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"WE LEFT FOR A REASON!" William CALLS OUT Camilla In A Town Hall Speech — Everyone Knew Who He Meant — Transcript

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0:03Uh we've got some breaking news to bring
0:05in now because William and Kate have
0:06broken their silence.
0:07>> A Kensington Palace spokesperson [music]
0:09has just said the following.
0:11>> So William just explained in front of a
0:13hall full of strangers in a Midlands
0:15town exactly why he and Catherine walked
0:17out of a dinner early, and he never once
0:20said Camilla's name. One folded sheet,
0:23one crossed-out line, not a single
0:25raised voice. Honestly though, the
0:27speech itself is the small part because
0:30of what those words set off once they
0:32reached Clarence House and what
0:34Camilla's office finally said back. It
0:36began in the back of a car.
0:38The wipers were going. The lights of the
0:40town were sliding past the glass and the
0:43sheet was sitting on William's knee. For
0:45days the papers had been asking why the
0:47Prince and Princess of Wales had left.
0:50Now Catherine beside him quietly asked
0:52whether he was going to say it. William
0:54did not answer straight away. He had
0:57been reading the paper, folding it and
0:59unfolding it again since they left the
1:01motorway. I'm not going to say her name,
1:04he said at last. That isn't what I
1:06asked. I know what you asked. He turned
1:08the paper over in his hands. If I say
1:10nothing, they'll keep writing that we
1:12were rude. If I say her name, it becomes
1:15about her again and the families get
1:17lost
1:19again. [music] So what are you going to
1:21do? Tell the truth, he said, and leave
1:23the name out of it. Catherine looked out
1:25of the window for a while. Then she said
1:28very softly, they'll still know. Yes,
1:31William said. That's rather the point.
1:34[music] He looked at her then
1:36and the protection officer in the front
1:38seat who has driven the couple for years
1:40and has learned to hear nothing at all
1:42says that for the first time in years he
1:45wanted very badly to turn around
1:47because everybody in that car knew what
1:49William was talking about. Three nights
1:51earlier at a charity dinner in London
1:54Camilla had stood up and spoken over
1:56Catherine while Catherine was at the
1:57lectern. William had told her sit down.
2:00And then, before coffee had even been
2:03served, William and Catherine had
2:05quietly left the hall. The newspapers
2:07had been full of it. Why did they leave
2:09early? Was it rude? Was it a snub? Had
2:12there been a row in the corridor?
2:14Nobody from Kensington Palace had said a
2:16word, not a statement, [music]
2:19not a briefing,
2:20not even the usual line about the couple
2:22having another commitment. For three
2:24days the phones in William's press
2:26office had rung, and for three days the
2:28answer had been the same, no comment.
2:31Inside the palace not everyone agreed
2:33with that. Outside it almost nobody
2:36understood it. Now, in that car, on the
2:40way to a small awards afternoon for
2:42young volunteers, William was holding
2:44the answer on a sheet of paper.
2:4640 minutes later he stood up in a town
2:48hall in front of 300 people and gave it.
2:51He did not mention the dinner. He did
2:53not mention Camilla. He did not raise
2:56his voice. And by the time he sat down,
2:59every person in that room knew exactly
3:01who he meant. This is the story of that
3:04speech, the sheet of paper behind it,
3:07and what happened when it reached
3:08Clarence House.
3:10Pause here for a second because the
3:12people who stay quiet are usually the
3:14ones who end up blamed. So stand up for
3:17someone you love.
3:18Write about a time you walked out of a
3:20room for them. Press like if leaving
3:22that dinner was right. Send this to the
3:24one who always stands by you and hit
3:27subscribe on Kensington Herald. Since
3:29one line on that sheet was crossed out.
3:32And right now, if you already think you
3:34know who that speech was aimed at, type
3:37he meant her in the comments. Keep it
3:39safe.
3:40Later on you will hear the very line
3:42that made a whole town hall go quiet,
3:44and you can judge for yourself.
3:47To understand the speech, you need to go
3:48back to the dinner.
