The year that rocked the Royal family: 'Andrew's not going quietly'

0:02The Telegraph

0:09It's been a busy year that has witnessed the fall of the House of York, finally, the return to work of the Princess of Wales after recovering from cancer and Harry and Meghan doing, well, Harry and Meghan things. 2025 has been a right royal year and in this special episode we're going to look at some of the highlights and lowlights. Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tominy.

0:40Well, joining me for this right royal march down memory lane, back to January 2025, all the way through to Christmas, with bells on at Windsor, I'm thinking, Hannah Furness. Our royal editor joins us now in the studio with Andrew Lowney, who's the royal biographer that has made headlines this year with his explosive book on the Yorks. Is it Windsor? Where are they having Christmas? I've lost my mind. They're still at Sandringham. They're still at Sandringham. Tradition reigns supreme. But one person who won't be there, Andrew, is the other Andrew, the Andrew formerly known as Prince, now defenestrated and hanging out somewhere in a little cottage by himself, being a couch potato, according to Hannah.

1:22Andrew? Well, he's not quite. I mean, he's still in Royal Lodge. I think he's going to be there for a long time still. I think that when he does move next year, it's going to be something rather more than a shoebox. So I don't feel too sorry for him. I think he's still digging in his heels. He's not moving easily. He wants to be paid off for giving up his lease. He wants proper staff. So I don't think we're going to see him shopping in Lidl next year. Right. Shame, because we'd all look forward to that. It's been a huge downfall this year, though, hasn't it? If we look back a year ago, the Chinese spy scandal had just happened.

1:57Yes. Then over the course of this year, we've had the Epstein email that revealed he was in touch with Jeffrey Epstein at least five years longer than he said he had been. Then we had the Virginia Jeffrey, her suicide, her memoir. And then finally, only come autumn, when all eyes turn to Royal Lodge and his peppercorn rent, did everything start happening? And then he's lost his titles and he's lost his home. Why is it, do you agree with this, Andrew? This is getting confusing. We should say the disgraced Duke and then, well, we can't call him a Duke anymore, so actually I can't even do that. Mr Mountbatten Windsor who shall therein be known as but Hannah do you agree with Andrew Lowney that the reason that he is delaying now and we thought he might be kicked out of Royal Lodge before Christmas but it's going to take a year to get him out of there is because he's saying well I signed my lease and sorry and he's not going quietly is that also your impression?

2:49Well he doesn't want to go does he? There's no sort of huge impetus to be packing up 30 or 20 years of royal life at Royal Lodge but he has to go he said he was going publicly we originally thought it might be at the beginning of next year it looks like it's going to be kicked further into the long grass marsh farm where he's going to in sandringham as you say it's not a shoebox for normal people it's still a dream home it's very large but it's a pre it was previously a working farm it needs quite a big overhaul to make it suitable and there are a lot of security questions based on where it is on the sandringham estate.

3:24So this is not going to be a quick fix, is it? But he has to leave and he will. Yes. Well, he has to leave by October and I think he'll stay as long as he can. I think the interesting thing will be to see if Sarah Ferguson sticks with him in Royal Lodge or goes off on her own pretty quickly. I mean, I'm not convinced he's actually ever going to go to Sandringham. I think that if charges are brought, he will be on the first plane to the Middle East. Why would charges be brought? We've got the Met Police having abandoned that investigation into claims that he had contacted his bodyguard, given him Virginia Giffray's national security number and asked for him to kind of fish around her background to see if they could perhaps challenge her credibility on some of her claims against him.

4:09She alleged that they had had sex in three different locations, including when she was 17. He denies that. So that's been dropped. What's the threat now? I appreciate Congress have called him to appear. He's under no obligation to do that. He remains innocent in the eyes of the law because he's never been found guilty in a court of law of anything. My point being, though, he can live a life without any further judicial or legal intervention, potentially, just caveat it. If he isn't now hauled before any courts, he can go off quietly as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Hannah, and lead a quiet life.

