The Royals with Roya and Kate - Meghan’s new Netflix show and William’s birthday tribute to “incredible” Kate

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Roya and Kate discuss Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show, described by the streaming service as a lifestyle show that blends "practical how-to's and candid conversation". The trailer was released a day after she returned to Instagram at the start of the year. Is the Duchess of Sussex reinventing herself? Plus, the Prince of Wales pays tribute to Kate's "remarkable strength" on her 43rd birthday.Credit: Netflix/With Love, Meghan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners

online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's felix.ca. Hello and welcome to The Royals with me, Roya Nikar. And me, Kate Mancy. Now, this is very unusual because we're starting this week's episode in the Times and Sunday Times newsroom. And that's because we've had some breaking news, haven't we?

We have because we had a message through on the WhatsApp from the palace this morning saying that there would be a break with tradition for the Princess of Wales this birthday. She's 43, but it's not a milestone birthday, because they released a new picture of the Princess of Wales, previously unseen, and a lovely message from Prince William. And this is what Prince William has had to say in tribute to his wife. To the most incredible wife and mother, the strength you've shown over the last year has been remarkable. George, Charlotte, Louis and I are so proud of you. Happy birthday, Catherine. We love you, W.

Very nice. That was nice. It was a nice picture as well. Black and white taken by Matt Porteous in Windsor last summer before she announced the end of her chemotherapy. Looking very well, relaxed, hands in her pockets, in her jeans and he's the oceanographer photographer who was with them. Yeah, he went to the Caribbean and did the kind of scuba diving video if you remember that when they were out there. So this is nice. I think it's a bit of a break with protocol isn't it? Kansan Panas kept reminding us in the run up to her birthday, we don't normally get a new message

in a new picture. We normally get the king and the queen and the official social channels just posting nice pictures saying happy birthday. Yeah, when she turned 40, we had that huge photo shoot, but for a kind of 40 second 30, not normally. Unless it's a milestone. William probably thought she's had a hell of a year, we've had a hell of a year. It's not a typical year. It's not a typical announcement, but then it hasn't been a typical year. It's the year that William said, of course, that it was brutal and the hardest, probably the hardest year in my life,

2024. They'll be looking forward to fingers crossed a better year, a much better, happier, healthier year ahead. So wishing Princess of Wales a very happy birthday. Happy birthday, Kate. Normal service resumes. Shall we go back to the studio? Let's do that. We've still got to talk about the Netflix trailer that's got people talking, Prince Andrew and why he's back in the news, and the Times poll where the public told us who the most popular royal is. So new year, new resolutions and a new trailer for a new show from the Duchess of Sussex, the new Duchess of Sussex.

The new Duchess of Sussex, new rebranded on our TV screens, because yes, from the 15th of January, we're going to have her new Netflix show. She dropped the trailer for Megan's new program called With Love, Megan on the 2nd of January and interestingly the trailer was released just a day after Megan made her big Instagram comeback. So according to the press release it's supposed to be an inspiring series that reimagines the genre of lifestyle programming, blending practical how-to's and candid conversations with friends new and old. But is it Kate? Is it?

This is the question we're all asking. Well, to determine that and think about some answers, shall we re-watch it and give our listeners a flavour of what's on offer? Let's. Let's make a show. Let's go. Megan in the Garden. I've always loved taking something pretty ordinary and elevating it. Elevating the ordinary.

It doesn't look very ordinary, does it? Is that a Victoria sponge named after Harry's relative? So these are her buddies. It's reminded me of something I saw on Netflix recently, which was the Martha Stewart documentary. Look at what we made! Wait for it. Oh.

There he is! Harry! With love, Meghan. Oh, even the dog's bored. He's all there. So, well. What did you make of that Kate? But you know what? Every January and August, the Royal family are away from Royal duties

and who pops up? Megan and Harry. It's like clockwork. It's interesting that it might be something to brighten us all up with the TV programming because I think this is what she's always wanted to do. She had the TIG and it was all about her lifestyle thing. She's finally now getting to do it. Five years after they had the Sandringham Summit and left the royal family. Here she is elevating the ordinary and putting edible flowers onto breakfast. It reminded me a little bit, those ice cubes. Do you know what it reminded me a little bit of? Go on.

