What Harry and Meghan were proposing was therefore contrary to everything that had gone before, and was fraught with difficulties. The reality was that their eminence, whence came their desirability commercially, was based upon them being members of the Royal Family. Although each of them had personal attributes that burnished their appeal, the bottom line was that Meghan Markle’s commercial value pre-marriage had been fractional compared with what it became afterwards, and for all Harry’s jock appeal, no one would ever have found him anywhere as noteworthy or desirable had he been plain Harry Windsor instead of a Prince of the United Kingdom.
The British Crown, as stated earlier, is very sophisticated. It’s seen all the angles and knows all the tricks people pull. It knows that commerce can be a dodgy business. Philanthropy is often a cover for the purchase of respectability following acquisition of wealth by dubious means. Now that it was merely a matter of time before Meghan and Harry actively entered the commercial world, the Royal Family had to prepare itself for what would happen if things went wrong. The slightest slip could result in a loss of prestige for the Sussexes and, by extension, the monarchy.
Even more dangerous, however, was the Sussexes’ proposal to mix charity and commerce. Modern charitable organisations are run in such a way that the organisers receive handsome financial rewards. It is one thing for professionals to be on salaries that sometimes run well into six and even seven figures, but there is a real danger when royals start receiving sums like that for work which their peers do gratis. Should it emerge that Meghan and Harry were deriving financial benefits for their charitable endeavours, what could be regarded as fair recompense with anyone else would be viewed as corruption on their part. The outcome could therefore be toxicity, as Buckingham Palace knew only too well from the fallout when the Socialist Government of Spain went after the Infanta Cristina, second daughter of King Juan Carlos I, and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin, Duke of Palma de Mallorca. These Spanish cousins became enmeshed in a financial scandal involving their non-profit Nóos Institute. For a while it looked as if both the Infanta and her husband would be tried for fraud, but ultimately only he was. Nevertheless, the outcome was disastrous for the Spanish Royal Family. The king abdicated, his son-in-law was convicted and is presently serving a five year ten month sentence at Brieva Prison in Avila, while the Infanta moved to Switzerland with her children and is now persona non grata at the Spanish Court.
Because of Meghan’s previous business activities, and the surreptitious way in which the couple had gone about laying the foundations for their commercial and charitable endeavours, the worry was that they might end up receiving ‘expenses’ for their charitable activities which could be interpreted as ‘backhanders’. The last thing Buckingham Palace wanted was for any British royal to be caught up in a financial scandal such as had engulfed the Spaniards. They also hoped to ensure that the commercial and charitable activities which the Sussexes embarked upon could never be used, even far down the line, by anti-monarchist politicians, to embarrass the monarch or the Royal Family.
The courtiers are far more sophisticated than either Meghan or Harry, and understand potential pitfalls insofar as they are detrimental to the monarchy in a way that neither of them does. Harry simply does not have the intellectual capacity, and Meghan, for all her canniness, such a newcomer to the big league that she lacked the knowledge, experience, and insight that she could only acquire with time, by making mistakes, or through the wisdom of experienced advisors to the monarchy.
Of course, if their objective was to acquire as much fame and fortune for themselves as they could, with never a thought for the welfare of the monarchy or the interests of the British people, that was another matter. Certainly she and Harry would not be receiving reliable advice from any American organisations, all of which are utterly ignorant and completely inexperienced where British institutions are concerned, and are therefore in no position to estimate risk to Britain or its monarchy, even though they possess undoubted expertise in headline grabbing on both sides of the Atlantic.
These were just some of the considerations which Buckingham Palace hinted at when it stated that Harry and Meghan’s desire to step down as senior royals was complex and therefore it would take time for all the issues to be resolved. The couple was not best pleased that what they saw in purely personal terms - their right to earn as much money as they could, and to do it in their own way with reference to no one, including courtiers at the palace - was viewed in less personal terms at the palace.
Intent on getting their point of view across to their supporters and the American public, Harry and Meghan got ‘friends’ to complain that those who were standing in their way were simply ‘naysayers’ who were ‘spiteful’ because they wanted independence and these spiteful opposers didn’t want them to have it. To drive the point home that Harry and Meghan were benevolent and loyal to those opposing forces who were so nastily obstructing them, these friends then assured the world that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would nevertheless do as the palace desired.
Although Harry and Meghan wanted the world to know that they were being noble despite being hard-done-by, the view within the palace was that the couple’s public relations briefings were jeopardising the future wellbeing of the monarchy. Although no one but the couple wanted them to strike out on their own commercially, the Queen and her senior advisors nevertheless accepted that they might well be able to forge a new career path which, if successful, would lay down a beneficial precedent for their successors. After all, there will always be second sons and minor royals and, if a way could be established whereby royals like them could function commercially without danger to the Crown, that would only be to the advantage of successive generations.