4:49I mean, is there any redeeming this character? Well, there's a sense from his friends and his allies, of which there are a few remaining, that he has been publicly humiliated. He has everything he cared about stripped from him. As you rightly say, he cares about his position and his titles. Those are gone. He's lost his home. As we regularly point out, he's never been convicted of anything in a court of law. The court of public opinion has obviously found him guilty. a lot of this stuff that has come out of this year is very grim but there is a sense among his friends that he really has been punished for this is there time now for people like us the public to just let him disappear live a life in his own house go to Sandringham watch tv do some shooting and as long as he isn't draining the public finances he isn't turning up at royal events is there a moment where we draw a line and say off you go live a private life before you respond to that Andrew just clarify the whole tv watching because we've got this story that we will link to the show notes that you have done on how he's currently living with couch potato in the headline is he becoming a couch potato he's spending his days just sitting around watching bargain hunt not really leaving the house.

6:09Well, he goes out riding. He still does shoots at Sandringham. One of the sources I spoke to said he's always watched a lot of telly. He is a bit of a couch potato. I think you were saying, Andrew, that he likes watching videos of aeroplanes landing nowadays. He's still interested in the military. He's living quite an insular life. Videos of aeroplanes landing? Is this a YouTube situation? Yes. I mean, there's a special thing you can watch. You get excitement from watching how planes land and take off, which, of course, as a former pilot, interests him. Right. But, I mean, he's always been a couch potato.

6:38I mean, he's always been watching golf, and that was one of the problems in the marriage, that she wanted to party and he wanted to slob out. Right. But, OK, so thank you for establishing what he's doing right now. He's beyond redemption as far as you're concerned. Well, I think this whole thing has been driven really by public outcry and public pressure and social media. And I think the media have been racing to catch up. I think they realised the situation. I think they were emboldened to ask tougher questions than they have in the past. Parliament, I think, also caught up on the strength of constituents actually contacting MPs.

7:14And the palace has had to respond to that, though I would say too little too late. I mean, they still haven't got ahead of this crisis. And I don't think the public are going to be satisfied with the sense that he isn't being held to account. I mean, there are plenty of things that I think where charges could be brought. You're absolutely right. The Met have decided not to investigate. I don't think that's going to go down well. I mean, there are former heads of Royal Protection, former heads of the CPS who are saying this is crazy, this needs to be looked at. But do you think with everything else...

7:45I know that the FBI investigated him in the States. They actually had a case against him at the time. They had a case against Ghislaine Maxwell and decided not to pursue it. And I know that they're going to pass that material to the British authorities. So do you think, Andrew, honestly, with everything else going on, on people's minds, energy bills, cost of living crisis, what's happening to inflation, Can I keep my job? Is the pub down the road going to close? Well, you only need to watch the... They're really worried about the Duke of York or the former Duke of York and what his future is. You know, as you say, here I am back on the podcast.

8:15If you just look at the comments... We love all things royal here and your contribution. But if you look at the comments below the articles, both in The Telegraph but in all the other major papers, if you look at the forums, there is huge disquiet about the way he's behaved and the way he's been able to get away with it. And this is part of a larger, I think, concern about elites and the way they operate, which clearly we've seen a lot of in the States. Although he did turn out to a royal family event, at least, a christening, his granddaughter, Hannah. I mean, can he be excluded from his own granddaughter's christening?

8:46No, I don't think so. Of course not. He did quite a good job of hiding himself in the back of his car, as did Sarah Ferguson. So they were just about glimpsed going into St James's Palace for the christening. They did not go to the pub afterwards. And this was Athena Mapelli Mozzi, who is Princess Beatrice's second child. Yes. On Fergie, where is she? Do we know? Well, we're told that she's had a pretty rough time of it and that she, as she often has, she's trying to dust herself down, probably going to reinvent herself. You might have your own ideas. Is she going to write another book? Are these rumours of a tell-all television interview actually in the works?

