The Royals with Roya and Kate - Happy Birthday Harry!

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Happy Birthday Harry! Roya and Kate delve into royal diplomacy on social media and in the flesh - who’s doing what, where? And will birthday well wishes mean any movement between Prince Harry and the Palace? Plus, the quiet work around the world of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 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. So Roy, I'm on my phone. I'm on X. What you looking at? Formerly known as Twitter. Right. What have you found there? Here's the Royal Family account at Royal Family. Apparently,

it's the latest news and updates on the work of the King, the Queen and the Royal Family. Apparently they follow 464 people. Do they follow you, do you think? I don't know. I'm gonna look now. How many followers have they got? Probably not. 5.6 million.

5.6 million, is that a lot? Not compared to Ronaldo. No, no, no, no. ["The Royal Family"] Here's one. It's very nice. It's about a Princess Royal who has attended the International Sheep Dog Trials in Lanarkshire. That is so Princess Royal, that engagement. I know. It's peak Princess Anne classic yeah a classic of the genre followed by congratulations to Stephen Stokey Daly this is nice the 2024 winner of Queen Elizabeth the second award for British design and little video of Duchess of Edinburgh handing him the award so well done to

him but that's not what we're looking for I don't think though is it that's not what we're looking for because what's this what's this I see here on my Instagram and my Twitter and my ex. On the Twitter. It's a little cake emoji and it says wishing the Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today and that was sent to 8.28am UK time on Sunday which was the Prince Harry's birthday of course. That was nice. That was nice. Don't know what happened. Wow. Two hours later. So that will be nice. Harry probably just having a few drinks on the Saturday night of the weekend of his birthday turning 40, half past midnight nice little message from the

King. Well it's interesting that it did drop because last year he was at the Invictus Games wasn't he? In Dus Düsseldorf. And his 39th birthday… Say it again. Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf. His 39th birthday wafted like tumbleweed across the Royal Social Media channels last year. And the year before. There was nout on those channels. Nope. No for Meghan.

So it was heartening to see a post from the Royal Family account. Do you know what I thought was interesting? Was the choreography of it. I thought it was very interesting for starters that the King and Queen's ex account and Instagram account posted this nice picture of Harry with a nice emoji and a birthday message. There was a little bit of a pause. Two hours. Until the Prince and Princess of Wales pause. Two hours. Until the Prince

and Princess of Waleses. Two hours and two minutes. Sprung into action. But do you know what I thought was interesting about their choreography? Two things. One was it was a repost on X and the other thing I thought was very interesting was it was just reposted to their Instagram story. So not on the main feed, which the king and queen did on their Instagram. You're switching now to a different social media channel. Well, let's talk about Instagram. Well, also, before we leave Twitter, interesting thing about Prince and Princess of Wales, when

they do those personal tweets, you have W and C or W or C if they've done it in a personal way. Whereas just the sort of generic happy birthday. But they've never done birthday posts that they've personally signed any of them. But what, no. But what I thought was interesting about the Instagram thing, so the Royal Family, the Royal Family's one posted on their main feed, the Prince and Princess of Wales account just put it on their story. So 24 hours later, Harry's gone. So if you look back at the Prince and Princess of Wales' Instagram feed now,

there's no sign of him. But then a lot of people do that, don't they, with their stories? Yes, they do. But also a lot of people like the King and Queen's on the main feed. So it was a temporary soaring of the rift. I'm just saying, whatever it was. You can have good wishes, but it's just 24 hours. Whatever'm just saying whatever it was. You can have good wishes but it's just 24 hours. Whatever it was, it was temporary. Just for the length of your birthday slash the Instagram story allowance then it's it, that's it. I'm

saying that on the royal family Instagram site now, Harry is permanently there for his birthday. And on Prince and Princess of Wales' Twitter? Yes but not on the Instagram page, I just thought it was interesting. That was a brief thawing. It was interesting though wasn't it and I think the right thing. It was the right thing. I think it would have looked very petty not to have marked a milestone like 40. Yeah and I think there was a lot of discussion around the fact that it that could have been the motivation for it. And we're going to be seeing more of Harry in his 40s, 40 year old Harry, because he's going to be at the World Child Awards later this month in London on September 30th. We know that he's going to be in New York as well this month for the Diana Awards. Well, he's doing

quite a lot in New York, isn't he? He's going to Blitz New York and he's there during Unger Week, the big, the once of the world's great and good descend on New York for the United Nations environment, climate, lots of people get together and it's a big creative ideas moment in the city. And he's doing stuff for quite a few of his charities, the Dayana Awards, which is all about young changemakers. He's doing something with them, he's doing something with Travellist, his eco-tourism organisation. You're looking like me when I talk about Travelist. He's doing something for African Parks. Which has had its first share of negative headlines recently as well.

