Meghan is 39, I thought she was younger. Harry is 36. She is mixed race and he a member of the Royal Family. This makes her a target in the the way the Wallace Simpson was a target. When you buy into the Royal Family or are born into it, you follow the rules. Princess Margaret could not marry the man she loved, and she spent a lifetime fighting the consequences.
Harry’s Mother
Harry’s mother, Diana Princess of Wales, who was previously married to Charles the heir to the throne, died in a car crash when Harry was thirteen years old. There was a huge blaze of publicity around the event. Thousands upon thousands of people stood vigil outside Buckingham Palace. They loved the human face of the Royal Family that said that the world could be a more caring place. It took advice from Tony Blair the Prime Minister before the Queen acceded to lowering the flag at the Palace. She was seen as unnecessarily vindictive or cold or uncaring for not lowering the flag earlier. At the very least she seen as lacking understanding, which is a grievous fault in a reigning monarch.
Apart from this blip, the Queen has carried out her duties conscientiously throughout her reign. I am not looking at that here, but at Harry’s thinking.
The Royal Family and Business
Harry’s father, Prince Charles, has a thriving business based around organic agriculture. One of his uncles, Prince Andrew, has been involved as a middleman in any number of businesses. Another uncle, Prince Edward, owns a television production company.
All of these roles sit easily with the notion of the Royal Family’s life of service. In return for that service they are granted money out of the public purse.
Harry and Meghan and Business
Harry and Meghan could have gone into business that would sit easily with Harry’s Royal heritage. Instead, he and Meghan have marketed themselves. And that is a river that once crossed there is no coming back from. They are the product and their customers will want to examine the goods in detail.
It occurs to me that Harry may want to bring down the Royal Family because of what happened to his mother. What stars in the heavens brought Harry and Meghan together?
Should The Monarchy Go?
That question is being asked, and when I was young I would have said yes, the monarchy should go. It was after all a remnant of the discredited divine right of kings.
Then I read a line in a book, that before getting rid of something, make sure you have something with which to replace it. And that’s the big question. Yes, the end of the monarchy could go some way to ending social stratification in Britain.
But who would bring down the monarchy? It wouldn’t be the Conservative party. They would support the monarchy to the end. So if the monarchy fell it would be against a much bigger picture – revolution. We have had it before in the Interregnum under Cromwell and a civil war. What might come out of it this time? A one-party monolithic state? It’s possible – anything can happen in the heat of social disintegration.
While good men argue, bad men walk in and take over. So before getting rid of something, make sure you have something valuable with which to replace it.