Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ‘Important’ Skill the Royal Family Can’t ‘Match’
The British royal family needs one skill Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have: the ability to attract lots of attention to their events. A commentator says the royal family can’t deliver in that department. At least not on the same level as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Ahead, when Harry and Meghan likely discovered their unique skill. Plus, what upcoming event there’s no “way” the royal family will be able to outshine.
Royal family events struggle to get the ‘same level’ of attention as Harry and Meghan’s
Following the announcement of Harry and Meghan’s trip to Colombia, commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun the pair could very well upstage the royal family. The reason, he explained, is because the Duke and Duchess of Sussex can draw “attention” to their events in a way the royal family can’t.
The royal family’s “not able to do something which attracts attention on the same level, and attention is important if you’re royal,” he said. “The institution does need this oxygen.”
“I think when you have former senior working members of the royal family do what the royal family would like to do, I do think it will create difficulties. Because the problem is that the Sussexes are so unpredictable.”
Harry and Meghan likely ‘discovered’ the skill in Nigeria
As for when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might’ve realized they could attract more attention that their royal counterparts, Fitzwilliams looked at the pair’s three-day visit to Nigeria in May.
“There’s also no doubt that Harry and Meghan discovered this in what I would describe as their faux royal tour to Nigeria,” he told the outlet.
While King Charles III and Kate Middleton dealt with their cancer diagnoses a “vacuum” was left which other working royals couldn’t fill. “There’s little doubt there is a vacuum. One’s really talking about really high-profile royals.”
“Of course, [Princess Anne] the Princess Royal and [Prince Edward and Sophie] the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and others do sterling work and carry out visits abroad. But they are not particularly high profile, and I don’t think they particularly want to be.”
Given the “success” of Harry and Meghan’s Nigeria trip, their upcoming visit to Colombia—exact dates have yet to be announced—will presumably draw a considerable amount of attention.
“It’s going to take an enormous amount of publicity,” he said. “And the royal family will not be able to match that in any way that I can foresee.”
Harry and Meghan further draw attention by referring to the royal family rift
Fitzwilliams continued, referencing Harry and Meghan’s CBS Sunday Morning interview. The pre-recorded sit down with anchor Jane Pauley, which aired on Aug. 4, 2024, Meghan’s birthday, was about launching The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network.
At one point, Pauley mentioned Meghan’s comments in the pair’s 2021 Oprah interview relating to the duchess’s mental health. Meghan, in turn, replied she hadn’t really “scraped the surface” of sharing her experience.
This, according to Fitzwilliams, proved telling. “They’ve shown in the last couple of weeks they’re not afraid to bring up material that would embarrass the royal family or refer to rifts with it. And that’s only a step away from overtly criticising [sic] it.”
Meghan memorably told Oprah she hadn’t wanted “to be alive anymore” in early 2019 while pregnant with now 5-year-old Prince Archie. The realization, which she shared with Harry the night of an official appearance, led her to seek help via the Firm’s HR department, which turned her down because she wasn’t an employee.
“They [Harry and Meghan] would say that they’re doing their own thing in a way they feel they are best able to do it,” Fitzwilliams explained. “What it will do, however, will be to draw attention to the Sussexes and not to the royal family. At least not to the royal family in a positive way because the Sussexes and the royal family have a very deep rift. That’s the problem.”
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