‘Pandemonium’: Kate exposes major Harry, Meghan issue with one photo
The return of the Princess of Wales to Wimbledon this week has exposed the circus that constantly surrounds the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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There are some bloody boring jobs on Planet Royal.
Take the poor bloke who looks after the more than 400 clocks at Windsor Castle and who has to spend 16 hours resetting them by hand when daylight savings changes.
Or, there is a Master of the King or Queen’s Music, which dates back to the 17th century, and which is a role that these days I assume means creating bespoke Spotify playlists for Queen Camilla to listen to while she’s having a sneaky cigarette in the tub.
But one of the inestimably most monotonous, and hardest, would have to be running the social media accounts of William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Having to come up with fresh ways, day-after-day, of making two steady, dependable, vanilla sorts doing good into Instagram catnip is a challenge beyond me.
This week Kate trotted along to Wimbledon to do her bit for King and Country, and the social media video put out by the tournament is take-the-cake dullsville. It’s the sort of thing that should be prescribed for insomnia or to be screened as punishment in juvenile detention.
Watching it, though, the most interesting thing is how low-key her visit largely is.
There she, is sliding into the back row amid the public. Watch her cheerfully grappling with an umbrella. Off she goes making her way in the drizzle among the crowds.
What I find fascinating is what you don’t see – security cordons or a passel of toadying aides trailing in her slipstream or the public gawping at her as they scrabble for their phones to take a photograph to show Jean over the back fence.
The thing is, the general mode à la Wales is that it is entirely sans fuss and fanfare.
Which is what makes things over in the court of Sussex so marked.
In the last 12 years, avid tennis fan Kate has been to Wimbledon so many times that they should probably just let her have her own keys.
And the vast majority of those visits have hardly differed from the very first time members of the royal family (the future Edward VII and Queen Mary) rolled along in 1907. Smile. Languidly wave. Clap. Perhaps if one is inclined to mutter an “oh good show” here and there, so be it.
Then we fast forward to July 4, 2019 when Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex turned up with a couple of old friends to watch some tennis.
One official involved in organising Meghan’s visit told the Times: “It was a nightmare, she was a nightmare”.
When the duchess took to the stands, it was to sit in a sea of dozens of empty chairs, a scene that had never played out before or has since. (Reporting at the time said that Court One was “packed” and Serena Williams was playing so it’s not as if this was down to a lack of public interest).
The Duchess of Excess? At Wimbledon, 40 seats around Meghan were left empty, and security stopped people from taking photos of her. When Kate was there, she sat among the crowd like everyone else. Below man taking a selfie. @ChesterKisielpic.twitter.com/NqdkXsyByj
— Chester Kisiel (@ChesterKisiel) January 20, 2020
According to reports, spectators sitting nearby were “ordered” to not take pictures of the duchess, even though the game was being broadcast live on TV and there were press there to boot.
One such fan, Sally Jones, told the Telegraph that the request was “astonishing” and that “I think this royal protection officer was quite embarrassed. He appeared a bit mystified as to why he was being asked to make such a request”.
Another tennis watcher, Hasan Hasanov, was spoken to by protection officers, but told them, according to the Daily Mail, he had “no idea she was there”.
Egg ended up on certain faces when photos clearly showed that Hasanov was not trying to photograph Meghan but Roger Federer instead.
Then there was the fact that the duchess “ruffled feathers” at the famed All England Club by turning up in jeans, which meant she couldn’t enter the Royal Box because of the strict dress code.
A club source told the Times: “Andy Murray was on Court 1 afterwards and it was a massive faux pas not to watch a Brit when she is signed up to the royal family”.
Maybe in reality all those empty seats were down to some overzealous Wimbledon staffer, desperate to ensure the duchess had a smashing day. Maybe her security team had gotten some warning and was creating some sort of cordon. (Though then, why let her out into a sea of thousands of people?) Maybe there was something else going on.
While the exact events surrounding Seatgate may never come out, what has become clear since then is that often there is a certain circus that surrounds her and husband Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. A circus that only they seem to attract.
Take the events of late May this year, when Meghan got an award in New York for ostensibly saving feminism thanks to a bit of cheque-giving and regularly name-checking gender equality. What followed nearly became an international incident.
Firstly, the couple arrived in the sort of convoy you’d expect for a US cabinet secretary or a lesser Kardashian, in what appeared to be three hulking black cars.
BREAKING: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have arrived at Ms Foundation's annual gala at Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York 📹 @Daily_Express@ExpressUSNewspic.twitter.com/N1IUUxiObA
— Harry Rutter (@harryjohnrutter) May 16, 2023
It looks like a madhouse.
Then there is what followed later that night. The Sussexes claimed they were involved in a “near catastrophic” chase with the swirling mass of paparazzi – an account that did not quite tally with the New York Police Department and Mayor Eric Adams’ more subdued casting of events.
However, what I don’t quite understand is why there so often seems to be a three-ring circus surrounding the Sussexes when his family back in Blighty, including King Charles, only seem to go about things with zero muss or fuss.
Take a month after the New York mess, when Prince William and Sophie popped along to the premiere of the documentary Rhino Man. If you watch the footage of them arriving, what is pretty remarkable is how relaxed everything is. Even as their Range Rover is pulling up, a bin man wanders just metres away, seemingly unbothered and not moved along by the prince’s security.
Or even the fact that this took place a short distance away from a public park full of Brits soaking up some rare vitamin D.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Edinburgh arrived at Battersea Power Station to attend the premiere of the documentary Rhino Man. The documentary follows field rangers as they try to protect South Africa's Rhinos from poachers. pic.twitter.com/JQT5Tgq0Fo
— Isa (@isaguor) June 13, 2023
Were there jostling security officers? Scrummaging paps? Nada. It was all a drama-free zone.
Even the actual King would seem to be able to go out and about without the sort of high frequency angst and tension of a Bourne sequel that follows his son and daughter-in-law.
In April, a video appeared on social media showing him and Queen Camilla during a visit to a restaurant in Ballater, near Balmoral, in Scotland.
We just randomly came across King Charles and Camilla Queen Consort visiting a newly opened restaurant in Ballater, not too far from Balmoral Castle. So odd to see them just out and about! pic.twitter.com/u9NDZy9Mrf
— Rebecca (@Rebbeebee) April 22, 2023
They hang about the place, chat to locals and the King even drives himself and his lady wife away. There is not a single hint of the bedlam-like commotion that surrounds the Sussexes.
Contrast that with Harry out riding his bike in California. In 2021, he was photographed having a pedal with what the Mail reported as a “security escort” driving behind him in a Range Rover.
Or in 2022 when he was again papped riding his bike, this time an electric one, and this time with what were reportedly two bodyguards riding with him.
Why can the King tootle about the place seemingly unbothered and why does Kate just breeze about Wimbledon when Harry and Meghan are attended by a certain pandemonium and melodrama and conspicuous, looming bodyguards?
(The press and public interest in Kate is certainly on par with that of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, so that doesn’t explain things).
In 2020, the heavily sympathetic biography of the now permanent Californian couple came out with the title Finding Freedom. Really though, I wonder, who actually has the most freedom?
And if it all ever gets too much for Harry and Meghan, then they should take a moment to watch that Charles video.
A life unbothered? Consider rural Scotland.
Until the sheep learn how to use iPhones, then a life a hell of a lot more ordinary – and so much more peaceful – awaits.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia leading media titles.
Originally published as ‘Pandemonium’: Kate exposes major Harry, Meghan issue with one photo
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