The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 5 September 2004

The Royal Schedule (or, If it's August it must be Balmoral)

Those of us who follow the British royal family through the news articles on this website sometimes come to think of them as a natural phenomenon that we keep tabs on throughout the year, rather like the weather.  There are occasional surprises, but most of the time the “news” is a progression through a series of events so predictable as to be almost unchanging.  The assumption that it is unchanging can be dangerous – the former royal governess Marion Crawford lost her job as the royal columnist for a magazine when she wrote about the Trooping the Colour pageant as though it had taken place, when in fact the pageant had to be canceled that year.  

I think that perhaps the single greatest difference between the royals and the rest of us is that they schedule their daily routine six months to a year in advance.  The Prince of Wales, for example, holds a meeting every six months to determine what invitations he will accept and what trips he will make.  These plans have to be fitted around the numerous events that it is assumed he will attend every year.  Some of these include the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show, Garter Day, Royal Ascot, and Remembrance Sunday.  Then there is also the regular weekly routine of going to the country for the weekend:  from Clarence House to Highgrove for the Prince of Wales, and from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle for the Queen. 

Even more important than the royal calendar of events are the traditional movements of the court between the Queen’s various residences.  Christmas, formerly at Windsor, is now always at Sandringham, where the Queen remains until Ascension Day on February 6^th.  Then there is always a period at Balmoral in August and September, when the Buckingham Palace state rooms are open to tourists and the private rooms are closed.  The royals take this so seriously that they could hardly conceive of the possibility of returning to London because of the death of the Princess of Wales.  After a reign of over fifty years, this schedule seems just as immutable as a similar schedule did in the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign, a little over a century ago.  Of course, it is not immutable, and it seems very likely that in future reigns sovereigns will travel between their residences more frequently, rather than risking month-long trips that look like month-long vacations. 

Once the royals have their schedules set, the aides go to work on arranging their visits.  The royal equerries make reconnaissance (known as “recce” for short) trips to the places where the royals will visit, for day trips as well as royal tours, and make detailed arrangements regarding what the royals will see and do and whom they will meet.  The equerries and private secretaries often have to set limits on the optimistic hopes of royal hosts. 

For the senior royals, every day is guided by the daily schedules provided by their aides.  They can become so accustomed to these that they need schedules to tell them that they have nothing to do but eat meals – the Duke of Windsor continued to expect a daily typed schedule throughout all the years of his inactive retirement.  The schedule is to be kept if humanly possible, an attitude that once got the Prince of Wales into considerable public relations trouble in 1991 when he left his son’s bedside following an operation in order to fulfil an engagement at the opera.

I think that this royal routine was a major factor in the frustration the Princess of Wales and Duchess of York felt with the royal system.  As upper-class young women who had fairly little experience of structured school or work environments, they were appalled to find that princesses may not do as they please – they must always follow the schedule.

- Margaret Weatherford