Well, they’ve left. Meghan and Harry have got their way. They’ve freed themselves of a system that they regarded as limiting their possibilities and have replaced it with one of their own making. She instructed her friends to announce to the world via People magazine that she was happy that they’d left Britain, that they were excited about their prospects for the future. They’re now in California, laying the foundations for the lifestyle they wanted - Californian, A-List, luminous in a contemporary way. Despite their stated desire for privacy, they have moved to a place where the paparazzi will have access to them in a way it never would have had in Britain or Canada. The truth is, both Harry and Meghan want ever-increasing fame; they simply want it on their terms. They want the Hollywood version, not the British, royal one. They do not want to do what the other royals do, which is get out of their beds at six thirty in the morning to get dressed so that they are ready for an 8am helicopter ride to the Midlands of England, where they will meet a group of workers, cut a ribbon or two, meet groups of school children before unveiling a plaque prior to having lunch with the Mayor and local worthies, after which they will continue with a series of unglamorous meetings and interactions for the remainder of the afternoon, before returning home for a quick change and an equally dull but worthy evening engagement. They have freed themselves to have what they have announced is an ordinary life, though ordinary is strictly relative, for it is the ordinariness of the hyper-privileged. They say they like going for long walks, doing yoga together, playing a lot with Archie, and cooking. They like a lot of downtime so that they can focus on themselves and Archie, whom they want to bring up to be an ‘ordinary’ person. This is plainly a simpler life, with fewer demands and more focus on themselves than would have been possible had they remained as working royals. But it’s doubtless only a part of the picture, for Meghan is a powerhouse who intends to make a great fortune and has not given up on her other great ambitions, including outstripping Diana, being the most famous woman in the world, with the largest Instagram following, and maybe down the line even becoming President of the United States of America. Much time is therefore spent in what her detractors might view as plotting and scheming, though her admirers will understand that it is the creative and resourceful strategizing of a truly extraordinary individual.
For all the sacrifices he’s made, Harry appears to be supremely attached to Meghan. He has willingly if not happily given up his own world for the one she envisioned they could create together. By April 2020, however, it was apparent that he was struggling to cope. Primatologist and anthropologist Dr Jane Goodall, a friend of the couple, was the first to break ranks and confirm that Harry was finding it ‘challenging’ to adjust to his new life. Another of his friends said that he complained that ‘I didn’t sign up for any of this’ when he got married and was questioning ‘what he’s got himself into.’ Alarm bells began to ring back in Britain when he began to question the advisability of having left the Army. As he ‘floundered’, the ever-watchful and concerned ‘palace crew’ swung into action. By May, I was being rung up by an impeccable source and informed that the palace had started making plans for his eventual return. Alone.
Patently, Meghan’s forceful personality had not been enough to provide him with the structure and security he used to get from the Army, nor were her plans for their glorious future together proving to be such a satisfactory substitute. Quite how he will cope, in the long run, with a wife who regards external constraints as provocations to be conquered or avoided, remains to be seen. Could Meghan be making the same mistake Diana had made? A wife who rules the roost too fully and demands too consistently that her husband give up everything that he holds dear, to keep her happy, might push even the most obliging of husbands into concluding that the sacrifices aren’t worth keeping the marriage intact. There had come the point when Prince Charles realised that he’d compromise himself out of existence unless he beat a tactical retreat. That had sounded the death knell of the Wales marriage. Would Meghan’s demands break the back of her marriage too?
By her own admission, she never wants to deal with ‘any negativity’. This means that the word no is something she finds unacceptable. There is no certainty how that will play out if and when Harry deviates from her script so entirely that he ceases to sing from the same hymn sheet, or even just raises her hackles by silently opposing her. In any marriage, there has to come a time when a couple, even one as well matched as Harry and Meghan, diverge. Whether Harry’s losses become so great that they will
