Oh Lord, They're Briefing at the Funeral
a lesson on crafting a royal narrative
Lord Robert Fellowes, the former private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II and brother-in-law to Princess Diana, passed away on July 29, 2024, at the age of 82. Fellowes was married to Lady Jane Spencer, Diana’s elder sister, and had a distinguished career both serving the royal family and in the private sector. According to the BBC, Fellowes was “the most senior official in the monarch's household” and “helped steer the Royal Family through a turbulent period which saw a fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, Diana and Charles's divorce in 1996, and Princess Diana’s death in 1997.”
But that’s not why his death has people talking.
His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church in Norfolk (near Sandringham) on Thursday, August 29th, with both Prince William and Prince Harry both reportedly in attendance. According to hastily posted tabloid reports, the brothers evidently did not interact with each other, maintaining distance throughout the service. An unnamed church “source” told the BBC: “It was wonderful that both princes were able to attend their uncle’s memorial service yesterday at St Mary’s Church.” And according to the Sun, the brothers "kept their distance" at the service and “were not seen to speak to each other.”
I was confused to see the BBC article on Fellowes’ funeral include the lines: “Kensington Palace have not commented on the family event,” and “The office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has not yet responded to a request for comment.” Comment? On a private family member? The British press knows better than that. What else is there to even ask? In my mind, the existing facts should have been where this “story” started and ended.
But I should have known better.
With their strained relationship a topic of excruciatingly keen public interest (and with the working royals still on sick/vacation leave), ongoing reports about William and Harry’s communication issues have gained considerable traction in the last month.
I should have known it wouldn’t be long until competing points of view made it to the table—and in fact, they had been there all along.
Will He, Won’t He
At the beginning of August, just after Fellowes passed away, press coverage of the death was already ramping up to make Harry the central player. An August 13th Newsweek article entitled “Prince Harry's Decision on Uncle's Funeral ‘Pretty Sad’” promoted the claim that Harry's attendance at the funeral was likely “ruled out by security threat in Britain, which his team believes is still high.”
Tatler echoed the sentiment the next day, declaring “Prince Harry will not attend his uncle’s funeral due to security fears – after saying that a lack of protection is ‘one of the reasons’ he won't bring Meghan Markle back to Britain.” And Rebecca English at the Daily Mail, who routinely touts her palace access and excellent sourcing, also published a piece declaring “Prince Harry will NOT be attending funeral of his uncle Robert Fellowes at the end of this month due to security fears after prince lost legal challenge** over right to protection while visiting UK.” Whew.
** English slyly buried the fact that “Although he unequivocally lost his High Court challenge in February, [Harry] was granted permission to appeal in June” until nearly halfway into this article.
Aside from re-hashing Harry’s “bitter battle” in the British courts to have his police protection back while visiting the UK, English also took the opportunity to connect the Sussexes’ August trip to Colombia. She wrote, appallingly": “Harry says he no longer feels it is safe to bring his family to the UK […] Ironically…the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on Thursday due to begin a four-day 'quasi royal tour' to equally crime-ridden Colombia.” She cited British Foreign and Commonwealth Office reports on the “high level” of terrorist attack and kidnap for ransom, “particularly affecting British Nationals,” in Colombia as well as the “drugs, organized crime, and terrorism [which] are inextricably linked.”
Any chance to call Harry a hypocrite, am I right?
Just one problem though, which we now know with the benefit of hindsight: Harry did attend Fellowes’ funeral service—despite the personal risk he believes to be associated with his presence in the UK.