ROYAL CRISIS: DYING CHARLES, HARRY'S DESPERATE PEACE BID & MEGHAN'S NETFLIX FLOP - The week in royal news hosted by Mark Francis

0:03 Caloroga, Shark Media Pallo and welcome through Palace Weekly. I am your host, Mark Francis, and this is the show where we bring you a rundown of what happened during the week, and if you want the extended stories, you can just go back and listen to the daily editions of Palace Intrigue. By the way, today is a big day for Palace Intrigue fans, and that's you. We have not only the daily edition of Palace Intrigue and the weekly edition of Palace Weekly and the Deep Crown for subscribers only, but we also have the last episode of the first season of Crown and Controversy, which is available now for download. But don't worry, there's a season two coming out and that starts next Sunday, and if you are a subscriber, you can get the whole season right now.

1:01 Plus we have another bonus series for U fans, Crown and Controversy Norway's Royal Rebels, and that first episode is out today and if you're a subscriber, you can get that whole season right now too. And all you have to do is go up there on top of the Apple Player and hit that listen uninterrupted and for four ninety nine a month, you get all these bonus series available before everybody else. Plus you get all the shows commercial free, and we know there's a lot of commercials, so check it out. We really appreciate your help and support with the shows. Enjoy. And this is what happened last week. The week was all about one question, would he or wouldn't he? Prince Harry's highly publicized return to the UK had everyone playing royal roulette trying to figure out if King Charles would actually meet with his prodigal son.

1:54 Monday marked the second anniversary of Queen Elizabeth the Second's death, a somber milestone that's set the stage for what would become the week's main drama. While William and Catherine dutifully commemorated their grandmother with a visit to the local women's institute, Harry made his entrance from California alone, notably without Meghan and the children. The Spaar's arrival came with what sources described as a list of demands that had courtiers reeling top of the list the same thing that's been there from the beginning. Security, but Harry reportedly wasn't stopping there. He wanted ironclad guarantees that Megan would be treated as hrh, complete with bowls and curtsies from family members. For William, that was apparently a hard no. Tom Sykes and the Royalist got to the heart of the royal standoff. William thinks Charles monarchy looks out of touch and hasn't modernized enough.

2:49 While Charles believes William is shirking basic royal duty by prioritizing family life. But the real tension, William thinks Charles is weak for even considering legitimizing Harry with a meeting after Harry made millions by betraying the firm. What followed was an extraordinary game of royal chess. Harry kicked off his carefully choreographed goodwill tour, hitting all his greatest hits, well child awards, visits to youth organizations, the full charm offensive. And here's the thing. It worked. The old Harry was back, the likable prints from before everything went sideways. Body language expert A. Darren Stanton noticed something telling. When Harry's on his own, there is such a massive shift in his internal emotion. He's a lot more animated with his hands lots of open palm gestures. When he's on his own, he doesn't even have all these balls to juggle, and he can relax. Even Harry's old school friends were reaching out when told the standard Spike is seriously homesick. He's started reaching out to us more and more. It started with very long and earnest what's apps. Gradually he seemed to be sounding more normal. We think he's beginning to pine for home. Meanwhile, William was conspicuously busy, suddenly working four days in a row after months of vacation, visits to youth organizations, mental health hubs, carefully timed to ensure Harry didn't dominate every headline, the message was clear. The future King wasn't impressed by the prodigal son's return. Then

4:20 came Wednesday and everything changed. After days of will they won't they speculation, it happened. Harry arrived at Clarence House at five twenty pm for tea with his father. Fifty four minutes later, he emerged telling well wishes that the King was great, thank you. It was their first face to face meeting in nineteen months. Charles had traveled down from Balmorrel specifically for the encounter. A detail that spoke volumes about the king's priorities. As monroyal source put it, this is an important first step towards rebuilding their father and son relationship. He has told his father he won't be giving any interviews about it, and his team has been instructed not to brief journalists about what was said.

5:01 The timing wasn't coincidental. Tom Sykes observed something crucial. Charles revealed his cancer diagnosis not out of modern transparency, but because he understands that power drains from monarchs the moment people know they're dying. I honestly suspect that when Harry wrote that book, he thought he would have twenty years to make up with his father. Sykes wrote, we can all now see that it is not going to be the case. Harry concluded his visit Thursday at the Diana Award, making his final pitch for reconciliation through charity work. The Sussex's announced a five hundred thousand dollars donation to support children injured in Garza and Ukraine, following Harry's earlier one point four million dollar gift to BBC Children in Need.

5:42 But not everyone was buying the redemption narrative. Piers Morgan wasn't having it. They spent five years enriching themselves in California for trashing their family. You can't get away from that. The most intrusive person in the Royal privacy ever has been Prince Harry, with his book and with his Netflix series. My thing is he can't have your cake and eat it. What he wants to do is Jerry pix certain things and make him look good. Former Royal butler Grant Harold, who once worked closely with all three men, was equally skeptical. The King doesn't trust Harry because of what Harry has said. He's worried that he would use it his advantage, and he has. He's done what household members typically do and spilled the beans. If they reconcile then fall out again.

