The Royals with Roya and Kate - From Megxit to Beckxit - how the Beckhams joined the royal news

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

From one family drama to another - Roya and Kate discuss how the Beckhams entered the royal news this week - from a dinner party in Montecito to a fashion statement from the Princess of Wales. And an emotional Camilla paid tribute to her late brother, and how Charles was left flabbergasted by a magician in Bradford. Also, which member of the family topped the latest popularity poll? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're kicking off today with a great story and details of dinner party Kate that I think we probably wish you and I had been invited to. Yes, we weren't sadly among the 18 guests reportedly. In white lost in the post. Yeah. This is Megan and Harry hosting at their Montecito Villa and who did they have but Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Pelts. They're going through a bit of a tough time, aren't they?

They are. So on the front pages of the newspapers here, particularly the tabloids, there's been a lot of discussion about within the Beckham family, there's been a family feud that Brooklyn Beckham is no longer speaking to his mum and dad, David and Victoria Beckham. Miss David Beckham's 50th birthday party last week. That was a biggie. Unfollowed them or haven't been speaking to them on Instagram. So it's been this whole kind of back and forth, hasn't it? It seems to be some sort of falling out with his wife, Nicola Pelz, who's the daughter of a billionaire financier in the States. And it all feels quite familiar, doesn't it? It all feels quite familiar. A family torn apart. A father and son not speaking. A wife getting

some of the blame, fairly or unfairly. And then it emerges that Harry and Meghan have moved for dinner in Montecito. That's right. And a slight sort of shoulder to cry on. And there's some interesting quotes in the Sun about this about, I mean, it's a great scoop from the Sun saying how empathetic Harry and Meghan are to the situation and how Meghan particularly felt very empathetic towards Nicola as the person who seems to be getting the blame and the call to public opinion.

Well, yeah, apparently there was a tete-a-tete between the two women during the dinner that they went off to one side and had a very close conversation, we're told, in the Pages of the Sun. But it's all very interesting. David and Victoria Beckham, obviously king and queen of popular culture here, him being former England captain of the football team, her being the former Spice Girl, now very successful fashion designer, which we'll come onto in a minute because there's another connection there. But there are fault lines drawn here, aren't there? Because Prince William is pretty buddy with David Beckham, given all their sort of, you know, he's president of the FA,

patron of the FA. He did all the, you know, the historic World Cup bid with David Beckham, got to know him very well then. David Beckham is increasingly aligning himself with the King. Well, he's ambassador of the King's foundation. He's popping up everywhere at the moment with the King, isn't he? Him and Victoria went to the state banquet, do you remember, when the Qataris came over last year? And the High Grove Italian dinner recently. They had, you know, we saw them having, you know, cozy chats with the King and Queen at that.

And not just that, but behind the scenes as well. So David has been up to High Grove in a private capacity for, and he started keeping bees like the, seems to have shown an interest. So you've got Team UK Royals, King, Queen, William, Kate will come on to David and Victoria. USA Royals, you've got Harry, Meghan, the Alternative Court in Montecito, and Brooklyn and Nicola Peltz. It is fascinating. Although David and Victoria did used to be close to Harry. So Harry was a pal of David's and they came to their wedding in 2018. And Meghan and Harry's wedding, they were guests.

They know them. But then there was a suggestion that Meghan had fallen out with Victoria Beckham and had assumed that she was selling stories or leaking stories about her or something like that, which of course the Beckhams denied. So there's a bit of a backstory there between them falling out with the Beckham seniors. But it is very fascinating that this dinner happened, we're told, last week. Now, what happened this week, of course, was we saw

the Princess of Wales on a rare solo engagement. Yes. I think it's fair to say. Yeah. She was at a British Fashion Council event where she was giving a prize to a new designer. What was she wearing, Kate? What was she wearing? Not what Kensington Palace told us.

