There can be many reasonable reactions to the surprising news that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, along with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are returning to Britain.
But when it comes to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, reasonable went out the window a decade ago.
Thursday’s initial responses to “Megxit II: Montecito’s Revenge,” as the Page Six newsletter branded the move, were typically caustic. It and other rags insinuate the problem, As Ever, is the royal formerly known as Meghan Markle. One anonymous industry well-wisher claims, “She was the more thirsty of the two of them.” Add a few more nuanced takes citing all the ways Harry and Meghan (but mostly Meghan) failed to conquer Hollywood, and you would think the Duchess had laced her famous jams with chicken poop.
A more plausible reason for the Sussexes’ unexpected English retreat may be related to the health of Prince Harry’s father, King Charles III, with whom Harry reunited in July. In 2024, Buckingham Palace made Charles’ cancer diagnosis public without specifying the severity of his illness. It’s common for people to move closer to ailing relatives. The Sussexes are many things, but if their time in the spotlight showed us anything, it’s that they are human.
Harry and Meghan’s U.K. return comes as British and American press are being scrutinized for their skewed coverage of Jason Arday, the youngest Black professor in Cambridge history. An online smear campaign accused him of having plagiarized parts of his 2015 doctoral thesis. NewsCord, a media analysis site, found that 229 articles about Arday were published in the United Kingdom in 22 days, with 188 appearing in the nine days between his resignation and his death.
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In Netflix’s 2022 docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” the couple candidly described the role that Meghan’s vicious treatment in the press played in her depression and suicidal ideation. Much of it, they say, was orchestrated by The Firm, the business arm of the British royal family.
It isn’t hard to predict what their welcome home will be like. Then again, as social media personality Mrs. Betty Bowers put it: “You know the United States is an unpleasant place when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would rather live in a country with newspapers and relatives that hate them.”
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