Well, I didn’t expect this. This is the second major story, both dropping within the past 24 hours, about Buckingham Palace’s fury over the Times’ birthday piece for the Princess of Wales. Late last week, the Times published an exclusive piece ahead of Kate’s 44th birthday. The piece was more of the same, standard-issue keenery about Kate being such a diligent worker (all evidence to the contrary) and having a good marriage (all evidence to the contrary) and how she’s in charge of her fashion (which I buy). Over the weekend, the piece ran in the Times’ magazine with a cover photo from the Caribbean Flop Tour and the cover line of “Arise, Queen Kate.” This… has gone over quite badly with King Charles and Queen Camilla. Amanda Platell was tasked with taking Kate down several pegs in the Daily Mail. Now Tom Sykes has gotten some kind of extensive briefing for his Royalist Substack. Some highlights:

Charles & Camilla are deeply irritated: A profile of the Princess of Wales in the London Times emblazoned with the caption, “Arise, Queen Kate,” has aggravated tensions between Charles and Camilla and the Waleses, sources have told the Royalist. The King and his team were “irritated” by the “bad taste” headline on the front of a Saturday Times magazine supplement published last weekend, a former palace staffer told the Royalist.

Camilla is still unpopular: The cover landed arrived as recent polling showed Queen Camilla remains stubbornly unpopular while Catherine is touching highs previously only ever enjoyed by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Although the British media have tended to repeat a palace line that Camilla has won over the British people through her non-nonsense style and alleged tireless work ethic, the truth is that Camilla (35% approval) is almost as unpopular as Prince Harry (34%) in the United Kingdom, according to the latest YouGov survey. She is only the fifth busiest member of the royal family as measured by public engagements, and most of her public work has very little impact.

Paranoid Charles & Camilla: Although both Charles and Camilla understand that William and Catherine were not responsible for the headline in the Times, they have come to the “inescapable” conclusion that the couple and their team are “now actively positioning themselves as monarchs in waiting, as opposed to patient and dutiful heirs,” a friend of the King’s told The Royalist.

William is pissed at his father over Andrew & Harry: One friend reiterated to me this week that William believes that Charles was woefully slow to sever ties with Andrew and now believes his father is “making the same mistake” with Harry and “allowing his heart to rule his head.”

William wants the Sussexes’ titles removed: William believes that Harry has clearly violated the terms of the Sandringham Summit, at which the terms of his and Meghan’s exit from the royal family were negotiated, and should be punished by having his titles fully removed in the same way that Andrew has. William is also keen to see Archie and Lilibet returned to the status of private, non-titled individuals so a mess is not left for the next generation.

William thinks Harry contributed to Kate’s cancer?? Charles remains hopeful that Harry, William and he can all be reconciled, however William, who blames his brother for worsening stress on his wife and believes stress may have contributed to his wife’s cancer, has made it clear that he has no interest in pursuing that path. The point was reiterated in the Times cover story, with author Kate Mansey writing: “It’s hardly surprising that William and Kate would rather focus on raising their own family,” and saying that Catherine believes, “life’s far too short to get hung up on Harry.”

Few members of the public love Camilla: Camilla, even Charles who is so sheltered from the realities of his situation by his cadre of pampering staffers must know, has never been accepted by a huge swathe of the population as a legitimate Queen. Even fewer in number, as the polls show, are those who feel they respect and like her, let alone love her. That, I suspect, is why that Times magazine cover will have really stung…. The truth is that, as that headline in The Times made way too clear for Charles’ liking, Catherine is Queen in most people’s hearts already.

[From The Royalist Substack]

I cut out some parts of this in which Sykes was just yammering on and on about how Charles was stupid for meeting Harry last September. Which… speaks to Sykes’ sources, many of whom are in William’s camp. Never forget that William basically had a full nervous breakdown following Charles and Harry’s meeting. Never forget that what shocked William most of all was that the meeting was well-received by royal reporters and the British media. And never forget that the meeting came sandwiched in between Harry drawing large crowds in England AND his trip to Kyiv, Ukraine. William was beside himself with rage and jealousy.

As for all of the ranting about William and Kate’s overwhelming popularity… the emotional support polls are rigged, I tell ya. I also think Charles and Camilla have every right to be irritated by William and Kate’s machinations. There’s a lot of anger, jealousy and resentment between those two couples and only some of it has to do with Harry. Harry is being scapegoated here, again, as he always is. Also: I believe that William “blames” Harry for everything under the sun, from Kate’s health to the frantic need for emotional-support polls to William’s own failings, stupidity and laziness.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, cover courtesy of the Times.