A lovely 1,300 pound olive green trouser suit designed by none other than Victoria Beckham. Wow. Which lots of people have interpreted as a show of support for Victoria and David Beckham on in this family battle. Well, it's certainly a show of support for Victoria's fashion brand. I mean, the Princess of Wales, of course she does. What impact anything she wears has, whether they announce it, whether they don't, it's instantly recognizable. Within a second of her appearing in the suit, all the fashion reporters had pulled up that it's from the latest collection. She was there to promote British fashion, which she does brilliantly well as a huge burgeoning industry.

She chose that outfit at a time when, as you say, a lot of the papers, particularly the tabloids, were filled with this Beckham family feud. And the Princess of Wales is very clever. She knows that some people are going to seize on that and run with that as like a quite fun show of support detail. Now the question is, did the Princess of Wales know about the dinner in Montecito? Did she know that that had gone on? The olive green as well, olive branch. Oh, peace building. We know all about that over here in Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. Anyway, it's endlessly fascinating. We wait to see where else Nicola and Brooklyn

might pop up, whether or not, you know, I don't think they're going to be on the invite list for any garden parties now, are they? Not here, no, but there might be garden parties in Montecito that they'll be invited to. Anyway, away from the headlines of family feuds in California, Princess of Wales has also been making quiet ways this week with a rather lovely story about healing hope and the power of nature. We saw her release this week on Monday this video, very interesting personal video, which we're told was the first of a quarterly series all around the seasons called Mother Nature. And she did the voiceover

for it. Quite spiritual message talking about, you know, she said nature has been over the past year nature has been my sanctuary, obviously, you know, referring to her recovery from cancer. We know she's now on remission. There was also like a very strong vibe about moving away from the digital world. She talks about, you know, in this ever increasing digital world, importance of sort of being outside in nature. In a video released on social media. But that's how people are accessing that. I suppose that's probably where you need to see it if you're scrolling through.

And I thought, I was being someone at the palace about it when they put it out. And I said, it feels like, you know, kind of a timeline cleanse really, you know, you're scrolling through all this stuff, there's a lot of bad news out. And then there was this video and it really had hallmarks of the kind of David Attenborough, those sweeping scenes of the coast,

you know, the mountains. Well, they're in Scotland the other day. Yeah, and then we see Cain William pop up and it was their recent visit to Scotland as Lord and Lady of the Isles. And I think it felt, you know, it was Will War again behind it, but this is very much spearheaded. We were told it's spearheaded by the Princess of Wales, that she was involved in the whole creative aspect of it. And I think this, it's her kind of creative vision. She's really enjoying playing around with these things, which I think is interesting and that's all

part of her recovery and the way that she sees her role and the way that she wants to communicate with the public in an immediate way. She's been quite honest, I think. You know, she did that Scouts video recently, didn't she? And she said that, you know, she had a similar vibe, wasn't it? Yeah, very. She talked about it being a kind of spiritual really deep connection that she has with nature so I think it's interesting and for them to say this is going to be a series so they're going to do one for every season at least for a year and then presumably they'll see how it goes after

that. I thought the line that also stood out for me was when she talked about spring being a time of hope and renewal. And I think for her, she probably feels, you know, she is coming out of what was an incredibly tough year last year for her with her cancer treatment, feeling like she's finally able to look at her horizon with probably more clarity of vision. And earlier in the week, or on the same day, maybe the Times had an interesting interview with James Middleton. Yeah. He's promoting the paperback of his book. Who's talking about how challenging it had been?

Exactly and he said, yeah, it had been, you know, he was obviously respected her privacy, but he talked about how challenging for, you know, not only for his sister Kate, but for the whole family, her diagnosis had been and how much support they'd given. He's done it very well as well, I think. He's been very honest about his own mental health battles and he's in a tricky position. Like, you know, Pippa has been Kate's sister. In how much do you share and how much do you kind of give away that people obviously interested in him being the Princess of Wales' brother. But I think he's done it quite, he's been quite cute in the way that he's done that.

