Meghan, Harry’s massive throwdown of King Charles
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced a major new push, resulting in a scenario which is “the stuff of nightmares” for Buckingham Palace.
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“We’re Orf Again”.
It was these three words slapped on the front page of The Sun on January 8, 2020 which spurred Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to hours later shock the wool blend pants off Britain by announcing they were done with full-time royal life.
Four and a half years on, and that headline could still work a treat, with the news this week that Sussexes are set to hit the road (or more accurately, the first class lounge) with them orf on a tour of Colombia.
And poor old King Charles. Should he see this latest headline at the breakfast table, well, it might be enough to put him off his home brand shredded wheat as he enjoys his annual holiday re-reading the collected works of Jung and Dick Francis in the wi-fi-free wilds of Aberdeenshire.
You see, this Colombia trip will be the Duke and Duchess’ third such repro royal “tour” of the year, representing a major gear shift and ramping up of the Sussexes’ presence on the world stage.
No longer does California, with the occasional New York sortie, seem to be quite enough and 2024 is looking to be the year that the couple well and truly hits the international road.
Which is all potentially troublesome stuff if your name happens to be Charles and you have the key to the Jewel House at the Tower of London in one of your desk drawers. (And if only you could remember which one …)
Nearly since the second the Megxit hammer dropped in 2020, Crown Inc feared Harry and Meghan setting up a rival royal “court”, albeit one with cold brew on tap and scheduled breathwork breaks.
And Harry and Meghan launching themselves as globetrotting, hug-dispensing, alterna-royals? Let’s just dial up the supposed Palace dread.
In November last year, the pair travelled to Vancouver in conjunction with the Invictus Games before heading back there in February for a longer visit for the One Year To Go Invictus Games event with the Today cameras in tow. (The first winter Invictus Games are set to be held there in February 2025).
Then, in May, the couple conducted a 72-hour highly successful visit to Nigeria on the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, again to promote Invictus.
Now comes the Colombia trip, which will happen precisely when, I can’t tell you.
All that is known is that it will take place “ahead of the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children” which is scheduled for November 7 and 8. (It’s worth noting that the conference will be happening the same week of the American presidential election).
On Sunday in the US, CBS’ Sunday Morning will air an interview with the couple about their work on this front, their first such joint outing since Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Add up the Duke and Duchess’ three trips so far this year, and what you have are Harry and Meghan really spreading their wings, flexing their international muscles and some other trite sayings.
This scenario is exactly what Her late Majesty was scared of, a former royal staffer told the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes earlier this year.
“Be in no doubt, Harry and Meghan being freelance royals is the stuff of nightmares for the Palace,” the former staffer said after the Sussexes’ Nigerian tour in May.
“It’s exactly what the late Queen Elizabeth wanted to avoid.”
There’s a psychological device popularised by Alfred Adler called “acting as if” and when it comes to Harry and Meghan, they would seem to be healthily applying exactly this to their international charity careers. They no longer have any diplomatic or official standing but that does not seem to be in any way stopping them from booking in overseas royal-looking trips that are nearly pitch-perfect dupes of the real thing.
The problem for the Palace is, when the duke and duchess stroll along a red carpet hand-in- eternal-hand in a far flung locale while demonstrating an admirable grasp of local culture as People and Getty – and only approved People and Getty as was the case with their trip to
Nigeria – adoringly watched on, they look royal, even though they no longer represent the crown.
In Abuja and Lagos in May, the template that the Sussexes followed – schoolchildren, a military welcome, visiting wounded service people in hospital – is largely the same one that the royal family has been trotting out since the dawn of the rotary phone.
For that reason it requires squinting particularly hard to discern the difference between these sorts of events and legitimate on-the-Palace-books ones.
At the heart of all this is the finickity distinction between what it means to be a member of the royal family versus a working member of the royal family.
With Megxit, the Sussexes went from being official representatives of the monarchy and the UK, like the Waleses, to being two titled people on the hook to a mortgage broker.
Except does anyone really appreciate or understand this distinction out there in the wide world and not in the highly fluent royal parts you and I occupy? When the King’s son and daughter-in-law arrive somewhere with a trailing retinue of aides and bulging bodyguards to gladhand dignitaries and pose with ecstatic schoolchildren … well if it looks like an HRH and quacks like an HRH …
Which is why all of this is problematic stuff for His Majesty and his fast-sogging Wheaties.
For one thing, as that former royal staffer pointed out to the Beast, “it could muddy the waters”.
They said: “Overseas visits might look like jollies, but they are actually a matter of foreign policy. They are about promoting the UK and building diplomatic and trade alliances on behalf of the government.
“Harry and Meghan have different priorities because they are no longer working royals … if these rival foreign tours become a regular thing, it could muddy the waters. The reason they went to Nigeria was to promote Invictus – and themselves. That’s not what royal tours are about.”
With the announcement of their Colombia visit, it does indeed look like they might be becoming “a regular thing” and it would seem that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no intention of going quietly off into diplomatic and world stage obscurity to make rom-coms with B+ actors.
And you know what? Good. Two people wanting to attract attention for a global summit ending violence against children? Hell yeah.
In this regard, away from their money-making and commercial outings, the duke and duchess still clearly want to help as much as they can and to use their platform slash celebrity to make the world a better place, something they are under no obligation to do anymore. So, good for them.
(But not so good, possibly, for the King’s blood pressure).
Let’s not forget the real winner here – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s frequent flyer accounts. Handy should they ever want, or be invited, to go back to a certain grey island.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Originally published as Meghan, Harry’s massive throwdown of King Charles
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