‘Car crash in slow motion’: Sussex spending spree that changed everything

It was just two weeks of seriously luxurious living – but it ultimately cost the Duke and Duchess of Sussex so much more.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $245,000 splurge changed everything. Picture: Andrew Milligan – WPA Pool/Getty Images

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If the makers of The Crown ever decided to crank out a series based on the events leading up to the hurly burly, we’re-going-to-need-more-gin of Megxit, they would need an even larger location budget than usual.

They would not just need to shoot scenes of people in good wool suits feeling emotions in drawing rooms full of worn chintz sofas and horsey bronzes, but also in Sicily, poolside by a luxurious South of France estate and somewhere that can mimic the azure waters of the Balearic Islands. (Am available for all travel-related content).

In some ways, the world is still coming to grips with what was the first voluntary resignation in modern royal history and it’s worth considering one part of the Sussex story that gets passed over – the role that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 11 days of luxury travel in August 2019 played in provoking their End of Palace Days.

The cost of that trans-European flitting has been pegged at up to $245,000 (based on reported figures from the time), but the case can be made that ultimately, the Sussexes paid a very high price for exercising their God-given British right to crisp themselves in the Med.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in happier times on their wedding day. Picture: Netflix

So, it’s July 2019 and all is not well in Sussex-land, both in public and private.

It has already been an eventful year, in the same way that Krakatoa caused a bit of a rumble.

Reports of Harry and Meghan’s allegedly stroppy behaviour had surfaced months before (that she made Kate, the Princess of Wales cry, that he yelled ‘what Meghan wants, Meghan gets’ etc), and in February, the duchess’ six-figure glamarama New York baby shower and exercise in celebrity gaucherie had seen her come in for a pasting. (Note: Meghan would later say it was Kate who left her in tears).

In April, Harry and Meghan finally moved to their new home, Frogmore Cottage, before, in June, there came a brouhaha in the press over the $4.6 million-plus of Sovereign Grant dosh used to renovate the place.

While the figure was less than the $7.7 million of grant money previously spent by the Waleses’ on their enormous Kensington Palace home, that did not stop them coming in for criticism, with The Sun reporting at the time that “royal accounts show work on the couple’s home has so far cost the public far more than original estimates, sparking fury from campaigners”.

Still, the arrival of Harry and Megan’s first child in May would be a source of undiluted joy and good press, right?

Instead, we got the ham-fisted management of the arrival of their son Archie that saw a press release go out announcing that the duchess had gone into labour hours after he had been born, which just sparked another round of criticism. What looked like a deliberate bit of sleight of hand, and may well not have been, only raised hackles. (At the time, a “colossal tech failure’’ was blamed for the mess).

The Queen and Prince Philip were notably absent from Archie’s christening. Picture: Chris Allerton/SussexRoyal via Getty Images

In June it was finally confirmed, after much speculation, that the Sussexes were set to hive themselves off from the Royal Foundation, the charitable umbrella organisation they shared with William and Kate, now the Prince and Princess of Wales.

With this announcement, it was impossible for Kensington Palace to spin this as anything but a clear indicator that all was not well behind the scenes with the brothers and their wives. Chummy shepherd’s pies and bottles of Waitrose prosecco were clearly not being shared by the two couples in an Aga-filled kitchen; cheery games of Pictionary were not being played.

In July, the Duchess of Sussex attended Wimbledon with two American friends. Where wickets got sticky was when dozens of seats were left empty around the royal party and attendees sitting nearby were instructed not to photograph the former actress, even though the event was broadcast on live TV. (Never before or since has a member of the royal family at Wimbledon gotten this sort of moat of spare seats treatment).

When baby Archie was christened days later, Her late Majesty and BBQ tong supreme Prince Philip were notably absent. Reporting at the time claimed that this was due to a prior commitment.

Then, Meghan’s guest-edited issue of British Vogue landed, with her having chosen 15 “Forces for Change” including Greta Thunberg and Jacinda Ardern to celebrate. The exclusion of her at the time boss and grandmother-in-law and Harry’s comments to Jane Goodall about their plans to only have two children for environmental reasons all went down about as well as Diplo playing the annual Balmoral Ghillies Ball.

Looking back, the events of the first half of 2019 look like a PR car crash in slow motion, an exhausting rat-a-tat-tat of mistakes, controversies and criticism.

