Articles d'Echo dans PR Week

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the three Princes' interview with Ant and Dec was just how unremarkable the Royals appeared to be. The unprecedented interview with Charles, William and Harry to mark the 30th anniversary of the Prince's Trust successfully revealed how ordinary and down to earth the Princes are, despite being variously perceived out-of-touch, grumpy and yobbish. The "heart-warming anecdotes of Windsor family domesticity" (Times, 19/5) included Harry and Wills' arguments about the remote control, how rubbish they are at cooking, their taste in music, and how much they enjoy reality TV. "'Princes 'watch Pop Idol!'" (viewlondon.co.uk, 19/5); "Royals reveal rows over remote" (bbc.co.uk, 19/5) ran the anodyne headlines. Nothing negative, nothing controversial there: "Hey! Look at them! They're just like us" noted Megastar.co.uk (19/5).

And therein lay the interview's genius. Announced in December last year, it was hailed as a "master stroke and PR coup" … "a calculated bid to modernise the royals and keep the Windsor brand alive" (Guardian, 8/12/05). With the exception of Prince Charles' Eeyore-ish confession that he likes Leonard Cohen, thus "spoiling the contrived atmosphere of casual modernity" (Guardian, 20/5) - it seems the Buck House Press Office's skilful manoeuvering of the royal family into the 21st century continues apace.