King Charles III's sons, Princes William and Harry were reunited along with their wives Kate and Meghan as they met well-wishers.
Video / AP
OPINION:
The ultra-wealthy are not like you or I. If they want some put upon staffer to pick out all the goji berries from their organic power bars or have their cashmere socks ironed or fancy having an aide gently spoon them during their afternoon power nap, then so be it.
Add a soupçon of royalty to the mix and things get even more self-indulgent.
Early on Tuesday morning, two new 'official' shots of Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex hit Instagram, stylised portraits taken by photographer and longtime Sussex mate Missan Harriman last month before their appearance at the One Young World Summit.
In one image, they stare down the barrel of the camera oozing gravitas, poise, and what might be a minor case of constipation. In the other, taken side-on and in black and white, the couple stare boldly off into the distance as if searching for a Whole Foods outpost in the wilds of Manchester. (Side note: Harry's hair also looks a tad more fulsome than normal, suggesting either some very flattering lighting or an overeager assistant was left in charge of wielding the Photoshop tools).
Now, there would be plenty for us to get into here – the notion of private citizens who no longer have any official status apart from being related to the King, is one for the exaggerated eyebrow-raising stakes. However, what ratchets things up several very obvious notches is that Harry and Meghan decided to put these glamorama, power-couple PR pictures out only
48 hours after Buckingham Palace released the first official image of King Charles, Camilla, the Queen Consort and William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Perhaps we could chalk up these two lots of photos going into circulation so close to one another to simple coincidence if not for the fact that this is not the first time a Palace release has been followed by some sort of headline-grabbing Sussex move. Or even really the second.
If you can remember that far, take yourself back to December 2019. (I know, it's a struggle.) The Sussexes had had a bruising year, not helped by their $4 million plus renovation of Frogmore Cottage, the cock-up over the handling of Archie's birth, their weakness for jetting about the Med via private jet despite the duke vigorously beating the climate change drum, and the duchess launching a controversial lawsuit against the Daily Mail during their otherwise hugely successful tour of Southern Africa.
By the time Christmas 2019 rolled around, the Sussexes seemed to be in less of a ho, ho, ho frame of mind and much more of a woe, woe, woe one as they holed up inside a borrowed taste-free mansion on Vancouver Island.
While they were away, a trip during which they allegedly started work on their royal escape plan, the Palace proceeded to drop quite the clanger on them.
On December 23, the first image of Queen Elizabeth delivering her annual Christmas address was published in British papers and there beside her were three large photos showing her father King George VI, husband Prince Phillip, Charles and Camilla and the Wales family. Painfully and conspicuously absent was any sign of the Sussex family, despite having been featured in the photo selection the year before.
According to last year's Brothers and Wives by Christopher Andersen, as the Queen was preparing for the speech she had "pointed to a heartwarming portrait of Harry, Meghan, and eight-month-old Archie" and told the director, "I suppose we don't need that one."
(Also out the same day – a very sweet video showing the Queen, Charles, William and George stirring Christmas puddings landed).
The whole thing seemed like a clumsy Palace reminder that the histrionic Sussexes might have become the eye of a swirling media storm but in the monarchical scheme of things, they were extraneous. The desk stunt was never going to win any points for subtly but according to last year's Finding Freedom, the message was received loud and clear over on the west coast of Canada.
The following day the Sussexes' Christmas card was released, starring their seven-month-old son Archie.
Five days later, what do you know? The Sussexes put out another equally heart-melting photo showing Harry cuddling their bub too.
Prince Harry and his son Archie. Photo / Instagram
On January 3, the Palace decided to drop another new official shot really blunter hammering home the line of succession- subtle, this was not – featuring the Queen, the then Prince of Wales, the then Duke of Cambridge and an adorable Prince George all grown up in tartan trousers. Again, it is hard to get more blatant as far as underlying messages go. According to the authors of Finding Freedom, "for Harry and Meghan, it was yet another sign that they needed [to] consider their own path."
Days later the couple landed back in the UK and within two days they lit the fuse on Megxit, announcing to the world they were fed up with the status quo and had decided they wanted "to carve out a progressive new role within this institution."
(Unfortunately they shot themselves in the foot with this premature wannabe coup de grace, with the move leaving the royal family "Infuriated," according to the Times' Valentine Low.)
And now we have today's Palace-Montecito two-step which just feels like something of a slightly pitiful attempt to drag the spotlight back on to themselves.
Tuesday's Misan Harriman images are truly beautiful but the question I am left with is, just what are Harry and Meghan trying to prove?
For two people so willing to criticise The Firm when a microphone is nearby, in the years since their exit, they have remained oddly committed to sticking to the tried and true royal playbook.
Despite having left the strictures of The Firm behind for a new free life where they can do whatever they fancy, Harry and Meghan's quasi-official engagements make it look like they are trying to replicate their royal lives, a practice which extends to them grandly putting out photos of themselves as though they were heads of state and not two podcasters with the same official status as the members of Little Mix.
It is also worth pausing because the new photos also slot into another Sussex pattern. My card-carrying feminist heart hates to point this out (*she writes while wearing her I Heart Betty Frieden underpants) but … why is Meghan so often in the foreground of their photos and Harry perched behind like an adjunct? This was the case with their first official Megxit portrait taken in October 2020 and then repeatedly for their cringe-worthy Time 2021 cover and photo shoot. So too in that 2019 Christmas card starring Archie and Meghan in crisp focus, while Harry is a blur.
One way of looking at these new images is to consider they come after a rough few weeks for the Sussexes.
The Palace has not uttered a peep over whether their young children, Archie, now 3, and Lilibet, one, will be made a prince and princess as they are entitled to under the current Letters Patent. The longer this ominous regal silence drags on, the less likely it seems that the kids' elevation will come to pass.
Meanwhile, the duke and duchess' big commercial push has hit some serious speed bumps.
The Daily Mail has reported that Harry wants to "tone down" his autobiography, which has been reportedly finalised, in the wake of the Queen's death.
"Harry has thrown a spanner in the works," a source has told the Mail. "There may be things in the book which might not look so good if they come out so soon after [the Queen's death]. He wants sections changed now. It's not a total rewrite by any means. He desperately wants to make changes. But it might be too late."
Meanwhile, concerns are building behind Palace gates about just what sort of dirt Harry could be about to dish, according to the Mail, with their go-to firm of eye wateringly expensive lawyers, Harbottle & Lewis are "expected to be on standby" when the memoir is finally released.
"The question inside the Palace is: 'Can the book be stopped?' a friend of the King has said. "It may be that even Harry can't stop it at this stage but the feeling at the very top is that there's no good that can come of airing grievances in public."
And what of their Netflix show? According to Page Six the "the couple want to make more edits to the hotly anticipated show" which would see it's debut pushed back until 2023 because they are "keen to take out or downplay much of what they have said about King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William and his wife, Kate, the new Princess of Wales."
"I wonder if the show could even be dead in the water at this point, do Harry and Meghan just want to shelve this thing?" a Hollywood source has said.
Then, on Sunday came the news that Charles and Camilla are set to host South African President Cyril RamaphosaIt and his wife Tshepo Motsepe for a state visit, including a white tie banquet at Buckingham Palace, a particularly interesting choice of nation to kick things off with given that Harry and Meghan have been so closely associated with the Commonwealth country.
Is it any wonder then that the couple might be looking to give their somewhat stagnant brand a quick shot in the arm?
What is so curious is that Harry and Meghan left the royal family to forge their own exciting new path and to blaze a thrilling trail and yet instead it looks like they are unable to move on and like they feel like they are still in competition with the Palace.
If only they would run their own race, they just might win.
• 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.
