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Can the palace get Harry and Meghan to drop their titles?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are coming under renewed pressure to stop using their titles of Duke and Duchess, bestowed on them by the queen on the occasion of their wedding, as the British media whips itself into a fury over Harry’s eye-opening interview about royal parenting and mental health.
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In the course of Prince Harry’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, Harry overtly criticized his father Prince Charles and appeared to impugn the impact on his father, and by implication himself, of the child-raising style of his grandmother, the queen, and his recently deceased grandfather, Prince Philip.
Harry’s supporters have said that the interview showed Harry bravely leading by example in discussing his own mental health struggles during Mental Health Awareness Week. His critics have accused Harry of milking the private details of his family life for attention.
As The Daily Beast has previously reported, Harry told the podcast, “Isn’t life about breaking the cycle?”
“Certainly, when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure that I break that cycle, so that I don’t pass it on basically,” Harry said. “There’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. As parents we should do be doing the most we can to try and say, ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.’”
Harry, speaking about his dad, added: “I also know that’s connected to his parents. So that means that he’s treating me the way that he was treated, which means how can I change that for my own kids? And well, here I am. I’ve now moved my whole family to the U.S. That wasn’t the plan. Sometimes you’ve got to make decisions, and put your family first and your mental health first.”
While hardly a radical notion—see the 1971 Philip Larkin poem This Be the Verse which begins “They fuck you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do” and goes on to point out, “But they were fucked up in their turn / By fools in old-style hats and coats,”—Harry’s critics have jumped on his fairly generalized thought meanderings to accuse him of denigrating his family.
The media apoplexy has amplified what has been fairly constant background chatter in some quarters, ever since the couple departed the ranks of working royals last year, that Harry and Megan should be stripped of their royal titles.
The Mail on Sunday quotes what it describes as a “senior courtier” saying: “The Duke of Sussex has now spent a significant amount of time emphasizing that he’s no different to anyone else and attacking the institution which he says has caused him so much pain. There is a growing feeling that if you dislike the institution that much, you shouldn’t have the titles.”
The couple agreed not to use their most important title, “His/Her Royal Highness”, when they departed British shores for a new life of commercial freedom in America last year, but they’re still allowed to call themselves the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The Daily Beast has long understood that senior figures at the palace have set their face firmly against any move to legally strip the couple of their remaining titles, only too aware of how badly the forcible removal of Diana’s titles after she divorced Prince Charles backfired. The move was intended to reduce her influence but by publicly humiliating, shaming and belittling Diana, it in fact helped cement the impression of a cruel and vindictive royal establishment and burnish Diana’s image.
To do the same to Harry and Meghan would be a reckless move by the royal family. It would also open up real issues of double-standards; Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of Prince Andrew and no stranger to a wee commercial hustle, retains the title of duchess.
Interestingly, the Mail on Sunday notes: “No formal moves are planned to strip the couple of their titles,” suggesting that the palace is more interested in pursuing a deal with Harry and Meghan to get them to voluntarily stop using their titles.
Indeed, a second source told the Mail on Sunday: “They should put the titles into abeyance, so they still exist, but are not used, like they agreed to do with their HRHs. They should just become Harry and Meghan, and if they refuse to do that, they have to explain why not.”
It’s hard to see why Harry and Megan would sign up to something like that.
For good measure, the same article in the Mail on Sunday also accused Harry of upsetting his father.
It quoted a source described as “a close friend of Charles” as saying: “If you follow Harry’s logic and treat the Royals just as ordinary people, then the Prince is a single parent who’s been doing his best for years.
“Can you imagine how it feels to have that effort judged so harshly, so publicly? Harry talks about compassion. But where is the compassion for his father? Where is your compassion for your own family who have just buried a much-loved member? And where is your compassion for your grandmother who has just lost the man she’s loved all her life?”
Palace tells Harry: “Get on with your life”
While the Mail on Sunday story above leads the pack, the fallout from the podcast interview is dominating royal news.
The principal theme is objections from the palace, which sounds peevish, and as emotionally clueless as Harry was signaling. Having been first accused of a “woeful lack” of compassion by one royal source in the Telegraph, another royal aide, talking to The Times of London, seemed more irritated that attention was taken away from Prince William and Kate Middleton—visiting a youth charity in the Midlands—than the substance of what Harry was saying about royal life.
