March 1, 2026

"Not in a Calm State" - The week in UK Royal news with Mark Francis

"Not in a Calm State" - The week in UK Royal news with Mark Francis
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

York sisters "in a state" after Andrew's arrest. Beatrice's 2015 lifestyle questions: 17 holidays on £19,500 salary. Eugenie skiing in Gstaad hours before arrest. Biography reveals William urged decisive action against Andrew after Newsnight: "wanted him out of the picture immediately." Former protection officer: Andrew nicknamed "the c word," "most unpopular member of royal family." Deep Crown: William lacks bodies, can't draw on York cousins.

Abdication speculation intensifies. Jeremy Kyle: "King might have to stand aside." Andrew Lownie: "only way to clean out the stables." Deep Crown: "window for other solutions is closing." Charles US visit April 28, three days, no California. BAFTAs: William "not in a calm state," body language shows strain. Camilla meets Gisèle Pelicot. Andrew banned from horse riding.

Royal Lodge searches concluded. Eugenie first UK appearance in Notting Hill. Harry/Meghan Jordan trip: £1,050+ outfit to refugee camp, "Duchess Wrinkle Pants" mocked. Football photos unfavorably compared to Kate. Jordanian royals "snubbed" them (met aunt, not King/Crown Prince). Encouraging York sisters to write memoir. Andrew saw Harry as ally, Meghan blocked it. Masseuse: Andrew "came back in the nude." Charles visits nanny "Mipsy" for 100th birthday. Fergie's £13k/night clinic possibly strategic leak.

Get episodes of Palace Intrigue by becommming a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts. Click the button that says uninterrupted listening.  Just $5 a month, and that includes many ofther shows on the Caloroga Shark network.

Royal Books:

William and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside Story

The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:11.560
Calarogu Shark Media. Hello and welcome through Palace Weekly. I

2
00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.439
am your host, Mark Francis. This is the show where

3
00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:17.280
we recap the events of the week. If you'd like

4
00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:22.199
more detail, please check out our daily show, Palace Intrigue Daily.

5
00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:27.640
All right, let's see what happened last week. Princess Beatrice

6
00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:29.760
and Princess Eugenie is said to be in a state

7
00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:33.520
following the arrest of their father, Andrew mount Patten Windsor.

8
00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:37.560
Once source told The Telegraph, this is catastrophic for Sarah

9
00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:41.479
and the girls. Her desperation for money was clear stupidity,

10
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.000
but does that equate to what she's going through now?

11
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.159
Reports have revisited Beatrice's lifestyle in twenty fifteen, when she

12
00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.119
reportedly took seventeen holidays in a single year while working

13
00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.560
at Sony for nineteen five hundred pounds annually. Royal commentator

14
00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.600
Richard Fitzwilliams told The Daily Meal it now seems clear

15
00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:04.920
that when their father's dodgy business deals when special Trade Envoy,

16
00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:09.040
and their mother's alleged financial dependence on Jeffrey Epstein could

17
00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:12.560
have been pivotal to her life of luxury. Beatrice was

18
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.799
able to live it up, but now we wonder at

19
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.439
whose expense. Hours before Andrew's arrest, Princess Eugenie was spotted

20
00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.599
on a half term skiing holiday in Gustad, Switzerland, with

21
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.519
her husband Jack Brooksbank and their sons. A fellow Dinah said,

22
00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:29.359
I was surprised to see her because I thought she

23
00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:32.159
would be keeping a low profile in light of everything

24
00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:35.120
that has been going on. In his understood, Eugenie would

25
00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:39.159
not have known about her father's imminent arrest. A new

26
00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:43.319
biography claims William urged decisive action against Andrew after the

27
00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:47.799
newsnight interview. In William and Catherine The Intimate Inside Story,

28
00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.319
Russell Meyers writes that William appealed to then Prince Charles

29
00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:54.640
and Queen Elizabeth to remove Andrew from public life. A

30
00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:57.439
source said he never much liked his uncle and wanted

31
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.359
him out of the picture immediately before the rot further

32
00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.560
set in William's view was that he got himself into

33
00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.719
the whole mess, so he should be left to his

34
00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:08.719
own devices to sort it out away from the family.

