Two years on from their £100 million "mega-watt" Netflix deal, things aren't looking quite so bright for the Sussexes. Photo / Getty Images
Two years on from their £100 million "mega-watt" Netflix deal, things aren't looking quite so bright for the Sussexes. Photo / Getty Images
Opinion:
I wonder whether somewhere in Archewell Castle, Montecito, there is a dartboard. Prince Harry's Dartboard of Displeasure. The numbers have been replaced by tiny royal cut-outs; the bullseye bears the royal coat of arms and, when the Duke of Sussex feels that his mental health isn't quite at air-punching emoji levels, he stands in front of it – and takes aim.
If the latest rumours are to be believed, Harry's next target could be his stepmother, the Duchess of Cornwall. A source in Tina Brown's new book, The Palace Papers, has already claimed: "Harry can't stand Camilla – he doesn't want Camilla to be Queen." And, according to reports published in this paper on Saturday, our petulant prince is to "say some unkind things about her" in his next round of media revelations, which will culminate in the publication of his autobiography this autumn. Because nothing says "I value my privacy" better than a never-ending line of dirty laundry.
Just last week Harry mocked our backward attitude to psychotherapy on the US podcast, Masters of Scale: "You talk about it here in California, 'I'll get my therapist to call your therapist.' Whereas in the UK it's like, 'Therapist? What therapist?' " Although if therapy is about miring yourself in the blame game and retribution, I'll settle for being backward.
Let's take stock of who has so far been nailed on his Dartboard of Displeasure. Harry's skewered The Firm in a thousand different ways including, seemingly, his own father and brother. Apparently it wasn't just "his truth" he felt the need to share with Oprah, but theirs. And as he told the NBC Today show last month, Harry only dropped in on his grandmother en route to the Invictus games to ensure that she was "protected" and had the "right people around her".
If the inference wasn't clear enough, Harry then refused to answer host Hoda Kotb when asked: "Do you miss your brother or your dad?" A straightforward "yes" would have sufficed. Doesn't even have to be true. It's called diplomacy.
Those racist and inhumane beasts at the Palace have got it in the neck, as well as his bully of a sister-in-law, who goes around making Meghan cry. Which doesn't leave many left to target. But Penguin are going to need to get their £15 million-worth of flesh, so why not go for Camilla?
When the Queen declared it her "sincerest wish" that the Duchess of Cornwall become Queen Consort when Charles becomes king, it was a reminder that Camilla is the future. Photo / Getty Images
Never mind that Camilla was the first member of the royal family to invite Meghan to lunch when she first moved to Britain, or that the prince was once quoted as saying, "Look at the position [Camilla's] coming into. Don't feel sorry for me and William, feel sorry for her." He's never let facts interfere with his chosen narrative.
But when, back in February, the Queen declared it her "sincerest wish" that the Duchess of Cornwall become Queen Consort when Charles becomes king, that wasn't just Her Majesty saying "give my daughter-in-law the respect she's owed and earned" but a reminder that Camilla is the future. That as a country, and as individuals, we all need to adapt and move on.
So, as the Duchess of Cornwall celebrates her 75th birthday in July amid what is sure to be an outpouring of admiration and affection; as she is anointed by Vogue, gracing the cover of a special edition that same month; as the Queen continues to scale back her public engagements, handing over an increasing number of duties to Charles and Camilla, will Harry toe the line?
If he has, as has been reported, indeed set his sights on Camilla in a memoir that might be entitled Finding Grievances: The Making of a Whinge-aholic, there is still time to make that call to your editor – and a few crucial cuts. Because right now, the Sussexes can't afford another misstep.
After all, two years on from that £100 million "mega-watt" Netflix deal things aren't looking quite so bright. On Sunday it was revealed that the once-dominant streaming platform has quietly dropped Pearl – an animated series about a 12-year-old girl "who tries to overcome life's daily challenges" created by Meghan. How many more of Archewell's projects might follow suit? Given they bypassed both Apple and Disney in favour of Netflix, it's hard to avoid the irony (and the schadenfreude). As any therapist worth their salt might say: "It's time to start making better decisions." Ditching the blame game would be a good place to start.