9:23Well, I mean, I know that she's not seeing any, even her close friends. I mean, she's kind of drowning her sorrows in Royal Lodge. Oh, so she's still with him? She's still in Royal Lodge, yeah. I thought she'd gone to Portugal or something with Princess Eugenie. She's been with her daughter. She's been staying, I think, in Portugal and in the Cotswolds with Beatrice. She's sort of moving around. Yeah, moving around. But no, I think she'll pop back. I mean, you know, I'm not sure she knows where she's going to go yet. No. But yeah, whether she's going to do another book, I think this is all sort of positioning shots across bows to try and get some deal with them, with the king.

9:56I think that she will write a book rather than do a TV interview just because I think it's safer and would be more on her terms, plus, as we know, she likes writing. I think she will probably find a sort of omid-scoby Andrew Morton figure to tell the story to. I suspect it'll be disguised. She won't want to burn her bridges with the royal family. I mean, they still have pressure they can put on the two daughters, and I think that's what constrains her. It's very difficult to think what she would actually say, isn't it? What do the people want to read? They want an inside story of what actually happened with Epstein.

10:27What's the dirt on the royal family? I'm not sure I realistically see her writing that both because it's so complicated legally and she'll get herself into potentially more of a pickle than she would by saying nothing but also people at the palace are looking after the princesses they're making it really clear that the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are not to blame for any of this they're at Buckingham Palace for the Christmas lunch just a couple of days ago they're invited to Sandringham for Christmas and I get a sense that the Yorks don't really want to bring anything else down on their own heads in this situation.

10:59It is interesting, the princesses, and I agree. I'm not sure that they should be found guilty of the sins of the father or indeed the mother. Having said that, they were adults when they met back up with Jeffrey Epstein after he had left prison. It wasn't as if they were young girls being taken along by Fergie. They were grown women at that stage. So it is interesting that they've come out of this relatively unscathed. Is that fair, Andrew? They should be unscathed because it's not really their problem. Well, I think the real scandal of the Orks is the financial material, not the Epstein. I think that's a bit of a sideshow.

11:34And I think the daughters are very involved with, I mean, they were taken on these trade visits that he made funded by the taxpayer. They built up a very useful set of contacts. They're continuing to use those contacts, particularly in the Middle East. We had Beatrice promoting a Saudi bank the other day. And those stories will emerge in 2026. And I think it would be very unwise, the royal family, to cozy up too much to them. Overall, how damaging do you think this has been for the monarchy in 2025, Hannah? For me, this has been the year where the royals and the ex-royals have properly separated in the public imagination, by which I mean the former Yorks and the Sussexes.

12:13In terms of the Sussexes, the palaces have kind of dropped the rope in any backwards and forwards between them and have let them go off and live their own lives. in terms of the Yorks I don't disagree that it was too little too late or at least too late in terms of taking action when they could have done something a little bit more concrete before now but they have done it they've drawn a really clear line aids are incredibly every time you go to them with a question they will say we don't represent Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor anymore we don't represent Sarah Ferguson they're off on their own it has been damaging but I think when we take a step back and look back at the year, I think the public will probably give the king credit for taking a strong line now and for this sort of famous robustness and ruthlessness that the monarchy is famous for.

13:04It didn't come early here, but it has eventually come. Yeah. Andrew? I think more could be done. I mean, I think there are stories that the king has been talking to the king of Bahrain about possibly offering Andrew's sanctuary there if he needs to go there. It would be okay for him because he can't sweat So if it's hot And of course there's very little press scrutiny Which would be good Are there any pizza expresses though? I'm not sure Well I think probably there are But I think the damaging thing for the monarchy Though actually I think it's a good thing Is that they've actually had royal privilege and accountability called out And I think they're going to have to modernise And make themselves fit as a 21st century monarchy So in many ways Andrew has saved the monarchy by his actions I think they're having to take action now We've now got some sort of parliamentary scrutiny.

13:47We've got the Public Accounts Committee looking at Crown estate leases. I think that's going to grow. I think we may well get a Royal Register. We may well get, I hope, changes in the FOI Act and also in terms of sealing royal wells. And all these things, if they have nothing to hide, will add to trust and respect for the institution, which I'm afraid has been lost in the course of the last year. Actually, that's a really good point, Hannah, isn't it? if it weren't for the concerns that were raised about Royal Lodge and the lease arrangements and peppercorn rent, we wouldn't now be having a parliamentary investigation into all of the other royal properties.

