A few days ago, Prince William announced that the next Earthshot Awards ceremony would take place in Cape Town, South Africa. I genuinely winced at the news – poor South Africa, I’m sorry you have to host William’s ego and his busywork. If we’re lucky, William will once again talk about how Africans need to stop having children because their African children are ruining his royal safaris. He’s said sh-t like that multiple times over the years and given his “environmentalist” branding, you know he’s dying to say it again. There’s no mention of whether Kate will come to Cape Town later this year, but I would guess that no matter what happens between now and then, she will absolutely not go.
Speaking of the Kensington Palace clownshow, people seem to have forgotten that William’s private secretary, Jean Christophe Gray, announced he was quitting that bitch last October. Gray did not put a strict time table on his resignation and I think he wanted to stay on until William appointed the keen Kensington Palace CEO. In fact, the “KP CEO” was cited as the reason for Gray’s resignation – he wanted no part of William’s lazy scheme, nor did Gray want to answer to whatever business-world hack hired by William. Well, it looks like William finally found a new private secretary… but there’s still no Top CEO.
The Prince of Wales is to hire a former diplomat who was made an MBE for work on international peacekeeping as his private secretary as he takes on more royal responsibilities. Ian Patrick, who has worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and as a geopolitical consultant, will join the Kensington Palace team as part of a restructuring to support the Prince and Princess of Wales.
For some years, the Prince has been taking on an increasingly global role, representing King and country on overseas diplomatic visits and travelling for his Earthshot environmental prize. This week, he has faced questions about stepping up to support his father in the aftermath of the King’s cancer diagnosis. He is understood to be taking on select public duties while the King continues to conduct all essential business of state. On Wednesday, he performed an investiture before making a speech at an air ambulance fundraiser.
Changes to the Kensington Palace team, put in place before the King’s diagnosis, will give the Prince and Princess their own private secretaries, with a newly-created role of chief executive yet to be filled. The Princess is recuperating from abdominal surgery and is not expected to return to work before Easter at the earliest.
Mr Patrick spent eight years in the Foreign Office and worked in international peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina for four years. He is a trustee of the charity Crohns and Colitis UK.
I hope Gray left KP with good recommendations, because lord, did he ever oversee a complete sh-tshow. He tried to babysit William for years and now Gray has left KP in the middle of one of their biggest crises – which says a lot, that Gray didn’t even want to stick around in this moment to see William through to the other side. As for this new guy… he will also have to babysit the heir and it already feels like the wheels have well and truly come off the bus. In one of William’s recent appearances, he was visibly under the influence and dropping things. Buckingham Palace is letting it be known that they’re “bewildered” by William’s recent behavior too. Oh well!
By the way, Kate didn’t have a private secretary from September/October 2022 to present day. In a separate Telegraph story, they reported that “the late Queen’s equerry Lieutenant Colonel Tom White” has basically been appointed as Kate’s private secretary, although that news seems to be flying under the radar, given Kate’s abdominal surgery and absence from public view since Christmas. It really does sound like they just gave this guy an assignment and he probably hasn’t even met Kate.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.