3:50It was a fundraising evening for a small
3:52charity that works with families in the
3:54earliest years of a child's life.
3:56>> Our early childhood, the time from
3:58pregnancy to the age of five,
4:00fundamentally shapes the rest of our
4:02lives.
4:02>> Catherine had
4:03>> been asked to say a few words about why
4:04that work matters.
4:06It is a cause she has carried for years,
4:09long before the cameras paid it any
4:10attention. She had a single card. She
4:13was perhaps two minutes in. Then Camilla
4:16rose from the top table and began to
4:18talk over her, warmly, loudly, about her
4:21own patronages, about reading, about how
4:24marvelous it all was. William, people
4:27who were there say, put one hand flat on
4:29the tablecloth and said quite clearly,
4:32sit down, Camilla. The room froze.
4:35Camilla sat. Catherine finished her
4:37speech. [music] And then, about half an
4:39hour later, as the auction was getting
4:42underway, William and Catherine stood,
4:44thanked their hosts, and left.
4:47The next morning, one paper called it a
4:49calculated walkout. Another said the
4:52couple had abandoned a charity
4:54mid-evening. A columnist wrote that
4:56William had embarrassed his father's
4:58wife in public and then run for the door
5:01before anyone could ask him why. Inside
5:04Kensington Palace, people say the mood
5:06was grim. Staff wanted to put out a
5:09short statement, [music] something
5:11simple.
5:12The couple had another commitment. They
5:14had stayed for the speeches. They had
5:16made a donation. All true. [music]
5:19William said no. If we explain it with a
5:21press line, he told one advisor, it
5:24sounds like an excuse. [music] And it
5:26wasn't an excuse.
5:28Then what was it, sir?
5:29He did not answer that morning.
5:32But the pressure did not stop at one
5:33advisor. By lunchtime, his
5:35communications team had come back with a
5:37second draft, shorter this [music] time,
5:40two lines. The couple had greatly
5:42enjoyed the evening and left as planned.
5:45One senior member of the team put it on
5:47the table in front of William and said,
5:49as plainly as she could, that if the
5:51palace said nothing, the papers would
5:53keep filling the silence for him.
5:55William read the two lines. Then he
5:58turned the page over so the words were
6:00face down. It wasn't as planned, he
6:02said. We didn't plan to leave. We left
6:05because of what happened.
6:07If I put my name to that, I'm saying
6:09what happened didn't matter. Sir, with
6:11respect, nobody will read it that
6:13closely. Catherine will. Nobody in the
6:16room had an answer to that.
6:19Then, a little after 3:00, a call came
6:21through to the office from Clarence
6:23House, not from Camilla, from a member
6:25of her staff, polite and pleasant,
6:28people say, and very clear about what it
6:30wanted. Clarence House was keen to draw
6:33a line. It suggested a joint form of
6:35words, something warm, something about a
6:38lovely evening and a family that was
6:40entirely relaxed.
6:42William's private secretary took the
6:44call and wrote the suggested words down
6:46on a pad. He carried the pad into
6:49William's study.
6:50William read it and asked one question.
6:53Did anybody at Clarence House think to
6:55ring Catherine? [music] He was told
6:57that, as far as anyone knew, nobody had.
7:00Then we're not drawing any lines
7:02together, William said. Thank them.
7:05Tell them we'll say nothing for now.
7:07[music] He answered three days later in
7:09a town hall, in front of a hall of
7:11teenagers. [music]
7:12The event was not glamorous. It was
7:14never meant to be.
7:16It was an afternoon of small awards for
7:18young volunteers in the region,
7:20teenagers who ran after-school clubs, a
7:23girl who had organized a litter pick
7:24along a canal every Sunday for two
7:26years, two brothers who had rebuilt a
7:29community bike workshop out of a disused
7:31garage, a boy of 16 who read to elderly
7:34neighbors on his street every week. The
7:36organizers had invited William months
7:38earlier. [music] He had accepted months
7:40earlier.
