Obviously the Windsor’s are over housed, there’s a lot of palaces out there that they don’t really need for their personal dwellings, moving between them as they always have since the time of George the fifth. You’ve also talked about a rather careful balancing act for future monarchs in which they retain the pomp but downsize considerably, I’m wondering how exactly the institution modestly modernises whilst not diminishing its grandeur, its lustre? How do they solve that paradox in the coming decade? He’s always had this passion about tackling climate change and now, 50 years after he said it all, his passions for organic farming, lowering our carbon footprint, his concern about urban unemployment – he’s been very prescient on these subjects. I do think his particular moment drives and chimes with the overall sensibility of people’s concerns at the moment. That’s one of the things that the Queen and her father proved to us – you don’t have a choice. He knows this is the calling moment of his life. But I believe he will be able to rise to the challenge because he is a statesman. I think, ironically, he may encounter a lot of stage-fright. Do you think that he will be able to rise to that challenge after Elizabeth has gone, fulfil that destiny having waited so long? You had a wonderful turn of phrase in a recent interview, that Charles, Prince of Wales, has been in the “anteroom of his destiny for 50 years”. The only person to get booed was Boris Johnson… It was quite interesting that Harry and Meghan did get cheers, although every single interviewer tried to say to me they were booed. It’s interesting seeing a celebration of one form of British establishment contrasted with a reckoning of another, looking how these two states-people are poles apart.Ībsolutely. Yes, one person who will be miserable is the Prime Minister, who has just run the gauntlet of a no-confidence vote. Yes, it’s been a particularly doleful time so this felt like hitting the pause button and saying ‘let’s party’, and then everybody can go back to being doleful! We’ve certainly gone through a rough couple of years, I suppose it was a nice cathartic release. So, I think there was a huge sense of a collective history being made. Mostly because people felt that this was a way of saying goodbye to the Queen, as there won’t be another Platinum Jubilee in anybody’s lifetime. From an outside point of view, when I arrived here from America recently, it seemed like a massively jubilant Jubilee. I thought England was wild with excitement. This interview is perfectly timed as we’re talking in the immediate aftermath of the Platinum Jubilee – what did you make of last week’s events, which were joyful, yet muted? In anticipation of her town hall with journalist James Harding, we caught up with Brown to discuss collective history, modernising the monarchy, and the importance of storytelling in reportage. The Magazine Editors’ Hall of Famer – who was awarded a CBE for her services to journalism, having helmed Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker between 19 – is set to discuss the royal family at KITE, an upcoming festival in Oxfordshire we’ve proudly partnered with. If there is one person who can decipher it, it’s Tina Brown.īrown is the author of the New York Times best-selling biography of the Princess of Wales, The Diana Chronicles, as well as the recently published (and critically acclaimed) The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – the Truth and the Turmoil, her inside account of the British royal family’s struggle during the Diana years, as well as through new, 21st-century crises. Like all symbolic power, however, its future is in flux. 17 million people, in a tangle of bunting and flags, took part in community celebrations during the weekend to mark her 70 years of service, and whether you’re a diehard monarchist or steely republican, it is difficult to deny the power and pageantry the monarchy still wields at home and abroad. I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come.” The message was addressed to the United Kingdom – a country that has stress tested its name over the last decade – in the wake of her historic Platinum Jubilee. “While I may not have attended every event in person,” wrote Queen Elizabeth, “my heart has been with you all and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family. In the wake of the Platinum Jubilee, the KITE festival speaker and acclaimed author reflects on the future of the monarchy Photography Aaron Chown
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