Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

The royal family is an institution that largely relies on sentiments of nostalgia and tradition to keep its relevance alive. Without real political power or the ability to concretely influence policy and decision-making nationally or globally, the monarchy’s real power is “soft” and seated entirely in image and perception.

Symbolism is a huge part of the machinery the monarchy employs to keep its appeal alive. Endgame is bookended by two significant events: The Queen’s funeral and Charles’s coronation. Scobie reflects on the personal import of both of these events. With the former, he is surprised by the impact the Queen’s passing has on him. With the latter, he reminisces about the other significant events that have taken place at the site of Charles’s coronation, including his first royal engagement: William and Kate’s wedding. All of these reflections are instigated by physical symbols. Scobie ponders the intertwining of history, mystery, and tradition when he spies the crown, orb, and scepter atop the Queen’s coffin. Similarly, the wooden throne in Westminster Abbey drums up feelings of nostalgia. The Firm’s repeated use of these physical objects in pageantry and ceremony has invested these concrete symbols with the power to evoke strong positive feelings toward the monarchy. Over her lifetime, the Queen herself transformed into a national symbol, able to mask and distract from the country’s decline.

The kind of power that the Queen held during her lifetime highlights the importance of image control and reputation management to the royal family. As the royal courtiers are responsible for this, they hold immense power and can influence significant events. Sir Edward Young was able to prevent Harry from seeing his grandmother; Young’s allegiance was to his principal, and his priority was protecting the image of the Crown. Many believe this only intensified the Sussex saga. However, it is not uncommon for the Palace to sacrifice relationships for the sake of image. Simon Case exploited and widened the rift between William and Harry to prop up William’s image as the responsible and industrious brother. Despite William and Harry’s failing relationship, Case was still perceived as successful. The Crown and its heirs’ image is more important to the Palace than relationships because the former holds the power to strengthen or destabilize the monarchy.

This in turn explains the symbiotic relationship between the Palace and the press. The royals’ lives become content that sells tabloids; the Palace, in turn, needs the press to help portray and reinforce a certain image of the royal family. Thus, there exists an “invisible contract” between the two, with the Palace allowing conditional access and information via the royal rota in return for largely positive reportage. This is complicated by the competition and rivalry between the different factions of the Palace. Thus, information is also gathered via anonymous sources, leaks, and off-the-record briefings, in addition to unethical methods of intimidation, obstruction, and interference. In order to squash the stories about Rose Hanbury and William, courtiers ensured that a string of negative stories about the Sussexes was fed to the press. William’s image as the heir takes priority over Harry’s as the “spare,” and as long as the tabloids receive sensational stories that draw customers, they are satisfied.

For the royal family, image is power. The right image helps keep the monarchy alive and relevant; the wrong image weakens its position and threatens its very existence. Because of this, the royal family continues to employ the use of pageantry and ceremony, and the services of its courtiers and the media, for image management. However, entrusting these responsibilities to the courtiers and the media gives these respective entities a degree of power over the royal family. Thus, the intricate dynamics of image and power within the royal family extend to those working for and outside the institution as well.