Will King William Torch the Titles? New Sussex Speculation

A fresh report suggests King William could move swiftly to tighten royal styles and titles when his reign begins—fueling talk the Sussex dukedom and HRHs may be formally revoked. Biographer Andrew Morton, meanwhile, says Andrew remains a lingering headache for the Palace and doubts any near-term Harry-William reconciliation, despite the long shadow it casts over the modern monarchy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Caloroga Shark Media.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,
Mark Francis. Daniela Ulsa, writing for news dot co dot uk,
warns the Duchess of Sussex to use her title while
she still can. Also writes the Duchess of Sussex posted
an Instagram video of her Worligig talk fest trip to Washington,
where she swapped pushing her Jammy Kashmere Cottage Corpusona to

(00:40):
tout her entrepreneurial learns and included a fleeting shot that
showed she has what appears to be a monogrammed DS
Toat's bag. She should use it every day, all day
while she still can. According to a new report, that
Tote could end up woefully redundant, with the forty four
year old reduced to being Plain of Missus Meghan Baton Windsor.

(01:01):
Within weeks of King William's reign, he will strike the
match on a bonfire of royal titles. According to the
incredibly well sourced and well connected Tom Sykes, the question
of who gets what title brought back to the four
last week as the Andrew dumpster fire grew and grew
a conflagration that is doing more damage to the Royal
family than Catholicism the Liftwaffer, Gout and Gin has ever done.

(01:23):
Under William, things will reportedly change as fast as modern
sovereign with his own MacBook air can bang out new
letters patent. As part of these sweeping reforms, Sykes writes
in The Beast, the Sussexes will also have their dukedoms
and hrhs formally revoked. This will leave them legally as
mister and missus Harry Mount Baton windsor nothing more. A

(01:46):
friend of Williams has told Sykes of this across the
board title action. It should have been done by Charles
this week, but William knows he doesn't have the strength
because of his illness. William's understanding of his father's situation,
William won't be afraid to take the next step. Royal
biographer Andrew Morton tells the ABC for years, Prince Andrew
has been following the monarchy around like a bad smell.

(02:07):
I don't envy King Charles. He has made it clear
that Andrew is no longer wanted on board when it
comes to royal engagements and royal duties, and that he
wants to get him out of Royal Lodge, but his
hands are tired. I mean, it's a mess. There's no
easy way around it. They can't send him to jail.
They just have to accommodate them. And I think just
staying where they are in the open prison of Windsor

(02:27):
Great Park is probably the only solution. But Morton says
Prince Andrew isn't the only problem facing the royal family.
The continuing estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William has
left what he calls a Harry and Megan sized hole
in the monarchy. Harry and Meghan are bumping along at
the bottom of the opinion polls currently, but I think
they would soon get up there if they started royal

(02:48):
work again. But I just don't see that happening. I
spend quite a lot of time in Montecito, and all
the mood music is that they've made their lives there.
The kids go to school there, they go surfing on
Butterfly Beach. Harry makes the odd flight to London for
his charities. Megan's got a circle of friends who call
a meg. I don't see her flying back to London
at any time soon. Morton said, Princess Diana would have

(03:11):
been heartbroken by the split between her sons. She said
to me that she saw Harry as William's wingman, certainly
not a hit man, and she would have been absolutely
devastated to have seen this split between the two brothers.
I think everybody was shocked by the ferocity in the
feud because they seemed very amicable Joshing brothers. They organized
concerts for Diana's memory to charity, motorbike rides over in

(03:32):
Africa together, and Harry, Kate and William were quite the troyker.
He reflected that even as children, the contrast between the
brothers was clear. William had more gravitas, he said, while
Harry was the mischievous imp who would shoot at you
with a water pistol hiding behind the door. The sad
thing for me is that I was there at the
wedding of Harry and Meghan, and there was such potential.
They seemed like a genuine step change for the monarchy

(03:54):
to have this divorced biracial American in the family. But
it didn't work out like that, did it. In her wisdom,
her Majesty gave both Harry and Meghan positions in the Commonwealth.
If they wanted to live in New Zealand or in Sydney,
that would have suited them, and it's a great shame
that they didn't because it has left a big hole
not just in the Commonwealth but in the monarchy more palace.

(04:15):
In just a moment, it's Halloween Week and here at
kaler Roga Shark Media, we have a couple of channels
for you to check out. Ghost Scary Stories is hundreds
and hundreds of episodes that we've put together of fun
scary ghost stories. Just look for Ghost Scary Stories wherever

(04:36):
you get your podcasts. And we have a second channel
called Halloween pop Up to search for Halloween pop Up
and it's a combination of all the shows we have
here murder, ghosts, trivia, music or with Halloween themes and
you can get them all in one little package. To
search for Halloween Pop Up from your friends here at
Klaroga Shark Media. And speaking of Halloween, despite their reputation

(05:00):
for tradition, discretion and a distinctly non American calendar, the
royal family has dabbled in Halloween costumes over the years,
some charming, others less. So let's begin with the more
wholesome entries. Princess Eugenie once revealed she and her sister
Beatrice loved Halloween growing up and would dress up like
any other children, a rare glimpse into royal domesticity that

