Back in the 1980s royal family holidays provided an opportunity for memorable photographs: Prince Philip sailing at Cowes Regatta, the harbour at Scrabster when three generations disembarked from HMY Britannia to lunch with Queen Elizabeth at the Castle of Mey, and Queen Elizabeth II’s official arrival at Balmoral Castle. Then there were the Prince and Princess of Wales with young William and Harry on their summer holiday hosted by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain at Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca. They were mainly pictures taken by photographers who had followed the family during their official duties throughout the year.
Today things are very different: social media allows anyone with a public persona to become a victim of intense and often cruel scrutiny. After a year of being constantly photographed, the royals naturally feel they have earned a little privacy: winter skiing photo-calls or the Waleses in the Balearics are a thing of the past. It is understandable that the current Prince and Princess of Wales choose to maintain privacy regarding their children’s holidays, usually opting instead to occasionally release photographs taken by Catherine herself or a trusted professional photographer.
At least we have pictures of Princess Charlotte taken when she accompanied her father to Switzerland to cheer the Lionesses on to victory over Spain at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 Final in Basel. Before the match they posed for a photograph with King Felipe’s daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía. When Prince William took Prince George to watch Aston Villa in Paris last April he explained that he wanted his son ‘to experience a night out away from home in a big European competition’; in July it was ten-year-old Princess Charlotte’s turn. Prince Louis is only seven, so he might have to wait a few years.
The engagement of the late Queen and Prince Philip’s first grandchild, Peter Phillips, to Harriet Sperling was announced last month – four years after Peter separated from his wife, Autumn. Harriet is an NHS Paediatric Nurse Specialist whom Peter had been publicly dating since 2024. A wedding date is yet to be set and although both are divorced there is no reason nowadays that they cannot get married in church. Peter’s mother, the Princess Royal, remarried at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral Castle in 1992 as, at that time, the Church of England did not permit divorcees, whoever they were, to remarry in church.
Over the years there have been numerous stage plays about the current royal family, notably The Audience written by Peter Morgan, who went on to write the hugely successful Netflix series The Crown. The play, with Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, premiered in 2013 and imagines the private weekly audiences with her prime ministers throughout her reign. The latest play, yet to reach the West End, is By Royal Appointment written by Daisy Goodwin. Anne Reid plays Queen Elizabeth II and Caroline Quentin her dresser – a character loosely based on Angela Kelly, who worked for the late Queen from 1993 until the monarch’s death in 2022.
