They’ve taken us for fools. Now it’s America’s turn
As the Sussexes blunder into U.S. election...
The Queen must be thrilled that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have slipped into their new life in America with such little fuss. Only the one public contretemps with President Trump so far, in which he stated in front of a television audience of millions that he didn’t like Meghan and that harry had better watch out for himself.
‘I wish harry a lot of luck because he is gonna need it,’ said the Prez this week — and few would argue with that.
Still, was it entirely wise of the royal couple to intervene in the forthcoming U.S. election in the way they did? Ostensibly they were merely encouraging people to vote, but their underlying message was clear: don’t vote for Trump.
‘ It’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity,’ said harry, wearing a suit and sitting on a bench in a manner eerily reminiscent of Forrest Gump.
Stupid is as stupid does? Well, here we have a British prince and political eunuch who has been constitutionally unable to vote his entire life using his birthright to encourage others to vote, but only for his approved candidate.
Within the depths of the magic garden inside harry’s brain, we have moved on from the pumpkin patch of parody and deep into the mockery rockery.
WE Are incredibly proud to join you at this historic time,’ he said, as if he had been invited to participate in America’s business, rather than gatecrashing a political event that has had nothing to do with him or his country since the War of Independence almost 240 years ago.
I hold no candle for Trump, but surely it is up to Americans to choose their president — not a pair of recently decamped international settlers from the house of Windsor, arriving a little breathless to the argument.
No one can blame the Sussexes for wanting to strike out on their own. Making Netflix films and grandiose speeches about building ‘communities of compassion’ (is there a Lego set for that?) from their glam digs in California sure beats visiting community projects on Deeside and chairing online charity meetings, which is what the rest of the dullsville royals were doing in the UK this week.
But what is unacceptable is the way harry and Meghan won’t be straight with anyone about anything. They take us for fools! It’s all smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand and doublespeak.
They absolve themselves of any political responsibility by pretending not to be talking about Trump when they are clearly talking about Trump. They insist they did not collaborate with the authors of the hagiographic biography Finding Freedom when it seems clear that some of the greasy details published within its oleaginous pages could have come only from them, directly or indirectly.
Yet they cannot tell the truth, because the truth is that they are using their royal connections as a platform to lecture others, as they believe their opinions are the right opinions and that everyone who differs is wrong. They are classic illiberal liberals, unwilling to accept different perspectives and prone to feeling persecuted when they are merely contradicted.
I mean, what was harry going on about, sitting on the bench next to Meghan? ‘When the bad outweighs the good,’ he began, as if he were singing a country and western song, ‘whether we realise it or not, it erodes our ability to have compassion and our ability to put ourself in someone else’s shoes.’
There’s been a load of compromisin’ on the road to his horizon, especially as it seems just five minutes ago that the Duke of Sussex had very few opinions indeed, except who was his favourite Spice Girl and whether to have another pint of Skull Krusher down at the Dog & Duck (answer: yes).
Somehow, with the encouragement of his wife, harry has morphed from posh dope into self-styled prince philosopher. This boy who was bottom of his class at eton now has more opinions than Tripadvisor and — even worse — he expects a nation of 330 million people to sit up and listen to them.
however, I can’t join in the clamour for the couple to be stripped of their royal titles forthwith, even if they seem hellbent on royally abusing their status. For perhaps the Sussexes have little intention of hanging on to them anyway.
DON’T laugh. It seems clear harry and Meghan want to establish a godlike presence in the U.S. as quickly as possible; hot-branding themselves on to the rump of the American consciousness before the Queen kicks them out of the royal stables for good.
Yet deep in their politically correct hearts, harry and Meghan must know they cannot be agenda- setting, negativity-rejecting modern citizens of the free world while still belonging to an ancient hierarchical institution based on birth, not merit. Something to ponder on as they sit in their garden in the California sun and think of lots more things to lecture us about.
As Forrest Gump himself said, life is like a box of chocolates.
And when it comes to harry and Meghan horse- whispering sweet nothings to America and the world beyond, you never know what you’ll get: the Total Fudge, the Completely Nuts or the great big Windsor raspberry.