Finding Freedom

by Omid Scobie

  During the service—which the Queen, William, and Kate did not attend—the Chapel Royal choir of six Gentlemen-in-Ordinary and ten Children of the Chapel performed. “It was sincere and very moving,” the archbishop said. “It was a great privilege.”

  “It was uplifting,” said one of the eighteen guests, who, after the baptism, attended a dinner party at Clarence House hosted by Charles and Camilla in honor of the holy event.

  Meghan was fully in the process of embracing her life as a future royal. The same month as her baptism, Harry and Meghan took out a lease on the Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire—a four-thousand-square-foot converted barn originally built in 1708. Although Harry and Meghan kept Nottingham Cottage as their London base, Nott Cott was becoming too cramped for the couple.

  Harry had been looking at homes in the country before he had even met Meghan. In early 2016, the prince considered purchasing with some of the money he inherited from his mother a Norfolk property he had viewed. In 2017, he put out feelers for places in Oxfordshire.

  Great Tew, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (“Chippy” to locals), is home to a number of high-profile figures who enjoy the countryside about an hour and a half’s drive from London. Kate Winslet and the Beckhams had homes in the area, and other celebrities, such as Eddie Redmayne and Stella McCartney, were regulars at Soho Farmhouse, which was located on the same four-thousand-acre estate Harry and Meghan rented their plot on. While they didn’t often visit Farmhouse itself, the royal couple made the most of the amenities offered by the establishment, such as fresh croissants the main kitchen sent over and products from the Cow Shed spa. One of the Farmhouse chefs had even come over and cooked when they hosted guests one evening. If Harry and Meghan didn’t want to leave their home, one could hardly blame them. The four-bedroom house featured a tiered shaker-style kitchen with doors that opened out onto the landscaped gardens.

  The Oxfordshire house gave the couple an opportunity to host comfortably. Even when they had guests, they rarely used the large dining room—preferring casual gatherings where the food was served straight from the oven to the kitchen table. But their favorite spot to entertain was the garden patio with its brick barbecue.

  The lush green grounds around the property were also the perfect environment for their two dogs to thrive. That summer the couple welcomed a new addition to the family, a black Labrador rescue they named after Botswana’s currency: Pula. The word means “rain” in the Bantu language of Setswana—and for very good reason. With its semi-arid terrains, the country considers rain valuable and a blessing. Just like the high-energy pooch.

  Many family and friends (including Redmayne and his wife, Hannah Bagshawe, who had become part of Harry and Meghan’s wider circle) spent time in the couple’s comfortable home that was decorated with a few items Meghan had shipped over from her time in Toronto.

  Jessica visited a couple of times, including just before the wedding. The two spent the weekend letting their hair down, wearing face masks, drinking “copious amounts of wine,” calling Jessica’s husband, Ben, to say hi and giggling because they were both tipsy.

  Doria visited two times, and not only did she have her own room and bathroom, she had an arrival free of intrusion from the press. Meghan’s mother was collected directly from the tarmac at Heathrow, checked out through the VIP arrival area, and then driven straight to the countryside. It was a much-needed respite from the onslaught of paparazzi that had shaken up her life ever since it was revealed that her daughter was dating a prince.

  The Palace had been on hand to give Doria advice on how to deal with the new, unwelcomed interest in her life that she felt was so odd. Jason told her to avoid speaking with journalists and to call him immediately with details of anyone who left notes at her house, of which there were many. Reporters frequently dropped letters through her door that offered her a chance to “tell her side of the story.” He also said to alert him as well as the authorities if anyone followed her. Harry made it clear that if Doria was harassed, he would personally pay for her to get the necessary protection.

  In LA, paparazzi camped outside her house and followed her as she drove to the homes of her hospice clients. They raced alongside her, snapping pictures with their large cameras, as she made her way up the walkways to her clients’ front doors. It was an alarming scene not just for her but also for the people already in a vulnerable state.