(05:21):
involved witches, pumpkins, and reportedly, one year a spice calls phase.
Prince William has admitted to being haunted by the memory
of dressing up as a caterpillar at one point. No photos, thankfully,
although we live in hope. As for Catherine, the Princess
of Wales, she's kept her public Halloween appearances minimal, but
it said she once wore a black cat suit to
a university party back in the early two thousands, the

(05:41):
same party where a young William supposedly realized he might
like her more than just as a flatmate. The power
of feline fashion. The Sussexes Harry and Meghan had their
own Halloween moment in twenty sixteen, back when they were
still under the radar. They reportedly spent the evening incognito
at a Halloween party in Toronto, one of the last
nights before it was out in the world. Megan would

(06:04):
later say a very fun night out with people in
silly costumes and nobody knew that bubble, of course, would
soon burst. But not all costumes have been charming. In
two thousand and five, at twenty year old Prince Harry
caused a global outrage when he wore a Nazi uniform
to a friend's costume party, a decision that remains one
of the darkest marks on his record. The Sun newspaper

(06:25):
ran the photo with the headline Harry the Nazi, and
the backlash was immediate. Apologies were issued, lessons were supposedly learned,
and in his memoir Spare Harry would later claim the
idea had been encouraged by both William and Kate, a
detail that Palace has never confirmed. Regardless of the moment,
lives on as a cautionary tale in both royal conduct
and poor costume judgment. As for King Charles, Halloween has

(06:47):
never really been his thing, but he has been known
to support spooky adjacent traditions like sam Haine and seasonal
harvest festivals. During his organic farming events, less trick or treat,
more apple bobbing with a side of compost. And while
the royal family has never been known for decorating windsor
castle with cobwebs or greeting children with pumpkin buckets. It

(07:07):
is worth noting that many of their residences, particularly Sandringham
and Bowmorl, have long histories of reported hauntings. The late
Queen was said to be fond of ghost stories, particularly
those involving Sandringham House. So if he ever wondered whether
Halloween has a place behind the palace gates, the answer
is yes. But like all things royal, it's wrapped in history,
dressed modestly and never too scary unless you're talking about

(07:30):
that caterpillar costume. As the nights grow longer and All
Hallows Eve approaches, it's not just the ghouls and goblins
we have to worry about for the British Royal family.
Some of their grandest residences come with more than just
creaking floorboards and drafty halls. They come with ghosts. Let's
begin at Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest inhabited castle
in the world. It's also one of the most haunted.

(07:52):
George the Third, the Mad King, has been spotted peering
out of the room where he was confined during his
final years. Several guards have claimed to hear the sound
of weeping from that very window, and King Henry the Eighth,
who died there in fifteen forty seven, is said to
still roam the halls. Heavy footsteps, dragging chains, and even
ghostly moans have been reported in the cloisters. Moving north

(08:14):
to Baumoral Castle, the Queen's beloved summer retreat in Scotland,
a more cheerful setting in life, perhaps, but not without
its shadows. Queen Victoria's Gilly John Brown was so close
to her majesty in life that many whispered they were
romantically involved. After his death, multiple staff members reported seeing
him walking the corridors at night. Victoria reportedly instructed that

(08:35):
his rooms never be touched, and after her death the
sightings became less frequent, but locals still talk about a
tall Highland figure watching silently from the trees. Then there's
Sandringham House in Norfolk, quiet, idyllic, and by all accounts,
are deeply haunted. Staff had spoken of doors slamming with
no one near, footsteps and empty hallways, and the eerie
sound of phantom typewriter in the library. Even Queen Elizabeth

(08:59):
herself reportedly acknowledged the odd atmosphere. One royal footman once
claimed he would never set foot in the attic again
after seeing a woman in Victorian dress vanish before his eyes.
Over at Kensington Palace, where Prince William and Catherine now reside,
the haunting is said to be more residual than malevolent.
Princess Sophia, one of King George the Third's daughters, is

(09:21):
said to still haunt the state apartments, sometimes seen reading
in a chair or looking out windows that no longer open.
And finally, Glamous Castle in Scotland ancestral home to the
Queen Mother and said to be one of the most
haunted places in Britain. While not a current royal residence,
its royal ties are strong, and so are the ghost stories.
From the so called Monster of Glamous, a deformed child

(09:44):
kept hidden in the walls, to the lady in gray
who walks the chapel. It's a place where even the
most skeptical guests tend to sleep with the lights on.
So while the royal family may not hand out sweets
at Halloween, they are certainly no strangers to the things
that go bump in the night. Behind every tapestry and
under every suit of armor, there may just be a
monarch of the past, still roaming their favorite holes, Sleep

(10:07):
Night and the Heaven. If you'd like to email us,
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leave us a nice review. If you're enjoying the show,
I'm Mark Francis My thanks to John McDermott. This is
Palace Intrigue and good terms.