Guess who’s making headlines again? It’s none other than Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry, stepping back into the limelight in Jordan. Clad in elegant ivory attire, they’re once more channeling the aura of working royals. Their return to the public eye couldn’t be more impeccably timed.
With Prince Andrew’s reputation in tatters following a scandalous arrest that sparked a deluge of memes, Meghan and Harry seize the moment to shift focus. The pair have paused their entrepreneurial ventures to turn their attention towards humanitarian efforts, visiting refugees and reigniting their royal-like presence.
Meanwhile, as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself splashed across the headlines, the rest of the royal family is striving to maintain normalcy. King Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton are diligently carrying on with royal duties. From attending London Fashion Week to cheering at a Six Nations match and gracing the BAFTAs, they’re putting on a brave front amid the monarchy’s turbulent times.
Elsewhere, Sarah Ferguson has reportedly retreated to a lavish Swiss rehab clinic, her whereabouts now a mystery. Princess Beatrice’s location remains undisclosed as well, while Princess Eugenie—formerly close to Meghan—has been keeping a low profile, seen only once in a subtle black cap, perhaps distancing herself from the shadow of her father’s controversies.
Charles, William and Kate are busy doing their level best to continue with business as usual: popping up at London Fashion Week, a Six Nations match and the Baftas in quick succession, pretending the monarchy isn’t back in crisis.
Sarah Ferguson, meanwhile, has reportedly been stowed away at a £91,000-a week Swiss rehab clinic and is now MIA. The whereabouts of poor Princesses Beatrice are also unknown, while Eugenie (Meghan’s former pal, whom she will have surely ditched like a hot potato over Andrew’s sins) has been seen only once sporting a discreet black cap.
Enter Meghan, doe-eyed and chest-clutching, swanning into the Middle East in an array of pricey but excessively crumpled trouser suits, at the invitation of the World Health Organisation, for a two-day, jam-packed visit to Jordan.
Harry, as usual, is along for the ride but looks dead behind the eyes – his old sparkle long extinguished.
Meghan and Harry during their trip to Jordan, where they visited a Syrian refugee camp
The Duchess of Sussex playing football during the philanthropic trip to northern Jordan
This tightly choreographed trip almost certainly would have been planned long ago, but it certainly feels uncomfortable given the timing of creepy Uncle Andrew’s arrest.
I can just imagine Meghan’s glee at Andrew’s downfall, racing to phone her latest PR chief, whoever that is (reports suggest that at least ten of the couple’s publicists have stepped down since their 2020 departure from The Firm).
‘My time has come! I look like Mother Teresa next to Andrew now!’ she might have declared. ‘Get me on the next jet to somewhere profound where I can kick a ball around with kids. Bonus points if it’s somewhere my beastly siblings-in-law are fond of.’
Jordan does happen to be one of William and Kate’s favourite stomping grounds. They were surprise guests at the wedding of its Crown Prince in 2023, and Kate’s family lived in Amman during the mid-1980s.
But perhaps I’m reading too far into this.
Maybe Meghan is just finally realising her dream of becoming a full-time humanitarian – a role she has coveted since she was a little girl, trying to change the world one sexist dishwashing liquid advert at a time. Of course, it must be said that putting their fame to good use is always to be admired.
These compassion tours are exactly what we were led to believe the Sussexes would be focusing all their efforts on following Megxit – philanthropy being at the heart of their love story, or so they told us.
Kate and William previously visited the country in 2023 to attend its Crown Prince’s wedding
It’s one of the reasons I always found the release of Netflix’s With Love, Meghan so deeply toe-curling. After a long period of rest, finally free of the old-fashioned restraints of the Royal Family, where Meghan was repressed from being her authentic self and banned from wearing fun colours, what does she turn around and do?
Not cuddle up with orphans and fight gender oppression but instead launch a glossy cooking show that revolved around her hosting Z-list celebrities while dripping in jewels. And then stamping her regal signature on to branded tea and rosé.
Part of me feels sorry for her. Meghan has burnt too many bridges with the public for this trip to be seen as the good deed it was no doubt intended to be.
She might be a tone-deaf diva who attracts multiple bullying allegations – which Meghan has denied – and has a penchant for disowning family members, but her transgressions pale in comparison to Andrew’s. And just look what Princess Diana got away with – the affairs, mental health meltdowns and sly leaks to the Press – all while remaining almost universally loved.
The thing Meghan lacks is that British sense of being genuine, relatable and a little self-deprecating. Meghan has never come across as real in anything she’s done. I fear, however, that we’ll see a lot more of these smug international excursions from herself and Harry – especially as they look to position themselves as a morally superior spin-off from the currently beleaguered Royal Family.
Meghan is even said to be mulling a return to British soil this summer for the first time in four years for an Invictus Games event with her husband, so long as the couple are satisfied by security arrangements.
Call me a killjoy, but I don’t imagine they’ll get a particularly warm welcome. Personally, I’d almost prefer another season of the duchess’s dreadful Netflix show.
