Never one for introspection, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has still managed to provoke some searching questions about the institution he once served. For example, what constitutes a family if it is royal? Since Victorian times, parliament’s rulebook, Erskine May, has forbidden ‘reflections’ on ‘the conduct of the Sovereign, the heir to the throne, or other members of the royal family’ in debates. Following Lib Dem pressure, that rule has been rewritten by Mr Speaker, who has stated: ‘Because this now relates to a person who is not a member of the royal family, the situation is completely different.’ But in what way? Clarity is needed. If Andrew has left the family by dint of losing his titles, then presumably those like Princess Anne’s children, who have no titles, are not members of the family either. Is it open season on Peter Phillips but not Princess Beatrice? Or is it because Andrew is no longer a ‘working royal’, in which case, can MPs start debating the Sussexes – but not the Waleses? Membership of the royal family used to be determined by Britain’s grandest directory, the royal household’s Green Book. Before publication ceased, it listed details of kith, kin and every distant cousin down as far as the 21st Lady Saltoun, widow of Queen Victoria’s great-grandson, Alexander Ramsay of Mar. Beyond Flora Saltoun (who died in 2024), one ceased to be royal.
It’s good to see Erskine May (a man as well as a book) having his moment in the sun. We royal anoraks are forever quoting Walter Bagehot – ‘daylight in on magic’, etc – but we hear less of this other Victorian guru. May retired as clerk of the Commons in 1886, was ennobled as Lord Farnborough and died, childless, a week later. His peerage remains the second-shortest in history, after that of the artist Frederic Leighton, who died one day after becoming Lord Leighton.
If (or when) Andrew’s appalling conduct kick-starts reforms, that will involve all three members of the UK’s fabled constitutional ‘Magic Triangle’: the private secretaries of the sovereign and the PM, plus the cabinet secretary. The first of the former, Sir Clive Alderton, is an old hand, having served his boss for 17 years. The latter may be in her first week but is no stranger to royal quirks. Dame Antonia Romeo was in charge of the Ministry of Justice at the time of the King’s coronation. That also made her ‘Clerk of the Crown in Chancery’, granting her a front-row seat to prepare the Coronation Roll. This 11,500-word parchment chronicles every detail of the ceremony from the faldstools and armills to the hellebores in the floral displays. The PM’s man, Dan York-Smith, seems well suited, too. While other No. 10 advisers have left, this low-key Treasury boffin marches on, with a useful extra-curricular skill. He is an international judge – at gymnastics.
Will ‘AM-W’ really call himself ‘Mr’? He has lost ‘Duke’, ‘Prince’ and ‘HRH’. Yet he remains Commander (Retd) Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor RN. That would go if he went to prison, but he could then play another card. The Letters Patent removing his ‘HRH’ and ‘Prince’ make no mention of courtesy titles. As the younger son of a duke, he might still aim for ‘Lord Andrew’.
To Chelsea’s Crosby Moran Hall, the Tudor palace rebuilt by philanthropist Christopher Moran, for a dinner ahead of the 250th birthday of the USA. A dozen overseas ambassadors and several of our own heard Foreign Office minister Seema Malhotra, Dr Moran and the president of the White House Historical Association talk about plans for the celebrations. The late Queen’s private secretary, Lord Young, recalled how much she had enjoyed her meetings with US presidents, including the incumbent. Two months ago, I was at Mar-a-Lago talking to Donald Trump for my forthcoming book on Elizabeth II and that sentiment was reciprocated. It is her centenary in the spring. The King heads for D.C. on a state visit soon afterwards, followed by the Prince of Wales. In other words, this should be a high-water mark for the special relationship. We keep hearing these events will be eclipsed by the dead hand of Jeffrey Epstein. I am not so sure. Today, of course, we talk of little else. But is anyone still discussing, say, Caracas – or Greenland? Epstein will not go away but the news cycle will gallop on while these deeper historic themes will endure. The King well remembers his first White House visit. Aged 21, he had a one-on-one Oval Office lesson in leadership from Richard Nixon. Come the USA’s 200th in 1976, Nixon had been ejected by a scandal even more seismic than Epstein – Watergate. The show went on, Gerald Ford welcomed the Queen to the bicentenary, and the party was a blast.
Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story is out in April
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