7:41The date had simply landed by chance
7:44three days after the dinner.
7:46When the car pulled up, the
7:48photographers outside were not
7:49interested in canal litter picks. They
7:51wanted one thing. Would he say anything
7:54about the dinner?
7:55He walked past them with a nod.
7:57>> She told me
7:58that everyone has the potential to give
8:00something back, that everyone indeed
8:02deserves a supporting hand in life.
8:04>> Inside, the The smelled of floor polish
8:07and tea urns. There were plastic chairs
8:09in rows, a small stage with a lectern, a
8:12banner that had been hand painted by a
8:14local primary school.
8:16The front row was filled with the award
8:18winners and their families, mothers in
8:20their best coats, grandparents with
8:22cameras,
8:24one little sister holding a balloon.
8:26Catherine sat in the front row too, not
8:28on the stage. She had asked to sit with
8:31the families. [music] There was one more
8:33interruption before he spoke. In the
8:35small side room where the guests had
8:37been given tea, the young aide from
8:39Kensington Palace took a call on her
8:41mobile. [music] It was the same member
8:44of staff from Clarence House. She wanted
8:46to know, as a courtesy, whether his
8:49royal highness would be making any
8:51remarks about the dinner, and if so,
8:54whether a copy of them could be shared
8:55in advance.
8:57The aide went to find William. He was
8:59standing by the window with Catherine,
9:01holding a paper cup of tea that he had
9:03not drunk.
9:05She told him what had been asked. He
9:07looked at Catherine. [music] Catherine
9:09looked at the floor. Tell them there
9:10isn't a copy, William said, which is
9:13true. It's five lines on my knee.
9:16They'll ask what the five lines say,
9:18sir. Then tell them they can watch.
9:20[music] The aide went back to the side
9:22room, picked up her phone, and passed
9:24that on, word for word, except the last
9:27part. She says now she still is not sure
9:30whether she should have softened it.
9:32Then William walked to the lectern, put
9:35the folded sheet of paper down in front
9:36of him, and did not look at it once.
9:39[music] He began by thanking the winners
9:42by name, every single one.
9:44People who were there say that took
9:46nearly four minutes, [music] and he did
9:48not hurry it.
9:49He told the girl from the canal that he
9:51had seen the photographs of what the tow
9:53path looked like before she started.
9:55He asked the two brothers whether the
9:57workshop had a kettle yet. [music] They
9:59said no. He promised them one.
10:02The room relaxed. The local reporter at
10:04the back stopped taking notes.
10:07And then William said this, I want to
10:09say something about the people who do
10:11the work and the people who arrive at
10:13the end of it. The reporter started
10:15writing again. Everyone of you in this
10:17front row has done something [music]
10:19that nobody asked you to do. You did it
10:22when it was cold. You did it when it was
10:24boring.
10:25You did it when no one was watching
10:27[music] and nobody was going to give you
10:28a certificate for it.
10:30He paused. And at some point in your
10:32lives, everyone of you will meet someone
10:35who turns up when the work is finished.
10:38When the room is full, when the lights
10:40are on and the cameras are in place, and
10:42they will stand up and they will start
10:44talking and they will talk as if it was
10:47theirs. Nobody in the hall moved. When
10:49that happens, I hope someone stands next
10:52to you.
10:53And I hope you remember that the work
10:55was yours, not theirs. In the front row,
10:58Catherine kept her eyes on her lap.
11:00[music] At the back of the hall, a young
11:02aide from Kensington Palace, who had
11:04traveled up that morning, took out her
11:06phone and very quietly began typing.
11:08There is a detail about that speech that
11:10very few people know.
11:13The folded sheet of paper William had on
11:15his knee in the car was never a script.
11:18It was a short list of points
11:19handwritten in his own capitals, five of
11:23them. The first said thank them by name.
11:27The second said the work is theirs. The
11:29third said the ones who arrive late.
11:32The fourth said [music] why we went
11:34home. The fifth line had been written
11:36and then crossed out twice, heavily
11:39enough that the pen had nearly gone
11:41through the paper. People close to the
11:42couple say Catherine saw it in the car
11:45and asked him what it had said. He told
11:47her.