35
00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:13.039
The book claims William's position was unwavering. The Prince of

36
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.599
Wales was adamant the whole episode would never go away,

37
00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.639
and there was absolutely no upside in Andrew being protected.

38
00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.039
His view was crystal clear. Andrew shouldn't be anywhere near

39
00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:26.039
the family under any circumstances. Royal inside a deep Crown

40
00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.599
reminds us I wrote some weeks ago that William would

41
00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.319
find himself without enough bodies to go around. And so

42
00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.560
the Prince finds himself in precisely the position I described,

43
00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.439
short of working royals, staring at a personal ledger that

44
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.439
does not balance, yet unable to draw on the very

45
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.879
cousins who might have helped fill the gap. Eugenie's closeness

46
00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:48.520
to Harry makes her a complication rather than an asset.

47
00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.319
Beatrice's entanglement with the newsnight debarcle makes her a liability.

48
00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.000
A former royal protection officer described Andrew as deeply unpopular

49
00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:02.199
within palace circles, revealing that the blunt nickname some allegedly

50
00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:05.000
used the C word. The officer said, he was the

51
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.599
most unpopular member of the royal family while I was there.

52
00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:10.080
He was just rude and arrogant, and his sense of

53
00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:15.439
self entitlement was breathtaking. The possibility of abdication is showing

54
00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:20.039
up in more news stories on Talk TV Jeremy Kyle suggested,

55
00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:22.159
I think it's so bad that the King might have

56
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.919
to stand aside. I genuinely have a way out for

57
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.560
him is to say that his medical situation is the

58
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.919
reason he is doing that. We all know it's for

59
00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:31.840
the good of the royal family, and we start with

60
00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:35.840
a clean slate with William and Kate. Royal biographer Andrew

61
00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:37.960
Lowney agreed, I think it may be the only way

62
00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.520
to clean out the stables and start afresh. I think

63
00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.319
the King is compromised by his association with Andrew. Deep

64
00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.719
Crown tells us the King finds himself in an extraordinarily

65
00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:50.759
difficult position, and it is largely of his own making.

66
00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.840
His decades of loyalty to his brother has become an

67
00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:57.800
institutional liability of the first order. The health rationale would

68
00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:02.120
simply provide the necessary dignity, the polite fiction that allows

69
00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:04.879
everyone to move forward, where the rapdication is truly the

70
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:06.879
only path forward. I am not yet prepared to say

71
00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:10.159
with certainty, but I will say this, the window for

72
00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:14.120
other solutions is closing more palace in just a moment.

73
00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.480
King Charles us visit has been confirmed for April twenty eighth,

74
00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:25.920
is slimmed down three day visit. The Times reports the

75
00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:30.360
reduced schedule reflects considerations around his health and ongoing cancer treatment.

76
00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.120
The visit will include one day in Washington one day

77
00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.360
in New York, with the third day location yet to

78
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.279
be finalized. Palisades have ruled out a West Coast leg,

79
00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.199
meaning the King will not travel to Montecito. The Prince

80
00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:45.800
and Princess away was returned to the BAFTA's red carpet

81
00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.199
for the first time since twenty twenty three. While entering,

82
00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:52.360
a voice called out, your Highness is the monarchy in peril.

83
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.720
The couple did not respond and continued walking. During pre

84
00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.959
ceremony conversations, William admitted he had not yet seen Hamne,

85
00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.839
telling guests, I need to be in quite a calm

86
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.240
state and I'm not at the moment. I will save it.

87
00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.759
The Princess revealed when she had watched the film the

88
00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:10.560
previous evening. Yes, I think it was a very bad idea.