It reminded me a little bit of Pippa Middleton's book Celebrate. Do you remember when she did a book about entertainment? She was pilloried for that. She was and had helpful tips like remembering to fill up your ice trays. I'm sure this is a different level to that. But obviously, it seems like it's going to be linked to be a springboard for her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Altshield,

which you've only seen the Instagram posts of and not actually seen any merch yet for. People have likened it to Martha Stewart, who obviously was a self-made billionaire ass in America, who ended up going to prison for fraud and has subsequently reinvented herself yet again. And her whole thing was this is perfect. It's perfect. She had this sort of catchphrase, whereas Megan is, it's not perfect. It's about finding the

joys and she obviously got rich from having all the kind of trade off with the commercial arms, whether she was selling her tableware, her, you know, everything that she sold off the back of that, which made her an absolute fortune. And I imagine this is what Meghan's planning to do because everything sort of points in that direction. Is it supposed to give us, is it Meghan's attempt to give us more of an insight into her real life behind the scenes? Will people find that interesting enough to tune in? I think they probably will. Will they be disappointed when they realize it's not actually her and Harry's home? It belongs to some other multimillionaires in the neighborhood. And I suppose the success of it won't be based on how good it is,

because I think people will, out of interest, tune in just to see. But I suppose long term, will people find it relatable? You know, Megan going into the sort of, you know, the wealthy enclave of Montecito, choosing flowers, having friends over. I don't think it's relatable. I think she's aiming it to be aspirational. Because no one lives like that. I think Martha Stewart worked because it was her home. She completely renovated her home from scratch herself. She had the kitchen garden, she had the basket like Megan, she had the dog, you know, and the whole lifestyle.

Whereas Megan needs to be more open, I think, if she's going to bring people in. She's selling herself as a kind of influencer. And Martha Stewart was always described as the original influencer before social media. And I think people will think, that's great how to elevate the ordinary. But am I going to be sprinkling edible flowers on my kids' breakfast? No way. Nobody has the time for that.

I'm really interested to see how much of Harry makes it into the series. I mean, from that... Not very much, I don't think. I'm really interested to see how much of Harry makes it into the series. I mean, from that... Not very much, I don't think. Well, from that trailer, it's not much. It will be really interesting to see how much he features in there. I personally find her return to Instagram more interesting than the Netflix trailer. And the timing of it was, you know, interesting

because we knew she'd set up this handle last year and she hinted in an empty interview last year she was returning to Instagram and then left it dormant until we saw her reappear in January this month. But, you know, I find Harry and Meghan's very complex relationship with social media and her return on Instagram fascinating. Well, he's been quite critical of social media hasn't he? They both have. And I remember in January 2021 writing a story that they quit social

media and I was told by sources very close to them who were working with them at the time it was very unlikely either of them would go back to social media in a personal capacity. And yet here we are. This is a sign of things to come. We're going to see much more of Megan. We're going to see what she's thinking. I think we could be in for quite a ride with Megan's new social media rebrand. But it's very interesting, I think, with the Instagram. The comments turned off.

Yes. So while people have written lots of comments about the trailer on Netflix and YouTube, which we'll come on to. We might read a couple of them out. You and I and anybody else won't be able to put what they think, positive or negative, on that Instagram account because the comments are off and I think that's fascinating. Well I think everyone should have their comments off. I think it's far too many comments in general.

