最新的英国皇家戏剧比记录伊丽莎白二世生活的热门网飞系列电影《皇冠》中最精彩的一集情节曲折。只有这个现实生活中的传奇才更适合被称为《王冠转向》，它由角色和故事发展组成，可以与最引人注目的肥皂剧相媲美。
女王的第二个儿子安德鲁卷入了一起涉及未成年少女和一名被指控的人贩子的性丑闻，他死于狱中——你知道，王子最近接受了英国电视台的采访，试图挽回他受损的名誉，但令人震惊的是失败了。据报道，他的哥哥查尔斯是王位继承人，他在幕后运用自己的影响力，将声名狼藉的兄弟姐妹赶下台，巩固自己和儿子的权力。演员阵容中还有苏塞克斯公爵，又名哈利，他一直在和哥哥威廉争吵。哈利和他的美国新娘梅根一起，还公开抱怨乘坐私人飞机旅行和支付大笔房屋修缮费用时皇室生活的情感困境。
此外还有女王本人，英国在位时间最长的君主，一位年迈的女族长，在她在位超过65年后还能统治多久的问题上，她对家庭的控制力似乎在下降。
随着家族被丑闻和争斗撼动，这位93岁的女王终于开始将权力移交给下一代。查尔斯王子公司终于该掌权了吗？
对皇室和英国人民来说，新的一年和新的十年的到来与温莎王室正在形成的新时代相吻合。家庭内部日益加剧的紧张局势和持续不断的丑闻引发了人们对女王是否仍是“公司”负责人的质疑，因为皇室成员私下里指的是家族企业。最大的问题是:查尔斯王子71岁的时候终于到了，不再坐以待毙，开始掌权了吗？
“从安德鲁灾难性的采访到哈利和梅格恩正在上演的戏剧，有一种感觉是她失去了对家庭的控制，”一位宫廷内幕人士告诉《新闻周刊》。“女王对他们的行为深感失望。作为未来的国王，应该由查尔斯来制止混乱。”
93岁的伊丽莎白放弃王位的问题肯定不是第一次出现。自从2017年她的丈夫菲利普王子95岁退休后，就有传言说她会在同年退休。几年来，她已经将一些高层决策委托给了查尔斯，减少了自己的公开露面，并将自己对各种慈善机构的资助权转给了王室的其他成员。
尽管这个角色主要是礼仪性的，但女王保留了完整的时间表——她去年有238个约会，是数百个慈善机构的赞助人:对一个90多岁的人来说还不算太寒酸。尽管有传言，她不太可能很快辞职。英国历史学家和作家罗伯特·莱西是网飞《王冠》的顾问，他告诉《新闻周刊》，“我不相信女王有任何退休的愿望，也不任命任何可能侵犯她的权力的人，如果她能避免的话。”
2019年10月14日，英国女王伊丽莎白二世(左)与英国王子查尔斯、威尔士王子(右)坐在君主宝座上，在伦敦议会大厦的国家议会开幕式上发表女王讲话。
但是围绕安德鲁的争议尤其让人们重新开始猜测卫兵的更换，让查尔斯扮演更突出的角色，并似乎加速了权力的转移。英国君主制的未来会怎样？女王坚持“从不抱怨，从不解释”的皇家法规，这使得她不可能确切知道自己的计划，但她对最新家庭剧的反应提供了一些有力的线索。
皇家辐射
安德鲁接受英国广播公司采访后，显然需要迅速采取行动。在采访中，他笨手笨脚地解释了自己与已定罪的性侵犯者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的关系，否认在爱泼斯坦伦敦的家中与当时17岁的弗吉尼亚·罗伯茨(现为朱佛里)发生过性关系，也没有对爱泼斯坦声称的受害者表示同情。去年11月该节目播出后，YouGov进行的一项民意调查发现，51%的英国公众不相信他的解释，另有43%的人不确定。更糟糕的是，将近一半的人认为安德鲁对指控的回应方式损害了君主制。
采访谈判持续了一年多，据说没有咨询女王的高级顾问，这对安德鲁的家庭事业没有帮助。尽管伊丽莎白同意了采访，但据报道，她没有被告知采访将只关注王子与爱泼斯坦的关系，也没有被告知将在白金汉宫拍摄。一位宫廷消息人士告诉《新闻周刊》，“这看起来像是整件事都得到女王的批准，但事实并非如此。”。"光学说了一件事，但事实完全是另一回事。"
安德鲁已经不是第一次谈判自己的电视交易了。据报道，当他最小的女儿尤金妮亚在2018年结婚时，也就是哈利和梅格恩结婚的那一年，王子希望她的婚礼受到同等的隆重和隆重。其中包括电视直播婚礼。当英国广播公司拒绝时，安德鲁安排独立电视台进行有限的报道。婚礼安保人员包括约850名客人，花费了英国纳税人200多万英镑，约合250万美元。
