OPINION:
In hindsight, things were too quiet.
In the days, then the weeks, and the months after Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex’s bluntly critical memoir Spare was released, his father King Charles and the whole royal outfit remained oddly, and clearly all-too-curiously, silent.
His Majesty, reporting suggested, was going for a certain sort of stoically noble approach, trying to send the message that his mind was on his brand spanking new job and not whatever criticisms were being lobbed over the fence from California.
Charles, you see, was the bigger person.
Au contraire.
On Wednesday, the world learnt that while outwardly Buckingham Palace might have been sailing on, seemingly unperturbed by Harry’s protracted PR ground war, behind-the-scenes Charles was taking uncompromising action against his loose-lipped son and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
The Sun has now revealed that 24 hours after the book’s release, the King began the process of evicting them from their UK home Frogmore Cottage and the Sussexes were “given just weeks to pack up.” (The couple are now reportedly being allowed to retain possession until after Charles’ coronation.)
This is a stunning move on the King’s part, one that has taken every royal watcher, journalist, commentator, editor and occasional social media back seat mudslinger by total surprise.
Not only had the Sussexes repaid the $4 million plus in Sovereign Grant money spent renovating the property and only last year renewed their lease, but this is hard line axing given that only six months ago His Majesty used his first address to ‘express his love’ for them.
And it’s a provocative move that could well spark a new and increasingly messy stage in the ongoing stoush between Buckingham Palace and the royal émigrés.
If anyone had been under the misapprehension that the Sussexes would take their eviction on the chin, only hours after the news broke about ‘Frogxit’, Meghan appeared in public for the first time in three months, heading out for dinner with the Duke, and he in turn was photographed by the paparazzi smiling.
Smiling.
This is the same man who has described photographers as “hunters” with he and Meghan their “prey” and who the last time he was snapped outside a restaurant scowled and then scowled a bit more.
What a coincidence that the Duchess, after having stayed out of sight since December last year, chose the very same day as their Frogmore shunting broke, to head out to Los Angeles’ San Vicente Bungalows, a favourite celebrity haunt, and which just happens to be a convenient two-hour drive from their home.
And how serendipitous that not one but two snappers happened to be there to catch them arriving and in the rain no less.
Whether co-ordinated or just a happy accident, the Harry and Meghan in these shots do not appear cowed or red-faced. Rather, it looks much more like that they are signalling that they have no intention of taking this humiliation from Charles lying down on their 1000-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets.
The events of the past 36 hours are enough to give a girl whiplash.
For the better part of three months now, the royal family has been taking hit after hit thanks to the Sussexes’ money-spinning projects, firstly their endurance-fest of sympathy-seeking, their nearly six-hour Netflix ‘documentary,’ and then with Spare, Harry’s chart-busting tale of frosty “todgers”, paddock shagging and him getting the pips after Queen Camilla turned his former bedroom into a dressing room.
By now, the biggest revelations from the book are seared on the back of our eyeballs (or maybe just me? An occupational hazard?).
Prince William, the bully boy of Kensington Palace; Kate, the Princess of Wales, a woman given to bouts of diva-dom; and Charles, a father who proved that it was not only weak chins and haemophilia that Queen Victoria had passed down the generations but shoddy parenting skills too.
Overall, the King and his family come across as entitled, selfish and self-serving.
Which is to say, it’s the most damning royal critique to date, perhaps ever, and one which landed right at the very point that Palace mandarins are busy trying to smooth the transition from Queen Elizabeth to her jug-eared, lifelong 2IC of a son.
In fact, the timing could not be much worse, right at the point that the UK is in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime psychic readjustment to a new sovereign.
Still, until this week, it had looked like His Majesty had decided to phlegmatically absorb the devastating hit of the book, not to mention Harry’s approximately 89 TV interviews to sell the bloody thing, with that stiff upper lip they are all so proud of.
Except, he didn’t, not really. Instead, thanks to The Sun, we now know that back in January Charles was putting the wheels in motion that would see the Sussexes’ lose their UK base with perma-toxic Prince Andrew possibly set to move in.
The implications of the King’s extraordinary decision are far-reaching.
For starters, the symbolism. Charles is effectively stripping the couple of their last remaining tangible link to the UK, meaning that the only thing tethering them to his homeland will be their few remaining British charity patronages.
This is a decision that not only affects Harry and Meghan but their children Archie, 3, and Lili, 1. How likely is the King to see his American grandchildren now?
There is also the fact that this looks a lot like regal retribution, a tit for Harry’s literary tat. Charles taking Frogmore away from the Duke and Duchess sends a very clear message that they cannot expect to go on the offensive and to earn millions sprouting criticism and not face any repercussions.
Their chickens are coming home to roost. Bock bock.
According to The Telegraph, the Frogmore decision is “indicative of the current state of the relationship between the two sides of the family”.
“If anyone was going to try and pretend things were rosy, this somewhat blows the cover,” a source told the paper.
Next up, the practical implications. Returning to the UK after losing Frogmore will mean they have to rely on cadging a spare room from family given they would automatically come with the necessary security arrangements.
(Given that Buckingham Palace has 52 royal and guest bedrooms and Windsor Castle has more than 1000 rooms in total, properties that Charles and Camilla don’t even live in, I’m not worried that the Queen will need to dash out to Ikea to buy a sofa bed.)
So too, could this affect Harry’s position as a Counsellor of State, with there being some suggestion that to remain so he must be domiciled in the UK.
If the Duke of Sussex no longer boasts his own Windsor address, what impact could that have on him being a counsellor? (Though Princess Anne and Prince Edward were added as counsellors last year, effectively sidelining he and Andrew from the gig.)
Then there is just how inflammatory Charles’ move may yet prove to be.
Just what Harry and Meghan might do or say if they feel like they have nothing left to lose? Or if they are just mightily p***ed off and want to knock the imperious wind out of His Majesty’s sails?
There is no end to the multitude of ways they could derail the lead up to the coronation from a PR perspective.
Harry told the Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon in January that the first draft was 800 pages long and that “It could have been two books, put it that way”.
He also revealed that “there are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”
Which sounds like, if wanted to, the Duke has plenty of ammunition still up his sleeves and could hit the royal family where it hurts.
Harry and Meghan, for their part, would seem to be showing zero inclination to hide away, if these latest LA pics are anything to go by.
So buckle up, clip in, and hold on. What happens from here on out is anyone’s guess, especially with the clock ticking down to Charles’ May 6 coronation.
You know how they say an Englishman’s home is their castle? Well sometimes a King’s cottage turns out to be a huge bloody mess.
· 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.
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