The Royals with Roya and Kate - Inside the Palace refurb & Harry's Racy Netflix Doc

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

What the Buckingham Palace refurb means for the monarchy, an extraordinary video is released by Prince Harry and a special tribute to the teenager who inspired the Princess of Wales. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Holly Mead and with me is Lucy Andrews and we are both from the Money Team at The Times and Sunday Times. And our new podcast is called Feel Better About Money. It's a safe place to talk positively about money and personal finance. Each week we will tackle a specific financial topic from managing debt, saving for a pension, buying a house or deciding whether to insure your cat or dog or goldfish. Feel Better About Money is sponsored by Lloyd's Readymade Investments. ACAS powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. I'm Jessi Kirkschenk and on my podcast Phone a Friend, I break down the biggest stories in pop culture, but when I have questions, I get to phone a friend. I phone my old friend, Dan Levy.

You will not die hosting the Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know what thirsty meant until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween. Facebook is like a no. That's what my grandma's on. Thank god Phone a Friend with Jessi Cruokshank is not available on Facebook.

It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Welcome back to The Royals with Roya and Kate, with me Kate Mancy from The Times and Roya Nika from The Sunday Times. And we start this week with a post from the Prince and Princess of Wales's ex-account. We're so sorry to hear that Liz Hatton has sadly passed away. It was an honour to have met such a brave and humble young woman. Our thoughts and prayers are with Liz's parents Vicki and Erin and her brother Matteo at this unimaginably difficult time.

And Kate, it's a very moving message from William and Kate, who met the 17-year-old photographer Liz, who had cancer. And they said that she had really inspired both of them with her creativity and strength. And you, I know you met her when you went to go and see her, didn't you, in an interview? Yeah, so she photographed the rippingippon Cathedral for us at the Times. She was diagnosed end of last year, and then her and her mother put together this bucket list because she was a keen photographer and she wanted to complete as many experiences as she could. And you'll remember I spoke to you on the podcast from the Rippon Cathedral, from the Vickers house there, and was completely blown away by her

because she was really, really inspiring. And I can see why William and Kate said that. Because she was really kind of stoic facing this kind of terminal illness with this rare and aggressive form of cancer. She had something called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, and essentially told that she had just months left to live.

But it was those last two words that she clung onto, to live. And she did, she did, she did. She put out this bucket list and initially she said, you know, I told mum the bucket list was useless. Who would ever let me do any of this? Well, they did, of course. And then she went to photograph Rob Brydon, the photographs of the Times and various other publications as well. And she came to our attention first, because William had found out about her through one of his charities and this bucket list idea and so he reached out to her and said, well come and photograph an investiture that I'm doing at Windsor Castle. So she went along thinking she really was just going to photograph an investiture as part of her bucket list

and then unknown to her and her family, Kate arrived and they had this meeting and you know they had a hug and they had tea and... She was pulled into this sort of side room and William and Kate really spent a lot of time talking to her and her little brother. What I loved about the sort of what came out of that was she said we didn't, obviously you know Kate having been through her cancer treatment this year, we just didn't talk about our illness we talked about our shared love of photography and it was it was that sort of uplifting feeling of focus on what you love and what sort of drives you on and what inspires you.

And your passions. Yeah, but it was particularly poignant, I think, because it struck a chord with, in terms of our coverage, because obviously we know that Catherine's been through it, the King is going through it still. And there was this extraordinarily poised young woman making the most of life. And that's what Catherine said all the way through her treatment as well, isn't it? This idea that she's going to focus on the things that bring her joy, like her own photography.

