Made in Windsor: How the young royals became Britain’s biggest reality show

It’s a summer of change for the House of Windsor — out with the old, in with the young. The Duke of Edinburgh has just announced that he is standing down. The Queen carries on, but she’s 91, and now the younger members of the royal family are expected to step up. For an institution that supposedly represents stability, a period of transition inevitably brings dangers. How will Princes William and Harry and the photogenic Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge cope?

The early signs are not altogether promising. Nobody these days expects the royal family to heed Walter Bagehot’s famous warning that they should not ‘let in daylight upon magic’; that is, preserve the dignity of the monarchy by shrouding themselves in mystery. The junior royals, however, seem to be moving to the opposite extreme, which is embarrassing. If it’s not Prince Harry smooching his celebrity girlfriend Meghan Markle at a polo match — ‘Their first public snog!’ screamed the papers — it’s Prince William suing a French magazine for £1.3 million