The impact of the new crisis on the royal family is still limited, but the passivity of the royal family is impressive, and how to win trust will be a long-term problem
Recently, the British royal family released a video of the Princess of Wales announcing that she has cancer, in response to the global question of "where has the princess gone". It is lamenting that the out-of-control public opinion has forced the royal family to talk openly about privacy issues such as family, health, and children, and the menacing phenomenon of this round of British royal crisis is thought-provoking.
The United Kingdom is the world's first constitutional monarchy and one of the most intact preserved royal systems. The current king, Charles III, is the fifth king of the Windsor dynasty, the tenth dynasty of the British royal family. In the United Kingdom, the monarch is the nominal head of state, a symbol of national unity, civilization and strength, and the royal family and its members are also the ambassadors of the United Kingdom and an important link with the countries of the Commonwealth.
Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning queen in British history, was widely praised and was once called "the anchor of a changing world" by former Prime Minister David Cameron. King Charles III has also been called "ahead of his time" by former Prime Minister Tony Blair for his long-term support of global climate and sustainable development. But at the same time, the British royal family has been facing constant challenges and crises, and this time is particularly extraordinary.
First of all, the British royal family is becoming more "vulnerable" than ever. In just a few years, the British "royal family" has lost a queen and a duke, and another king, three princes and a princess have been unable to fully perform their duties due to serious illness, scandals and family feuds, and the royal family has weakened like never before. The challenge of the crisis is also that William, Prince of Wales, is one of the most popular members of the British royal family, as the first in line to the throne of King Charles III, and he and Princess Kate are only two members of the royal family under the age of 50. In the case of the decline of the royal family, the "top students" and "hope stars" have fallen into a health and even credibility crisis, and the impact on the British royal family is extraordinary.
Second, the British government is powerless to protect the royal family. After the release of the Princess of Wales's video, British Prime Minister Sunak and opposition leader Starmer both publicly issued statements of support, but neither His Majesty's government nor the opposition party has clearly given the royal family much help in times of crisis. In the royal crisis caused by the unexpected death of Princess Diana in 1997, then Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed Diana as "the people's princess" before the royal family, which was called "saving the monarchy", but it is difficult for the current British government to do this.
The reason for this is that the British Conservative government at this time was too busy to take care of itself, and even needed other crises to distract its own pressure. 2024 is the year of the British parliamentary election, and the ruling Conservative Party has long lagged behind the largest opposition Labour Party by about 20 percentage points. The UK economy fell into a technical recession in the second half of 2023, contracting by 0.1% in the third and 0.3% quarters. At the same time, the Conservative Party has been striking, and there have been calls for rebel lawmakers to demand Sunak's resignation, and the pressure on Sunak's government is unprecedented. And once Labour comes to power in the future, the situation will be even more unpredictable. According to the British "Daily Mail", although the leader Starmer wanted to distance himself from the anti-monarch republican wing of the party, long before King Charles was crowned, they sent a letter to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Reeves, asking the Labor Party to control royal spending after taking power.
Finally, the traditional rules of royal survival are difficult to function. Queen Elizabeth II's famous quote used to be "I have to be seen to be believed", which means that in order to maintain the dignity and status of the royal family, the royal family needs to maintain a certain degree of publicity. But not only for the British royal family, contemporary international politics is characterized by the fact that once conspiracy theories are proliferated, even "for people to see" are hard to believe. However, due to the acceleration of social media and other extremely negative information such as "princess stand-in" and "prince cheating", the "silence rule" of "no explanation, no complaining" that the queen once insisted on cannot be applied.
On March 20, 2024, BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Spurling published an article analyzing "how Kate's stand-in conspiracy theory went viral on social media". The article points out that the "stand-in conspiracy theory" originated on social media, and the sharing user is usually the X (ex-Twitter) account in the United States, which is posting news about the Princess of Wales almost every hour. The article also found that in February this year, when the American media published a photo of the princess taken by the paparazzi, the British media did not. In March, the American "Late Show" program openly played up Prince William's "scandal", and the host Colbert received a lawyer's letter from the subject of the "scandal", accusing him of false accusations and spreading rumors to the mainstream media.
The new crisis for the royal family is one of the many manifestations of the chaos in post-Brexit Britain, and as one of the country's most influential soft power assets, the royal family will not be easily abandoned by the British. According to data released by the well-known British polling agency Yugov, as of March 18, 2024, 51% of the Britons surveyed believe that the monarchy is beneficial to the UK. William, Prince of Wales, remains the most popular in the royal family, with approval rating rising from 74% in January to 77% in February. Judging from the data, the impact of the crisis on the royal family is still limited, but the passivity of the royal family is impressive, and how to stand firm and win trust without being coerced will be a long-term problem.
Source: "China Institute of Contemporary International Relations" WeChat public account
Author: Yang Fang
Editor: Hu Liang
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