can’t remember. Either way, I’ve been thinking about how Charles has been making a point to call Kate his beloved daughter-in-law. I swear he’s done it 2 or 3 times in the past year. Looking back, it’s almost as if he’s trying to say, hey, if something happens, it wasn’t me.
That makes me fearful for the Sussexes. If anything about Kate’s condition is leaked, they will be blamed.
Charles knows Will is a useless dickhead and cannot be trusted. Ah well. Tough luck .
Charles doesn’t care. He knows he won’t ever have to deal with it, he’ll be dead when William is finally under pressure and has to pretend to do something. Luckily it’s not like the monarch has a lot of real power anyway from what I understand
Kate and Will have always seemed to be acting like 2 toddlers; pay homage to my cuteness but don’t expect anything from me.
I think Chuckles has finally come to the realization that number one son is useless. Peg should have been dealt with long ago and now they have a Peg problem. If Chuck were smart he would end this monarchy with him being the final King. Of course that won’t happen but it should.
We need more Concha Calleja scoops to find out why Pegs has to be coddled because Kate is sick. Oh. Wait. Never mind. When you have an explosively tempered big man in a job he doesn’t want to do, it’s easy to understand why no one wants to be the one to step up and force anything on him.
Sooooo he agrees we should abolish the monarchy?
^ THIS!!!
I’m so tired of hearing that dumb strength and stay line
you knowwwwww they’re going to strength and stay Sophie any second
The transaction between the RF and the press has never been more obvious, or precarious. Peg has to know that the press is restless to spill the beans. It’s only a matter of time, and that’s why he’s hiding.
Serious question Brits: What is the mood like over there? I’ve always thought that the monarchy continued to exist because QE2 was synonymous with Britain and most living Brits never knew a world without her. And I know a lot of Brits don’t even think about the BRF, but when it’s in your face all the time with media speculation on health and family drama and line of succession? What is the feeling about William being head of state and church?
The BRF hates it when Harry and Meghan have media attention so if William is seriously not going to be working (lol) during next week’s event then something is really really bad behind the scenes. The way they tripped over themselves in September trying to overshadow IG (big LOL) was super funny to watch. Podcasts, rugby trips, meet and greets all over the place. So if he is basically conceding almost a week’s worth of global press…..WOW.
There have been many opportunities for William to step up in the past two weeks . . . and he has refused every time. Then put out a story about how he refuses and will refuse and everyone is okay with him refusing and he shall keep refusing. The Future King, everyone. WOW.
Does the gopher hole William goes back to belong to the same gopher who wears Kate’s hairpieces and who does their PR work ?
When the press used to say that Harry was supposed to be William’s support/backup what they really meant was Harry was expected to step up and do the heavy lifting.
All these stories do is make William look more incompetent.
Amen!
I think there’s already been cover up for some things over the years. He is an aggressive man. He was an aggressive child and teenager. His nickname at school was ‘Basher’.
If he has physically injured Kate there would be strong pressure from the Palace to cover it up. ‘Not in the national interest’ would be the reasoning. Kate would also be under pressure from the Palace to keep quiet and so would the Middletons. I get the impression that nothing has been decided yet but safeguarding Kate and also the children would be a priority for the police. A restraining order is often one of the first responses.
However, I don’t think this is the only area of possible police involvement. William has some very questionable friendships and interests. Police are looking at the Byline Times investigation of Dan Wootton who is known to have links with William and senior Kensington Palace staff.
There is a feeling of crisis around the royal family that goes beyond the King’s current ailments. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the openness about his prostate problem was calculated to divert attention from whatever has happened to Kate. They are making it up as they go along.
There is no way the police are involved in anything. The reality is that the future king can do whatever he wants and he will be protected.
.
anotherlily, I’ve never thought that Wont has physically abused KHate. I believe they’re pretty well match in the emotion and psychological abuse aspects of their relationship. Of course, KHate is not in the power position because she is the married in. I also think that she and Ma Mids have made Wont more of what he is.
I can’t help but wonder if there is a power play going on here, especially if an official separation/divorce is planned. How do they make KHate go back to work or be seen in a photo? KHate may have had a stroke after the surgery, she may had a breakdown from the pressure building up. She may have self-harmed. It’s impossible to know, but if KHate’s reading the comments everywhere she’s probably leased people are focused on her. What I can’t get out of mind is that the concern has more to do with Wont and his actions than love for KHate.
1) The point of an heir is to take over when you die. If he’s too fragile to do anything when his dad is diagnosed with cancer, what will happen when he gets his ‘promotion’?
2) If the whole royal thing is about a God-given right, there should be no pressure because you’re surely the best person for the job.
3) Not sure he’s done something to Kate that they would find awful given Rapey Uncle Andy is still seen in public.
4) Republic and election now, please.