The Royals with Roya and Kate - A Big Royal Reunion?

Episode Date: September 7, 2024

Liam and Noel were not the only brothers rumoured to be reuniting this week. Roya and Kate assess reports of a rumoured Royal comeback for Prince Harry. What really is the truth? Plus the latest on Prince William's beard and a look ahead to a packed Autumn calendar for the Royals! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, I'm Adam Vaughan, Environment Editor for The Times. At the 2024 Times Earth Summit, our discussion on the essential steps for a net zero transition will be set against a backdrop of the biggest election year in history. The governments voted in this year will face a crucial period for the sustainability agenda. This transition will be theirs to accelerate, and all our futures will be affected by whether or not they do so. To book your ticket to this year's summit, head to timesfsummit.com forward slash virtual. Kate, you've got a holiday glow!

I'm just happy to be back, Roya. If we've been off for a week, does that actually count as a reunion? Well, like Oasis, Noel and Liam, Kate and Roya, besties back together. I was thinking more like Prince Harry and the royal family. Oh, you went there. I've just been reading all these rumours. Also, which of us is Noel and who's Liam? Leave it out.

We did it much posher then. I thought that was my Peggy Mitchell. Leave it, leave it out. Welcome back to The Royals with you, Roya Niika, and me, Kate Mancy. Now Kate, there's a lot to get into naturally, but the most important question, how was your holiday? Oh, so nice, thank you very much. Very good. Did you tune out?

Within about a minute of getting back to the office, my tan is already fading before my eyes. Yeah, so. Good break. Good. Tune out as much as you can, because it was quite busy, wasn't it? Did you mute the WhatsApp groups? No.

Maybe the reporters one I did. Did you mute the WhatsApp groups? No. Maybe the reporters one I did. Did you mute the podcast one? I did. I listened to your podcast with Hugo. I thought it was very good. And I listened to yours with Elsa and thought it was splendid. Oh, fabulous. I did go to Martha's Vineyard and saw where Princess Diana used to stay.

Did you? And she was there. What was it like? I wasn't staying there, needed to say. It's a very fancy hotel. Can you expense that as research? Oh, I wish. No. I think it's the answer to that, sadly.

Very nice. I can see why Obama and everybody goes there. It's lovely. Very sweet. A place called Edgar Town in Martha's Vineyard. That was nice. That was my one little slice of royal. Did you bring us a souvenir?

No, sadly not. No, not this time. Rubbish. What about you? I went all over the place. Mysterious. A little trip to Montecito? No, I can exclusively reveal I did not go to Montecito. I went to, I went to the sun.

Two places in the sun. Good. Yeah, hence my amazing town, which you haven't commented on, but thanks. You looked very sun-kissed. I feel that's probably enough of holiday pleasantries. It's September, it's grey, I can see the rain outside and it feels like we're firmly in autumn and that means Royal News is rumbling again, or the diary is back rumbling again anyway. The diary's rumbling. The stories about Harry are rumbling. Shall we start with Harry? Because he's been in the headlines again, hasn't he? We should. So, reports, which feel like a strong word,

but reports broke last week that a reunion was potentially on the cards. And I'm quoting from this very paper in a piece by Hilary Rose. Prince Harry's apparently bored and wants to come home. Eight years since he met Meghan, six years since he married her, four since they flounced off to America. He's back in touch with old friends and advisors and seeking to rehabilitate his image. So what's going on? Operation Bring Harry in from the cold or is this just wishful thinking in his mind, do you think? Honestly, I don't even think this is wishful thinking in his mind. I have not picked

up from any of Harry's friends or people very close to him recently that he is seeking some great return to these shores. I think he likes coming back for the occasional charity gig. I think he enjoyed his trip back here in May for the Invictus anniversary and for a couple of things around that. He did that stuff for Scotty Soldiers, didn't he? But I don't get the sense from having recently spoken to a lot of his friends that he's looking for some sort of grand blueprint to come back. I'm slightly sort of baffled by some of those stories and I don't like to kind of knock colleagues reporting but I read some of that stuff last week and just thought it's one thing to kind of keep in touch with your old mates here and sometimes like tap up on you

