From Freedom Flight to the Walk-back of Failure

Harry and Meghan Markle are being widely mocked for their humiliating, imminent return to the UK. It’s seen as an admission of their abject failure in the USA and acknowledgement of the power of the monarchy. 

However, it is the Palace, in the shape of Charles and Camilla which also finds itself on the back foot, answering accusations of a ‘stealth rehabilitation’ plan for the unpopular duo, to counter the wild popularity of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

At the Wimbledon championships, in July, we got chatting to some airline staff. The conversation turned to their best and worst celebrity encounters on flights. The ‘worst’ they said, (with considerable feeling), was Meghan Markle. No one listening expressed surprise.

How celebrities treat others when the cameras aren’t rolling is always revealing. But it’s also interesting how much information the public takes in about the famous, even if they don’t actively follow them. When Katie Price and Peter Andre were always in the tabloids and on reality shows, the unlikeliest people knew of their antics. Meghan Markle and Harry are this era’s Katie Price and Peter Andre (albeit without the family values or the likeability).

And with Meghan there’s a litany of similar stories to the airline one which people have picked up, over the years:

• During her very brief stint with the Royals she had to be investigated for bullying  staff.
• On returning to the USA, the Hollywood Reporter ran a detailed story about bullying allegations against her from staff in America.
• Millions saw the ease with which she made ugly accusations against the Royal Family, on the Oprah show, without providing an iota of evidence to support them.
• Many royal supporters cannot forgive her for the cruelty and upset she caused the elderly and frail Queen in her last years.

For a woman who  constantly tells us she is kind and a humanitarian, what she shows suggests the opposite. So the airline story surprised no one who heard it.

That Charles and Camilla ‘hosted’ Meghan for tea, at their home, around this time and it was announced via media outlets, did surprise a lot of people. A king ‘hosting’ a tea and a media announcement about it is usually what is expected for a visiting head of state. To do it for someone who has relentlessly attacked your family and the institution you represent, was surprising. 

Also hosted at the tea was Harry. At the time he was all over the media for:

• Suffering a colossal legal defeat in the English courts
• Attacking the judge in the case; describing his meticulous 400+ page judgment as a ‘whitewash’.
• Putting a white pill in the mouth of a young, female journalist at their first meeting, some years before.
• And, for good measure, appearing on a podcast talking about farting and soiling his pants. Very regal.
• The timing of the tea meeting in respect of him was, certainly unfortunate.

Harry has also never contradicted, challenged or expressed concern about a single thing Meghan has said or done against his family. Indeed, he has added his own accusations in his memoir and interviews.

Also hosted were two American children whose faces the British public has not been allowed to see despite them being in the line of succession. 

The announcement and media reports based on it, all used Royal titles for the four Markles. Now, there are nine billion people in the world and not one member of the public refers to Harry and Meghan as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but the British media and the Palace do.

Despite no photographs or details of the tea party, the media went into its usual frenzy, painting a picture of a great reconciliation. It was slyly noted that H+M had been welcomed back despite not expressing a word of remorse or apology for the pain they had caused. It was media mischief making of course, or mischief making from  the ‘sources’ who fed the media but there was backlash against Charles and Camilla.

This led to stories attempting to justify the tea gathering. Charles, it was said, had been desperate to see his grandchildren. No one would begrudge him seeing grandchildren but most people simply aren’t emotionally invested in the unseen kids to find it heartwarming. And since they are not newborns, some people queried why there was such an urgency to see them at that time when there have been other opportunities.

Now, a month after the tea, reports say the Markles are heading back to the UK, having secured accommodation and schooling. Since these things take time to set up, there is a suspicion amongst some people that the tea in July was a cloak and dagger preparation for the move.

The suspicions have been heightened by a series of events; the upcoming departure from the palace of Charles’ most prominent aide (someone who Harry is said to dislike). The man who could take over from that aide was reported earlier this year, to have declared, at a party, that his ‘number one mission’ and ‘career ambition’ was to reunite Harry and Prince William, the Prince of Wales because the ‘feud’ was ridiculous. Going back even further, a year ago, Charles’s PR guy met with H&M’s PR people for a ‘peace summit’. They  ‘happened’ to be caught at the meeting by a passing photographer and the story was leaked to the press. That meeting also created a media frenzy about an alleged secret campaign to bring Harry back into the royal fold.

It may all be a tremendous coincidence. It may be anti monarchy lies. But the Palace PR has to be ahead of the game, at all times. So, aides could ask themselves why they have got to a point where the Times had to be briefed to confirm that Charles is putting Prince William first, despite Harry‘s return. Surely that should be a given? William is the heir to the throne.

And the press is hardly a neutral arbiter.
This week it has activated, at nuclear level, its vicious blood sport of piling maximum emotional pressure on Prince William and Princess Catherine to embrace the Markles. People who, themselves, would not forgive an acquaintance for standing them up for dinner, are churning out essays, in the newspapers, demanding that Prince William and Princess Catherine ‘do the Christian thing’ and forgive two of the cruellest people in the public eye; two people who have betrayed their trust, lied about them, abused and degraded them – not just in one angry interview but repeatedly in a succession of interviews and books.

This is the same press that hounded Princess Catherine when she was recovering from major surgery and cancer because she made minor Photoshop alterations to a family photograph. The same press that joined in the vicious ‘where’s Kate’ campaign and did not care a jot that her three young children might come across stories suggesting she was dead. 

