There is a strong argument to be made that the royal family has always been in the entertainment business. What is a politically toothless monarchy after all, having centuries ago relinquished any real power so they could spend their days ogling orange sellers and collecting horses and jetting off to Mustique to hollowly sip whiskey if not a very elaborate bit of state theatre? In 2021, Kate, the Princess of Wales formalized this connection between Crown Inc. and show biz when she staged, for the very first time, a Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey, which has now become an annual event.
This week, the princess appeared in the Court Circular, the official record of royal activities, for the second time since announcing she had finished chemotherapy, with a planning meeting for this year’s carol-belting spectacular. (Someone remember to reserve those storybook reindeer again). This is not what it looks like.
The most obvious interpretation of this meeting was that it is a nice, clear sign that the princess is on the road back to normal after a year that has up-ended the monarchy and dumped it on its soft head. But I’m not sure that this straightforward reading is correct. Over the years, we’ve been to normal, bought the T-shirt and Instagrammed it to hell, however, we may never go back there.
In recent days, signs have emerged that Kate and normal might have parted ways for good and what could await us in 2025 is a whole new, updated, rejiggered and reworked no.