Prince Harry is back in LA. There have been speculations for days about how much time he would spend in the UK and how he would spend it, and people are ominously hoping that his visit to London without Meghan Markle will lead to a reconciliation – the implication is that Meghan is the one who the problem is. Some also have rumors that he intended to stay for the Queen’s birthday, which is today.
The thing is, no one really knew what Harry was going to do, and especially not the places where it was reported, as Harry let them know how he felt about the British media. The fact that he is now at home with his wife and child then means that whatever happened between him and his family members was not enough to prolong his journey.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t positive things to come out of it, though perhaps not the positives that did the rounds. Like the story about Harry writing Prince Charles a ‘deeply personal’ letter. According to Omid Scobie’s piece in Harper’s Bazaar, this is not true. There was no correspondence, but everyone agreed that the focus would be only on Prince Philip and the funeral:
“This trip was to honor the life of his grandfather and support his grandmother and family members,” explains a source close to Harry. ‘It was very much a family-oriented period. On Saturday, the ice broke for future talks, but outstanding issues have not been discussed at all. The family simply set their affairs aside to focus on what matters. ”
All in all fairly neutral information. The only thing worth commenting on here is that, of course, if there was a family that could NOT talk about the elephant in the room, it would be this one.
However, to return to the media involvement, and the relationship of the British royal family with the British media, in particular the tabloid media, and this is what Harry paid direct attention to in the interview with Oprah, you have the seen story about Arthur Edwards and how he photographed the funeral?
Arthur Edwards is the photographer of The Sun, one of the newspapers that sued Harry and Meghan. He had a special hole in which he was buried during the funeral at the St. George Chapel was able to hide to get exclusive photos – and he claims it was Prince Philip’s wishes.
If it was indeed arranged by Prince Philip before his death, it confirms that the royal family obviously makes accommodation for tabloid coverage. And even if it was not Philip himself who allowed it, someone in the royal team did it, because that was the only way Arthur Edwards could be in that position.
Here is an article that writes a few things about Harry and Meghan, and as Harry and Meghan confirmed, their own family members still support the outlet. These are not problems that can be solved overnight. And these are many problems that need to be addressed.
What is interesting is that it was not the case that Prince William especially liked the British tabloids. And he has not taken a leadership role to cut it off, especially not now since they chose his side over his brother. Curious to see if it will ever change, or William will continue to do things as always done.
Here he is today with Kate at the Air Training Corps in London for the occasion. Kate is the honorary commander, a protection that Prince Philip passed on to her.