If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.
Did Meghan’s former employees really want to go to court?
Meghan Markle’s dramatic legal victory over Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Mail on Sunday, came as a surprise to many.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Sunday Times says that senior royal sources are among those who were “shocked” by her successful application for so-called “summary judgement” which means she has been unilaterally declared the victor and the case will no longer proceed to a full trial (unless Associated Newspapers appeals, a move they have publicly said they are mulling).
In a statement submitted to the court last month, a solicitor acting for four senior royal aides known as “the palace four”, said that “one or more of them” could “shed some light” on “relevant” matters. These included the “creation of the letter”, whether or not Meghan “anticipated that the letter might come into the public domain,” and whether she “directly or indirectly provided private information ... to the authors of (headline-making Meghan and Harry bio) Finding Freedom.”
The palace four are all extremely powerful and well-connected individuals in the royal ecosystem: Samantha Cohen, a former private secretary to the Sussexes and now assistant private secretary to the queen; Sara Latham, former communications secretary to Meghan and Harry and now senior adviser to the queen; Christian Jones, former deputy communications secretary to Harry and Meghan and now Prince William’s private secretary, and Meghan and Harry’s former communications secretary Jason Knauf, now chief executive of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Meghan said in her statements to the court that Knauf read electronic drafts of the letter and contributed feedback; the judge clearly didn’t feel this in any way undermined Meghan’s assertion that a letter to her father was completely private and that publishing it in a newspaper was wrong.
The Sunday Times reports their sources saying that as a “credible collective”, the palace four were keen to give their “recollection of events”. A senior royal source told The Sunday Times the group was not “duty-bound to sit here and be silent”, adding, “It’s like the judge decided the evidence was irrelevant.” Another source told the The Sunday Times they were “shocked” by the judgment.
That they were surprised may well be true, but The Sunday Times does not explicitly state that the palace four are unhappy or dismayed at not being able to give their evidence.
The paper does, however, strongly imply that, a rather odd suggestion given that all of them still work for the royal establishment—which is likely to be nothing less than completely thrilled that Meghan’s private life and the messy business of curating royal reputations will not now be dragged through the courts in a blaze of publicity.
Associated Newspapers tried to claim Meghan had intended the letter to be made public, but the judge dismissed this claim as “fanciful.”
Eugenie leaves hospital after birth
Princess Eugenie, Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York’s second daughter, gave birth Tuesday morning to her first child with husband Jack Brooksbank. Their as-yet-unnamed son, who is 11th in line to the throne, weighed 8lbs 1oz, and newspaper pictures published Friday showed Brooksbank driving his family away from the Portland Hospital in Central London where Eugenie gave birth. (She and sister Beatrice were themselves born at the hospital.)
Eugenie released a very cute picture via her Instagram account, showing her and her husband’s hands delicately touching the fingers of their baby, who is the ninth great-grandchild of the queen and Prince Philip.
Buckingham Palace announced the royal baby’s birth in a statement that read: “Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie was safely delivered of a son today, 9th February 2021, at 0855hrs at The Portland Hospital. Jack Brooksbank was present. The baby weighs 8lbs 1oz.
“The queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Mr. and Mrs. George Brooksbank have been informed and are delighted with the news. This is Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s first child, the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York’s first grandchild, and the ninth great-grandchild for the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.”
New horizons?
Meghan and Harry’s private meeting with Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, prompted speculation that Meghan was eying Kamala Harris’ vacant senate seat.
Sources close to the Sussexes were quick to crush such speculation, but now Democratic strategist, Mike Trujillo, says he believes Meghan could yet “do an Arnold Schwarzenegger” and run for office in America.
Schwarzenegger became Governor of California in 2003.
Trujillo told The London Times that Meghan was following a “well-worn path”, adopted by Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead of his foray into politics.
“She’s doing everything that’s appropriate and allowed given her new position but she’s definitely putting her toe in the water,” he said. “And once your toe is in the water your whole foot is in and next thing you know you are knee-deep and then you are fully in.”
Trujillo added: “Everything she’s doing is similar to what other folks have done before they run for office. Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he ran for governor, had a big after-school foundation that promoted opening after-school clubs, that was called Arnold’s All Stars. He used that as a vehicle to talk about the need for tutoring and after school care. Really easy stuff. That’s what introduced him to politics.”
Another Democrat strategist, Roger Salazar, who worked in the Clinton administration, told The Times: “California is one of those states that welcomes fresh perspectives. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Prince Harry getting more involved.”
Charles and Diana: the final month
The Sun has charted a critical month in the decline of Charles and Diana’s marriage in November 1992, before the announcement of their divorce was made in early December.
The excruciating “togetherness tour” of South Korea is evoked, with Diana looking more and more miserable as each day passed. Ex-Buckingham Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter said: “There was no contact between them. It was as if an aisle curtain had descended between them.”
The couple were nicknamed “The Glums” by the British tabloids, and a palace aide admitted to the media: “We know that they’re not [fine] but we’re doing our best with them.”
Charles wrote to a friend: “The strain is immense. I feel so unsuited to the ghastly business of human intrigue and general nastiness. I don’t know what will happen from now on but I dread it.”
Vanilla details of a telephone conversation between Charles and Camilla were revealed (before the full details of the call—with him saying he’d like to be reincarnated as her tampon—were splashed in the tabloids the following year). In the midst of this came the Windsor Castle fire, leading the queen to remark: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.”
On November 25, Charles—after Diana declined to host a glitzy shooting weekend—told her he wanted to separate. Diana later maintained: “I come from a divorced background [her parents] and I didn’t want to get into that again.”
On December 9, then-British PM John Major announced the couple were separating to parliament: “It is announced from Buckingham Palace that, with regret, the Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to separate... Their Royal Highnesses will continue to carry out full and separate programs of public engagements and will, from time to time, attend family occasions and national events together.”
This week in royal history
Prince Andrew will celebrate his 61st birthday on February 19, if “celebrate” is the right word for the much-criticized member of the royal family, who—because of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein—is now stripped of all his royal duties and yet to fully co-operate with American law enforcement.
Unanswered questions
Meghan Markle may be celebrating her victory against the Mail on Sunday earlier this week, but how much will it change the reporting of Harry and Meghan by British tabloids?
