The issue of racism being used unfairly to explain away Meghan’s failures caused outrage in Britain. There was a growing consensus that she and Meghan had an obligation, not only to the Royal Family and the monarchy but to the British people themselves, who had welcomed her so warmly, to call time on the red herring. The fact that the couple was allowing accusations of this nature to muzzle justifiable criticism of their actions was interpreted as ruthless cynicism on their part. It did nothing to gain them supporters, and in fact lost them a great deal of respect, for the one thing a nation which prides itself on fair play could not accept was being accused of guilt it did not possess. If Meghan did not know the old British condemnation ‘That’s not cricket’, Harry should have. His silence did nothing to commend him.
How best to deal with a couple who were so intent on getting their own way, irrespective of the cost to his family, the nation, and the institution of the monarchy, now exercised the Royal Family. One of the European royals told me that the Queen, the Prince of Wales and Prince William had, from the very beginning, been ‘bending over backwards trying to come to some accommodation’ with Meghan and Harry. ‘They’re still trying. I would imagine they’re going to be trying for a very long time, for what the Sussexes want is really incompatible with constitutional monarchy,’ hence why a time limit of a year had to be put in place following the Queen’s meeting with Harry, Charles and William to see how their commercial activities panned out. Moving forward, ‘It’s going to be a long and arduous process of trial and error, with most of the flexibility coming from the Royal Family and most of the demands and complaints coming from the Sussexes.’
‘Right now, the royals feel they’ve been betrayed by the Sussexes.’ Harry and Meghan’s conduct since making that initial announcement of stepping down has had unnecessarily adversarial overtones. I was told that William was furious with both Harry and Meghan for having used her friends to disparage the Queen as a ‘naysayer’ and for accusing them of acting spitefully when the family has been doing no such thing. The family’s declared and sole posture had been, and continues to be, finding a way forward that allows the Sussexes to make as much money as they want without damaging the Crown.
No one enjoys being accused of victimisation when nothing could be further from the truth, but equally, the family understands that there are ‘human dynamics at play,’ as the European royal explained. ‘They understand that when we speak about the Sussexes, we’re really saying Meghan with Harry, the compulsively limerenced and therefore useful idiot, tagging along saying yes, yes, yes to everything she proposes - no matter how much it hurts him or the family.’
The royals have found themselves in an impossible situation. They do not deny Meghan’s right to pursue her life as she sees fit. They accept that it would be unreasonable of them to expect a woman of nearly forty years old who cannot make the adjustment from one way of life to another to sacrifice her comfort for their wellbeing. ‘It’s really too sad, but the Royal Family know that this sort of thing happens to millions of families all over the world. They hope people will understand and have compassion for their dilemma - and Harry’s. They’ve embarked upon what is effectively serious damage control.’
This royal explained that the Sussexes’ initial announcement of stepping back, was exactly what many in the British press and many at the palace deemed it to be: ‘a power grab. It was meant to bounce the Royal Family into accepting what they cannot accept. They (Meghan and Harry) tried to hardball the Family.’
There were strong feelings at the palace that the announcement was also ‘an impertinence and shows just how out of touch with reality the Sussexes are. Really, who in their right mind would issue a statement declaring that they are collaborators of the Queen? It confirms how utterly self-important, even delusional, the [couple] is. The Queen is the Sovereign. She is the Head of the Family. She is their SUPERIOR. Superiors do not collaborate with inferiors. They collaborate with EQUALS. The Queen’s only equals are other Heads of State. As an Army officer, Harry knows only too well that his Sovereign is his Commander-in-Chief. All military people respect the chain of command. As a royal, he knows that the grandson of the Sovereign does not have parity with the Sovereign.’
The realisation that Meghan is such a strong character and so self-confident that she regards herself as the equal of any other living individual, irrespective of who they are or what their position is, and that she feels sufficiently empowered by her self-belief that she will take on anyone, including the Queen, and regard herself as fully entitled to negotiate with anyone, including the Queen, as if they are equals, had begun to sink in. While such an attitude is regarded as admirable in many circles in the United States, within the British Establishment, it was viewed as cringeworthy folie de grandeur. The royal explained, ‘In no