So he said that it had been challenging time for her, obviously, and for the whole family. And that the key was communication to it, or that they keep talking about it. I can see him being some, you know, in the future being a real kind of mental health advocate or campaigner, because he's come out of that. But again, it adds another layer, doesn't it? An insight into this year that they had last year, which, you know, by all accounts, is just dreadful. It definitely feels, I mean, you and I have talked about this before, but it definitely feels like with the latest, this latest video, there has been a shift in the Princess of Wales, a very significant shift in terms of what she thinks is important now in her life.

Well, she said that herself hasn't she? She's given her a chance to kind of reassess, reassess everything. You know, it's made me reconsider everything. It's made me think about everything. You notice it. And that Christmas message she did before the car service, you could really feel the shift in what she was sort of saying. She was talking about taking time out from the busy world and the stresses and strains of life, of a 24-7 life,

which we might not see her every day, but she's kind of on all the time, and there's scrutiny on her. I mean, this is 24-7 life, which, you know, we might not see her every day, but she's kind of on all the time and there's scrutiny on her. I mean, this is just, I think it's like her taking a deep breath and going, going forwards, this is what I'm going to prioritize. But also it's a kind of message to us all, isn't it? That we're all kind of glued to our phones. Put your phones down, get outside, says Kate. Yeah. You too. Me too.

Oh dear. The King and Queen have had a busy week this week. They've been up to Bradford. Where else have they been Kate? Where have you been following them to this week? A very jolly evening at Kew Gardens to celebrate the work of the Elephant Family which is a conservation charity set up by Mark Shand, Camilla's late brother who died. It was one of those evenings where it was fun, there was lots of laughter, but there were a lot of kind of serious moments as well, because they showed a video of Camilla's brother talking about his passion for the charity and his optimism for the future, for saving the elephants. She was there with her sister

Annabel Elliott, and she looked very emotional. He died very tragically, didn't he? He was in New York and fell and hit his head. He slipped and died very unexpectedly. He did. And I think it was just such a huge shock as it would be to anybody for the Queen and her sister. So I think it was nice for them to be there to see that. But when they showed the video and he was right there in front of them, it was,

you know, it was kind of a visible shock on their faces, I think, just to see him, but not an unwelcome one. And then they had an award ceremony. So there's an award in his name and there's an award named after the elephant Tara that he rode around India on. And his relationship with Tara was what sparked his idea for this conservation charity. It was a crazy idea, according to the chief exec, Richard Hawkes. And then the king and queen gave a couple of awards. And then the king did that thing that is so brilliant when he does do it,

but he doesn't do it that often, which is a kind of off the cuff, impromptu speech. Yeah. Which is pretty good really because he looked like he was just about to turn to go. And then he said, oh, you know, I've just got a few thoughts. And he talked about the importance of collaboration over conflict. Now he was talking about the conflict between the animal and human worlds. And he was, he talked about the desecration of our planet and the fact that we need to realize that we need to protect it if it's going to be there for us in the future. But of course, now with everything that's going on, and as

he's always talking about the global situation, which he's always referring to, anytime he talks about collaboration or conflict, there's that kind of double-edged meaning to it that people think about Ukraine and everything that's going on with Russia. That was quite a poignant moment really. And Princess Beatrice was there as well. Yes, it was really interesting because we also saw her mother Duchess of York at the palace for a cancer engagement very recently. So interesting to see the York women out in force. And it looked fun.

