I enjoy the pageantry of the royal family as much as anyone.

Listen to this article

I like covering royal weddings. I’m interested in the flummery, and I think, on the whole, we do it rather well in this country. But there is a serious side to the monarchy, and that side is now being tested to the hilt.

That is why I was so taken aback to hear the Prince of Wales on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks discussing his own mental health. In normal circumstances, I would welcome it. He spoke about learning to understand your emotions, about checking in with yourself, about recognising that even a serious mental health crisis can pass. There is nothing objectionable in that message.

But these are not normal circumstances.

The royal family remains embroiled in the fallout from Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and the conduct and associations of the Duke of York. Questions persist about what Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor did, who he saw, and what senior members of the royal household knew about it. Those questions have not been answered in any comprehensive way. They hang over the institution.

We have been told through briefings that Prince William........

© LBC