A battle royal is raging for America — and so far, Harry and Meghan are outgunning William and Kate at every turn
Anew British battle for America is raging, in its own way every bit as bitter as America’s revolutionary war for independence from Britain almost 250 years ago.
This time the Redcoats take the form of william and Kate (Prince and Princess of wales), on a mission to restore and enhance the reputation of the British Royal Family in the United States.
The Revolutionaries are Harry and Meghan ( Duke and Duchess of Sussex), determined to send the enemy packing and claim America as theirs alone when it comes to all matters related to British royalty.
As I file this despatch from one of the frontlines of the conflict (new York) I have to report that the Redcoats are losing the early skirmishes.
no sooner had william and Kate arrived in Boston this week on a threeday goodwill visit to big up their green credentials — replete with the sort of virtue- signalling the U.S. elite and media love (they’d even flown on a scheduled British Airways flight, the poor dears) — than they were hit by a double-whammy of enemy missiles.
First, a new race row at Buckingham Palace, which broke even as the royal couple were en route to Boston, , confirmed for many Americans ericans what Harry and Meghan had unconvincingly convincriew claimed in their notorious Oprah winfrey interview in March 2021 — that the he Royal Family was indeed da racist construct.
The U.S. media luxuriated ed in Lady Susan Hussey’s y’s inappropriate and overzealous erhe questioning of the origins of a black leader of a charity for victims of domestic violence attending ing a Palace reception to highlight a Un initiative ive relating to that very issue. e.
As one of our late Queen’s en’s closest confidantes and william’s godmother, who has been close to the Royal oyal family for more than 60 years, ars, it could hardly be denied ied she was at the heart of the royal establishment.
nor in this unforgiving age of culture wars, in which h no prisoners are taken, is there here any purpose to apologies gies
( they cut no ice), or any scope for redemption (a concept conwoke banished from the woke lexicon) — even for 83-yearolds earbeen who might not have been entirely aware what they were doing or saying.
THIS was especially cially the case since the e charity run by the woman who felt ‘violated’ by Lady Susan’s questions was clearly a big supporter of Meghan and had previously tweeted about ‘RACISM’ (in capital letters) in the Royal family and described her treatment at its hands as a form of domestic violence. well, it’s an original take.
william and Kate were totally blindsided by this development as they landed in Boston. But they had barely caught their breath when they were sent reeling from another explosion — the release of the trailer for Harry and Meghan’s forthcoming six- part netflix documentary series.
Most folks will already be well aware of its contents. Suffice to say it shows beyond doubt they have no interest in any sort of peace negotiations to bring this war for America to an end. They’re out for total victory and unconditional surrender.
The netflix series, now expected before Christmas, will be followed by the publication of Harry’s ‘memoirs’ early in the new year. These are expected to be just as hostile as the TV documentary, portraying the Royals as the worst kind of stiff, upper- class english family which represses all emotion, confirming hostile Americans’ worst fears in the process.
The House of windsor needs to realise it faces all- out war in its former colonies on the other side of the Atlantic. And it’s in danger of being outgunned at every turn.
It is not appreciated in Britain just how high the Americans’ cards are stacked in Harry and Meghan’s favour. ever since the Oprah winfrey interview, in which nearly every claim that could be fact- checked turned out to be untrue, we’ve tended to regard them as narcissistic, shallow, self-promoting ingrates who should be stripped of their titles and put on a par with the Kardashians.
The mood couldn’t be more different in America. A large section of U.S. society is now conditioned by its culture wars. In recent years, a powerful movement in the media and academia has sought — with some success — to replace 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence, as the most significant date in America’s history, with 1619, the year the first slaves arrived.
Just as Marxists see everything through the prism of class, so today’s cultural warriors see everything through the prism of race, even to the extent of claiming that the reason America sought independence was not to throw off the British yoke but to preserve slavery s (colonial leaders apparently fearing the British were about to abolish it).
Most distinguished historians, h including those th on the Left, have rejected re this rewriting of history, hi dismissing it as full fu of distortions and fantasies fa cooked up by political po activists.
But B it has taken root in schools, sch universities and much mu of the media and, accordingly, ac is gaining wider wid ground. It is ground that th couldn’t be more fertile fer for the Harry/ Meghan Me project.