安德鲁(据信是女王最喜欢的儿子)的母爱并没有阻止她在爱泼斯坦的采访播出后采取果断行动——据说是根据查尔斯的推荐，并得到了他儿子威廉王子的支持。结果是:安德鲁“辞职”(内部人士称，这不是他的决定)，失去了纳税人资助的250，000英镑(约合325，000美元)，他是一名在职王室成员。他在白金汉宫的办公室已经关闭。
约克公爵安德鲁·阿尔伯特·克里斯琴，摄于2011年3月7日伦敦。在周六晚间接受英国广播公司采访时，他否认了所有与声名狼藉的金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦有关的不当行为指控。
不过，他不用担心谋生。据美国有线电视新闻网报道，他的大部分收入是由兰开斯特女王公爵领地资助的，兰开斯特是一个商业、农业和住宅地产的私人庄园，去年创收2800万美元。
安德鲁可能更担心的是:丑闻对29岁的尤金妮亚和她31岁的妹妹碧翠丝的影响。王子一直认为他的女儿们是“血族公主”，在皇室中被忽视了，并游说让她们扮演更高的角色。现在，相反的情况可能会发生。尤金妮亚面临的最大问题是她作为反奴隶制集体的创始人之一，这个慈善机构致力于在全球根除——哦，讽刺的是——性交易和奴隶制。正如皇家传记作家英格丽德·苏厄德最近在《早安英国》中所说，“我们都为碧翠丝公主和尤金妮亚公主感到非常难过。”碧翠丝最近订婚了，她2020年的婚礼可能比她姐姐的奢华和私人婚礼要小——这不需要大规模的安保，对纳税人来说更便宜。
卫兵换岗了？
最近查尔斯和他的父母讨论的话题并不仅仅是为他丑闻缠身的哥哥决定最佳的行动方案。据报道，当菲利普王子最近在桑德灵汉姆的家中与他会面时，父子俩谈论了女王未来18个月的“退休”。在这种情况下，查尔斯将扮演摄政王的角色，这将允许他正式接管家庭事务和日常王室事务。“这是查尔斯一段时间以来一直想要的，但女王拒绝了，”一位皇家内部人士解释道。
“如果查尔斯是11月份的摄政王，”莱西解释道，“检查面试计划是他的工作，他几乎肯定会阻止他们。”
它统治着人类
然而，摄政王的任命只有在非常特殊的情况下才会发生——比如说，当君主丧失行为能力的时候——而不是女王被法律授权去做的事情，而是由议会决定的。尽管如此，即使没有正式的权力移交，毫无疑问，卫兵也有所改变。皇家专家理查德·贝尔泰森在接受有线电视新闻采访时说，对安德鲁周围危机的回应“暴露了我们许多人一段时间以来一直在说的现实，威尔士王子[·查尔斯现在从根本上管理着这个家庭。”
查尔斯在有效结束他兄弟的皇室生涯中扮演的角色加强了他作为首席决策者的公共地位。这也引发了人们对他何时正式成为国王的计划的质疑。专家们说，他的首要任务之一是将王室成员名单削减到由他的妻子卡米拉、康沃尔公爵夫人、他的儿子威廉和哈里以及他们的家人组成的核心小组。
精简工作已经开始。莱西说:“查尔斯王子的许多贬损已经发生，最显著的是所有的堂兄妹和姑姑在正式订婚期间都从白金汉宫的[阳台上消失了。”很难想象，在[·查尔斯的其他兄弟姐妹]安妮公主和爱德华王子执行一份完整的职责清单的情况下，现在的工作家庭会如何缩减。"
君主制面临的挑战
但是，如果查尔斯成为国王，君主政体的生存不仅仅是从纳税人的账单上除去多余的亲戚。根据YouGov今年夏天的一项民意调查，英国公众对伊丽莎白这位最受欢迎的王室成员的持久钦佩，是当前支持君主制的最关键因素——72%的人对她持赞同态度。只有48%的人对查尔斯有同样的感觉。
在她执政的大部分时间里，她一直被认为是一个相当神秘的公众人物，然而那些最接近女王的人私下里说她很有幽默感，并溺爱她的孙子和曾孙，他们称她为甘干。她每天早上从特百惠容器里吃麦片，享受鸡尾酒——据说一天最多四杯，包括午餐前一杯杜松子酒和加柠檬的杜邦妮鸡尾酒，睡觉前一杯香槟。
年轻的阿奇·哈里森·蒙巴顿-温莎的正式洗礼照片，又名哈利和梅根的儿子。
