Louise Roberts: Harry and Meghan overplay their hand in royal drama

They could have vaulted the royal family into the 21st century, but these entitled whiners let their massively inflated egos get in the way of a calling to devotion, writes Louise Roberts.

The Queen has delivered another masterstroke in appointing external lawyers to investigate incendiary bullying claims against Meghan Markle.

By removing the digging of dirt and grilling of witnesses well away from gilded palace doors, the 94-year-old head of The Firm has nipped in the bud what would have been a predictable response from the Hollywood Queen.

The inquiry is a whitewash – with all that racist undertone and victim play intended.

There’s no doubt Harry and Meghan have severely overplayed their hand.

The price tag they had attached to themselves means the Queen simply has no bandwidth for their histrionics.

The Queen has appointed outside investigators to look into bullying allegations against Meghan Markle. Picture: Chris Jackson/AFP

Her ideals are duty and dignity. Their brand is self-pity and selling out family.

How dare the pair of them say their smiles at royal events were fake when the Queen by instinct radiates the type of authenticity no amount of blogs or Netflix deals could slather over Meghan.

There’s only so much PDA and glamour the pair of them can wheel out as a shiny distraction to the carrion crow now beak-deep in the entrails of their reputations.

Word has it that Meghan has written to the Queen asking to see the evidence of her alleged horrid behaviour to staff, requesting Buckingham Palace turn over its emails and texts relating to the complaints.

That won’t happen, of course, so there is no opportunity to manipulate it into another sob story.

Up to a dozen staffers raised concerns about their treatment, including two personal assistants bullied out of their jobs, in a complaint that was made in October 2018 but never followed up.

Sources say the worst stories about Meghan’s bullying are yet to come out. Picture: Gareth Fuller/AFP

“The actual worst incidents haven’t come out. There are some harrowing stories to tell,” a source told The Sunday Times.

Tantalising, yes, but either outcome of the inquiry is disastrous for Meghan. A woman who takes on bullies will now have the indelible stain of being accused of bullying herself.

“I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip,” Markle said in a time B.O. (Before Oprah). “I tried, I really tried. But I think what that does internally is probably really damaging.”

So that’s the issue with pursuing truth – or My Truth, as the Duchess prefers to trademark it.

But she can’t handle the truth – all Jack Nicholson comparisons aside.

And that is that Meghan and Harry were not being able to hack royal life further down the food chain. Two years and Meghan was goneski. Those who respect tradition understand that the royals are a critical mechanism in British society.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should have been leading the House of Windsor into a bold new era ... instead, they have cried off, having failed to reach the established benchmarks of past generations. Picture: Terry Pontikos

Not for her an afternoon with non-influential pensioners in Slough kindly offering another spoonful of strawberry jam for her warm scone.

How many of those events do you think the Queen and Princess Anne have done? Camilla, even?

A story about meeting royalty cascades through a family’s generations and delightfully so.

Her Majesty’s voice is still reminiscent of how she stepped up to serve her country as a 14-year-old during the authentic and wokeless hell of the Second World War.

Meghan had to look no further than Prince Philip for a few tips on playing second fiddle but still leading an extraordinary life.

But it’s in the too hard basket when there are powerful, ridiculously wealthy Hollywood moguls lining up to be charmed. And selfish tears to be dabbed.

British woman Sarah Everard, who was murdered in London.

The freshly minted Duke and Duchess were meant to be the test, as it happens.

Could these vital and forward-thinking but (we assumed) sensible young newlyweds tarmac the new royal road ahead? Blow away the fusty and dusty?

That didn’t happen. What happened instead was a living, breathing, whining example of what occurs when you take spiteful, precious divas and see if they can adapt to the demands and duties previous generations endured without complaint.

The same world Meghan describes as a living hell. Scones et al.

It prompts the question of how others of that generation, dictated by feelings and not facts, will survive when the enormous economic hit of the COVID recession finally rains down on us like acid.

They won’t. They’ve never had any stretch.

Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge, paid her respects to murder victim Sarah Everard at Clapham Common in London. Picture: Twitter

Meanwhile the Sussexes have no mind for tradition or any appreciation of how they fit into a conservative society.

Exhausting us about wanting to step down but breathtakingly preoccupied with status.

Royal life had to be reshaped according to Meghan’s mantras of thriving and being happy.

But the inconsistencies continue to rile us.

Even on the weekend the Duchess of Cambridge quietly visited a memorial for murder victim Sarah Everard, 33, who was butchered while walking home in the south London suburb of Clapham. I used to live there and walked that path for years on my own.

Women feeling safe is a key platform of power feminism. Where was Meghan in all of this? Crickets.

No one beats the Queen. That’s also the truth. Welcome to the full force of the British establishment.