Peter Phillips gave an exclusive interview to Sky News Australia, all to “represent the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.” Meaning… I think this was done for charity, perhaps, rather than Peter “serving his paymasters” with some tacky foreign sponsorship. That’s how the British media writes about the Sussexes, so they should write about Peter the same way, correct? Especially given that Peter will take any kind of paycheck, even if it’s shilling “royal-branded” milk in China. Anyway, Peter ended up going on the record about all of the medical dramas within the royal family:
On King Charles’s frustration: “I think ultimately he’s hugely frustrated. He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do. But he is very pragmatic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself. But at the same time he is always pushing his staff and everybody – his doctors and nurses – to be able to say ‘actually can I do this, can I do that?’ I think the overriding message would be that he’s obviously very keen to get back to a form of normality and is probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than probably he would want it to.”
On the Princess of Wales: Peter described the “outpouring of support” for King Charles and Princess Kate amid their health news in recent months as “hugely heartening” and praised Princess Kate as “remarkable in herself.” “Without any question, she is. Her and William make a fantastic team together. Their kids are great, and they have the balance of public life and trying to be parents to three young children, which is always difficult. I think they’ve got it pretty right, because you know, as history as taught us, and anyone knows, you want to be there for your children when they are of a certain age. You want to be able to drop them off at school, and pick them up from school, and watch their matches, be part of their school lives. I think that balance of doing the family life and also the public life, I think that they’ve pretty much got that bang on.”
On his mother, Princess Anne: “I think in the past she has not always been the media’s favourite so to speak. But she’s never really let that bother her. She just keeps her head down the whole time and keeps working away and leaves others to worry about column inches.”
His mother & father’s work ethic: “Both of them are incredibly hard-working and both in their 70s they’re still working a lot harder than either of them probably expected. But then as my mother always says – from that perspective, they had pretty good role models from my grandparents who were still working in their 90s. So everyone has a huge amount to live up to and ultimately they all live by example.”
[From The Telegraph & People]
Just going from memory, Anne (his mother) has never been the media’s “favorite,” but she’s always been well-liked and respected. Like, no one attacks Anne, no one smears her, no one harasses her. At this point, Anne is pretty much untouchable and bulletproof – the “steady hand” behind the throne. As for what he says about Charles… yeah, I believe that. Charles likes to keep busy and before cancer, he could knock out 500-plus events a year. I believe he wants to do more, but I also believe that the chemotherapy has kicked his ass. As for what Peter says about the Waleses… the fakakta school run, oh my god. Will and Kate always leave the impression that they think they’re the only parents balancing a school schedule with a “work” schedule.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
- Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips at the Coronation of King Charles III in London Westminster Abbey 06 May 2023,Image: 774237964, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Mark Stewart / Avalon
- The 10th Annual Tusk Conservation Awards held at Hampton Court Palace Featuring: Peter Phillips Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 01 Nov 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
- The Prince and Princess of Wales, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when in Scotland, visit DAY1, a Highland based charity in Inverness, Scotland, which provides mentoring, training, personal development and employability services to vulnerable young people. Featuring: Prince William, Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Inverness, United Kingdom When: 02 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend Sandrinham church the Sunday after he was diagnosed with cancer. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 11 Feb 2024 Credit: Cover Images
- Peter Phillips seen at day two of the Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England,Image: 856789871, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jules Annan / Avalon


















Anne demanded (and got) the ability to not be followed around by the rota. Just another thing where H&M were treated differently. Peter has obviously been drinking the cool aid.
I think that it is very interesting that Peter has been given the green light to talk about the royals on an Australian national TV show. Anne must have given her approval for this.
I was also stunned that Anne agreed to appear with Billy and Kate on Tindall’s podcast. I suspect this is all a game plan to keep everyone happy and content in the fold as the monarchy is increasingly looking very shaky.
These all read like officially sanctioned talking points so someone has sent him out there to say these things.
There is one aspect of King Charles that most of us forget: He became King quite old. I mean his mother Queen Elizabeth II lived to be 96 years old! So of course King Charles health is not what it used to be. This is one of the major issues with monarchies, rulers get to stay in power well beyond their functional years.
Have a look at pictures of the Queen and Philip when they were 75. Both looked much much healthier and younger than Charles does now, who has been looking older than his years for a long time.
King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden at 80 is several years older then Charles, and has been King for 50 years, yet looks like a decade younger. He and Q Silvia, also 80, recently did a state visit to Mexico https://www.instagram.com/kungahuset/reel/C4lh6BJKtrg/
Yeah i believe this. He probably wants his work stats to be great when compared to the queen for his beginning as king, but I think at his age unfortunately, he’s probably only going to get weaker after all those treatments…
I too would be able to balance private and public very well if i could just throw my sibling and his partner under the bus so that the press will leave me and my mistakes alone.
omg, the SCHOOL RUN!!!! I’m so freaking tired of hearing about it. Millions of parents do the school run every day with no fanfare. Millions of parents DONT because of work, bus transportation, whatever. The former is not better than the latter.
