‘Who is going to be next for the chop?’: Expert claims Meghan will ‘inevitably’ dump Prince Harry

A celebrated royal expert has broken ranks and declared that the Duchess of Sussex will “inevitably” ditch her husband Prince Harry.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s extensive 2022 interview with The Cut is really the gift that keeps on giving, the lengthy sit-down a cornucopia of handy, loaded lines a royal writer can repurpose.

Lines like the bit where she somewhat portentously said, “the silent part is still part of the song”.

Well, the “silent part” is playing on the highest of high volumes right now when it comes to her and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex’s marriage.

After staking their brand, their image, their businesses and their public identity on them as a unit, their relationship has gone shockingly quiet, if not been put on total mute.

Now, someone connected to the highest echelons of royalty has said “the silent part” out loud.

Hugo Vickers is not only an authorised royal biographer but a man whose pedigree and access to royal circles is unparalleled - and he has now come out and offered an extraordinarily blunt assessment of the Sussexes’ marriage.

Quite simply, he alleges that Meghan will inevitably “chop” Harry.

Am I the only one wincing? Because that sounds akin to an emotional Lorena Bobbitting.

The thing to know here is that Vickers is not just some moderately well-educated bloke who went to Eton and occasionally takes his port with a minor duke at his club. His credentials and CV are unmatched - he’s the author of what is seen as the definitive biography of the Queen Mother, a book he spent 17 years researching, most recently he helped the still working senior royal the Duke of Kent pen his memoirs, and the Financial Times has called him “the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet”.

An expert claims Meghan ‘doesn’t need’ Harry. Picture: Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP

‘Who is going to be next for the chop? I think inevitably, probably Prince Harry’. Picture: CBS Sunday Morning

Therefore, when he makes a pronouncement about Harry and Meghan, it is not just some hanger-on trying to get his mug in the paper, but someone worth sitting up and paying attention to.

He has now told The Sun of the duchess: “People usually act in character, and they usually act on form. I hate to say it but her form is that she dumped her father, she dumped her first husband, she dumped her Canadian chef lover. She dumped Jessica Mulroney. She then dumped the entire British Royal family. So who is going to be next for the chop? I think inevitably, probably Prince Harry, and there’ll come a time when she’ll think that she doesn’t need him”.

It’s a startling call from such a highly-regarded voice. And it also marks a certain tipping point in terms of speculation about the health of the Sussexes’ relationship breaking out into the open.

The duke and duchess not appearing together has not gone unnoticed, but Vickers’ comments are a surprisingly direct and forthright assessment of what might come next.

It has certainly been an unusual few months in Montecito, with the marrieds (six years now and counting) not having been seen together on US soil since August 4, when they did a Sunday morning breakfast TV interview.

In that same Cut interview, Meghan famously described her and Harry as “like salt and pepper. We always move together”.

If they are “moving together” right now, they are certainly doing it stealthily.

The couple seemed cosy in Colombia. Picture: Raul Arboleda/AFP

Since then, Harry has zipped about the place like a man with frequent flyer points burning a hole in his pocket, travelling to New York, London, Lesotho and South Africa for charity engagements and being filmed having surfing lessons 330km away from their home which is actually, you know, on the Pacific coast.

In October, the Express reported that he had “extended his solo trip” to spend “private time” in Johannesburg.

Harry is said to have spent the night of this 40th birthday hiking with friends, though on a trip reportedly arranged by Meghan.

The Duchess of Sussex, for her part, has been busy flying the flag in California, doing the glamorous red carpet strut at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles’ black tie gala in a reworked Carolina Herrera frock-a-rooney and talking to a group of young girls about her experience of online bullying. (You don’t have to be a massive Meghanite to find the deluge of extreme hate that is still, daily, directed at her on social media disgusting).

They have separate TV series set to launch, increasingly forking professional lives and they have not been papped out enjoying dinners or concerts together like they were last year.

The signs are nothing if not confusing. Those surfing lessons? It was Meghan, in the past, who reportedly had arranged for her husband to learn how to ride the waves.

And in August, after that breakfast telly outing, the duo flew to Colombia for a pseudo royal tour of their own creation where they laughed, held hands and danced like two people fresh from their honeymoon and still in fullbore frolicking mode.

They’ve increasingly been doing their own things, like Meghan’s appearance at the CHLA Gala on October 5. Picture: Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Prince Harry has been learning to surf - 330km away from their home. Picture: Instagram

What things are, demonstrably, is strange or at least vastly different to the Sussex MO of years gone by where they got about the place like two people welded together at their finger joints.

For years, in the UK then Canada and then the US, we saw them not only doing very normal coupley things, like her cheering him on from the sidelines at the polo or him proud as punch when she took to the stage at the SXSW festival in March this year, but in every aspect of their lives.

Commercially, it was both of them who signed their tent pole deals with Netflix and Spotify and they share the audio and production arms of Archewell. Then there is their charitable foundation of the same name, with the couple jointly recently launching the Parents’ Network, which supports those whose children have suffered online harms.

What remains to be seen is if we are, right now, in the midst of a natural and arguably healthy evolution in the Sussex story, two people forging ahead with their own interests and goals and coming together of an evening, or something less rosy.

If ever there was a moment though that they might need each other, it’s now with their Netflix deal reportedly set to end next year, and them sailing into much stronger - if not gale force - headwinds.

For now though, is this “silent part” just an interlude in the Sussex song, or will it be the whole next track? Have we reached the B-side of the story?

We will just have to keep listening.

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

Originally published as ‘Who is going to be next for the chop?’: Expert claims Meghan will ‘inevitably’ dump Prince Harry