‘Et tu, Harry?’ The Prince, Meghan Are Sullying the Crown
Shakespeare himself would have a hard time capturing the farcical soap opera that the Sussexes have made of the coming coronation.
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” But what of the head of Charles III, as yet uncrowned? Would the Bard be tempted to take up his quill, in service of his sovereign? Or would Shakespeare pass on the opportunity, professing he doesn’t stoop for soap operas?
For the world is witness not to the solemn contemplation of the regal responsibilities before God and Country — and Commonwealth — but the airing of a family’s dirty linen. The topic would not have enthused Shakespeare.
Even a play like “King Lear” is replete with tragic overtones of family gone wrong. Willy, though, may have met his match when it comes to this drama. This is more in line with Marx’s axiom of tragedy — followed close at its heels by farce.
Sadly, Charles and his offspring — principally, the Duke of Sussex and his wife, Harry and Meghan — have taken The Firm’s familial strength and turned it against itself. On this reversal of fortune, Disraeli would be aghast.
“In the hour of public adversity, or in the anxious conjuncture of public affairs,” Dizzy wrote, “the nation rallies round the Family and the Throne, and its spirit is animated and sustained by the expression of public affection.”
Yet that affection — deep and heartfelt for Elizabeth II, exemplified by the public grief at her death last September — has turned to indifference at best, contempt at worst. The anti-monarchist movement for republicanism was respectfully deferential while she sat upon the throne.
Now, with the Queen’s passing, scenes of protest are on the rise. The crown itself is no longer shielded from contumely, with protest placards and egg-throwing malcontents, routinely joining the gathering crowds to greet King Charles.
Unfortunately for the monarch whose coronation takes place this Saturday, his own family is not immune from this outbreak of lèse-majesté. Or, in a Shakespearean turn-of-phrase, “Et tu, Harry?”
As the world waited to hear if the wayward son would attend his father’s enthronement, it learned that the Duke would make a dash across the Atlantic to witness the culmination of Charles’s apprenticeship — “10 rows back,” rumor has it — then fly back to California and attend son Archie’s fourth birthday.
Such excuse serves to explain Meghan’s missing the solemnities. Although the absence of a prominent role and purported pique that the Palace was insufficiently contrite over claims of “unconscious bias” on racial grounds, sound more plausible. For The Firm, one Sussex alone can inflict damage enough.
Take recent observations from royal commentator Alexander Larman. “Harry is not somebody who wants to see the monarchy survive in its current form,” Mr. Larman says, “so he’s going in like a sort of Kamikaze pilot.”
As for the King, “Charles wants, as far as he can, to have an amicable relationship with his family which is going to last for the rest of his reign.” Fortunately, on this score, the heir is more amenable, as Mr. Larman believes that the Prince of Wales is more realistic: “William sees a bigger picture, because for him it’s about the existential survival of the monarchy.”
Existentially, the survival of the House of Windsor remains most sensitive at the hands of the Sussexes. Harry spent last month stirring up controversy over dozen-year-old disputes over phone hacking by the tabloid press, not-so-subtly stating in court documents that father and brother (perhaps Her Majesty herself) sacrificed his privacy in the interests of the wider family.
This latest controversy, coming mere days before the coronation, led to speculation that Harry might decide to skip the crowning event itself — causing further hand-wringing among the courtiers, “making everyone sweat about his movements.”
Not to be outdone by the three-day Coronation Weekend, the Duchess of Sussex is said to be musing about a “month-long Meghan onslaught” in America, according to the Daily Express.
Charles can take some solace that at least somebody’s kids have his back, even if they’re not all his own. At an event at a Liverpool library last week, a group of school children chanted “He’s our King” — in response to a 50-member protest by organized Republic supporters.
Such republican fervor will doubtless only grow. Honeymoons customarily come after the Holy Rites. King Charles, I fear, will find that his best days lay before his coronation at Westminster Abbey. His royal unease has only just begun.
