Inside the Palace’s New Method for Burying Controversy With “Gossip and Distraction”
The royal family’s unofficial motto is “never complain, never explain,” but it looks like they’re switching things up after years of nonstop drama getting played out in the press. Yahoo News UK royal executive editor and author Omid Scobie laid out the royal family’s new method for burying controversy, saying, “A different order of the day has quickly risen within the institution of the monarchy: deflect and distract.”
Scobie notes that there have been several royal scandals that haven’t picked up steam in the news cycle lately, with stories instead focusing on Meghan Markle’s “bullying” allegations and Prince Charles’s first meeting with his granddaughter Lilibet.
Take Prince Charles’s recent controversy over accepting bags of cash for his charities, for example. At the same time the palace did damage control on this story, senior aides gave details on Lili and Charles’s first meeting. As a result, headlines about his cash controversy were buried.
Meanwhile, the royals’ high spending reports were also buried in the news cycle by what Scobie describes as a “suspiciously timed update on the investigation into bullying claims against the Duchess of Sussex.” And, erm, interestingly, the update was given by the Queen’s treasurer.
The palace obviously hasn’t commented on this “deflect and distract” method, but their latest controversies will hardly be the last, so it’ll be interesting to pay attention to how they approach the next one. Stay tuned, and you can follow Scobie on Twitter for more royal insight here.
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