By this time, the British press and too large a segment of the British public were coming to the conclusion that the couple was playing some obscure game of single, double and triple bluff whose purpose was obscuring by their dazzling public smiles and private contortions what was patently a self-created mystery. When Meghan then posted the ‘secret’ visit she had made on her own to London’s Hubb Community Kitchen prior to dropping in with Harry at Canada House in London’s Trafalgar Square, it did not have the effect they desired, namely that she would be praised for being so philanthropic and charitable that she squeezed in visits of encouragement to the needy between courtesy calls on diplomats. This was condemned as a cynical grab for attention.
Because it was obvious to observers that Meghan was sculpting her and Harry’s public image into a likeness she wanted their admirers to see, the split reactions being generated through their internet postings forced the conclusion that they were playing exclusively to their supporters in the gallery, while ignoring everyone else in the theatre of life.
It was now apparent that Meghan was a formidable propagandist, on a par with Diana, Princess of Wales, whom Sir David English, head of Associated Press, described as possessing a genius for self-promotion. Because Diana functioned at a time when the internet did not exist, she was handicapped in having to use the press to get her message across. Although Meghan replicated Diana’s practice of exploiting her links to sympathetic organs within the media such as People magazine, she had direct access to her supporters via the web in a way Diana never had, and was making skilful use of this access to mould her followers’ opinion of her and Harry. What was interesting was how she possessed the same cocktail of traits that Diana had: charm and sincerity mixed with contrivance and opportunism, all overlaid with a patina of vulnerability and dextrous assertiveness.
The developing parallels between the two women, as they went about fashioning their public images, were truly remarkable. Both women had the same technique: providing journalists and photographers with the variety and novelty necessary to keep themselves on the front pages of newspapers. Even when they were out of sympathy with both women’s viewpoint, these representatives of the media nevertheless guaranteed them attention they would thereafter use to their ultimate advantage as they did the alchemist’s trick of turning the base metal of negative publicity into the gold of ever-increasing celebrity.
If variable reinforcement was a tool both Diana and Meghan knew the value of, so too was the lure of letting the public get glimpses of their ‘secret’ and ‘private’ worlds. Diana’s most outstanding example of this was the Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, but on a daily basis she used to drip-fed ‘private’ and ‘secret’ information about herself to friendly journalists such as Richard Kay. It was interesting to see how Meghan was updating that concept, sharing such things as ‘secret’ visits to charities and in the process shaping her public image into that of a dedicated humanitarian.
In one regard, Meghan’s deployment of her media skills was more akin to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s than to Diana, Princess of Wales’s. While married, Elizabeth had always taken care to project herself as one half of a golden couple, pushing forward the reticent Duke of York who then became King George VI. In the process, Elizabeth became acknowledged as a wonderful wife and marvellous human being. Diana had never done this. In fact, she had done the opposite, always running Prince Charles down or competing with him to his detriment, but to her daughter-in-law’s credit this was one error Meghan was not making. Harry might no longer be the boy who could do no wrong in the eyes of his formerly adoring public, but he remained visibly one half of the Sussex double act, with the core message being that he and Meghan were a great love story, on a par with the greatest lovers of history such as Romeo and Juliet, Abelard and Heloise, Tristan and Isolde, Albert and Victoria, even Bonnie and Clyde. Whenever and wherever they appeared, Harry and Meghan held hands, their overwhelming love and obvious affection for each other evident as they acted out being the embodiment of true love. There should have been no doubt that theirs was a genuine love story, for their every movement and action projected how strongly they felt about each other. Sadly, however, the British press and too large a proportion of the British public seemed unconvinced that they were anything but a conniving actress and her willing dupe. Meghan’s public displays of affection were not regarded as marks of sincerity, but methods of control which only Harry could not see through.
Now more than ever it was becoming obvious that Meghan had two hurdles to overcome before either the British press or public would become convinced that she was a genuine humanitarian, let alone a sincere individual. The first hurdle was the unfortunate state of her relationship her father, which perturbed all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons, and the second was her patent lack of respect for the traditions which many Britons held dear. Little did both the press and public know, but they were about to be relegated to insignificance the way her father and British traditions had been. She was preparing to move on from her twin nemeses with a decisiveness which would shock them all.
Few people except Harry and Meghan knew what they were planning as 2020 dawned. Someone close to them said, ‘I’m pretty sure neither of them knew exactly how things would pan out. They knew what their objectives were, but they didn’t have the nuts and bolts nailed down. He’s an innocent abroad and she’s a great visionary who feels her way strategically towards her goal without actually being able to read a roadmap. A lot of their tactics are ad hoc, spur