14:23It's then exposed how many homes they have at their disposal that they're not actually occupying. Questions now also being asked about the funding of both duchies, Lancaster for the King, Cornwall for the Prince of Wales. So it's opened a bit of a can of worms. That's great if it does mean that sunlight is the best disinfectant. But they're probably cursing Andrew for exposing them to all this scrutiny. Yeah, it's brought a degree of scrutiny that they haven't been under for very many years now in terms of their finances and their properties. It's something that has been a topic of conversation.

14:56It's on Prince William's mind. When he is king, one day the royal residences are something that are going to have to be looked at because this system is something, you know, a lot of it goes back to the Victorian age and has never really been looked at in terms of household, how the households are made up, where they're living and who is living there. We have a slimmed down monarchy, far fewer working members of the family, still in the same number of houses. So it will be a scrutiny that they are not quite used to in recent years. But as the Queen herself said, you know, they're not immune to scrutiny and shouldn't be.

15:27This is public money. And in the long run, it will do everybody good to know that the public can understand how that money is being spent. We're going to get on to the King and the Waleses in just a minute, but from one spare to the air to the next, Harry. Let's have a little chat about Harry and how Harry's year has gone. So it's been a year of ups and downs for Harry. We will speak about Meghan too in just a moment, don't you worry. We had him losing the case against the Home Office for the scrapping of his taxpayer-funded security. He then goes from that situation into a BBC studio where he starts opining the state of his relationship with the royals, saying he wants reconciliation and mooting the idea that the king won't speak to him because of the security row.

16:10Then, lo and behold, he does end up seeing his father over tea in September for an hour, which is the first time they had met in 19 months. We then quite recently had a bit of a U-turn and the Home Office is now going to carry out a risk assessment into the stripping of his taxpayer funded security, which marks a little bit more of a victory than had been seen months earlier. So I don't know. He's in a better place this year than he was in the aftermath of spare, I would suggest. He's had a mixed year, as you say. So he's had the Centre Barley row as well. He's had to step away from this charity that was very precious to him.

16:50He did this mini royal, non-royal tour. Where was that tour? In the autumn over here. Oh, his royal tour. Yes, that's right. A few charities, which they were very pleased with. They said he wants to do more. We've also had these mixed messages of, you know, he's doing speeches to audiences of estate agents and he's doing slightly strange jokes about the royal family in these private speaking gigs. And I would say where the public used to have quite a clear idea of who Harry was, military, mental health, family, all those buzzwords we know, this year has been a lot more muddled. And I'm not sure the public understands now exactly what Harry does stand for.

17:27The meeting with the king went well. Critically, we hardly know anything about it from either side, which is important, very important to the palace. Because the fear is always, of course, that as soon as the king speaks to his son, where is that information going to end up? On Netflix. So both sides have behaved themselves in that situation. And that does open the door for more. We don't know that there has been any more. Harry's argument with his security is that he wants to bring his children back to the UK. If he can sort out his security in a way that pleases him. Does he want to bring his wife back?

17:59I don't know whether his wife wants to come back. But Invictus 2027 in Birmingham, wouldn't it be odd to not have Meghan by his side? She's been at most of the Invictus events. How do you think Meghan will be received if she comes back to Blighty Andrew? Well I think she's still a very unpopular figure and I mean the compromise certainly with the Duke of Windsor was he used to come back and Wallace Simpson remained behind. So I think it's very unlikely she will come. I don't think, I mean the public reaction wouldn't be good. I don't think she would feel very comfortable with the royal family.

18:32It would be, I think it would be very tense. So I think the tentative step certainly for the moment will be with Harry. And do you think he has had a better year this year than last? Well, I agree with Hannah that the very mixed messages coming out, I mean, he could have kind of gone back to just doing charitable work, doing these mini royal tours, but he needs to make money. So there's this compromised position, which is always what he wanted to start with, the half in, half out. But I think they must feel kind of cheesed off because Fergie's been doing this for years and got away with it, and yet they're not allowed to do the same.