And of course they have the public vs private “bang on.” They just disappear for months on end whenever they want and the press doesn’t say a word about it.
Wales aside, I can believe Charles is frustrated at the moment. He’s waited decades to become king and then…..he gets diagnosed with cancer a year into his reign.
I just think they see the school run as a marker for normalcy, what unites them with the common folk. It also fits well into Kate’s championing about early years and childhood structure. They want to “let us know” that they talk the talk and walk the walk.
Sophie and Edward also managed to do the school run for their kids and 200+ engagements a year a piece while their kids were growing up. You don’t hear about it as much because they are the Royal Family’s B team. There is no reason why Wales can’t do the school run and more than one engagement a week.
Except Kate’s ‘work’ concentrates on the early years, 0-5, about the time kids go to school just about full time; school run has nothing to do with early years.
I believe that Sophie also ran a Girl Scout troop. Which, from experience, is a huge time commitment.
I think people talk about that damn school run because they don’t know what else to say about Wills & Kate. They don’t do anything! It’s ‘school run’ & what else??
This school run is so bizarre. My parents dropped us to school on their way to work. They didn’t need the rest of the day to recover. I still don’t get it that it is a valid reason for the Wales not to work.
@ Moondust LMAO. ‘They didn’t need the rest of the day to recover’
It seems that the school run is some kind of novelty to Bill and Kate.
Some parents don’t have the privilege of being able to do the school run. I wish they would stop talking about it as if it’s the most important thing a parent does.
Or as if it’s somehow a marker of being a hands on parent. It’s not.
I just saw this comment after I made my own way after, but yeah, this is it.
Right, every time they bring up their dedication to the school run I think about how happy my brother and sister-in-law would be if they could do the school run. Instead our dad gets up at 4:30 most mornings so he can go stay with his grandson and then take him to school.
It must be maddening to want something all your life, to be king, and when you get that crown in your 70’s to be dealt a blow that has you benched. It’s almost like it wasn’t in the cards for him to wear the crown. The not so nice part of me is thinking – what did you do Chuck to make the cosmos mad at you to bench you after you got a taste of it????? Will needs to be paying attention.
And as far as the royal “work ethic”, come back when you aren’t sucking off the wallet of the people and then we can talk about a “work ethic”.
If only Chuck had done the school run, how differently Peg would have turned out. JK
Interesting they trotted out Peter for this; wonder if they’re testing him for some of the soundbite sycophancy parts that Tindall usually handles.
Do these people know that children do more than ride to and from school in perpetuity? Like, according to them Will in the role of Dad could be played by a literal school bus.
In a way the school runs are safe for Peter to talk about. Bc it’s one of the main media talking points. So either he’s being careful to not say anything extra about the wales that isn’t already known or he doesn’t actually know anything about them. So basically he’s read that they do the school runs too.
Oh wow those school runs. Does peter really believe these sycophantic comments.
Yeah yeah Peter, we know you want to be on the payroll full time, because your running out of milk to advertise, ah got it now, your milking the monarch now, because YOUR not around Billy and bone to know what and if they do anything
Your trading on the Royal connection aren’t you dear, because you are a talentless twerp!
This is all pre tour PR, and I’m sick of the performing prats
Mary Pester, I’m starting to believe the reason that all of these people insist the Billy and Bone Idle are making the school run is because that’s the only time they see the kids. Otherwise, why is it so incredibly important?
As with most workaholics, he’s trying to outrun existential angst. It works until it doesn’t. Now he gets to sit and marinate in “what was it all for?” surrounded by people who only value him for his role.
I am wondering whether behind the scenes Peter and Zara and the York sisters could be being lined up for part time ambassador roles for RF doing bread and butter engagements? I know exactly like Harry and Meg proposed? There IS a staffing problem at the moment so why not be proactive and sort something out with family members who want to help?
They have already done part time with doing the Easter walk, the Christmas walk, Ascot, garden parties with QE (Bea and Eug did anyway), and Trooping. Some of QE’s cousins had outside jobs and repped for her also. The no part time was always a lie.
There are thousands of parents/caretakers who are having chemo today, and will have to pick up their kids(s) or take care of them buy themselves. I’m playing the worlds tiniest violin for Kate and Will.
Got that right.
I will give him props: At least in the People version, Peter Phillips got through the whole interview without mentioning the Sussexes even once. That’s actually a laudable accomplishment.
Yes.