Meghan acquitted herself admirably. She was charming, gracious, affable, and delightful. She made a speech to a group of women referring to herself as a sister and a woman of colour. She was greeted with genuine enthusiasm and it was a true joy to see the pride people everywhere took in her existence. In royal circles, everyone could not have been more pleased with the reception she was getting. Meghan was fulfilling the promise which people all over the world had vested in her, and everywhere, genuine delight reigned. Many of the Commonwealth diplomats to whom I spoke felt that she was representing people of colour everywhere with true grace and dignity. They all expected her to be a real force for good as long as she continued to represent such hopefulness and positivity to the hundreds of millions of people who now regarded her as the embodiment of what people of colour could achieve.
The press also noticed, and commented favourably upon, Meghan’s choice of wardrobe. Tactfully, it was more high street than couture as she downplayed amongst the poverty stricken the fashion parade for which she was so well known, and which garnered her such praise amongst the fashionistas on both sides of the Atlantic. What remained unknown so far were the furious battles that had been fought between the couple and the financial comptrollers for the Duchy of Cornwall, who were liable for the expenses of Meghan’s wardrobe. In the months since her marriage, she had gone through some $2m for clothes alone. She never wore the same item twice, and virtually everything was couture. As the cost mounted and the courtiers tried to keep the tab down, Meghan and Harry doggedly refused to relent, stating in no uncertain terms that she had to look good and they weren’t about to cut corners for penny pinchers.
Proving that even when she pinched the pennies, she looked good, Meghan used the visit to display not only her stylishness but also to show off her son. She and Harry introduced Archie to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his family. The press, hungry for pictures of the baby and the happy family, lapped up every charming moment.
Harry then left Meghan and Archie on their own to visit Botswana, Malawi and Angola. While there, he retraced his mother’s footsteps in the famous landmine journey she had made in Huambo shortly before her death, though by now the fields were gone, replaced by a concrete jungle. Articulating the ultimate purpose of the tour, he said, ‘This is a wonderful example of how the UK, in partnership with Angola, can address the issue of landmines, bringing prosperity to an area, creating jobs, helping people access education and healthcare and making communities safer.’
As the tour approached its end, it seemed to observers as if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had finally turned a corner. Their run of bad publicity had come to an end. All their publicity had been positive. They had acquitted themselves admirably. They had behaved in impeccable royal style and done so with all the charm, style and gloss which had turned them into one of the world’s most famous couples. The trip had been a resounding success. The goodwill with which they had started their marriage, and which had seeped away in the year and a four months since it, had flooded back in. Then, the day before their departure, they took a pickaxe to the pool of wellbeing, hacked away at the accumulation of success, drained away all the positivity which had been built up in restored good relations with the press, and dissipated the very purpose of a royal tour, which is to promote harmony while turning the world’s attention to the place being visited. In one fell swoop, Harry and Meghan diverted attention away from South Africa, the suffering of its people, and their own success, by issuing a statement, unknown to their official office at Buckingham Palace or to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which is in charge of royal tours, through their American-managed official website. It declared:
Statement by His Royal Highness
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
01 OCTOBER 2019
As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting. We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world – on every level – we have never needed responsible media more.
Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.
There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face – as so many of you can relate to – I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been. Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe. One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chip-paper.
Up to now, we have been unable to correct the continual misrepresentations - something that these select media outlets have been aware of and have therefore exploited on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.
It is for this reason we are taking legal action, a process that has been many months in the making. The positive coverage of the past week from these same publications exposes the double standards
