Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend day 12 of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend day 12 of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
Prince Philip did not want a fuss made when he shuffled off the mortal coil, famously saying of his funeral: "Just stick me in the back of a Land Rover and drive me to Windsor."
It was a modest, if not insouciant, plan for a man whose life was defined by personal sacrifice in the face of implacable circumstances, so there is a certain perverse logic that even his final send-off ultimately deviated from his wishes.
In April, only 30 members of his family were allowed inside St George's Chapel at Windsor to farewell the no-nonsense Iron Duke – lifelong scourge of political correctness and holder of the royal barbecue tongs. While the specially designed four-wheel drive he had made was proudly deployed, most of the other elements, like the involvement of hundreds of armed services personnel, were abandoned due to pandemic restrictions.
However now that the UK, and the rest of the world, has started to re-emerge into post-Covid light, Philip may yet get that bigger adieu, with all the bells and whistles. This week it was reported that another outing to commemorate and celebrate the late Duke of Edinburgh's life, more in line with his original plans, is in the offing.
Speaking this week, Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty, commented: "There will be a memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh. Only 30 people could attend the funeral, and it was originally intended for 800. Lots of people will want to pay tribute to the Duke and I think fairly soon a memorial service will be announced."
The reunion is happening much sooner than expected. Photo / Getty Images
Which makes perfect sense given that he was Her Majesty's most trusted helpmate and "strength" for more than 70 years.
However, here comes the kicker. Can you guess? Starts with an "S" and ends with "authentically living compassion-driven lives dedicated to making an impact".
Enter stage left, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Little argues that, of the mooted memorial service: "All the royal family will come, specifically Meghan and Harry, as she didn't attend the funeral."
It's an eminently logical conclusion but that does not change the fact that it could still have the potential to send certain palace denizens off in desperate search of their smelling salts and/or an inappropriately early jug of Pimms.
The question of the Sussexes' return to the United Kingdom comes down to "when" not "if". At the time of Philip's funeral, Meghan was unable to fly as she was in the later stages of her second pregnancy and in late June, when Harry made a lightning-quick visit back to his homeland for the unveiling of the statue of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales he was flying solo. (Neither did Prince William's wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, attend the debut of the Ian Rank-Broadley work in the gardens of Kensington Palace.)
But the moment when Harry and Meghan together return to Britain is only getting closer each day and it is impossible to imagine that they would not want to pay their respects at a service to mark Philip's life.
Kate and Meghan have not been together in more than a year. Photo / Getty Images
The inevitability of this reunion, however, does not undercut, for one second, just how fraught this showdown, nearly two years in the making, will be after the events of this year with the couple having essentially detonated a bomb under the palace via their Oprah interview.
And at the centre of this imminent family squall? Kate.
After Philip's service in April, it was the 39-year-old duchess who served as an intermediary, delicately bringing feuding brothers William and Harry together for a few moments of civility, all perfectly timed to be captured by the hovering cameras. (Get that woman a blue beret, the UN needs her.)
The last time the Cambridges and the Sussexes were in the same room, namely for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March last year, it was an historically sour outing, all thin lips, strained expressions and curdled emotion. The family feud that had been simmering along behind the scenes was suddenly on full painful and very public view.
There is not a corgi's chance in hell that the palace can allow a similar situation to play out again and will want the next time the foursome are seen together publicly to be as incident-free and stoically uneventful as possible.
The weight of trying to pull off this particular feint could very well fall to Kate as the resident Kensington Palace mediator and all-round team player. The pressure here could be immense given the growing urgency to get the monarchy back on track after roiling events of the last two years. (No one has forgotten about you, Prince Andrew, either.)
What is imperative for The Firm is finding a way to, publicly at least, draw a line under the Sussex-related convulsions and melodrama of the last 20 months. After the teary sound bites, TV interviews, the accusations of cruelty, institutional racism and bullying, the ongoing investigation into said alleged bullying, the skirmish over a baby's name, and the stripping of honorary titles and official roles, this most recent period in royal history has been one characterised by a seemingly never-ending parade of corrosive allegations and counter claims.
It has been a torturous saga the chaotic likes of which the royal household has not seen since King Henry VIII got it in his head he might want a new wife. (At least no one has lost their head this time around.)
What the house of Windsor desperately needs to do is to find a way to tidy all that anger and hurt away, at least from the prying eyes of the public, and to try to restore some dignity to the whole business.
When William, Kate, Harry and Meghan are first all seen in public together it will be critical for Buckingham Palace that the moment is as histrionics-free as possible. Any sort of bitter or acrimonious display from the Cambridges and the Sussexes a la the Commonwealth Day service would derail the sombre occasion.
Which is where Kate, and her figurative blue beret, comes in.
It could well fall to her to try and keep the whole pinstriped show on the road and for all those hurt feelings and family grievances to be kept in firm check and to not overrun the dignified memorial.
Public displays of cordiality could well be the name of the game, for example, as we saw her and Meghan do on Christmas Day 2018. Then, the two women were photographed chatting as they made their way to St Mary Magdalene Church in a transparent attempt to put paid to the recently surfaced rumours that they were feuding. Still, the move worked like a charm, for a while anyway.
What the palace needs is a repeat performance of that sort of performative amiability. Tepid smiles now everyone!
Here's the bigger picture.
No matter when Harry and Meghan touch down back in the UK, there will be a massive media feeding frenzy, however, the palace needs this particular feverish episode out of the way sooner rather than later. The Great Sussex Return needs to have been played out, exhaustively picked over by the press and for the world to have moved on before the commemorative biscuit tins start appearing for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year in 2022.
Next year, the palace's priority will be to try and keep the attention on the 95-year-old sovereign and for everyone to remain doggedly on message when it comes to reminding the British people how jolly much they like that whole hereditary monarchy lark. Anything that reminds the public that, of late, the royal family has come to stand for an entertaining but unedifying brand of trans-Atlantic squabbling, would be dangerous indeed.
And that is why a carefully stage-managed reuniting of the former Fab Four at Philip's memorial service, carrying with it some sort of cobbled together image of unity, is crucial. (What might be going on behind the scenes is another question entirely.)
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," Shakespeare wrote in As You Like It and never is that sentiment truer than when it comes to the royal household.
For Kate, the countdown may be on for her most important performance yet. Break a leg, Your Highness.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years' experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