know an old advisor for advice on something. This is a story in The Met on Sunday that said that he was back in touch with friends looking for a way back in essentially. But I think what's happening, I think what he does want is he genuinely wants that security to be reinstated. So obviously when he left the royal family or royal duties, he was told you don't have automatic right to police sanctioned security. I broke that story years ago now, but this fight has been going on in the courts ever since. And I think that's it. That's what he wants. He wants that back so that he can come home. And I think all these, these moves and maneuvers and the talk around the

scene is about Harry genuinely wanting the security, you know, the assurance, I should say, of the security, the security of the security. Which I think is, which I think is, I don't doubt that. And, you know, we know that that's the case, because he's briefed, you know, that all those people talking to People magazine recently, and, again, I think, you know, another magazine in America last week, where very people, you know, on Paris Parfait saying he would like his security back, he'd like his father to intervene, because then, you know, he could come back. And he can come back to his charitable work that he never give up that's still here.

But at the moment, he feels that he can't come back and do that charity work. That's a very... He doesn't have that automatic right to the met the police security, which, you know, he needs, and he feels that he's at risk if he doesn't have that automatic right to the police security, which he needs and he feels that he's at risk if he doesn't have that. So he's not able to carry out that work here, which he feels is happening. That's a very different thing to the reports of some sort of seeking a return to royal duties. He's not seeking a royal return to duties. He doesn't want to re-enter the fold here of official working royal life. And that's where I think some of the kind of reporting has been slightly muddied because yes, okay, he wants his security reinstated to come and go and pick up his charity work here occasionally when he comes back, when

he comes back. But that's a very different thing to Operation Bring Harry Back into the fold. But I think he's always wanted that half in half out. And if you look at all the work that he's doing in the States, or further afield, like Columbia, it's very much of the royal playbook. So he hasn't gone away and created a completely new life for himself where he's now working in a corporation, or he's a sheep farmer somewhere, and he's turned his back on it.

He's still continuing with that idea that he's a member, those royal duties if you like, and he never ever wanted to leave. But not here. He always wanted half in half out. He always wanted to be able to help. And I think there is that there is this tension within Harry and that's obviously coming through in ways that he wants that security, he wants to have a foothold in the UK, he's going to be back here for the Invictus Games for Birmingham in 2027, how is that going to look? He wants to do more charity work here, I'm sure of it,

and he wants that, that's why he's fighting so hard to have that security reinstated. Yes, I agree with all of that. I don't think he wants to come back and do work, like official work in duty. He doesn't want to cut a red ribbon at the to open the latest hospital. What real life is here, unfortunately, a big part of it. Yeah, he wants to do some bits. Or maybe he could do a Commonwealth realm or something like that. No, you know, the other thing is, it's what you know, you can have all the wishful thinking you like supposedly from Harry, which frankly, I don't buy into.

I don't think that's what he wants to do. But there's no appetite for it here either in terms of, you know, I think once you've made your decision like that to up sticks and leave, I just, I don't know how, you know, how would you, how would he come like slide back into doing that? And also, I don't know, I just feel it's unrealistic. The King wouldn't be then up for it. Williams certainly wouldn't be up for it. I think all the noise around it is coming from the fact that he wants his security back. He wants to spend more time in the UK. He doesn't feel safe here without that security.

