Free Post: Sussex x Peltz-Beckham
At a "Victims Summit", Prince Harry and Meghan Markle see themselves in Brooklyn and Nicola
Hello Dear Readers!
We hope everyone’s been making the most of the longer, sunnier days as summer takes hold. After the winter holidays, this stretch of the year is always a firm favourite.
In that spirit, this newsletter tackles a rather less-loved subject: the ever-excessive Sussex coverage. There’s plenty to wade through: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s camaraderie with Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz amidst family tensions. Prince Harry reportedly considering casting off the Mountbatten-Windsor surname in favour of his mother’s surname, Spencer. Meghan asserting she had no plans to restock her As ever wares, only to then demand a correction retracting the statement, then claim she was taking a pause to “assess” the longer-term strategy for her jam and crepe mix, before, once again, retracting. It all feels a touch chaotic, as though we’re drowning in Sussex stories.
Which is precisely why we’re here: To sift through the noise and make sense of the most significant developments out of Montecito. This post, free to all readers, focuses on the Sussex x Peltz-Beckham dynamic. Tomorrow, we’ll share our thoughts on the rest of the Sussex headlines in a separate piece. If you haven’t yet subscribed, do consider joining the HRH community. Now, let’s get to the Royal Tea.
Over the weekend, The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed that Brooklyn and Nicola have enlisted Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s solicitor, Jenny Afia, to assist with their reputation management.
A source familiar with the rift told the MoS: ‘You couldn’t really make it up, first Brooklyn and Nicola cosy up together and realise they have quite a lot in common, and then all of a sudden they have enlisted the help of the Sussexes’ long-serving lawyer.
‘Nicola and Brooklyn are getting fed up of stories running they don’t like. Nicola likes to control everything and they have taken this rather drastic action.
From the moment the so-called “Victims Summit” became public knowledge, we’ve been following this saga with keen interest. One thing is undeniable: The vast majority of reports surrounding the simmering feud between Posh and Becks (David and Victoria Beckham) and their son and daughter-in-law (Brooklyn and Nicola) have emerged from the Peltz-Beckham camp.
Indeed, Brooklyn and Nicola appear to be taking a page straight out of Harry and Meghan’s well-worn PR playbook. The parallels between the two couples are striking. From strategically using the press to ensure their narrative dominates public discourse, to the rather petty rehashing of grievances. The claim that Victoria made Nicola cry bears an uncanny resemblance to the infamous "Kate made me cry" debacle. Similarly, the ongoing wedding dress saga, persistently retold by sources close to Nicola to any publication willing to listen, mirrors the obsessive focus we saw from sources close to Meghan and Harry in Spare recounting the drama about Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress.
It all feels rather juvenile. Posh is a national treasure, and having her as a mother-in-law should surely be an asset to an up-and-coming fashionista like Nicola. Yet these relentless stories, professing for familial reconciliation with one hand whilst lobbing one accusatory grenade after another with the other, are hardly conducive to mending fractured relations.
In truth, the only outcome of this petty revisiting of grievances is making them look utterly absurd. If their goal is to “control the narrative,” wouldn’t it be more sensible to enlist the expertise of a seasoned PR strategist rather than a barrister? Unless, of course, they’re contemplating legal action against the very outlets they’ve been feeding information to…We’re already barely keeping up with coverage of one litigious couple here at HRH Royal Tea. Another is simply beyond us.
The Beckhams reportedly found the selection of legal counsel rather amusing, given their previous falling out with Harry and Meghan over allegations of leaking stories. For further context on the rift between the Beckhams and the Sussexes, kindly refer to the Substack newsletter linked below.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that the tensions between the Peltz-Beckhams and the Beckhams appear far less fraught than the Sussexes’ ongoing struggles with King Charles and the wider royal family. Thus far, no explosive interview has emerged offering a one-sided account of the fallout. As far as we can tell, there’s no docuseries or memoir in the pipeline.
That said, Nicola still seems to be nursing a grievance over what transpired on her wedding day. We’ve all had that friend, the one who insists they’ve moved on, only to dredge up the same argument time and time again, rehashing it as though it were fresh. It’s quite possible that Harry and Meghan, so eager for reconciliation with his family, see Brooklyn and Nicola as something of a stand-in for their own journey. They may well recognise themselves (or how they perceive their station) in the younger couple — victims of a “hostile press” and turbulent familial relations — and feel compelled to guide them through these stormy waters. We’re not saying they’re right, only noting that this is the belief they hold.
While the sentiment is admirable, we’re not entirely convinced that the Sussexes serve as the most effective blueprint for mending familial ties. Judging by the latest wave of stories painting David and Victoria in a less-than-flattering light, this approach appears to be doing more harm than good.
And in yet another turn of events, Harry has landed himself on the cover of the US celebrity-friendly tabloid, People Magazine detailing, predictably, yet another instalment of his ongoing rift with his family.
This marks Harry’s third People Magazine cover centred on the same theme this year, his family’s apparent reluctance to engage with him. In this latest feature, the publication corroborates The Mail on Sunday’s report that Harry had explored the possibility of adopting the Spencer surname, a confirmation as solid as we’re likely to get regarding the credibility of the claim.
Much like the Peltz-Beckhams, we struggle to see how endlessly recycling these narratives will improve the prospects of reconciliation. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be happening. We’ve previously explored our views on why we believe reconciliation is unlikely. Do refer to our newsletter from last year for a more detailed analysis.
On the surface, if one of our brothers had run to the press and aired even half of what Harry has said about Prince William and the family over the past four years, we’d struggle to find any reason to ever speak to him again. Whether through his own words or via carefully placed surrogates in the media, Harry has repeatedly betrayed William’s trust.
And it’s not just William. He has undermined the trust of his wife, Princess Catherine, and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Branding them “trapped.” Claiming he feels a duty to “save” William’s youngest two so they “don’t end up like me.” Publicly revealing the Princess of Wales’s private text messages to Meghan, thereby confirming to the world that Charlotte had, indeed, cried when trying on her dress. Then there was the Endgame debacle, a relentless character assassination that took aim at Catherine page after page. Not unlike the character assassination of a one Dr. Sophie Chanduaka earlier this year.
What began as a rift between brothers soon escalated into Harry and Meghan openly targeting William’s wife and children, something William will never be able to forgive.
We’ve seen countless examples of families fracturing over words spoken about one another’s children, even in the most ordinary of circumstances. Yet in none of those instances was money exchanged, nor were grievances aired in the press—let alone published in a book for the world to scrutinise.
What Harry seems unable to grasp, even after four decades on this Earth, is a fundamental truth: the moment you have children, certain battles become irretrievable. Some lines, once crossed, simply cannot be undone.
That’s your family now.
The most important family.
The only family that actually matters.
And as for the family you grew up with? Even they no longer get a free pass for things that once might have been overlooked.
Do stay tuned for our analysis on the mixed messaging surrounding As Ever, as well as the latest on the Harry Spencer developments, tomorrow.
Yours in Royal Tea,
Lady Sinclair