当然，细节人性化。但尽管公众对在位的王室有好感，但在金融动荡和对英国退出欧盟感到不安之际，君主制作为英国的一种制度也代表着特权和继承的财富，越来越多的人认为这些与精英统治和平等的理念不一致。如果查尔斯继承王位，他将不得不证明君主制在这个巨大动荡的时代仍然适用，没有女王同样的善意储备。尽管如此，从他与戴安娜内爆的婚姻出现在英国小报每日头条的日子起，他的名声已经大有改观。
查尔斯的儿子，37岁的威廉和35岁的哈利，也扮演着重要的角色。这对曾经亲密的兄弟姐妹最近疏远了，这种裂痕可能始于几年前，当时威廉质疑哈利和梅格恩的关系是否发展得太快，以及她是否能适应皇室生活。据报道，哈利认为这种态度“不支持”但是最近的发展表明，威廉的担心也许并不是完全没有根据的。
哈里和梅格恩一度被认为是现代化的积极变革力量，但现在似乎成了争议的避雷针，英国人对这对夫妇挥霍无度的行为越来越不满，对皇室鱼缸生活的抱怨也越来越多。温莎城堡附近有10间卧室的弗罗格莫尔别墅的翻修花费了纳税人大约300万美元，包括为从事瑜伽练习的梅根建造一个瑜伽工作室。
与此同时，在10月的一部独立电视纪录片中，哈利注意到皇室生活对他的情感健康造成的伤害，并透露每当他面对一堵闪光灯时，他都会重温母亲去世的悲惨境遇。“随着角色、工作和随之而来的压力——我会想起不好的事情，”他说。梅根则谴责这个家庭的“僵硬上唇”精神是“破坏性的”。
据报道，女王指控查尔斯为兄弟之间的和平斡旋。“女王知道威廉和哈里都代表着确保家庭生存的现代化，”一位知情人士说。"兄弟之间的疏远必须结束，因为统一战线对未来至关重要。"
虽然哈里和梅格恩在假期中“非常需要的家庭时间”已经消失，但威廉和他的妻子凯特已经承担起了支撑家庭品牌的责任，他们在巴基斯坦进行了一次非常成功的巡演，最近还在英国电视名人玛丽·贝瑞主持的圣诞特别节目中联合亮相。“威廉和凯特以及他们可爱的孩子是君主制目前拥有的最大资产，”另一位宫廷内部人士告诉《新闻周刊》。“没有戏剧，他们都很迷人，他们的孩子都很可爱，表现也很好。这就是公众对皇室的期望——一个让人们对未来感觉良好的幸福家庭场景。”
也许这就是为什么女王决定是时候让这对夫妇的两个最大的孩子，6岁的乔治王子和4岁的夏洛特公主，在今年圣诞节早上，在从桑德灵汉姆的家庭庄园到圣玛丽马格达莱纳教堂的传统且被大量拍摄的散步中，与家人一起首次公开露面了。知情人士说:“女王希望今年圣诞节的重点放在下一代王室成员身上，并提醒人们，通过这一切，君主制将继续存在。”。
莱西相信会的。“我很确定乔治王子有一天会成为国王，”他说。“安德鲁的‘去皇室化’是一场悲剧，但它提醒人们，君主立宪制的生存是如何依赖于对它寻求代表的社会价值观的尊重和遵从。”
黛安·克蕾汉已经报道皇室超过20年，她是五本书的畅销书作者，包括戴安娜:她的风格秘密和想象戴安娜这部小说设想了如果公主在1997年巴黎空难中幸存下来会发生什么。
WITH QUEEN ELIZABETH'S ROYAL FAMILY ROCKED BY SCANDAL, PRINCE CHARLES BECOMES THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE
The latest British royal drama has more plot twists than the juiciest episode of The Crown, the hit Netflix series chronicling the life of Queen Elizabeth II. Only this real-life saga might more aptly be called As the Crown Turns, with a cast of characters and story developments to rival the most compelling soap opera.
