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It may sound like a dream beat but CNN’s Max Foster didn’t always want to be a royal correspondent – he kind of fell into the role. He was asked to report on the fairytale wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 after covering the UK general election the year before. After that, he was hooked.
“Like most British journalists I didn’t really see it as a serious story, but the night before the wedding, I was interviewing people outside the palace and they had come from all over the world to attend the marriage of a couple they didn’t know and were never likely to meet. Who else has that power? That’s what fascinated me – the fascination – and that’s why I asked to keep doing it,” he told Inside CNN.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge share a kiss on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony after their wedding on April 29, 2011, in London. Credit: LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images
He’s covered them ever since. From parties inside the palace to trips all over the world to more somber occasions like Prince Philip’s funeral and the Queen being rushed to the hospital earlier this month.
Foster had the pleasure of meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in December 2011 at a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of her diamond jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne.
So … what is she like?
“I’ve often been in the room with the Queen but only met her once officially,” he says. “Her brilliant trick is to ask you where you came from, and by the time you have answered, you’re ushered on feeling like you’ve had a conversation, but she hasn’t given anything away at all.”
The Queen greets Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, during a reception to mark the Global Investment Summit, at Windsor Castle on October 19, 2021.
As rumors swirl about the 95-year-old monarch’s health – after her absence from the COP26 climate conference in Scotland last week – Foster says there is a sense of resignation across the nation that the public can’t expect as much from her going forward.
“I think there was a realization that she’s probably been overdoing it, characteristically putting her duty first,” he says.
“She’s so engrained in life for every generation. She’s always been there. I don’t think people can imagine life without her. It won’t hit them straightaway, it’ll hit them in a big moment when they look to her and she’s not there.”
Asked if there’s a big disconnect between the way the royals are depicted in TV shows like Netflix’s “The Crown” versus what they’re like in real life, Foster says there’s a lot of “fiction” around the family in general.
Foster visited the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at Birkhall, their home on the Balmoral estate, for an interview to mark their 10th wedding anniversary in 2015. Credit: Oliver Dann/CNN
“There’s a lot we don’t know about the royal family and it’s very tempting for people to fill in the gaps with what they think happened. But what you end up with is this quite inaccurate view of how they live their lives.”
“We see a lot of the narratives like in ‘The Crown,’ which simply aren’t true, but the public wants them to be. And they don’t get contradicted by the palace because that’s not their role,” he says.
Foster says it’s important to avoid unproven narratives when covering the royals, which is one of the reasons he stays away from watching royal TV shows or “dramatizations of the family’s life that have very cleverly filled in the gaps with fiction.”
“Before you meet them, they feel like quite mystical figures. And when you meet them, they are as human as you or I, with all the same frailties and vulnerabilities. Once you work with them for a while, and have seen how powerful they are on the world stage, you also realize how professional they are and how much they’ve given up in terms of their privacy,” he says.
Foster spoke with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they toured southern Africa in 2019. Credit: David Wilkinson/CNN
“There’s a lot of sacrifice there that you don’t really see from afar. It’s really that idea that they can’t just walk out or go shopping, they can’t express opinions or follow a passion that may compromise the monarchy. You realize that there is sacrifice as well as privilege involved, and the balance didn’t feel right to Meghan and Harry, which is why they opted out,” Foster adds.
Foster won’t spill the beans on what he did – or didn’t – know ahead of Harry and Meghan’s departure from the UK and their life as senior working royals but he does share one of the most common misconceptions around royal protocols – like whether you should bow or curtsey when in the presence of royal family members.
“The royals don’t expect you to follow any of them (the protocols), it’s just that people like to, almost to mark the occasion,” he says.
Want more news about the royals? Stay up to date with CNN’s weekly newsletter, Royal News. Each week, CNN’s Royal Correspondent Max Foster and senior producer Lauren Said-Moorhouse take you behind palace walls and provide context on this historic chapter in the thousand-year history of the British monarchy.
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🗓️ mark your calendars
📚 Read: With just a week to go until Thanksgiving, our experts weigh in on navigating the holidays with unvaccinated friends and family. Plus, some advice on handling those potentially explosive conversations – for a more peaceful turkey day.
🎧 Listen: From Kuala Lumpur’s street food paradise to Buenos Aires’ can’t-miss dishes, rediscover your passion for food, culture and travel with Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – all 12 seasons of the award-winning series are coming to your podcast feed.
📺 Watch: Don’t miss “The Hunt for Planet B” on Saturday. Follow scientists as they build and plan for the December launch of NASA’s Webb Space Telescope – a massive machine that will be able to peer more than 13 billion light-years into deep space, toward the very first stars and galaxies in the universe. Tune in Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.
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– Written and edited by Beryl Adcock, Tricia Escobedo, Melissa Mahtani and Jessica Sooknanan
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