Yahoo News Royal Family is 'destroying itself' from the inside, warns expert
Watch: Royal Family is 'destroying itself' from the inside
The Royal Family is unaware of how much damage it is doing over its own making and is in danger of "destroying itself from the inside", a royal commentator has warned.
With King Charles's coronation only days away, a series of polls has indicated that the institution he leads is facing a popularity crisis. One recent BBC poll showed that only 32% of young people were in favour of keeping the monarchy, while a separate survey last month showed that most British people (64%) are not interested in the coronation.
In Yahoo's Future of the Monarchy panel debate hosted by royal executive editor, Omid Scobie, three panelists – Afua Hagan, Catherine Mayer and Robert Jobson – discussed the biggest issues facing the Windsors and how they can remain relevant to the public in spite of them: from their colonial past and their relationship with the press, to the family dysfunction which plays out on the front pages across the world.
Whilst discussing the fractured familial strains currently plaguing the royals, royal commentator Hagan noted that the family is currently its own worst enemy.
Hagan said: "He [King Charles] needs to be very worried about it. He needs to be worried about Prince Andrew and everything that he has been involved in and how that impacts the Royal Family.
"He does need to be worried as well about how long this reconciliation may take between William and Harry, between himself and Harry, and how that impacts how people see the Royal Family.
"Because if they continuously see them as this big dysfunctional, Kardashian-like celebrity family then people are going to continue to question why they are paying for them.
"Why are they paying for them to have all these dramas playing out"?
Hagan added: "He needs to be very worried about how the Royal Family is eating itself and destroying itself from the inside. If he wants the Royal Family to remain popular, then he is going to have neutralise some of these things".
The broadcaster continued that while Charles can't undo the PR disasters of the past, he needs to make the family "less dysfunctional" going forward if you can.
"I'm thinking about Charlotte, Louis and George, and Archie and Lilibet when they grow up and they start dating and we're going to start talking and writing about them," she said.
"I hope it's not going to play out in the way that it did for Harry and Meghan."
Some of Hagan's sentiments were shared by Jobson – biographer of Charles and long-time royal editor at the Evening Standard – who added that if the estrangement between William and Harry couldn't be resolved he does "fear for the monarchy long-term".
"We may not be on the edge of a precipice, but they are damn close to it, and I think if Harry and particularly William now has got to take the lead and maybe extend his hand and say 'okay let's agree to disagree' otherwise this story will become a Kardashian showbiz story that runs and runs and runs and dominates the royal story for many years to come".
Read more articles from Yahoo's 'Future of the Monarchy' panel here
King Charles's core fan base 'are not going to be here forever'
Charles and Camila's friends 'aghast' the king hasn't put arms around Harry and William
King Charles urged to speed up slavery apology: 'How long is this reign going to last?'
Do we bankrupt Great Britain because of our past as an empire?'
And watch the full discussion panel below:
