And the answer is so painfully simple: Because key members of the British royal family has been allowed free and uncritical rein of their public narrative by the vast majority of the British press for years and the pushback has been non-existent.
No, a press doesn't immediately cease to be free when it willingly gobbles up handouts from the future Queen's press office about the brand of her clothing only to sound the breaking news alerts when the very same press office does its biyearly "going forward, we're gonna focus on the work and not the clothes, so no more handouts!"... only to continue to gobble up the same handouts of brand details from the same press office without ever questioning why they're uncritically participating in the world's suckiest merry-go-round.
It doesn't immediately cease to be free when it uncritically platforms the future King's "environmentalism" while not ever questioning the congruence of his own casual helicopter use and holidaying on a superyacht.
BUT these are telltale little signs of the power the British royal family yields over the British press and that will eventually culminate in almost despotic levels of puffery where you'll have the future king sat in an interview with the national broadcasting corporation, in the midst of one of the biggest scandals the BRF has ever faced, talking out of his ass about mental health without once bringing up said scandal – let alone the mental impact the actions of his uncle has had on the victims of the systematic sexual abuse he participated in – OR the fact that his own sister-in-law has publicly spoken about being driven to suicidal thoughts by the family's behaviour.
I always return to that clip of William – future British head of state – sneering at a reporter that they "are very much not a racist family" after his brother and sister-in-law publicly detailed grave racially discriminatory behaviour within the family. Arguably the first time... maybe ever (!) that this main member of the royal family has interacted with the press in a fashion that hasn't been carefully construed by his people and through questions not thoroughly vetted before going on camera. And the man is evidently thoroughly appalled to do so.
The subject matter is deeply sensitive – we're talking allegations of deep-rooted racism within a group of people whose only function is to represent and to be figureheads for a racially diverse body of people – and in this main representative's statement, there is no trace of sympathy or concern. Just arrogance. Because how dare they ask me this? And then that's just it. Neither William or any other main member of the BRF has ever been pushed on the matter since. They're just allowed full control of every interaction with the British mainstream media with no pushback from the British press or public whatsoever.
Like WHAT DO YOU MEAN you let your future head of state release a statement expressing "concern about the continued revelations" in an effort to dodge questions during an official visit abroad?! "Revelations" that are just more of the same information that has been PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE for more than 6 years and hasn't stopped the man from publicly chummying up to Andrew or briefing to the press that you'd actually rather have Andrew as a neighbour than Harry and Meghan 🤪 Like... I feel like I'm having an aneurism because how are Brits just uncritically accepting that the bulk of their supposed free press is systematically engaging in full-fledged smoke-blowing up the royal family's ass at ANY cost? Unprecedented levels of mass psychosis.