by Dylan Howard
As Christmas 2018 loomed, the Royals sent out their cards. Usually, a cheery family image would dominate these, nothing especially avant-garde or esoteric. This year, however, The Sussexes sent out a card that, instead of cheery toothy grins and chunky knit jumpers, looked like an ad for a new Netflix psychodrama. Taken on the night of their wedding in high-contrast monochrome, the photo showed the pair standing silhouetted from behind, looming up from the ground, in high contrast monochrome staring at a fireworks display. It might have looked splendid on the photographer’s portfolio, but “the public felt Harry and Meghan were—literally—turning their backs on them,” according to another royal watcher. Meanwhile, Catherine and William released a picture of their family of five, all dressed down, perched on a tree trunk outside their country home in Norfolk. The three youngsters, Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, three, and Prince Louis, seven months, were seen cuddling up to their parents. Everyone looked ecstatic, as if they were in an upmarket leisurewear catalogue.
But as far as Christmas went, all talk of rivalries was put to one side. The year before, Meghan had charmed and twinkled her way through her first Royal Christmas, like a character in a romcom, making cute little gaffes and being cheerily forgiven by charmingly understanding, yet eccentric, Royals. This year, things were a little different. Despite everyone bringing their festive A-game to the Sandringham table, brothers William and Harry were noticeably cool with each other. That Christmas morning, they were all photographed walking to church together. Royal body language expert Judi James examined the photographs of the foursome as they arrived at St Mary’s church to provide a peek into what was really going on.
“It’s interesting to note that while Meghan and Harry walked arm-in-arm, which is just standard PDA for them, Kate and William simply walked side by side. But take another look at William and Harry. Apart from having very rigid, fixed smiles on their faces, I didn’t see anything in the way of glances or exchanges between them,” James said.
“They’ve always been seen laughing and sharing jokes, they usually have lots of ‘tie-signs’ [gestures that signal closeness] between them. They’ve both got their hands stuck in their pockets and I didn’t see any connection signals between them at all.”
Following the traditional lunch blowout, everyone gathered as usual, to watch the Queen’s speech. To nobody’s surprise, her 2018 speech included a message that was intended for a country bitterly divided over Brexit. But many felt it also had a pointed relevance much closer to home.
“Even with the most deeply held differences,” she intoned in her prim manner, “treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being is always a good first step towards greater understanding.”
As the Royals watched the broadcast, in silence, not a few furtive looks were cast over to where the newest additions to the family were seated.
UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY
If 2019 was going to start on a positive note, any dreams of harmony were shattered when Meghan received a clear and indubitable snub from her sister-in-law.
Kate celebrated her thirty-seventh birthday at home with family on January 9, 2019. “Kate had a gathering for her thirty-seventh birthday at Kensington Palace,” a source said. “The guest list consisted of her, William, the kids, her mum, dad, sister Pippa and her husband James Matthews. Noticeably, Harry and Meghan were not invited.”
Meghan was said to be furious. But not as angry as her husband, who couldn’t control his rage and contacted William, a source close to the prince said. It was at this moment William told his brother that he felt Meghan was tearing the Royal Family apart. “Even though they don’t get on, the Queen and Prince Charles had asked that William and Harry make a good public show of trying to make nice,” confided an insider. “Poor Kate was so nervous about her own birthday and how to handle the family drama, she was almost in tears.”
Leading royal commentators were now openly predicting things would only get worse between the brothers and their wives. Lady Colin Campbell—a close friend of the boys’ late mum—claimed Harry was “beguiled by Meghan” and added she had “considerably changed him” as a man.
“William was quite concerned that the relationship had moved so quickly and being close to Harry, probably the only person close enough to voice his concern,” observed the noted royal author Katie Nicholl. “What was meant as well-intended brotherly advice just riled Harry. He saw that as criticism. I don’t think things have been quite right ever since.”
Worse was to come when it was leaked that Meghan had told Harry she wanted to return to the small screen as an actor. In the past, her acting career was limited only by her talent and her ability to persuade people to give her a break; now that more sizable and weightier roles would no doubt be available to her, she was excited at the prospect of transitioning to the silver screen, and possibly even winning an Oscar.
“It’s always been her secret ambition—as it is any actor,” revealed a source, who added that Meghan’s former showbiz agent, Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, had confirmed an eventual return to acting by saying, “I’m sure she’ll make a movie again.”
Harry was supportive of the idea and in January of 2020 was filmed pitching his wife’s talents to former Disney CEO Bob Iger in a face-to-face meeting on a red carpet.
“You know she does voiceovers,” Harry told Iger.
“Oh, really?” Iger replied.
“Did you know that?” Harry appeared to say, with the interaction caught on camera.
“Ah, I did not know that,” Iger replied.
