‘Longtime friend’ turns on Harry and Meghan in new ‘humiliating’ blow

A key ally of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has publicly turned his back on the couple – and in an added blow, sided with Prince William.

At least they’ll always have the lemon cake.

Last year, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex shared her patented bit of domestic goddess-ness for a fundraising cookbook for the groundbreaking global charity World Central Kitchen (WCK). Her contribution – a citrusy number that involves enough almond meal to put a dent in your credit card. (It looks delicious).

But now, after Meghan and Prince Harry, the Duke of Susssex have spent years staunchly supporting WCK, its founder – and their own “longtime friend” – José Andrés has jumped ship. Or at least no longer has two feet firmly planted on the deck of the Good Ship Sussex.

On Wednesday, Andrés was named as one of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Council and judging panel members.

For the Sussexes, as they strive on in their continued attempt to take the US, this is “humiliating”, according to a British publicity adviser who has previously worked with William and Harry.

See, Andrés is not just some loosely affiliated doer of superb good, but was also one of the Sussexes’ first and loudest American supporters. The duke and duchess chose WCK as their very first Archewell Foundation project, announcing in December 2020 they were partnering

to build community relief centres around the world. (WCK has served more than 350 million meals in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel and Lebanon, among other disasters and warzones).

José Andrés was one of the Sussexes’ first and loudest American supporters. Picture: CBS Sunday Morning

But the ‘longtime friend’ of the couple is now Team Wales. Picture: CBS Sunday Morning

Then, in 2021, when Harry and Meghan appeared on the cover of TIME’s 100 issue looking like a husband-and-wife real estate team who really know how to shift marble-accented McMansions, it was Andrés who penned their gushing tribute.

“In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know,” he wrote.

“They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle.”

Well, Andrés is now running towards the Prince of Wales, who has managed to recruit one of the Sussexes’ “longtime friends” in what is no small PR coup. From the Montecitan perspective, how anyone could quite sugar-coat this as anything but a wee bit embarrassing would have to defy even the most creative of Californian spin doctors.

“The fact that William can just poach him for Earthshot is not just humiliating for Harry and Meghan, it is a very graphic illustration of the power differential between William and Harry,” a former royal publicity adviser has told the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes.

Wednesday’s Earthshot announcement came with a statement from Andrés in which he hailed William’s flagship organisation as being at the “forefront” of the global fight against the climate crisis. Which puts Harry – where, do you reckon? Several rows back? Midway? The duke has a green travel initiative called Travelyst, launched in 2019, which does not make much news and to this day, I can’t fully explain what it actually does.

But more broadly, how are things going in the Breakaway State of Sussex? Not exactly Ian Thorpe swimmingly.

The duke and duchess’ recent partially self-funded tour of Colombia saw them labelled by some quarters as being political pawns. (It’s worth noting that while they were invited to the South American nation by vice president Francia Márquez, the country’s actual president, Gustavo Petro, did not find the time to see them).

The duke and duchess’ recent partially self-funded tour of Colombia saw them labelled by some quarters as being political pawns. Picture: Raul Arboleda/AFP

After a splashy Instagram announcement back in March, the launch of Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard lifestyle business has reportedly been pushed back a couple of times this year and the Daily Mail has previously claimed that Netflix is now involved.

On that particular note, there are reportedly a whole bunch of question marks around the future of the couple’s one-time “megawatt” deal with the streaming giant.

In February, a Netflix exec raved about the Sussexes having “a bunch of [projects in] development” – which was promptly followed by the Daily Mail finding themselves “a source with knowledge of the situation” who claimed that the duo’s “Netflix deal is a dead duck”.

Even if the streamer does decide it is keen to keep working with the duke and duchess and their ever-rotating cast of staffers, then you’d have to wonder if they would be able to secure the same sort of terms as they did when they signed it back in 2020.

Back when this deal was announced in September of that year, the Sussexes’ stock was in its rocket ship, bear market, buy-buy-buy phase. Harry and Meghan had yet to do two hours of soul baring with Oprah, had yet to sell books and do more interviews and podcasts and interviews again and generally inundate the public with their brand of woe.

In 2020, as we masked up and wondered why our sourdough starter was really beginning to whiff, the world was still gagging to get the scoop and the inside story from stars of the great royal soap opera.

The Sussexes were, I suppose, the Nvidia of the Covid age. And like the AI chip maker, their fortunes have proven to be a mixed bag since then.

Wednesday’s partial defection by Andrés to the flagship initiative run by Harry’s “beloved brother and arch-nemesis” has got to carry with it a bit of a sting.

Fans wait for a glimpse of the Prince and Princess of Wales outside the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in New York City on September 19, 2023. Picture: Zak Bennett/AFP

Just to make this all a tad more painful for a certain former army captain who has finally learned what day the green bins go out is that not only will he be in New York later this month for the United Nations Climate Week, but so will William – and possibly Andrés. (Last year the renowned chef and philanthropist spoke at the Earthshot Prize’s Innovation Summit, along with Jacinda Ardern and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg).

As it is, the Duke of Sussex is facing down what could be an uncomfortable few days, not least because he and his brother are going to have to share an island. The compare and contrast between William and Harry’s standing is going to be impossible to ignore.

The last time the Prince of Wales met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to discuss the climate crisis, hordes of cynical New Yorkers actually waited in the hot sun to see the HRH.

So, lemon cake. We can confidently say this – Andrés loves the Duchess of Sussex’s recipe. If life gives you lemons, you can always make cake. Or donate to World Central Kitchen.

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