19:04There is one interesting element that we didn't touch on earlier, which with the former Prince Andrew situation, which is that having been told for years that they couldn't do anything about his titles, they couldn't remove things, it would be too difficult, too complicated, have to go through Parliament. All of a sudden, the King has decided that the titles are going and they have gone. It's been a very straightforward, very quick bit of bureaucracy. And I don't think there is any suggestion that anybody wants to strip the Duke and Duchess of their titles now but there is a mechanism that we have seen this year where it can happen well i think it will happen in the next rain i think what you think william is going to strip his own brother of his titles i think all the titles will go for even except for those in direct line of succession certainly for non-working rivals but harry is in the direct line of succession he's quite high up the pecking order it'd be extraordinary wouldn't it to take away a dukedom that was bestowed on them on marriage by the late queen elizabeth ii Well, I mean, it's only my speculation, but I do think under the new reign, there will be an attempt to move much more towards a European style monarchy.

20:13I think the monarch's children will have titles, but no one else. Wow. That would be an act of war, wouldn't it, Hannah? Yes. I'm not sure I see an appetite for that yet, but I would have completely ruled it out a year ago. And I think this year has shown that it can happen. the only real reason to do it there's no suggestion that the sussexes have done anything dreadful they've just you know spoken out a bit too much and decided to leave because they want a different life there's no punishment here the only reason to do it would be as you say this sort of simplifying how the public understands the monarchy it would be one way of showing here is the former royal family i wouldn't put 50p on it happening in the near future personally but i won't rule it out in a way I would have done pre-Prince Andrew.

21:00Extraordinary things have happened when it comes to royal life in recent weeks and months, right? We have to talk about Meghan. Now, she did remind, I think, one of the people on her podcast that she was Meghan Sussex, thank you very much, and don't you forget it. So she's still wanting to flex her royal muscles, although to be fair to the Duchess, she's been very much doing her own thing away from the trappings of royal life, trying to reinvent herself as the next Martha Stewart, making jam, selling jam, doing her show, going on the podcast. Obviously, the one that sticks in the memory is Jamie Kern-Liever.

21:36Thank God Tim's not here to do an impression. Simply because Tim Stanley does the best impression of this quite preposterous love-in that the two ladies indulged in where they celebrated the miracle of Meghan doing a school run. I mean, to be fair to Meghan, she set out to be financially independent in America. She wanted to make a name for herself. The political aspirations appear to have gone by the wayside as she becomes a kind of on-screen domestic goddess. Yes, she's been mocked. There have been viral sort of memes and comedians going on with their fake wigs on, and wrapping scarves around bottles in a Japanese style and just taking the mickey.

22:19However, she still gets the headlines. So she's doing something right, Andrew. I don't quite know what it is, but she's doing something right. I don't know how much money she's making from these products. I mean, she's being heavily criticised because they're very expensive. How much is the jam, Hannah? It's$14. It sells out all the time, but we don't know how much is on offer to buy. It's quite toppy, isn't it? £10 for a jar of jam. And she's got the wine. She's got the wine, yes. I think you're right. This year it has been Meghan the businesswoman. We've left the philanthropy behind. We've left, to some extent.

22:54Sorry, what? Sorry, I'm being called. When they left the royal family, it was to develop a new life and they were going to be philanthropists through Archwell. They were going to be the next Obamers and they were going to be Bill and Melinda Gates, except still married. Yes. There's no politics. the mentions of the royals and her dreadful time over here have slightly died down with each interview over bang that drum so now i suppose if you have a mood board of megan this year and you ask people what they thought members of the public it would be jam flower petals yeah harry being a mom a mood board of megan can i just say we can guarantee now that megan has asked someone to mood board megan in 2025 and we'd all love to see what they put together in a creative fashion Okay, I agree with that.