There's Andrew, the queen's second son, embroiled in a sex scandal involving underage girls and an accused human trafficker who died in prison—you know, the prince who recently gave an interview on British television trying, and spectacularly failing, to repair his damaged reputation. There's his older brother, Charles, heir to the throne, reportedly wielding his influence behind the scenes to oust his disgraced sibling from royal duties and consolidate power for himself and his sons. Also in the cast: the Duke of Sussex, aka Harry, who has been bickering with his older brother, William. With his American bride, Meghan, Harry has also publicly railed against the emotional hardship of royal life while traveling by private jet and running up big home renovation bills.
Then there's the queen herself, Britain's longest-serving monarch, an aging matriarch whose grasp on the reins of her family appear to be slipping amid questions about how much longer she'll reign after more than 65 years on the throne.
With the family rocked by scandal and feuds, the 93-year-old queen is finally starting to cede power to the next generation. Is it time for Prince Charles & Co. to take charge at last?
For the royal family and the British people, the coming of a new year and new decade are coinciding with what's shaping up as a new era for the House of Windsor. The mounting tensions within the family and ongoing scandals have raised questions about whether the queen is, in fact, still the head of "the firm," as the royals refer to the family business in private. The big question: Has the time finally come for Prince Charles, at age 71, to stop waiting in the wings and take charge?
"There is a sense that she's lost control within the family, between Andrew's disastrous interview and the ongoing drama with Harry and Meghan," one palace insider told Newsweek. "The queen has been deeply disappointed by their behavior. As future king, it's been up to Charles to put a stop to the chaos."
This is certainly not the first time the question of Elizabeth, who is 93, giving up the throne has come up. Ever since 2017, when her husband, Prince Philip, retired from public life at age 95, there have been rumors that she would step down when she reached the same age. She has already been delegating some high-level decision-making to Charles, scaling back her public appearances and passing on her patronages of various charities to other members of the royal family for several years.
Still, while the role is largely ceremonial, the queen retains a full schedule—she had 238 engagements last year and served as a patron to hundreds of charities: not too shabby for a nonagenarian. And, despite the rumors, it is unlikely she will step down anytime soon. British historian and author Robert Lacey, who serves as a consultant to Netflix's The Crown, told Newsweek, "I don't believe the queen has any wish to retire, nor to appoint anyone who might infringe on her powers, if she can avoid it."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) sits with Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (R) on the Sovereign's throne to deliver the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in the Houses of Parliament in London on October 14, 2019.
But the controversy swirling around Andrew in particular has renewed speculation about a changing of the guard, giving Charles a more prominent role and seeming to accelerate a shift in power. What does the future hold for the British monarchy? The queen's adherence to a "never complain, never explain" royal code makes it impossible to know her plans with certainty, but her responses to the latest family drama provide some telling clues.
