Soon after the Sussex family met with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove two Fridays ago, the British press got a statement from Buckingham Palace. It’s widely assumed that Charles’ office didn’t confirm anything until Prince Harry, Meghan and their kids had left Highgrove. All of this caused a great deal of consternation from the photographers and royal reporters trying to track Harry’s movements in particular. The Mail’s Charlotte Griffiths and Caroline Graham cowrote a piece as if desperately trying to explain the lack of Sussex sightings and blame it on the fact that a Chanel event was being held at Highgrove at the same time. It’s clear that Meghan and the children moved very, very quietly, and there were zero photos of Meghan throughout the visit. No one even knows where any of them stayed, although it’s widely believed they were at Althorp for several days. Chris Ship claimed the Sussexes were even in the UK up until Tuesday, July 14th.
Well, the lack of photos of Meghan, Archie and Lili has made the royalists go even crazier. They’ve got conspiracies on top of conspiracies – maybe Meghan wasn’t even there, and the palace lied about the whole thing! Maybe private security is good enough! Maybe the tabloids’ attempts to track the Sussexes just failed because the tabloids are incompetent! Well, the Mail’s Richard Kay was asked to chime in on all of this:
The success of Prince Harry’s quiet trip to Britain shows that anonymity is in fact the best form of security, not round-the-clock police protection, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay has argued.
Despite reportedly threatening not to bring his wife and children to the UK over concerns for their safety, Buckingham Palace confirmed last Friday that Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet enjoyed a private cup of tea with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove.
The world’s media only learned the meeting had taken place after the family left, via an official statement by the Palace, and it is still not known where Meghan and the children travelled from for the reunion. Speaking on Palace Confidential, Editor-at-Large Kay said the meeting provides a blueprint for the Sussexes’ future visits and goes to show that much of the ‘drama’ over their safety was overblown.
‘Harry and Meghan can come in and depart the United Kingdom whenever they like,’ he began. ‘We don’t see photographs of them – unless they want to be photographed. They make such a drama about all of this, and yet the public don’t need to know. By and large, they can slip in and out. All this talk that Harry’s in danger and he needs this wraparound security – well, anonymity is the best form of security of all. No one can cause them harm. I know that sounds slightly glib, but I think it’s an important part of this whole package. Where did they come from? We don’t know… it’s absolutely proof positive that they are able to drop in and drop out of the UK as they please.’
This seems to be a talking point being mimicked in other places too: that the lack of photos of Meghan “proves” that the Sussexes never needed police protection, and they could have been coming to the UK this whole time but they’re just drama queens about it! The thing is, it would have been a completely different story if Harry and Meghan had stuck to their original plan, with Meghan joining Harry at various public events. It would have been chaotic and dangerous, and the press would have ensured that Meghan received the bulk of their targeted hate. The problem isn’t “it’s totally safe for Meghan to fly in for a private family meeting.” The problem is that if Harry and Meghan attend public events – like the Invictus Games next year – it will be a total sh-tshow if police aren’t there. That’s the point Harry has been trying to make this whole time! This whole “gotcha, Meghan was perfectly safe because we didn’t know she had flown in” talking point is utterly bizarre and extremely dangerous.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
