“Jonty is quite happy, but if there is a bit of a crisis, then he is very happy and certainly more than capable to deal with it. He started his job at the Palace when the previous King was around, so the job description is the same, but the actual work involved has changed dramatically. He is quite an old school character – he certainly doesn’t own a blackberry. He is of my own generation, around when Thatcher was in power and when yuppies were king. Although he doesn’t cling to the past, it still very much defines who he is.
“There are two things to think about when it comes to the Royal Family: the institution - the Monarchy itself - and the people who are the incumbents. I personally would find that life very difficult from a privacy point of view - I really don’t know how they do it. But then the Monarchy itself is such a big part of British life. You can’t get around it. Even the people who eschew it and want nothing to do with it are actually affected by it, by the very fact that they are actually criticising it.
“The story moves along at a great pace and no-one has really dealt with the subject before. When I first read it, I thought “You can’t do that.” After the first read, I realised of course that we can because, in the backs of their minds, people will realise that this is never actually supposed to be our Royal Family. It’s only the institution of the Monarchy. If you are holding a mirror up to nature, this is as good a reflection of it as you are going to get. It’s a challenging piece in that sense.”
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