You've written about that haven't you? Yep, I have. The Diana Awards is interesting because I remember when they had the awards ceremony here in London earlier this year. We were both there, it was a great event and William presented the awards then and then there was this kind of gap where the award winners sort of went back to their hotel and then they went into a room where they had this video call from Harry who was zooming in from California. He didn't come over to be there with William, William won't be there in New York with Harry. And it's the one thing, if there was anything they were ever going to reunite over, you think it might be the Diana Awards, which has been obviously in their mother's name for years and years and years.

But even that can't bring them together. And then back in London, but will he meet the King? I think the King will be in Scotland. The question on everyone's lips, won't it? But you know, the King will be in Scotland. The question on everyone's lips, won't it? But you know, the King will be in Scotland. That doesn't prevent Harry going up to Scotland to see his dad. No, but they would have to talk to sort that out. And there are ways and means of coming down to London from Scotland.

Yeah. The Royal Flight. The whole fleet of Royal helicopters. Planes, trains and automobiles. I don't think the logistics is the issue. I think it's the will, isn't it, on both sides? Well, quite. And-

If they couldn't get together in May when they were in the same city, it seems unlikely if they needed an excuse not to meet later this month. But back to official royals, because we've had a very, very interesting, encouraging entry into the court circular this week, haven't we, Kate?

We have, so this is the official record of what the Royal Family do, their public duties, and duly it's reported in the Times. And this is interesting because it was the first official recorded meeting of the Princess of Wales since she's had her cancer diagnosis. So that was reassuring to see. She met with her team from the Royal Foundation, the Centre for Early Childhood, didn't she? Yes. Which is her big legacy project. It was once described, wasn't it, by an aide as her life's work. Her climate change.

And the Court Circuler said, the Princess of Wales joint patron, the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, this afternoon held an early years meeting at Windsor Castle that was on Monday. So obviously not far from her home where she's living, but official enough that it appeared in the court circular the last time she was in there of course was when she attended the men's tennis championships final at Wimbledon on July the 14th and before that at Trooping the Colour in June which we discussed

at the time, it's a small step forward towards this kind of what she talked about in her video last week about coming back when she can, those kind of small steps towards doing what she can and the work that she loves. So obviously this is one of her pet projects, isn't it? Well it's interesting because when that film came out, and I suppose there was a lot of coverage over what would that return look like and the moon music was very much that work is, as she has talked about in her personal messages that she's put out over the last few months, very important to her. But she'd said that prioritising her recovery was key.

I think what people will take some encouragement from, you know, this officially in the court circuit is that she feels well enough to start re-engaging on that level. We know that she's carried on with work at home. we know she's held meetings with her private secretary, her assistant private secretary, her communication secretary for a while now to sort of talk about you know the future, how it's going to look like, the planning, planning for her carol service in December. But I think what will be encouraging about this is that it feels that you know that's she's going back into the reeds of her work and also sitting around the boardroom

with a castle it's very official it's recorded in the court circular it feels like a kind of concrete step yeah the fact that it's noted down yeah in the ledger book but I think you know it doesn't suddenly mean we're gonna see sort of five engagements with her in the next two weeks very unlikely we know it's going to be a light program of engagements between now and Christmas. But anyway, encouraging all the same and we wish her well. And the other royal has of course been busy. So today, as we're recording, Prince William is in Aberdeen. He continues his campaign about homelessness, Homewoods. And obviously

he's in Aberdeen. That's one of the six areas of the UK where he's carrying out this project and he's been talking, he's been meeting people who work in the sector saying it's brilliant some of you have had your own experiences of homelessness and despite the trauma that you've gone through you now working in the sector to make it better for other people. So what do you think about this project it's been a long build up hasn't it? Yeah I mean it's a five-year project hasn't it? Yeah, I mean, it's a five year project, isn't it? So he launched it last year, and there was a sort of year of planning,

talking to all the different sectors, trying to bring different people from different sectors together to start thinking about the same thing and getting in the same head space, getting partnerships with companies like Night Frank and Pret a Manger and getting like big name companies involved and seeing where they could help. Then you've had William start to build

social housing project in Cornwall at Nance Ledden. Now you've got him going out into the different areas that you know that the key areas that they've pinpointed where they feel they can make a difference. And today we've had him up in Aberdeen talking about how he'd like to see the private sector do more and private landlords see what more they can do. Yeah, he's saying if you're a private landlord why don't you look more to rent to people who've previously been homeless and they're looking to encourage people to do that say. Because obviously people think well there are risks with these people they might default on their rent but that's what he's now campaigning for to reduce this stigma so that people can move on with their lives. Yeah well we're going to soon later on in the autumn have a very special documentary on this which William has taken part in and watch this space listeners.