Stress is the last thing someone recovering from serious illness needs but the press is heaping it on the Wales family. To what intended end? 

Even Boris Johnson has joined the pressure chorus by demanding that the Royal family welcome H+M back and create ‘the big six’. How embarrassing that a former prime minister of the country does not know that the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Prince Edward and Sophie) have been a steady ship over the past eight years for the Royal family, without scandal or cruelty. There already is a big six. 

Language is important too. The press uses it slyly. The impeccably behaved Prince and Princess of Wales are often described as ‘raging’, ‘furious’.

Meanwhile, the Markles, whose anger has been caught on camera, are always portrayed in a passive way as being ‘puzzled’ or ‘saddened’ by reactions to their behaviour.

Harry is often described as ‘forlorn, lost, anxious for reconciliation’ – as if it was he against whom bitter, angry books had been written and wild accusations made in interviews and he was terribly hurt by it all.

Harry, we are told, ‘wears his heart on his sleeve.’

Yet, the sister-in-law he was once very close to had major surgery and cancer and there has been a dearth of public concern for her, his brother or even his young nephews and niece.

Even in the days of his carefully managed palace PR image as the fun guy, his ‘jokes’ about his brother revealed envy and jealousy. 

His account, in his memoir, of learning of the Queen’s death is telling. There’s no reflection on her extraordinary legacy as monarch, no expression of love for her as a grandmother, no word of compassion for his father’s loss. Instead, it’s all about what level of importance would be given to Meghan on an historic occasion – an importance she had not earned through loyalty or deserved by way of a close link to the Queen. 

Then there are the constant references to the ’feud’ between the brothers. A feud is a two sided situation. Here, it is Harry who has relentlessly attacked Prince William and Princess Catherine over many years. Prince William has chosen not to have a relationship with him, as a result. That is not feuding, that’s self preservation. And it’s protection of a wife who has come through cancer. If Harry can ‘protect’ Meghan from media mockery why can’t Prince William protect his wife from stress that could seriously affect her health?

The palace should not confirm the idea of a ‘feud.’ The notion that Prince William is the only one who has an issue with Harry needs to be ended too. Harry and Megan have attacked many members of the Royal family, (except, interestingly, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor). Is the palace ok with the implication that everyone else is fine with those attacks?

What the unrelenting press harassment of the Prince and Princess of Wales can’t do, however, is sweep away uncomfortable truth which include:

• This is not a triumphant return by H+M. It’s the humiliating crawl-back by two people who have abjectly failed in the USA and are returning with their limp, unsuccessful, bedraggled,tails between their legs, to the country they trashed when they thought they were going to be successful. 
  
• The US delusion was that their lives would be a whirlwind of private jetting between White House receptions and Oscar parties, the Met Gala and million dollar speaking engagements. Instead, they ended up selling jam.
• Nor is this the remorseful return of the prodigal son. So people can stop with bible references they clearly don’t understand.
• Their planned UK experiment is likely to be as disastrous as the US one. Low-key life in the Cotswolds is not what either of them want. Meghan didn’t work so hard to get a Prince so she could live quietly in the countryside. 
• When Prince William was dealing with his wife’s cancer and couldn’t undertake some engagements, Harry offered to step up and take over. It was reported that the glamorous Bafta Film Awards was an engagement that was wanted. Interesting, if true. Harry bristled when a man in the US, recently, asked him if he was really a prince. Everything he says and does suggests he wants a prominent, public role again. He wants to be seen as equal to Prince William.
• If KC even lets the pair join him in the Royal Ascot carriages or on Christmas walks, he’ll alienate a significant portion of the public and over time other supporters will drift away too.
  Tawdry, tacky drama follows H+M like a malodorous shadow and Sussex fatigue is very real. Anecdotally, people wearily say, they just want the pair to go away. Palace aides would do well to note public opinion and not just rely on newspaper writers who sit at their desks churning out controversial takes for clicks. Not one of these media people would want Harry and Meghan as their own family member.
• In the social media age the Palace no longer has the final say on everything royal and nor does the MSM. People dissect what they’re fed and make up their own minds. The public doesn’t like being gaslighted.
• During Queen Elizabeth’s reign no one ever said they couldn’t wait for the Charles era. Currently, however, some people are openly wanting King William the fifth.
• Royal supporters are dividing along the lines of believing that KC is playing some clever long game and those who believe that he is weak, guided by people who do not have the monarchy’s interests at heart. This is not good news for the palace. It’s a real shame because public goodwill had been building, steadily until now.
• It would be a shame to throw it all away for, well, this:

When there is this;

No one is suggesting Charles can’t rebuild a personal relationship. He can do it to his heart’s content but it would be wise to do it away from media announcements and the cameras. He can then see how genuine the desire for ‘reconciliation’ is. Is it really for family or is it a cynical search for royal proximity for grubby money making opportunities?

But what is needed now is a clear official demarcation line between members of the family and the ‘Royal Family’ ie the monarchy. Vague briefings to newspapers is no longer enough.

On a positive note, H&M returning to the UK is a slap in the face for every gullible fool who got played by them. The ‘racism’ accusations and safety fears in the UK? Just huge, malodorous porkies.

Oh, and if you’re wondering who the airline staff considered to be the best celebrity passenger – it was Hollywood actress Kate Hudson. “Sweet, kind, down to earth and utterly gorgeous!”