Aug. 27, 2026

Charles at Balmoral as the Royals Face a Very Modern Problem: Too Many Palaces

Show Notes
Transcript

King Charles began his traditional Balmoral stay with a reunion with the famously unpredictable Shetland pony Corporal Cruachan, while one columnist wonders whether the Royal Family’s enormous collection of barely used properties could eventually wind up on Airbnb. Plus, newlyweds Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling make their Balmoral debut, a former royal chef recalls Prince Philip at the barbecue and Princess Anne in the kitchen, and we meet William and Harry’s rarely discussed stepsister Laura Lopes — whose children have

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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A calarogu shark media. Hello and welcome to palace Intrigue.

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I'm your host, Mark Francis. When King Charles officially arrived

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at bow Moral for the royal family's traditional late summer

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stay in Scotland, waiting to greet him was one of

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the more unpredictable characters associated with the estate. Corporal Kruihan

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the Fourth, the Shetland Pony mascot of the Royal Regiment

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of Scotland. Charles arrived wearing a kilt, green stockings and

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a tweed jacket. Before inspecting the regiment and greeting well wishes,

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Corporal Kruehan behaved himself this time. That hasn't always been

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the case. The pony became something of a recurring comic

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figure during Queen Elizabeth's later years. In twenty seventeen, during

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a visit to Stirling Castle, Kruihan tried to eat flowers

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the Queen was holding. The following year, during the ceremonial

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welcome at bow Moral, the pony relieved himself in front

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of her, prompting Elizabeth to turn away and cover her nose.

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On another occasion, the Queen reportedly spotted Kruehan and said simply,

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here we go again. In the News dot com dot Au,

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columnist Daniel Elsa asks how long until bal Moral is

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listed on AIRB and B. That's not a joke, a

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little ha ha ha. Let's have a right chuckled start

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to this story. I genuinely wonder how long until the

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unwashed masses are able to plunk down a credit card

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to sleep in one of the looking over the bin's bedrooms,

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or in a nice converted stable block of the royal

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family's Scottish estate. Take how things looked in August of

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nineteen ninety six. President at bal Morral were happier than Larry.

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Queen Elizabeth, whose favorite place in the world was downwind

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of a horse or bow Moral, and Prince Philip, their

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four children, six grandchildren at the time, sister Princess Margaret

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and her two children, the Queen mother, the Queen's thirty

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one first cousins, and their fifty five children. And when

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they went, they stayed and stayed, and spent weeks at

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a time breathing deep lungfuls of good, clean Highland air

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and proudly wearing Tartan knickers. And today bow Moral has

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about forty eight more bedrooms than it needs. Tell Charles

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and Queen Camilla don't even actually stay there, aside from

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when the Prime Minister Dajure pops up, preferring there roughly

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month long Scottish holiday at nearby Burkhall, which has only

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eight bedrooms. However do they manage when William and Kate

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had to bow Moral? You have to wonder if there

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is a strong whiff of sufferance and obligation getting them

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there rather than a bone deep yearning for a long

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Highland escape. Given Prince Harry has just earned back his

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afternoon tea invitation. Privileges and invite for a nice long

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Scottish stay seems overly optimistic, considering Megan, the Duchess of Sussex,

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has never been to bow Moral. Instead, the Sussex has

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opted to spend their two royal summers at Uncle Elton's

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south of France mega mansion. Andrew mount Batten Windsor is

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only getting to bow Moral if he slips his restraints,

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loses the air tags. Princess Anna attached, and it makes

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a seven hundred and twenty six kilometers secret dash from

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his sow centered personal Siberia. In a bleak bit of

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Norfolk to get there, and even then Camilla and her

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shooting stick is sending him straight back. The Bellmoral picture

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gets even bleaker once King William is in charge. It's

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hard to see he and Kate suddenly deciding to spend

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lengthy swaths of times sequestered far away from civilization and

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sour doughs so they can do Jacobite cosplay at the

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Highland Games. We haven't even gotten to Windsor Castle yet,

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which has about one thousand rooms, yet none of the

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royal family is known to regularly stay there for any

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length of time. There's more. King William and Queen Kate

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will also by this point preside over Sandringham Estate twenty

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nine bedrooms, High Grove House nine bedrooms plus a nursery wing,

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the Castle of May And estimated fifteen bedrooms, Amner House

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ten bedrooms, craig Owen Lodge seven, Delnarden Flodge are reported

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ten and Wood Farm five bedrooms, just to name some. Overall,

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they will have access to about thirty properties. And I

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stopped counting when I tried to add this all up

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and got more than three hundred and forty bedrooms given.

