This week, British journalist/news anchor Trevor McDonald wrote a column about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – I covered it a few days ago, you can see it here. McDonald admitted that he always thought the Sussexit would be temporary, and he’s sad that Harry and Meghan are never coming back to the UK to be working royals. He also wrote about how the Sussexes living and working in California is a huge loss for Britain and the Commonwealth, and a loss for the future of the monarchy. Additionally, this week, Princess Diana’s former lover James Hewitt said words about how Diana would want her sons to bury the hatchet and come together. Well, those two stories have made the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden lose his mind. His latest Mail column is: “Call me paranoid, but I sense an Establishment conspiracy to bring Harry and Meghan back into the royal fold. This is why it can’t happen.” Some highlights:
Sir Trevor McDonald’s comments: McDonald, who was knighted in 1999, claimed that Meghan ‘never stood a chance of being accepted’ because ‘she is a foreigner: an American, a divorcee, a former actress – and black’. He said: ‘Meghan could have brought a new dimension to the monarchy… She was never given a chance to prove herself. Sir Trevor’s comments were published a day before James Hewitt said his former lover, Princess Diana, ‘would be concerned’ about the ongoing rift between her sons, Princes William and Harry.
Eden’s paranoia: Call me paranoid, if you wish, but I do sense something of a conspiracy among certain parts of our Establishment to bring about a return of Harry and Meghan to the royal fold. There is no doubt that Harry is seeking a closer relationship with his family again. After King Charles’s cancer treatment was announced in February last year, his younger son let it be known via friends that he was willing to take on a temporary royal role in support of his father. His offer was never taken up, but the California-based Prince is understood to be keen to spend more time in his homeland.
The slimmed-down monarchy: The King’s long-stated desire for a ‘slimmed-down’ monarchy may have made some royalists, such as Sir Trevor McDonald, nervous about the Sussexes’ absence. When Charles was promoting his vision of a smaller version of The Firm, he envisaged Harry and his future family being a key part of it. He and Camilla would be supported by both his sons and their families. It was a compelling idea to which some monarchists still cling. However, what it overlooks is Harry and Meghan’s past behaviour.
They did give Meghan a chance!! Much as I respect Sir Trevor, he is wrong to say Meghan was ‘never given a chance to prove herself’. Queen Elizabeth and the rest of her family rolled out the red carpet for the American actress. Even though Meghan had been married before, the late Queen ensured her second wedding was a spectacular event at Windsor. And when Meghan’s father said he could not attend the wedding, Charles offered to walk her down the aisle as if she were his own daughter.
Meghan did not want to be successful! However, courtiers who were asked to work with Meghan say she sometimes gave the impression that she did not want to be a successful royal. They have told me she seemed to be looking for reasons to be resentful and encourage Harry to return with her to California, where she could make a stack of money. On Instagram, she recently stated that she had not been able to share her passion for food and home for ‘years’ after she shut her lifestyle blog The Tig, which provides further evidence that she was unhappy with the restrictions of royal life.
Delusional: The truth, Sir Trevor, is that Meghan had every chance to prove herself in the Royal Family but chose to reject the opportunity and instead seek her fortune back in America. There is no reason why those she and Harry have hurt and insulted, such as Prince William and Catherine, should be forced to welcome the Sussexes back.
How effortlessly Eden went from “there’s an establishment conspiracy to bring the Sussexes back” to “the Sussexes obviously want to come back, they’re desperate to come back to us!” The two things do not follow each other. I’m a broken record about this, but I’ll say it again: all of the plans made in 2020 were specifically based on the idea that they could force Prince Harry to come back, broke and divorced. That’s why the past five years have largely felt like a holding pattern – the “establishment,” the monarchy and the British media have all waged a campaign of destruction and abuse aimed at that one outcome, to get Harry back, hopefully alone. The idea that the “establishment” is trying to finesse Harry and Meghan into coming back willingly, by choice, is antithetical to that goal of “bringing Harry to heel.”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