It was great fun. There was a woman on stilts dressed as a kind of peacock. Random. Yeah, Sophia Lusbexter singing her heart out. Sadly, the King and Queen didn't stay for a boogie. So from Kew Gardens to Bradford, short hop, natural segue, the city of this year's City of Culture and Charles and Camilla have been spending the afternoon there doing all sorts of cultural things that tie into their cultural interests, haven't they? So Camilla has been doing something with the National Literacy

Trust of which she's patron. She's been visiting the newly renovated birthplace of the Bronte sisters, probably reminiscing about her favorite bits of Wuthering Heights. The King has had a tour of the David Hockney Gallery. Now we know that they're kind of maids. I love the idea of these two as maids. Well, Hockney like memorably turned up in a pair of yellow crocs when he was invited to the maids. Well, Hockney like memorably turned up in a pair of yellow crocs when he was invited to the palace recently. And then just the other day, the King had emerged, went to see him privately at his London home. He's recently moved from France back to the UK and he's got this huge exhibition

in Paris at the moment. And the King went to see him privately and David Hockney set her off the indiscreetly. He refused to paint Charles's portrait, which I just love. He is revered as our greatest living artist in the UK, given that we've just had the unveiling of the King and Queen's portraits last week. I love that David Hockney said, no. And then it emerged that, you know, David Hockney is very good at all his iPad paintings and we had Fraser Scarf out in Rome as the first digital artist to go on tour. Anyway, I digress. But Charles has been looking around the David Hockney Gallery out there. But what else has he been seeing, Kate? Well, we've been reminded of one of the King's other talents, which is that he is a member of

the Magic Circle, the elite group that magicians are part of. He was given honorary membership in 1975. I think he had to do a kind of entry-level trick. I mean, did he though? His position. His position helps him. Did he just wave a wand and they're like, you're in. And he met up with a fellow who was called Dynamo. People might know him as Dynamo. What's he now called? He's now going by his real name, which is Stephen Frayne. Dynamo is so much better.

He's reinventing himself for a new age, I suppose, but he was initially in the King's orbit when he was Prince of Wales, because in 2003, Dynamo, Stephen Frayn, was given a loan by the Prince's Trust to set up in business. And now look at him, he's one of the brilliant examples of the Prince's Trust. Idris Elba, we talked about before, another person who got a loan from the charity, Charles's charity and then went on to amazing things. So he was there and he and then the King sort of remembered him and said, yeah, you know, but and he said, well, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you to the King. And he did perform a few tricks, didn't he? Yeah, and the King said, well, you know, show us your own enthusiasm. And they said, so

show us a trick. And he did the old classic. First of all, he turned some old newspaper cuttings into banknotes and asked Charles if it was legal tender. And he said, well, I presume so. My head's on there. I don't think he sees that many notes in his day-to-day life. What's this? I don't know. Well, most of us don't. Anyway, that was all con card, isn't it? Then he did one of those pick a card and I'll guess it. But it was quite a fancy version of that because

at the end after producing all the other volunteers cards and getting it right, Charles had to say that his was the king of hearts. Very apt. And then instead of producing it from his top pocket or something, Frayne then said, everybody look at their mobile phones, which didn't really work for the king who doesn't have one in his pocket. He doesn't have a mobile phone for a stock. He's got an iPad, but he doesn't have a mobile phone. Yeah. Anyway, everyone pulls out their mobile phone full stop. He's got an iPad, but he doesn't have a mobile phone. Yeah. But yeah, anyway, everyone pulls out their mobile phone. What happened is the Wi-Fi codes, when you search for a Wi-Fi network near you, all of

them on everybody's phone had come up King of Hearts. They'd all been renamed, which was quite a fantastic trick to do. He did try to explain this to Charles, who I don't think kind of understood what Wi-Fi was. Charles seemed a little perplexed by the whole thing. Nonplussed. But everybody else was very impressed. It's a good story. He invited Charles to go on to his new TV show. He said, we could tell them about our story. We go way back. And Charles loved it. It is one of his great successes as Prince of Wales at charity.

It must have been nice for him to go around the country and see these people all over the place who were able to say, we started with nothing, you know, the then Prince's Trust, now King's Trust helped us and now look at us. Yeah, and it's a real tangible benefit having that money in your pocket as a youngster starting out and what they've done to, you know, what they've turned it into. His legacy as the Prince of Wales is long lasting and strong. And I think he's very keen for people not to forget his legacy as the Prince of Wales is long lasting and strong. And I think he's very keen for people not to forget his legacy as the Prince of Wales, isn't he? Well, the longest serving Prince of Wales we've ever had.

