The Duchess of Sussex claims that Buckingham Palace used her to protect other members of the royal family. Video / Netflix
OPINION:
Let me present you with what might sound like a slightly barmy notion: King Charles is a tactical clever-clogs up there with the best of them.
Elizabeth I might have held back the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Prince Regent managed to keep that upstart Bonaparte on his side of the Channel in 1815, but our newly-installed sovereign might just have proven his considerable strategic nous.
How? His Majesty has reportedly invited none other than his son and daughter-in-law Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex to his coronation next May.
It would be hard to find a soul right now who doesn’t know that this surprising gesture comes after the Sussexes’ latest and most comprehensive round of palace bloodletting with the release of their Netflix documentary this month, an effort more than 12 months, two directors and one $140 million deal in the making.
In the lead-up to the debut of the first tranche of episodes, expectations and hype slowly built, with the biggest question being, just how painful of a blow to the monarchy and the House of Windsor would the Sussexes’ revelations be?
The suspense grew and grew and then … We got a six-episode hodge-podge of saccharine home movies, largely already-run claims about the royal family’s dreadful ways, all with the occasional legitimate point wedged in.
If the royal family had been expecting to meet a broadsword-wielding knight on the field of battle, what they instead got was an ale fume-wafting, wobbling chevalier on a mule.
Meghan and Harry’s six-episode Netflix series has aired. Photo / Getty Images
While the outing might not have been anywhere near as bad as feared, still, the very fact of Harry & Meghan’s existence has seen the royal family bogged down, again, in the melodrama of Megxit and the never-ending post-mortem of how one of the King’s sons ended up living next door to Katy Perry and not in Windsor.
Once the second and final lot of episodes had aired, the world waited – how would Charles and Buckingham Palace react to the Sussexes’ prime-time offensive? Various British publications started to throw out stories speculating about whether titles should be stripped and the Fleet Street clucking grew louder and louder. Would the King, Henry VIII-style after a long lunch and in the mood for a new wife, come out swinging?
Oh no.
Instead the Telegraph has reported that Charles will be sending invitations to the Sussexes to his coronation.
While formal invites, which one would have to assume will be on the thickest of card, are yet to be sent out, a source told the paper: “All members of the family will be welcome.”
Your move, Harry and Meghan.
The brilliance in the Palace’s no response-response is that it directly counters the Sussexes’ characterisation of the royal family as a ruthless bunch hellbent on the monarchy’s survival, no matter the human cost.
Here Charles is, still wanting his younger son to be a part of his coronation, even though his boy now seems to attack the monarchy for a living.
King Charles III will “mention” the Sussexes in his first Christmas speech as monarch, according to the Telegraph. Photo / Getty Images
Sure this invitation move doesn’t fully neutralise Harry’s claim that brother William “screamed and shouted” at him or briefed the press against him and Meghan or Charles having said “things that just simply weren’t true” but it goes a long way towards making the royal family look magnanimous and warm-hearted royal family, willing to be the much bigger people and to look past that Netflix nonsense.
In fact, the King will “mention” the Sussexes in his first Christmas speech as monarch, per the Telegraph, which was recorded after the first “volume” of Harry & Meghan hit screens. The same report stated even after the final episodes aired, “there was no desire to make any changes to his carefully considered message in the wake of the increasingly ferocious attacks”.
The Palace’s Sun Tzu-worthy strategy goes beyond the Sussexes’ inclusion in next year’s big day to them doing something else that has taken some by surprise.
Absolutely nothing.
The only line that has emerged from the Palace has been a firm “no comment”, a position from which they will reportedly not be budging.
A courtier has told the Sunday Times, “We are deliberately keen to send a message by being voiceless. Our duty is to get on with the job. It isn’t to respond.”
“The plan is to keep calm and carry on,” a “shrugging” royal source told the Telegraph.
“It’s very distressing, it’s very wearying, but it’s not going to distract them from the work.”
As Hurricane Sussex continued to blow, on Friday, Charles was at a London Jewish centre, dancing with Anne Frank’s stepsister at a Hanukkah party.
Still, a few royal insiders took a few swings at the duke and duchess in the press, with one source telling the Times that the couple had “overplayed their hand quite badly”.
“They’ve fired all their ammunition and keep shooting the same bullets. Their business model must rely on them making money from something, what will it be if not to rely on this narrative of victimhood?” the source said.
Meanwhile, a friend of His Majesty has also told the Times of the Sussexes’ show: “It’s not as damaging to the monarchy as we feared. Most sensible people will see it for what it is — self-indulgent, one-sided and exploitative. With every passing month and year, it will be seen as the tawdry, shameful exercise it was.”
But before all these insiders and the Windsors themselves repair to the drawing room for a quick snifter, they are far from out of the woods yet.
That Sunday Times story also reported that Harry’s autobiography, Spare, “includes claims about the monarchy that are more incendiary than those made in the Netflix series.”
Will or even can the Palace maintain its current position in the face of a fresh slew of possibly damning claims?
We might be very close to a new year but for Charles & co, they look set to face the same old problems. Maybe they should pop the bubbly now, because lord knows that the fizz might be about to go out of this new reign.
Daniela Elser is a writer and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
