The fatal rift with brother William was not mentioned. That was too private a topic to be shared, even with a Swedish heroine who was saving the world. But normality, freedom, the British press and the safety of Archie …
And then the couple got an unexpected break. In the March 2020 days and weeks following Commonwealth Day, the coronavirus flooded out of China, through Italy and Spain into Britain and across the rest of the world in panic-striking proportions. Abruptly the tabloids shifted their focus. Here was a threat to civilised existence that was even greater than Meghan and her rebellious prince.
28
Social Distancing
‘We don’t see each other as much as we used to … As brothers, you know, you have good days, you have bad days.’
(Prince Harry, 1 October 2019)
Sussex Royal was the first Windsor website or Instagram account to respond to the threat of COVID-19. ‘This moment is as true a testament [as] there is to the human spirit,’ proclaimed Harry and Meghan at 3.17 p.m. on their Instagram page for Wednesday 18 March 2020 – nine days after the Commonwealth Day Service in Westminster Abbey and five days before Boris Johnson’s government finally imposed lockdown upon Britain. ‘These are uncertain times. And now, more than ever, we need each other.’
The Sussexes promised their followers that they would share updates and help in the troubled times ahead, ‘from posting accurate information and facts … to learning about measures we can take to keep ourselves and our families healthy … We are all in this together.’
The speed and emotion of the Sussex response reflected their hands-on management of their social media outlets – many observers suspected that Meghan herself had tapped out the eloquent words. But @kensingtonroyal was also online before the day was out: ‘Whenever and wherever adversity strikes,’ ran William’s Instagram post at 5.40 p.m., a little over two and a quarter hours later that same Wednesday, ‘the people of the UK have a unique ability to pull together … The public’s desire to help in the wake of tragedy needs to be managed and channelled in the best possible way – which is why the establishment of the National Emergencies Trust was so important.’
The wording of the post was less emotional than @sussexroyal’s, but it was more practical and it was also British-centred. The National Emergencies Trust (NET) was an organisation that had been established in the wake of the Grenfell fire and the London and Manchester terrorist attacks of 2017 to shortcut the bureaucracy between fundraising and practical assistance to the victims. The NET had launched its ‘#coronavirus outbreak’ appeal that day and William was using his 11.361 million followers to spread the news.
At this date Harry’s @sussexroyal was showing 24,000 fewer followers than William’s site, at 11.337 million – the same sort of differential we saw in Chapter 24 when @kensingtonroyal led @sussexroyal by some 11.3 million to some 11.2 million in the spring/summer of 2019. This pattern had held good throughout the family upheavals of the months between. Whatever the headlines and controversy, William had maintained his narrow lead over Harry in the digital popularity stakes – and he was set to gain a further advantage.
On 13 February, the Sussexes had let go fifteen British-based members of their staff to whom they could offer no further employment now they were leaving for North America. Among these was ‘Digital Dave’ Watkins – and Prince William moved swiftly. Within weeks Digital Dave had been offered a job with @kensingtonroyal, where he is still working his magic at the time of writing.
‘Corona’ is the Latin word for ‘crown’ – hence ‘coronation’. So it was, perhaps, appropriate that the future King Charles III should be the one member of the royal family to succumb to the virus in the spring of 2020. He went into self-isolation on the national day of lockdown on 23 March, retiring to his Birkhall home on the Balmoral estate for seven days of quarantine from which he emerged on 30 March.
Somehow Charles’s involvement with the virus did not catch the national imagination like that of the Queen, whose speech to the country on Sunday 5 April attracted 23.97 million peak viewers. Sitting alone with a single cameraman in a large Windsor Castle state room, Elizabeth II spoke to her subjects – it was only the fifth time she had addressed her people directly in this way – and as she looked squarely at the camera her broadcast had something of the spirit of the Second World War about it. She praised the workers of the NHS – the current deities of the crisis – for ‘helping to protect the vulnerable’ and concluded with the immortal wartime words of Vera Lynn, ‘We’ll Meet Again.’
With her bright green dress and towering barnet of silver hair, the Queen provided a reassuring image that was promptly elevated to a place of honour on the huge digital screen in Piccadilly Circus and remained there through much of the crisis. Her Majesty inspired more cheer and confidence than the stuttering Boris in No. 10.
At Windsor Elizabeth II received and knighted the heroic centenarian Captain Tom Moore who had raised millions for the NHS by completing laps of his Bedfordshire garden using his walking frame. Captain Tom had hoped to reach £1,000, but Internet publicity had expanded that target dramatically to £28.6 million – $35.2 million – a world record sum for a single fundraiser.
Harry and Meghan crept away from Vancouver on Saturday 14 March, two days before corona lockdown was imposed on both sides of the Canada–United States border. The island had always been a penance for them. Now that the Queen had struck them off the payroll there was no further need of Commonwealth residence and Meghan wanted to quarantine close to her mother.
Oprah Winfrey’s friend and business partner, movie producer Tyler Perry, sent
