Why Queen Elizabeth Didn’t Reprimand Prince Edward Over ‘It’s A Royal Knockout’ Controversy

Queen Elizabeth reportedly had misgivings about Prince Edward’s show “It’s A Royal Knockout,” but she never confronted him about it.

In the book “The Firm,” royal author Penny Junor said that the reason behind this was quite simple. Unlike the other members of the royal family, Her Majesty dislikes confrontations. So even if she wasn’t on board with Prince Edward’s plan to pursue a television program, she kept her thoughts to herself.

“Many people date the beginning of the monarchy’s recent troubles to that fateful television spectacular, ‘It’s a Royal Knockout.’ Everyone at Buckingham Palace, including the Queen’s private secretary Bill Heseltine, was against the idea… He had tried to get it stopped but Prince Edward was too far down the road with the negotiations, adamant that he should be allowed to do it… The Queen, never good at confrontations, was unable to say no to her youngest son, even though she too had misgivings,” Junor said.

And even if the “It’s A Royal Knockout” has already been canceled decades ago, Junor said that Prince Edward hasn’t’ been allowed to forget about his huge mistake. Since that time, every idea that floated around as compared to the debunked show.

For instance, if Prince Edward wanted to do something and he consulted the members of the royal family about it, they would say that as long as it’s not like the “It’s A Royal Knockout” then it’s fine.

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that Prince Edward’s reaction while talking about the show incensed the late Queen Mother. In the documentary “Royal Scandals,” royal expert Richard Kay said that Prince Edward asked what he thought about the “It’s A Royal Knockout.”

When Kay told the dad of two that he hasn’t watched it because he’s not allowed to do so, Prince Edward reacted sarcastically. He thanked Kay for being bloody enthusiastic. Immediately after, he stormed out of the conference room.

“He displayed a very impetuous side to his character and of course it was reflected in the television broadcast and the newspaper accounts at the time. The Queen Mother, in particular, was incensed.

“In one fell swoop, Edward had managed to set them up to be complete laughing stocks,” Kay said.