23:39The turnover of staff continues. Oh, the turnover of staff does continue, yes, at great pace. And I agree with you then. I think we can conclude that 2025 has been the year of Meghan with Harry very much sort of playing a cameo in the background. Is that fair? I think it is to an extent. He was definitely a cameo in the Netflix show. He popped up to say he didn't like any of the food and give her a kiss. but when you look so for example those photos of them at the kardashian party it was harry that everybody was looking at because he is still fifth in line to the throne he's still the prince he's still diana's son in the eyes of america yes so he is still the draw in quite a big way for them as a couple his royal life is still relevant to their business life i would say but they got booed at that dodgers game didn't they they got booed was that for taking seats, sort of strange seats at the front.

24:36I mean, I don't know how popular they are. We know that they're not very popular here and that could be a factor in her particularly not wanting to come back to the UK if she's going to be booed outside some major event. There's a way that they can do it though. So if you see them going back to Invictus, within the Invictus Games, Harry is hailed as the second coming. Well, rightly so. And rightly so. Everybody who goes to the Invictus games absolutely loves this couple and sees harry as changing their lives there is a way that she could come stick to quite controlled inside environments where you're not risking anybody shouting anything or doing an unflattering video it's possible

25:25let's move on to William and Kate William and Catherine as I should call her formally I feel like we haven't seen that much of them this year I think that's understandable when you consider that she was only announced to be in remission at the beginning of the year and if people are wondering why we aren't talking about the lovey-dovey video that's because it happened in December of 2024, so it is not included in this Royal Roundup of 2025. We've seen her very slowly re-emerge onto the Royal stage. They haven't done any overseas tours. He's kept himself to himself because they have prioritised, I think, Hannah, and probably understandably in light of everything they've been through in the last few years, and I'm talking about the Cancer, but I'm also talking about Megxit, they prioritised immediate family over family firm and to be fair they've moved house.

26:16Yes there have been things there's been a slow and steady build-up through this year I would say so they started in the spring with their anniversary trip to the Isle of Mal where they were very lovey-dovey in person actually and she was like quite clearly back in action really enjoying being out and about. There was a blip for Ascot you remember she had to pull out for health reasons. And she also gave a very good insight into how she has found this year at a visit to a cancer hospital where I was with her. And I listened to her as she repeatedly said to fellow patients how difficult it had been following chemotherapy when everybody thinks you're just recovered, you're in remission, you're back in business.

26:54How difficult she had actually found it. and that every day it wasn't a straightforward trajectory of you finish your chemotherapy and suddenly you're better, better, better, better, better and you can do your full-time job again. So they've been very careful to pace her work through this year. But we have seen in the autumn, she's back doing her early years engagements. She's been at the state visits, importantly, in the evenings. Remember those photos of her with Trump, her with Macron, getting a wink. She's been really central to these big public moments of monarchy and soft diplomacy and all the things that brown britain are supposed to do she is back there in a way that she couldn't do last year and she's had her carol concert in the last couple of weeks yes so she i see a slow and steady return to work and with william he's done his trip to brazil he went to cop he's been he went to the pope's funeral he's done a little bit overseas and he's also had these quite emotional moments so you remember he sort of shed a tear with Rhianne Mannings, the mum, around her kitchen table when they were talking about suicide.

27:54He did that interview with Eugene Levy at Windsor Castle where he was talking a lot about how he sees the future of the monarchy and the changes he wants to bring. So William, I think, has been a lot busier this year or has felt a lot busier than he was last year when they did have to really hunker down and look after those kids whose mum was going through cancer treatment and their world was suddenly turned upside down. Maybe William was quite busy behind the scenes, Andrew. helping his father resolve the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor problem. Yeah, I certainly think that there's much more of a partnership there.

28:28I mean, there are clearly lots of rumours that they don't always agree on everything. But I do think there is this almost, I would say, a transitional monarchy at the moment where William is calling more of the shots. There's a sense with King Charles that he's got a bucket list of things he needs to get through. And there's a sense that William is now thinking very much to the future, talking about the future, say, with that Eugene Levy thing. I think he's much more strategic about what he's doing. But I think it's very effective. And I mean, clearly they are the linchpin of the future of the monarchy, particularly Catherine.

