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It was a pleasure to welcome Tom Sykes on to the Lownie Report for a wide-ranging discussion looking at the multitude of challenges facing the Royal Family and about the implications of the Sussexes’ return and how King Charles has fared in how he has so far dealt with what could well turn into yet another crisis for the monarchy.

We discussed how William’s dignified silence and pragmatism is at odds with both his father’s and his brother’s more emotional approach to decisions and why Tom thinks that the King’s reign has not been particularly successful so far and that his legacy is threatened by his weakness in approaching the issues caused by his son and his brother. Tom discussed his recent reporting that, far from being blindsided, Charles has been encouraging Harry and Meghan’s move back to the UK.

Tom linked the recent exodus of Charles’s staff, including his private secretary Sir Clive Alderton, to the furore surrounding the Sussexes and questioned why the sixty-year-old would leave a £300k-a-year job at the heart of power and influence.

We discussed too what the reign of a future King William V might look like and Tom made the point that there seems little likelihood that the Prince of Wales will change the centuries-old royal habit of secrecy, cover-ups and far from transparent financial affairs of the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster.

With the upcoming publication of Earl Spencer’s book about Diana, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, we talked about the implications of this potentially explosive book and reflected on Harry’s closeness to his uncle and their shared long-held fury at a palace system and the ‘grey suits’ that both blame for the way Diana was treated both during and after her marriage to Charles.

In linking his own experience within the Royal Family to his mother’s, this is yet another way that Harry is trying to lay claim to his mother’s legacy in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of her death next year.

Finally we talked about Tom’s upcoming book The Dukes which analyses the Duke of Windsor, the Duke of Sussex and the former Duke of York and looks at why we have had a succession of renegade royals who each caused so much drama and damage to the House of Windsor over the past 90 years.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:24 Harry and Meghan’s return to Britain
00:03:21 Are the Sussexes deliberately creating conflict?
00:06:08 How should King Charles respond?
00:09:05 Could Harry have been kept out of Britain?
00:11:18 Are Archie and Lilibet being used as pawns?
00:12:41 William, Charles and the Sussexes
00:16:01 Why did Sir Clive Alderton resign?
00:17:42 Camilla’s role in the royal drama
00:20:01 Earl Spencer and Diana’s legacy
00:24:07 The Invictus Games and King Charles
00:25:00 Meghan’s acting ambitions
00:26:51 Harry and Meghan in the Cotswolds
00:27:30 King Charles’s health and legacy
00:33:16 What will William inherit from Charles?
00:36:27 Fergie and the royal double standard
00:37:42 What kind of King will William be?
00:39:59 Could the monarchy ever be abolished?
00:41:05 The press, Harry and Meghan
00:42:12 Who should pay for Harry’s security?
00:44:07 Tom Sykes on The Dukes of Hazzard
00:45:16 Why royal “spares” go rogue
00:47:35 The future for Charlotte and Louis