Meghan was only staying in Britain for a few days before flying back to join Archie in Canada on Thursday 9 January. But the plan was for her and Harry to keep closely in touch by phone and Internet as events unrolled. They were now a team and they briefed their British squad about the details of the plan that they had worked out in Vancouver with their three Hollywood As and with Keleigh Thomas Morgan.
Security was clearly going to be a tricky issue given the complication and expense of so much travel, and then there was the question of money – and specifically income. How could they support themselves if they went off the royal payroll and could no longer rely on the Bank of Dad? Their US managers had been confident that both of the couple could command substantial fees from talking engagements in the States and Canada. Agent Nick Collins was even then negotiating contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars per appearance and was in discussions with Oprah Winfrey and Disney over some charity deals – Meghan had already got one Disney voiceover completed.
It was also central to the whole project that the Canadian government should sign on for their long-term residence requirements and should be happy with the character of the local projects that they were hoping to pursue in Canada. They had a meeting arranged for the following day, Tuesday 7 January, in London, to discuss the details with the Canadian High Commission, and when they arrived in Trafalgar Square a crowd of fans was waiting, waving Canadian flags. There were lots of jokes about their wet weeks on the Pacific coast – ‘It had rained throughout,’ Harry told one Canada House employee – and the high commissioner, Janice Charette, seemed fully on board for the couple’s social reform agenda.
‘Today’s visit provided an opportunity to discuss some of the common priorities and values shared by Canada and Their Royal Highnesses,’ Charette told Vanity Fair, specifying ‘a commitment to conservation and fighting the challenges of climate change; supporting the economic and democratic empowerment of women and girls; and encouraging young people and youth leaders in Canada and across the Commonwealth to actively engage in the social, economic and environmental challenges of their generation.’
How wordy, worthy and thoroughly Canadian! It was as if Harry and Meghan had dictated to the high commissioner precisely what to say. But that cleared the residence hurdle neatly, and the couple were keen to keep moving forward. Meghan was leaving for Vancouver shortly and Harry wanted to follow her quite quickly with the essence of their new royal deal agreed.
‘At this point,’ a source told Scobie and Durand, ‘they felt like they had brought up the subject enough times with family members … and they were fed up with not being taken seriously.’
They were also worried about press leaks if they delayed announcing their plan much longer. They knew that the Sun was sniffing round the story and their fears were borne out the next day, Wednesday 8 January, when the tabloid broke the news of their plans to leave. ‘We’re Orf Again,’ revealed a front-page splash that had clearly been in the works for several days. The Sussexes were not staying in Britain, said the paper – they were flying ‘back to Canada’, and Harry was planning talks with the Queen and the family before he left about some substantial changes to his ‘royal role’.
Wednesday 8 January 2020 is one of those dates that is engraved on the hearts of royal correspondents. Gently recovering from Christmas and New Year, and wondering if the Queen’s visit to church would have to be their strongest story for the weekend, journalists were abruptly confronted with an embarras du choix. The bombshell news that Harry and Meghan were planning to leave Britain, and to sever their links with the royal family in some way, confirmed all the suspicions of palace unhappiness and family discord. Suddenly history was happening. This was the moment to clear the front page so that the long-nursed ‘royal rift’ stories could go live.
The Sussexes pressed the button to activate their website with its array of claims and promises at 6.30 p.m. that day and the journalists scrabbled to decide which of the myriad issues to pursue first. Where would Archie go to school – in both the UK and in Canada? What exactly did it mean ‘to carve out a progressive new role within this institution’? Exactly how would the couple become ‘financially independent’? And what did this splitting of their lifestyle across the Atlantic mean for the carbon footprint of these valiant eco-warriors?
‘Figures show,’ wrote the Daily Mail accusingly, ‘that one person flying first class on a return commercial flight from London to Toronto contributes 6.77 tonnes of CO2 to the Earth’s atmosphere. This would mean, even if Harry, Meghan and Archie were to go on just one trip … their total carbon footprint would be 20.31 tonnes.’
But media shock was nothing to the dismay and anger felt inside the palaces – to whom Harry had given ten minutes’ notice of the news. Prince Charles was only just getting himself organised after returning from an official trip to the Middle East – and out at Sandringham both the Queen and Prince Philip were said to be ‘devastated’. Once again their grandson had acted unilaterally. Instead of consulting the family when the Sun broke the story, Harry had gone out alone with his defiant and incendiary news of their departure.
‘Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage,’ said Buckingham Palace tersely in a statement that it managed to rush out in just fifteen minutes. ‘We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.’
Still, Harry had finally got his family to respond. Next day he kissed Meghan goodbye then settled down for a conference call with William,