  Doria found an unlikely ally in—of all people—Oprah Winfrey. The former talk show host, who had been introduced to Meghan by a friend, reached out to Doria to offer her support when she was first swept up in the media storm. It turned out that on occasion they went to the same church, the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. “Oprah has been a friend and a help to someone who’s been in a pretty extraordinary situation,” a source close to Meghan said. “There are not many people who can understand the situations that Doria’s found herself in, so it’s great to be supported by someone who understands the pressure of being in the public eye.”

  Doria was able to spend time with Oprah when she needed to get away from her house without worrying that she would use their friendship to get an interview. (A senior palace aide had an honest conversation with Oprah before the wedding, where she assured them that “that’s not what any of this is about.”) “Meghan will always be so grateful to Oprah for being someone her mother can turn to,” a source said. “Doria has plenty of friends, but there’s a comfort you can take in knowing that someone like Oprah is close by and supportive.”

  Still, there was nothing Oprah could do to stop photographers from hassling Doria on her way to work. While Palace officials kept in regular contact with Meghan’s mother, they were also powerless.

  The attention paid to Meghan’s father turned out to be just as harmful but in an entirely different way.

  Back in December, as Harry and Meghan were reveling in their engagement, a newspaper published an article about Thomas that they’d been piecing together for months, sharing pictures of his home atop a 120-foot bluff in Rosarito Beach, a quiet Mexican resort town that overlooked the Pacific Ocean, and details of his life, such as the red Ford Escape or silver Volvo he drove to his local Walmart to stock up on groceries or to the storage unit where he had bragged to the owner about his daughter who was on television. But there were no quotes, as anytime a reporter approached him, he responded with the line prepared for him by Palace officials: “I can’t speak out of respect for my family.”

  Once the Mail on Sunday article came out with his home’s location, he had to deal with constant intrusions from reporters and photographers. One paparazzo even shelled out the cash to rent the unit right next to his. “At this point Meghan was just worried for her father,” a source close to Meghan said. “They were coming at him from every angle and she was concerned for his well-being and safety more than anything.”

  Thomas, who put up plywood to cover the windows of his house that faced the street, hated that by staying silent he was allowing the media to control his image. Some of the entertainment TV shows in the US and a number of British newspapers were relentless, offering big money for any distant relative of Meghan’s to spill family secrets. (Good Morning Britain flew in the estranged wife of Meghan’s half brother, whom she barely knew and hadn’t seen for years, as well as her sons—one who had a legal marijuana business.) Whether they were honest or not was beside the point. The public was hungry for any snippet of information about Meghan’s life no matter the tone or motivation of the comment.

  All the public knew about Thomas was what had been captured on camera: pictures of him taking out the trash, washing his clothes at a local laundromat, buying beers for the security guards in his community, and heading out of Home Depot with a new toilet (which some tabloids called his “throne”). But without him filling in the gaps, sections of the press crafted the image of an unhealthy recluse with little more to keep him company than Heineken and a pack of smokes.

  Jason, Thomas’s point person at t
he Palace, made it clear to Meghan’s father from the very start that he was on hand night or day to help him navigate the press situation. It was a strange situation to be in and everyone, especially Harry and Meghan, wanted to make sure he felt supported. Although he gave Thomas his private cell phone number, email, and also that of his deputy, Jason never heard from him. He would check in from time to time, but Thomas always said he was just fine. “Thomas is a proud man,” a source said. “Stubborn.”

  Enter Jeff Rayner. By this point the photographer and co-owner of the Coleman-Rayner news agency was a familiar face, having staked out Thomas’s home for months. He made Thomas an offer that seemed mutually beneficial. They could set up a few candid-seeming shots around town that would shift his image from overweight hermit to devoted father eagerly preparing for his daughter’s big day. By the time he took his place at the end of the aisle at St. George’s Chapel, everyone would know him as a devoted dad who studied up on the monarchy before his face-to-face meeting with the Queen.

