Crisis-communication specialist Molly McPherson argues the Royal Family should have reframed their response to the Charles Spencer controversy by emphasizing family ties to Prince William and Prince Harry instead of defending themselves. Grief distorts memory and public statements, making direct comments during mourning risky. McPherson's "find the uncle" approach would have softened the palace's tone and pre-empted media escalation.
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Charles sounded, quote, giddily elated on the phone. He's saying Charles Spencer is wrong because of grief. If I were in the room, what would I be doing? You want to, uh, the statement that I would have made at one, it's very difficult to comment on a private phone call during such a tragic grief-stricken time. Grief colors memory. Think about times of grief when People trying to say the right thing and end up saying the wrong thing. It's a very universal thing. It doesn't matter if he's a king or a CEO. Princess Diana is still the mother of your children. He's still your son's uncle. So the line here, the lesson here is find the uncle. The palace wrote this statement for Prince Charles, but showing compassion for a grieving brother may Deal risky. It maybe looks like you're accepting fault, but it would have diffused the entire book. Like if Prince Charles really wanted to get after Charles Spencer and say, I don't want this book to be reliable. And also with the Piers Morgan revelation, had he done this take, it, it could have fed into it easily. That is the power move, especially with Harry coming back. Even putting the word uncle in a statement, Would have been that soft recognition of William and Harry together. People in the, in a crisis are so quick to defend, defend, defend. And when you're under attack, it is understandable. I know it. But the power move, as someone who does this and helps people through these things, is to reframe yourself. And you do that by reframing the crisis. The move is find the uncle. If you find the uncle, you find your way out.
