On Wednesday, with immaculate timing, the Sussexes landed in Jordan, where they are undertaking a mini-tour focused on humanitarian aid and support for victims of war. Meghan held hands with a teenage girl who had suffered severe burns and lost most of her family in Gaza. Harry was beaten by his wife in a penalty shoot-out at a Syrian refugee camp.
Overall the optics have been positive, and without the mealymouthed “copycat” and “quasi-royal” accusations that followed the couple’s 2024 tours to Nigeria and Colombia. It’s a reminder that few would want to be associated with the British Royal Family at the moment.
Pertinently, Harry and Meghan were invited to Jordan by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO was keen to highlight Jordan’s role in supporting refugees in Syria and Gaza, and what better couple to replace the Trump-sized hole left by the American President’s departure from the WHO just last month, than his liberal nemesis Meghan and her imported prince.
The WHO’s plan appears to be working. Alongside an eyeful of Meghan’s crisp off-white jacket came gentle reminders that Jordan is home to the second highest number of refugees in the world. Another strike for the Duchess, not forgetting of course her rather charming husband Prince Harry, the former working royal.
Only last year, the Duke of Sussex was derided in Vanity Fair as “the kind of guy who would, frankly, happily work for charities for the rest of his life and would be very happy if Meghan made all the money”. Well quite. And Jordan is reaping the rewards.
Yesterday the couple visited the regional headquarters of the phenomenal World Central Kitchen (WCK), a food and logistics charity present in Gaza and Ukraine and partnered by the couple’s Archewell Foundation. WCK is the brainchild of Meghan’s friend, the celebrity chef José Andrés, who appeared in the Duchess’s Netflix show, With Love, Meghan – a neat example of the Sussexes’ capacity to combine commercial enterprise with a philanthropic uptick.
Only a couple of weeks ago Harry’s brother, William, likewise enjoyed a trip to the Middle East, where he visited Saudi Arabia. You would be forgiven for not remembering much about that royal tour, overshadowed as it was by Uncle Andrew’s unseemly Epstein antics. (Andrew has strongly denied any wrongdoing in the past.)
The Prince of Wales tried his best to clear the decks before departure – through a spokesperson, the Waleses kept it vague and said they were “deeply concerned“. With the world’s media picking over the minutia of this platitude, few noticed William firming up diplomatic and environmental ties in the Saudi capital. In stark contrast Philip Hall, the British ambassador in Jordan, sounded pleased as punch when he told the Sussexes: “Your visit, your support, your appreciation of the efforts that the United Nations, including, of course, the World Health Organisation, the government of Jordan and others, are making here is enormously appreciated. So thank you for coming.”
I could go on (certainly, the ambassador did) but I’m sure you get the point. In a post-truth world where the British Royal Family are as knee-deep in sleaze as the political class they’re meant to float above, Harry and Meghan’s appeal has been turbo-charged. When it comes to optics, the House of Montecito is thumping the House of Windsor.
Until recently much of the British press have preferred to scrutinise the tax returns and inefficiencies of Harry and Meghan’s private financial ventures rather than drill into Andrew and Fergie’s desperate dealings with a convicted paedophile. Ironic, given that in September the Archewell Foundation announced a $500,000 donation to projects – including the WHO – supporting children in Gaza and Ukraine. It is a sizeable contribution from a couple who make their own money and appeal to their own shiny, liberal, new age donors. It turns out there really is a life of service after royalty, unless of course you are Mr Mountbatten-Windsor.
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Which begs the question – when is William going to facilitate Harry’s partial return to the royal fold? The blockage surely exacerbates the future king’s testy nerves. At the beginning of the week, the Prince of Wales’s deep concern had morphed into a self-confessed lack of calm at the Baftas. He was too perturbed to watch Hamnet. Such qualms are not good for monarchy – an organisation designed to “keep calm and carry on”. Much of the toxic fallout from the Epstein files is beyond William’s control, but the scandal eats away at the institution’s credibility and support. It’s all well and good ostracising Andrew, but Harry’s continued exile suggests the Royal Family can’t differentiate between the two.
Of course, amidst all the brouhaha, there is an easy win. Next time Harry is over (there’s much planning afoot for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham) William could extend a brotherly welcome to his infuriating but eminently loveable younger brother. A hug, a visible olive branch, a redemptive moment caught on camera – at this stage a gesture would suffice.
Last year when the Duke suggested that some members of his family would never be able to forgive him, he was talking about William. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, for once, team monarchy managed to surprise us?
Tessa Dunlop is the author of Elizabeth and Philip, the story of young love, marriage and monarchy
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source inews.co.uk ’