We now know that privately, Meghan’s mental health had begun to deteriorate, with her later recounting to Oprah Winfrey, “I just didn’t want to be alive any more” and Harry describing coming home to find his wife in tears while breastfeeding their son.

The couple told Oprah Winfrey of their mental health struggles. Picture: CBS

“I went to a very dark place as well,” he also told Winfrey.

And thus the stage was set for what, in retrospect, was something of the last straw.

In late July, first Harry flew, reportedly via a private jet and helicopter paid for by Google, to Sicily for the tech behemoth’s annual “camp” where the Daily Mail claimed he gave a barefoot speech about climate change.

Then, days later, he, Meghan and Archie flew to Ibiza where they stayed in a luxury villa with a price tag that has been pegged at anywhere from £25,000 ($A48,000) to £108,000 ($A207,000).

Days later, after returning to the UK, the family were off again, via private jet naturally, this time to enjoy a break at Elton John’s south of France estate. The Sun reported at the time that the cost of the jet, which was paid for by John, would have been about £20,000 ($A38,000).

The press had a field day.

Most obviously, Harry looked like a hypocrite for piously preaching about how the Earth is about to melt (which it is) and then taking four gas-guzzling private flights in 11 days. Only in July, their @SussexRoyal account had posted, “With nearly 7.7 billion people inhabiting this Earth, every choice, every footprint, every action makes a difference.”

The attitude seemed to be “do-as-I-say, not-as-I-fly”; very Marie Antoinette ruminating about cake.

The timing could not have been worse when the duke then launched Travelyst, his eco travel initiative, only two weeks later. It all felt a bit like making Keith Richards the face of Dry July.

However, looking back, it was not just the double standard that grated but the Sussexes’ apparent turn towards flagrantly conspicuous consumption. With their villa-staying and private-flying, they seemed to be flouting one the most fundamental pretences of the royal family – that, while some of them are stupendously rich, they refrain from anything so crass as showing off or being seen to throw around money. (Side note: What do you think happened to the late Queen’s famous $57 bar heaters when she died?)

Moreover, increasingly it looked like they were confusing royalty for celebrity.

By the time the Sussexes flew out of the UK for their tour of southern Africa in September, things had reached boiling point.

Within weeks, Harry would announce he was taking legal action against The Sun and the Daily Mirror’s parent companies; she was suing the Daily Mail; and they would give interviews to ITV’s Tom Bradby that seemed to confirm that all was not well. (Using the backdrop of Africa to talk about their personal woes also earned them a fresh helping of press disapproval).

It was not just the double standard that grated but the Sussexes’ apparent turn towards flagrantly conspicuous consumption. Picture: Andrew Milligan – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Not long after, the Sussexes would head to Canada for a six-week break and never really come back. Harry and Meghan have only spent brief periods of time in Britain since then.

Looking back, again, so much hinges on that August.

Imagine if the Sussexes had not gone away to Spain and France, and imagine if they had, say, borrowed one of Charles’ properties on the Cornish Isles of Scilly or even his Welsh cottage. They maybe could have found respite, thinking space and peace; maybe some of the ever-increasing pressure could have been siphoned off in all that clean country air.

Or imagine if they had taken Her late Majesty up on her reported offer of a stay at Balmoral.

What might have happened if they had had a chance to speak, at length, to his Granny? If Harry and William had had a chance to take a few long, bracing walks together? Could the festering hurts and grievances that would push Harry and Meghan towards their sensational quitting somehow have been addressed up there in the Highlands?

Could Megxit have been avoided? Picture: Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage

However, instead of taking what now looks like the final opportunity for them to vent, to share and to have their concerns heard, especially by the late Queen and his father, the Sussexes opted to take themselves off on a high-end jolly that then triggered a fresh round of sputtering denunciations.

If only.

If only Elon Musk could turn his attention to building a time machine. If only the royal family had had a better sense of how close to imploding the Sussexes were and had taken action sooner. If only Harry and Meghan had had the confidence that some sort of satisfactory arrangement could be found with Buckingham Palace and hadn’t oh-so-publicly chucked their toys out of the pram.

If only.

Because there is another thing we can confidently say from this point, four years down the track – The Firm would be in a much stronger and better place today if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were still on the books.

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.