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There was a beaming bride, a glittering tiara and some surprise faces on the guest list at the wedding of Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling on June 6.
And while the mainstream British media were quick to share images of the big day to royal watchers globally, there was one very understated moment that caused quite a reaction on social media.
The act in question? An unexpected kiss on the cheek – delivered by none other than Prince William to his cousin Princess Beatrice, who attended the nuptials along with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, despite reports in advance suggesting they may not be there.
Also in attendance was Beatrice’s pregnant sister, Princess Eugenie, who matched with her husband Jack Brooksbank in blue hues for the happy occasion.
Now, royal experts have weighed in on whether the surprise cheek kiss – caught on camera outside the wedding venue of All Saints’ Church in Kemble holds weight – and if it means the beleaguered York sisters are back in the fold of the Royal Family after a rollercoaster few months sparked by the arrest of their father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
“On social media, it [the kiss] is one of the main talking points from the nuptials,” royal expert Tom Sykes, the man behind The Royalist Substack, shared online. “And rightly so, because it tells us an enormous amount about the shifting power dynamics within the Windsor family.”
Sykes suggested the Palace had taken a “classic Keep Calm and Carry On” approach days before the wedding, after a report by the UK’s National Audit Office found that Beatrice and Eugenie paid no rent towards any of their homes at royal palaces for almost 20 years.
Rather, it emerged, their rents were paid in full by King Charles himself.
So what has William’s peck on the cheek got to do with that nugget of information?
Sykes has a theory – and it’s all to do with the health of the King.
“What we saw yesterday was a fascinating 3-D rendering of the shifting power currents in the British royal family caused by Charles’ ongoing convalescence,” the expert explained, referring to the monarch’s reaction to ongoing cancer treatment which, he claims, is “working very well”.
“He certainly seemed in excellent form… when he arrived at the wedding and then zoomed off to a horse race, the Epsom Derby, in a helicopter afterwards,” Sykes explained, referring to Charles.
The expert claimed that William’s kiss was actually an “expression of Charles pulling power back”, adding that it was what the King “wanted to see” at the family wedding.
“William was making it clear that he is a loyal servant and will ultimately go along with what his father wants, per the military foundational structures of the Royal Family,” Sykes shared.
“The kiss on the cheek to Beatrice was a carefully judged symbol, showing more that he is a good company man than any great fondness for Beatrice.”
However, at the same time, Sykes warned that the move didn’t mean for a moment that William’s stance on the York sisters has shifted.
Shortly after the kiss photos were made public, an article in the Sunday Times reported how William intends to stop non-working royals from living in palaces rent free or for nominal sums.
Sources told the outlet that William wants to ensure the monarchy is “fit for purpose in the modern era”, is “mindful of how much the monarchy costs” and will be “hands-on” to restructure it into a leaner organisation.
Interesting timing indeed.
For now, it seems, Beatrice and Eugenie are watching and waiting, having been given something of an olive branch in being allowed to attend the wedding.
“As far as the York girls are concerned, the King has yet to officially give his approval [for further integration] and until that happens, they know to be grateful that they were in the same chapel in the first place – and that William and Kate joined them for the reception,” a source tells Woman’s Day.
“Beatrice and Eugenie are in a ‘holding pattern’ hoping to land back into the Royal fold so they’re not going to put a foot wrong.”
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