Sussex Reps Meet with the Palace

Is a peace deal in the offing between Harry and Meghan and the House of Windsor?

Some of the best royal watching of the last decade was—undoubtedly—Harry and Meghan’s flame-out from the royal family. After several years warring against the House of Windsor from the outside, Harry and Meghan realized their scorched earth policy was actually burning their own brand to the ground. Harry continued his court case demanding security, but otherwise, the two went silent on their grievances against the royals. It was a smart decision that was necessary to their survival.

I know I repeat this whenever I talk about Meghan and Harry, but it was obvious that the two hadn’t wanted to actually stop being royals. Once the die was cast, I think Harry and Meghan thought they could still recreate their royal life outside of the royal family (at least that’s what I am convinced Meghan persuaded Harry to believe). Somewhere in the last several years, I think Meghan gave that up. She didn’t have the same draw outside the royal family as she had had inside the royal family, and A-listers didn’t see her in the same light. She needed something more than baby banks, and the occasional sit-down with Gloria Steinem, and ribbon cuttings with the Navy SEAL Foundation. So she set her sights on being a mini-Martha Stewart or a Gwyneth Paltrow—a “founder,” a “creator,” building her empire.

But just as it seemed that Meghan was coming to terms with a very small sliver of reality, Harry emerged. Harry, who, while they were still waging their family feud, ran around Hollywood on busses with James Cordon and did emotional interviews with random outlets, had settled into near obscurity after that initial media blitz. Meghan even referenced him in an article once simply as “playing polo,” leaving us with an image of the exiled Prince living a purposeless life while Meghan used his title and fame.

Slowly, though, Harry made an appearance here or there, and the tenor of the events suggested the Prince wanted to rebuild something that looked like his old life. The big public turning point was the recent court case he lost. As we discussed in more depth on this post (and this one), in the interview he did with the BBC right after his security court case loss was announced, Harry expressed a desire to reconcile with his family. Even more interesting to me was the suggestion that Harry seemed to think that if he won his battle for government-funded security, it would allow him to return to the U.K. and once again undertake a schedule of events acting as patron for various charities. That is to say, Harry viewed government security as his ticket to being royal again in the U.K. on his own terms. The biggest takeaway from that interview was how badly Harry wants back to his old life.

With that rather lengthy background, Saturday’s late afternoon scoop from the Mail on Sunday was particularly interesting. Harry’s chief communications officer and “head of his household”, Meredith Maines, flew to London and met with Tobyn Andreae, the King's communications secretary. Apparently, Harry and Meghan’s London-based PR chief was also present.

Obviously, everyone is wondering what is going on. Whoever leaked details about this meeting explained: