It’s hard not to have sympathy for Elizabeth II, Queen
of the United Kingdom and the Realms of the Commonwealth. The woman, who will be
making history as the first British monarch to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee
(70-years) has dedicated her entire life to serving her people. She has avoided
giving press interviews or commenting on any of the issues of the day, thus
keeping the monarchy as a bastion of political neutrality and more importantly,
she’s kept her private life pretty much to herself, thus being the perfect symbol
for the nation. At the age of 95, she continues to meet with the Prime Minister
of the Day on weekly basis and by all accounts has a very good grasp of what’s
going on in both the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth.
Yet, despite her dedicated service to the nation, her
children have been something of a letdown. Her heir, Prince Charles was
involved in the soap opera of the century with his ex-wife Diana and has a way of
voicing his opinions in public, which doesn’t always sit will with the politicians
he will be expected to deal with. Her favorite grandson, Prince Harry, the Duke
of Sussex, married a TV star and proceeded to leave the family for life as a
Champion of Wokedom in California. Now, there’s the story of her second son,
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, whom a judge in New York, has decided, should
face a legal suite for sexual abuse of a minor. It should have come as no
surprise that the Queen had to strip him of his military ranks, patronages and
more importantly the “HRH” (His Royal Highness).
It’s this simple, the Queen had no choice in the matter.
It was the choice of her favourite child or the institution of monarchy and
given her history of service to the institution and the nation, she chose the
latter. More details can be found at:
While the Prince has yet to be convicted in a court of law,
he’s behaved in a way that has led him to be convicted in the Court of Public
Opinion. He has been dangerously loyal to known criminals in the public domain.
He has been famously uncooperative with law enforcement and most recently, he
tried to hide behind a legal technicality, which failed spectacularly. Try as
he might, Prince Andrew will most certainly never be forgotten for the disastrous
2019 interview he gave with the BBC, where he claimed he was unable to sweat
because of his experiences in the Falklands War:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBS8COhhhM
However, that is actually not true. His older sister,
Anne who is even further away from the throne (Anne being born in the era when
women only sniffed at the throne when there were no male heirs) is famous for
working hard at her royal duties and using her position to do good. She’s also
kept her children away from the limelight, thus allowing them to have “normal”
lives.
Then there’s the fact that while people might forgive a
little mischief, a shifty criminal is a different story and in his PR efforts,
the Duke of York has been a walking disaster. This should be a surprise because
when you are born into the Royal Family, you are born with the very idea that
your very existence depends on public goodwill and that goodwill comes from having
a good working relationship with the media.
You would imagine that PR savvy is part of the territory
of being in the public eye 24/7 and if you are not by nature, PR savvy, you have
the means to hire the best. In places where the press is paid to dig and ask
questions, being able to mange PR is essential for public figures.
Whatever is said of the institution of monarchy around
the world, many of the world’s royals have become media savvy. Princess Diana
was exceedingly good at it (even if she moaned about how the paparazzi made her
life miserable). Amongst the Gen X monarchs, one of the best in King Abdullah
of Jordan, who has cultivated an image of a dynamic “warrior.” Then there’s the
Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum and the Prince
Azim of Brunei who have become social media stars.
https://www.businessinsider.com/king-abduallh-of-jordan-is-a-total-badass-2015-2
Let’s face it, one of the golden rules in PR is to
tell your story first. If you tell your story first, you’re more likely to come
across as being upfront and honest. You also set the other side of the
defensive when you get tell your story first.
Then, there’s the issue of “appearing” confident and
credible. Now, there are people who are natural on television. If I look at the
people I’ve worked with, one of the best is the chairman of Apex-Avalon, Mr.
Girija Pande, who relishes live TV interviews. In all of his interviews, Mr.Pande has come across as exceedingly knowledgeable and dynamic interview
subject.
However, there are people, particularly in the local
Singapore corporate scene, who are not comfortable with live television. I’ve
had clients who were very specific about keeping their interactions to the
print media.
The other thing is that you need to know your audience
when engaging the media. Think of every media interview as having a chat with a
mate.
You would have believed that Prince Andrew would have
had the type of people who would have understood these basic facts. However, as
seen from the BBC interview, he did not. So, who was on the team that allowed him
to screw himself on live TV?
Well, it turns out that the PR consultant was quashed
by a gang who were more interested in helping the prince hide from the news
than in making the news:
The actual PR advisor, who got overruled, could have
saved him a lot of grief. However, when you would rather take advice from
someone called “Good News” rather than “News” it shows that you are not living
in reality because all you hear is the stuff you want to hear rather than the
stuff you need to hear.
It goes without saying that his actual PR advisor quit
after the disaster of the BBC interview.
Anyone who wants to be a public figure, needs to
understand that they need to have a degree of control on things. They need to
understand that the media’s job, as was so eloquently put by Fox News host,
Neil Cavuto is to “Cover them” not to “Fawn” over them. Survival depends on
communicating with the public via the media. PR advisors are not expensive
trophies but a necessary part of survival.
No comments
Post a Comment