Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis.
For quite a while now, it’s been clear that King Charles is quite happy living at Clarence House and has little interest in moving out of that stately home and going down the road to reside in Buckingham Palace.
So it was perhaps not a huge surprise when word emerged that he would never live in that historic central London landmark — even though in ways it has become the most high-profile and visible symbol of the monarchy itself.
While there have been efforts to emphasize that the palace will continue to be the working and ceremonial headquarters of the monarchy, the confirmation that the King won’t be living there could also be sending signals about the institution and its future.
“It’s a real shift away from what we expect from the monarchy and … it’s an example of perhaps slimming down,” Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, said in an interview.
With fewer senior members of the Royal Family, there is perhaps a move to start to “rationalize some of the properties,” he said.
The shift in emphasis for the palace could also be a harbinger of a more subtle but noteworthy shift in focus for the House of Windsor as the monarchy, an institution steeped in tradition, tries to fortify its relevance in a modern world.
“The King will, in effect, use Buckingham Palace … as his office and in a sense go to work every day,” said Prescott, who sees it as part of a potential distinction emerging between the institution of the monarchy and the person who holds the role of monarch at any given time, effectively becoming a custodian.
“There seems to be a shift, which perhaps is more modern thinking, because with Elizabeth II, she was the monarchy — the two were totally sort of one in the same, whereas perhaps we’re teasing out a distinction between the monarchy and the monarch at any particular time.”
Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 and converted into a royal palace in the 1820s.
While it had been the home of every monarch from Queen Victoria up to Elizabeth, no monarch had actually lived there since the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Elizabeth moved to Windsor Castle, just as a 10-year, 369-million-pound ($692 million Cdn) refurbishment project at the palace was also underway.
When Charles started his cancer treatment in 2024, there were also some advantages to the royal residence and the royal office being in separate places, Toronto-based royal historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.
“At a time when there was an enormous amount of concern about King Charles III’s health and the aftermath of his cancer diagnosis, the fact that he had a short commute from Clarence House to Buckingham Palace had the effect of keeping him in the public eye without a need for formal public occasions,” she said.
“Some of the symbolism that came out of that moment might also have informed this decision.”
A shift in royal residences has precedents.
“There have been many periods where an established royal residence that seemed as though it would always be a royal residence — it didn’t necessarily suit the needs of the next dynasty or the next generation in the Royal Family,” said Harris.
“George III refused to live at Hampton Court, which had been a royal residence all the way from Henry VIII to his grandfather George II, because he didn’t have good memories of that palace. He remembered his grandfather … boxing his ears there.”
Still, the move away from the monarch calling Buckingham Palace home feels significant.
“In the 21st century, this is being treated as a seminal moment as Buckingham Palace is so closely associated with the Royal Family today that we sometimes forget about palaces that no longer exist or mostly no longer exist, such as Whitehall or Greenwich, [which] were at one time the centre of royal power,” said Harris.
With the monarch no longer living at Buckingham Palace, it remains to be seen what effect — if any — that will have on public perceptions of the monarchy.
“So many people — when they visit London, [they] visit Buckingham Palace and peer through the gates, watch the changing of the guard … always hoping they might catch a glimpse of a member of the Royal Family,” said Harris.
“So it’ll be interesting to see if what Buckingham Palace symbolizes transcends whether there are royalty in residence or not, or whether we see … more interest in some of the other royal residences.”
Harris isn’t writing off Buckingham Palace just yet.
“I think Buckingham Palace’s name recognition, its appeal as a tourist destination, I think there’s still going to be a lot of interest.”
An ‘unusual’ royal phone call with Canada
As far as royal phone calls go, there don’t seem to be many precedents — at least not any calls that get public attention drawn to them.
After Prince William and Prime Minister Mark Carney were on the phone together the other day, their spokespeople let it be known they’d had a chat.
The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t share any details of what they talked about, but a Kensington Palace spokesperson said the heir to the throne “discussed the enduring strength of the U.K.-Canada relationship” with Carney.
William also expressed his “longstanding affection for Canada and its people,” the spokesperson said.
The call “certainly seems to be unusual,” royal historian Justin Vovk said via email.
“In most situations like this, the prime minister would be speaking directly with the King as sovereign.”
It’s also rather unusual that the PMO would release a statement announcing that a phone call had taken place and then provide no details of what was discussed, Vovk said.
