The Sussexes: more celeb than royal?
Snapping shots of Serena Williams in action at Wimbledon last week, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, said Sally Jones in The Daily Telegraph. It was a royal protection officer, who politely ordered me not to take any photos of the Duchess of Sussex as she was there in a private capacity. I was amazed, not least because I wasn’t even aware that she was present. This gratuitous request was typical of Prince Harry and his wife’s “secretive, high-maintenance attitude” – one that has begun to irk even monarchists like me. The same “control freakery” was evident over the christening of their son, Archie, on Saturday. The couple insisted on conducting the entire ceremony in private, refusing even to reveal the identity of the godparents. The only concession to the public was the release after the event of two pre-approved photos.
Okay, the Sussexes probably should have told us who the godparents were, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer – “concealing it is only going to make the story bigger”. They’ve every right, though, to keep parts of their family life private. People think the couple “owe” us because they receive money from the public purse, but Harry and Meghan more than fulfil their brief when it comes to undertaking public duties. They shouldn’t have to sell their souls as well.
Nobody is asking them to do that, said Jan Moir in the Daily Mail, just to follow normal royal practice. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge let the media take photos before the christening of their children without any problem. Who now remembers the names of those godparents? Harry and Meghan have forgotten that there’s a difference between celebrity and royalty. The affectations of Jay-Z and Beyoncé “do not apply when you’re senior royals anchored in the dull old United Kingdom”. The Sussexes can’t have it both ways. If they’re happy to have a grand christening conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, they have to play the game. The pair need to pick their battles more wisely, agreed Lindy McDowell in The Belfast Telegraph. By creating an “aura of secrecy” around the christening, they succeeded only in sparking an unnecessary fuss about what should have been a “relaxed family event”.