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Losing control of the narrative is anathema to royalty. The great ship of state is supposed to sail calmly despite the weather, not get tossed about on the ocean waves.
Harry and Meghan know this well. And so, no doubt, they knew exactly how disruptive it would be for the Royal Family when they unilaterally declared their daughter Lilibet a princess on Wednesday. They causally hid his new title in a christening announcement delivered to People magazine – as opposed to the more traditional easel outside Buckingham Palace.
The article also delved into the royal family’s absence, with one source saying Charles, Camilla, Kate and William had all been invited to the affair, which featured a ten-piece choir brought in by Tyler Perry, but did not show up. .
Harry and Meghan unilaterally declare their daughter Lilibet princess
After an hour and two of surprised silence, the royal rabbit pulled out of Harry and Meghan’s headlights, and reporters were told the palace had no problem with the move and had been expecting it since the beginning and that he would update his website soon. to reflect the new titles, and that the heist had only been a matter of Harry and Meghan agreeing and announcing it. (The royal website now shows Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex sixth and seventh in line to the throne.)
Harry and Meghan said in a statement that the decision to use the princely title of Lilibet was ‘settled into alignment’ (note: not ‘approved’, the Sussexes’ point being that their children were entitled to the titles under the law and no one’s permission was required) with Buckingham Palace.
But the timing and manner of the big reveal made it look more like the Palace, and many courtiers had, if they hadn’t been caught off guard, certainly been caught off guard.
The newsletter at People was about as far from a coordinated joint announcement as possible and fueled suspicions that Harry and Meghan, tired of Charles’ refusal to officially declare their children prince and princess (which he could easily have done at any time since his accession from the address), decided to propose it to the royal family.
The timing was certainly exquisite: the king was going to do little more than accept when he is widely believed to be about to ensure the couple’s presence at the coronation. THE Daily Mail reported on Thursday that officials planning the event were actively planning for Harry and Meghan to attend, with a source saying: “Harry and Meghan are factored into all of the planning…cars, seating plans, arrangements for meals, everything.”
Friends and allies of King Charles and Prince William told The Daily Beast that the King would be ‘delighted’ that Harry and Meghan had decided to use the titles of Prince and Princess for their children, and that it showed they had never been discriminated against, contrary to Meghan’s claim in the Oprah interview that Archie was unfairly denied the title ‘prince’ at birth, suggesting it was due to prejudice racial.
She said she was appalled at “the idea that the first colored member of this family would not be titled the same as the other grandchildren would be.”
As constitutional scholars were keen to point out at the time, the rules (called Letters Patent), issued by George V in 1917, made it clear that their children would not be prince or princess until their grandfather was monarch.
A friend of Charles told the Daily Beast: “Meghan said during her Oprah interview that the royal family stopped Archie from becoming a prince, but it was still just a matter of convention. When the queen was alive , they were great-grandchildren of the monarch, so they weren’t entitled to the titles. Now they are grandchildren of the monarch, so they are.
The friend attempted to put a pro-Charles spin on this week’s turn of events, casting it as a victory for traditionalist values, saying: “Charles will of course be delighted that (Harry and Meghan) clearly want that children inherit their royal titles.
A friend of William’s when asked about the developments also referred to the Oprah interview and told the Daily Beast: “Meghan discovered there was a despicable plot to favor William’s children over Harry’s. It really hurt William. Now everyone can see that it never did.
Well, maybe.
An alternative interpretation of the week’s action and reaction is that despite the Palace’s willingness to accept the titles, and there is no doubt that they moved quickly to update their website and did all the good noises this week, it does not obscure the fact that Charles did not declare the children prince and princess shortly after the death of the queen. Would it have been so difficult for his accession speech which paid tribute to Harry and Meghan to mention “Prince and Princess Archie and Lilibet”, for example?
By not doing so and leaving the matter hanging, some would say Charles left a goal open and, this week, the Sussexes scored.
Meghan Markle and Britain’s Prince Harry visit a cafe and social enterprise called Social Bite in Edinburgh, Britain on February 13, 2018.
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Meghan Markle and Britain’s Prince Harry visit a cafe and social enterprise called Social Bite in Edinburgh, Britain on February 13, 2018.
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