11:48She is said to have been quiet for a
11:50moment and then said leave it crossed
11:53out. You don't need it. They'll hear it
11:55anyway.
11:56He folded the paper and put it back on
11:58his knee. What was the crossed out line?
12:01Hold that thought.
12:02Because the moment William reached point
12:04four on that list, the whole room and
12:07very soon the whole country understood
12:09what he was doing. Some of you might
12:11have read, William said, that my wife
12:14and I left a dinner early the other
12:16night. There was a small, uncertain
12:18laugh in the hall.
12:20Nobody had expected him to mention it. I
12:23want to tell you why, not because anyone
12:25is owed an explanation,
12:27but because I think the young people in
12:29this room deserve to hear the honest
12:31version. He looked at the front row.
12:33We went to that dinner because a small
12:35charity asked us to help them raise
12:37money for families who are finding life
12:39very hard.
12:40My wife had something to say. It was
12:42important. She had worked on it for
12:44years. [music] He stopped. She didn't
12:47get to say it the way she should have.
12:49And when that happens, when someone's
12:51work is spoken over, you have a choice.
12:54[music] You can stay and smile and clap
12:58and pretend it didn't matter, or you can
13:00make sure the person who did the work
13:02gets to finish, and then you can go
13:04home. The hall was silent. We stayed for
13:07the speeches.
13:08[music] We stayed until the charity had
13:10what it needed from us, and then we went
13:12home because I wasn't going to sit at a
13:14table and pretend that what happened was
13:16fine. It wasn't. [music]
13:18He did not say Camilla.
13:20He did not have to. At the back of the
13:22hall, the aide's phone buzzed. She
13:24looked down. It was a message from a
13:26colleague in London. It said simply, is
13:30he talking about what I think he's
13:31talking about? She typed back one word,
13:34yes. The local reporter had filmed the
13:37last 90 seconds on her phone. She had
13:39not intended to. She had been about to
13:42put her phone away when William said the
13:44word dinner, and something told her to
13:46press record. By that evening, the clip
13:49was everywhere. [music] People watched
13:51it again and again. The ones who arrive
13:54at the end of it
13:55talk as if it was theirs. I wasn't going
13:58to sit at a table and pretend that what
14:00happened was fine. The comments under
14:02the clip filled up with one phrase over
14:04and over. [music] He meant her. A few
14:07people online insisted he could have
14:09meant anyone. [music] Almost nobody
14:11believed them. At about half past five,
14:14the phone rang in the Kensington Palace
14:16press office.
14:17It was a senior royal editor at one of
14:19the national papers, [music] and he was
14:21not interested in small talk. I need you
14:23to confirm something for me, he said.
14:26When the prince says the ones who arrive
14:28at the end of it, he means Camilla.
14:30Yes?
14:31The press officer had been told what to
14:33say.
14:34She said it.
14:35The prince was speaking about the young
14:37people at the awards and about the
14:39people who do the work.
14:40That isn't an answer. It's the only one
14:43I have. The editor laughed a little
14:45sourly.
14:46You do realize, he said,
14:48that if you won't say no, I'm going to
14:50write that you didn't say no. Then
14:52that's what you'll write, she said, and
14:55the line went quiet.
14:56Inside Clarence House, people say the
14:59clip arrived on the desk of Camilla's
15:01private office at about 6:00 that
15:02evening.
15:03What happened at Clarence House that
15:05night has been described by several
15:07people in slightly different ways.
15:10The broad shape is the same in all of
15:11them. Camilla watched the clip once,
15:14then again with the sound turned up.
15:17Then she asked a member of her staff a
15:19question that the staff member still
15:20remembers word for word.
15:22Did anyone tell him he could do that?
15:24The staff member did not know how to
15:26answer.
15:27William does not need permission to give
15:29a speech at a volunteer awards
15:31afternoon.
15:32He had not named anyone. [music] He had
15:34not criticized anyone directly.
