by Dylan Howard
The insider said Meghan also broke protocol when she entered an event and “barged right past” the Duchess of Cornwall, who was hosting. “The way Camilla sees it, she’s the future queen of England, and Meghan should be more respectful.”
While back home, Harry did a better job of keeping the peace—at least with the Queen.
He sat down with his grandmother for a four-hour heart-to-heart. “Harry was very emotional,” a palace aide later confided. “He cried and apologized for the way things went down.”
The meeting was positive but intense, the aide added.
“The Queen told Harry that it’s her greatest wish for him to remain in England,” added the insider. “She left him with no doubt that while she’ll respect his decision, it would be wonderful if he’d change his mind. She basically pleaded with him not to leave, and to come home as soon as possible if he had to go.”
One thing was certain after Meghan and Harry’s farewell tour—they had no plans to return to the United Kingdom beyond the Queen’s invitation to join her at Balmoral for a visit with her great-grandson, Archie, over the summer.
That was until an unprecedented health crisis would rock the world: The greatest pandemic in living memory.
***
Come April 2020, like many across the world, Harry would become personally effected through the spread of a silent killer. The former royal, having moved to LA, became trapped as his UK family was exposed to the dangerous and deadly virus, called COVID-19 (or coronavirus).
Late one night, Prince Charles called to tell his son he’d tested positive for the deadly virus. Harry was overcome with emotion. “It hit home for him that Charles and the Queen aren’t going to be around forever,” said a source.
At the time of publication, fortuitously the Queen had avoided coronavirus as she remained under lockdown at Windsor Castle, even though she was considered at high risk for exposure. After all, a staffer at Buckingham Palace was infected; and she met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shortly before it was confirmed that he also tested positive for the virus—and came perilously close to dying.
“Harry’s biggest fear is not being there if his grandmother were to die,” said a source.
On the home front, Meghan was doing her best to help Harry cope. “She gets that he’s in a tricky situation with his family,” the insider said. “She’s assuring him that once things go back to normal, he’ll love their new life in LA”
While holed up in a gated community in Malibu, a source said, they’ve also looked at permanent pads in Bel Air and Hidden Hills. “Meghan wants to take him hiking and talks about the local polo club and how much he’ll love surfing,” the insider said.
But as she held onto the California dream, there was still tension at home over Harry feeling so torn. “Like any household right now, there are ups and downs,” a source said. “To Harry’s credit, he has tried to shield Meghan from his stress. So, he’ll confide to friends in the UK over the phone.
“On top of it all, he’s got cabin fever. It was far from an ideal situation. Harry’s gone from being excited about the move to feeling secretly tortured.”
***
Fortuitously, Harry’s got enough on his plate to keep him busy.
He remains the dutiful dad: tending to Archie and meeting with his advisors to discuss upcoming projects. The couple just hired Catherine St-Laurent as chief of staff for their forthcoming charity foundation, which is set to be announced later in 2020.
Across the pond, Harry’s also doing his best to stay in constant contact with his loved ones, including talking to the Queen once or twice each week, according to a source. He and Prince Charles have been communicating often too.
“Charles found a great deal of comfort in their conversations while he was recuperating,” the source said.
But sadly, the turmoil hasn’t helped bridge the gap between Harry and Prince William. “They speak, but it’s awkward,” said another confidant, adding that Harry and Meghan haven’t talked to Kate at all. If anything, the latest crisis has only added to William’s anger at his younger brother for jumping ship. “He’s hurt that Harry isn’t in London to support the family amid the coronavirus outbreak.”
With the Queen and Prince Charles out of commission, Kate Middleton and Prince William pitched in to pick up the slack. Before retreating to Anmer Hall—their country residence in Norfolk—with children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, they met with health workers on the front lines battling the coronavirus.
Things, as have been well documented, have been tense among the former “Fab Four” for quite some time, and the coronavirus development certainly hasn’t helped matters.
“William and Kate feel screwed over,” said a royal insider, noting that the couple will likely have double the workload now that Harry and Meghan won’t be showing face at many official engagements. “They think it’s unfair that Harry and Meghan still get to reap the rewards of being part of the royal family without having to put in any effort.”
