After the Harry Hurricane, Royals Attempt ‘Business as Usual’

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William and Kate will “allow actions to speak louder than words” as they attempt to move on from the explosive revelations in Harry’s book, a friend of the couple told The Daily Beast Thursday.

King Charles is also expected to follow a similar playbook, and “keep calm and carry on” an old friend of his told The Daily Beast.

The “business as usual” messaging came as the royal family began the arduous task of cleaning up after Hurricane Harry Thursday, with Charles in Scotland and William and Kate in England in Liverpool, carrying out decidedly unglamorous, health and community-focused engagements in the January murk.

All were wreathed in smiles, and were as anxious to take to Twitter to prove it as they were to avoid reporters’ questions about Harry’s book.

While there is no doubt a performative element to the cheer, they could at least be satisfied that Spare has not only failed to bring down the monarchy, but appears to have actually destroyed the reputation of its author—in the all-important domestic market at least.

Harry’s memoir has been a massive commercial hit, selling in record numbers.

But all the evidence is that, after reading the book (or some of the millions of words expended on it by journalists), Brits have decided they like Harry even less than they did when they started.

A new YouGov poll published Thursday found the prince’s net favorability rating is now at an astonishing all-time low of -44 (down from -38 just a week ago, pre-book release), making him even more unpopular than Meghan, on a lowly -42.

Most negatively, perhaps, for the Sussexes is that although the young are most likely to have a warm view of the couple, even their support is slipping. Among 18-25s, 39 percent now have a positive impression of Harry and a stunning 49 percent a negative one.

Pre-publication of Spare, 41 percent had a positive impression of him and 41 percent a negative one. Back in the heady days of early December, 49 percent of younglings held a positive view of him and only 29 percent a negative one.

But the numbers among older adults are truly disastrous; incredibly, the poll found that the Sussexes are more disliked by Brits over 65 than Prince Andrew.

So while the royals’ plan for the next few months in the run-up to the coronation on May 6 is, it would appear, as clear as it is unsophisticated—shake a lot of hands in the rain and hope it all blows over—Harry and Meghan have rather more to consider as that key date approaches.

Whether or not they will be invited is one question, and whether they will go if they do get the call-up is another.

There is conflicting intelligence on this key issue. Some sources say that in attacking Camilla, Harry has crossed a red line and will not be invited. Other reports say that the king will be magnanimous and issue an invitation. A third way was proposed by a report in the Independent this week which said the couple would be invited but expected not to go—but leaving themselves twisting in the wind, at the mercy of the Sussexes, seems an unlikely prospect. It’s not how the royals roll. On the contrary, an invitation to the event will mean, quite firmly: Come.

The truth is that it is a decision for the king, and the king does not need to decide yet, and probably won’t until the last possible moment. He will be closely guided by private polling and his team of advisers, including his private secretary Sir Clive Alderton—memorably parodied as “the Wasp” in Harry’s book—and William’s former secretary, “the Fly,” Simon Case who is now at the heart of the British government as the country’s most senior civil servant but is understood to still advise the royals.

Some counselors will argue that to invite Harry will create a distracting sideshow, and others will say that not doing so risks being perceived as petty and vindictive.

Ultimately, the right and proper thing to do is to invite his son to his coronation, which is why, despite the brickbats being thrown at Camilla, many think Charles will eventually do just that.

If the invitation does arrive, Harry and Meghan will have to consider whether they are prepared to run the very real risk of being booed by an irate domestic crowd as they enter the church. Being catcalled in front of a global audience of billions isn’t ideal for brand-building.

Prince Harry’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast (neither did Charles’ office) but Harry suggested in his interview with Britain’s Tom Bradby that he would not attend unless he got an apology from the Palace first.

That is not going to happen, but the Sussexes might still decide that a big opportunity to be royal-adjacent is too important a moment to miss.

This weekend, however, there is a sense that the circus is leaving town, and the world, oddly, looks not much different to the time before it arrived.

Prince Harry has packed up his metaphorical bags and retreated to his Montecito mansion, with no further interviews, podcasts or public appearances to support his memoir, Spare, being announced.

In Scotland the king visited a “Men’s Shed” project in Aberdeenshire, and visited a foodbank (Charles singled out foodbank volunteers for particular praise in his Christmas address.)

William and Kate toured the Royal Hospital in the city of Liverpool for their first post-Spare encounter with the public.

It went well, with the couple being “greeted with a huge cheer” according to the Daily Mail, while a patient, identified as Sylvia, 81, by the Mail told William, “Keep going Will, Scousers [Liverpudlians] love you.”

William replied: “I will do.”

And of course he will.

What other choice does he have?

A spokesperson for William and Kate declined to comment on Harry’s book, but said the couple would be “busy with engagements over the next few weeks,” adding that a particular focus would be the princess’s Early Years campaign launch later this month.