This is a process story about the tangled web of bureaucracy that is the British monarchy. But it’s also about so much more! There’s been a real kerfuffle behind-the-scenes at Buckingham Palace and it inadvertently revealed some interesting stuff about how King Charles’s court and office works. Since January, King Charles has been dealing with health issues. First it was his prostate and then it was cancer. He’s currently going through chemotherapy. In the early weeks of his treatment, Charles was visibly struggling – the chemo knocked him on his ass. He was reportedly still doing some business of state, like phone calls and signatures, but no meetings or events. Well, according to the Mail, the king’s Garter King of Arms didn’t go through the proper channels to get the king to sign off on his preferred candidate appointed to his department, the College of Arms. I have no idea what any of these positions entail or what these people actually do with their time, but I know a scandal when I see one!
King Charles was cynically duped by a senior courtier into signing a document appointing a colleague to a job at the Palace – while the monarch was recovering after a bout of his cancer treatment, it has been claimed. The incident has sparked a furious row in Charles’s court – with one of his closest aides said to have ‘gone ballistic’.
The courtier at the centre of the extraordinary bust-up is Garter King Of Arms David White, who is understood to have been on the receiving end of a severe dressing-down. Mr White is accused of ignoring long-established court procedure and instead using ‘back channels’ to secure the King’s signature on his preferred choice for a senior appointment at his department, the College of Arms. This happened when the King was in London for his ongoing cancer treatment, when staff are under instructions not to burden him.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s like a trick from the Middle Ages. There’s been a huge row behind the scenes. Some people believe that David White deliberately tried to get to Charles behind their backs so that he could get his preferred candidate into the role. What David may not have realised was that the King was tired. In other words, he was at his most vulnerable, which is why proper procedure exists. When the King is in London he is here to receive treatment and therefore that can often be a challenging time for him. The aides closest to Charles knew him well enough to know he should have been left in peace at that time.’
Mr White’s role as Garter King of Arms is to advise the monarch on matters of heraldry and on how to conduct royal ceremonies. He stood on the balcony at St James’s Palace to proclaim Charles as King on September 10, 2022. However, he does not have responsibility for recommending candidates for Royal Household roles to the King. When the senior post of Secretary of the Order of the Garter came up at the College of Arms – a Royal Household department that creates and maintains coats of arms – Mr White hoped to appoint a colleague, Peter O’Donoghue, already a herald at the college.
More senior Buckingham Palace aides had been formally advised to put forward another candidate, and were planning on recommending him to the King for the job. Normal procedure would see such paperwork go through official channels – being included in the King’s red boxes and vetted by his private secretaries. But instead Mr White had one of his assistants pass his letter of recommendation directly to her husband, who works at the Palace, to place in front of the King. Insiders described Mr White’s move as a deliberate ambush to circumnavigate the King’s comptroller and his private secretary, Colonel Michael Vernon and Sir Clive Alderton.
When contacted by The Mail on Sunday by telephone, Mr White declined to comment. At the end of the conversation it was apparent that he thought he had hung up, but he can be heard telling a colleague: ‘S***. She has got wind. She’s got wind of the fact that I nominated Peter O’Donoghue, that he had been put forward.’
A Royal Household source said: ‘That direct approach to the King should never happen. It should always go to the private secretary. Michael Vernon went ballistic that David decided to circumvent the whole system. I think Clive Alderton is equally irritated by it.’
The Mail on Sunday understands Mr O’Donoghue has now been passed over for Stephen Segrave, the Secretary of the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Mr White was appointed to his role in 2021 and has become a controversial figure. He was left off the honours list after he forgot to say ‘God Save the King’ during the Queen’s funeral – a mistake said to have irritated King Charles.
“Mr White’s role as Garter King of Arms is to advise the monarch on matters of heraldry and on how to conduct royal ceremonies… When the senior post of Secretary of the Order of the Garter came up at the College of Arms – a Royal Household department that creates and maintains coats of arms…” And they think the medieval part of the story is that White cut some corners to get his friend appointed to the job, a job which White probably should have been able to appoint himself?? With a title like Garter King of Arms, you would think that he would have hiring and firing authority over his division and he wouldn’t need to run to the king every time he needs to appoint a new Great Lord King of Heraldry Emails. Guess not – imagine all of this drama over jobs having to do with coats of arms and heraldry. I actually cannot imagine something so inane having this much drama.
Still, all of this is so revealing – apparently, it’s pretty easy to get the king to sign off on anything as long as your spouse works in the palace and can just put the sheet of paper in front of him. You’ve got to think that Charles’s courtiers are quite worried – it could have been a lot worse, and it could have revealed even more about Charles’s condition. Is he too ill to make these kinds of picayune staffing decisions?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.