From town and country
It’s a story that becomes very famous when it comes to the royal family and the Sussexes – the story of two judgments. Since Harry and Meghan announced their bombing announcement on January 8, 2020 that they are working out a progressive new role in the monarchy, and the world watches Buckingham Palace scramble to announce a very different message, it has been exposed this family is not always on the same page. And yesterday, when another announcement was made about the roles and future of the Sussexes, we saw so much again that was so personally exposed to (and between) the official palace communications.
Buckingham Palace’s latest statement was not surprising in many respects. It was expected – indeed even spelled out on the cover of the Daily mailthat Harry and Meghan would not have been able to retain their formal royal protection if they were no longer working royals. The door that walked away from the royal life at the end of March slowly closed, the more they came up with their new commercial plans. It was difficult to see how Harry could retain his honorary military appointments without a formal role in the royal family, although it was also clear that he very much wanted to. The Sussexes had long hoped to be half-in and half-out, but as the Queen wrote to them, it was simply “not possible.”
But what makes Buckingham Palace’s ruling on the case so remarkable is that it contains details such as the fact that the Queen wrote to them. Instead of sticking to the minimum of facts (which the palace regularly does on many matters), it accidentally dumps or designs beyond the formality of information about patronage to something much more revealing. And the separate message from the Sussexes, sent at exactly the same time, sounds like a reply that exposes simmering tension.
Some may describe the rule in the Buckingham Palace message describing ‘the responsibilities and duties of living in public service’ as a superfluous – even pointed – spelling out of the ideology of what it means to be a working royal . The decision to insert one last sentence about the fact that the family is ‘sad’ and that Harry and Meghan remain ‘much loved’ is a poignant reminder of how deep this professional decision goes.
It is not clear if Harry and Meghan knew what wording would be used in the Buckingham Palace statement before agreeing what their own comments from a spokesperson would be. Either way, it’s hard not to find a note of defiance in their decision to sign off with the words, ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal. One assumes that a definition of service is in the public interest rather than an attempt by Harry to teach his grandmother to suck eggs.
What Harry and Meghan spell out in their statement by saying that they have offered their “continued support” to organizations is that they want to retain the positions that have been returned. You do not have to be an expert to figure out that this will be difficult for Harry. He chose his freedom, but giving back his honorary military appointments was a hefty price to pay.
We can find out more about how he feels about this after the Sussexes sat down with Oprah in a 90-minute interview that will air on March 7th. They are not the first royals to give long television interviews, but the Queen does not. Instead, she goes infamous under the motto “never complain, never explain” and does not elaborate on her personal thoughts or views. She will, of course, continue in this vein, but with palace statements like these we are not left completely in the dark.
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