  Over the course of several calls, Harry and Meghan told Thomas directly that he should do his best to ignore all press. But ultimately, he didn’t listen. With some encouragement from his other daughter, Samantha, who managed to get a cut of the deal in the process, Thomas took up the photographer on his proposition. He and Jeff went around town, putting together a few setups, including Thomas reading a book about British history at a coffee shop and visiting an Internet café to read the latest news stories on his daughter and future son-in-law. The plan was to spread the sales of the photos out for maximum profit and maximum exposure.

  The photos ran in multiple outlets around the world but did little to help his public image. In fact, the person they did seem to help was Rayner, who banked at least $130,000 for the photo agency from their sales. Thomas took thirty percent.

  Just one week before Thomas was set to take center stage at Windsor Castle, in a suit crafted far from the Mexico beach town, the Palace got word that the Mail on Sunday intended to run information that would expose the “candid” frames as fakes, including the one of Meghan’s father flipping through Images of Great Britain: A Pictorial Tour Through History.

  At Harry’s instruction, the Palace communications team, in consultation with their legal team at Harbottle & Lewis, began working on a strategy to stop the publication of the embarrassing story.

  First, though, Meghan needed to hear straight from her dad what happened. According to a trusted confidant who was with Meghan as events unfolded, she told her father, “Dad, we need to know if this is true or not, because my team is going to try and stop this story from running—if you are telling me it’s fake.

  “If they do that, they’re going out of their way to protect you, Dad,” Meghan said over the phone. “You’re telling me you’re being victimized, right?”

  Once again, he lied to Meghan. “Of course,” he promised, failing to admit he had participated in the staging of the photos.

  “Every single time she was calling him, she was like, ‘Dad, I love you. I just want you to know I love you. Everything is fine. Just get here. We’ll have the wedding. We’ll celebrate. Don’t worry about any of this stuff. Let’s just put it behind us,’ ” the source shared.

  “You want to believe the best, right?” the source continued. “I’ve heard her say, ‘My dad never sought this out. I really believe that he’s the victim, and now I feel sad because I believe he’s been fully corrupted.’ ”

  Before Meghan got off the phone with her father, she reminded him that a car would be arriving outside his door the next day to drive him to Los Angeles. From there, he was to make the transatlantic trip to London, where all the arrangements had been handled. He’d be accompanied door to door with chauffeured cars, personal security, and a guide to answer any question. He wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.

  Meanwhile, the communications staff at Kensington Palace did all they could to keep Thomas’s ill-conceived plan from exploding, collaborating with her father to issue a report with the Independent Press Standards Organisation and a notice to UK newspaper editors about the situation. But to no avail: the morning after Meghan phoned her father, the Mail on Sunday’s front page hit: “MEGHAN’s DAD STAGED PHOTOS WITH THE PAPARAZZI.” Screen shots from closed-circuit cameras made it painfully clear he had staged each and every one.

  Meghan was devastated by her father’s deception, but she was also concerned for his welfare. Thomas hadn’t demonstrated the best judgment, to be sure. But the wedding was only one week away. She was desperate to get him to London, where he would be protected from the press by palace escorts and protection officers.

  She called her father right away, but he didn’t answer. She called again. And again, and again. She left some version of the same message each time: “Dad, I still love you. Nothing has changed. We’re going to get you out of Mexico and safely to London. I’m sending a car to come and get you.”

  If only he had gotten in the car.

  13

  The Thomas Markle Situation

  On her last night as a commoner, Meghan Markle was treated like a queen.

  At 6:15 p.m. the night before her May 19 vows to Harry, she and Doria pulled up to their accommodations for the evening: the stately 350-year-old, five-star Cliveden House.

  The estate has long been at the center of politics and high society. However, it was during the first half of the twentieth century, when Nancy and Waldorf Astor took residence at the property, that the Cliveden became most famous for its lavish hospitality and glamorous guests. The Astors entertained a diverse mix of marquee names, from Winston Churchill to George Bernard Shaw, Gandhi to Henry Ford.

