Prince Charles tests positive for COVID-19
COVID-19 has hit the British Royal Family directly with the announcement that Prince Charles has tested positive for the Corona virus.
Since it hit the news about Prince Charles at 11 am today, Royal Commentator and eminent speaker Dickie Arbiter has, as always, been inundated with interview requests by the world’s press. Dickie says the Prince has the mild symptoms and in good spirits which means he will be carrying on working behind the scenes in self isolation. The Prince last saw his mother on the 12th March at Buckingham Palace and hasn’t seen his father since the Christmas gathering at Sandringham.
The former and best known of all the Royal Press Secretaries, Dickie was only discussing in Hello Magazine (published 21.03.2020) how HM Queen Elizabeth ll is facing the biggest crisis of her reign as COVID-19 affects the whole globe. Indeed, he says it is the biggest international crisis HM the Queen has faced since WWll.
In the interview Dickie says,” the nation gas always seen her as a reassuring presence and, even though she doesn’t have the answers, she remains stoic and calm at times like this. As head of state, life has to go on as vest it can for Her Majesty, but she is taking precautions and sensibly left for her Easter break at Windsor Castle a week earlier than usual.”
He continues, “The Queen isn’t in a position to advise us what to do because she is not an expert. Like everyone else, she will be concerned because we are dealing with an unknown. But she is listening to and heeding the expert’s advice and, as ever, taking the lead – and hoping her people will follow.
Dickie Arbiter LVO is a highly respected expert who has been commentating about the Royal Family for the past 50 years and is the man the press always turns to for straight and factual detail.
He is also a superb speaker not only on the Royal Family but on Press and Royal relationships, and Communications as a whole.
Dickie was also media manager for Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, Dickie Arbiter has had unprecedented access to some of the most notable figures of our time. With almost five decades of experience covering royalty as a broadcaster, journalist and Royal Press Secretary, he is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and sought-after experts on the British Monarchy working today.
The only Royal Commentator to witness both the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and her Diamond Jubilee he has been responsible for media managing many ceremonial occasions. These include several major state events inside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and The Queen’s major UK engagements. Furthermore, he oversaw media requirements for the funeral of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Dickie Arbiter began his television and radio career in the 1960s in Southern Africa. He returned home to the UK in the 1970s.
From there on in he began travelling extensively both at home and abroad, covering the British monarchy. In 1988, he joined the Buckingham Palace Press Office serving as a press spokesman to HM The Queen, as well as managing the media relations for The Prince of Wales and the late Diana Princess of Wales.
He was also responsible for the media management of all Royal ceremonial occasions, as well as major engagements in the UK for The Queen including inward state visits and state events inside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
Dickie Arbiter retired from Buckingham Palace in 2000
The only Royal Commentator with a vast working knowledge of the British Royal family, Dickie is a regular with all the major television and radio networks across the globe.
His incredible experience allows him to bring his own personal insight into the public forum as a Royal analyst and as an international lecturer.
Dickie’s Speeches
The British Monarchy Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
There have been kings and queens in the UK for over a thousand years, and despite quirks of nature and accidents of birth, the join from one reign to the next has been almost seamless. Dickie dips into the history of the monarchy from the Hanoverian Georges to the present day Elizabethan age and beyond.
The Palace and the Press
Love them or hate them the media have always targeted the soft underbelly of the monarchy. No one in the family is excluded by them and in his talk Dickie highlights some of the highs and the lows the Royal family have had to endure, including The Queen, Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry.
The Relevance of Monarchy
Her critics argue there is no place in the 21st century for a monarchy. The Queen stands accused of being out of touch, rich and costing too much. By today’s standards the Queen is way down in the rich list pecking order. Dickie explodes the ‘rich & cost’ myth by drawing comparisons between the cost of the Queen and other notable heads of state.
Spotlight on the Monarchy
It wasn’t long after Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 that she began to feel the full glare of the media spotlight. Television came of age with its coverage of her Coronation, since when neither TV nor photographers have left her, or other members of the royal family, alone. Today Dickie sheds light on how TV and photographers have combined to devalue the myth and mystique of Monarchy.
Dickie has a passion for ice dancing and, time permitting, teaches anyone brave enough to take to the ice. He is also enjoys reading, the theatre, opera and ballet. His daughter Victoria Arbiter is also a Royal Commentator in the USA.
