Mixed Messaging From Montecito

"Salt and Pepper" Are Not Moving Together

With a little over two weeks to go till the Coronation, we had settled into a comfortable and steady rhythm. Invitations had been sent. Dignitaries and members of other Royal Families were announcing their RSVP status. An estranged son publicly acknowledged his plans by saying he was coming to “support” his Father on the most important day of his life.

Chair for 1, Please

It was announced, by Buckingham Palace: the Duchess of Sussex would be staying home to celebrate their son’s birthday because she was a “mother first” and didn’t want to “distract” from the day. Peace was in sight over the horizon! But we should’ve known better than to expect peace leading up to this event…Like clockwork, a broadside to the Royal Family. A sensational, completely unexpected new headline was timed for release at 2 PM yesterday to meet the Telegraph front page for Saturday’s paper:

“MEGHAN WROTE TO CHARLES OVER RACISM CONCERNS”

This story revealed details that only HM King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan would know. We’re in a safe space: If anyone believes that two weeks before the Coronation the Royal Family (after succeeding in their coup to dissuade Meghan from coming to the Coronation) would want the topic of conversation to turn yet again to Oprah and the “Royal Race Row”, I have a bridge to sell you.

The reporter who provided this dishy scoop, Victoria Ward, has had frequent and close access to Sussex sources from the moment they “stepped down” as Senior Royals. If not for her, we wouldn’t have known that Harry’s request to get a wreath laid on his behalf during Remembrance Day in 2020 was “denied by Courtiers”. She let us know why Meghan didn’t travel for Prince Phillip’s funeral and helpfully described the flowers that went into the wreath she sent for him. Victoria’s scoops, have provided us with a blow by blow of all the perceived slights the Sussexes feel they are faced with. So it’s not surprising Ward was the one who had this scoop. This letter disclosure could only have come from the Sussexes, or more specifically, Meghan herself. I may sound crazy, but this is yet another sign that the Sussexes are not on the same page when it comes to his family and the choices they make going forward. The conjoined palm trees on paper seem to fundamentally be at odds with their messaging. Why? Let me explain:

When it was announced Harry would be the only one attending the Coronation, People Magazine was quick to churn out stories about “peace talks” and “positive conversations” between father and son. Harry was ready to “make peace”, though sources from Buckingham Palace stated while King Charles was “pleased” his son was coming, the Coronation was not the appropriate setting to hash things out. Harry was not getting the apology and sit down with his family he wanted. This was in his original list of demands before he’d agree to attend the event. But it seems somewhere between Spare and coming to London earlier this month, he decided to go anyway. Enter the letter:

Right at the start of the article, Ward writes that Meghan believes:

“She has not received a satisfactory response to her concerns, and that is believed to be one factor in her decision not to attend on May 6.” 

Meghan’s “concerns” relate to the allegations of racism unconscious bias made to Oprah, where she claimed Harry recounted concerns about Archie’s skin colour, and bemusedly tied them to his security, title and status. Ties, as we know now, that were as solid as wisps of clouds: There are many examples of children and grandchildren of the Monarch not receiving Prince/Princess titles and tax-payer funded security.

According to Ward, the King wrote to Meghan after the Oprah interview:

“He is said to be disappointed that the Duke and Duchess felt the need to make such high-profile and damaging allegations.”

What’s head-scratching about all of this is Meghan said in the letter, she “agreed the racism charge” was not an intended slight or said with malice. This runs completely against the very serious and grave way she described it on Oprah:

“The Duchess acknowledged that the individual’s remark was not made with malice.”

The Duchess’s letter is also said to suggest that she had never intended to specifically accuse the individual involved of being a racist but was raising concerns about unconscious bias.”

However it us understood that she does still consider the comment to be racist. [This sentence will be important later on.]

So, as early as 2021, Meghan was admitting in writing that this was not quite what she had portrayed to the world on Oprah. (transcript of her interview here)

Oprah: Because they were concerned that if he were too brown, that that would be a problem? Are you saying that?

Meghan: I wasn’t able to follow up with why, but that — if that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one.

My comment above about the important sentence? Something curious happened overnight. That sentence has been scrubbed and removed from the article.