A royal program that will be good news for the palace. It will and we will hopefully do something really good on that and we've got a few thoughts on what we might do on that. We'll have a special podcast on that. We'll leave there. I know we've talked about our imminent visit to Australia and where else are we going Kate? Samoa. We are going to Samoa but we've had a few other members of the Royal Family who've been making their own visits abroad so. we weren't invited to this one. We were not invited. But Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh has been in Tanzania. She has.

What's she been doing there, Kate? This time she's visited the Melandizi Health Centre and she went there 20 years ago to Tanzania. Did she? Yeah. So she's gone back. She is a big campaigner for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. And one of the things she's looking at in Tanzania is trachoma.

So this is the awful eye disease which is caused by a bacterial infection. It's preventable. But if it's not prevented and you do get it, it can make you blind or it can seriously impair your vision and it affects 1.9 million people. So this has been a long-term project of hers. So she's been going out there, looking at clinics where they do these screenings for this eye disease and heard all about the ways in which eradicating the infections.

But what was interesting as well, she's going out there on the King's behalf. She went out there to deliver a message from the King who was very much in support of her project and all the brilliant work that's being done in this field out there. So it speaks not just to her own long held charitable endeavours, but it's something that she's doing on behalf of HM the King. And she used to, I mean when her late majesty was around, she used to do quite a lot of international work and again I remember her, I remember her once saying late majesty was around, she used to do quite a lot of international

work. And again, I remember her, I remember her once. And she's good at it. She's very good at it. I remember her once, it might have been in a documentary or a speech she gave where she said that the Queen was always very interested when she came back from these trips to over a cup of tea, sit down with her and hear all about where she'd been, who she'd met and how, you and how the Queen was always very enthused to hear that. And I think, yes, Sophie and Edward have kind of come more to the fore in the last few years, but she's very still, I think, under the radar, quite under the

radar in the way that she goes around. She did that big trip to Ukraine and wrote a fantastic piece for us on the Sunday Times about it recently. So interesting. That's pretty brave to go out and do that in war zone. and wrote a fantastic piece for us on the Sunday Times about it recently. So interesting. And that's pretty brave to go out and do that. It was. It really was. And then there was a lot of discussion about whether or not we would be able to run that piece because it was during the election period. But you know, it was so important and the issues that she was tackling out there and some of her long held work in terms of sexual violence and conflict. And they don't kind of bang the drum with the press, so they're not kind of saying,

oh, you know, come on the trip, talk about how marvellous she is, write about her or anything like that. It just sort of happens organically that she just goes out and it's not, doesn't seem to be that they're seeking that publicity for her in that way. But she is obviously doing a brilliant job. I think it's one of the things that makes her, I think people find her quite authentic. Yeah, that's what you want in present day marketing and PR, isn't it? But what's interesting as well, I think, with those two is that they do a lot of solo trips as well. So that trip

I talked about 20 years ago, that was her solo trip to Tanzania. So she's been going around and about doing her own thing. You know, we've seen Edward visiting the cadets in Northumbria this week, and they very much have their own schedules. You know, we've seen Edward visiting the cadets in North Umbria this week and they very much have their own schedules. You know, it's that kind of strength and depth of the Edinburgh's that they're really picking up a lot of the slack when there are far fewer senior working members of the royal family. A really hard working member of the royal family is, as always, the Princess Royal. She is going to be in the Netherlands this weekend, Kate. Where exactly in the Netherlands is she going to be? She's going to be in Osterbeck.

What brilliant pronunciation you've got there. Right. Let's just pretend I pronounce that right. And she is going to be there to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, one of the Second World War's most famous battles. And she is going to be representing the King over two days, accompanied by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence. That's right, the Battle of Arnhem, which was this huge part of World War Two, so from the 17th to the 25th of September 1944, part of this Allied plan which ultimately wasn't

successful but to force a route into Germany from the Netherlands and nearly 2,000 Commonwealth and Allied soldiers died in that operation. And what's interesting this week, I think, was that there was a private Henry Moon who, as a young soldier who was laid to rest finally, 80 years after he died, after they found out through DNA who he was, through his remains, along with a South African soldier as well. And they were finally laid to rest there. So there's been a whole kind of week of commemorations around that. But again, you've got Princess Royal going out there on behalf of the King again this weekend. So it's the King using the team, teamwork, the A-Team.

Teamwork, the A-Team. Bringing the A-Game. That's a weekend I look at and think, in another world, in another lifetime, with a different choice, I think Prince Harry would have really quite enjoyed doing a weekend like that. Veterans, allies, the armed forces,

remembering, honoring all the things that are very important to some of his work, particularly with the Amictus Games. And he used to do that so well. Anyway, we've also had something lovely this week, something quite moving from Prince William, who has written a foreword of a book by Rob Burrow's widow, Lindsay Burrow. And Rob Burrow was of course the Leeds-Ryne rugby player. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and he very sadly died in June, age 41. And in his final video message, he said, every day is precious.

