The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge face a "perilous" future as so much is riding on them when it comes to the future of the monarchy, a royal author has claimed.
Tina Brown, whose explosive new book The Palace Papers has just been released, says that a lot is riding on William and Kate following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quitting as working royals.
The couple has proved popular with the public, although they did come in for stinging criticism recently following their tour of the Caribbean due to several PR disasters.
And according to Brown, this backlash could have been "rather traumatic" as they are "used to getting it right".
Appearing on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, Brown was asked if she agreed that without William and Kate there would be no monarchy.
And she replied: "That certainly seems to be the case to me at the moment and I think that's quite perilous for them. No one can be perfect.
"And we saw the last Commonwealth tour go sideways. And that for them, I think, must have been rather traumatic because they're used to being the ones who always seem to get it right. And all of a sudden, no, nothing can be depended on.
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"So I think they need other players out there. It is interesting to see just recently how Princess Anne was out there with Kate.
"There was a sense of can we try new pairings, can we make this repertoire look bigger than it is?
"Charles is known to want a slim down monarchy but hey at the minute it is looking pretty slim right now."
Brown's comments come after the Mirror revealed last week that William has held crisis meetings on how to modernise the monarchy after stinging criticism of his Caribbean tour.
The Duke of Cambridge told aides he is more determined than ever to update the institution as he attempts to respond to the backlash from a series of public relations blunders in the region last month.
William’s struggle to “move on” from the negative coverage has included “abrupt” discussions with staff responsible for the “haphazard planning” of his tour with wife Kate, royal sources have revealed.
The Duke has set upon a root-and-branch assessment of his entire team and will demand complete alignment with his vision for the future.