15:37On paper, he had praised teenagers and
15:39explained why he went home early from a
15:41dinner. He didn't say your name, ma'am,
15:44the staff member offered. He didn't need
15:46to, Camilla said.
15:48Everyone in the country knows who he
15:49means.
15:51She asked for a call to be put through
15:52to the king.
15:53This was one weekday a few weeks ago,
15:56and the king was at home. The call was
15:58put through. It lasted, people say,
16:00[music] about 20 minutes.
16:02What was said on that call has never
16:04been confirmed, but one detail has.
16:07When it ended, the king did not ring
16:10William. [music] He rang Catherine.
16:12Put yourself in that front row for a
16:14moment. If you've sat through a speech
16:16that was really about you and said
16:18nothing. [music]
16:19Don't sit silent through this one.
16:22Put in the comments which side of that
16:23room you've stood on. Press like if a
16:26speech with no name can say everything.
16:28[music] Send this to the friend who
16:29taught you when to leave and hit
16:31subscribe on Kensington Herald. [music]
16:33Since the King's question to Catherine
16:35surprised everyone,
16:37Catherine took the call at Forest Lodge
16:39in the kitchen with the children's
16:41school bags still on the table.
16:43Those close to her say she was surprised
16:45it was him. She and the King have always
16:48been warm with each other,
16:49but he does not, as a rule, ring her
16:52directly about family arguments.
16:54That is usually something that passes
16:56between father and son. He did not begin
16:58with the speech. He began by asking how
17:01she was. [music] She said she was fine.
17:03He asked again gently. No, how are you?
17:07Really?
17:08After the other night. And Catherine,
17:10who is famous for not letting things
17:12show, is said to have paused for a long
17:14time before answering. I'd worked on
17:17that speech for a long time, Pa, she
17:19said. It wasn't about me.
17:21It was about those families and I didn't
17:24get to say it properly. The King was
17:26quiet.
17:27Next came the question that the people
17:29who later heard about it still find hard
17:31to believe.
17:32Did William say anything in that hall
17:34today that wasn't true? Catherine
17:37thought about it. No, [music] she said,
17:39nothing.
17:40Then I don't think I can ask him to take
17:42any of it back, the King said.
17:45And that was all. That was the whole of
17:47the King's response to a 20-minute call
17:49from his wife. He did not ring William
17:51to tell him off. He did not issue a
17:53statement. He did not ask for an
17:55apology.
17:57He asked one question, got one answer,
17:59and let it stand.
18:01At Clarence House, that did not go down
18:03well.
18:04People close to the household say
18:06Camilla found out that evening when the
18:08King came through to the sitting room
18:10and she asked whether he had spoken to
18:12William.
18:13I spoke to Catherine, he said.
18:15Catherine,
18:16I asked you to speak to your son.
18:18I know you did, darling,
18:20but it was Catherine who was speaking
18:21that night, and I wanted to hear it from
18:23her. [music] And the king sat down, and
18:27she says he didn't say anything that
18:28wasn't true,
18:30so I'm not going to ask him to take it
18:31back.
18:32Camilla is said to have put down the
18:34glass she was holding rather harder than
18:36she meant to. [music] He stood up in
18:38front of 300 people
18:40and made a fool of me. He stood up in
18:42front of 300 people and thanked some
18:44teenagers, the king said quietly. The
18:47rest of it, everybody filled in for
18:49themselves. She left the room.
18:52He did not follow.
18:53A member of staff who passed the door a
18:55few minutes later says the king was
18:57still sitting in the same chair, looking
18:59at nothing in particular. [music]
19:01Camilla did not let it stand, not at
19:03first.
19:04Over the next two days, [music] a series
19:07of stories began to appear in the
19:08papers. Nobody put a name to them.
19:11They came from friends, from sources
19:13close to Clarence House, from people who
19:16were at the dinner. The stories said
19:18that Camilla had only stood up to help
19:20because Catherine looked nervous,
19:22that she had been invited to speak and
19:24had simply misjudged her moment,
19:26that William's words at the table had
19:28been unnecessarily sharp,
19:31and that leaving early had been a slap
19:32in the face to the charity.
