Harry and Meghan’s much-vaunted American dream appears to have run out of road — and in its place, Britain may now be facing a royal headache of its own.
One can only offer sympathies.
Because given everything already known about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the obvious question is this: what are they really planning?
The Sussexes’ shock announcement late Wednesday afternoon in the United States — that they intend to return to England, with Archie and Lilibet starting school there this September — is understood to have caught King Charles completely off guard.
Sources tell Our News Outlet that neither Prince Harry nor Meghan Markle raised the possibility of moving back during their July meeting with the King.
That visit was already striking for several reasons.
Meghan did not make a single public appearance.
She was also reported to have angered Prince William after sharing a photograph of Harry with the children in what appeared to be a procession to Princess Diana’s grave.
Harry and Meghan’s American dream has died – and with it, a nightmare for the UK is born. Sympathies.
This attempted reconciliation came as so many of the Sussexes’ commercial projects seem to have failed, money is surely tighter, and all their old Hollywood friends — Oprah, Ted Sarandos, Kris Jenner — appear to have made themselves scarce.
Netflix, Spotify, Lemonada — all done. As Ever reportedly has $10 million in unsold jams and other sundries on the books. Harry is said to be increasingly isolated and at loose ends.
It’s an epic humiliation, to be sure.
But there’s reason to suspect Harry and Meghan see this as a win.
The stated reason for their ignominious return, sources tell Page Six, is to be closer to King Charles. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, these sources say, want their children to have a relationship with Harry’s family.
Code for: Returning to England, after Harry and Meghan have banged on about their lives being in mortal danger there, has absolutely nothing to do with needing the halo effect of proximity to the royals.
Truly, that explanation makes no sense to me.
The children could have had a relationship with their family had Harry and Meghan not, as they did to Oprah, made wild claims about race or accused the royals of not caring about her mental health.
They could have preserved their relationship had they not disrespected the late Queen Elizabeth II by announcing Megxit without her sign-off.
Had Meghan not compared the British Royal Family to the American theme park franchise Medieval Times in their Netflix documentary.
Had she not mocked meeting the Queen, in that same documentary, with an exaggerated curtsy and a smirk on her face, as her hapless husband looked on in disbelief.
Had Harry not sold out his father and brother’s private moments or printed private text messages sent by Kate in his memoir Spare.
I could go on and on, but we all get the gist.
It surprises no one that People magazine, the preferred outlet of the Sussexes and one that has historically been very friendly to them, broke the exclusive here in America.
And their version of this narrative is a very positive one.
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The magazine reports that ‘those close to the Sussexes believe they have successfully executed the ‘half in, half out’ model Harry and Meghan proposed to the royal family in 2019.’
A model that was thoroughly rejected by Queen Elizabeth at the Sandringham Summit in January 2020.
Yet here Harry and Meghan are, with sources telling People that they’ve pulled off the very thing that has been forbidden.
These two, in my estimation, are dangerous. They didn’t just ‘flee’, in their version of events, to the US for a new life.
They attempted to destroy the British royal family, levelling sensational claims as Prince Philip lay on his deathbed.
It was convenient for them to leave then, just as it’s convenient for them to return now.
The best part, the most Markle-a-vellian, is what People reports as their primary reason for leaving America:
‘While the couple appeared to have an idyllic life in Montecito, they have made no secret of their disillusionment with the current White House. With the midterm elections fast approaching, concerns about the direction of the US loom large for many.’
In other words: Trump!
President Trump, who warmly greeted King Charles and Queen Camilla during their state visit to the US this summer. Trump, who invited King Charles to address a joint meeting of Congress during that visit!
Harry and Meghan make an absolute mess of everything.
Many questions have yet to be answered: Where will the Sussexes be living? Who will be paying for this new residence and the accompanying expenses — including security?
How will these two also be maintaining their properties in Montecito and Portugal, which they say they intend to keep?
The British taxpayers will surely not abide that expense.
And what of Prince William?
It’s an epic humiliation, to be sure. But there’s reason to suspect Harry and Meghan see this as a win.
Are Harry and Meghan hoping that, as they mend their relationship with the cancer-stricken King, they can paint William as heartless for refusing to forgive?
If that’s a strategy they’re considering, they’d do well to abandon it. No sane person thinks William is overreacting to the traitorousness of his brother and his ghastly (my opinion) wife.
Certainly not the British people. William is regularly ranked as the most popular member of the royal family, with a 71 percent approval rating, according to a recent YouGov poll.
Kate follows closely.
The danger here is surely that Harry begins making quasi-royal appearances — perhaps not technically as a working royal, but with the optics and messaging of one.
And that would be an absolute insult to William and Kate.
If Charles wants to reconcile with Harry privately, almost everyone could understand that. But this is not just any family, and it should be made clear that there is no public, official role left for Harry and Meghan.
That is, after all, they way they wanted it.