Well people are certainly interested because as we speak she's already got 1.4 million followers on Instagram, which is no mean feat. So and they they had huge numbers when they released Meghan and Harry. Now, this time around, I gather they're not going to be going into the details of their past life in the royal family. But she's spruced up the Victoria sponge, hasn't she? On the even seeing on the trailer with the little kind of fruit pieces on the top there elevating the everyday book. How's the trailer gone down, Kate? Well, because there are some comments, so it's had 1.2 million

views in five days on YouTube and Netflix have left the comments on for the video. Yeah, there's some brutal comments. This is quite brutal. So this is from someone who says, who's watched the trailer and says, my wife just made me a PB&J, which I'm assuming is peanut butter and jello, and elevated it by cutting off the crust. Oh, the magic. Now she's Martha Stewart. I think there's a slight tone of sarcasm in that person, sir. I don't know what you mean. Well, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, because...

Will you be eating? I will be watching for the home inter be in the eating because... Will you be eating? I will be watching for the home interiors and the recipes. Will you be following the recipes? No. But I'll be intrigued to see it and I think there is a gap in the market. Maybe she can be the new Martha Stewart. Let's see. The Times headline read this week with love, Megan, has Netflix turned Duchess into a trad wife? And there was another headline in another newspaper that had a front page picture of Megan from the trailer and said, Hollywood housewife.

And is that the image she's going for though? No, I don't think it is. You know, Megan is so much about female empowerment. Fascinating. Not being in the kitchen with an apron on, you know, being out, being proactive. So it is fascinating to me that she's gone so housewife. Mmm. Anyway, we'll find out what it's all about this time next week. Prince Andrew is making headlines again, Kate, and this time it's for allegedly using a fake name on company files. I wrote about this earlier the week, Republic, the anti-monarchy group,

has reported the Duke of York to the Metropolitan Police for allegedly using a false name on his company accounts. He's accused of filing accounts to Companies house under the pseudonym Andrew Inverness. So this relates to accounts for the now defunct company, Naples Gold Limited, which ceased trading in 2021. The private limited company was incorporated in 2002 with the sports tycoon, Johan Elias and the Duke both joining as directors soon afterwards. The Met Police have said the Met received a report relating to a company's house filing. This report will now be assessed to determine whether any action is required.

There is no investigation at this early stage. So no investigation and no comment this time from Prince Andrew. But once again, it has brought the Duke's business dealings into the press and under the spotlight. When and how does this all settle down do you think? If ever. If ever? I mean, never? I think we should just, on a pure technicality point, the use of Inverness as a surname whilst possibly being maybe a little bit disingenuous, is technically correct. And I'm sure, Angie Wodaki, he's the Earl of Inverness.

He is both the Earl of Inverness and, to remind ourselves, he is Baron Killie Lee. Titles given to him by the late Queen on his wedding day in 1986 to Fergie. So he can use any of those names as surnames. They are his surnames too. Killie Lee? Do you think he's been to Killilly Lee and County Down, Northern Island, Kate? I hope so. If he's got the title, I think the least you could do is get there. I mean, it's called Ayr Miles Andy. He's been everywhere else.

So technically, on a technicality... Yes. He can. It raises the question, doesn't it, why did he want to sort of... If you use something like that instead of York, that's it. How will it play out and how do people think of it? It doesn't sit well when there's lots of questions now about where his money's come from. We know the King's cut him off financially.

He's finding his own way. The multi-million pound question is where's that money? Where is he getting that money from? And this comes hot on the tail of the story at the end of last year about his association with an alleged spy from China, who was authorized to act on Andrew's behalf in business dealings in China. So this was an individual Yang Teng Bo, who the Home Office decided wasn't as Couldn't come back into the UK. Such a risk to national security that he was banned from the UK. So all this is going on and, you know, Republicans see an opportunity for a good headline

and pop in a complaint to the Met Police. But some people will say, well, that's legitimate, we should know more about this. The King and the Royal Family managed to sort of put a lid on Andrew over Christmas and New Year because obviously he didn't go to Sandringham. It always feels like however much distance and you know how much of an ocean they try and put between the institution and Prince Andrew, he always, it never goes away. He is the problem that never goes away and I think, I suspect you know we will hear more that they don't want to hear about and probably don't want us to hear about over the next few months on Prince Andrew.