19:34That last one was the one that stung
19:37because it was not true, and the charity
19:39knew it. [music] The woman who runs that
19:41charity, a quiet former social worker
19:44who has spent 20 years building it from
19:46a single room, [music] read the story on
19:48her phone on the train to work.
19:51People who know her say she put the
19:52phone face down on her knee and sat very
19:55still for the rest of the journey. When
19:57she got to the office, she wrote a short
19:59email to her trustees.
20:01It said that William and Catherine had
20:03stayed for every speech, had personally
20:05met the families who had been invited,
20:07and had made a private donation before
20:09they left that was larger than anything
20:11else given that night.
20:13She did not send it to the newspapers.
20:15She sent it to Kensington Palace and
20:18asked whether they would mind if she
20:19said so publicly.
20:21It It on an evening when William and
20:23Catherine had already had the hardest
20:24conversation of the whole week. People
20:27close to them say it happened in the
20:28kitchen at Forest Lodge after the
20:31children had gone up.
20:32The papers were spread out on the table.
20:34William had read the slap in the face to
20:36the charity line three times, and
20:39something in him had finally given way.
20:41I'm going to put it right, he said. One
20:44statement.
20:45We stayed for the speeches, we met the
20:47families, we gave what we gave. Then
20:50it's over. You told your own office that
20:52if you explain it, it sounds like an
20:53excuse, Catherine said. That was before
20:56they started using the charity against
20:58us. They're not using it against us, she
21:01said.
21:02They're using it against her, the
21:03founder. [music] Her name's going to be
21:06in every paper by the weekend if this
21:08keeps going, and she didn't ask for any
21:10of it. William got up and went over to
21:12the window. So I just let them say it.
21:15No, Catherine said. You let the charity
21:18decide.
21:19It's their evening. [music] It always
21:21was. That's what the whole speech was
21:23about, William. You can't stand in a
21:26town hall and say the work is theirs and
21:28then take it back to fight your own
21:30corner.
21:31He stayed silent for a long while.
21:34At last he said, you'd have made a
21:36better job of that speech than I did. I
21:38know, she said. [music]
21:40And for the first time that week, people
21:41say both of them laughed. The answer
21:44came back within the hour.
21:46It was from William's office, [music]
21:48and it was not what she expected. Thank
21:50you.
21:51It's your evening, so it's your choice,
21:54it said. But the donation was meant to
21:56be private, and we'd rather the evening
21:58was remembered for your families than
22:00for us. She read it twice. Then she rang
22:03the office directly, which she had never
22:05done before. [music] The young aide who
22:07had stood at the back of the town hall
22:09answered. I don't understand, the
22:11charity's founder said. They're saying
22:13in the papers that he insulted you all
22:15by leaving. I can put that right in one
22:18sentence. The aide said she understood.
22:21And then she said something that has
22:22been repeated by people close to the
22:24charity ever since. [music]
22:26He said that if he has to defend himself
22:28by talking about money he gave away,
22:31then he's no better than the people who
22:33stand at the end and take the credit.
22:35The founder was silent.
22:37At last she asked, he really did mean
22:39her, didn't he? The aide did not answer,
22:42which the founder said later was an
22:45answer. So what was the fifth line on
22:47that sheet of paper?
22:49The one William crossed out twice, so
22:51hard the pen almost went through?
22:53[music] It took a while for anyone
22:55outside the couple's closest circle to
22:57find out. And when it did come out, it
23:00came from an unexpected direction.
23:03One of the teenagers from the awards
23:04afternoon, the boy who reads to his
23:07elderly neighbors, had been sitting in
23:09the front row right beside the lectern.
23:12When William finished speaking and
23:14walked back to his seat, he left the
23:16folded sheet behind.
23:18The boy picked it up, meaning to hand it
23:20back. He looked at it first. He admits
23:23that. He was 16. He saw the five lines.