The Royal Fallout
It was clear that swift action was needed in the wake of Andrew's BBC interview, in which he fumbled through an explanation of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, denied having sex with then-17-year-old Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre) at Epstein's London home and expressed no sympathy for Epstein's alleged victims. A YouGov poll taken after the program aired in November found that 51 percent of the British public did not believe his explanations and that another 43 percent weren't sure. Even worse, nearly half felt that the way Andrew responded to the allegations had damaged the monarchy.
It didn't help Andrew's cause within the family that negotiations for the interview went on for over a year, reportedly without consulting the queen's senior advisers. Although Elizabeth gave her permission for the interview, she reportedly wasn't informed that it would focus solely on the prince's ties to Epstein or that it would be filmed at Buckingham Palace. "It gave the appearance that the entire thing had been sanctioned by the queen, but that was not the case," a palace source told Newsweek. "The optics said one thing, but the truth was something else entirely."
It wasn't the first time that Andrew had negotiated his own TV deal. When his youngest daughter, Eugenie, got married in 2018, the same year as Harry and Meghan, the prince reportedly wanted her wedding to be treated with equal pomp and circumstance. That included having the nuptials televised. When the BBC declined, Andrew arranged for limited coverage by ITV instead. Security for the wedding, which included about 850 guests, cost British taxpayers over £2 million, or roughly $2.5 million.
Maternal feelings for Andrew (who is believed to be the queen's favorite son) did not prevent her from acting decisively after the interview about Epstein aired—reportedly on the recommendation of Charles, with input from his son Prince William. The upshot: Andrew "stepped down" from his official duties (not his decision, insiders say), losing the taxpayer-funded £250,000 (about $325,000) he made as a working royal. His office at Buckingham Palace was shuttered.
Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, pictured in London on March 7, 2011. He dismissed all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in a Saturday-night interview with BBC News.
He won't have to worry about making a living, though. According to CNN, most of his income was funded by the queen's Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate of commercial, agricultural and residential properties that last year brought in $28 million.
Likely of greater concern to Andrew: the scandal's impact on Eugenie, 29, and her sister Beatrice, 31. The prince has long felt his daughters, who are "blood princesses," were overlooked within the royal family and has lobbied to get them higher-profile roles. Now, the opposite is likely to happen. Particularly problematic for Eugenie is her role as co-founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective, a charity that works to eradicate—oh, the irony—sex trafficking, as well as slavery, around the globe. As royal biographer Ingrid Seward said recently on Good Morning Britain, "We all feel very sorry for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie." Beatrice recently became engaged, and her 2020 wedding will likely be a smaller affair than her sister's extravaganza and private—which won't require massive security, making it cheaper for taxpayers.
A Changing of the Guard?
Deciding on the best course of action for his scandal-ridden brother has not been the only topic of discussion for Charles and his parents lately. When he recently met with Prince Philip at the family's estate at Sandringham, father and son were reported to have talked about the queen's "retirement" in the next 18 months. In this scenario, Charles would assume a prince regent role, which would allow him to officially take over family affairs and day-to-day royal business. "This is something Charles has been wanting for some time, but the queen has resisted," explained a royal insider.
"If Charles had been regent in November," explained Lacey, "it would have been his job to check out the interview plans, and he would almost certainly have blocked them."
It's Reigning Men
The appointment of a regent, though, happens only under very specific circumstances—say, when a monarch becomes incapacitated—and is not something the queen is legally empowered to do but instead falls to Parliament. Still, even without a formal transfer of power, there is little doubt that there's been a changing of the guard. Speaking to CTV News, royal expert Richard Berthelsen said the response to the crisis surrounding Andrew "has exposed the reality many of us have been saying for some time, that [Charles], the Prince of Wales, is fundamentally running the family now."
The role that Charles played in effectively ending his brother's royal career has strengthened his public position as chief decision-maker. It also raises questions about his plans for when he officially becomes king. Among his top priorities, experts say, will be to cut the list of working royals to a core group consisting of his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and his sons, William and Harry, and their families.
The streamlining has already begun. "Many of Prince Charles' paring-downs have come to pass, most notably with the disappearance of all the cousins and aunts from the balcony [of Buckingham Palace during official engagements]," said Lacey. "It's difficult to see how the current working family can be pared down any further with [Charles' other siblings] Princess Anne and Prince Edward carrying out a full roster of duties."
