There’s a new story from the Royalist column in the Daily Beast. Tom Sykes, the “Royalist,” recently wrote that ridiculous piece in the Times, which was all about how HIS sources insist that the Duchess of Sussex “screamed” at a florist for 30 minutes in 2018. The other part to Sykes’ Times piece was that Prince Harry is apparently desperate to reconcile with the Windsors because the Windsors alone hold the keys to the charitable and philanthropic world. This is the bizarre equation Sykes and other royal reporters keep fiddling with: that while Harry has no interest in “coming back” to the UK, HE is the one who wants to make peace with the Windsors, solely because he will never be taken seriously as an activist and advocate without the left-behinds’ blessing. Nevermind that a still-estranged-from-his-family Harry just spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative, or that he had a busy schedule of meetings and events in New York with his charities and patronages, nevermind that he’s currently in Lesotho and South Africa on business and charity work. Well, Sykes has decided to expound on this bizarre talking point in his new Daily Beast column: “How Charles’ Cancer, and ‘King William,’ Are Rewiring the Royal Family.” Would you believe that this piece is mostly about Harry? Weird.
Charles’s cancer spurred the courtiers to prepare for a “change of reign.” The planning and positioning for the reign of King William V, necessarily and behind the scenes, began—and it will be very hard to put that genie back in the bottle. Charles’ family were told the truth: that it was serious. That, of course, is why Prince Harry flew over from California three days later, and that is why the king agreed to meet him.
Harry needs the left-behinds!! For Harry, the changed potential timeframe for the reign of his father poses particular problems, because for Harry there can be no meaningful rehabilitation, allowing him to maximize his impact as a global social activist, “showing up and doing good,” as he and his team like to say, without a peace deal being hammered out with the institution of his family. And the truth is Harry is much more likely to be able to make a deal with King Charles III than King William V. The change of reign won’t really affect wife Meghan Markle, who seems quite happy being implacably at war with the British royal family.
Harry is tired of being a “bit part” in the Windsors: But speak to sources close to Harry, and it’s quite clear that, his successful monetization of it aside, he is tired of playing a bit part in a narrative of family drama and conflict and would like nothing more than to recover his reputation—and perhaps even become known, in time, as a serious player in the philanthropic world. One royal source told me that some insiders believe Harry went about cashing in on his family’s secrets in the expectation that he would be able to work his way back into the royal fold because of his father’s affection for his “darling boy.” “He thought he might have 20 years with his father as the ultimate authority to mend those broken bridges,” the source said. The source added that if a settlement were made with his father, William would not want to waste time or political capital trying to rewrite it when he became king.
The royalists still believe Harry regrets writing Spare?? When asked if they thought Harry would have written the book he wrote, or have publicly accused members of the family—one of whom was later revealed to be Kate Middleton—of being racist if he suspected Kate might be queen alongside his ‘nemesis,’ King William, a few short years later, the source said, “Exactly the point. I doubt it.”
The dumbass cancer-free video: Executive power and influence is already flowing William’s way. Anyone who doubts that only has to look at the glossy Instagram video William and Kate published last month to announce her recovery from cancer. It wasn’t signed off by the king, and featured not Charles, but Kate’s parents, Mike and Carole. To get away with such cheek showed William and Kate have an instinctive understanding—even though they would never acknowledge it and their office did not dignify The Daily Beast’s enquiries on the matter with a response—of how the power dynamic has shifted since the king’s diagnosis.
Charles’s staff didn’t want him to announce his cancer diagnosis: Intriguingly, The Daily Beast has been told that some of Charles’ advisers, instinctively preferring not to let daylight in on the magic, felt the announcement he had cancer was politically naïve. The inevitably diminished authority of a dying monarch is the reason palaces are usually so obsessively secretive about a monarch’s health.
A fixture of the gossip rags: Harry—whose office did not want to comment to The Daily Beast—does not want to trade the glorious California sunshine and the freedom he, his wife, and kids have for a return to the stultifying goldfish bowl of royal life. Stories saying he is searching for a path back to it are nonsense, reliable sources have told The Daily Beast. But he would like to be a regular part of the philanthropic/social activism space again, rather than being a fixture of the gossip rags.
There’s more in the piece about William’s potential reign of terror, not only in regards to Harry, but William’s plans to put Princess Anne out to pasture and make Edward and Sophie take on more work. But the main thrust is not actually “here are the reasons why Harry and Charles should make peace.” These are royal sources – likely close to William – spinning fantasies to Sykes about Harry’s needs and desperation for reconciliation with the Windsors. These are not Sussex sources, this is William’s asinine projection. It’s their new thing which they think they’re holding over Harry’s head: capitulate or you’ll never be a global statesman! “Rather than being a fixture of the gossip rags” is telling as well – that’s an acknowledgement that the Windsors are largely behind the British media’s unhinged obsession with all things Sussex, five years after they left. The Windsors still toss the Sussexes to the media wolves. The wolves are fine with it, because they don’t want to ask themselves: why are “sources close to William” so eerily focused on what Harry is doing and why is William’s jealousy of his brother the only thing motivating William to do anything?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.