6:23 What's to say there won't be another book, Netflix series or interview about it. The skepticism extended to Harry's future plans. While some Royal watchers suggested Harry might be laying down his pen and microphone for good, others weren't convinced. Unlike most people, there is monetary value in Prince Harry's grievances. Noted Kinsey Chowfield millions can be made from his family drama. Financial necessity could push him back into the spotlight. But perhaps the most significant news came Saturday, Buried beneath the drama of Harry's homecoming, Public support for the monarchy has dropped to its lowest point in four decades. According to the latest British Social Attitudes survey, just fifty one percent of people now believe it's important to keep the monarchy, compared with eighty six percent when the question was first asked in nineteen eighty three. The numbers tell a stark story Charles and William can't ignore one in three people.

7:17 Thirty one percent now believe the monarchy is not important, while fifteen percent say they favor outright abolition, up sharply from just three percent in nineteen eighty three. Even when asked to choose directly between the monarchy and an elected head of state, support was lukewarm at best. Fifty eight percent preferred the monarchy, but thirty eight percent wanted it replaced entirely. These polling numbers provided crucial context for everything else happening that week. Harry's charm offensive, the carefully staged reconciliation, William's competing engagements, Kate's strategic appearances. They were all playing out against a backdrop of declining royal relevance and growing republicanism More Palace Weekly in just a moment. Meanwhile, back in Montecito, Megan was dealing with her own crisis. Her Netflix cooking show was reportedly bombing, with insiders telling sources people who worked on the show don't think it will be picked up for another season. It's not doing well or what the network would have hoped it would do.

8:22 The criticism was particularly brutal. Jan Moyer in The Daily Mail wrote, like a squid on a hot grill, like curl up at the edges every time this cottage core version of the Duchess of Sussex gift wraps a cake or simpers about her apple butter. For here is a woman who burned every bridge she has ever crossed, has suffered from multiple accusations of bullying, always denied, and ghosts anyone who has ever displeased her, including her own father. The business implications were serious. Brand strategist Nick E pointed out the fundamental problem the viewership is down. People really don't care about with love for Netflix. The headache here is that is this going to convert into sales for their product? Are they actually going to make money from this?

9:03 If you think about it, they haven't really made any money just yet. Even the Beckhams seem to take a subtle swipe, posting a video about their homemade jam, with Victoria dubbing it David Backjam and joking about David being quite the entrepreneur, a cheeky reference that Royal Watch is interpreted as a dig at Megan's American Revere Orchard venture. Royal author Hugo Vickers raised concerns about Meghan's use of their children in promotional contexts. He ought to be extremely annoyed. Obviously. I don't know what he thinks, but I think he does what he's told. Probably. You know what worries me much more, to be quite honest, is what the children themselves are going to think when they get a little bit older and they realize how they've been exploited. The Sussex saga overshadowed other significant royal news. The monarchy lost another senior figure with the death of Catherine, Duchess of kentid Age in ninety two. Her upcoming funeral will mark the first Catholic funeral for a member of the Royal Family in modern history, a detail't speak to the changing nature of Royal Britain. Princess Anne meanwhile, found herself fifth on Channel five's Royal Rich List twenty twenty five, with an estimated fortune of twelve million pounds, despite being notoriously thrifty, and has quietly built wealth through decades of royal service.

10:17 Her Gatcombe Park estate and jewelry collection worth five million pounds. As Charlotte Griffiths noted, Princess Anne is the best value for money the Royal family has. She works more than any other working member of the Royal family, and she's completely frugal. There was even a moment of levity when spinal tap appeared on Jimmy Kimmel asked about potential Knighthood's Derek Small summed up the moment perfectly. From your mouth to King Charles's ears. As the dust settles on Harry's well wind visit, one thing is clear. The House of Windsor is a family in transition, with an ailing king trying to heal old wounds while his heir apparent prepares for a very different kind of monarchy. The fifty four minute tea at Clarence House may represent a genu went in first step toward reconciliation, or it might simply be another chapter in a royal soap opera that's been running for five years now. The broader questions remain unanswered. Can Harry and Megan rebuild trust they've systematically destroyed, Will William ever accept his brother back into the fold, can Charles navigate between his paternal instincts and the institutional demands of the crown, And, perhaps more importantly, does any matter to a British public increasingly indifferent to royal drama. Former Royal butler Grunt Harold's words hang over everything. William and Harry were not just the best of friends. They were inseparable.

11:35 At High Grove, they were always together. They were walking together in the pub, together, on motorbikes together. Very rarely do they do stuff separately. I was genuinely shocked when they fell out. There must be something deeper going on that we're not being told. For one week at least, Harry reminded everyone why he was once the most popular royal in Britain. Charming, spontaneous, genuinely caring. The question now is whether that's enough to bridge five years of burned bridges, broken trust, and a monarchy facing its biggest crisis in generations. The clock is ticking and everyone knows it. And there you have it. If you would like to email us, our email is the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com.

12:19 And just as a reminder again, we have a bunch of new shows out to day along the Palace Intrigue and Palace Weekly and The Deep Crown. For subscribers, we have Crown and Controversy Season one wrapping up. Crown and Controversy Season two starts next week and this is the show that sort of takes over from the Crown TV series. And then if you've ever noticed, but the Norwegian Royals are a handful too, so we have a new series following some of their trials and tribulations and Crown and Controversy Norway The Rebel Royals starts to day two. You can get all of these series ahead of everybody else if you're a subscriber. Otherwise they're out every Sunday, and don't forget you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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