He wants that reinstated. And I think he wants to see his father. And I think that's what came across in that message that he put out last time he was here in May. And it's very unfortunate. We understand the king's very busy, but that's why I haven't been able to see him. Which turned out wasn't really the case because his dad said come and stay in Buckingham Palace and he decided to go to a hotel. So if you want to see his father, as they always say at Buckingham Palace, if you want to see his father he knows where the king is. So what's going to happen? Because I, you know, who knows what will happen with that court process? But the decisions have gone against him recently. I do think the security, the decision to take his security away was a wrong one. I think

he should have had automatic right to security. Whatever you say about him, he still remains the king's son. There's always going to be a risk. He served in Afghanistan. We don't know the ins and outs of the security risk against Harry. That's for the Home Office. But I think it was unnecessarily punitive to take that away when there are other individuals

around the world, non-royal, and we will never know their names, who are granted automatic security by the state when they come to this country on account of the fact of the risk on their heads. Yeah. We may never know that risk, but other celebrities will be granted that, and Harry won't, and I think that's unfair. To be continued. Yeah. So a lot of the chat around,

will Harry come back to UK more regularly? Will there be a reconciliation? Won't there be a reconciliation with the family? This all bubbled up again last week in terms of reconciliation or lack thereof when Harry came back for a memorial service, actually, for his uncle, Lord Fellows. So there was an opportunity for reconciliation

because both William and Harry attended the memorial service for Lord Fellows up in Norfolk. Lord Fellows was of course, the late Queen's private secretary in the 1990s. They both came. I think Harry's presence there was a surprise to many, not the immediate family. Obviously, the Spencers knew he was going to be there,

but I think it was a surprise to a lot of friends who were there, they didn't know he was coming. And we know from people who were there that they did not speak. They were very close to each other, but they sat apart in the church and in the reception afterwards, in the sort of drinks afterwards, no words were exchanged. So let's just boil that down. Harry flew all the way over for a few days, spent some time here, went to same memorial service as his brother for their uncle. Reportedly stayed with his uncle Charles Spencer at all thought. But they did not say a word to each other. This reminds me of when they came over to unveil the statue at Kensington Palace. Of Diana. Of Diana.

We thought, well, royal experts and watchers and correspondents thought that this might be the opportunity when we then, both the brothers are going to be there to unveil the statue. This was the moment that Diana would be the thing that unites them, you know, united in grief together, the brothers against the world. But it wasn't, it was incredibly frosty, they were barely civil to each other. Harry stayed for about 20 minutes after the unveiling and left. He remains close to the Spencer family, but not the royal family. It doesn't surprise me that they didn't speak to each other at this memorial, but I think it's a real shame. Particularly Lord Fellows is just such a big part of public life as well. There was a brilliant quote

from him when he worked at the palace and he said we don't have protocol here just bloody good manners. Well he saw the Queen and the Royal Family do some very rocky times didn't he? Indeed. Some very turbulent times in the 1990s. He was private secretary and by the Queen's side when the Windsor Castle fire happened in 92, Charles and Diana's separation in 95, their divorce the following year, Diana's death in 97. And he was part of the family and the institution, so he was a really unique character.

He had a unique role. But a sort of a figure of reconciliation and bringing people together and, you know, a bridge over troubled waters, you could say. So for the brothers to both be there, paying tribute to him, but not able to look at each other or speak to each other, I think speaks to the fact of it's another issue that's going to potentially make Harry's any kind of re-entry into the Royal Fold, if that was ever to happen, tricky. And where he stayed as well, if you think he was staying at Althorp, where Princess Diana was buried over the course of her anniversary, because her anniversary was two days after the memorial service. We don't know that he was still here then.

No, but I mean, look, if the reports are correct, he is staying at Althorp at that time, I don't know. No, but I mean, look, if he's staying, if the reports are correct, he is staying also at that time around his mother's anniversary. That's a poignant moment at which he might think, you know, reach out to William. But that it just shows another example. There are many of the fact the brothers are so far apart, they can be sitting meters apart. They are worlds apart. They are worlds apart.

It's very sad, but it is what it is. Families eh? Yep. Right. Break. The world is getting more dangerous and understanding how helps. I'm Alex Dibble and I present the Times' World in 10 podcast where we hear from military specialists and our renowned foreign correspondents. They're the most likely cause of a world war in the next 10 years. This isn't something you want to get mixed up. President Putin will sow discord in the alliance. The World in 10 is every day and just for 10 minutes. Do join us.