And you can see that when she released that three-minute video of her, you know, walking through the fields and, you know, along the beach in Norfolk with her children, there's a real kind of creative element to that video, which I'm sure she had a hand in. And similarly, this is exactly what Liz has done in her in her kind of pursuit. It's just the kind of the fact that she was such a kind of wise head on young shoulders as well Liz that she was facing her own mortality with this really stoic you know attitude. Liz had one rule she said to her mum no crying and her mother had a rule as well, which was no moping, and together they kind of came together, a really lovely family. I thought what was lovely in the way that it sort of captured the nation, it just felt

very hopeful out of something, a very sort of dark, what could have been a very dark story, the narrative around her was very hopeful. It was and it continues, so they've launched a Just Giving campaign which will raise money for this rare form of cancer. They've got a target of a hundred thousand pounds, I expect they'll smash that. And her mother Vicky paid tribute and when she did she asked for two last favors from the public didn't she and she said she wanted her daughter to go out with a bang and what were those two favors? The two favors were for people to share any pictures that Liz had taken on social media with the hashtag

hashtag Liz Hatton to raise awareness. That was really what the mother wanted her legacy to be, her daughter's legacy, all this work she'd done and her tremendous talent. So while I was up there in Ripon Cathedral, our photographer, James Glossop said, you know, she's really good. It was such a tragedy that she didn't get to explore it further.

And actually, on Monday this week, she was due to photograph the new cast of Moulin Rouge for the Times, but of course wasn't well enough to do so. So share the pictures of Liz and then also to fundraise, to donate to reach this £100,000 target. And her attitude was brilliant when I met her interviewer, she said, it's uncertain how long I'll live, but it is certain that it won't be for a long time.

And so because of that, I feel like the only thing you can do is do as much as possible of what you want to do and what you enjoy and to spend it with the people you love, which is a brilliant message, isn't it? Thinking of her doing what she enjoyed, I remember watching some filming of her doing a shoot with Rankin, a photographer who is really good fun to be around.

I've interviewed him actually, he's a laugh. He's full of energy and you could see, it was a fashion shoot, you could see how much she was enjoying getting involved in the creativity of it and actually, you know, directing the models herself and actually how much she moved some of the models. It's all quite emotional. Anyway, you know, an amazing, extraordinary, impressive young woman and hopefully, you know, people can get involved and donate and share pictures.

So let's move on now to a story you wrote last week, Roya, in the Sunday Times, about how the king is going back to live in the room he was born in. Is that right? Sort of back to his roots. Not quite going to live there. That was the other bit of the story. Oh yes. He ain't never going to live at the palace. Despite what they've been saying for years. We've all been writing, he's not going to, and they've all been saying no, no, no. Yes. Well, I'd made some inquiries. I had made some inquiries, but I was very interested that the East Wing

was going to be opened up even more next year. So I started making some inquiries on various things. And I just sort of asked again, is the official line still that, as it's always been for the last few years, every time I write that he's not going to live there, and I get haughty courtiers saying he will, is it still that's not going to live there and I get haughty-caughty saying he will. Is it still that he's going to live there after the refurbishment is finished in 2027? And there was a bit of a pause and I found out a bit more information about what's

what's actually going to happen with the Palace over the next three years. It's a big kind of shutdown, isn't it? So this state visit that we're expecting next week with the inward state visit from Qatar. Last one. That will be the last one at Buckingham Palace until 2027. Yeah. And what are they going to be doing in the meantime? All the state visits over the next few years

are going to be at Windsor Castle. The palace is going to undergo basically all the grand state rooms phased closure. So most of the really big grand rooms will close over the next three years for massive renovation, rewiring, refurbing. They're going to pause that work during the summer months. They still have the summer opening and the exhibition every year.

But it's meant that the King's already moved out of his private apartment. So he has been using his office and his private meeting rooms and his audience rooms. The private apartments in the North Wing, which the Queen used to have her apartments in and used to live in. So he's moved out of that already. That's already started its refurb and he's moved into a suite of rooms called the Belgian Suite, which is near the swimming pool.

Handy for edit. He doesn't swim there and he's turned the temperature down as I wrote last year. Much to the few. Very basic. It was very basic when I did podcasts with Elsa Anderson, she said, it's very basic. Yes, well it's not cold and basic. It's not very no-frills. Anyway, so he's using the Belgian suite now for his office and his meetings and his audiences,

and he has afternoon tea every afternoon, not lunch. But interesting as part of that, he's using the Orléans room. And that was one of the sort of grandest guest bedrooms where the Obamas used to stay. But it's also the room he was born in. And talking to a friend of his last week about this, you know, they sort of said, well, nothing happens without half a smile with the King. And so he will love the fact, the symmetry, that he's discharging his duties. Back where he started.

