royal reporting


Crown duels S


The palace controls press coverage – and the media acquiesces, reports Daniel Harkins


everal stories surrounded the Queen’s platinum jubilee in June besides the event itself. First, there was the failing health of


the monarch. There was the absence of her son, Prince Andrew. He had


Covid-19, we were told, but he had been stripped of some ceremonial roles because of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. There was the ongoing saga of Harry and Meghan, and their


conscious uncoupling from the institution. It is curious then that none of the senior royals – funded through complex mechanisms, by the public purse – were questioned by the media over a long weekend in which they dominated the news. No interviews. No Q&As. Yet plenty of coverage. There is an explanation for this. It is one that journalists


know and the public does not. It is the royal rota. The rota is not a secret. But describe it to the uninformed


– which is 99 per cent of the country – and they will react with surprise and suspicion. Media coverage of every royal event is pre-planned in


advance with the royal households. What will happen, which newspapers will attend and when reporters can arrive and leave will all be arranged with the royal family. Copy and images from the events are then made available to all other publications. This arrangement is not unique. Tight controls can be in place when Boris Johnson visits a fish market or factory, with clips often done on a pool basis. What is different is the level of submissiveness and the intensity of control.


In most cases, reporters stand around at events, observe the


royals, who ignore them entirely, and write down what they say and do. The royals are not questioned. It is assumed they won’t be. On the odd occasion a reporter breaks with convention and shouts a question; it certainly won’t be answered. Indeed, in the past it has earned reporters a public telling off from one of the princes. Inevitably, the copy filed is little more than a description of


the mundane events that took place. It is almost always favourable to the royal family.


18 | theJournalist Inside the firm


Stephen Bates spent 12 years covering the royal family, sometimes referred to as the firm, for The Guardian. Despite the restrictions of the royal rota, he gained glimpses into some rare candid moments. “William and Catherine


were more accessible,” he says. “They did things like have at least one drinks party, where you could chat to them and ask questions. “Charles was usually


regarded as a bit towards boring and also that he was a bit mean spirited. “That’s why the coverage


of Charles – certainly sort of 10 years ago when I was


doing it – tended to be a bit more snarky than some of the other royals. “He used to do silly things


like turning his head away when the cameramen were trying to photograph him.” He says that jubilee years


would often see “strangely stifled” press events where the senior royals would mingle with reporters – and they were not beyond seeking to rile up the


I covered and organised the rota at times when I worked at


the PA news agency. I attended a few dull events, including one where a royal household PR barked orders at the press to “get back” a few seconds after Prince William arrived as if he – or we – were radioactive. At another event, I suggested to a PR, partially tongue in cheek, that I would approach the prince and speak with him. She looked at me as if I had asked to dig through William’s pockets.


In theory, the media rotates access to the highly valued,


in-demand rota jobs. In practice, national journalists often run a mile from the more uninteresting events. Coverage often falls on the shoulders of PA and the local press. It is not just that royal rota reporting is boring. It is that


covering these events can amount to acting as a stenographer for some of the most powerful people in the country. Corporate press officers would blush at putting out copy as


inane and subservient as some royal rota stories. It is a system that is no longer fit for purpose – if it ever was. I would stress at this point that I am not knocking the work


assembled journalists. Bates says the Prince of


Wales once cornered the editor of the then-republican Independent to ask him why he was there. “I was invited,” the editor


told the future king, to which he replied: “Well, you didn’t have to come.” The Sunday Telegraph’s


editor Dominic Lawson got a dressing down when the queen sought out his company at an event. Bates says: “He came over preening himself, apparently. The question was: ‘What have you done with the crossword? I can’t find it.’ “Funnily enough, the


crossword soon found its way back to where it had been.”


KEITH MORRIS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


ILLUSTRATION: NED JOLLIFFE


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