The Sunday Times Magazine • 21The sight of Andrew driving Range Rovers
or cantering around Windsor Great Park
is too damaging. In days gone by he’d have
been banished to a distant castle. Charles
should do the modern equivalent: get him
to look for a new house far from London.”
And cut off his private funding? “No.
Andrew will be less trouble if he has some
kind of an income for the rest of his days.”
Key to the new King’s early successes will
be Camilla, who Brown argues “has hugely
improved Charles because she is charming,
gracious, discreet, uncomplaining and
knows royal popularity needs to be earned
by hard work”. She has helped to transform
him from an Eeyore who once complained
that nobody knew how ghastly it is to be the
Prince of Wales into “an unapologetically
happy man. He’s got the woman he loves
with him — and that has improved his
whole performance. I think Camilla is going
to be very popular.’’ As much as Diana?
“No. She’ll never be beloved like Diana, but
Charles will never be beloved in the way
that the Queen is. They will find a different
way to win the affection of British people.”O
nce he has established himself and
banished his toxic brother, Charles’s
real work begins. Reinvention “has to
come from the top” and will not come
naturally “because the Palace is not
used to having to change at anything
more than a glacial pace”. Brown suggests
that the new King takes a leaf out of the
most successful political rebranding of the
modern era — Tony Blair’s reinvention of
the Labour Party into New Labour. “He
needs a Clause IV moment,” she says. Blair
signalled he would modernise the party
by ditching the outdated Clause IV in its
constitution, which committed it to the
public ownership of key industries.
Brown suggests Charles looks to the
Commonwealth. “It’s clear that most of
the 15 Commonwealth realms will want to
become republics. So why not announce he
will no longer serve as head of state unless
the local population votes for him to remain
so in a referendum, and also begin the
process of stepping down from his separate
role as sole head of the Commonwealth?”
That would help the monarchy “get ahead
of the tide of history” and also encourage
new countries to join the federation that
might have balked at the idea of having an
English king as head of state. “He needs to
refashion the Commonwealth as a potent
voluntary federation of countries to boost
trade and cultural exchange. After Brexit,
Britain could do with that.”
While the new King is at it, he should
scrap the traditional royal tour. “The de haut
en bas standing up, with Catherine wearingan outsize tea-tray hat, being
driven past the locals behind
a wire fence? No, no, no!
Even the word ‘tour’ makes
it sound like you’re saying,
‘Behold, I’m here. Admire me.’
That’s all got to go.”
Instead, each royal visit — a better
description — should be themed around
issues that the royals can talk about
authentically. Charles’s visits should centre
on the rights of indigenous people, land
and water, “which are and have long been
his concerns”. Catherine should continue
to focus on early childhood education and
William on climate change. “They should
all make sure they meet people deeply
affected by each issue, so it humanises the
causes and can elicit an emotional reaction
on all sides. Otherwise it feels like they’re
making dull speeches on topics poll-tested
for safety reasons.”
Harry has shown the way with his Invictus
Games for injured servicemen and women.
“It’s been such a hit because it’s focused,
original, brilliantly executed and relevant to
Harry, who served his country as a soldier for
a decade. It gets a strong emotional reaction
from him, participants and audiences.”
As Charles establishes himself, William
and Catherine will be doing a lot more of
the royal heavy lifting. Brown believes thecouple’s biggest contribution will be to
refashion the woefully outdated royal
mantra of “never complain, never explain”
into something more “relatable”.
Catherine’s role will be crucial. “She’s very
intelligent. She does a lot of watching,
waiting and listening. She’s more strategic
than William. Behind the scenes she will
help to guide William and others to find a
way to emote, which is what the public now
demands, without saying anything that
could cause problems around contentious
issues.” How? “Catherine does it by just
smiling all the time. It’s remarkable. You
cannot find a picture of Catherine where
she’s not radiating joy at all times, which is
clearly an adopted strategy that is working.”
So far, so Succession. But while putting the
House of Windsor in good order at home,
the King will still have a job to do to ensurethe monarchy retains its role
as the only well-known
global royal family, which
is vital to its longevity and
to Britain’s “soft power”, which
in turn helps the country “seem
bigger than it is and punch above
its weight”.
This is where Charles could play his
joker. While most observers dismiss the
idea that Harry and Meghan might return
to the royal fold, Brown says they could lead
the reform of the Commonwealth. She
points out that this was their role before they
left for a new life in “the capital of smoothies
and smiley face” — Montecito, California.
The Queen appointed Meghan vice-
president of the Queen’s Commonwealth
Trust and Harry president, “and they had
a highly successful visit to Australia. Their
South Africa visit was also immensely
successful until it was completely derailed
by the interview with Tom Bradby.” Shortly
after visiting an impoverished township in
Cape Town, Meghan told the ITV newsman
that royal life was miserable.
Brown insists Meghan’s “modernising
insights are good ones but she tried to do
too much all at once and her time inside
the institution was so short” — 20 months,
compared with Diana’s 16 years. “It’s not
REX too late to have another go. She and
“CHARLES WILL BE A BETTER KING THAN
MANY PEOPLE EXPECT. HE NEEDS TO BANISH
ANDREW FROM WINDSOR TO CORNWALL”
Charles opens parliament on May 10;
Andrew after a morning ride at Windsor
Castle, 2021; Camilla will be Queen Consort