Sept. 14, 2026

Is Queen Camilla Worried About Her Future Under King William and Does She Need Kate Middleton’s Help?

Show Notes
Transcript

What will happen to Queen Camilla when Prince William becomes King? A new report claims Camilla is trying to improve her relationship with Catherine, Princess of Wales, because she fears losing her royal role, patronages and privileges after King Charles III’s reign ends. Could Kate become Camilla’s best hope of influencing William—and are old tensions between the two women finally being set aside?

Meanwhile, Catherine returns to the Royal Marsden Hospital to thank the team who treated her for cancer and support a new holistic recovery center. Why did nature, nutrition and therapeutic care matter during Kate’s treatment? We also examine her surprise appearance with Prince William, the headlines surrounding her lighter hair and their first official visit to the Isle of Bute.

Plus, could King Charles revive Queen Elizabeth II’s private Eton tradition by inviting Prince George to Windsor for afternoon tea—and quietly begin preparing his grandson to become King?

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

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Mark Francis. Queen Camilla is reportedly trying to improve her

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relationship with Kate amid claims that she is increasingly concerned

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about what her own position will look like when Prince

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William becomes king. An unnamed source tells Closer... No matter

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how wary Camilla may be toward Kate, she genuinely can't

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afford to have her as an enemy. For one thing,

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Charles has a huge amount of respect and love for Kate,

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so bickering with her doesn't go over well with him.

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But even more crucial is how William feels, and she's

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simply never going to get anywhere with him if she

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isn't on decent terms with Kate. The sad reality is

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that she may need his help a lot sooner than

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she would like. Her worst possible nightmare is being booted

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out and having zero role in the firm. She wants

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to strike some sort of compromise that would allow her

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to hold on to all her perks and privileges when

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the time comes, and she reluctantly accepts that the only

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way to make that even a remote possibility is to

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start being nice to Kate. The report comes amid continuing

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speculation about tensions between Charles and William. One source of

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disagreement was said to be the King and Queen's trip

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to the United States in April. Royal broadcaster Ian Pelham

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Turner claimed William had concerns about whether the schedule was

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too demanding for his father, while Charles continued cancer treatment,

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while Camilla was reportedly keen for the King to maintain

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a visible public schedule. According to Closer, Charles' health is

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also part of the reason Camilla is thinking more seriously

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about her own future. There's been an awful lot of

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friction between them over the years, so this is taking

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a huge amount of humility on Camilla's part. It's not

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remotely Camilla's style, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

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And make no mistake, this does feel very desperate for

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her because she knows everything could change suddenly, and however

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painful it is to contemplate, she feels she needs to

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be prepared. Camilla's position has changed dramatically over the past

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three decades. Her relationship with Charles was at the centre

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of the collapse of his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.

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In her 1995 Panorama interview, Diana famously said, there were

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three of us in this marriage. After Diana's death in 1997,

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Camilla faced years of public hostility before gradually taking on

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a larger royal role. She married Charles in 2005 and

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became Queen when Charles succeeded Elizabeth II in 2022. She

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now holds more than 100 patronages and has made literacy

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one of her major causes through the Queen's reading room.

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The closer source claims Camilla is determined not to lose

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that public role when William eventually becomes King. She's spent

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decades fighting her way from being one of the most

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reviled women in Britain to Queen Consort, and she's become

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enormously accustomed to the sense of purpose that comes with

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her new station in life. Particularly since Charles became ill,

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she's stepped up in a huge way. She gets to

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champion her favorite charities, welcome people into the royal world,

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and play an incredibly active role alongside her husband. The

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idea of suddenly going from that to sitting on the

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sidelines is horrifying to her. It's not as though William

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and Kate are sitting around plotting against her, but Camilla

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can see which way the wind is blowing. She fully

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expects William to come in with a vengeance. She knows

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how crucial it is for her to be in good

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graces when he takes the crown, so she wants to

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get her ducks in a row now. That means swallowing

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her pride and being more gracious towards Kate while she

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still has the opportunity. She knows Kate is her best

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hope of getting through to William, so as uncomfortable as

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it may be, she's determined to make her an ally.

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She's also trying to be more complimentary towards both of

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them and make it clear that she's firmly on their

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side when it comes to the Sussexes. Anything she can

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do to build goodwill now could make an enormous difference later.

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As far as Camilla's concerned, there's simply too much at

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stake to let old grudges get in the way. The

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Princess of Wales returned to the London Hospital where she

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received cancer treatment, this time to thank the people who

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cared for her and see how money she raised will

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help other patients. Kate made a surprise visit to the

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Royal Marsden Hospital on Friday where she met patients and

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staff and learned about more plans for a new centre

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for holistic wellbeing and recovery. The project will receive money

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raised by Catherine through the National Three Peaks Challenge, which

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saw her climb the highest mountains in Scotland, England and

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Wales within 24 hours. The total raised has not yet

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been disclosed. For Kate, the hospital visit was deeply personal.

