Among British commentators, one gets the sense that they really and truly believe a particularly warped version of the Sussex family. They believe that Prince Harry is a permanent sad-sack, always desperately looking for a way to “come back” to the UK. They believe that Meghan is marching around, making white women cry. And most of all, they believe that Archie and Lili will some day reject the choices made by their parents in various ways. Like, there’s a real storyline that Archie and Lili should be in the UK, growing up alongside their cousins, and that Archie and Lili are worse off for not experiencing intergenerational scapegoating and trauma. This week, there was a bold new chapter to this particularly British magical thinking.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been accused of preventing their children from seeing their cousins. Prince Harry is this week visiting Britain, with his wife, Meghan, Prince Archie, aged seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, possibly joining later. But the children are not expected to see their cousins, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight.
That’s because of the estrangement between their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the duke and duchess, which followed the California-based couple’s attacks on the Royal Family in their Oprah Winfrey interview, Netflix series, Harry’s memoirs and in numerous other comments.
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, whose late father, Lord Hindlip, was a friend of Princess Diana, has claimed that Archie and Lili will ‘bitterly resent’ missing out on their British heritage.
‘In about 12 years’ time these children will rebel,’ she declares. ‘They will come to the UK, meet their cousins and other family, and bitterly resent their British life being taken from them.’
Kirstie, who has two sons and two stepsons, adds: ‘It is all so staggeringly predictable and sad for all concerned. Have the Sussexes never read a novel?’
The TV star has several royal connections. Her father’s memorial service at Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair in 2024 was attended by Queen Camilla, who was a childhood friend of Kirstie’s late mother, Fiona, a talented interior designer. The Queen is also godmother to the presenter’s brother, art dealer Henry Allsopp.
Archie and Lili have not visited their father’s homeland since June 2022 for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Lili is thought to have met her grandfather, King Charles, only once.
I disclosed in September that Harry had told friends he wanted his children to attend school in Britain when they were a bit older. ‘Harry feels they are missing out on the extensive family network that their niece and nephews are enjoying,’ one explained.
LMAO at “bitterly resent their British life being taken from them.” These children are seven years old and five years old. They know absolutely nothing about “British life.” These kids live in a beautiful Montecito mansion with tennis courts, a pool, a koi pond, a tea house and complete privacy. They are not trotted out for grim photo-ops with their hateful relations. They are not subjected to skin-color tests to see if they’re allowed on a balcony. They cannot miss what they never knew, and they cannot resent a life which was never made for them anyway. Also: this just shows that ALL of those people are angry and resentful that they don’t get access to Archie and Lili.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram.
