Jul 28, 2026 · 10 min · 4 segments
What really happened behind Palace walls when Prince Andrew became the biggest crisis facing the Royal Family? Who stepped in when the pressure reached breaking point? And why does historian and royal…
Alexander LarmanGuest
Andrew GoldHost
We have this really strange situation where, I mean, firstly, I remember seeing a video Stephen Fry put out years ago that showed that countries that have a monarchy, an active monarchy, are happier.

Of course, it's self-reporting, so who knows? But I was talking to David Starkey yesterday.

But he seemed to be suggesting, I don't want to put words in his mouth, that at least the monarchy is something that we can sort of hang our hat on as a unifying symbol.

Well, if there's somebody who knows about monarchy, it's Professor Starkey.

I mean, he's a man who's been studying it and writing about it most of his life, you see.

And I think actually one of the reasons why I'm interested in writing about the monarchy as an institution is... is because I feel that it's a fundamentally backward and fundamentally retrograde idea.

But on the other hand, if you do abolish it, what are you replacing it with? You're replacing it with President Starmer.

We have this really strange situation where, I mean, firstly, I remember seeing a video Stephen Fry put out years ago that showed that countries that have a monarchy, an active monarchy, are happier.

Of course, it's self-reporting, so who knows? But I was talking to David Starkey yesterday.

But he seemed to be suggesting, I don't want to put words in his mouth, that at least the monarchy is something that we can sort of hang our hat on as a unifying symbol.

Well, if there's somebody who knows about monarchy, it's Professor Starkey.

I mean, he's a man who's been studying it and writing about it most of his life, you see.

And I think actually one of the reasons why I'm interested in writing about the monarchy as an institution is... is because I feel that it's a fundamentally backward and fundamentally retrograde idea.

But on the other hand, if you do abolish it, what are you replacing it with? You're replacing it with President Starmer.
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