“You seem surprised,” the Duke said and then pointed briefly at Meghan, who was standing right near them, chatting with Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Harry added: “But yeah, she’s really interested.”
“Sure,” Iger replied. “We’d love to try.”
William, on the other hand, was firmly against the idea.
“William has always thought it’d be tacky and he knew he’d have the support of the Queen in this opinion,” said a source. “Everyone was worried this will spark a new chapter in Harry and William’s clash over Meghan.”
A Palace informant expressed dismay over Harry’s impromptu pitch session: “For the Queen, there’s an element of cringe factor. To watch Harry groveling to the boss of Disney is nothing short of uncouth. She is embarrassed at this debacle. How could she not be asking herself, ‘Why are members of my family selling themselves off to the highest bidder?’”
Speaking to the Daily Star, Meghan’s half sister, Samantha, said it seemed her sister was using the Royal Family as “a launch pad for high places that Suits [her final TV acting role, which she left when she met Harry] couldn’t get her.”
“The Disney movie would have been fine if initiated after leaving royal roles but seems inappropriate prematurely. And disrespectful of royal protocol,” Samantha said. “It’s like cheating on a spouse and giving a phone number for a dinner date before being divorced.”
While Royals offering themselves up for promotional gigs isn’t unprecedented—another of the Queen’s grandsons, the lesser-known Peter Phillips, has been advertizing milk in China—no one as close to the inner sanctum, sixth in line to the throne, has actively solicited work in such a brazen way while still a working royal.
“Senior members of the Royal Family are looking at this and wishing it had never occurred,” said a source connected to the Palace. “What happens next is even more worrisome. Within the establishment, there were controls. But a rogue Royal could be a disaster, as history has proven.”
“Prince Charles has privately told people he wishes Harry hadn’t have taken this step.”
Before any more scandal could occur, an extraordinary intervention took place. Apparently motivated by a fierce sense of collective outrage, five of Meghan’s “closest friends” offered to speak to America’s People magazine. It was a jaw-dropping piece of public relations puffery, designed to show that caring, sharing Meghan was still the same as ever.
The strange th
ing was that the women all asked to remain anonymous, in order to “protect the private relationships they all hold dear.”
“After maintaining their silence for nearly two years, five women who form an essential part of Meghan’s inner circle have spoken with People,” trumpeted the magazine. They speak to “stand up against the global bullying we are seeing and speak the truth about our friend,” said a “long-time friend and supposed former costar.”
The “friends” all sang from the same hymn sheet, praising Meghan for her warmth, her love of kids, her relentless selflessness, her simple joy and happiness at their wedding, her love of Harry and his family, her attention to her husband—cooking nightly for him—and her abiding adoration of muddy dogs.
It was a masterstroke of timing. With almost uncanny timing, People’s article “set the record straight” on the topics that were making the headlines daily.
The interviewees’ anonymity, and the uniform, bland, scripted tone of their words, indicated that chances were slim, to say the least, that Meghan wasn’t somehow behind the “spontaneous” outburst of concern.
“We’ve all been to their cottage,” said one close confidante. “It’s small and she’s made it cozy, but the perception of their lifestyle and the reality are two different things. Meg cooks for herself and Harry every single day.”
The “friend” warmed to their theme and got into their stride, much to People’s delight.
“Meg has silently sat back and endured the lies and untruths, we worry about what this is doing to her and the baby. It’s wrong to put anyone under this level of emotional trauma, let alone when they’re pregnant.”
The article went on: “A ‘selfless’ friend who writes thank-you notes for reasons big and small and is ‘the best listener,’” said a former colleague. “We talk daily. And the first thing out of her mouth is, ‘How are the kids? How are you?’ I’m not even allowed to ask about her until she finds out about me.”
As if Meghan’s chakras weren’t thrumming enough, Royal documentary filmmaker Nick Bullen, who had already made a couple of Markle-related films and had interviewed each of the main players in the drama, publicly described the difficult state of the family’s internal dynamics.
“I think the biggest question is what’s going to happen with the Markles,” said Bullen, speaking to FOX News in December. “That to me is the biggest issue. William and Harry … things will ultimately resort itself. But how can [the Markles] repair what they have done? That’s pretty tricky. Thomas and [sister] Samantha have both been speaking to the press, nonstop. We even interviewed Samantha recently for a program and her view is that this is not going to get fixed anytime soon.”
It was unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, as long as Samantha and Meghan’s half-brother Thomas Jr. could keep making lucrative media appearances about their estranged relationship. As a former tabloid editor, this author can attest they’d get hundreds—if not thousands—for a couple of quotes, or more if encouraged to stage a scene such as gate-crashing Buckingham Palace with camera in tow. Her own blood both veered between bitter character assassinations (Meghan was a “shallow social climber,” according to Samantha and “a jaded, shallow, conceited woman,” said her half brother) and mawkish sentimentality about their apparently happy childhoods together (Samantha also recalled Meghan as “very animated, very charming, very lively,” and “absolutely lovely” [at times]).
