And why wouldn’t royals lie on a shrink’s couch? They might as well need to entrust their pain and suffering to a specialist. While Elizabeth II’s motto, “Never explain, never complain”seems to be the rule not to transgress, it is clear that several members of the elite would have needed to be listened to not to crack. Weight of family and function, place in the order of succession, to find one’s way. Behind the high walls of the palaces, hide men and women, made of chairs and blood, who bear the weight of the crown, but also that of their worries.

Gala.fr: Last September, Charles III ascended the throne of England. A very committed man, now reduced to silence. Isn’t that terribly frustrating?

Institutionally and constitutionally yes, he is obliged to be silent. But there are necessarily natures, temperaments, educations and generations, which make it more or less to force the line or not, and I think that by its nature, it will be more difficult. The silences are going to be different. But he is ripe for the role. He didn’t just wait. I even think that it was created for the first time the function. It’s much simpler for William. The Prince of Wales is a viceroy after all. With a freedom of speech that the queen did not have.

Gala.fr: His two sons, William, the heir to the throne and Harry, his younger brother, have been at odds for several months. Are they too different to get along now?

PT: I think the two brothers suffered from the disunity of their parents and they looked to their wives for an antidote. When Harry meets Meghan, he needs to break the shackles he is in. William was seduced by the Middleton clanby their ties, the siblings, their affection, this very “middle class” side and these parents who do not hesitate to tell their children that they love. The Middletons provided a safe haven for William.

Harry always looked for an escape and he found it in the person of Meghan. She has something of Diana in her. He found in her a partner in crime. But Meghan did not take the measure of the role. To be a princess is above all to inaugurate retirement homes and factories in the depths of Wales when it rains on Thursdays. Unfortunately, the press and the men in gray have not been very patient with her. There was still a huge cultural chasm between an American star ready to send emails at 4am and an old machine which is the world of the Windsors. The Sussexes soon realized they wanted something else. They understood that they were doomed to play second fiddle and that it would go from bad to worse. They both appear indomitable.

Gala.fr: Is the role of cadet complicated to live?

PT: When one is a cadet, and unless there is an accident in history, one will never reign, what is your place in this system? There are more examples of unhappy cadets than happy cadets. This is a sign that the status is difficult. We cannot have complete freedom. We are kept silentthe sovereign is represented. What meaning can you give to your life when you are an eternal extra?

Gala.fr: Meghan Markle, Charlene of Monaco, Letizia from Spain : it is so difficult when one is a commoner to enter a royal family?

PT: Entering a royal family when you don’t have the codes proves to be complex. Before, marriages developed between people of great nobility. With social networks and an all-powerful press today, the slightest misstep is live and planetary. In the 60s, if a tiara fell in the soup, no one was there to film it.

Gala.fr: Do monarchical systems, by their rigidity and their protocol, break those who fail to integrate?

PT: You have to be able to fit into the mold and make concessions, at the risk of losing a part of yourself, to accept losing one’s voice. In the case of Meghan Markle, when you are a woman, an activist, who, as a child, managed to bring down a large industrial group and you no longer even have the right to defend yourself in the tabloids… We can compare the situation to that of Masako from Japan who has completely lost his voice.

Gala.fr: Amalia from the Netherlands, Leonor of Spain… In the next few years, more and more women will be brought to rule. Is it even more difficult for men to find their place by their side?

PT: For men who marry a queen, I think it’s generational. For a Daniel from Sweden it’s no more complicated than a Mary Donaldson. But it was very hard for the prince philip, Prince Henrik of Denmark or Claus from the Netherlands, who lived in the shadow of their wives and who suffered a lot.

Gala.fr: In your book you quote Margaret Rodes: “The Almighty usually brings the right people into being first.” What if the order of succession was done differently? On merit, for example?

PT: It would be so interesting. A modern, elective monarchy, a monarchy which would be based on the number of commitments why not.

Gala.fr: A word about William of Luxemburgwho could choose his destiny?

PT: Many monarchies know a vocations crisis : when a child or a teenager realizes what his destiny will be, there must be a moment of rebellion, where he is not sure if he wants a destiny that has been chosen for him. I met Maria Teresa from Luxembourg, and she explained to me what they had said to their son Guillaume : “Think and come back to us”. But what would have been their decision if he had finally said: “I will not assume this fate”? Abdication or renunciation is possible. But I think that the absence of choice and free will are part of the limits of the modernity of royal families. It’s accept or break.

Gala.fr: Last September, Margrethe II has decided to withdraw their titles from four of her grandchildren. A blow for them, but also for Prince Joachim?

PT: The tightened monarchy is not new, it is something that exists with each generation change. What is new is that it is prepared before the death of the sovereign. What Margrethe II did, this is what the king of Sweden did two years ago. We could nevertheless wonder if we can’t do things a little earlier… The title is part of their identity. In the case of Denmark, Prince Joachim saw it personally as one more injustice. A questioning of who he is, as a former number 2.

Gala.fr: Far from the Rock for months, the absence of Charlene from Monaco has been the subject of many rumours. What if, like Harry, she has decided to deliver her truth?

PT: I think a maintenance book needs him good, and I think Albert of Monaco can. Telling your story, without the need for a figurehead, is possible today in Monaco, certainly more so than elsewhere. I think the prince is a loving husband and that he certainly suffered to see his wife suffering. If the princess is ready for it, then the world is too. But it would not be scandalous, rather an example of its kind. Beyond curiosity, there would be a strong sense of empathy and a possibility to move the lines. And that would be very brave.

Gala.fr: Do you think that the word of the royals really has an impact?

PT: I think yes. We are beyond fame, which is fleeting, even in very long careers. I think the royal families have chosen something else. These are people who stay and are part of the family.

Photo credits: @BESTIMAGE / GALA ARTISTIC DIRECTION