And- That was so moving, wasn't it? It was. That message when he- Yeah. He could barely kind of speak and he couldn't really move at that point. But it was his kind of take on life before he passed away. But he'd spent

those kind of years, his final years as he deteriorated him and his wife and one of his teammates had spent a lot of time kind of banging the drum for motor neuro and disease awareness and raising money and doing brilliant things. And she was also looking after him. She was looking after their three kids. She was also still working as a physiotherapist with the NHS. Now she's on this book, sounds brilliant. So Kate, I think for William to do a forward like that, Rob Burroughs and his journey and all his campaigning and his charity work and raising awareness around motion union, it must have really moved William and struck him.

Absolutely, I think it did didn't it. We saw him go up there to present the CBE before he died, so he had that acknowledgement from the palace. But on a personal note, you know, he stayed in touch with the widow, Lindsay Burrow, and sent a very personal message to Lindsay and their children, their three children, when Rob passed away. And I think that really kind of struck home with William. I think you can see that things do really affect him deeply. I remember being with him once where he was speaking to homeless people and he'd heard their stories of how they'd all got to the lowest ebb, essentially, and then how they'd rebuilt their lives or were trying in the process

of rebuilding their lives. And he'd spent ages talking to them. He was supposed to have moved on and he looked almost tearful. He was just sort of taking it all on board and I think with William he's quite quiet, he's quite thoughtful but these things go in and they just they sync with him, you can sort of see him kind of ruminating on it and he must go home and take that home and look at all the privilege that he has and think okay how do we stop it and it must be frustrating as well I think for the Royal Family. Because there's only so much they can do and there must be so many demands on that sort of spotlight they can shine on things.

Yeah, and they're restricted by the fact that they can't be political, that, you know, they don't have any political power to shape things in that way, but they do have this kind of amazing publicity that they can shine a light on events and impact. And same with Princess of Wales, that the lives of the under five, she can see when she's visiting prisons you know she's speaking to the 19 year old who's been banged up for theft or whatever it may be and we go to a prison with her and and she's thinking well you had a terrible childhood well how do we stop you getting to this point at 19 behind bars you know we make your childhood better we give you education we give you ways

to make your improve your life if give you education. We give you ways to improve your life, give you love, support your family so that they can support you as a kid. And I know you've seen it too with the Lake Queen. Well, as we were talking about it, something came to mind. And I think it's that thought of when members of the royal family are very struck by something, there are instincts that move them. Their lives are all about formality and sticking to a script quite often. But it reminded me of when in 2017 in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire tragedy, Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, went to Grenfell with Prince William. And they went there. It was a very moving engagement because remember the sort of pictures of, I mean, people in absolute grief wailing

and you know, holding on to William and hugging him and the Queen just listening, just listening to everything they had to say. And it was June. And I remember a few days later, it was the same week we are trooping the colour, you know, fixed in the Royal Diary, very formal, very same procedure every year, the marching, the pomp, all of that. And it's always a big day in our calendar on the Sunday Times, you know, something happens on a Saturday, yes! But we got a heads up from Buckingham Palace very early that morning to say that there was going to be a slight change to the protocol around trooping. And instead of just leaving Buckingham Palace in the way that the Queen always did

in a carriage, she would actually stand in front and lead the nation in a minute silence in memory of the victims of Grenfell and all those affected. And what was really interesting was the kind of background briefing around that was that the queen had woken up that morning very early, earlier than normal, and had just thought, I cannot continue with trooping the color. As is. As we always do, as if nothing has happened,

I have to change something. And knowing a woman of such tradition and actually liking the script, changing it up, knowing that the sort of impact that would make. That's a huge deal for the Lake Queen. It's a big, big call. And it was very moving. And I think there's something about sort of when members of the Royal Family are moved and struck by things, the instinct that's there to act in a way that grabs the world's attention. Right, so, Kate, speaking of social media and birthdays.

Sorry, I wasn't listening on my phone. Milestone birthdays. This is our 21st! 21st baby! I was only celebrating my 21st the other day so it's so nice to have a 21st again! It's our 21st episode! Yeah happy birthday! Happy birthday to you! And you. And you. Thank you. Oh that's lovely. Anyway happy birthday. Thank you to all our listeners for tuning in for 21 episodes. We hope you'll listen to the next 21 episodes.

Today. And years. Yeah. And fun. Happy birthday and goodbye, Kate. We're at the very start of our podcast lives. Goodbye, Roya. Till next week.

Bye. Bye.