Who can blame Harry for severing ties with the UK?
Prince Harry has made it official. Four years after his famous “freedom flight” to sunny California, it has been revealed that he has officially listed the US as his primary residence. The change – made in a filing for his sustainable tourism charity Travalyst – prompted a wave of headlines howling that he has severed ties with Blighty.
And yet, is anyone actually surprised? Isn’t this exactly the point that the past few years of high drama have been leading to?
Eagle-eyed royal watchers noted that while this paperwork has only just been made public, Harry actually filed it last June.
This news feels inevitable. There has certainly been no love lost between the Duke of Sussex and his homeland since he and his American wife, Meghan, announced that they were stepping down as senior royals in January 2020. Since then, it has been difficult to keep up with the dizzying blizzard of news surrounding the couple.
Some of this has been the pair’s own content – their interview with Oprah Winfrey, their Netflix documentary and Harry’s autobiography Spare. Then there are the accusations that they levelled at the Royal Family of neglect, unconscious bias and the leaking of stories.
Harry has blamed the British press and its toxic stories for his and Meghan’s decision to step back as working royals, fleeing first to Canada and then to Meghan’s home state of California.
There have been myriad court cases against newspapers and the Home Office over changes to Harry’s personal security. Moreover, there has been an estrangement between the couple and their royal relatives, to the point that it seems Harry and William barely speak to each other these days.
Harry’s approval rating in this country has plummeted to minus 35 (liked by 28 per cent, disliked by 63 per cent, according to a YouGov poll in February), while the Duchess’s likeability has gone down to minus 43 (liked by 23 per cent, disliked by 66 per cent, according to the same poll).
It is hardly a surprise that the couple see their future across the pond. Indeed, their daughter, Lilibet, is believed to have only stepped foot in Britain – a country of which she is a princess – once.
Meghan seems in no hurry to return and, really, who can blame her? I believe that she has made her missteps but the frothing-atthe-mouth, furious scrutiny that she faces at the hands of the British press would surely put anyone off a return to the country.
Their home is in Montecito, as are their careers – Meghan has just launched the first product, a strawberry jam, from her nascent lifestyle empire American Riviera Orchard, while Harry is making a Netflix show offering a glimpse inside the world of polo.
It has been clear for quite a while that the pair are done with the UK and, in many ways, that the UK is done with them, so why does this news still seem so sad?
I think it is because I remember the good times. I remember when Harry showcased his movie-stargrade charisma, fooling around in front of the cameras, and distracted Usain Bolt so he could win a race while on tour in Jamaica.
I remember the shocking news that he had served in Afghanistan during a media blackout. The press calls where Harry and his brother William jostled, getting in their own digs but never seeming anything other than close.
In more recent times, I remember the swell of goodwill and genuine excitement that rippled across much of the country when Harry and Meghan – startlingly beautiful and like a breath of fresh air for an institution that much needed it – married on a spring day seven years ago with a sprinkle of Hollywood, by way of Oprah and George Clooney, in the congregation.
Harry officially making the US his primary residence is both inevitable and sad, because it brings to mind happier times and confirms that they are, without a doubt, over now.
So while I am sure it is the right thing for the couple, and their future in Montecito looks rosy by all accounts, I will still miss them and wonder what could have been.
Isn’t this exactly the point the past few years of high drama have been leading to?