The Sussexes are treated as characters in a drama the tabloids profit from, not as people with real lives and real consequences. I write to rebalance that, to offer nuance where the press offers noise. If you believe in keeping that counter‑narrative alive - and it really can’t exist without reader support - please consider buying me a coffee. Thank you.
The British press has discovered a remarkable new way to insert the Duke and Duchess of Sussex into every story about the British Royal Family, ensuring the Leftovers will be forever overshadowed.
According to The Times, Harry is being careful not to draw attention away from Pa’s Caribbean tour. The couple have no public engagements planned for the next fortnight, possibly because they’re spending half-term with their children.
Perfect opportunity for the press to report on the King’s tour of the Caribbean.
Instead, we have stories about Harry and Meghan not wanting to overshadow the King. Their absence has become a royal engagement of its own. No walkabout, no speech, no glamorous appearance, no carefully timed photograph. Just two people keeping their diaries clear … and occupying the headlines anyway.
Brilliant, isn’t it? Harry and Meghan don’t appear in public, and the newspapers produce stories about them, thus overshadowing the King anyway.
The King is currently visiting the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda. People are bound to bring up topics like the legacy of slavery, reparations and the modern Commonwealth. One might think those subjects could fill a newspaper column or two.
Apparently, the Sussexes must be considered even when they’re not there. Imagine being so important to the royal news cycle that you can’t even enjoy a quiet fortnight without the King’s tour being all about you.
There’s a rather awkward question here. If Harry and Meghan can overshadow the monarchy merely by existing - not even in public - what does that say about the monarchy’s ability to generate interest in its own activities?
The King has the title, the palaces, the grand motorcades, the ceremonial uniforms and an entire institution devoted to arranging his appearances. It’s not enough. The press seems unable to cover the king without checking what the “private citizens” are doing.
Perhaps the problem was never that Harry and Meghan are “stealing” anyone’s spotlight. Perhaps the problem is that the royals tend to do absolutely nothing of note. Important conversations about slavery and reparations, for example, could be had … but we all know Charles will refuse to have them. Instead, we’re meant to get excited by more colonial-style images of the king and his main squeeze, Camilla, deigning to mingle with Black people.
Perhaps they’ll snigger at cultural displays, as they did during the throat-singing in Canada. Maybe they’ll corral some Black children behind wire fences, as William and Kate did in Jamaica. Maybe Camilla will even touch a Black child, rather than picking her arm up by the sleeve, as she was previously videoed doing.
More likely, though, they’ve learned that these things don’t go down terribly well with some of the hoi polloi, and they’ll stick to walking, looking, waving and meeting. Riveting stuff.
Exclusive to members: