Ridiculous excuse for Meghan Markle’s King Charles snub

The Sussexes’ biggest cheerleader has made a claim about the real reason Meghan didn’t want to go to the coronation – and it doesn’t stack up.

COMMENT

A lot of people have done the royal family favours over the years.

There have been billionaires with Tuscan villas willing to let an HRH soak up some sun on their dime; aristocrats willing to marry off their most pliable daughters; and members of the horsey set who have patriotically kept their mouths shut about King Charles’ terrible post-port jokes.

So, should we be adding Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex to that list of royal favour-doers?

No, I have not been inhaling too much of the pre-coronation hype. Instead, this is the question raised by the latest interview given by Omid Scobie, the Sussexes' biographer and most energetic cheerleader.

Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie is undoubtedly Team Sussex. Picture: Supplied

He was on UK TV to talk about Meghan Markle and the coronation. Picture: Getty Images

Scobie popped up on UK breakfast tele this week to update the world on how things are going for Prince Harry since he went on his truth-telling spree earlier this year. Unsurprisingly, relations sound like they are going about as well as Princess Anne doing Strictly Come Dancing*, with Scobie saying Harry “had contact” with Charles which sounds more like a prison visit than a Brady Bunch moment.

Then he got on to Meghan and the fact she will be a no-show at Saturday’s coronation. The key reason, according to Scobie and other reports, is because that same day Prince Archie turns four, a justification that is about as easy to swallow as Queen Camilla’s homemade fruitcake. (After all, the la famille Sussex easily managed to fly back last year to attend the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee while also marking their daughter Princess Lili’s first birthday.)

But then came the real clanger. According to Scobie, the Duchess also made the decision to skip the history-making event because “she is aware just how much of the spotlight goes on her when she sets even a foot near the story”.

He said: “It’s portrayed as intentional. Should she come over and just stand next to her husband, the commentary and the narrative of the day would have been very different.”

Omid Scobie said Meghan Markle isn’t going to the coronation because she doesn’t want to take the spotlight. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Interestingly, in a report by Victoria Ward in the Telegraph, it says the reason why the Duchess is not attending is that the Sussexes were “aware that Meghan’s presence at the coronation could have proved controversial and were keen to avoid attracting negative attention”.

Avoiding “spotlights” and “controversy”? This is the same Duchess of Sussex we are talking about right – she of the Oprah Winfrey interview? The same Duchess who helped make a six-hour TV series largely about how rubbish palace life was? Since when did not making waves for the royal family become a Sussex thing? Since when did they start putting what is best for Buckingham Palace first?

Now, let’s just pause here and double underline that Meghan is not saying this directly, however these are two sources who regularly seem to bring down the Word from the Mount of Montecito.

To be fair, also, there is obviously truth in the fact that if Meghan attended, a hell of a lot of media coverage would be focused on her: What she was wearing; whether she ever cast a wistful glance at the good seats full of the Wales family; how relentlessly she and Harry clutched hands like they were on the verge of drowning.

However, while the former Suits actress making the trip back would, of course, have set off a bit of a tabloid whirlwind, it would not have knocked Charles off front pages. The Duchess at the coronation would have provided a gripping sideshow of the never-ending Sussex versus royal family psychosocial melodrama.

But the King and Queen would never have been at risk of missing out on the top spot on the news because Meghan had turned up in a perfect $4000 Stephen Jones hat.

After all, the royal family managed to cope just fine with having Harry and Meghan back during the late Queen’s funeral, nor did their presences manage to steal the show or obliterate any interest in the real story.

Also, this ‘don’t want to upset the apple cart’ Sussex argument doesn’t quite work when you consider that Meghan not going is a more controversial headline-making story than her turning up, looking nice and playing the game.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle haven’t seemed shy of the spotlight or controversy recently. Picture: Netflix

Would going to the coronation have been a particularly fun experience for Meghan? You would have to be either deluded or have been at the Queen Mother’s long forgotten gin stash under her usual spot inside Westminster Abbey to believe that would have been the case.

However, since when did being a member of the royal family mean a person could cherrypick the events they thought would be a great laugh and skip all the unpleasant ones? If that was the case, there would not be a single HRH willing to launch a lifeboat in Blackpool on a wet Tuesday ever again. (Well, maybe Anne.)

This coronation is the most significant event in 70 years for the monarchy, an institution that Meghan seems to have little interest in being a part of. Yet, ironically, it is an institution whose perks – oh those lovely titles – she seems more than happy to hang on to for herself and her children.

The titles are their biggest and some might argue only selling point when it comes to making moolah in Hollywood. If the Sussexes want to keep hold of them, why should they get to be selective about when they front up and show their support of the royal family?

That same Telegraph story reports: “Friends have said she sees her life and her future base in the US and that public events in Britain have waned in importance.”

If “events in Britain have waned in importance” why is Meghan still clinging to that British title? How the hell can the Duke and Duchess credibly keep using those very sobriquets if the UK no longer registers as ‘important’?

How long can Meghan continue to use her royal title while shunning royal events?

Moments like this make it seem like Harry and Meghan could teach poor doomed Marie Antoinette a thing or 12 about having her cake and eating it too.

Scobie also said in his interview that Meghan had decided not to roll up for the coronation to “protect her peace”.

Now, I’m not for a second advocating anyone be forced to sit through a damaging experience, but would sitting a pew or two away from her in-laws while they studiously ignored her have been truly unthinkable?

She would not have had to share a single glance, or utter a single word, to William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales and as we have seen during the Jubilee and the late Queen’s funeral, Meghan gives perfect face at all times.

Even if the 41-year-old didn’t want to go, what about poor old Harry? He is now set to face his family totally on his lonesome, without any sort of emotional or personal backup. There is only so much cheery chat about the weather that Mike and Zara Tindall will be able to make with Aitch as he sits, stuck in the enemy territory of sorts of the extended royal family.

While all of this has been going on, the King, the Queen, Anne, William and Kate and their three kids have all been photographed at the Abbey for a coronation rehearsal. Next time they are all there together it will be for the real thing, with the eyes of the world on them – and on Harry left on the sidelines.

It’s going to be a long, weird, weekend of history-making, bagpipes and TV hosts. Remember, stay hydrated, stay well-rested and stay alert for whatever mischief Louis has planned.

*Anne would obviously wipe the floor with all other competitors if she ever went on I’m A Celebrity.

Daniela Elser is a writer and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.