Per the source: “It was such a lovely day for the Cambridges. It is a shame that it got usurped by what Harry had to say. Nobody is shocked any more. It is more: ‘Here we go again.’ But he should be told that these grievances should be aired in the privacy of your own home. Don’t do it publicly in a podcast. Get on with your life.”
The palace’s dismissive line may be informed by the more circumspect response in the U.K. to Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah—in which racism within the royal family (identity of alleged offender still unknown), and Meghan being ignored after expressing that she felt suicidal—flashed as bombshells. The palace, instead of engaging with Harry and Meghan’s accusations or claims, seem to be waving a “see ya” hand, and classifying the outbursts as repetitive tantrums.
Perhaps the idea is to keep the atmosphere as neutral as possible in advance of Harry’s expected return to the U.K. for the July 1 unveiling of his mother’s statue at Kensington Palace. Before that, the palace will be preparing for whatever Harry may say to Oprah Winfrey as part of their new Apple+ series, The Me You Can’t See, which debuts on Friday (May 21).
After the storm over the podcast had broken, a BBC reporter asked Prince Charles: “Sir, do you agree with Prince Harry about the suffering and pain in the family? Have you heard his comments?” Charles did not follow his younger son’s lead, and trash the queen and Prince Philip’s parenting skills. He stayed silent, and carried on walking.
Bye-bye Andy
At least 47 groups who previously counted Prince Andrew as their patron have terminated their connection with him in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that having contacted 150 organizations previously associated with Andrew, 47 have confirmed they no longer have anything to do with Andrew. Many more, the paper says, “declined to respond or opted not to comment.”
Perhaps more incredible than the fact that many charities want as little connection to Andrew as possible is the revelation that some organizations are actually happy to advertise the fact that they retain their association with him.
The Telegraph reports: “Those confirming that they have maintained their links with the Duke, whilst accepting that he cannot engage in any activity on their behalf, include the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, the Friends of the Staffordshire Regiment, Morayvia Aerospace Centre, and Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.”
Princess Michael battles blood clots after vaccine
Princess Michael of Kent, the wife of the queen’s first cousin, who contracted coronavirus last year, is now said to be unwell with blood clots, just weeks after getting a British vaccine which has been linked to the condition.
Although the instance of blood clots following the AstraZeneca vaccine is extremely rare, regulators across Europe restricted the shot on foot of the concerns.
Now, the Sun reports that Princess Michael has been convalescing at her home for over a month after receiving the vaccine, although no connection to the shots has been definitively established.
The source told the Sun: “The princess has been unwell and has sought medical attention. It has been a worrying time for those around her. It has been difficult for those close to her to see her suffering. She’s really been through it.”
Her media spokesman Simon Astaire told the Sun: “I cannot comment on health issues.”
Last week, it was revealed that Princess Michael’s husband had told undercover journalists he could forge introductions with Vladimir Putin’s government in return for fees of up to $15,000 a day.
Charles will open royal palaces
It is almost incredible to think that it is only since 1993 that the general public have been able to visit the state rooms of Buckingham Palace, but it is worth remembering that when plans were originally advanced to allow the great unwashed to poke their noses around the royal magnificence, it was seen as a significant democratizing gesture by the queen.
Now, however, it appears that Prince Charles is intending to go one further, with a report in The Times saying that when he becomes king he will turn many of the most storied world palaces into “public spaces.”
Whether or not the $23 entrance fee to visit Buckingham Palace will persist under Charles remains to be seen.
This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, Her Majesty has decided to grant her subjects paying access to the fullness of the gardens of Buckingham Palace for the first time ever.
In previous years, visitors to Buckingham Palace have only been able to wander around the main lawn, familiar from thousands of garden parties, but this year the entire 39-acre garden will be open to the public, who will even be allowed—gasp!—to bring a picnic.
We are happy to confirm that the royalist (and family) have purchased tickets, and will be live tweeting our lavish luncheon on Monday 2 August, rain or shine.
This week in royal history
It may seem like a lot longer ago given all that has happened since, but Meghan and Harry celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Wednesday. It seems a long, but oddly understandable way from that day in Windsor to their new home and life far away from the royals.
Unanswered questions
After the Armchair Expert podcast furore, what will Harry tell Oprah this week in The Me You Can’t See? And can anything now be done to save Harry and Charles’ relationship?
