One apparent certainty about the House of Mountbatten-Windsor is that, just when one thinks it is damaged beyond repair, it simply keeps calm and carries on. Remember the late summer of 1997, when the hysteria after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, put even the Queen in the doghouse—in the estimation of the public, whipped up by an irresponsible British tabloid press that for a few days itself surrendered any vestige of reason. Yet, before too long, all was normal again. Then, in 2005, the British tabloid press confidently predicted that that same public would be so outraged by the decision of the Prince of Wales to marry Mrs. Camilla Parker-Bowles, his mistress of many years and the perceived wrecker of his marriage, that the Prince’s position would become untenable. Nothing of the kind occurred. Indeed Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has, by her very visible attitude of being a thoroughly good sort, inserted herself comfortably into the affections of many Britons, often to their surprise.
Next to the political charlatans, the Mountbatten-Windsors have seemed dutiful, honest, and recognizably normal.
Three other factors have helped stabilize the royal house since Diana’s death. The first, and by far the most important, is the steady and soothing presence of Queen Elizabeth IIat the head of what her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, calls “the firm.” The second is the massive unpopularity (verging upon loathing) in recent years of the British political class. Next to the political charlatans, the