In the war for the royal franchise fra in America,
Meghan Me is on her home POOL turf. turf She is regarded locally as an a American princess, and a mixed-race one at SNYDER/ that, tha the stuff of Disney fantasies, fant as her image chimes chim so well with the tenor teno of the times.
She Sh and, increasingly,
Harry Harr (under her tutelage), speak spea to the concerns of our era and a in the language of Picture: the woke, which captures the hearts he of the young and the U.S. media.
They talk of structural racism and indifference to mental health issues, both big boxes to tick in contemporary America, and present themselves as victims of both. Americans are inclined to believe them when they claim British royals are cold (especially to outsiders), don’t care about mental health and are a bit bigoted.
In young and leftish America these are three great sins. It explains why Harry/Meghan push out these perceptions at every opportunity: in interviews,
articles, podcasts and, very soon, TV documentaries and books. The hussey incident has only reinforced such beliefs.
In Boston, William and Kate had to wait in the wings before coming on stage while the reverend Mariama White-hammond, the city’s environmental chief, delivered a speech on the ‘legacy of colonialism and racism’. royal visitors to America should brace themselves for many more such lectures.
In the aftermath of the hussey affair, a Boston Globe columnist wrote how ‘ the old, tone- deaf past had roared back with a vengeance’ to undermine William and Kate.
The New York Times described their visit as a mixture of ‘ Kabuki and comic operetta’. I don’t know what that means but it doesn’t sound good.
It’s all grist to Meghan’s mill as she seeks to establish herself and harry in America as having the glamour of monarchy without the hereditary baggage, which still haunts William and Kate.
They are pulling off an amazing trick which resonates in an age of victimhood — that even royals can be victims. They (but especially she) are out to banish British royalty from America and establish their own woke royal ascendency in its place.
Of course, it would be easy to dismiss all this as the rivalry of two royal tribes of no relevance to the wider world. easy. But
wrong. The popularity of the royal family in America has been a crucial weapon of soft power deployed regularly to keep the special relationship cosy and close.
King George VI, our late Queen’s father, made the first state visit to the U.S. in June 1939, when the drums of war beat ever louder in europe.
It was a huge success, helping the great President roosevelt move U.S. public opinion in favour of supporting Britain against the Nazis.
HE SERVED the King and Queen ( who became our Queen Mother) hamburgers at his mansion in New York state’s hudson Valley. The other guests were all workers from the roosevelt estate, which helped humanise the King in U.S. eyes.
One historian has called it ‘a significant turning point in Anglo-American relations’ and even the ‘picnic that won the war’.
In my lifetime, our late Queen made a number of state and other visits to the U.S., many crucial in keeping Anglo-American relations on track, including her meetings with President eisenhower in 1957 at the height of the Cold War and a West Coast visit in 1983, during which she charmed President reagan (whose dream was to ride horses with the Queen at Windsor — it was granted).
So a lot more is at stake here than just some pampered royal egos. The popularity of the monarchy in America remains a crucial tool of British foreign policy and to lose its unique position there would be a national setback.
All is not lost. William and Kate’s Boston trip was not derailed by the harry/ Meghan missiles, even if it was somewhat overshadowed.
The Palace will need to up its game. Just why Boston, the most consistently antiBritish city in the U.S. since the early 1770s, was thought a suitable venue to relaunch royalty is a mystery.
William and Kate themselves remain fine emissaries for Britain wherever they go. The fact President Biden made the trip to Boston to be with them yesterday shows the enduring power and attraction of the British monarchy in America.
But the royal Family is on the back foot. Next week, harry and Meghan will be in New York to pick up, incredibly, a high- profile, prestigious award for challenging so- called ‘structural racism’ in the monarchy.
There’s talk they might even refer to the hussey affair.
It will certainly be great advance publicity for the documentary and the book. William and Kate’s sojourn in Boston will already be forgotten.
So the redcoats start this new war for America as the underdogs. Their best hope of changing that is to foster the pro-British royalty feelings of most Americans against the anti-Windsor sentiments of the woke but vocal minority.
It will be tough. Last time the redcoats started out as favourites. They still lost.