The Times of London continues to publish excerpts from Tom Bower’s latest rancid “royal book,” which is yet another “Sussex takedown” attempt. This is maybe the fourth or fifth time Bower has done a major British media campaign pushing lies about Prince Harry and Meghan. But this is the first time Harry and Meghan issued a statement via their spokesperson, calling out Bower for being fixated on “obliterating” them and for writing “deranged” conspiracies and lies about them. Bower’s offensive lies about Invictus veterans should be enough to completely dismiss this book, but as an added bonus, he’s clearly using Sophie Chandauka as a source for his rantings about Sentebale. Well, in the latest book excerpt, Bower devotes countless pages to crying about how… the Duchess of Sussex is busy and she keeps showing up at public events. Many of Bower’s criticisms are basically like “Meghan made a speech and I swear it was poorly received” and “Meghan was invited somewhere and she went, which is obviously bad news.”
Meghan’s speech at One Young World in Manchester in 2022: Escorted amid a standing ovation on to the stage, Meghan, wearing a red outfit, adopted her rictus Hollywood smile, while Harry clapped with what was now arguably his perma-scowl. Meghan had abandoned the billed theme: “Ethical leadership — how can we instil transparency, honesty and integrity as core values for leaders?” To Ella Robertson’s anger, her speech praised One Young World, who “saw in me what I wanted to see fully in myself”. And over the next ten minutes, she spoke exclusively about herself and her rise to fame. At the end, the audience clapped politely.
Harry’s meeting with his father last year: Four days earlier, a senior Buckingham Palace official was adamant that the King would not meet his son during the trip. But at the last moment, Charles agreed that, after flying down from Balmoral for his weekly medical treatment, he would let Harry visit him at Clarence House. That morning, according to a visitor in Balmoral, “the King looked very grey”. Their first encounter after 19 months lasted 54 minutes. Harry gave Charles a family photograph but no photo of the two was taken or released. Although Harry’s publicist would brief that their meeting was the beginning of a thaw and reconciliation, a newspaper reported that it was “distinctly formal”, like “an official visit”. Four days later, under the headline Reconciliation in the Air, an anonymous insider was quoted: “If any details of the meeting emerge, or there is any commentary, it will be back to square one.” By then, though, Harry had already broken his promise of silence.
Meghan’s appearance at Kevin Costner’s fundraiser last year: Meghan’s staff and agent were galvanised to negotiate engagements in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Washington, New York and Paris. The prelude to her publicity blitz was an unexpected appearance at Kevin Costner’s annual Santa Barbara party to support the local emergency services. The previous year, she had disdained the event, but now her need for publicity overrode any concern. Overdressed for the event, she was wearing $325,000-worth of jewellery, her publicist revealed. Inevitably, it included a piece originally owned by Diana.
Meghan’s Paris Fashion Week appearance: The coup was masterminded by Meghan herself. Balenciaga had been “cancelled” in 2022 for featuring children alongside fetish-themed teddy bears. In the aftermath of the uproar, Balenciaga had hired a new creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, previously employed by Valentino. Meghan had worn a few of Piccioli’s costumes. She called him with a suggestion. In return for all her expenses, she would make a surprise entrance at his show. In the battle against their rivals for publicity, Balenciaga calculated Meghan’s proposal was a no-brainer. Nicole Kidman was paid millions of dollars by Chanel, so $250,000 for Meghan’s expenses was comparatively cheap.
Bower swears that the Sussexes were tense at Project Healthy Minds last year: Next, Meghan was with Harry in New York to receive the “Humanitarians of the Year” award from the insignificant Project Healthy Minds group, who were delighted by the publicity she bestowed. She later appeared on stage at Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women event in Washington. In between these events, she posted a video clip of herself with four-year-old Lilibet on International Day of the Girl. Her caption was the hope that her daughter would become “an activist”. And then some cracks started to appear. Together, Meghan and Harry looked tired. In New York, they seemed to be arguing after Meghan pushed Harry’s hand away. There was good reason for the tension.
Even if you give these deranged rantings the benefit of the doubt for a moment, none of this makes any sense. Like, oh, Meghan was unwelcome and unexpected at Paris Fashion Week! Okay, then why did Anna Wintour greet her warmly and why did Meghan’s PFW appearance dominate headlines internationally for a week and put Picciloi’s first Balenciaga collection on the map? Oh, but Harry and Meghan were tense at Project Healthy Minds! Don’t pay attention to the fact that Harry was literally groping Meghan’s ass as they posed for photos, their marriage is in bad shape, Bower swears! Okay, so why are they still happily together? Why is Harry joyfully filming his wife as she arranges flowers in Montecito? Bower’s book is full of Deranger fairy tales and copes.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
