On Tuesday, Prince William “hosted” a Buckingham Palace garden party. The weather did not agree – as the Brits say, it was pissing rain throughout the whole garden party. William also roped his cousins into showing up for the garden party – Zara and Mike Tindall, Peter Phillips, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice were all on hand, as were the Gloucesters. Only William and the Gloucesters are “working royals” and that’s the way it will remain, so says Rebecca English at the Daily Mail. English has been trying to say, for days now, that it’s very important that William’s cousins showed up for William, but they shouldn’t get any ideas about working full-time for the Firm. For reasons! Reasons involving Prince Harry and Meghan, of course. English also gave a sly update about the Princess of Wales. Some highlights:

William gets along with his family too, Harry! So much has been said about family disunity in recent years that it’s sometimes easy to forget how well our senior royals get on with each other. They are remarkably close, in fact. Standing side-by-side at a Buckingham Palace garden party yesterday, Prince William and his cousins added a welcome pop of youthful glamour not seen in the institution for a little while. How touching that the future king – knowing he would be without his wife at his side – could call on Zara, Peter, Beatrice and Eugenie for support.

An update about Kate: Encouragingly, I’ve been told by multiple sources that the Princess of Wales herself has been seen out and about more in recent weeks, although Kensington Palace has made it clear that Kate will not be returning to work until she has had the ‘green light’ from doctors. After all, she has been through major abdominal surgery and then, later, a course of ‘preventative chemotherapy’ when the presence of cancer was detected.

William is popular too, Harry! William was charming, as he always is with the public. He posed for selfies and chatted, smiling, about everything from bedtime reading for his youngest son, Prince Louis, to his weakness for cookies. He took a bag of homemade treats from one well-wisher. There’s no doubting his popularity – or that it’s growing. You could hear excited squeals and calls of ‘William, Prince William!’ as he walked past.

Whether the royal cousins could become working royals: Many royal-watchers have asked – and repeatedly: why can’t the cousins step in on a more permanent basis? For Peter and Zara, this has never been an option. From the moment their mother, Princess Anne, chose not to accept titles for them, the Phillips children were always destined to grow up away from the main royal spotlight, perhaps fortunately so. It is perfectly plausible that Charles, or more likely William when he becomes king, could call on their services more often. But they will never become full-time working royals while they have their own careers and young children. The same applies to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who also have young families and jobs, although their father, Prince Andrew, has never made any secret of his desire to see them have prominent royal roles.

The Sussexes are to blame for the lack of youth in the royal ranks! The unfortunate truth, however, is that none of [the cousins] will be asked to support the working royals on a more permanent basis, however badly they are needed. And for that they must thank the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Those in the know tell me there is deep concern at Buckingham Palace that changing direction in this way would play into Harry and Meghan’s hands. The Sussexes had been told very firmly by the late Queen Elizabeth that their preferred option of being ‘half-in, half-out’ royals while pursuing lucrative commercial careers was simply unacceptable. This ruling was partly down to the Queen’s personal sense of service. But it also owed something to her quiet belief that Harry and Meghan’s allegiance to the almighty Dollar might supersede anything they promised to Queen and Country.

No part-time royals! At the height of the ‘Megxit’ controversy, as it became clear Harry and Meghan would relocate to North America, I was told that Her Majesty was riled by the couple’s insistence they would continue to ‘collaborate’ with her in the future. ‘No-one collaborates with the Queen. This is not one of those ‘Kate Moss X Top Shop’ tie-ups!’ raged one well-placed source at the time. Seeking commercial deals while acting on behalf of, or representing, the British head of state would also have been a clear conflict of interest, and Her Majesty knew that all too well. Harry and Meghan could never accept it, of course, and here is the consequence: there can be no relaxation of the rules for any of the younger royals. It is full time or nothing.

[From The Daily Mail]

“Those in the know tell me there is deep concern at Buckingham Palace that changing direction in this way would play into Harry and Meghan’s hands.” More like: encouraging Beatrice, Zara and Peter to undertake royal work would be an admission that the Sussexes’ half-in suggestion was actually brilliant and modern, and the inevitable way forward for a monarchy to remain relevant. But, you see, we’re not taking into account the jealousy, nor are we taking into account the laziness. William is currently half-in, half-out and he’s already briefing the press that he wants to be the Work-From-Home Heir. QEII was actually fine with her grandkids (even the ones without titles) attending royal events and doing some royal work here and there. They put this all on QEII when really it was Charles and William’s jealousy, rage and short-sightedness.

If Charles wanted to, he could snap his fingers and tell Beatrice to pick up royal work (and she would do it too). He doesn’t want to, because he can’t admit his own mistakes with the Sussex situation. Meanwhile, his heir is a lazy dipsh-t and Charles is a 75-year-old with cancer who just took on 300 new patronages.

Once again, the burying of information about Kate in other royal stories is… troubling. I genuinely hope Kate has been up and around, but seeing is believing.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.