Is This What It's Come To?

Harry and Meghan craft their ideal farewell for King Charles’s funeral — with themselves firmly at the centre of it.

King Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Buckingham Palace, 2022

Hello Dear Readers,

Now, where to begin? Best to start at the very beginning, we reckon. Last Saturday night, The Telegraph ran a piece titled

“Prince Harry and Meghan at heart of King’s funeral plans”

We rather wish we’d snapped a photo at the precise moment we saw the headline as our double take was entirely involuntary. Surely, we thought, this must be satire. The piece came courtesy of Victoria Ward, Deputy Royal Editor at The Telegraph. If that name rings a bell, it's likely because she secured an exclusive with Prince Harry last month following his two-day legal appeal concerning his security arrangements. For further insights into that interview, including what was said and our opinions on its broader implications, please see our newsletter below.

What Harry's Interview Told Us

Ward’s latest piece on the King’s funeral was, in equal measure, captivating and absolutely the stuff of fancy:

There has been increasing talk of olive branches and reconciliation between the King and Prince Harry.

But behind the scenes,

the King is very much hopeful that he will be reunited with Prince Harry and that he might still build a relationship with his two California-based grandchildren.

Opportunities would seem to present themselves at the next iteration of the Duke’s Invictus Games, due to take place in Birmingham in 2027, and the King’s 80th birthday celebrations the following year.

Given that set-piece royal events are planned years in advance, it is possible to cast the net further into the unknown.

Indeed, The Telegraph can reveal that the King has factored not only the Duke but the Duchess of Sussex and their two children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, three, into the heart of his funeral plans.

As we read, the clumsy finesse of the PR effort was hard to ignore. It was an effort so transparent it bordered on theatrical. The so-called “sources” attempting to thread a needle with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. Never mind the preferred journalist; the real issue with this narrative? Its origin is glaringly clear: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. In our opinion, only Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could reframe King Charles’s passing as the