Yeah. Yeah. And he didn't waste his time, did he? He didn't waste his time. If anything, he was sort of driven by this compulsion to make it matter. Knowing he'd probably be in the waiting seat, in the sort of, you know, co-pilot seat for quite a long time. I mean, it's those years as Prince of Wales that have cemented his legacy. Now, turning to our final story of the day, Kate, it's one we've been following for a while at The Times.

A YouGov poll, which has been tracking public feelings about the Royal Family since 2017, appears to have shifted quite a lot in the past few months. What does this poll show? It just came out just the other day, didn't it? Well, this is YouGov, which is the kind of official company. You know, whenever they do a poll, it's proper. There's a big sample size. But it was taken, interestingly, a few days after Harry's bombshell interview with the BBC in which he talked about wanting to be reconciled with his family while also firing off missiles.

Firing off missiles. It was widely acknowledged that this was pretty explosive stuff. From the palace perspective, it was not great. Yeah, not great. So this all took place in the aftermath of that interview. And it showed, So this all took place in the aftermath of that interview. And it showed of Britons, it was people asked here, not in the States. And it said that only 27% of Britons had a positive opinion of Prince Harry, with 63% having a negative view of him. And to put it in perspective, that's come down from 2011 when over 75%, over three quarters of people had a very positive view of Prince Harry. So that is the lowest it's ever been.

That has really, really plummeted. At the top you had Prince William, Prince of Wales, then the Princess of Wales, Princess Royal, then the King. So that's your top four. And in the bottom, it's quite a different story. J. Prince Andrew right down there, isn't it? A. Prince Andrew right at the bottom, Duke of York. And then above him just is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and above her is Harry. Now third from the bottom, two above Uncle Andy. That's a real change in fortune, I think, for him. And how much can we read into polls? Well, I think because it's you, Gov, and the fact that it's been such a longstanding poll, you know, dedicatedly charting this

over a long period of time, I think it is quite, I think it's quite important. I think it reflects the mood music that I hear, certainly from a certain generation, and we'll come onto that in a moment, but I find whenever I'm in a cab and the cab driver asks me what I do and I say what I do, almost instantly the conversation turns to, oh that Harry, I used to really like that Prince Harry,

what's happened to Prince Harry? There is that feeling that he was beloved in the UK and, you know, admired by so many and so popular. We used to see him sort of as number two to Queen Elizabeth and now the feeling is, you know, from a lot of people I speak to, they just feel, you know, what's happened. He's just plummeted, hasn't he, in the court public opinion? He has, and particularly among the older age group. And I think that will, I know, you know, Harry and Meghan say they don't look at social media and they don't read coverage of themselves, but I don't believe that. I think they do. And I think what the British public think of Harry really matters to

Harry. He constantly still says and he said in that BBC interview, the UK will always be my home. I love the UK. The problem is, some parts of it, the polls show that the UK doesn't quite love him back so much at the moment. And I think that's, that's probably a very hard pill for him to swallow. Well, last week, you know, we were both agreeing that we thought that most people wish him well, and I think that's probably still the case. People were asked pretty hot after that interview as well, so that would be first and foremost in people's minds. Yeah. He has spent a long time not just criticising his father, but the king and head of state

of not just this country, but many other realms as well. The fact that he spent a long time suing the British government in the British courts and then decided so far aside from, you know, the fact that he is criticising the establishment of this country or that it was a stitch up and that it was a fait accompli from start to finish. And then it's essentially saying that Britain's a corrupt state. Almost that going to that stage of saying that I would say people being asked quite hot after that of their opinions of him. It doesn't surprise me that it has plummeted so low. But it's not just that he gets an easy ride with the younger generation, doesn't he?