23:27He saw the last one crossed out.
23:29And because it had been written in
23:31capitals and crossed out with straight
23:33lines rather than scribbles, he could
23:35still read it. It [music] said, she does
23:38not get Catherine's work.
23:40He folded it back up and walked it over
23:42to William at the end of the event.
23:44William thanked him, put it in his
23:46inside pocket and asked him what book he
23:48was reading to his neighbors at the
23:50moment.
23:51Then William looked down at him for a
23:52moment longer. Did you read it? He
23:55asked. The boy went red to the ears.
23:57[music] Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. William
23:59did not seem angry. People nearby say he
24:02nodded slowly as though he had half
24:04expected it. What did you think? The boy
24:07thought about it properly, the way
24:09teenagers sometimes do.
24:11When an adult asks them a real question,
24:14I think you were right to cross it out,
24:15he said. Everybody knew anyway. William
24:18smiled for the first time that
24:20afternoon. That's what my wife said, he
24:23told him. The boy told his mother about
24:25the paper that night. His mother told
24:27her sister. [music] And, as these things
24:30go, it was not long before people who
24:32write about the royal family heard about
24:34it, too.
24:35Kensington Palace has never confirmed
24:37it, but nobody has denied it either.
24:40[music] And what struck people most was
24:42not the line itself. It was that William
24:44had written it, meant it, and then
24:46chosen not to say it.
24:49That he had stood up in front of 300
24:51people with the sharpest sentence of all
24:53in front of him [music] and left it on
24:54the paper. He meant her. He just didn't
24:57say so. There was one more
24:59confrontation, [music] and it was face
25:01to face. It happened about a week later
25:04at a family occasion at Windsor. Nothing
25:07grand. A Sunday afternoon gathering, a
25:10handful of relatives, tea in a drawing
25:12room. William and Camilla had not spoken
25:15since the dinner. People who were there
25:17say it happened in a corridor near the
25:19door [music] as William was leaving to
25:21collect the children. Camilla was coming
25:23the other way.
25:25There was no one else close by except a
25:27footman holding a tray who did his best
25:30to become part of the wallpaper. Camilla
25:32stopped. That was quite a speech, she
25:34said.
25:35William stopped, too. Thank you, [music]
25:37he said. You might have just rung me if
25:40you had something to say. I did have
25:42something to say, William said. I said
25:44it at the table. You were sitting down
25:47by the end of it. There was a pause. The
25:49footman, people say, did not breathe.
25:51[music]
25:52You made me look ridiculous in front of
25:54the whole country, Camilla said.
25:56And William's answer is the line that
25:58has been repeated more than any other
26:00from this whole story. I didn't say your
26:02name once, he said. If the whole country
26:05thought I meant you, that isn't
26:07something I did. Camilla did not move
26:09aside. [music] You've made that poor
26:11little charity a story, she said. Is
26:13that what you wanted?
26:15Their name in all the papers? Their name
26:17was in the papers because of what your
26:19friends told them, William said. Not
26:21because of me. I asked the charity not
26:24to say a word. Did you ask yours?
26:26Camilla looked at him for a moment.
26:29People who heard about it later say that
26:31was the first moment she seemed unsure
26:33of her ground. I don't know what you
26:34mean by my friends. Then they'll stop,
26:37William said, and it won't matter. Then
26:40he nodded politely, said, Good
26:42afternoon, and walked out to the car.
26:45Catherine was waiting in the passenger
26:47seat. She asked how it had gone. She
26:49said I made her look ridiculous, he
26:51said. And what did you say? He told her.
26:54Catherine was quiet for a moment, and
26:56then she said, You still haven't said
26:58her name, have you?
27:00No. Good, she said. Don't start now. For
27:03a few days nothing happened. Then
27:05something small and unexpected arrived
27:07at the charity's office, a card,
27:10handwritten [music]
27:11from Camilla. The founder opened it at
27:13her desk with two colleagues reading
27:15over her shoulder. It did not mention
27:17William.
