It had to happen, didn’t it? It was surely a matter of when, not if… the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to their Californian home in Montecito, whereupon Meghan Markle did a huge picture dump on Instagram of her summer holiday.
And look! Isn’t it so lovely, so joyous, so much family time with Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, on the beach in Portugal, Meghan shopping for just-gorgeous homeware, all to the tune of Cliff Richard classic Summer Holiday?
And I thought they’d left the Royal Family as they wanted privacy…
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Oh – is that the swimming pool at Althorp House, where Prince Harry is adoringly flipping Lili out of the water? Is that Archie wandering barefoot through Earl Spencer’s estate? Is that Harry and Archie carrying armfuls of white flowers to lay on Princess Diana’s grave in the middle of Oval Lake, with Lili bringing up the rear?
Because, if you thought these pictures genuinely were just some candid holiday snaps, perhaps think again.
‘The Sussexes are the true heirs of Diana’
To me, all look artfully contrived then posted to remind us all that Meghan is very definitely royal, that Harry is very much Princess Diana’s son, and that the Sussexes are the true heirs of Diana.
To be fair, she resisted posting anything from the ‘Highgrove High Tea’ (as I’m calling it), when King Charles and Queen Camilla invited all the Sussexes for a family reunion. She’s far too canny for that. But then, she didn’t need to.
That holiday dump reminded us all that they came to the UK, they did the royal stuff, and it was all happy happy happy! Which is even more extraordinary, if you think about what actually happened before and during their stay here.
This was a fraught period for the Sussexes. They were deep in life-defining security negotiations with the British state, a back-and-forth that threatened to make it impossible for them to travel to the UK for the rest of their lives.
I was told that Harry was close to tears about it all, while Meghan’s side told People magazine she was ‘saddened’ and ‘humiliated’ by how it all unfolded.
‘For Meghan and Harry, things rarely feel authentic’
Meghan and the kids didn’t come for a large part of the trip. The family was separated, and they were the ones who were telling us how awful and scary and upsetting it all was, at great length and in excruciating detail.
But no! According to this social media photo carousel, everything was sun-kissed, wonderful and uplifting.
And this is the problem for Meghan and Harry. Things rarely feel authentic. Things often seem like they’re there for the social media construct. It’s just another form of advertising.
As someone said to me, ‘It just looks utterly shameless, trying to capitalise on everything. And she and Harry wonder why most of the family won’t see her? They just don’t trust them, and worry they will be used to advertise the Sussex brand!’
The issue for Meghan is that it just looks fake. They can’t tell us one week how horrendous and awful everything is, then the next it’s all breezy summer holidays without a care in the world!
Public relations people are paid a fortune precisely to help their clients avoid this kind of confused messaging.
‘The great American dream is crashing down’
Meghan needs consumers (us) to buy into her lifestyle so we’ll buy her wares. I don’t think it’s working.
Harry, too, had some bizarre mixed messaging. After hitting out at the British courts and the government, he then went on retired rugby player (and Celebrity Traitors hero) Joe Marler’s podcast, boasting about farts and being called ‘carrot top’ at school.
Then, back in the USA, he went on James Corden’s chat show to talk about the World Cup and the England football team with a pint! (I know from talking to Harry myself that he’s more of a rugby man.)
It all feels like, to me, that the Sussexes’ great American dream is crashing down.
Next month, Harry will be back in the UK to attend the WellChild Awards. Watch this space…
This feature first appeared in Woman magazine. Subscribe now and get your first 6 issues for £1.