The Sussexes, on the other hand, felt that the palace’s concern for the monarchy should be on at least an equal par with their own interests. The message Harry was giving out was that he and Meghan should have absolute control over their options. Why should he, a second son, be hamstrung by putting the monarchy’s concerns over his own - which was the aim of the palace - when he was never going to be number one? He and Meghan ‘seemed incapable of considering any option but the top job, and since they were never going to be King and Queen of the United Kingdom, they should be freed to become king and queen of something else instead,’ a courtier said. They genuinely could not see why their future plans should be curtailed or monitored by the palace. They could not understand why absolute liberty to strike deals as and how and when they pleased might conflict with their continuing duty to the British Crown and the British people. The dilemma of whether Harry and Meghan could ever become entirely free agents, shorn of all responsibility to the Crown and its citizens, and whether they owed a continuing duty of care to both those entities irrespective of whether they were fully functional royals, fully retired, even de-royalised, lay at the heart of the matter. It is still an issue which remains unresolved.
I am informed that William was particularly disappointed by his brother’s attitude. He felt that they all have responsibilities which go above and beyond their own personal desires, or even their own happiness. Harry, however, has always had a tendency to think in more personal terms than his elder brother, even when others would deem it more suitable to think in institutional terms. This, in effect, was the result of the way Diana had raised Harry. She had brought him up without limits, to think in personal and emotional terms rather than objectively, to escape the consequences of his actions, to do as he pleased, to regard himself as special, not because he was a prince but because he was the adorable Harry. A bit less personalism and a bit more royalism might have redressed the balance, for the fact is, while some of Harry’s specialness is due to nature, an even greater part is due to the position into which he was born. Diana herself had trodden a fine line between self-indulgence and the damage her actions might do to the Crown, but she at least had an awareness that she had to tread carefully even when she was trying to sabotage her ex-husband or discomfi
t the Royal Family. Always, at the back of her mind, was the knowledge that one day her son would inherit the throne. She therefore couldn’t afford to rock the boat too much, and this had a restraining influence upon her. No such compunction existed with Harry.
With fully fledged Second Son Syndrome motivating him, and without the restraining influence of duty before personal satisfaction to curtail his aims or actions, once he and Meghan figured out that their ambitions would be more achievable outside of the royal fold than inside it, they behaved with a reckless disregard that had been absent even with Diana. This made him heedless of consequences in a way she had never been, especially as how he had a wife who did not want to spend her whole life playing second fiddle to the Duchess of Cambridge any more than he enjoyed being in William’s shadow. There was also a personal element between the two women which made self-justification easier. Meghan disparages Catherine as ‘uptight’ and feels uncomfortable around her because their styles are so radically different. Catherine is traditionally stately and Meghan the quintessence of Californian informality, while Harry has adopted Meghan’s disdain for traditionalism and now regards William’s careful and restrained approach with contempt.
Undeniably, Harry and Meghan had become a potent double act which went down well in the United States, even if it was not appreciated in the same way in Britain. They also genuinely loved doing things together. They share many of the same goals, values, ambitions and interests. Each of them loves the limelight. They truly enjoy being the superstars that they have become. They thrill to the realisation of their dream as humanitarian luminaries on the world stage, acknowledged and feted for their unique gifts as the only royal superstar couple who can now function as independent agents.
Harry had long chafed at being a second-string player. While there is little doubt that he would have come to terms with his lot had he married a girl like Chelsy Davy or Cressida Bonas and led a traditionally British life, once he was exposed to other possibilities by an outsider like Meghan, his eyes were opened and his love for her blinkered him. Through her, he caught a glimpse of a previously unimaginable way of life which would allow him to indulge himself in a way he had hitherto found unthinkable, and while he would most likely have been happier remaining based in Britain and not cutting his ties the way he has, he understood that the only way his marriage would work was if he supported Meghan in her vision of what their life could be. From her point of view, the only way they could realise their true potential as major players in their own right was to shift the stage from Britain to the United States, and not just anywhere either, but to California, where Meghan’s knowledge of the entertainment industry would be an asset which would hopefully bring them rich rewards, not only financial but also in terms of kudos and the international recognition they desire.
Having accepted that the best way forward to achieve their objective was to create their own platform rather than share one with his brother and sister-in-law, both Harry and Meghan were liberated. Undoubtedly, he was having to make difficult choices, many of which he would have preferred not to make and which would not have arisen had he married any other woman. But there was an upside. No longer would they be limited by a system in which they would always be second-tier players. They could step out of the shadows and become the first-raters they regard themselves as being, and which they were acknowledged as in Meghan’s native country. It had been extremely frustrating for them, Meghan especially, to be part of a way of life which would always deny them the central position their vision and ambitions demanded they occupy. Only by striking out on their new path would they have the possibility of creating a platform for themselves upon which they could shine brightly as the central players, rather than sharing the royal platform and with the deck stacked so patently in Catherine and William’s favour.
Although a limited number of public figures in Britain, such as the actress Helen Mirren and the writer Hilary Mantel, understood a star’s need to shine brightly, this was not shared nationally. The general view was that Harry and Meghan were not only abandoning the British Royal Family and the British people, but they had shown disrespect by issuing their departure statement without giving advance notice to any member of the Royal Family or to the courtiers. This fact was confirmed by Buckingham Palace, which informed the BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond that it was ‘disappointed’ by their decision, that the Royal Family was ‘hurt’ by the announcement, and that ‘no members of the Royal Family were consulted.’
