Dead ducks , royal cake bakers, and the slimmed-down monarchy

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Kalaroga Shark Media. Hello and welcome
to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,

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Mark Francis. No dead duck eggs
for Charles. King and Queen is

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said to embarkon a historic summer tour
of the Channel Islands, marking their first

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visit to Guernsey since ascending to the
throne. The visit schedule for July fifteenth

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and sixteenth represents a departure from tradition, as the royal couple will not accept

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the customary gift of to dead ducks
upon arrival. This tradition dates back to

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medieval times, when local laws paid
homage to the Duke of Normandy, a

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title held by the King in connection
with the Channel Islands. Since the eleventh

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century. Instead of the traditional mallards, the royal couple will be presented with

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locally laid duck eggs upon their arrival, symbolizing the island's unique agricultural heritage.

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The telegraph tells us, just as
the late Queen did not take the dead

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ducks home, the King will not
be packing the duck eggs in his suitcase

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and stead he will touch the ball
that the eggs are in before they are

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accepted on his behalf by the Receiver
General, the King's representative of the islands.

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The King and Queen will further immerse
themselves in the local culture and agriculture

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during their visit to the Channel Islands
by attending a special Jersey Expo event.

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This event, designed to showcase the
best of Jersey, will feature iconic elements

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of the island's heritage, including Jersey
cows and Jersey Royal potato farmers. A

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highlight of their visit to the Expo
will be their participation in a miniature version

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of the genuine Jersey Royal Potato growing
competition. This long standing tradition, which

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has engaged local primary school children for
seventeen years, challenges participants to compete for

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prizes in two categories, the greatest
yield and the greatest crop weight. This

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interactive experience will offer the King and
Queen a delightful insight into the island's agricultural

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practices and community's involvement in preserving these
traditions. Eddie Spence, the renowned master

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baker celebrated for his intricate royal cakes, has passed away at the age of

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ninety one. Spencer's career spanned an
impressive seventy one years, during which he

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crafted cakes for significant royal events,
including Queen Elizabeth the Second's wedding, Charles

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and Diana's wedding, and the Golden
Jewbile Lead. His dedication was recognized with

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an MBE in two thousand, an
honour bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth the

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Second herself, marking a moment he
cherished deeply. Spence had told a story

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about meeting Elizabeth. She was absolutely
fabulous at the end of getting my medal,

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and to thank her, I said, thanks, pat always call everyone

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Patton. Of course right away she
laughed and she wrote it down on her

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book. That was the biggest and
most enjoyable moment. Former BBC Royal correspondent

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Jenny Bond highlighted Camilla's significant contributions,
learning how she has risen to the occasion

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maintaining stability within the monarchy during a
turbulent year. I think she might have

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surprised herself by enjoying hard work as
much as she seems to be doing.

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She has taken on a significantly increased
workload and a massive amount of responsibility in

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the past few months, and is
looking and sounding great on it. Interestingly,

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Bond has also recalled a prediction made
by late Princess Diana over three decades

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ago. Diana had acknowledged Camilla's loyalty
and foresaw her crucial role in Charles's life.

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I think Diana was absolutely right to
tell me that Camilla was loyal and

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that charles love for Camilla was stronger
than any marriage he might ever have made.

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I think part of it is because
she so much wants the man she

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loves to be proud of it and
to pull her weight in their partnership.

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It must be so gratifying to have
earned widespread approval, even a faction from

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a partublic who once ganged up against
her as the marriage breaker and the other

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woman who made to Hannah so unhappy. Reflecting on Camilla's journey bond, highlight

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of the Queen's you found confidence and
poise. What a contrast to those early

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days when she looked and sounded so
very nervous if she had to speak in

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public. Now she is assured,
confident and comfortable in her new way and

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very demanding role. The Queen will
celebrate her birthday next week. Were palace

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intrigue in just a moment? Is
a slimmed down monarchy really? Such a

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foolish idea? We subjects seem to
be surviving just fine. Those questions asked

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by Catherine Bennett in a column for
The Guardian in which she writes, even

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before Princess Anne's head injury, with
a King and Princess both on the long

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term sick leave, royal family experts
were arguing that its professional component, having

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previously been too big, is now
dangerously small. If there was ever an

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intervening, just right, nobody spotted
it at the time. Mercifully, given

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the family's impressive birth rate, there
is no suggestion it will have to resort,

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as in the past, to importing
foreign workers who may not even speak

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the language. But if the labor
shortfall is not yet acute or even noticeable.

