The Royals with Roya and Kate - Introducing The Royals with Roya and Kate

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

Two of the biggest names in reporting the royals introduce their new podcast combining humour, insight, debate and the occasional scoop. Episode one will be available on Friday 10th of May, wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The nicest thing about this, I get to see you every week. Aww. Hello. Hello. Welcome to the first Royal Podcast. The first? There are... Zillions out there. People love podcasts. Apparently.

And the Royals. But this is the first Royal Podcast from The Times and The Sunday Times. The first in the whole 200 years of The Times. That's for sure. And I'm Roya Nikar from The Times. No, no, I'm from The Times. That's for sure. And I'm Roya Neekar from The Times. No, no, I'm from The Times. You're assistant editor of... No, I'm the royal editor.

Sorry, the royal editor. And you are Kate Mancy, the assistant editor at The Times. You are The Sunday Times. Both editors? Yes, that's right. So who's in charge? Like, who's king? Queen.

We are the best of friends Thank you Roya We are But But what? Well sometimes you do try to scoop me Scoop you? That sounds very odd Yes scoop

I just got up earlier So we are the best of friends And the best of rivals And we have one patch, one beat. The Royals. But why? Why do we spend our lives looking at the Royals and all it means for the UK and the world? Why do we choose to report the Royals? Choose to be royal correspondents rather than any other beat?

Politics, sport, science, obits? Well, I started off wanting to be a war correspondent and spent time in Afghanistan. And about 15 years ago, there was nobody on my particular paper who was doing the royal beat and seemed like a good idea to get across loads of different topics because actually they come into contact with politics stories, foreign stories. You get to travel with the royal family, which was a great plus. You get to write about family relationships as well so you get to do that kind of feature writing element to it and really get under the skin of who these people are there's a celebrity element because they meet all sorts of kind of high profile people

and there's definitely a political aspect to it as well but what about you royal what drew you in i just did it for the foreign gigs. I did it for the holidays. I mean, I was an arts correspondent on The Telegraph when I was pushed, kicking and screaming to do it. And I was very reluctant, really didn't want to do it at all. And I think my words were to the editor at the time, I have bleep, bleep, bleep interest in the royal family whatsoever. No, thank you very much. And I think he thought at the time I was a similar age to,

they were the younger royals then, not so much now, and to get me alongside them. And at the time, our chief correspondent was doing it as a sort of on the side bee. It was 2010. It was really quiet.

Nothing had happened for quite a long time. He's like, it's fine. It's really quiet. You know, you just got to get on a few nice forums. So I agreed, clicking and screaming and thought, well, I'll have a three month handover and figure out what everything happens. And that was in November 2010. Two weeks later William and Kate got engaged and this juggernaut of a story came flying towards me and I had zero clue about what

I was doing and it's been pretty busy ever since. And why now? I think for me because this is a moment in the history of the royal family where good sense and care are needed. The kind words that the king himself talks about. And a podcast gives us that time. For the king who, I think everyone sort of said when he came to the throne that he would be a more accessible, more emotional monarch than the queen. And we saw that in the very first few days of, you know, him hugging people outside the palace. There was something about that image when he was in the Macmillan Cancer Centre, of him sitting down in a chemotherapy chair next to another patient holding her hand, that you almost can't really ever imagine the late Queen doing.

And then you've got Kate in the language that she used, in jeans and a jumper, sitting on a bench in Windsor, discussing, quite frankly, that cancer had been found and explaining it to us in a way probably not dissimilar to the way that she explained to her children, quite slowly, quite deliberately, chosen very careful words with reassurance. It's also a time when a little humour is needed, and if both the King and the Prince of Wales can find something to joke about, so can we. There's a line about you. With years of experience on the royal beat, Roya has unrivalled expertise.

She is known for her impeccably sourced reporting and has previously secured interviews with His Majesty the King, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex. Which was more fun? That would be telling, wouldn't it? That would be snitching. The King was an interesting interview because that was 2020 in Davos when he was on his way to the Middle East. And he went to the World Economic Forum to launch some very worthy sustainable markets initiative, green investing. Don't fall asleep, Kate. But I thought it might be cancelled, that interview, because it's when Harry and Meghan had just said,

we're off. And, you know, I thought... He didn't, did he? No, he didn't. He went ahead. Although... He didn't go into detail about what was going on there. I wasn't meant to ask him about Harry and Meghan,

but I thought, what do I need to get out of him? I need a good headline. I need a... He was on his way to the Middle East. I thought, what do I need to get out of him? I need a good headline. I need a, he was on his way to the Middle East. I'm like, I need a peacemaker headline here. And I sort of slipped in the question at the end. Are you a peacemaker, Your Royal Highness? And he's like, he knew what I was doing. He's like, I'd like to be a peacemaker.

I thought, brilliant. That's our master. That's enough. Makes it, I'd like to be a peacemaker. Done. Anyway, enough about me. You now, and I'm reading, during her years and years in the field of reporting.

I don't point out you are older than me. Kate, actually. Fake news. Kate has produced a string of world exclusives. In 2022, she won the London Press Club's Scoop of the Year Award. That is no mean feat. I love a good scoop, Kate. Thank you. For her Royal Cash for Honours revelations, and she was shortlisted for

the British Press Awards. Thank you. Yes. The Royals with Roya and Kate, a new podcast from The Times. And the Sunday Times. About the Royals. Not about us at all no well maybe just a bit i think that's good you'll be able to find this podcast wherever you do your podcasting apple spotify and others there are others apparently there are the first episode

will be available from friday the 10th of may see you then kate i can't wait