28:57And I think it's understandable their popularity is an all-time high. So a good year, I'd say, for them. I cannot think that it's coincidence that we had the defenestration of the Andrew formerly known as Prince just after that very awkward exchange at the Duchess of Kent's funeral, where William is there absolutely, resolutely refusing to engage at all with his errant uncle. And I thought, I think that the perception around the king is that he can be a bit of a softy and want to do the right thing, a little bit like his mother. I think she was much more non-confrontational than him. I think the king can lose his temper, but wanted to kind of keep things ticking over.

29:38And I really just think William in the background went in for the jugular. I could be wrong. he's mindful of his future reign he's thinking how do we justify this bloke to the public it's going to taint me he wants the stables clean before he gets there and it's much easier for Charles to do that but I do think the Duchess of Kent's funeral was was very important symbolically it showed the public exactly how shameless the Yorks were and I think that really shaped public opinion I mean that and I think also the reaction to that you know partly the heckling of the king but also I think that the reaction to the funeral really changed perceptions in the palace And don't forget we've got siblings in the mix here as well So Anne and Edward These are a quartet aren't they?

30:18The late Queen's children Charles, Andrew And not the only two who are making decisions here So you do have these two other siblings Of the same generation Who are in the background Advising, cajoling, persuading Trying to get through to Prince Andrew Former Prince Andrew And neither Princess Anne or Edward Are great fans of the Yorks So I would have thought there would have been Three against or two against two plus one against one. Yes, they've been quietly getting on with things. Speaking of the Princess Royal, because she is a lot of people's favourite royal, the royal that they hoped would one day be queen, but wasn't.

30:52The best queen we've never had. The best queen we've never had. Yes, could you write 3 ,000 words on Anne being the best queen we've never had? You and I have written that piece, I think, probably five times each. And about Sophie being the saviour of the monarchy. That's right. Anne, the Princess of Wales, isn't she wonderful, being another theme of telegraph writing. But on Princess Anne, you shadowed her for her 75th birthday. Just a couple of the highlights from that, Hannah. Well, I've shadowed her previously and it was just about the sheer capacity of this woman to get through her daily work.

31:25I spoke to people around her 75th birthday, which obviously she did not celebrate in any useful fashion for journalists. She agreed to pose for a photograph, sort of slightly grudgingly. And then she insisted that she wanted to host her charities at the palace to thank them for allowing her to represent them for all of these years, which was quite sweet. And then she went off on a little tour with Sir Tim on a boat having a look at lighthouses for her actual birthday. Oh, she loves her lighthouses. People just love her and they respond to her so well. Everybody you ever talk to who has met Princess Anne says she knows her brief.

31:58she talks to them like you know if she goes to a lighthouse or a factory or whatever boring thing she's doing that day frankly she goes in like she's a member of staff like a regional manager visiting the staff and she'll ask them loads of technical questions and she'll say actually i've just been to a factory last week who are doing something similar maybe you guys should talk um just the workload is phenomenal she's 75 she has no interest in slowing down at all no she's She's like her parents, really. We'll rest when we're dead. And she's an argument for the monarchy. Yes, she is. I mean, she does a lot of heavy lifting for them, Andrew.

32:32At times of crisis, people go, but Anne's a trooper. Absolutely. I mean, I think this is what's so sad about the Yorks have undermined all the good work that she, Sophie, and all the others do. And that's why I think it's great that they've been cut loose because they were beginning to infect the whole body politic itself. There was somebody saying once that the British people like to see their royals suffer slightly. so they like to see them sort of unveiling plaques in the rain and we feel like we're getting our money's worth somehow if they're not too happy and not on holiday and not living in enormous houses and Anne sort of encapsulates that duty and service style.

