People Magazine Delves Deeper Into Royal Coverage With New Magazine

January 27, 2021

Do you have a burning desire to find out what the British royal family’s favorite tipple is, hear what Princess Diana’s astrologer has to say about your zodiac sign or how Prince Albert of Monaco is navigating the pandemic? People magazine has you covered.

The Meredith Corp.-owned publication, which covers royal gossip every day across its multiple platforms, is delving even deeper into the subject with the launch of a 100-page quarterly magazine, People Royals.

The magazine, which hits newsstands in early March at $12.99, will cover royal families around the world, but with a heavy focus on the British royal family. The first cover star is the Duchess of Cambridge with an inside feature titled, “Kate the Great: How the Future Queen Is Defining Herself.”

While the Duchess of Cambridge didn’t speak to the publication, some royals — and some former royals — have. In the first issue, there is a first-person essay penned by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, titled “Spilling the Royal Tea,” which separates fact from fiction regarding stories about the royals. Elsewhere, Prince Albert of Monaco talks about his life in quarantine during the pandemic in between features on royal jewels, the best British castles to stay at, food and drink recommendations and royal quizzes.

“The subject of the royals is consistently the highest engaged across many of our platforms. It’s a strong seller on the newsstand and a lot of digital subscribers respond to it. I just felt that as a stand-alone brand it had a lot of potential,” said Dan Wakeford, editor in chief of People, of his decision to move forward with a specialist royal print publication, citing that William and Kate’s wedding in 2011 and Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018 remain among the bestselling issues.

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This is not the first time People has branched out from its main weekly magazine when it comes to the British royal family. Most recently, it has teamed with The CW Network for two upcoming one-hour documentary specials. The first, “People Presents: Harry & Meghan’s American Dream,” is set to air March 30, and the second, “People Presents: William & Kate’s Royal Anniversary,” will air April 29.

Other People projects include People Health, which is distributed in surgical offices; an upcoming weekday podcast called “People Every Day,” and its own TV show, which made its debut in September. There is also another print launch coming, but Wakeford would not give any details about the subject.

Many magazines cut frequency last year amid the pandemic, while the number of launches halved.

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