He's not going away, is he? No, he's not. And I did a kind of wrap up in the Times Magazine at the end of the year in which a couple of people actually mentioned him and Harry to me as being known as the Dukes of Hazzard, as the two kind of difficult dukes that are problems for the king, but perhaps Andrew more so. But what more can the king do? But I think there's going to be much more to come as people continue to look at Andrew and there's

criticism on him and his role, not just now, but what he... Yeah, the ten years that he was a trade envoy acting on behalf of the British government and what connections he made there and what money he made off the back of those connections. I think there's still loads of questions to be answered. Watch this space. I'm sure Prince Andrew and the King will be. Anyway, a little pop quiz to start the year. Who is the most and least popular members of the royal family?

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Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BETT MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. So we conducted a YouGov poll at the Times to look into, as we periodically do, who's the most popular and who's the least popular. But there was another question as well, which was about the renovations at Buckingham Palace, which has been in the news again, because the results found that the majority of Britons

are against funding the £369 million work that's currently going on at Buckingham Palace. The YouGov poll was commissioned by the Times and 2,500 people were questioned about it. The 775-room palace is undergoing a 10-year resurfacing programme which began in 2017. And 56% of those questioned said that the government should not contribute to the renovations, while only 29% said that it was right for taxpayers to fund it. The impact of the works also means that incoming state visits will be moved to Windsor Castle until 2027.

But there's a bigger issue here as to who pays for it and where that money comes from. So I was quite surprised by the results actually because I thought everybody had kind of accepted the fact that this is... Or is it just that we're a nation of non-protesters? Because I agree, I was quite surprised by the findings, in which case if the majority of Britons don't agree with it, why haven't we had more sort of like petitions, public protests about it? You expect objections from the likes of Republic. Of course you do. That's what they're in the business for. But I was intrigued that it is an enormous amount of money. £369 million funded by the taxpayer.

It's a huge amount of money. It's a national monument. It doesn't belong to the taxpayer. It's a huge amount of money. It's a national monument, you know, it doesn't belong to the king. It's held in trust by the monarch for the nation. So we know that the use of Buckingham Palace is changing. We know almost certainly Charles and Camilla won't live there as their home. And Charles is very mindful of that. We discussed this before because he's going to now personally fund the private quarters of Buckingham Palace which I wrote about but I did find the findings really interesting why don't we have more sort of public protest over over this? Well the Palace will say on you know in support of spending taxpayers money on it that it's you know an iconic building that if you look at

what they're spending on the Palace of Westminster that's loads more and this is this is actually quite cheap. And it was, you know, fire risk, and there's lots of rewiring that hasn't yet brings in tourism. But I think we haven't had the debate that we had in 1992 when Windsor Castle set on fire and was pretty much destroyed. And the royal family did kind of think that they were going to get public funds to rebuild it. And it was discussed in parliament. And people said, no, we're not going to stand for this. And that's when the Queen said, I'll fund some of it myself. I will fund some of it by opening up Buckingham Palace

and charging for tickets. And also in acknowledgement of some of the public money that's going to be spent on refurbishing or renovating, rebuilding Windsor Castle, I will start to pay tax. So there was a big moment in 1992 about that. And that was coming off the back of a time when people were feeling the pinch financially. And it's interesting now that this has also, I think because it's been going on for years and years and years it wasn't one big momentous event like you know a devastating fire and how will we rebuild it it's been a kind of an ongoing conversation so it's sort of morphed and developed and the palace will say well this money is coming from you know a temporary uplift in what we get from the Crown Estate profits from the Treasury.

Although that's Treasury money, it doesn't really matter where that money originated from. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think it will depend on how much more of Buckingham Palace has opened up in the future to the public, how much more access to it the public feel they can have, how affordable that is, whether it's really turned over to being a national monument, a national sort of museum. I think in this sort of halfway house of it being the official residence still, technically, of Charles and Camilla, which it isn't in practice, Monarchy HQ, okay, but you know, do you need to spend £370 million on the King's office? Monarchy HQ? Hmm, questionable. Maybe, but a lot of people would argue that

you don't. Maybe the reason we haven't had the sort of outcries you say is it was sort of delivered as a sort of vettacompli. But I think- And under the previous reign as well, let's not forget. This isn't Charles coming in and saying, I won't. No, but of course we were told right from the start in 2017 that he was extremely involved with all the planning, because we knew, he knew, all of a sudden it would continue into his reign.