89
00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:13.800
Actually I ended up with very puffy eyes, a so

90
00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:16.399
I was told The Daily Mail. William was frustrated because

91
00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.560
it's still likely to be a problem on his plate

92
00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.519
when he eventually becomes king. I think William and Catherine

93
00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.959
are acutely aware that this is a scandal that won't

94
00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:28.680
be going away for a long time. Body language expert

95
00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.439
Judy James suggested that there may be signs of strain

96
00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:34.120
during the appearance, pointing to the lack of physical touch

97
00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:37.199
between the couple. She told her instead of touching, we

98
00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:39.959
can see the fingers of William's right hand slightly curled

99
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.519
so that his index finger touches his thumb, hinting at

100
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:48.759
a self soothe ritual. William paid tribute to Corporal Lucy Wilde,

101
00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.360
the young Army medick found dead in her barracks on

102
00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:55.000
February fifth. In a statement, the Prince expressed his immense sadness,

103
00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.519
saying I remember our meeting during her time with the

104
00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:02.839
Welsh Guards, where her warmth and compassion were mistakable. Queen

105
00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:07.000
Camilla hosted French rape survivor Josel Palicott at Clarence House,

106
00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.120
telling her she was left speechless after reading her memoir.

107
00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.120
During the thirty minute meeting, Camilla said, I've met so

108
00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:15.360
many survivors of rape and sexual abuse. I never thought

109
00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:18.319
I could be shocked by anything anymore, but I was

110
00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:23.000
shocked at your case. It left me speechless. Andrew has

111
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.680
reportedly been told not to go horse riding while he

112
00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:30.920
remains under police investigation amid concerns about public perception. According

113
00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.319
to the Son, Royal Aids believe images of him writing

114
00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:37.720
and appearing cheerful would be inappropriate. Source said since it

115
00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:39.680
arrest last week, he has been ordered not to go

116
00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:43.879
horse riding. It's considered a bad look. Thames Valley Police

117
00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.240
confirmed that searchers at Royal Lodge have concluded. In a statement,

118
00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.319
police said officers now have left the location we have

119
00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:56.279
been searching in Berkshire. Our investigation remains ongoing. Princess Eugenie

120
00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:58.399
made her first public appearance in the UK since her

121
00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.319
father's arrest, photographed in not Hill alongside her husband Jack

122
00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:05.680
brooks Bank. A source told people she was chatting with

123
00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:08.519
someone she knew and seemed very relaxed. She looked happy

124
00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:12.600
and at ease, not like someone trying to hide. Radar

125
00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.160
Online reported on the type of jail cell Andrew spent

126
00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.639
his birth in. According to former officers, the cell would

127
00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.680
have contained a narrow bench with a thin vinyl covered mattress,

128
00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.120
a stainless steel toilet and constant CCTV monitoring. Rank Wealth

129
00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:30.560
and background count for nothing once that cell door closes.

130
00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:35.160
One former detective said a professional mass so use claimed

131
00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.920
she was waved into Buckingham Palace without security checks to

132
00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:43.160
give Andrew a private massage. In June two thousand, Monique

133
00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:46.319
Gianna Aloney said Andrew disappeared to the bathroom and came

134
00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.519
back in the nude. She asked, I can't actually say

135
00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.839
anything bad about Prince Andrew and my experience on that day.

136
00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.160
I only massaged him once. She said she had been

137
00:07:56.199 --> 00:08:01.720
introduced to Andrew through Galey Maxwell. Harry, and Meghan visited

138
00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.839
a refugee camp and hospital in Jordan as part of

139
00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:07.959
a two day tour. The Duchess arrived wearing an off

140
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.399
white Designer ensemble She Knows How to Read a room

141
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.160
with a reported total value exceeding one thousand pounds, including

142
00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.480
the Eve's tweed jacket by Veronica Beard, priced at one

143
00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:23.399
fifty pounds. Later in the day, Meghan walked crinkled trousers

144
00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:26.040
that trailed along the ground. During mockery on social media,

145
00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:30.000
one user joked, wrinkle, little star, how I wonder what

146
00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.799
you are? Another commented neither Diana nor Princess Catherine would

147
00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:38.559
dress it a wrinkled mess photos suggest Meghan had never

148
00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:40.919
kicked a ball before as she joined the young girls

149
00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:45.399
at football drills in the Zatari refugee camp. Social media

150
00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.919
reaction was swift, with one comment to writing, cosplaying Katherine again,

151
00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:52.519
Meghan is obsessed with Catherine. The Daily Mail offered a

152
00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.279
different take, bend it like Meghan Duchess celebrates scoring a

153
00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.080
goal against a child and proves she's a match for

