Royal biographer Omid Scobie’s latest, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, questions the validity of the monarchy, but he’s certainly not the first to do it. Long before he did in his book (which is out November 28), a member of the family herself asked about the Firm’s relevance—in a very awkward setting.
Princess Diana stunned the royal family into silence during a particularly tense Christmas dinner, The Mirror reports, when she decided to start a debate over its relevance. “She is believed to have raised the question as to whether the royals would remain pertinent in a federal Europe, leaving the likes of the Queen and husband Prince Charles shocked,” the outlet reports.