Challenges for the Monarchy
But the monarchy's survival, should Charles become king, will take more than removing superfluous relatives from the taxpayers' tab. The British public's enduring admiration for Elizabeth, the most popular royal, has been the most critical factor in the current support for the monarchy—72 percent view her favorably, according to a YouGov poll this summer. Only 48 percent feel the same way about Charles.
She has been considered a fairly inscrutable public figure for much of her reign, yet those closest to the queen say privately she has a good sense of humor and dotes on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who call her Gan Gan. She eats cereal out of a Tupperware container every morning and enjoys her cocktails—up to four a day, reportedly, including a gin and Dubonnet on the rocks with a slice of lemon before lunch and a glass of champagne before bed.
The official christening photo of young Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, a.k.a. Harry and Meghan’s son.
Humanizing details, for sure. But despite the public's affection for the reigning royal, the monarchy as a British institution also represents privilege and inherited wealth at a time of financial uncertainty and jitters over Brexit, and a growing segment of the population believes those things are out of step with the ideals of meritocracy and equality. Should Charles take the crown, he will have to prove the monarchy is still relevant at a time of tremendous upheaval, without the queen's same reservoir of goodwill. Still, his reputation has come a long way from the days when his imploding marriage to Diana played out in the British tabloids' daily headlines.
Charles's sons, William, 37, and Harry, 35, have a critical role to play as well. The once-close siblings are estranged these days, a rift that supposedly started a couple of years ago when William questioned whether Harry was moving too quickly in his relationship with Meghan and if she could adjust to royal life. Harry reportedly considered that attitude "unsupportive." But recent developments suggest that, perhaps, William's concern was not entirely unfounded.
Once viewed favorably as a modernizing and positive force for change, Harry and Meghan now seem to be a lightning rod for controversy, with rising disapproval among the British over the couple's perceived spendthrift ways and their complaints about the fishbowl life of a royal. Renovations on Frogmore Cottage, their 10-bedroom home near Windsor Castle, cost taxpayers about $3 million and included construction of a yoga studio for Meghan, a devotee of the practice.
Meanwhile, in an ITV documentary in October, Harry noted the toll that royal life has taken on his emotional health, revealing that he relives the tragic circumstances of his mother's death every time he is faced with a wall of flashbulbs. "With the role, with the job and pressures that come with that—I get reminded of the bad stuff," he said. Meghan, for her part, decried the family's "stiff upper lip" ethos as "destructive."
The queen has reportedly charged Charles with brokering a peace between the brothers. "The queen knows that both William and Harry represent the modernization of the family which ensures its survival," said an insider. "The estrangement between the brothers has to end because a united front is critical for the future."
While Harry and Meghan have gone off the grid for "much-needed family time" during the holidays, William and his wife, Kate, have taken responsibility for shoring up the family brand with a highly successful tour of Pakistan and a recent joint television appearance on a Christmas special hosted by British television personality Mary Berry. "William and Kate along with their adorable children are the greatest assets the monarchy has right now," another palace insider told Newsweek. "There's no drama, they're both charming, and their children are darling and well behaved. That's what the public wants from the royals—a happy family scenario that makes people feel good about the future."
Perhaps that's why the queen decided it was time for the couple's two oldest children, Prince George, 6, and Princess Charlotte, 4, to make their first public appearance with the family on the traditional and much-photographed walk from the family estate at Sandringham to St. Mary Magdalene Church on Christmas morning this year. "The queen wanted the emphasis to be on the next generation of royals this Christmas and remind people that through it all, the monarchy will survive," the insider said.
Lacey believes it will. "I am quite sure that prince George will become king one day," he said. "The 'de-royaling' of Andrew was a tragedy, but it is a reminder of how the survival of a constitutional monarchy depends on its respect and compliance with the values of the society it seeks to represent."
Diane Clehane, who has been covering royalty for more than 20 years, is a best-selling author of five books including Diana: The Secrets of Her Style and Imagining Diana, a novel that envisions what would have happened if the princess had survived the 1997 crash in Paris