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Royal authorities allude to struggles that have
perhaps been under reported, vacant patronages,

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event planners who can't lay their hands
on a duke. The royal biographer

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Hugo Vickers wrote months ago that the
King's cancer diagnosis is a reminder of what

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foolish idea a slim down monarchy is
now Anne's accident serves, according to Fellows

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specialist Richard Kay is the most compelling
warning of the dangers of a slim down

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monarchy. Do we want the British
Royals, since this is presumably the alternative

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to abandon their exceptional history of groaning
palace balconies stuffed with mad hats and chestfuls

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of inexplicable metals, and follow lounge
suited European versions down the route of mass

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redundancies. Well, yes we do, obviously, but this seems to have

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no impact on the urgings of royal
specialists, even with the ongoing counter argument

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of ex working royal Prince Andrew still
sharing a thirty room palace with his soft

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toys. The routinely proposed solution recruitment
of younger royals starting with Princess Beatrice and

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Eugenie signals, if not covert anarchism, a perverse indifference to waning support for

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the Royal family. Mister Princess Beatrice
and mister Princess Eugenie are, respectively a

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developer and a promoter of luxury homes. A recruitment drive now could leave the

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family looking bloated when geopolitical and generational
changes seriously challenge the assumption that a royal

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invariably adds value. How many working
royals does a country need? The way

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the Kingdom has sailed through the recent
absences suggests it might be possible to get

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by with what four. Royal biographer
Christopher Anderson disagrees, sharing concern over Charles

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and Kate with okay. If either
of them starts to wabble, the whole

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thing can come crashing down. At
the moment Kate is at her most vulnerable,

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the ground beneath Kate is shifting in
major ways. Only time can tell

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if she can stand strong. The
simple truth is that the Royal family cannot

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be whittled down to a precious few
without the risk of having it grind to

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a halt. Together for over seventy
year. The Windsors had longevity on their

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side, almost to a ridiculous extent. Queen Elizabeth lived to be ninety six.

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Her husband, Prince Philip, was
ninety nine, the longest living royal

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male in history. When he died. The Queen Mother was downing her favorite

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gin and Jubernees. Right up until
the end of the astounding age of one

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hundred and one, there seemed to
be no need for redundancy, with senior

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royals seeming practically immortal in three generations
of future monarchs waiting in the wings.

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It's hard to blame Palace officials for
not having a plan in place to cope

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with the simultaneous cancer diagnosis of King
Charles and Princess Kate, much less the

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sidelining of such valuable supporting players as
the Princess Royal. The home team is

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running out of options. Former BBC
Royal correspondent Jenny Bond tells Okay Magazine.

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I still hold to the idea that
the slimmed down Royal family is indeed the

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right model for the future. It's
in line with most European monarchies and is

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sensitive to the constant criticism that the
Royal family cost taxpayers too much. Adding

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new working Royals to the payroll will
only exacerbate that criticism. I think that

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model William has experimented with the answer
drafting and his cousins here and there to

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space things up a bit. It
makes such occasions even more special and allows

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those cousins to get on with their
lives as they wish without the stretches of

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the Royal Diary. So I think
the King and William are entirely right to

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be determined to keep the core of
working Royals a small, tight unit that

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can be accountable to the public purse
people reports. The Royal Diary currently lists

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Princess Anne's next scheduled outing as a
visit to the NLV Faros ship off the

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west coast of Scotland in her role
as Patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board on

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July fifteenth and sixteenth, and they
have it. If you like to email

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us our addresses the Palace Intrigue at
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This is Palace Intrigue and good terms,