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William and Kate have said their current place, Forest Lodge

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is there forever home. What the hell are they going

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to do with all of these? Charles has been quietly

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paving the way to one solution of letting the light in,

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having already opened up the east wing of Buckingham Palace

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and bow Moral to the paying visiting public. In addition,

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there were now twenty cottages on the bow Moral estate

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and three cottages at Standringham available for holiday lets. And

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there's a B and B at the Castle of Maye.

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So how long until some of the lesser not ever

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slept in by an hr ah Bow Moral bedrooms empty

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for fifty one weeks of the year start being made

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available for paying overnight stays. Peter Phillips and his new wife,

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Harriet Spelling, arrived at bow Moral. Peter and Harriet married

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in the Cotswolds in June, making this something of a

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bow Moral debut for the newest member of the extended

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royal family. They weren't the only members of Princess Anne's

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family making their w to the Highlands. Peter's sister Zara

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Tindall was there with husband Mike. There three children, Mia,

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Lena and Lucas the family was seen on the Bower

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Moral Grounds for King Charles's formal arrival ceremony on Tuesday.

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Form what Royal chef Darren McGrady is sharing more memories

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of summer at Bowmorral and apparently the royal family didn't

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always leave the cooking to the professionals. McGrady spent fifteen

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years working for Queen Elizabeth and says Prince Philip was

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particularly enthusiastic about preparing food himself. He loved to cook

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and cared about foods and recipes and go on to

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ask what we could marinate them with them, what vegetables

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were in the garden. McGrady, we called Philip, would walk

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through the bow Moral gardens to see what was available

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and then take charge of the barbecue. He loved local produce.

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Then he would be in charge of cooking the main course.

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Princess Anne was apparently willing to get involved as well.

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You'd often get Princess Anne come down to the kitchen

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and say I'm in charge of the first course tonight.

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What can I take? And then there was Prince Edward,

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whose interests leaned toward dessert. McGrady recalled Edward asking the

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kitchen staff to prepare pancake batter so he can make

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his own creation. He'd want to fill them with things

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like raspberries, strawberries from the garden with ice cream, McGrady said,

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Prince William has inherited some of that affection for Scotland.

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He has spoken about his childhood memories of bow Moral

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and about creating new ones there with Catherine, George, Charlotte

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and Louis. My family has deep connections there. It was

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such a fun part of my childhood and upbringing, William

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is said, and speaking about his own children, William said, George,

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Charlotte and Louis already know how dear Scotland is to

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both of us, and they're starting to build their own

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happy memories here too. So behind bal Morrel's rather imposing

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castle walls, the picture McGrady paints as surprisingly domestic, Philip

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at the grill and volunteering for the appetizer, Edward making pancakes,

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and the future king being walked around the estate on

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a tiny Shetland pony more palas in just a Moment,

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Marie Claire says that William and Harry have a rarely

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mentioned step sister Laura Lopes as Queen Camilla's daughter from

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her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, making her the

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stepsister of Prince William and Prince Harry since Charles and

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Camilla married in two thousand and five. Camilla also has

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a son, food writer Tom Parker Bowles, who tends to

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come up in the news. Unlike William and Harry, neither

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Laura nor Tom became members of the royal family in

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any constitutional sense when their mother married Charles. They received

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no titles, have no place in the line of succession,

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and performed their royal duties. Laura has instead built a

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career in the art world. She spent time in turning

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at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, working briefly as

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a motoring correspondent for Tattler, and later managed the Space

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Gallery in London. In two thousand and five, she co

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founded eleven, a contemporary art gallery. More recently, Laura has

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been exhibiting her own work at The Barn in Wiltshire.

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She married Harry Lopes in two thousand and six. He

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had previously modeled for Calvin Klein before becoming a charted accountant,

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and Laura actually has a connection to Kate that goes

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back to the period before Catherine officially joined the family.

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Catherine attended Laura and Harry's wedding in two thousand and six,

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during the years when she was dating William and gradually

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becoming more visible around royal events. Laura and Harry have

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three children. Their daughter, Eliza, was born in two thousand

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and eight, followed by fraternal twins, sons Guss and Louis

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in two thousand and nine, and despite Laura's determination to

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maintain a private life, her children have occasionally appeared at

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some very significant royal occasions. Three year old Eliza was

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one of the bride'smaids when William married Kate at Westminster

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Abbey in twenty eleven. Gus later served as one of

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Queen Camilla's pages of honour at the coronation of King

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Charles in twenty twenty three. The children also reportedly have

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decidedly informal names for their royal grandparents, referring to Charles

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as Upper and Camilla as Gaga, which I guess suggests

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that someday, if Camilla outlives Charles and she is no

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longer Queen, we can just refer to her as Lady Gaga.

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There you have it if you'd like to email lots

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We appreciate your support. I'm Mark Francis My thanks to

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John mcturn at. This is Palace Intrigue and Good Times

Charles at Balmoral as the Royals Face a Very Modern Problem: Too Many Palaces

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