King Charles reign off to 'surprisingly good start' - royal commentator

It's not the first scandal the royal family has encountered, but just what impact have Harry and Meghan's comments had on public discourse and the monarchy ahead of the coronation of King Charles III?

''I think that the Prince Harry revelations are very personally shattering for the new king because it's his son, someone he was actually very devoted to and I think still is. And so he feels very wounded,'' author and journalist Tina Brown told Reuters.

But, she said, ultimately it's the British monarchy who still has the upper hand.

"They've made the decision - we're going to ignore this, we're going to go on with our public duties, and time is on our side. And that's of course true."

These are sentiments echoed by royal historian at the University of Southampton, Alice Hunt, who said: ''The royal family have an extraordinary ability to bounce back, sort of Terminator style...just when you think they're really beaten...they pick themselves up and keep going."

Harry and Meghan first broke their silence in an interview with US television mogul Oprah Winfrey, a chat that included Meghan saying she was so miserable as a royal that she had considered suicide and claimed that an unnamed member of the family made comments about how dark son Archie's skin would be.

Harry also said he was scared history would repeat itself, a reference to the death of his mother Princess Diana who was killed in a 1997 car crash as her vehicle sped away from chasing photographers.

Since the Oprah chat, there have been more interviews, including a Netflix documentary series and Harry's autobiography ''Spare'' - in which he divulged that he had begged his father, King Charles, not to marry his second wife Camilla, now the Queen Consort. He also said his elder brother and heir to the British throne, Prince William had knocked him over during a heated argument.

"('Spare') definitely opened some people's eyes to what goes on behind palace walls...and that is part of why it's so important to...think about modernizing the monarchy," Erin Hill, senior editor managing royal content for People Magazine in the United States told Reuters.

In television interviews ahead of the book's release, Harry also doubled down on his accusations that some royals, including Camilla and William, leaked stories to tabloid papers which had damaged either him or Meghan, in order to protect themselves or enhance their reputations.

While the royal family has not commented on the book or the interviews, Laura Clancy, a lecturer in media at Lancaster University, said some of Harry and Meghan's comments have "prompted some critical conversations about race and racism and histories of colonialism."

Some commentators also believe that the royal family missed "a trick with Harry and Meghan."

"Meghan could have been absolutely brilliant, especially with another aspect of the coronation...The Commonwealth,'' said Hunt, referring to the 54 commonwealth countries, most of which used to be under British rule.

"Meghan is the only woman of colour in the family. It was a huge opportunity to make a statement of inclusiveness and modernity," Brown said.

Of course, Harry and Meghan are not the first royals to speak out about the challenges of palace life, nor are their interviews the first "scandal" the monarchy has endured.

In the 1990s, Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana gave a TV interview to BBC documentary series "Panorama" detailing her unhappy marriage to the then Prince Charles. More recently, Prince Andrew settled a civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, accusing him of abusing her when she was 17 years old.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Prince Andrew was forced to step down from public duties because of his connections to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as after a disastrous BBC TV interview in which the prince had hoped to clear his name.

By 2022 he was fighting a U.S. lawsuit which accused him of sex abuse. In January of the same year, the royal family removed his military links and royal patronages.

The following month a court filing showed that he settled the civil case brought by Giuffre.

The sum of Andrew's payment was not disclosed, but it was said the prince would make a "substantial donation" to Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights.

"I don't think there's ever going to be a waning interest in the royal family," Hill said.

"Any criticism or details that come out about royal life...only makes it all that more fascinating and interesting to people all over the world," she said.

King Charles III's coronation is set to take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6. Prince Harry has confirmed he will attend, while his wife will stay at their home in California.

Despite ongoing issues with his son, Prince Harry, royal experts mostly think the reign of Britain's King Charles III has got off to a good start. But will he forever be in the shadow of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II?

OFF TO A GOOD BUT "SURPRISINGLY" START

"I think he has struck the right notes," Harshan Kumarasingham, senior lecturer in British politics at the University of Edinburgh told Reuters.

"He hasn't completely jettisoned all the things of his mother's reign but he has tried to put his own stamp on the monarchy and on Britain," he added.

Charles became king less than a year ago following the death of his mother, a popular monarch whose reign last over 70 years.

"We are all quite surprised at how well King Charles has begun...it was bad luck that no sooner did he begin when his own son (Harry) started like throwing bombs...but...he did an amazing job...the week of the Queen's death," said author and journalist Tina Brown.

"(Charles') authentic passion for the environment, his commitment to pursue every single remedy...against climate change...things that he was mocked for as a young Prince of Wales...have completely come full circle and he is now seen as the sort of grandfather of this current, almost movement."

SOME DOUBTS

However Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University, notes that Charles' role is completely symbolic and despite his "track record of green initiatives", Andrews believes he will just go along with whatever the British government decides.

"If this government decides they want to start fracking and...just using fossil fuels...he will give a speech where he says we're going to frack and use lots of fossil fuels," said Andrews.

"I think we'll see him do similar to what his mother did, which is to stay quiet, read out speeches and join in with the ceremony. That's what the monarch does in this country."

Members of the public have higher hopes than Andrews. Pamela Cumberbatch, an outreach support engagement officer, hopes Charles continues the work he did with his charity, The Prince's Trust.

"Hopefully, his thing that he's been really invested in the community will keep going," she said.

Others mention how long he has had to practice being King, and what a great job the queen did in "grooming him" for the role.

HOW CHARLES COMPARES TO THE LATE QUEEN

"She was so loved, so well loved throughout the world and certainly in America," Erin Hill, People Magazine's senior royals editor said of Queen Elizabeth.

"So in terms of popularity, I think there's no match there,'' she said, comparing the late monarch and Charles.

"There is a lot of interest in what he will now do."

Laura Clancy, lecturer in media at Lancaster University, believes Charles represents something "very different than the queen did".

"We very rarely heard the queen's opinion on anything...it was very effective because...people could put whatever they wanted onto her," she said.

"With Charles, we know exactly what he thinks about a lot of things. And I think that's extremely risky actually, for an institution like that, that needs to be apolitical."

As well as many successful trips since taking the top job, there have been a few incidents were anti-royal sentiment has been felt.

On a trip to the northern English city of York in November last year, eggs were thrown at the king and wife Camilla, while others chanted "God save the king."

"I think the monarchy is in a lot of trouble because they have lost their star player (the Queen). Support is clearly going down. Interest is going down and that's a big problem for them," Graham Smith, CEO of anti-monarchy group Republic, told Reuters recently.

"Enthusiasm for the coronation is about nine per cent...They have been reduced to four people...Charles and Camilla, Kate and William. They aren't the people to turn it around."

Kumarasingham agrees there is a "strong minority that is republican in the UK" whose "worst enemy was Elizabeth II since she was so popular".

"Now that she has left after a very long and generally successful reign, Charles has a major challenge."

But overall he felt that Britain is still "geared towards a monarchical type of state."