As a 76-year-old King in the room where he arrived, you know, in November 1948. But his private room, that was interesting part part about your story saying the private rooms, he's funding himself from his own cash, which I thought that's interesting because there has been, he's very conscious of the money being spent. We learned what the coronation cost recently and the palace were very keen to say that actually there'd been a saving. I've got a theory on that. This is part of his kind of big narrative, isn't it? I've got a theory on that.

So the whole refurb of the Buckingham Palace is going to cost £369 million, which is all being publicly funded. The taxpayer is paying for it. The expectation would have been that all of it would have been covered by the public purse. But now we've discovered the King's going to fund his own private apartments, the refurb himself, privately, personally. The official line on this from Royal Sources is that the king is mindful that personal touches shouldn't

incur, shouldn't be incurred. Little flourishes. Does this mean that he can get his wife's sister, Annabel Elliot, in to do this? I think there's another reason for it. The interior design. I think it's linked to the other bit of the story, which was the line has now changed, that courtiers have always said he and the Queen will live there when the

refurb's done and now they're saying those rooms are being refurbed for potential residential occupation. Because he can't take money from the public purse for these suites of rooms and then we'll say oh he's not even staying there he's wasted public money. I'm pretty sure that's the reason. But this is the get out cause, that's really interesting. I'm pretty sure that's the reason. And as people very close to him continue to say, as we have written for years, it's highly unlikely he's ever going to leave Clarence House

to go and spend a night there, to actually live there. It will be monarchy HQ, continue to be his office. Not as cosy as Clarence House. He's not. But it's always described to me as, once the refurb's done, he will have a kind of flat above the shop arrangement there, that he can stop there if he needs to, but otherwise...

I think he will still continue to, you know, he's going to move back to the North Wing, so that will, you know, those rooms that used to be the Queen's Apartments will be his again for audiences, for his office, where he does his work there, he doesn't stay at Clans, he goes to work in the office, but he's just not going to live there. But pesky royal editors like us won't be able to criticise him for taking public money for it. I think that's why he's paying for it himself. Always thinking ahead. Lots of interesting stuff that came out on the face of it could have just been a story about the logistics of Buckingham Palace. It was a really interesting story and it just made me think,

I bet you Trump would love to be the first one back for the Buckingham Palace state visit. Well it is interesting. Once. And who's going to be that first one back? Windsor's quite a nice place to visit though, it's not like... Well everything's going to move, because I mean even they're going to host small receptions at BP until middle of next year and then all functions are going to move to Windsor or Sir James's Palace. Very convenient for Prince William.

Yes, very convenient for those invest-ages William. Anyway, BP rolls on just in a different guise. Indeed. ACAS powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. I'm Jessi Kirkshank and on my podcast, Phone a Friend, I break down the biggest stories in pop culture. But when I have questions, I get to phone a friend.

I phone my old friend, Dan Levy. You will not die hosting the Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know a thirsty man until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween. Facebook is like a no. That's what my grandma's on. Thank God Phone a Friend with Jesse Kruxshank is not available on Facebook.

It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. AKS.com Moving away from Buckingham Palace and onto two princes making a lot of noise this week. Literally. We're not talking about Harry, who we will come onto. We're talking about Prince William, Will's week with the machine gun, and Prince Louis with the drums.

Let's start with Louis because that was fun. Let's always start with Louis. She's great. Six-year-old Prince Louis, what did we learn at the Tusk Wars? So you were at the Tusk Wars this week. I was at the Tusk Wars. Not working, I was off duty. It was really fun. You were never not off duty. I'm very rarely off duty. How dare you?

I was actually sort of kind of on duty. Floating around. Looking fabulous. Off duty, off the record. Please tell me you were wearing your King's silk stockings and britches for this event. I wasn't wearing any britches, which I as you know, reserved for the gallops only, of Lamborn. Nor was I wearing silk stockings, I'm afraid. But tell me about it, because it's quite showbiz wasn't it? Rolling Stones, Ronnie Woods was there, he was called Natch. Bit of diastrates. But tell me about it, because it's quite showbiz, isn't it? Yeah. Rolling Stones, Ronnie Woods was there.

