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When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s plans to quit royal life were formally announced by the couple in a bombshell announcement in the first days of January this year, there was intense speculation that they intended to hit the ground running when it came to one of their key goals: financial independence.
The rumors and numbers flew thick and fast: Meghan could give a mega-bucks bombshell interview to an American TV network; the couple could sign his and hers contracts for publishing deals in the style of their friends Michelle and Barack Obama. Given Meghan’s showbiz background, opportunities such as voiceovers, a Netflix production role or even a return to the silver screen were endlessly discussed.
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In fact, Harry and Meghan have done something considerably tougher: nothing.
A report in People magazine this week served to confirm what The Daily Beast has been hearing, that Harry and Meghan are “enjoying living a quiet life,” on Vancouver Island and spending their days “chilling out with Archie and the dogs.”
Indeed, The Daily Beast understands that while Harry and Meghan are spending some of their time away from the public eye formulating their future plans and next moves, they are also—more simply—appreciating it as a time to rest and regroup after the tumultuous events around their exit from their “senior royal” roles.
Another People report, quoting a family friend, claims that brothers William and Harry “didn’t leave on good terms by any means, but they are both relieved that it’s over.”
The couple are playing their cards close to their chest when it comes to their future plans, with none of their advisers or representatives ready to confirm even broad outlines of what their future might look like.
We do know from a short speech Harry made after the terms of his departure were approved by the Queen, and their hastily dropped website, that they intend continue working closely for the charities and causes that are close to their hearts.
We also know they firmly intend to create a new philanthropic vehicle alongside a private, commercial, wealth-creating business—but question marks still surround even such basic issues as the name of either of these entities.
Courtiers have bridled at the mere suggestion of them being allowed to continue marketing themselves as Sussex Royal, with one senior insider previously telling The Daily Beast it was “one of the issues to be worked through.”
Indeed, it seems likely that the first product to emerge from the new Sussex outfit will, ironically enough, be one that was conceived when Harry was still very much in the firm: his collaboration with Oprah Winfrey for an upcoming Apple TV+ series on mental health.
Observing Harry and Meghan’s new life, it’s impossible not to grasp the central fact of a modern celebrity existence—the less they do, the less they will be hassled, written about and talked about.
The world has a short attention span. Forgetting comes easy.
Meghan and Harry’s dilemma, of course, is that they want their work to be written about extensively, but not their private lives. But for the global click-driven media, that sees them in just-another-celebrity terms, their private life will always be infinitely more fascinating than even the worthiest charitable endeavor.
Harry and Meghan are betting that by disappearing from public view entirely, when they do re-emerge their every move will be reported, even if it is in the service of what might otherwise be deemed yawn-worthy charitable goals.
For now, however, the strategy seems to be a total shutdown.
The fact that they are on the remote Vancouver Island helps. The hostile conditions and lack of amenities are deterring all but the most dedicated paparazzi, and the big-media-hating, hippy mindset of the island has also helped the couple preserve, to a frankly astonishing extent, their privacy.
Their new, deliberately lower profile is also reflected in the notably more relaxed pace at which they have been broadcasting on Instagram.
This month, they have posted just two messages: one was to say “Happy New Zealand Day” (a pointed reminder of their desire to retain, in some variation, their former roles as Youth Commonwealth Ambassadors); the other announced that “for the month of February we are pleased to follow @globalpositivenews which focuses on the acts of kindness and uplifting stories of community across the globe. We hope you enjoy!”
Global Positive News is a well-meaning, amateur account which markets itself as “the most heartwarming page on Instagram” and features stories about cute puppies, children who called 911 to save their parents, people who have donated organs to strangers and grandmothers who have knitted 2,000 hats.
Despite its claim to be a global undertaking, it actually appears to be populated overwhelmingly by U.S. stories which is, in itself, an interesting insight into Harry and Meghan’s center of gravity as they try to reinvent their lives.
GPN’s website, which sells T-shirts emblazoned with logos such as “Focus On the Positive” (10 percent of “net profits” are donated to charity, it says) is sparse, with no detail about the site or its founders.
One can only hope the Sussexes did their due diligence before advertising the site’s account.
Harry has made no secret of the fact that his mental health was suffering from his role as a frontline royal.
In the television interview he gave to his friend Tom Bradby that preceded his abdication from royal duties, Harry described a kind of PTSD-like reaction to his interactions with the press, saying, “every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back” to Diana’s death.
Harry also in that interview described coping with his mental health challenges as a matter of “constant management” saying, “I thought I was out of the woods and then suddenly it all came back, and this is something that I have to manage. Part of this job is putting on a brave face but, for me and my wife, there is a lot of stuff that hurts, especially when the majority of it is untrue.”
Here is the great dilemma for Harry and Meghan. They will in due course discover, if they haven’t already, that the cameras, the flashbulbs, the stories and the lies are not part of being royal, they are part of being massively famous.
The biggest question that they have to ask themselves, as they enjoy their son, their dogs and the freedom of Vancouver Island, is whether, having given up being part of the royal family in their quest for a more “peaceful” life, are they also ready to give up being famous too?
