Many are baffled by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s faux-royal tours but their game is clear as a bell to me: they are trying to convince us they can still be ‘regal’. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex displayed a bitter, dirty vengence when they criticised their family on TV and in best-selling books after Megxit.
First, in the 2021 Oprah Winfrey TV interview, Meghan implied a key royal was racist by expressing “concerns about how dark Archie’s skin might be when he was born”. Now that wasn’t a very regal thing to do. Patriotic Brits were furious. Suggesting one royal was racist besmirched the entire family.
Harry later backtracked by blaming the press – and said he felt the skin comment was more a case of “unconscious bias” than racism.
Then in Spare, Harry – once a keen supporter of privacy rights – revealed a slew of private conversations between family members, such as his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine.
Harry claimed there was a rift between Meghan and Catherine; that Camilla leaked stories to the press; suggested Catherine left Meghan in tears during a row over bridesmaid dresses; then claimed William “pointed a finger at Meg” and that girl-power Meg responded, “Keep your finger out of my face!”
Harry even tried to blame William and Catherine for his decision to wear a Nazi uniform on Halloween in 2005, saying he asked them to choose his outfit and they insisted: “Nazi uniform!”
Do me a favour!
So nothing was Harry and Meghan’s fault at all then! Must be wonderful to be that blameless in life.
With her achingly dull ‘With Love, Meghan’ Netflix show axed for making drying paint look like an England v Germany World Cup final penalty shoot-out, the Sussexes are having to consider being royals again.
First they tried to make a visit to Jordan look like an official royal one, now they are about to head out to Australia on tour – to recapture the magic of their post-wedding 2018 visit.
But it’s all in vain.
You cannot open a wound, take money to pour salt, lemon juice and vinegar into it and then think that after a few years those wounds will be forgotten.
Instead, King Charles and Prince William have found far more reliable royals who can play bigger roles for The Firm going forward – and who would never stab them in the back.
Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, who married into the Royal Family when she wed Prince Edward in 1999, has been a prominent working royal for years.
But while she has always worked quietly and with grace for the monarchy, insiders claim she has excelled since the Sussexes fled the UK, such as stepping in for King Charles on occasion during his cancer treatment.
Royal fans dub her “Super Sophie” – others hail her as the Royal Family’s “secret weapon”.
Recently Duchess Sophie conducted a 10-day diplomatic overseas visit at the behest of the UK government in South and Central America.
Now it’s been suggested her royal role will only get bigger and bigger when Prince William becomes King.
Just weeks ago, 61-year-old Sophie even spoke about her life as a working royal on the Golden Legacy Series podcast.
She said: “My role, as with all members of the family, is to primarily support the King and the monarchy. That is one side of the focus.
“But also, we’re lucky enough to be able to fulfil our passions and our interests and these over my time as a member of the Royal Family have developed.”
One time I could have imagined Prince Harry saying that – but not anymore.
He put his interests first and his wider family second. I wonder who he will end up trying to blame for that?