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This was my small way of being able to give

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back and say thank you to you. I had incredible

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care here and support from a huge team and I'm really,

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really grateful on a personal level. During Friday's visit, she

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spoke particularly about the importance of treating cancer patients as

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people rather than focusing exclusively on the disease and its

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medical treatment. The holistic care, the treatments and the therapeutic

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support on the outside is so important. It makes a

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big difference. The impact of nature, the impact of good nutrition,

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good ongoing support around you when It's really difficult to

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manage the trials and tribulations of medical treatments. It makes

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a big difference. It made a big difference to me,

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and it made a huge difference to lots of patients

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who I've spoken to. Thank you, and well done. I

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think it will be transformative, not only for patients, but

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for families too. Kate's hair colour continues to make headlines

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as the princess stepped out with a noticeably lighter hair

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colour as she made an unexpected appearance alongside Prince William

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in Liverpool. Kate had not originally been scheduled to attend

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the event at Hill Dickinson Stadium, where William was launching

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a new suicide prevention initiative for the sports sector. Catherine

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ultimately decided to join her husband to support the project,

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wearing an aqua trouser suit and showing off hair that

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appeared considerably blonder than usual, which also gets you to

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stop talking about Harry. The change quickly attracted attention online,

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with Royal Watchers commenting on Catherine's lighter look. Catherine has

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worn lighter shades before, and her naturally brunette hair has

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often appeared lighter during the summer, so this is hardly

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a dramatic reinvention, but the surprise appearance itself was more

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significant than the hairstyle. William and Kate will make their

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first official visit to the Isle of Bute this week,

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with the Prince and Princess of Wales using their Scottish titles,

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the Duke and Duchess of Rothsay. The couple will visit

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the island on Thursday for a series of engagements focused

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on community life, volunteering and the environment. The palace announcement

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said the visit will highlight the power of community, connection

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and volunteering, and to celebrate the generosity and dedication of

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people who give their time to support and care for

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fellow islanders. William and Catherine will spend time in Rothsay,

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the island's main town, and the place for which their

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Scottish title takes its name. The visit follows their trip

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last year to the Isle of Mull and Iona. Among

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their stops will be the community-owned Anchor Tavern pub, where

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they will meet local residents and hear about the role

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that everyday social connections can play in keeping smaller communities

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connected and resilient. Expect to see the usual regular folks

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like you meets cute couple competing in vaguely sporting athletic

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event photo shoot to get you to stop talking about Harry.

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More Palace in just a moment. King Charles could revive

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one of Queen Elizabeth's traditions as Prince George settles into

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life at Eton, with a former royal butler predicting that

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the king will use private meetings with his grandson to

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begin preparing him for his future role. During William's years

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at Eton, his proximity to Windsor Castle gave him opportunities

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to spend private time with his grandmother. Grant Harold, who

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worked as a butler for Charles between 2004 and 2011,

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believes Charles may now establish a similar routine with George.

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I imagine the King will possibly try to recreate the

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afternoon tea routine that his mother and son shared with

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his grandson. Whenever he is in Windsor, I imagine he

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will make an effort to see George. He will want

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to know his getting on in school and also to

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start preparing him for the future. I believe it was

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in these sessions that the Queen unofficially and subtly began

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to prep William for his role as the future King.

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She would have been telling him things that she was doing,

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and so he learned how she handled them and also

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saw what the job entailed. She also would have been

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offering him bits of advice. I also imagine it was

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during these chats that William first told his grandmother about Kate,

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so lots of special moments for them both. They were

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very close, and I believe these regular meetings went a

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long way towards this. Harold said William's own trips from

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Eton to see the Queen were deliberately kept low-key. One

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of the Queen's staff would have driven to the school

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to pick him up. It wouldn't have been a fancy

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ride in one of the big cars. It would have

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been very low-key and similar to any other parents picking

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up their child for a day out on their day off.

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but of course with a far fancier destination. I also

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imagine that they gave William a regular reminder that he

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wasn't just a normal student in a very unique future ahead,

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because his classmates wouldn't have been popping off to the

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palace for afternoon tea during their free time. And there

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you have it. If you'd like to email us our

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address is thepalaceintrigue at gmail.com. If you're on Spotify, leave

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My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue. Good times.

Is Queen Camilla Worried About Her Future Under King William and Does She Need Kate Middleton’s Help?

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