For the oldest and most venerable institution in Britain, this has been a truly terrible week.
When the news broke that Harry and Meghan had given an interview to Oprah Winfrey, Buckingham Palace insiders must have feared the worst.
Few, though, could have imagined quite how ghastly the fallout would be.
For days, the House of Windsor has seen its name dragged through the mud on TV screens across the world.
Quite separate from the personal agonies of a family torn apart, our Queen and her closest relatives have been tarred as callous, antediluvian racists, with foreign columnists lining up to sneer at Britain and its Royal Family.