The Royal Family: Are distractions being moved into place?

Have you noticed that there haven't been any public photos of the Cambridge children recently? In fact, no photos have been released since Prince Charles' birthday in November 2018, and those photos were probably taken in October, around the time of Princess Eugenie's wedding. The kids have been out of sight for six months.

George and Charlotte were spotted playing in Kensington Park this week, so they're fortunately doing well. But their parents are carefully keeping them out of the public eye for what seems like a longer period than usual. (Poor Gary Janetti - he keeps having to re-use the same old photos of Prince George.)

Is this just good parenting - letting the kids have as normal a childhood as possible - or is there another reason for the long delay?

Beatrice and her boyfriend

At the same time, Princess Beatrice and her boyfriend, Edo Mozzi, have started to be photographed together. They attended their first gala at the National Portrait Gallery this month, and appeared in obviously set-up paparazzi shots in New York City last weekend.

Edo isn't particularly popular with the public, perhaps because he's a bit of a pretty boy who seems all too happy to be photographed. There's also the matter of his two-year-old son Wolfie, conceived with a Chinese-American architect. While Dara Huang hasn't spoken publicly about their breakup, her parents told UK newspapers that Edo and Dara were still a couple when Edo began dating Beatrice.

Whether or not that's true - living in Florida, Dara's Mom and Dad might not have had the latest info about the health of their daughter's London-based relationship - Edo has been written off as a cad by some Royal followers, while others suggest his involvement with Bea is an attempt to promote his high-end property development business. Some even say the slim, artistic-looking Edo reminds them of Princess Margaret's terrible husband, Anthony Armstrong-Jones. 

But Bea and her family have known Edo and his family for decades, and despite his Italian name, he is a well-connected British aristocrat. Edo knows how "the Firm" works and what would be required of him if he joined it. He's no male Meghan Markle. 

Besides, Edo has money, a great deal of money. And Bea needs money - neither her father Prince Andrew nor her mother Fergie has much to offer her. 

Could the last Royal Wedding of this generation be on its way?

Distractions from bad news

If I were the British Royal Family, and I was about to launch some bad news - say, about a bumbling, immature prince and his conniving American wife - wouldn't it be a good idea to have some excellent distractions put aside to take attention away from that bad news?

For example, some wonderful new images of Prince George taking a riding lesson? George has probably grown a lot since October - like his father and grandmother Diana, he is naturally tall. It would be fun to see him in riding gear, being introduced to the family passion for horses.

Or perhaps photos of Princess Charlotte out on a nature walk with her mother, or at church with her great-grandmother? Many people have remarked on Charlotte's resemblance to Queen Elizabeth. 

Another good distraction would be an engagement for Beatrice and all the planning that would be required for a Royal Wedding - a wedding that would include, for the first time in recent history, the bride's stepson.

That would certainly make the Royal Family look inclusive and up-to-date, wouldn't it?

Prince Andrew's Role

Prince Andrew would probably give that marriage his blessing. And he would certainly be happy to play a role in the denouement of Meghan Markle's time with the Royal Family - Andrew has been opposed to Meghan since she first began appearing with the family, perhaps because he has inside knowledge of Meg's past from his own interaction with questionable people and questionable places.

Andrew appeared with his daughter Eugenie at an event this week at the hospital where Eugenie underwent spinal surgery. Eugenie's new husband, Jack Brooksbank, was along too as Eugenie was made the patron of the hospital.

The Queen's second son has long wanted to promote his daughters to full-time royal status, and that seems nearer now than it has been in a long time.

Eugenie's Revenge

Actually, Andrew's own status seems to be improving; as the only unmarried son of his generation, he's been the obvious choice to accompany his mother to events now that his father Prince Philip is retired.  

If a distraction to a disastrous Meghan Markle story is needed, Andrew and his daughters will be more than happy to provide it.

For Eugenie, there's a bit of revenge in there as well. Eugenie's wedding was originally scheduled for spring 2018, but it had to be pushed back in order to create room for Harry and Meghan's wedding.

When Eugenie finally did get her ceremony in October 2018, Meghan stole the focus by announcing she was pregnant at what must have been a very early stage - around 10 weeks.

(There's some discussion about whether she announced it at the actual ceremony, but she did wear a maternity-looking coat that had everyone talking, and made the official announcement on the Monday after the Saturday ceremony, ruining Eugenie's chance to be the lead item in that week's photo-based media.)

Wouldn't it be ironic if the antidote to some very bad news about Meghan Markle was a happy pregnancy announcement from Eugenie?