Kate, tell me about your day because you've been hanging out with Her Majesty the Queen, right? I have been, yes. Where have you been? Who have you seen? The English National Ballet in East London. So she became a patron of the charity earlier this year. This was her first visit to go and see their centre. They've got this amazing centre in East London. They moved in in 2019 and it's a home of English Ballet. It's the kind of epicentre of it. Now we know the Queen is a massive ballet fan. She's spoken about it before. She's part of the Silver Swans, isn't she?

Which is this kind of dance group for people who are of a certain age, let's say. Let's be nice about that. Spritely, in their 70s. Spritely Seniors. 70s. Spritely seniors. Silver. Silver swans. And she does it with a group of friends to keep fit, doesn't she? She does that.

She does her pilates in the morning. And so she was there, she's now the patron, she's thrilled about it, genuinely. She was wearing a little ballerina roach. Tutu. Do you know what, there was a massive pile of tutus in the corner. I thought you were going to say tutu then. And I said, who are they for? And I so wanted to put one on, but I didn't. You did?

No, I wanted to, but I didn't. All right, you so should have done. I might go back. You should have done the royal rota wearing a tutu. That would be a good way to keep the photographers away, because they're about like a meter around. That could have been on you, the royals with the royal and Kate picture. You and a tutu. That would have been so good.

I don't think they have them in my size, especially after all the Spanish tapas I had on holiday. But we don't see the Queen at the ballet very often, do we? She doesn't actually go to the ballet that often, does she? Well, she does love the ballet, so she got to see them rehearsing. So there's a new production of Giselle that's come out, There's a new production of The Nutcracker, which they were performing. And there was quite a nice moment when the two principals in one of the new performances, the new productions, one of the artistic directors lent over to Camilla as she was watching them rehearse. And she said, you know, they're married, the two ballerinas to each other. And she went over and she loves

that sort of gossip. She went and she goes, I hear you're married. Because they had this very, it was a pas de deux, very intense kind of intimate kind of a duet sort of dance. And there was a like real charisma between them. And then, you know, you realize they actually have been dancing together for a long time and are married. There's ballet pillow talk going on. They've been married for years. They've got a child together and all that sort of thing. But she, so she really got to know the people as well, so that was quite fun to see. And the best to date, the best royal curtsies I have for any, you know, royal. No, not from me. I was scribbling in the corner. Some very graceful curtsies, obviously, as you accept them. Do they go very low, these curtsies, or were they just very beautifully maneuvered and executed?

Oh, just a bit of both. Right. And then she cut the cake, you know, classic kind of royal engagement stuff. But she said that she has a pair of tap shoes. She says she still loves doing her dance. She doesn't have much time to do it as she used to do. I want to see the Queen tap dance. I would love to see that.

Can you make it happen? Well she likes Strictly as well doesn't she? Strictly come dancing so she likes to watch that. She's a genuine fan I think you know as all these engagements it always shows when they're really interested in something. And when they're not. Although earlier this week she was looking very interested in how eggs are boxed up in an egg factory which I thought good on you. There was some good rotocopy on that, wasn't there? It was excellent. Our colleagues did some cracking yokes around that.

Boom, boom. Well, she's had a busy week, the Queen. Earlier, she was at the Dyson Cancer Center in Bath, where she met patients. And of course, King's still undergoing his own treatment for cancer, which somebody was speaking to somebody the other day and they said to me, oh, we've sort of all forgotten that the king had cancer because he's been so busy and active, but he's still having his weekly cancer treatment. And she was asked how he was doing. She was and she gave us a bit of good news, didn't she?

