The Sussex Summit That Wasn't
Meghan and Harry's World Mental Health Day event provides a good data point to understand the failure of their brand.
Today is World Mental Health Day. Last week it was rather breathlessly reported that the Prince and Princess of Wales would go head to head with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as the two couples attended competing events on either side of the pond.
According to multiple outlets, Meghan and Harry were set to mark World Mental Health Day in New York with some real gravitas as their Archewell Foundation would host a prestigious-sounding “summit” addressing parenting challenges connected to children’s mental health in a digital age. It sounded like a bit of a marquee-type event that might be another stepping stone in their path to a comeback or brand rebirth.
By midmorning (U.S. time), William and Kate had appeared in Birmingham where the two were hosting a forum for young people focused on exploring their emotions. The Princess of Wales even gave a speech—a relative rarity for Kate. It looked like a solid joint engagement from the couple. But what was up across the pond?
The noon hour was approaching and there was no coverage of the Sussexes at all. I could not even find a report of them leaving California or arriving in New York last night. Had I got the dates wrong? Surely a summit would be in full swing by midday? I sifted back through a number of news stories about the upcoming summit. All reported the similar news item that Harry and Meghan’s Archewell would host a “summit” on World Mental Health Day, but none had details about time or place. I was baffled.
Then—finally—a little after 1pm or so Eastern, a number of photos were released from Archewell revealing that Harry and Meghan started the morning in New York at the Marcy Lab School where underprivileged teens receive a free 12-month fellowship in software engineering. Omid Scobie reported the program is one of America’s only alternatives to a traditional four-year college degree—leaving untold numbers of community college and trade school students baffled, but I digress.
Once that news broke, it was quickly followed by the Sussexes arrival at the Project Healthy Minds’ second-annual World Mental Health Day Festival.
Harry and Meghan were on a 1:30pm panel titled: "The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit: Mental Wellness in a Digital Age." The panel’s description:
Join NBC's Carson Daly and parents for a discussion on building community and creating positive change for a safer online world for young people, with special guests Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.
It was not quite what I had been envisioning over the last week after reading all the news reports. I thought Archewell was hosting a summit (a full-day conference), and it turned out that Archewell was not hosting anything and the summit was a panel discussion at another group’s event.
It made me think of some Sussex news we got toward the end of last month that I mentioned in the September newsletter and said we’d chat about this month.
Apparently,