GOING, GOING, GONE IN DAYS?
Queen demands deal is sealed with want-away couple
An agreement with the want-away royals could mean Harry and Meghan quitting Britain within a week, it emerged yesterday.
The Queen is said to be determined to settle the issue quickly, allowing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to make their move to North America permanent.
The couple stunned the royals this week after announcing on their social media site that they intended to step back from their senior roles. The Queen and other senior royals were unaware of the couple’s intention to go public with their plans.
But, after the punishing aftermath of Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC interview when pressure mounted over six days before he stepped back from royal duties, the Queen has reportedly told aides to agree arrangements with the couple sooner.
Harry, 35, is expected to talk to the Queen and his father, Prince Charles, who has remained on holiday in Scotland, over the weekend. But, according to sources, he is determined to win agreement on key issues.
Royal commentator Jennie Bond told The Sunday Post: “What we’re seeing here is the Queen acting as both a Queen and a grandmother.
“I’m glad to see she is acting very swiftly and banging heads together. She wants to get it sorted and believes they’ve got to lance this boil quickly.
“From the Queen’s perspective, she saw her sister flounder for a role, and she has seen her second son, Andrew, get into a right mess.
“I think the last thing she wants is to see Charles’s second son be equally lost in his lack of a proper royal role. She will, I think, try to makeitworkin the way Harry wants.
“The Queen is a very, very wise head on old shoulders. From her perspective, I think she is playing a blinder. She has been very calm and dignified in the face of yet another family crisis.”
Harry and Meghan, 38, issued their surprise statement on their Instagram account on Wednesday without consulting Buckingham Palace.
They announced they intended to work towards becoming financially independent and would balance their time between the UK and North America.
But speculation is mounting that Meghan may not return to the UK any time soon after the couple left Archie and their two pet dogs in Canada to fly home and break news of their plans.
The couple had spent six weeks on Vancouver Island over the festive period, and Meghan returned to Canada on Thursday after just three days in the UK.
The prince will now hammer out the finer points of their plans with his family, who were “hurt and dismayed” at being kept out of the loop on their decision.
Prince Charles is currently in Scotland at his Birkhall estate on Royal Deeside, while the Queen is at Sandringham.
Harry has an official engagement at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, when he will host the Rugby League World Cup draw.
Experts believe senior royals are likely to try to accommodate the prince’s requests due to their love for him and because they are aware of his struggles with his mental health.
They will also be keen to avoid losing Harry and Meghan altogether from “the Firm” as they are such an asset to the royal family.
But the Queen will be eager to shut down any PR crisis after a “difficult few months” centred on Prince Andrew’s association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew’s interview with the BBC in November about the scandal was regarded as a public relations disaster.
PR expert Peter Duncan, director of Edinburghbased Message Matters, said: “In all of these situations, uncertainty is an enemy. It is bad news.
“I certainly think that Buckingham Palace will want to draw this to a conclusion with some kind of settlement and agreement for the future.
“I also think they will be looking to hang onto a relationship with Harry and Meghan because they have shown themselves to be such an asset to the royal family.
“It’s a long, long way away from the Prince Andrew situation. The Andrew thing was a horrific misjudgment.
“This, I think, is an unfortunate deterioration in relationships and made all the worse by the way it was brought into sharp focus this week.
“The biggest error this week has been the way in which the news has been delivered.
“This is not a great time for the Queen,though. It’s not been a brilliant two or three months.
“That’s another reason why the advisers around Buckingham Palace and around Harry and Meghan will be looking to coming to an early agreement on the way forward.”