She said, yeah, he was doing very well. Yeah. And I thought, I thought what was really interesting as well was that she was talking to a patient, a male patient at one point who had been having chemotherapy who said how tired he got from the treatment and she said, it's interesting, a lot of men find it quite hard to admit when they get tired from the treatment. A lot of men. Which rang true, didn't it? We know that she's had quite a hard job holding Charles back from doing a lot of duties because when we...

Reigning him in, no pun intended. Reigning him in like a caged lion. Oh, here we go. We talked about this a while ago, how when the palace announced he was going to slowly come back to duties in April, and it was going to be a sort of very low-key summer program. So slow, really low-key. And it was just sort of back to Charles's, you know... Scattergun the country....11 to billion duties a day. program. Really low key. And it was just sort of back to Charles's, you know, 11 billion

duties a day. And I thought that was quite an insightful comment from her because he probably is exhausted a lot of the time. He's going through cancer treatment. The guy is 75 years old. The king, I should say, poor listeners go, you're so casual calling him that guy. The king. His majesty. He probably does get very tired, but doesn't like to, you know, the Queen has admitted doesn't like to admit it. Anyway, it was good to hear that he's doing well. Yeah. And he went out to Southport as well, didn't he? After the riots and the terrible stabbing in Southport. And there was a lot of interest from, you know, he was keeping tabs on that as that was happening and developing. And they were really monitoring

that closely. And he wanted to go as soon as he could possibly go to pay his respects and to see the community there. And I thought that was to his credit considering he's still got his own health concerns and was trying to have a few days off. He broke his holiday in Balmoral to come down to Sandport and just when he'd started his holiday came down and it was a very important day I think for him. But back to today, I hear you might have been to the Saatchi Gallery on your way in today to look at a new exhibition from Prince William's Homewoods program, Homelessness Re-Framed.

Tell me more. Well, actually, there's something much more interesting that I went to go and have a look at. I did go to the Saatchi Gallery and I did see Prince William. Go on. He wafted past and he wafted past in a very regal way. And I thought as he was walking towards the door... Did you do a double take? I thought, hang on. He wafted past and he wafted past in a very regal way. And I thought as he was walking towards us, I thought... Did you do a double take?

I thought hang on. What is that on your... That's something I've seen before. The beard is back. The beard's back. William's beard is back. Hold the front page. Back by popular demand.

Back on this podcast again. We were both fans I think, even though we did a separate podcast. Elsa said he looked rugged and I think she's called him hot. And Hugo Vickers naturally had some amazing historical story about when Prince Charles had had a moustache. But anyway, William had this beard when he did his video with Catherine wishing the Olympians good luck in the summer. With Snoop Dogg.

The internet went wild about it. We both mentioned it on our separate podcasts. These are the important constitutional matters that we like to discuss. Then we saw him without it when he went to church with Catherine in Balmoral a couple of weeks ago. So it looked tidy for church. It was gone. Even that sort of went quite far and wide on various social media platforms. But the beard is back.

It's back in a kind of like 90s designer stubble way though. Is he chumming his inner King George V, do we think? Or do you think he knows how popular it is that people like to talk about it and he thinks, wow, this exhibition really could do with a bit of publicity. The journalists have already been to look around it in August. While I was on holiday, we went to see the exhibition, didn't we? Because it doesn't need ex-publicity because they were expecting around 5,000 visitors. And we heard today, and William was delighted when he was told this,

it's had more than 26,000 visitors so far. So it doesn't need William's beard to boost it. But in terms, they are good numbers. They are good numbers. Nice stats. Yeah. No, but I think in terms of the general spreading this message that homelessness should be short and... I should really come back to the serious point here, which is that William, let's bring it, bring it. You and I have, you and I saw this exhibition before William. So you and I went

to a preview. We did. And it's an exhibition at the Sarch Gallery, Homelessness Re-framed, which is seeking to change people's perceptions about homelessness and it not be all doom and gloom. And there are works of art from artists there who have lived experience of homelessness. There are works of art by very famous artists like Mark Quinn. Rankin's photography. Yeah, Rankin, there are works about by children and communities who've made a sort of series of doors, which you can, and you can listen, there are sort of recordings on them, which is supposed to be sort of symbolic of doors and pathways to ending homelessness.