I think people will probably take a final view of it when it's finished and what Buckingham Palace is and isn't used for and how much more public access is granted to that extraordinary national monument. I think that will be key. Well, when I was at the Palace just before Christmas, there was a military wives' choir singing for the King and Queen. It was quite nice, but there was one of the women was in a wheelchair and Charles said, how did you find it? How did you get in? How are you finding

the lifts? And I think part of the kind of, you know, they're trying to make it more accessible for more people to get in because he's quite conscious of that as well, to bring people in. But you know, the money is not insignificant at a time when, you know, frontline services being cut. We've got a story in the paper today saying there's a two day wait once you're in hospital to see a doctor. So yeah, how will that play out? And I think this is something that the palace are very, very aware, conscious that Charles wants to be good value for money, wants to be seen to be good value for money. Will they be as conscious of his ranking in a popularity poll? Will they be quickly that he's only fourth in that popularity poll behind?

But look who he's behind. He's behind his little sis, but bigger in popularity polls. Bigger in... Well, polls are interesting because, you know, no one at the palace would deny that all members of the royal family keep an eye on them. They are aware of them. They're like politicians, you have, they're keeping an eye on the opinion polls. So this was a poll that was, the all poll that was done, the YouGov one, which said who was, which wanted to find out who was the most in these popular members of the royal family. And the most was...

Princess of Wales. Closely followed by. And the most was... Princess of Wales. Closely followed by... And the least was... Prince Andrew. But then with Harry and Meghan only just above him. Languishing towards the bottom of the pole. Yes. I wonder if people would realise that Andrew would be the least popular.

He was 85% of people questioned. Had an unfavourable view of Andrew. So every new Gov poll I think in the last few years has had him right at the bottom. popular. He was 85% of people questioned, had an unfavorable view of Andrew. So every YouGov poll, I think, in the last few years has had him right at the bottom. Yeah, he's consistently ranking at least popular. And that doesn't mean so that 15% found him favorable because only 7% had a favorable view of him and the remainers didn't know. So of him and the the Remainers didn't know. So that's pretty bad if only seven percent of the population in a YouGov poll found that you know had a favorable view of you. The popularity question is interesting I think only because when

these YouGov polls were done under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II she tended to top them. It's interesting she tended to top them and Prince Harry tended to be quite close behind her. Yeah, he was very popular. Very popular. And you know, back in the day, perhaps not so much now, but back in the day, certainly Charles was conscious, straight a little bit jealous of the popularity of William and Kate, getting much more media coverage, much more positive media coverage,

much more widespread media coverage. He was also jealous of Andrew's popularity back in the day when he was a 22 year old good looking, cast your mind back, Falklands conflict veteran. Yeah, how times change. How times change, so there you go, you can be riding high and then,

but I think, you know, King and Queen, that's respectable. Yeah. Sitting there. Princess Anne though, brilliant. She's the hardest working royal. She's always up there, isn't she? She's respectable. Yeah. Sitting there. Princess Anne though. Brilliant. She's the hardest working royal. She's always up there, isn't she? She's nails. Yes, we've got a reader who does, who totts up all the elements of the court circular

every year and says who's done the most jobs, basically. He's 92 now, that chap. Tim Donovan. Big shout out. Big shout out to Tim Donovan. He's brilliant. And again, surprise, surprise, Princess Anne topped the pot. And let's remember, she was back at work within the fortnight of being in hospital.

She's the workhorse of the Royal Family. She is. Anyway. On that note, Kate, I think we should go treat ourselves to some cake. I'll see you once we've seen Megan. I look forward to it. All right. Bye for now. Bye.

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