Freedom may leave a bitter taste for Harry and Meghan
AFTER a week reading extracts from Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, many of us are keen on finding our own freedom.
The book, touted as the “real” story behind the Sussexes’ decision to quit a palatial house in Windsor to seek refuge in a palatial house in Hollywood, sees them painted as one of the most hard done by couples on the planet.
The biography, by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, details the couple’s alleged anger, hurt and betrayal at their treatment by the Royal Family.
The fallout from the claims has sent shockwaves around the Palace as courtiers come in for heavy criticism. They are alleged to have called Meghan “Harry’s showgirl” and “Duchess Different” while she felt as though she was wrongly being branded “difficult” or a
“bitch” behind her back due to racist and sexist attitudes.
It is claimed some Palace aides resented having to serve “an actress on a cable show”, and one senior courtier is said to have been overheard telling a colleague: “There’s just something about her I don’t trust.”
As damaging, but more hurtful to the Queen and her family, is the picture painted of a fractious relationship between the couple and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, sparking fears it leaves Harry and Meghan with no return path to the Palace.
Everything from their romance being discovered to their final UK appearance in January is covered in the book.
And although the Sussexes have said they did not participate in it, the intimate details provided leaves it difficult to understand where such information could have come from.
The biography is filled with buckets of bitterness. But contrary to what Finding Freedom says about Meghan’s reception in Britain, the public and the media were overwhelmingly on her side when she first came on the scene.
At the time the country was reeling in Brexit hell and their wedding brought respite from the pain while buoying the nation.
It left the Sussexes considering themselves the biggest draw the Royal Family had ever seen. According to the book: “The Sussexes had made the monarchy more relatable to those who had never before felt a connection. “However, there were concerns that the couple should be brought into the fold, otherwise the establishment feared their popularity might eclipse that of the Royal Family.”
It goes on, claiming Harry and Meghan’s popularity was “propelling the monarchy to new heights around the world”.
If the public had a high opinion of the Sussexes, Scobie and Durand make it clear the couple had an even higher opinion of themselves.
“I gave up my entire life for this family,’’ the authors report Meghan as moaning. “I was willing to do whatever it takes. But here we are. It’s very sad.”
What is equally sad, some would say, are claims she also gave up her father.
While it is true Harry and Meghan were hugely popular, like any footballer it is a grave mistake to think they were ever bigger than the club.
It is evident from the book they have a tinted view about royal life, believing they should be allowed to withdraw from public duties yet continue to benefit from the institution.
But life in the House of Windsor isn’t a pick ‘n’ mix selection, and without his royal and military life, LA will be an extremely tough place for Harry.
Whereas Meghan will settle back into the Tinsel Town fold, the Prince will struggle to find true fulfilling friendships and real purpose of the kind he enjoyed back in the UK.
But lecturing people about the state of the planet while living in a 14-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, flying around in private planes and firing off legal complaints only serves to have the love they once had eroded further.
For a couple who got what they wanted, the book sounds more like cry freedom than it does finding it.
Without his royal and military life, LA will be an extremely tough place for Harry