It's a very uplifting exhibition, and William went to see it for the first time today, but the bid was what we were all talking about down at the Sarchie Gallery. There is a brilliant part of that exhibition, just to go back to the art. Somebody who lived in their car when they were homeless has now taken this kind of little Peugeot apart and made it look like a house. Did you get into it?

Because I got into that. Someone asked me to go and step inside it when we went around it and I did. No, walk around the outside. I went into it. I immersed myself in the art. Did you? Well done. Well, you are a former arts correspondent, so that's what we would expect, Roya. I lived and breathed that piece of work in the exhibition.

You know, but it is very moving and we, you know, we met some of the people didn't we, who had, who had created the art and heard some of their very moving stories. Tremantic stories, actually. No doubt they'll feature some of those stories and those experiences will feature on this big television documentary that William's going to be doing. Yes. It's coming out this autumn. It is.

So we look forward to that. We'll be talking about that more. Anyway, if anyone wants to go and see that exhibition, it's on until the end of the month and it is free. Yes. Right, Kate. As it's September and it feels like we're back to school with a new school term, I think we should look ahead to the term ahead.

So what's coming up? What should we be looking out for, planning for, interested in? Gosh, it sounds like our editor here. What have you got? What have you got? What's your list? How's your diary looking for the autumn, Kate? Pretty chocker, as is yours, no doubt.

Mine's empty, I don't know what you're up to. This Sunday marks the second anniversary of Charles's accession. The death of the late Queen. Two years of the new reign. We expect him to mark it privately. But it's also it's always an opportunity to think how's he doing? How's it gone, do you think? Well, I can't quite believe it's been two years. This year, I mean, you would never, two years ago, there's no way any of us could have foreseen what was going to happen in terms of the King being diagnosed with cancer, the Princes of Wales being diagnosed with cancer,

a very different, strange kind of first half of the royal year. Yeah. But I think two years in, with his feet under the desk two years in, I think it's been pretty steady ship. I think the rest of the royal family have had to play their part. The queen has played an enormous part in keeping the sort of show on the road for the first few months of the year

when the King withdrew from public duties. William stepped back a little bit in order to support his wife and his family. And I think actually it feels like, you know, you and I, next month, we'll be going off to Australia with the King and Queen. It's a very big trip coming up. And that was very uncertain and, you know, in the balance a few months ago. So I think they will feel, the King will feel, who knows how the King feels,

but he will feel, I think, relieved. They've got the confidence to say to go ahead with that tour and announce it and to start laying out those plans, which is always a kind of positive sign, isn't it? Yeah, it's encouraging. The Kensington Palace side of things has been more quiet, I think we can say. And we wait to hear for an update on Princess of Wales's health. But I think two years in, he's weathered some storms already. And he's done it pretty well.

One of the biggest storms he weathered very early in his reign was the publication of Harry's book. Yeah. Spare. One of the fastest selling books. And interestingly, the paperback version is coming out. And Harry has decided not to update it because normally when you bring out your hardback book it does very well. You have extra material

in it when you bring out the paperback. He's not going to bring any extra detail into it and he's not going to do any interviews around it. So maybe he thinks enough's enough. Maybe he thinks he said his bit and that's but you're right, that's one of the things the king has weathered. Yes. And another element, another kind of thing that he's had to get over or a hurdle in the way, I suppose, has been the Andrew debacle, the Duke of York. Well, that's about to bubble up again, isn't it? And it was going to bubble up, it's not going away, there's still the siege over Royal Lodge.

Well, there's the siege of the Royal Lodge. He's still in there, for now. We had the Netflix drama scoop a few months ago. Yeah. And now we've got a three-parter coming out on Amazon Prime, from Emily Maitlis's perspective. Yes. Not one, not two, but three episodes of that Newsnight interview.

