Charles' Recruitment of Daily Mail Executive Contrasts Immigration Comments

Recent news that Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall have appointed a former deputy editor of the Daily Mail to be their communications secretary comes in contrast to his liberal comment on a polarizing government immigration policy, that's according to a new episode of Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast.

Speaking to chief royal correspondent Jack Royston and royal commentator Kristen Meinzer, Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a prominent voice on race in Britain, said of Charles' staff appointment: "What message does he think he's sending?"

News that Charles and Camilla have appointed deputy Daily Mail editor Tobyn Andreae as their communications secretary was reported by The Sunday Times on July 2.

The appointment has raised eyebrows among royal commentators given that the newspaper's parent company, Associated Newspapers PLC, has been sued a number of times by Charles' son and daughter-in-law, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

One of these lawsuits filed by Harry, claims a report made by the Mail on Sunday led readers to believe that he attempted to mislead the public over his offer to pay the U.K Home Office for increased security, is ongoing.

On Friday, a High Court judge ruled that the article published by the newspaper did contain defamatory claims, this begins a legal process that will see Associated Newspapers defend their publication of the article in an attempt to avoid paying damages.

Given the history between Charles' own family and the Daily Mail, Mos-Shogbamimu said of Andreae's royal appointment: "What message is this sending to the rest of us?"

"We know that your son and daughter-in-law had issues with this organization," she said, "and then you go and hire someone at the senior level of this organization who, potentially, if not was actually active in the defamation and discrimination and all of the bad press that your son and daughter-in-law had!"

"I question the intention of Charles and Camilla in making this decision and I question it because the only thing that this can lead to... is causing more of a divide," she continued.

"I think that if they genuinely cared about the mental health of Harry and Meghan, if they genuinely cared about the reputation of Harry and Meghan, if they cared about having a progressive change about how you do things, the last place you go to is the 'Daily Fail.'"

Royston then raised the apparent disparity between the royals looking to a notoriously right-wing media outlet for a key member of staff and his recent liberal comments on an immigration policy that would see migrants who travel to Britain illegally face deportation to Rwanda.

"We've had Charles recently make some critical comments, in private admittedly, of the government over its immigration policy in Rwanda," Rosyton told Mos-Shogbamimu, "and the Daily Mail has been quite supportive of that policy and been quite anti-immigration over the years."

In June, The Times published a story citing a royal source which said:

"He (Charles) said he was more than disappointed at the policy...He said he thinks the government's whole approach is appalling. It was clear he was not impressed with the government's direction of travel."

These comments caused backlash from right-wing commentators including the former leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, who said: "Unless Prince Charles wants to destroy the monarchy he had better shut up fast."

Though Charles has no constitutional obligation to disengage from politics, as a future monarch, there is a social expectation that he remain neutral so as not to compromise his eventual impartiality as king.

"I was genuinely surprised when he made that comment about Rwanda," Mos-Shogbamimu responded.

"I suspect he was the one who allowed it to be shared...The way I see it is the Rwanda policy is as extreme as you can possibly get in what is meant to be a liberal society...and even Prince Charles is appalled by it," she said.

"I think it is important for us to hear more comments like this from the royal family because I am sick and tired of 'be silent, don't do anything'."

This leak of the prince's seemingly liberal stance on the Rwanda policy led Meinzer to highlight the mixed message that the hiring Andreae sends.

"This begs the question Shola, we have Prince Charles siding with one faction of the country and then we have him teaming up with this far-right media brand and that far-right media brand, as we said has been very hurtful to Harry and Meghan," she said.

"I feel like we're getting a lot of mixed messages here."

"On one hand Prince Charles is playing the 'look I'm here with the public supporting this side that says Rwanda is bad,'" Mos-Shogbamimu said.

"But then he's working hand-in-hand with somebody who is very senior at the Daily Mail which has been very anti-immegration, very pro-Rwanda."

"I do not think Prince Charles is doing himself a favor," she continued, "knowing fully well that the narrative that will be pushed out there is 'you hired someone from a paper that your son and daughter-in-law sued, so what are you doing?'"

"The question is what public image is he looking for? What is he looking to achieve here?"

Mos-Shogbamimu then ended the discussion by expressing a wish for the royal to explain Andreae's appointment:

"Prince Charles needs to explain his decision," she concluded, "especially if it's for PR...let us understand why you chose this person, for me that would make sense."