“We know that William will not speak about the conversation, so without more information, we have to assume that the PMO disclosed this conversation as an optics exercise and a reminder that Canada maintains close ties with the United Kingdom in no small part because of our shared monarchy.”
The call, says Harris, shows that William’s diplomatic role is expanding and he’s building a “strong rapport” with political figures in the Commonwealth realms along with the United Kingdom.
Harris also noted the public reference to William’s feelings toward Canada, a country he first visited as a child with his parents and younger brother, going up the CN Tower in Toronto and visiting Niagara Falls.
“Canada was the first country William and Catherine visited as a married couple and during this visit William quoted his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1939, who stated: ‘Canada made us.'”
Traditionally, Harris said via email, the heir to the throne has built relationships with Commonwealth prime ministers through royal tours and official engagements.
But there might have been another factor at play in the call between William and Carney.
“There is a personal connection between Prince William and Prime Minister Carney,” Harris said.
“Prime Minister Carney’s brother, Sean Carney, is chief operating officer at Kensington Palace.”
Back to the U.S. and Canada
After spending several days in New York and Washington, D.C., this week, Prince Edward was in Toronto Friday, drawing to a close a North American visit that focused on areas of particular interest to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Youth opportunities and the arts were front and centre in the visit that was scheduled to take him to the Lassonde Art Trail in Toronto, along with engagements supporting the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Edward planned to meet with educators, award providers and students at Queen’s Park Friday. The Ontario government recently announced it is investing $4 million and expanding access to the award program in schools across the province.
“Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not,” Fouzia Younis, British consul general to Toronto, said in a release. “This investment into young people delivers just that: opportunity.”
Earlier in the week, Edward was at the Metropolitan Opera in New York meeting representatives of the city’s cultural sector. In Baltimore, he visited Western High School, the oldest all-girls public high school in the U.S., as they became a new partner school for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
While in the Washington area, Edward also visited Mount Vernon in recognition of the 250th anniversary celebrations in the U.S. this year.
Edward’s U.S. visit follows the high-profile trip there earlier this year by his elder brother, King Charles.
Edward is a more frequent royal visitor — he was last in both the U.S. and Canada in 2025.
A brother’s swan song for his sister
There is little doubt that Charles Spencer’s recent book about his late sister Diana, Princess of Wales — published amid a mad swirl of headlines around its more incendiary claims — adds to the debate and interpretation of her legacy.
Beyond those claims — perhaps the most incendiary being that King Charles said his former wife would soon be forgotten after her death — the book offers new anecdotes and insights into Diana, particularly in the early years she shared with her little brother.
More broadly, Swan Song: Diana, my sister raises more questions over recent history within the upper echelons of the Royal Family, and ultimately reflects the impossibility of ever fully knowing what Diana thought or felt.
- To read more of my review and analysis of the book, click here.
- Listen to Matt Galloway’s interview with Charles Spencer for CBC Radio’s The Current.
Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer doubled down on his allegation King Charles sounded elated on the night she died in a BBC interview promoting the release of his book Swan Song: Diana, my sister.
Royally quotable
“I created my Reading Room simply because, like all of us here, I love books and their life-enhancing power and I want to share that love with others.”
— Queen Camilla, in a speech at the Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth House.
Royal reads
King Charles plans to tour Caribbean countries beginning this month, and will “not shy away from” what he has called the “darkest days” of colonial rule and slavery, Buckingham Palace announced, but is not expected to apologize. [Guardian and ITV]
Police are investigating after two men, believed to be photographers, were seen surveilling the British school that Harry and Meghan’s children attend. A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex called the incident “extraordinarily reckless.” [ITV]
Charles Spencer has apologized to Piers Morgan for incorrectly claiming in his new book about Diana, Princess of Wales, that the former tabloid editor was behind the publication of intrusive photos of the late royal in the mid-1990s. [The Guardian]
Catherine, Princess of Wales, enjoyed a morning outdoors as she joined people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions for a gardening session for Addiction Awareness Week. [The Daily Mail]
The Prince and Princess of Wales laughed with Tom Cruise as the royal couple were greeted by the movie star at the premiere of his new film Digger in London. [The Standard]
Prince Harry fought back tears as he gave a speech on stage at a children’s charity that is very close to his heart. [ITV]
