“The company” has prolonged been shorthand for the royal family, ever since Prince Philip is claimed to have coined it on his marriage to Princess Elizabeth. It was utilized by Diana, Princess of Wales, and often not in a complimentary method.
By the years it has acquired additional damaging connotations, perhaps better than Philip might have foreseen, conjuring a juggernaut of monarchy, resisting interference and obstacle.
It has been used to elucidate core members of the royal family. Equally, it has been used to encapsulate the broader institution of senior households and the boys, and ladies, “in grey suits” that Meghan appears to have come to intensely dislike.
