There wasn’t enough time for a last visit to his grandmother – although Prince Harry happened to be visiting his old home during the historic week. But at the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s last breath at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, Harry’s plane there was still in the air. He was denied a last hug or even a final reconciliation on his deathbed. The fact that other royals felt the same way only leaked out much later in the British press.
Harry was the last to arrive at Balmoral, the first to leave the morning after. Meghan stayed away from the Scottish country estate. The couple decided this because Duchess Kate also stayed at home because of the children, according to insider circles of the couple. Others rumor that Meghan was explicitly not wanted, such as the “Daily Mail” widely reported.
“It’s as if the grandmother of all of us had died,” is what is often said among Britons these days. In the case of Harry, however, the grandmother actually died. The death of Queen Elizabeth II could mark a turning point in his relationship with “The Firm” – the British royal family – because the relationship with his father Charles is complicated.
Harry and Meghan interviewed by Oprah Winfrey
After all, Charles explicitly used his first address to the nation as king to express his “love for Harry and Meghan, who continue to build a life overseas”. At the same time, however, he also made Kate the “Princess of Wales” – a clear commitment to the family of heir apparent William, with whom Harry and Meghan, who live in California, have a particularly complicated relationship. Diana, the mother of Harry and William, was last known under the title “Princess of Wales”.
“Granny” Elizabeth held a special place in Harry’s heart. While the Royal lovingly shared anecdotes about the Queen and Prince Philip, Harry accused his father in a television interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey last year, which received worldwide attention, of having cut him off financially and not answering his calls.
In the legendary conversation with Winfrey, Meghan and Harry also accused the royal family of racism and a lack of support – and afterwards took the Queen out of the line of fire. She was by no means the “Racist Royal”, which she did not want to name specifically. Father Charles did not get such a free pass from his son.
That the Queen was Harry’s beloved grandmother is generally accepted, a royal insider told the Telegraph. “But she was also the head of the institution he was scolding.” Other sources told The Times shortly before her death that the queen was tired of “sitting on hot coals waiting for the next bomb to go off”.
In recent months, Meghan and Harry have only pointed their tips against the royal family in a well-pointed and economical manner – enough to maintain interest, which is good for business, as the “Times” recently speculated. Excitement alternated with glamorous performances such as the Queen’s jubilee, which looked more like a cautious approach.
Big guns of the tabloids
When it comes to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as Harry and Meghan are still officially called, the British tabloids don’t need much to bring out the sharp artillery. A home story with Meghan in her Californian villa in a US lifestyle magazine becomes the “Bombshell Interview”, although the most headline-grabbing statement in it is that Meghan can no longer shut up outside of the royal family and she wants to become active again on Instagram .
Like a dark cloud on the horizon, the prospect of Harry’s memoirs, which he wanted to publish later this year, has been hovering over London’s Buckingham Palace for months. Whether this plan will change after the monarch’s death out of consideration for the grieving kingdom remains to be seen. The prospect that the couple will shoot even sharper without the beloved “Granny” at the helm is also considered possible. “It seems like the Queen’s death is doing little to close the rift between the Sussexes and the royal family,” the Telegraph commented on Saturday.