World Natch. Bit of Dire Straits. After your A-list, yeah. Ronnie Woods. Idris Elba, who loves hanging out with royalty these days. Last time I saw him was with the King at Clarence House, with that whole engagement about knife crime and tackling knife crime.

And his film will be coming out. Yeah. So Idris was there. And it's an even very close to Williams Heart. We you know, he did a big United for Wildlife Tusk event when we were in Cape Town together and it's it basically highlights every year the kind of the best conservationists out in one

across the world and three conservation like really impressive conservationists were given awards by William doing extraordinary things in terms of wildlife conservation and environmental conservation too. But he, during a conversation with the musicians, with Mark Knopfler and Ronnie Wood, he did reveal that Prince Louis has taken up learning the drums, which has meant that at Laid Cottage, William has his fingers in his ears a lot of the time. I suspect suspect most of Windsor, the Windsor Surround does too. That's brilliant, isn't it? He's doing the reverse now. Do you remember those brilliant pictures of Louis with his hands over his ears as the fly past came to him?

Now everyone, yeah, he's getting his own back. But he also talked about his kids in his speech. Yes. He got up on stage and mentioned, you know, one of the reasons why he's so... It's quite emotive, wasn't it? Passionate about conservation. Yeah. He said, I want my children to live in a world where swallows still migrate, gorillas still live in the cloud forests of Uganda,

and the rhinos still roam the arid rangelands of Namibia. That's lovely. What I thought was really interesting... I toasted that. Hello. What I thought was really interesting about the event was one of the awards to a ranger who works for African Parks, which is the company, of course, the organization that

Harry, of which Harry's on the board for. Now, there's been quite a lot of controversy over African Parks because some of their rangers have been accused of alleged crimes, such as rape and battery. So it was really interesting to see William kind of embracing that that organization. I noticed before the event even took place and these things are kind of kept under wraps, you know, who's going to win the awards? African Parks put something on their Instagram saying, you know, sort of saying, oh, one of our rangers has got an award, isn't this marvelous?

Which was interesting. Well, they do a lot of good work, African Parks. I've been out to Malawi with African Parks, actually to Lewande National Park a few years ago to see the first deployment of British soldiers working with African Parks Rangers on counterpoaching tactics and spent some time out there. And that was actually an initiative that the King had driven forwards and helped to part fund and Harry had been involved

and I think William was very interested. So I suppose African Parks worked very closely with Tusk as well, who obviously run the awards. But it's just another area, isn't it, where Harry's and William's interests are always going to be kind of overlapping. Yeah, anyway. Wills was busy this week.

Was. Doing his own kind of action man. He made a few front pages didn't he Kate? He made a few front pages with his in his camo. So he went down to Salisbury Plains to visit the first Battalion Welsh Guards. He's obviously Colonel of the Regiment. They have been in ceremonial duty, so they were working on the King's coronation, on the Lake Queen's funeral, and now they're going

back to field army. So this was training, so we saw William firing a machine gun, talking to troops, sort of breaking the internet with pictures of him in his combat gear. Breaking the picture desks. Flying a drone. Thrilling picture editors across Fleet Street. So that was quite interesting to see him in his sort of action man event. I think he would have been thrilled. Well, I know he was thrilled actually, because he gets... He doesn't like it when he loves his wife and he loves the work she does.

He's very supportive and it's a great partnership. But I know he gets frustrated when they're out and when he was together. And sometimes, quite often, he gets cropped out of photos. And it's like he was never there. So I know that he took great delight, not that I'm saying he's vain, that he looked, there was quite a lot of him on the front pages in his combats looking... Yeah, and it's not all kind of dressing up, you know, he knows what he's talking about, he's done his service. And he goes along, he has good jokes, doesn't he, as well, he's talking about the transition from ceremonial duties to field army saying,

oh, look, I'm sorry about that, you know, you've been doing all the kind of boring marching stuff, now you get to go back to the stuff you're really good at, you're trained at. Tell the troops, I'll make sure my father doesn't squeeze in any more of those ceremonial events in the next few weeks. I'm not sure what his father would think about that. I think his father would be deciding how much more ceremonial they do.

