Is Harry’s big rebrand a new swipe at the Palace?
Couple’s website goes even ‘woker’ on eve of Oprah interview
HARRY and Meghan rebranded their website yesterday in the build-up to their Oprah Winfrey interview – with a defiant new swipe at Buckingham Palace.
The pair dropped a photograph of Princess diana and their ‘Letter for 2021’ from the home page of their Archewell website, and replaced them with a lofty new mission statement.
The Archewell logo was also updated, to include the words ‘Service. Compassion. Action. Community.’
The couple’s prominent use of the word ‘Service’ is likely to raise eyebrows at Buckingham Palace, following a row over whether the Sussexes could continue a life of public service after their decision to quit as working royals.
Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, are preparing for a ‘tell-all’ interview with chatshow host Oprah Winfrey to be shown in the US next Sunday. It is likely to be broadcast on ITV in Britain a day later.
The 90-minute chat is expected to focus on Meghan’s experiences as a member of the Royal Family, including why she and Harry decided to quit and make a new life for themselves and son Archie in the US, where they have signed lucrative media contracts with the likes of Netflix and Spotify.
Their updated Archewell website outlined their aims for their non-profit work in a mission statement written in the ‘woke’ language of their new home in California. It said: ‘Welcome to Archewell. Through our non-profit work, as well as creative activations, we drive systemic cultural change across all communities, one act of compassion at a time.’
The home page previously featured photographs of Harry and Meghan as children with their mothers.
Those images have been replaced with a single picture of the Sussexes handing out supplies for low-income families at a charity event in Los Angeles last year. A lengthy message, entitled ‘A Letter for 2021’, was also removed from the home page.
The message started with the words ‘I am my mother’s son’ and urged the couple’s supporters to help them ‘work to build a better world’. The couple, who are expecting their second child later this year, have insisted they will continue to ‘live a life of service’ outside the Royal Family.
When it was announced they would not be returning to royal duties, Buckingham Palace said their new life meant they could not continue ‘the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service’.
The Queen is understood to have told the couple that their commercial careers were incompatible with the impartiality required of those in public service, but insisted they remained ‘much loved members of the family’.
The pair issued an immediate response, saying: ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.’
Their interview for US TV is likely to be one of the most watched programmes this year. According to a close friend, Meghan declared ‘nothing is off limits’ for the show, entitled Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special.
Last week Harry took a fresh swipe at the Royal Family when he insisted he had not walked away from royal duties.
The sixth in line to the throne appeared in a 17-minute skit with friend and TV host James Corden on the US entertainment programme, The Late Late Show.
It came as Prince Philip spent a second weekend in hospital battling an infection. The duke of Edinburgh has been in London’s King Edward VII hospital for 13 nights.
‘We drive systemic cultural change’