On Thursday the doors of Kensington Palace swung open to welcome an eager public. Its new exhibition, Untold Lives, offers to shine a light for the first time on all the staff who have worked behind the scenes over the centuries, those stage managers who ensure the smooth running of “the business they call showbusiness” … in other words, the monarchy.
It was sweetly ironic timing as much of the wider world remained agog, guessing at exactly what was going on inside the walls of that very palace. Ill-informed speculation on social media and lurid reports in the foreign press were running riot. Avid royal watchers wondered if the Princess of Wales, still scheduled to be out of action after an operation, was seriously ill, or perhaps even about to quit her role.