To drive the point home, Buckingham Palace then issued its own statement contradicting the Sussexes’: ‘Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take their time to work through.’ This was palace-speak for ‘Meghan and Harry have been trying to ram through game-changers on us. We’re prepared to give an inch, maybe even two, but they want to take a mile before the race has even begun. Now they’ve jumped the gun and in doing so have kicked sand in our faces, and have made a grab for all sorts of privileges which we cannot let them have without damaging the monarchy, and even though they’ve been unreasonable, we’re planning to be reasonable and give them as much as we can.’
The Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles must have had a real sense of déjà vu, for Harry and Meghan’s ploy was reminiscent of the way Diana had behaved during the negotiations for her divorce, in particular with regard to her future title. Like Meghan and Harry, she had initiated negotiations privately with the family, and when she thought they weren’t going as quickly or as satisfyingly as she wanted, she had tricked Charles into meeting with her, jumped the gun without a definitive agreement, and falsely claimed that she and Charles had agreed on certain issues, when they had not. These included that she was prepared to give up being a royal highness and be known as Diana, Princess of Wales. Because she was the mother of a future king and likely to remarry, there had been the possibility that she would be made Her Royal Highness Princess Diana. This would have allowed her to remarry and still retain a royal title. On the other hand, if she became Diana, Princess of Wales and remarried, for instance if she had married Dodi Fayed, she would have merely been Lady Diana Fayed instead of HRH Princess Diana, Mrs Dodi Fayed. She had outsmarted herself, and I was told that the Queen, furious that Diana had tricked Charles, decided to take her at her word, which is how she came to lose the title of royal highness.
One must never forget the human element. Harry is Charles’ son, William’s brother, the Queen’s grandson. They all love him. They were all fully aware that Harry would have been perfectly happy to remain as a working member of the Royal Family, involved with his charities and maintaining his military links, had he not married a woman who wanted to capitalise upon his royal status and strike out on her own with him. The words ‘financial independence’ inspired terror at the palace, for all the reasons previously articulated. No one who loved Harry believed that the desire for financial independence lay with him. He had been perfectly happy with his financial situation prior to marriage. Had he married Chelsy Davy or Cressida Bonas he would have remained content with what was on offer for a royal duke, rather than wanting to branch out and lead the life of a rich American entrepreneur. He had more than enough money for his own worldly needs as well as those of a wife who was content with the lifestyle of an ordinary royal duchess. Meghan, however, did not want that lifestyle. She didn’t want the boring bits or the hard work. She preferred the glitz and glamour of the entertainment world. In the year and a half that she and Harry had been married, they had been exposed to the A-list celebrity lifestyle of friends such as Elton John and George Clooney in a way neither of them had been before. Meghan’s appreciation of all things sybaritic had not changed since the days when she was confessing in The Tig how much she relished the perks of great wealth. She wanted that for herself, and Harry, eager as ever to please her, was prepared to go along with her ambitions.
Althoug
h none of the royals was happy with Harry and Meghan’s plan to have one foot in the royal camp in Britain, and another in the commercial market in the United States (Canada being acknowledged by all as nothing more than a convenient stepping stone), the Queen, the Prince of Wales and William were nevertheless prepared to work towards achieving a modus vivendi that would allow Meghan and Harry to leave the royal fold honourably and make their own way in the world with equal honour. They understood by this time that Meghan was a formidable personality who functioned completely differently from them. She was undoubtedly one of the strongest personalities anyone had ever encountered, as her good friend Serena Williams said while singing her praises. Backed up at all times by a husband whose mantra was ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets,’ the Royal Family would have no choice but to cope with the new way of functioning she and Harry were intent on creating. As Princess Margaret’s former lady-in-waiting Lady Glenconner put it, ‘Meghan didn’t stay very long because she didn’t realise that to be a royal is jolly hard work and quite boring at times. It’s not all fun and glamour. A lot if it is behind the scenes, so it’s not supposed to be flashy.’ Not only did Meghan want the glamour of a glitzier and more stimulating and exciting lifestyle, but, being a businesswoman, she wanted it to pay as well. This she and Harry intended to achieve by exploiting their royal status for financial gain while basking in the glory of royalty and burnishing the gloss with Hollywood-style celebrity without the boring business of meeting mayors and doing all the other low-key, non-newsworthy activities which are the daily chores of monarchies, but which bored Meghan as rigid as they had bored Diana.
How to reconcile what, on the face of it seemed irreconcilable was the challenge facing the royals. They were only too aware that Meghan, being American, was relished in the United States in a way that only a native royal could be. The positive response there to their stepping back had been overwhelming. Because Americans did not realise how imperative it was for the British Crown and the British people that Harry and Meghan’s departure be effected with as little damage to all concerned as could be achieved, American media coverage addressed none of the national concerns of the British. The American reports were essentially superficial, missing all the more nuanced dimensions with which the British were concerned, indeed often riding roughshod over these considerations.
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