Slightly less glamorous and active, but no less worthy. Kate, what were you up to with William on Monday? He was doing something, wasn't he? I went to the Royal Geographic Society with William where he was... Was that fascinating? It was actually, because he was there with the heir to the Armani throne, there's in Bin Haitham. So they joined together to be co-patrons of Jewel of Arabia expedition.

So this is a huge expedition that's going to follow in the footsteps of Bertram Thomas. Who he? He's a British explorer who in 1928 went across Oman and they're going to be retracing his steps. So there's a crew of six, William met most of them when he was there on Monday. They're going to be trekking for 30 days across the desert, the largest sand desert in the world, the Rubell Cully, known as the empty quarter. So no mean feat. across the desert, the largest sand desert in the world, the Ru-Bel-Kali, known as the empty quarter. So no mean feat, they've got camels apparently in boot camp currently to help them do make this trek. William did say that he's not going to be going out to Oman in January.

I know, quite fancy little January trip out there with the Prince of Wales. No, he did say though, which is quite interesting, that he would try and make something happen. So you remember in Cape Town, he was hinting, wasn't he, that him and Kate will be doing more foreign engagements next year, more foreign trips. And he said, well, we've got plans, you know, there's plans in process. So it does look like he might be going back out to the Middle East at some stage, or certainly that's how he made it seem. Oman would be on our wishlist, William. We're just putting that out there. Haven't been?

Be good to tick it off. Yes. Excellent. Don't let that persuade you in one way or another. Do let it persuade you. But also do. I don't even know how to start talking about this because there was noise from Harry's lot in the past week

where we saw something quite extraordinary that the likes of which I don't think I've ever seen before. Harry has released a trailer for his new Netflix program. Oh we remember when that last happened we were in Boston. All about Polo. On the Earthshot Prize. And it is extraordinary. Yes it is. It is Rivals Eat Your Heart Out. Rivals is currently the show, you know, that everyone's talking about over here. It's a drama. This one is a documentary about what it's really like to be a loaded polo player. All the champagne, all the girls in the trailer talks about it being a sexy sport with dirty, sweaty boys.

It... My eyes were on... That's the sound of our producer laughing by the way. Callum will be watching. Don't cut that bit out Callum. One thing that was missing from the trailer. Harry and Megan. Prince Harry. Apart from his name really big, Prince Harry and Megan you can touch the statistics. I did watch it all. Big name credit. Where is Harry? Where is he?

Well. There's a family drama in it because there's a father and son rivalry where the father's playing on one team against his son so you know they're going to be building up. Spoiler alert, it's not Charles and Harry. Yes exactly. I thought well that's something he knows a bit about, difficult family dynamics and maybe that he's feeding into that with his being an executive producer on the show. The big question is going to be,

you know, when we come to watch this, as you and I probably will have to for Royal Research, I want to watch it afterwards! how much Harry is actually going to be in there? My prediction is probably not very much. We might see a few cutaways of him playing a polo match, you know, with his great mate Nacho Figueres, who was in the trailer a lot. We were there in Sao Paulo when the two of them were playing polo together.

We sure were. And we weren't looking at Harry. I couldn't possibly comment on that. Maybe we should cut that bit. There have been reports that Netflix aren't particularly happy with the way it's gone and that because Harry wasn't in it they commissioned a Harry polo, you know, it's a sport of kings. And they just got polo. They've got the king's son.

