Bet the Royal reporters of the British tabs were grinning last week. Harry and Meghan were coming home! And it was the usually staid Telegraph that got the big scoop. Check out the front page above. Notice two other stories as well. One is about the cover-up of the Covid lab leak story which, I admit I believe, was probably the cause. The other was about the Chancellor of Cambridge talking about a need for integrity. Pardon? Wasn’t it Cambridge that hired the fabulist Jason Arday as a professor whose background story was so over-the-top that I wouldn’t have believed it if he applied for a job with me. And neither would you.
But back to Harry and Meghan. They’re homeward bound after six years in Montecito. Remember, they started in America as A-list celebs with big-buck contracts with Netflix and Spotify and Harry’s top-of-the-chart tell-all bestseller. It’s been rather downhill since. Lately they’ve been teetering on the top of the C-list with an invite to Kris Jenner’s birthday bash and Meghan trying to make a go of her scented candles and jam business.
They say they’re going home so Lilibet, 5, and Archie, 7, will get the benefits of a British education and will stay there till their children finish school. Like, graduate school? And dare I ask, what’s wrong with an American education? Harry went to Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy where the whole course lasts 44 weeks. Meghan graduated from Northwestern.
They’ll be living in a non-royal residence outside of London and they say they’ll not perform royal duties. As for security, Harry has been arguing for years that his family deserves armed protection. Last Thursday Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the couple’s security arrangements were a “private matter.” The British taxpayers wouldn’t be footing the bill.
King Charles was told about the family ‘s impending move just a couple of days before it was announced. Bet that was a surprise! And you can just imagine how Prince William and Princess Kate must feel about it. There’s even a suggestion, though it’s doubtful, that Harry and Meghan have enrolled their children at the same school that Kate and William’s Charlotte and Louis attend. Can you just imagine the media crush if both moms arrived at pick-up time?
In fact, once they’re back the media will follow Harry and Meghan’s every move. They said they left six years ago because of the media’s intrusion and bias. Do they really think it will be any different. The Telegraph, which broke the story immediately documented all the critical statements Meghan has ever made about England and the Royal Family. While the Daily Mail has started once again calling Meghan Duchess Difficult and cataloged the Sussexes “broken US dreams.” And the Mail just handed Harry a $13 million bill for losing, along with six other celebrities including Elton John, in a case against the paper.
So why are the Sussexes going back? Harry, who really has had nothing to do in America, has been trying to repair his relationship with his family. Last year he said he would love to reconcile. “Life is precious,” Harry said. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.” Just a few weeks ago he and Meghan and the children met Charles, who’s being treated for cancer, and Camilla for a very private visit. It was the first time the king had seen Archie and Lilibet in four years.
As for William and Kate a reconciliation seems far less likely. Harry’s book “Spare” where he accused his brother of knocking him down, and the Oprah interview where Meghan implied the Royal family was racists were blabs too far for the unforgiving William. And you just know, as soon as they’re back there will be constant comparisons between the two brothers and the two wives.
Kate is now the most popular royal. Meghan is only slightly less unpopular than the prince now known as Andrew. In fact, the latest YouGov royal approval ratings show only a third of Britons (33 per cent) view Harry favorably, while just one in five (22 per cent) see Meghan in a positive light.
The Telegraph asked their readers to comment on the Great Return: One reader was skeptical: “Why? After all the drama over security, the accusations of how they wouldn’t be safe over here, and suddenly, oh, it’s all fine now?’ God help us all.” While another concluded: “Nobody could forgive the Sussexes’ behavior, their treatment of our late Queen. How can any of the family bear to be in a room with them, knowing that anything they say could be twisted and sold?”
That doesn’t sound too welcoming.
Other reasons for the return? Well, “Finding Freedom,” the Sussexes escape story, is over, but maybe there’s a new docuseries in “Back to Blighty.” Meghan’s “As Ever” might offer recipes for low-cholesterol Scotch Eggs and Spotted Dick. Don’t laugh, it’s a pudding my Northumberland mother-in-law used to make.
And there’s also the little sticky question of Harry’s visa. He did admit drug use in “Spare.” That should make renewing a visa a bit problematic.
Also, next year it is the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death. Wouldn’t it look churlish for William not to get together with his brother to honor her memory?
I’m sure we’ll find out lots more in the days to come. Harry and Meghan may simply believe that “home is the place when you go there, they have to take you in.”
Certainly, the British press is waiting to do just that.