154
00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:03.679
Kate when it comes to play the beautiful game. Despite

155
00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.879
meeting Princess Basma bind Talal, the aunt of King Abdullah,

156
00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:10.200
the second reports suggest Harry and Meghan were snubbed by

157
00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.399
the King and Crown Prince of Jordan. King Abdullah chose

158
00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:19.039
to meet the Indonesian president rather than the Sussexes. Harry

159
00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.159
and Meghan are reportedly encouraging Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

160
00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.120
to consider writing a memoir. According to Closer magazine, the

161
00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.720
Sussexes are even offering to introduce them to publishers and

162
00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.080
agents that can help put them together with a deal.

163
00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:37.679
Radar Online reports that Andrew reportedly believed he had found

164
00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.120
an unlikely ally in Prince Harry, a fellow spare he

165
00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:46.440
had also been cast aside. Sources claim Andrew floated the

166
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:50.720
idea of collaborating on charitable initiatives and visiting Harry and

167
00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:55.240
Meghan in California, but that alignment never gained traction, as

168
00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.799
Meghan had no interest in welcoming Andrew. What she says

169
00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:02.720
goes when it comes to Harry. One insider alleged more

170
00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:10.159
palising just a moment. The King paid a private visit

171
00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:13.320
to his former nanny, Mabel Anderson to mark her one

172
00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:16.960
hundredth birthday, keeping a long standing promise despite the turmoil

173
00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:21.480
surrounding his brother's arrest. Known affectionately as Mipsey, she cared

174
00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.720
for all four of Queen Elizabeth the Second's children and

175
00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:27.799
has been described by Charles as a haven of security

176
00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:32.960
during his childhood. Sarah Ferguson reportedly spent January at the

177
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:38.240
thirteen thousand pound a night Paracellus Recovery Clinic in Zurich.

178
00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:42.600
According to Radar Online Insiders suggests the publicity may have

179
00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.559
been strategic. There is growing belief that the details of

180
00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.279
the clinic were allowed to surface to soften her image

181
00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:51.200
by framing it as a mental health retreat. The hope

182
00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:56.600
is that the narrative shifts from scandal to vulnerability. This

183
00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.200
is the week William said He's not in a calm state.

184
00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:04.200
The week abdication speculation intensified. The week Jeremy Kyle suggested

185
00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.559
the King might have to stand aside. Deep Ground said

186
00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.320
the window for other solutions is closing. The New York

187
00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.480
Sisters are in a state. Beatrice's twenty fifteen lifestyle has questions.

188
00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:19.639
Former protection officer says Andrew was the sea word, and

189
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:23.399
the biography reveals William pushed for andrew removal After News Night,

190
00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:27.440
Charles will do a US visit on April twenty eighth,

191
00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:31.679
No California. Bafter's body language shows strain. William has a

192
00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.679
tribute to Lucy Wilde. Camilla meets Jisel Pellicott and Andrew's

193
00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.200
band from horse riding. Royal Lodge searches were concluded. Megan

194
00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:43.240
wore a one thy fifty pound jacket to a refugee camp.

195
00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.799
Duchess wrinkle pants mocked football photos compared unfavorably to Kate Jordan.

196
00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:53.159
Royals snubbed the Sussexes, encouraging York's sisters to write a memoir.

197
00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:57.559
Andrew saw Harry as an ally Megan blocked it, Charles

198
00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.000
visits MIPSI for a one hundredth birthday, Fergie one thousand pounds,

199
00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.840
a night clinic, possibly a strategic league, and the messouse story.

200
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.480
Andrew came back in the nude, and somewhere between not

201
00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.519
in a calm state and the King visiting his childhood nanny,

202
00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:15.600
the monarchy navigates its deepest crisis in centuries, one awkward

203
00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:18.799
bafter question at a time, and there you have it.

204
00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.799
If you'd like to email us addresses The Palace Intrigger

205
00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:23.799
at gmail dot com, Please follow us on Spotify, Apple

206
00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:25.679
or the app of your choice and leave us a

207
00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.320
nice review for enjoying the show. I'm Mark Francis My

208
00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:32.120
thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Weekly and Good

209
00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:32.519
Turns