  Now it was host to the future Duchess of Sussex. Swiftly whisked from their chauffeured Range Rover to the East Wing of the property, the mother and daughter were shown around their set of suites, including the $1,900-a-night Inchiquin Suite. As Meghan and her mom looked around the room’s stately mix of heavy, upholstered drapery, antique furniture, and original works of art, they were both handed cold flutes of Taittinger champagne.

  After months of preparations, everything was ready. Instead of relying on a traditional wedding planner, the couple turned to someone known to the royal household: Thea Garwood, who worked with Harry and William’s former private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, for several years in 2007 when she was an engagement secretary for the brothers. She had been heavily involved in the planning for their Diana memorial concert and became a much-trusted and impeccably organized figure in their lives. Thea, known for her calm in even the most stressful of situations, coordinated discussions between all parties involved, from the Lord Chamberlain’s office (the main channel of communication between the Queen and House of Lords) to the baker and florist—which Meghan chose herself.

  No detail was forgotten, including armed police protection officers patrolling the hallways of Cliveden House. A ring of about two dozen additional guards encircled the home’s 376-acre grounds. Harry’s orderly and former paratrooper Tifare Alexander (Tif to those closest) was also on hand if Meghan needed anything.

  The wing—where staff members ferried pitchers of sparkling water, cups of green tea, and Arnold Palmers (one of Meghan’s and her father’s favorite drinks) to the suites—had been reserved exclusively for the duchess-to-be and any of her visitors. While she and her mother would be the only ones to stay the night, friends who stopped by included pals Lindsay and Jessica, as well as her beloved rescue beagle Guy, who’d hitched a ride out to Windsor the day before with none other than the Queen.

  Michelin-starred in-house chef André Garrett prepared a sit-down dinner in the private dining room, offering the group their choice of autumn squash ravioli (a nod to Meghan’s love of pasta) or grilled Dover sole.

  And should Meghan’s guests wish, the spa was at their disposal, masseuses at the ready and the rose- and lavender-scented hot tubs and pools open and waiting.

  Meghan was feeling especially in need of a spot of stress relie
f. While some brides fill the weeks ahead of their wedding with worries about floral arrangements, seating assignments, and appearing their absolute best in their dress, Meghan had been dealing with a deeply personal crisis playing out in the press both in the UK and abroad.

  Despite Meghan’s barrage of voicemails and texts, Thomas had not only refused to get in the waiting car to the airport, he hadn’t responded to a single message from his daughter.

  “My God, my phone,” Meghan told a friend, explaining that she’d called her father at least twenty times.

  “I’m assuming he’s getting my messages,” she added, worried.

  Rather than know anything for certain, she and Harry were updated on her father’s plans (whether or not he was going to attend her wedding) through the tabloids and gossip websites.

  After the embarrassing Mail on Sunday article appeared, Thomas reached out to TMZ to plead his case, explaining he was trying to “recast” his image after being “ambushed” by other photographers. But to spare his daughter and the royal family any further embarrassment, he would no longer attend the wedding.

  While in public the Palace maintained a stoic silent facade, behind closed doors there were recriminations and anger that Meghan’s father had turned what was supposed to be a time of celebration and dignified proceedings into a circus. Having cut himself off from aides and his daughter, Thomas was feeding the press a seemingly never-ending stream of nonsensical statements. The news cycle around the nuptials was now drip-fed with scurrilous statements being released by TMZ, the same outlet that had broken the story of Prince Harry’s escapades in Las Vegas. Palace courtiers were waiting minute by minute for the next bombshell to drop. No one knew what to expect next.

  “It was very, very tough,” another aide said about the Palace’s response to the Thomas Markle situation. “There were no easy solutions, and they handled it about as best they could even though to the outside world it looked like a total mess. It’s very easy to blame the Palace, but, my God, I’ve not seen any situation quite like it—where you’ve got a woman marrying a prince and the father of the beautiful young woman is five thousand miles away, and just not playing ball, and not only not playing ball, but he’s up to silly games.”