For more than 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II pushed the entire royal family to abide by the now famous mantra “never complain, never explain.”
The “never complain, never explain” policy implies that the press can publish or say almost anything about the royal family, and they will maintain what is called a dignified silence and never publicly comment on them.
Elizabeth II’s mother, Queen Mother, passed down the policy to her when she became Queen Consort in 1936.
Queen Elizabeth adheres to this protocol and expects the heirs to the throne, including Prince Charles, Prince William, and their families, to do the same.
The rule also applies to Prince Harry, Andrew, and the other the British royals.
The Queen‘s most famous motto is believed to be one of the reasons why Meghan Markle struggled and developed mental issues as a working royal.
Markle revealed that she felt like being silenced while her name and reputation were being dragged through the mud. She eventually stepped down from her royal duties and moved to California, where she is free to speak her mind.
Prince Harry and Markle have been doing just that via interviews, podcasts, and an upcoming tell-all book.
According to a royal expert, the way the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been handling the media is revolutionary for high-ranking royals, and they will be remembered as the ones who changed the rules established by the Queen.
In a new interview, royal author Gareth Russell explained that Prince Harry and the former American actress would go down in the history books as the ones who ended Queen Elizabeth’s well-worn mantra.
He also made the surprising revelation that having the royal family abandon their preferred mantra is a good thing.
Russell stated: “I think Harry and Megan will probably be remembered as the people who bury that attitude for themselves and for future generations of the royals. And that, maybe, is no bad thing.”
He went on to explain that he did not expect Prince Harry and Markle to respond to the stories published about them in Tom Bower‘s new bombshell biography.
He claimed: “You can’t respond to it all. If you go out answering every single book or allegation, it will consume your entire day. You won’t have spare time to devote to your own mental health and your own well-being. When you are as famous as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, there is going to be a lot of speculation. It doesn’t always do anyone good in public life to always be answering and rebutting those claims.”
Kate Middleton seems to be following Prince Harry and Markle in taking a lax approach to the unofficial royal tradition.
In a surprising move, Prince William’s wife’s lawyers sent a letter to Tatler after they published a story about her being furious about the workload she inherited in the months following “Megxit.”
A Palace spokesperson stepped out to defend Middleton by saying: “This story contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication.”
Vanity Fair royal correspondent and author Katie Nicholl weighed in by saying that: “It is unusual for Kensington Palace to comment on a specific article but not unheard of. When they feel that something is inaccurate and potentially damaging, they will refute it. The suggestion that Kate is exhausted and feels trapped, and is unhappy about her workload is at the nub of the complaint. She is working harder than ever at her request, so the idea she resents the workload isn’t the case.”
Camilla Parker Bowles recently used the watered-down policy version to let the world know that she did not make the racist comments mentioned in Bower’s book about Prince Harry’s child.