No Harry. Yeah, they got the polo, no Harry. But also it's kind of, is this a world in which you want, you know, in term re-branding Harry, is this a world that he should really be associated with, it's kind of high money, high stakes, you know? It's funny, the last time I interviewed Harry in 2016, he said to me, on this very point that you're making, I don't play polo so much anymore,

A, because I completely ruined my body in the army, but B, because I know it makes me look like a rich posh Wally, worse to that effect. But me and my brother do it once or twice a year because we're able to raise huge amounts of money for our charities and they did and they do. So William tends to play one or two big matches a year. I know he doesn't particularly love the look either,

but he does it because it raises a fortune. He's not such a fan of Ascot either. He's not a fan of the sort of top hat Ascot look, is he, William? So it's interesting that he's put his name, as you say, to a documentary all about that world. Mm. The Netflix contract is coming to an end with Meghan and Harry. We're expecting to see her show next year. Still no date been announced. Jam, jam, and more jam.

Jam and, you know, her lifestyle brand. American Riviera Orchard. But will this be the thing that makes Netflix think yes let's sign up you know another multi-year contract I'm not sure it will be well let's see what the viewing figures are when that it comes out on December 10th I think yes we can talk about when we get to watch the whole thing we can maybe it can reappear on the podcast with our expert eye cast over that. Well, absolutely. In our role as TV critics, the producer's laughing and shaking his head,

like you two. The editor's rolling his eyes in the corner. Things we do for our job, honestly, were... To end on something a little bit more different, the Princess of Wales has released a statement in her role for the Forward Trust looking at addiction and saying that we shouldn't judge people for their addiction and that recovery is possible. So it was raising awareness of a really important cause, but also this continued theme of Kate William that let's stay positive,

let's galvanize people to action rather than just depress everybody. What did she say? She said, for too long, many suffered in silence, harboring feelings of shame and guilt about their condition, despite their vulnerability. Everyone suffering from addiction is another human being with a story of their own, which many of us don't understand or see. And I thought that was really interesting because of course this is a year in which she's had her own health issues behind the scenes, obviously not related to addiction,

but everything she says now you think, and I wonder what you were going through at the time because there was all that leery speculation at the beginning of the year as to what her condition was. They got completely out of hand. And here she is saying, people have stuff going on that you don't know about. So don't rush to judge, have empathy, show love to people.

And that theme is going to be there, isn't it? In next week's carol service at Westminster Abbey. On Friday, which you and I will be going to. We will. We're so looking forward to it. It's her fourth annual Together at Christmas Carol Service at the Abbey. And I think it was always

the big moment, along with Remembrance Weekend, that she had prioritized as being part of her, you know, gradual comeback to public life. But we'll see her before then, won't we? We will. We're going to see her on Tuesday at the state visit, the Qatari state visit. She will be at horse guards with Prince William. She's going to meet and greet the Emir of Qatar and his wife and be as involved

as she can. And that we know she's not going to go to the state banquet on Tuesday evening. Just William will go to that with the King and Queen and other members of the royal family. But I think people will be really pleased to see her back out on that kind of big set piece. Yeah, large scale ceremonial engagement. So world stage stuff, isn't it? Because she was there for trooping, but that's more of kind of, you know, a family engagement, whereas this feels very, you know, in the carriages down the mall.

Yeah. And the last last one at Buckingham Palace for a while be saying farewell. We wave off the Qataris on Wednesday, as I wave off the Qataris doing that road trip on Wednesday, like, oh, this is it for the next three years. Well, they'll have them at Windsor. It's different, though. Yeah, it is different. It's a different vibe.

It's more chilled at Windsor, I think. Yeah, depends who's visiting. We're waiting for Trump. Anyway. Well, a busy week next week, so we've got lots to talk about. What colour are we week next week, so lots to talk about. What color are we wearing next week? Well, yes, we've, you can't, if you're listening on the podcast, you can't see we've both accidentally

turned up wearing regal purple to match our... Or was it accidentally? Or was it channeling? Anyway, until next week's Color Code. Bye, Kate. Bye. ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. I'm Jessi Kirkshank and on my podcast, Phone a Friend, I break down the biggest stories in pop culture, but when I have questions, I get to phone a friend.

I phone my old friend, Dan Levy. You will not die hosting the Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know what thirsty meant until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween. Facebook is like a no. That's what my grandma's on.

Thank God Phone a Friend with Jesse Kroekschank is not available on Facebook. It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.