There are royal media strategies and there are royal media strategies whose track record within the same family is one success, one spectacular failure, and one ongoing litigation, and William and Kate’s plan to extend the “gentleman’s agreement” press blackout that protected their own relationship to their children George, Charlotte, and Louis is the second kind, confirmed today by GB News from veteran royal correspondent Simon Vigar, who has been covering the monarchy since 1997 and whose forthcoming book is called “The Four Wives of Windsor.”
The gentleman’s agreement worked for William and Kate. Kate Middleton completed her degree at St Andrews without sustained press intrusion, the relationship was protected during its development, and the eventual engagement produced an orderly public announcement rather than a media siege. The strategy is credited by royal insiders with allowing the relationship to develop without external pressure. Vigar confirmed to GB News today that William and Kate intend to replicate this model for their children, expecting future romantic partners to benefit from the same protection.
The gentleman’s agreement did not work for Harry. Meghan Markle’s relationship with Harry was confirmed by the press within months of its beginning, produced a Kensington Palace statement demanding the media stop harassing her, and was the subject of sustained tabloid coverage that Meghan described in her and Harry’s Netflix series, her 2022 interview, Harry’s memoir, and multiple legal proceedings, including the Daily Mail lawsuit that Harry and Meghan pursued and lost earlier this year. The palace has not described what different approach would have produced a different outcome. They have described the plan for George as replicating the Kate model.
George is 13 and starting Eton in September. Charlotte is 11. Louis is 8. Their future partners are currently in primary school or not yet born. The gentleman’s agreement is being planned for people who do not yet exist.
Vigar also noted that the royal family “genuinely worried” whether Harry would find someone willing to marry him given “the baggage that comes with him.” He found someone. She came with her own coverage. The baggage and the coverage are both still ongoing.
When the plan to protect future royal partners is modeled on the strategy that worked for William and not the strategy that produced Harry’s situation, what exactly is being learned?
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