A recent edition of Private Eye included a column by “Flunkey”, the magazine’s royal-watcher, which suggested that “a sense of drift” has already descended on the reign of King Charles III. Evidence of this, the writer pointed out, included the fact that the new king “has spent just two nights abroad on state business … [and] against advice, he attended all five days at Royal Ascot. When Prince of Wales he would only go to the first two, declaring it an indulgence when there was ‘real work’ to be done.”
So the royal advisers will presumably be seething that both King Charles and Queen Camilla are expected to be at Doncaster for the St Leger on Saturday, when their colt Desert Hero will attempt to become the first winner of an English Classic in the historic scarlet and purple royal colours since Dunfermline in the same race in 1977.