33:06Yeah, she never looks like she's on a jolly. She looks as if she's jolly busy doing her job. Wonderful. Let's finish on a high note because we had a surprising moment very recently in December just to cap off the year with this extraordinary video that was filmed by the King updating the public on his cancer diagnosis. Yeah, they've got both the Princess of Wales and the King have really started trying to communicate directly with the public. So instead of doing written statements, they're increasingly deciding to do these television messages where they talk to us directly, which is wonderful because you can see the emotion on their faces as they're doing it.

33:43And as you say, we're ending the year on a high. It was good news, the King told us directly. He isn't finishing his treatment. He's not in remission. He's not recovered from cancer. But his schedule of treatment is slowing down in the new year, which will open up his diary. It will free him of what have been some quite considerable side effects of his treatment that as positive as he has been and as determined to carry on as he has been have affected him behind the scenes this year. And it's just a really positive way to finish a year, isn't it? And I think what's so remarkable is the number of engagements he's continued to do, even with this illness.

34:19I mean, you know, very much, as you say, in the tradition of his parents and Princess Anne. Also, if you think about it, to be battling cancer, have all of these issues around your relationship with your brother, have additional issues around your relationship with your son, it's a hard and to inherit the throne. I mean, I appreciate he had a lot of practice to become king because he was the longest serving heir apparent in history. I should throw into this, losing both parents in pretty swift succession. The moment he becomes king and it's sort of plagued with problems. Yes, and if you think this year he's hosted three incoming state visits, the first time that's happened since 1988.

34:55Yeah, the French, the Americans and the Germans, right? He's got heavily involved in speaking to President Zelensky about the situation with Ukraine and Russia. They have credited him with helping with those negotiations. He's met two popes. He's done Canada in less than 24 hours to sort of shore up the monarchy there and shore up their sovereignty in the face of America threatening to invade them. He's done a full programme, really, of public engagements, taking, someone said to me, about five hours out every week to go and have treatment quietly, and then he's straight back to it. I don't think anybody who hasn't been really, you'd have to have a magnifying glass on the court circular to notice that anything's been different or wrong this year.

35:38So he's in his late 70s. And he's in his late 70s, and he's finished the year with his personal good news, but it's wrapped up in this message of everybody take advantage of cancer screening, get tested. this is a man of a certain age and a certain demographic talking openly about cancer and that's become really important to his work. I think one of the fascinating things is we've seen the power of the soft power of the monarchy particularly with the Trump visit but also to say with Zelensky and other things but also with this highlighting of the prostate issue so I mean he in some ways is shaping the monarchy very subtly even in this short space of time.

36:12I think we're concluding on a positive note that despite the fall of the House of York and everything else that has been thrown at the institution over the last 12 months, they're doing all right. I think they're stronger or will be stronger than they were at the beginning of the year because I think they will have cleaned out or going some way towards cleaning out some of the problems. Hannah, concluding thought? Yeah, I think the palace absolutely loathes this idea that Charles is a bridge between monarchs, between the late queen and a future King William. But there is a sense that he has a lot to do.

36:46he's come to the throne quite late and he is changing it in his own way isn't he so people inside palace walls sort of slightly light-heartedly refer to the late queen as a quasi-deity of the public couldn't touch her she was being seen to be believed the king this year has made it all much more human much more sort of tactile emotive in a traditional sort of way He's not particularly gushing, but he talks about his health and his feelings. He has changed it in a way that I think suits the modern world, but is still very Charles. Yes. I mean, I think, you know, he brings intelligence, sensitivity and humour.

37:26And I think there has been a much bigger change since the Queen's reign than I think people realise. Andrew Lowney, Hannah Furness. Thank you very much indeed for that right royal roundup. We'll be back with more analysis, no doubt, from you. Have you got another book coming out, Andrew, next year? Untitled. Interesting. Very clever. Do you mean it's called Untitled or it's Untitled? Untitled. It's Untitled. It's a follow-up, I presume, to... Entitled. Entitled. Thank you very much, Hannah Furness. Somebody's been doing her royal homework. We're going to be back tomorrow with a very special Daily Tea because we are speaking to Jacob Rees-Mogg about how to host A Proper Christmas, 5pm.

38:09Thank you.