While William was aware of Harry’s intention to start spending more time in North America, he and Kate expected the transition to be a gradual one.
“No one was prepared for this,” the insider explained. Kate is said to be “panicking over how she’ll juggle the extra responsibilities with family life”—especially during the pandemic of taking on the burden of ensuring elderly members of the Firm are safe, secure, and healthy.
Said a source:
Harry misses his brother and Kate, but there’s too much mud under the bridge at this point for any meaningful communication. They’re cordial, but that’s about as far as it goes. Meghan isn’t as fazed as Harry about not being close to his relatives, perhaps because she grew up in a broken home. She’s survived estrangement, so she believes Harry will too.
As for Prince William and Kate:
They think it’s pathetic how Meghan works Harry like her own personal puppet. They’ve resigned themselves to losing the Harry they once knew for the foreseeable future.
***
For now, Harry and Meghan have no choice but to hunker down in their new American home, the country with the largest outbreak of COVID-19. Fortuitously, they have a team of security guards and household help working around the clock.
“Harry and Meghan have read about all that can happen to celebrities in LA and they don’t want to take any risks, especially with Archie,” said the insider. “It’s not cheap. The security team’s going to cost them a fortune—millions and millions of dollars.”
On March 29, in the grip of the pandemic, President Donald Trump tweeted his refusal to foot the bill for their security, writing: “It was reported that Harry and Meghan, who left the Kingdom, would reside permanently in Canada. Now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not pay for their security protection. They must pay!” To retort, Meghan and Harry quickly released a statement saying they had no plans to ask the US government for assistance.
But while Harry’s doing his best to protect the people inside his house, he can’t do much about what’s happening outside.
“It’s a terrifying time,” said the source.
“There’s a big part of Harry that wishes he were still in the UK so he could be with his family there. He doesn’t ultimately regret moving, but he knows the timing couldn’t be worse. Of course, neither he nor Meghan could have foreseen the tragic events that have unfolded around the world … but that doesn’t make it easier for Harry—who is now officially an outcast—to be away from his loved ones when they need him the most.”
***
In the end, and despite all of the drama, this hasn’t exactly been the fresh start Harry was hoping for. He and Meghan were forced to flee Vancouver Island, British Columbia, before its borders closed due to growing concerns over COVID-19.
“He’s overwhelmed with guilt over not being closer to home while this is going on,” said one insider. “He feels totally helpless.”
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nbsp; For Meghan, being physically cut off from the rest of the world could be what she wanted, all along, predicted one former friend: “This could have the unintended but perfect way to hit reset for their family.”
The truth is, the outbreak of COVID-19 proved Harry to be just like every single one of us. It might have provided a kind-of self-isolation from the rigors of royal hood, but it couldn’t stop the feelings of being frightened and numbed with anxiety about one’s own health and that of their loved ones, especially when so many across the world have died.
If, at the end of this book, you thought you knew the Harry and Meghan story, you’re wrong. Due to the havoc-wreaking effects of COVID-19, it’s perhaps just the beginning of a whole new chapter, full of tangential unanswered questions.
How will the pandemic end?
Will Harry return to the United Kingdom—and an ailing family?
Can the Queen persuade him to return to his former royal role?
Can Meghan ride gunshot—again?
Or will Harry make a big introduction to showbiz?
Perhaps most intriguingly, there is one coda to this story which suggests that the world’s—and the British especially—fascination with Harry and Meghan isn’t quite done yet, lockdown or no lockdown.
On April 20, as the pandemic hit its peak in the United Kingdom, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent an extraordinary—and unprecedented —open letter to the editors of the four leading British tabloid newspapers, the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Mirror, and the Express. In a lengthy attack on the press, they declared a new policy of “zero engagement” and that from now on they would not respond to any inquiries from journalists from those newspapers … except when necessary through their lawyers.
The couple also said they will no longer “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion” and accused the press of printing stories about them that are “distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason.”
If the letter was supposed to draw a final line under the Megxit saga, it has done anything but. The following day every single one of the major British newspapers ran a Harry and Meghan story—including the four tabloids specifically named by the couple. None were positive.
It’s apparent: This story is not over yet.