Harry’s memoir the next page in Royal drama
PULP the book. That’s the warning that Prince Harry has received about his tellall memoir due out before Christmas. The Duke of Sussex followed the script for the funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Both sides of the royal family war called a cease fire, with Prince William inviting his brother and Meghan to join him viewing floral tributes at the gates of Windsor Castle.
King Charles also reached out to Prince Harry and Meghan in his first speech as monarch, while Harry returned the favour in his own tribute to the Queen.
The question is, what happens next?
Will the death of the Queen bring the royal family closer together, or will the stress of the loss of such a dearly loved relative further tear them apart?
A lot will depend on whether Prince Harry hits the button and publishes his memoir, which was due out before Christmas.
“The ball is in the court of the Sussexes. What are they going to decide to do? I’ve always thought it was too soon for a memoir,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said. “If he doesn’t put any confidences (secrets) in it then it won’t be syndicated and won’t sell to the same extent.”
The Duke of Sussex has vowed to give away any profits from the book, so it can only be seen as a way for him to set the record straight.
“Harry should postpone the book. Postponements can last for a very, very long time,” Mr Fitzwilliams said.
“The idea of a memoir was always wrong.”
Prince Harry and Meghan were in Britain for more than a fortnight, but their public appearances were brief. They flew back to their home in the US on Tuesday, just a day after the Queen’s funeral.
According to Ms Markle’s close friend, CBS Mornings host Gayle King, there have been efforts on both sides to address the tensions. “Big families always go through drama, always go through turmoil. It remains to be seen — are they going to be drawn closer together or are they going to be drawn apart? I have no idea, I have no inside information on that.”
The royal family — most likely driven by Prince William, who has a significant influence — have kept the Californian couple in check in the UK.
Harry and Meghan have mainly been out of the papers, too.
On the day after the Queen’s funeral, the first image of Meghan in the Daily Mail — the newspaper group the couple successfully sued for breach of privacy — was on page 32.
The Sun had a small picture of Meghan on page 5, shedding a tear. Its front page headline was “We sent her victorious” with a photograph of
After coming together to mourn the Queen, will the ostracised Sussexes reignite the royal rift – or will Prince Harry decide to pulp his upcoming tell-all? Stephen Drill reports
the thousands of mourners lining the Long Walk in Windsor, underlining how the public loved the Queen and the institution of the royal family.
But there has been backlash online, with an organised campaign on Twitter praising a woman who refused to shake Meghan’s hand when she was greeting wellwishers during the walkabout in Windsor with William and Kate.
The haters piled on, finding any little detail to criticise Meghan. The way she flicked her hair was disrespectful. The way she held Harry’s hand was needy. A delay in viewing the floral tributes at Windsor Castle was because of her.
Commentators in the US have been aghast at the treatment.
Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian claimed it was “garden-variety racism”.
She argued there was “something about royal couplings — particularly when an English king or prince weds an American commoner, then flees the country — (that) really inflames our imaginations.”
Prince Harry and Meghan accused the royal family themselves of racism in their bombshell Oprah interview last year.
His brother, Prince William, made
a rare intervention the following week that his family was “very much not racist” when asked a shouted question at a royal event.
At the centre of the debate is a culture clash.
Supporters of Meghan argue it’s about the colour of Meghan’s skin, as well as the fact that she is American,
that has so upset the British establishment.
The Brits hit back that Meghan wanted to have the influence and status of being a royal, but with all the freedoms of being a celebrity.
Just weeks before the Queen’s death, Meghan featured in a 6400word feature article on style and culture website The Cut, saying Prince Harry had told her he had “lost his dad” in the process of their awkward departure from the British royal family.
That slip of the tongue – easily made when you’re “relaxing in a cosy chair” in a “climate-controlled” room with a friendly journalist – made headlines across the world.
Meghan later tried to clarify she was referring to her own father, Thomas Markle, who has given countless negative interviews about his daughter.
But it highlights one of the problems in trying to walk away from the royal family.
The minders in The Firm who Meghan found restrictive would have advised against The Cut profile piece.
But things are different in the US, the land of the tell-all interview and the heartwarming redemption story. (Think Kim Kardashian, Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods: Americans love a heart laid bare and a comeback.)
Meghan’s latest reported move – formally requesting a one-on-one meeting with King Charles in order to clear the air – will continue to divide opinion, with some finding it courageous that she should seek to speak her truth. Others will judge it as pushy. The differences between Meghan’s world of Hollywood royalty and the actual royal family could not have been more stark this week.
The Queen had lain-in-state in a 900-year-old hall for four days; she was farewelled in a 753-year-old abbey and her funeral procession through London mirrored the pomp of Queen Victoria’s send-off in 1901.
There’s history and tradition that places restrictions on members of the royal family, who know all too well they reign by consent of the people.
Their relatives didn’t want to lose their heads like King Louis XVI of France did in 1793.
If the feud continues, the tragedy will be that little Princess Charlotte, who so looked up to her uncle during the service at St George’s Chapel, will be denied a relationship with him and her cousins, Archie and Lilibet.
There’s a fair chance that Lilibet, 1, will soon watch the Disney movie Frozen. She will probably have it on repeat and Prince Harry and Meghan will be forced to sit through it.
As they sit in their 16-bathroom mansion in Montecito, Harry and Meghan should probably listen carefully to the main character Elsa when she sings: Let it Go.