27:18It did not mention the dinner directly.
27:20It said that Camilla had been sorry to
27:22read some of what had been written about
27:24the charity in the papers, but she knew
27:26how hard small organizations worked and
27:29that she hoped the evening had been a
27:30success.
27:32It was not an apology, not really.
27:35One of the colleagues reading over the
27:36founder's shoulder said what the other
27:38was thinking. [music] Do we send it to
27:40the palace? William's lot should see
27:42this. The founder shook her head. No,
27:45it's addressed to [music] us. It stays
27:47with us. But if they knew she'd written
27:50at all, [music] surely.
27:52Then it becomes part of their row, the
27:54founder said.
27:56And we've had quite enough of being part
27:57of their row.
27:59She put the card in the drawer of her
28:00desk under the visitor's book [music]
28:03and shut it.
28:04But the founder, who has been around
28:06long enough to know how these things
28:08work, [music] noticed one thing.
28:10The stories in the papers, the ones from
28:12friends and sources close to, [music]
28:14stopped almost overnight. Nobody else
28:17claimed the charity had been insulted.
28:19Nobody else said Camilla had only been
28:21helping. Some people saw the card as a
28:24quiet climb down. Others saw it as
28:26Camilla protecting herself once she
28:28realized the charity was not going to be
28:30on her side. But she did say one thing
28:32to a colleague afternoon. It's the first
28:35time she's mentioned Catherine's
28:36families, she said, even if she still
28:38didn't say Catherine's name. There is a
28:41small coda to this story,
28:43and it is the part William's staff say
28:45he cares about most.
28:47Remember the two brothers who rebuilt
28:49the bike workshop in the old garage, the
28:51ones he asked about a kettle?
28:53A week after the awards, a box arrived
28:56at the workshop.
28:57Inside was a kettle,
28:59a tin of tea, and a packet of chocolate
29:01biscuits.
29:02There was a card in William's
29:04handwriting. It said, [music] the work
29:06is yours.
29:07Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The
29:09older brother has pinned the card on the
29:11wall above the workbench.
29:13He says people who come in to get their
29:15bikes fixed ask about it all the time,
29:17and he tells them the story of the
29:19afternoon a prince came to their town
29:21hall and talked about people who turn up
29:23at the end.
29:24He says most of them ask the same
29:26question. Who did he mean?
29:28And he says he always gives the same
29:30answer. He never said. Then he smiles.
29:33There is one last phone call that very
29:35few people know about. A few days after
29:37the card from Camilla arrived, William
29:40rang the charity's founder himself. No
29:42aid, no office,
29:44just him.
29:46He thanked her for not going to the
29:47papers. [music] I wanted to, she told
29:49him. I nearly did.
29:51I know, he said. I'm glad you asked
29:54first. It was your evening.
29:56It still is. She asked him before he
29:59rang off whether he regretted any of it.
30:01The dinner, the speech, the silence
30:04afterwards.
30:06He said there was only one thing. I wish
30:08my wife had got to finish her speech the
30:10first time, he said.
30:12Everything else was just tidying up. It
30:14comes down to you.
30:16After everything you have heard, the
30:18car, the folded list, the speech, the
30:20crossed-out line, the corridor at
30:22Windsor, who do you think William meant?
30:25If you are certain, type [music] he
30:27meant her below, so everyone who does
30:30the quiet work can see how many of you
30:32noticed.
30:33Hit subscribe on Kensington Herald since
30:35William had one more door to close and
30:38send this to whoever works behind you
30:40unthanked.
30:41The people who keep their heads down are
30:42counting on someone noticing. So answer
30:45in the comments, whose work have you
30:47seen someone else take credit for?
30:49[music] And press like if the sharpest
30:50line belonged on the paper.
30:53In our next video William locks Camilla
30:55out of the late Queen's Gardens at
30:57Frogmore. No key, no [music] gate, and
31:00one gardener who has worked there for
31:02decades knew exactly why.
31:05Go there now. The padlock clicks shut in
31:07the first minute.

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