Why do the media go soft on royalty?

Back in 2012, the then-Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, better known as Prince Charles and Camilla, visited the BBC’s studios in Glasgow to celebrate 60 years of BBC Scotland television. I was head of BBC Scotland current affairs programmes at the time, and I was duly lined up with other executives in the newsroom to greet them and say a few words about the work we did. After they met staff in the newsroom, they filmed a special edition of the weather report in which Charles and Camilla took turns in presenting the forecast. What I remember most about the royal visit was not what happened on the day but what happened the day after Scotland’s then-first minister, Alex Salmond, came to the Glasgow studios and was also given a brief tour. The difference between how the BBC news executives dressed and acted on the two days was marked. On the first day, BBC executives greeted the nonelected king-in-waiting dressed in suits and ties for the men, and formal dresses for the women. On the second day, the same BBC executives, meeting the highest elected official in Scotland, had reverted to jeans and trainers, and the few who were wearing suit jackets were definitely not wearing ties. Although my BBC colleagues were fastidious not to discuss their personal politics at work (the idea of impartiality runs deep in BBC newsrooms), I personally knew that some of the BBC news executives were monarchists and others were republicans. I also knew that there were SNP supporters among them, as well as well as supporters of other political parties. But irrespective of people’s personal views, the overriding culture