But at the heart of the matter was Meghan’s inner reluctance to contact her father. Meghan had no compunction about cutting people out of her life; she isolated herself from her embarrassing dad, a broken, tragic figure. As he repeatedly made the rounds of breakfast television sofas or did interviews with tabloids, he sadly recounted, time and again, how he had not heard from or seen his daughter for an eternity.
Following the wedding, in August 2018, Meghan had written an impassioned letter to her father, expressing her hurt and pain at his ongoing interviews with the press and for his “victimizing” of her. A friend had summarized the letter in the People feature: “She’s like, ‘Dad. I’m so heartbroken. I love you, I have one father. Please stop victimizing me through the media so we can repair our relationship.’”
With that quote, Meghan may have overplayed her hand. In response to the People article, Thomas Markle sold the letter to Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper, in a supposed effort to show that Meghan and Harry “misunderstood” him. The letter did show one thing: Meghan must have shared the contents of the private communication with her friends before mailing it, as they appeared to have quoted directly from it in People.
Meghan almost evaporated with fury, according to a source. In addition, the world could see what she had shared in private with her father. Her begging him to stop the damaging revelations, the reiteration of what she considered lies, his ignoring her anguished concern for his health:
Daddy,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this, not understanding why you have chosen to take this path, turning a blind eye to the pain you’re causing.
Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces—not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand.
You’ve told the press that you called me to say you weren’t coming to the wedding—that didn’t happen because you never called.
You’ve said I never helped you financially and you’ve never asked me for help which is also untrue; you sent me an email last October that said: ‘If I’ve depended too much on you for financial help then I’m sorry but please could you help me more not as a bargaining chip for my loyalty.’
I have only ever loved, protected, and defended you, offering whatever financial support I could worrying about your health … and always asking how I could help.
So, the week of the wedding to hear about you having a heart attack through a tabloid was horrifying. I called and texted … I begged you to accept help—we sent someone to your home … and instead of speaking to me to accept this or any help, you stopped answering your phone and chose to only speak to tabloids. If you love me, as you tell the press you do, please stop.
Please allow us to live our lives in peace.
Please stop lying, please stop creating so much pain, please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband …
I realize you are so far down this rabbit hole that you feel (or may feel) there’s no way out, but if you take a moment to pause I think you’ll see that being able to live with a clear conscience is more valuable than any payment in the world.
I pleaded with you to stop reading the tabloids. On a daily basis you fixated and clicked on the lies they were writing about me, especially manufactured by your other daughter, who I barely know.
You watched me silently suffer at the hand of her vicious lies, I crumbled inside.
We all rallied around to support and protect you from day one, and this you know.
So to hear about the attacks you’ve made at Harry in the press, who was nothing but patient, kind and understanding with you is perhaps the most painful of all.
For some reason you continue fabricating these stories, manufacturing this fictitious narrative, and entrenching yourself deeper into this web you’ve spun.
The only thing that helps me sleep at night is the faith and knowing that a lie can’t live forever. I believed you, I trusted you, and told you I loved you.
You haven’t reached out to me since the week of our wedding, and while you claim you have no way of contacting me, my phone number has remained the same.
This you know. No texts, no missed calls, no outreach from you—just more global interviews you’re being paid to do and say harmful and hurtful things that are untrue.
The betrayal, to Meghan, was breathtaking. So too was the Mail’s analysis, via a handwriting expert who, the paper claimed, showed the Duchess as a “narcissistic showman whose self-control is wavering.
”
Ignoring Meghan’s desperate requests that he stop speaking to the papers, Thomas then gave a number of interviews to promote the release of the letter. He contended it spelled out Meghan telling him their relationship was done.
Thomas also claimed he had issued the letter because he felt the People story was false, one-sided, and frantically skewed against him. Thomas had claimed he couldn’t reach Meghan, and one of People’s sources claimed that was false. “He knows how to get in touch with her,” said Meghan’s friend. “He’s never called; he’s never texted. It’s super-painful.”
Robert Jobson, author of Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams, noted that Thomas was not in the best of health and felt his daughter Meghan should “make contact with him and to try and build bridges.”
“I understand (there are) many people who feel he is a sad and attention-seeking figure. But I believe Meghan is playing a dangerous game,” he told the Daily Express. “Thomas Markle has been stupid and naive in his dealings with the media. But why should he be an expert? He is reaching out to her and sounded desperate.”
Once Thomas published the letter, this time in London’s Mail on Sunday, Meghan had had enough. She announced she was suing the newspaper for publishing the highly personal note, and her solicitors (lawyers) filed papers early in October 2019, claiming publishing the letter was a breach of copyright, infringed her privacy, and was a breach of the Data Protection Act.