Because even though Harry Megan are in their 40s, Harry's 40, younger generations, people younger than them, people in their 30s and below are much more sympathetic towards them. And they have a much higher popularity rating amongst younger people than older generations. Just anecdotally speaking to people on the street when they find out what you do for it, you know, if you're a royal correspondent, it is younger people who say, oh, you know, I felt sorry for Harry and Meghan. They think fair enough, you know, that they went on and did their own thing. And I think a lot of the allegations they thought that perhaps there was racism, you know, after the back of the Oprah Winfrey interview. Certainly at the time there was a lot of support for them from younger people who thought, yeah,

good on you, you know, break away from your family. Why not break free and go and do what you want to do. I mean, how important do we think opinion polls are to the royal family? I think they are quite important. They are. I think they are quite important. I think they track them pretty closely. They track them really closely in the same way that Westminster does, maybe even more so.

There was a poll that came out last year ahead of William going to New York for a couple of days, which showed that he was, it was an extraordinary poll, taken in America of public figures. And he emerged as more popular in America than Joe Biden. This was a time where this was before all the real trouble hit with Joe Biden. He was seen as more popular in America than Joe Biden. This was a time where this was before all the real trouble hit with Joe Biden. He was seen as more popular than the president of America. It was extraordinary. Barack Obama said it himself, that royal family are more popular than presidents. There's no doubt that there was a bit of a spring in William's step when he hopped across the pond for that trip.

I remember speaking to someone at the palace and said, presumably Williams, Williams aware, and they can't even pretend they're like, yeah, he's obviously seen that poll and he's aware. It's a feather in his cap. It's a feather in his cap. There was a poll in the States and, you know, in terms of balance of Harry and how Harry's perceived on the global stage, now there was a poll recently that we ran in the Times about opinion there in America.

Yeah. Which showed a different story. Very different. Actually, saying that Harry was still quite popular in America and that while Prince William was more popular, Harry was a pretty close second in terms of the American opinion rating, which I thought was really interesting and coming in even higher than his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales. Who the Americans do tend to be quite keen on. They do tend to be quite keen on.

But that poll was done before the BBC interview. That was done before the BBC interview. So it'd be interesting to see how that goes. It was very widely reported across America, that interview, because obviously it was done by the BBC's one day US correspondent. I saw it picked up on all the US networks. They're in a kind of post-poll world, aren't we, where we've had polls getting the results of elections wrong recently in both here and in the States. So it's interesting whether people say one thing or think another. Do you think, I mean, what I do to wonder is whether or not Harry and Meghan keep an eye on those polls and whether or not those favourability ratings or lack thereof would have any impact on whether

or not, you know, how they feel about coming back to the UK. I mean, if Meghan looks at a poll, consistently looks at the polls which consistently show her, you know, at the bottom of a poll just about Prince Andrew, it's not a huge incentive to want to come back to the UK if you think you're not going to be very well received, is it? Well, she hasn't been, she hasn't shown any signs that she wishes to come back. No. At all.

And I doubt those polls are really boosting her incentive to come back. Well, no, I can't imagine. Anyway, it's time to go. But on the way out, I think we better grab our gardening gloves. Get those secateurs because yes, we are both heading to the Chelsea Flower Show next week. And we hear there might be a royal or two among the blooms. We'll be digging into all things Chelsea. See what is there?

I like what you've done there. The royal family's green-fingered appearances and the King's Trust Garden, which has a few nice surprises for us. It does and watch this space because I think, well, we know Monte Don has designed a garden for Chesa this year, and there could be a few surprises there. I think Camilla's going to like that. I think she's going to love that and the King.

And in the meantime, if you'd like to get in touch, do email us at theroyalsatthetimes.co.uk with any questions or things you want to ask about or things you want us to discuss. But until next week and you and I putting our gardening gloves on and maybe toasting, we're a year old also. Happy birthday to us! We are a year old, the Royals is a year old. Brilliant. Cheers to that Kate. Thanks for listening everybody. Cheers to that. Yes, cheers to that and goodbye for now. See you next week.