DYNASTY: The Royal Family’s Most Challenging Year

It’s been four years since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walked away from their royal roles, sparking an endless stream of media attention and second-guessing in the UK. This year, the biggest headlines—from historic health challenges for Kate Middleton and King Charles III to royal banquets and honor ceremonies—have been coming from Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been...

When King Charles III announced his cancer diagnosis in February, there was an outpouring of emotion in the UK, along with some concern about what it would look like if the monarch not wasn’t able to greet his public on a daily basis. From the beginning, the king balanced his treatments with his duties, and privately he told his medical team that attending Trooping the Colour, the parade that marks his birthday, was nonneg...

After a year in which the British Royal Family has been forced to foreground its humanity and vulnerability, DYNASTY is returning for a special four-episode series to examine the events and share behind-the-scenes details. On this inaugural episode, hosts Claire Howorth, Katie Nicholl, and Erin Vanderhoof discuss Prince William’s role as the royal responsible for holding the family together amid a maelstrom of illness and ...

The wives and daughters of Dubai’s ruler live in unbelievable luxury. So why do the women in Sheikh Mohammed’s family keep trying to run away? The New Yorker staff writer Heidi Blake joins In the Dark’s Madeleine Baran to tell the story of the royal women who risked everything to flee the brutality of one of the world’s most powerful men. In four episodes, drawing on thousands of pages of secret correspondence and never-be...

All ten episodes of season 5 of The Crown are now on Netflix, and Dynasty's Erin Vanderhoof joins Vanity Fair reporter Julie Miller for a special Still Watching breaking down the first five episodes of the new season. Catching up with the royals in the 90s, the decades of Charles and Diana's bitter divorce and the Queen's "annus horribilis", the new season includes plenty of drama for every adult member of the royal family...

No one has ever waited longer to become monarch than Prince Charles. But who is Prince Charles, and how has his life in the shadows of nearly everyone close to him—his mother, his ex-wife, his sons—impacted who he is today? What can we even expect from King Charles? To understand these questions is to understand the man who has seemingly always played second fiddle in the Windsor P.R. machine. We’ll examine the ways in whi...

The sovereign brand is a powerful thing—alluring to those outside, and even intoxicating to those inside. But when royals trade on the family business for personal gain, the whole family takes a hit. This episode will focus on how Prince Andrew’s alleged abuses affected the monarchy, and what the lasting repercussions may be.

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The British royal family is sometimes referred to as “The Firm” – the time-honored, drama-tested machinery that refines, defines and helps control the family’s public image. The inner forces are shadowy—perhaps that’s what led King George VI to coin the phrase in the first place even to the family’s highest-profile members. So how exactly does The Firm work, and who is in it?  

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When it comes to the Windsors and the press, who really holds the power? From Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson’s earth-shattering scandal to revealing TV confessions from Diana and, later, Prince Andrew, why has the royal family always been so afraid of, and prone to, scandal? We’ll investigate the ongoing tug-of-war between Fleet Street and its fetishized family, and how that has played out for the royals who dare try to re...

This episode will explore the role the Commonwealth plays in the monarchy—and how the perspective of its role in the world is quickly shifting. We’ll also examine the effect that the Sussexes’ departure had on the crown’s relationship with the other 53 Commonwealth countries, and how the royals may need to readjust if they want the Commonwealth to survive.

For more DYNASTY, visit VF.com/dynasty.

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Motherhood is far from simple, but motherhood within the context and confines of a monarchy comes with its own set of challenges. From the queen to Princess Diana to the Duchess of Sussex, royal mothers have had to balance their maternal instincts with centuries of tradition. This episode explores the disparate ways Meghan, Kate, and the generations before them have entered into and engaged with motherhood—and how the mode...