The drama surrounding Prince Harry’s latest stress-filled visit to the UK is not what the fed-up royal family needs – and may prove to be the final straw for The Firm. But the prince is likely to keep making trips home no matter how chaotic they turn out to be because he and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, depend on their connection to the royals for their survival.
In a major setback for Harry, just hours after landing in London, it was announced he had lost his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers. The trial, brought by Harry and six other high-profile claimants, including Sir Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, was dismissed in its entirety.
The claimants alleged that Associated Newspapers had unlawfully obtained information through such means as private investigators and phone hacking, dating from the 1990s to 2011. But the
judge dismissed them all, finding they had failed to prove their allegations.
The Daily Mail, which is published by Associated Newspapers, called the ruling an “overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists, and for a free press generally.”
Why Harry can’t walk away
Associated Newspapers also said it would seek to recover more than $100 million in legal costs, meaning Harry may be on the hook for a portion of it.
Harry, along with fellow claimant Baroness Doreen Lawrence, released a joint statement in response to the ruling: “It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.”
Adding to Harry’s woes, his visit home was a debacle due to the dispute over his taxpayer-funded security and the embarrassment of having an offer of accommodation at Buckingham Palace withdrawn at the last minute.
His family and the courtiers who advise them have apparently had enough of the roller-coaster ride they’re put through whenever Harry, 41, returns to the UK from California, and want the prince to stop acting like a “spoiled celebrity” over his trips.
But the King’s second son won’t pull the plug on them because he needs to maintain his ties to the royal family, say insiders. Without his regal relatives, the Sussexes have little commercial worth in the US says a source from Netflix, which axed a multi million- dollar deal with Harry and Meghan last year.
“They need a strong connection to the UK to be relevant in the US. Their only currency is their proximity to the royal family, certainly as far as America is concerned. People only care about the fact that Harry is Diana’s son.”
The royal rift rolls on
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers agrees. “One of the things we’ve seen is that the Sussexes have to continually reinvent themselves. They have to keep themselves in the public eye because otherwise they cease to exist to some extent.
“And, of course, Harry coming to England and proximity with the royal family reminds us of his ancestry, of his connections with the royals, which become more and more distant the less he sees of them. Nobody would be in the least bit interested in what either of them are doing if he wasn’t called Prince Harry.”
US royal commentator Paula Froelich says Harry and Meghan were met with widespread goodwill from Americans when they relocated from the UK to Montecito.
“They have taken a nosedive ever since. I don’t know if it could get any worse.”
Harry needs to keep up the connections, but his family doesn’t need the headache they cause, says a palace source.
“This saga with the Sussexes can’t just go on and on,” says the insider.
“It’s just too stressful.”
The trip was initially fraught because of the “will they, won’t they?” drama over whether Meghan, 44, and children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, would accompany Harry to the UK for the first time in four years. Harry previously said his family would not travel to the UK after he and Meghan were stripped of automatic, round-the-clock police protection when they stepped back as working royals.
He then said he intended to take them – which was criticised as “emotional blackmail” – but he finally announced he’d changed his mind again after his bid for police security on a case-by-case basis for this visit was turned down.
The palace stay that fell apart
There was also confusion over Harry’s accommodation. The palace said he had been invited to stay there but declined after delaying his RSVP. Later that day, his team said he would accept the offer of
a bed for the night, but were told it was too late to arrange staffing.
A spokesman for Harry said, “It’s unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment.”
The contradictory versions show the distrust and poor communication between the Sussex team and the palace, say insiders.
“Nothing is ever straight-forward with them, there’s always so much disruption,” says a source.
“Maybe it would be best for everyone if the Sussexes just kept their distance.”
Sources close to Harry say he’s been “in tears” over the whole mess. He feels “great sadness” that safety concerns stopped his wife and children from travelling to his homeland, but he’s genuinely worried. A report he commissioned into his security risks found the Sussexes could be targeted in at least six different terrorist plots.
However, patience is running out for him in the UK. Royal expert Ingrid Seward says Harry is acting like an “entitled prince who either gets his own way or it’s no way. He is behaving more like a spoiled celebrity than the second son of the King”.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nowtolove.co.nz ’
