3-74

74.

We got word from Sara that The Sun was about to run a story saying The Duke and Duchess of

Sussex were stepping away from their royal duties to spend more time in Canada. A sad little man,

the newspaper’s showbiz editor, was said to be the lead reporter on the story.

Why him? Why, of all people, the showbiz guy?

Because lately he’d refashioned himself into some sort of quasi royal correspondent, largely

on the strength of his secret relationship with one particularly close friend of Willy’s comms

secretary—who fed him trivial (and mostly fake) gossip.

He was sure to get everything wrong, as he’d got everything wrong on his last big “exclusive,”

Tiaragate. He was equally sure to cram¹ his story into the paper as fast as possible, because he was

likely working in concert with the Palace, whose courtiers were determined² to get ahead of us and

spin the story. We didn’t want that. We didn’t want anyone else breaking our news, twisting our

news.

We’d have to rush out a statement.

I phoned Granny again, told her about The Sun, told her we might need to hurry out a

statement. She understood. She’d allow it, so long as it didn’t “add to speculation³.”

I didn’t tell her exactly what our statement would say. She didn’t ask. But also I didn’t fully⁴

know yet. I gave her the gist⁵, however, and mentioned some of the basic details I’d outlined in the

memo⁶ Pa had demanded and which she’d seen.

The wording needed to be precise. And it needed to be bland—calm. We didn’t want to assign

any blame, didn’t want to stoke the fires. Mustn’t add to speculation.

Formidable writing challenge.

We soon realized it wasn’t possible; we didn’t have time to get our statement out there first.

We opened a bottle of wine. Proceed, sad little man, proceed.

He did. The Sun posted his story late that night, and again on the morning’s front page.

Headline: WE’RE ORF!

As expected, the story depicted⁷ our departure as a rollicking, carefree, hedonistic tapping out,

rather than a careful retreat and attempt at self-preservation. It also included the telling detail that

we’d offered to relinquish⁸ our Sussex titles. There was only one document on earth in which that

detail was mentioned—my private and confidential⁹ letter to my father.

To which a shockingly, damningly small number of people had access. We hadn’t mentioned

it to even our closest friends.

January 7, we worked some more on the draft, did a brief public appearance, met with our

staff. Finally, knowing more details were about to be leaked, on January 8 we hunkered down deep

inside Buckingham Palace, in one of the main state rooms, with the two most senior members of

our staff.

I’d always liked that state room. Its pale walls, its sparkly crystal chandelier. But now it struck

me as especially lovely and I thought: Has it always been so? Has it always looked so…royal?

In a corner of the state room was a grand wooden desk. We used this as our workspace. We

took turns sitting there, typing on a laptop. We tried out different phrases. We wanted to say that

we were taking a reduced role, stepping back but not down. Hard to get the exact wording, the

right tone. Serious, but respectful.

Occasionally one of us would stretch out in a nearby armchair, or give the eyes a rest by

gazing out of the two huge windows onto the gardens. When I needed a longer break I set off on a

trek¹⁰ across the oceanic carpet. On the far side of the room, in the left corner, a small door led to

the Belgian Suite¹¹, where Meg and I had once spent the night. In the near corner stood two tall

wooden doors, the kind people think of when they hear the word “palace.” These led to a room in

which I’d attended countless¹² cocktail¹³ parties. I thought back on those gatherings¹⁴, on all the good

times I’d had in this place.

I remembered: The room right next door was where the family always gathered for drinks

before Christmas lunch.

I went out into the hall. There was a tall, beautiful Christmas tree, still brightly lit. I stood

before it, reminiscing. I removed two ornaments¹⁵, soft little corgis, and brought them back to the

staffers. One each. Souvenir of this strange mission, I said.

They were touched. But a bit guilty.

I assured them: No one will miss ’em.

Words that seemed double-edged.

Late in the day, as we crawled closer to a final draft, the staffers began to feel anxious. They

worried aloud if their involvement would be discovered. If so, what would it mean for their jobs?

But mostly they were excited. They felt that they were on the side of right; both had read every

word of abuse in the press and on social media, going back months and months.

At six p.m. it was done. We gathered around the laptop, read the draft one last time. One

staffer messaged the private secretaries of Granny, Pa and Willy, told them what was coming.

Willy’s guy replied immediately: This is going to go nuclear.

I knew, of course, that many Britons would be shocked, and saddened, which made my

stomach churn. But in due course, once they knew the truth, I felt confident they’d understand.

One of the staffers said: Are we doing this?

Meg and I both said:

Yes. There’s no other choice.

We sent the statement to our social media person. Within a minute there it was, live, on our

Instagram page, the only platform available to us. We all hugged, wiped our eyes, and quickly

gathered our things.

Meg and I walked out of the Palace and jumped into our car. As we sped towards Frogmore

the news was already on the radio. Every channel. We picked one. Magic FM. Meg’s favorite. We

listened to the presenter¹⁶ work himself into a very British lather¹⁷. We held hands and shared a smile

with our bodyguards¹⁸ in the front seat. Then we all gazed silently out of the windows.

1 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。

2 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

3 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 gist   

n.要旨；梗概

参考例句：

• Can you give me the gist of this report?你能告诉我这个报告的要点吗？
• He is quick in grasping the gist of a book.他敏于了解书的要点。

6 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

7 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

8 relinquish   

v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手

参考例句：

• He was forced to relinquish control of the company.他被迫放弃公司的掌控权。
• They will never voluntarily relinquish their independence.他们绝对不会自动放弃独立。

9 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

10 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

11 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

12 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

13 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

14 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

15 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

17 lather   

n.(肥皂水的)泡沫，激动

参考例句：

• Soap will not lather in sea-water.肥皂在海水里不起泡沫。
• He always gets in a lather when he has an argument with his wife.当他与妻子发生争论时他总是很激动。

18 bodyguards   

n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks came to Jim's office accompanied—like always—by his two bodyguards. 和往常一样，在两名保镖的陪同下，布鲁克斯去吉姆的办公室。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Three of his bodyguards were injured in the attack. 在这次袭击事件中，他有3名保镖受了伤。 来自辞典例句