Prince William arranged for his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle to meet crowds at Windsor Castle after the death of Que...
Prince William arranged for his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle to meet crowds at Windsor Castle after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but none of them found it easy, a royal author claims in a new book.
Following the death of their grandmother, William and Duke of Sussex put on a united front and were seen together meeting people who had gathered at the Long Walk in Windsor. They came out in public with their wives, Meghan and Catherine, and spoke to royal fans paying tribute to the late monarch.
A source close to William told author Robert Hardman that he organised the outing in about two hours, and even though he knew it might be awkward due to the tension between him and his brother, he thought it was appropriate after the Queen's passing. However, a member of the Wales team said neither William and Catherine nor Harry and Meghan found it easy.
The author wrote in his biography of King Charles, named The Inside Story, that crowds were "astonished" to see the Sussexes and the Waleses get out of a black Land Rover together - with William at the wheel. One of his advisers told the writer: "It was very much William's idea. He had organised it in about two hours flat. He had been giving it a lot of thought and he said: 'I know it's awkward but isn't it right in the context of my grandmother's death?' I know he asked a couple of other people, too."
The book, serialised by Mail Online, goes on to say: "The two couples then spent the best part of 40 minutes meeting crowds and reading the messages among the mounds of bouquets and tributes. They left as they had arrived, in the same car. 'I don't think either couple found it easy,' says a member of the Wales team."
Another claim outlined by Mr Hardman in his new biography is that Queen Elizabeth II knew that her remaining time was limited and Royal officials had secret summits with the idea of making her son Charles regent. There was anxiety within the Royal Household over how long the former monarch, who passed away in September 2022, could continue to reign, he wrote. One of the possibilities aides were considering was the prospect of a regency, meaning the current monarch, then Prince Charles, might stand in for her if she was incapacitated.
A former senior aide said they hoped a regency would not be needed as they explained: "With the Queen Mother going on past her 100th birthday, of course, we had to think that the Queen would reach the same age. A regency seemed almost inevitable. That would have been very difficult.
"You would still have needed a near-full Queen's household and a near-full Prince's household and it would have been very hard for the regent. I always hoped it wouldn't happen while I was there but I didn't see how we could get out of it, to be honest."
Due to fears that the Queen's health could either worsen over time or suddenly during a public engagement, the thought of a regency was always in the mind of aides. One told Mr Hardman, author of the new book The Inside Story: "Either way, we would have had growing voices saying: 'It's time for a regency.' We dreaded something happening in public, so engagements were kept very tight and very short, with limited media."