Which we could discuss next week, I think, the detail of it, because that would be really interesting. We would have seen that. Yeah, and the trailer indicates that actually there's I think, the detail of it, because that would be really interesting. The trailer, yeah, and the trailer indicates that actually there's more of Andrew's side of things, which presumably they're kind of filling in the gaps of what was going on in his mind in the run-up and in the aftermath of that.

Because there's a line in the trailer where the character who plays Prince Andrew, apparently saying, I've been to war, I'm going to blow this up. And it just raises the issue again. Yeah, it never goes away. No, it never goes away. It's the spectre that looms and never really goes away.

That's got to be on Charles's to-do list, I would say, for the reign. And I think he realises that that's something he's got to sort out, the issue with Andrew. And Australia and Samoa, it's going to be the first time that the King, when he goes on that big tour, it's going to be the first time that he's gone to the Commonwealth, head of government meeting as a monarch. Because we were both there in Rwanda when he stood in for the Queen. That was a good trip. It was a great trip.

We had a good dinner that trip, didn't we? We had a great time. We did some work too. We did lots of work. There were some really harrowing parts of the thing as well when we went to see the genocide. I found that trip really interesting. It was a really interesting trip. Particularly as it was very interesting in terms of transition, because Charles went representing

the Queen with Camilla and he gave a very big speech, tackled a lot of important issues, including slavery and all of that, and you know, didn't say, didn't apologize, but said it should never have happened. And it was really interesting. I remember talking to the Queen's then private secretary, Sir Edward Young, who I had a natta with after one of the engagements and I asked him, you know, how much of a close eye is the Queen keeping on this? This was just this was before Charles had given his big speech. And he said, Her Majesty is keeping a very close eye on it. And had been very involved backwards and forwards, back and forwards, in the editing of that speech.

And I found that fascinating. Yeah. And now, as you say, he goes in his own right, as head of the Commonwealth. And looking back on that trip, as opposed to this trip, now he's going as monarch, because at the time, if you remember, Boris Johnson had this plan to send asylum seekers out to Rwanda to be processed.

We heard there was a bit of a clash, didn't we, with the King and Boris? When they came to Britain. Johnson had this plan to send asylum seekers out to Rwanda to be processed before they came to Britain. So before Boris got on the plane to come out, the King was already in country Boris was just about to fly out and he decided to brief some journalists that you know, perhaps the King's comments on the issue or thoughts on the issue weren't particularly helpful and they had this kind of ding-dong, but a kind of cup of tea meeting, which was private out there in one of the meeting rooms there at Chogham. And that was interesting because that was Charles, you know, as Prince of Wales, like he would do, you know, with his own opinions and letting them be known. I don't think you would have that today.

Now he's king. So we're now going to see, it does make it, it is a shift in his character and the way in his public persona as well, I think, now that we'll see in Chogham. He'll address the meat that only happens every two years. So he'll address it as Monarch and that will be really interesting. Something for our dear listeners to look forward to because we'll have some special episodes coming our way, won't we? From our trip. From our trip.

And we're taking Producer Cannon with us. It's official. It's official. He's coming, he's in the bag. I reckon that bit's going to be cut. I reckon that won't be the final edit. Watch this space. Watch this space.

Australia, here we come. Well, there's lots to look forward to. It's going to be a busy autumn and it's great to be back. It's so good to see you Liam. I'm so null. I'm null. You're saying I'm the bolshe one then. Anyway, bye for now. Bye love.

Are you listening to this podcast in your car or on your commute to work? Maybe you're dropping your kids off at school. I'm Dan Snow and on my podcast Dan Snow's History Hit, I transport you to somewhere a little more exciting. With in-depth series and storytelling, unravel the mysteries of the Inca at Machu Picchu, follow the footsteps of Howard Carter to Tutankhamun's tomb and hunt down Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica. For historical adventure and escapism, check out Dan Snow's history hit, Wherever You Get

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