Harry and Meghan Ready To Take On the Royals

The War of the Roses concluded 534 years ago, but the battle between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the House of Windsor is just getting started. Even as millions binge “The Crown” on Netflix, the next generation of drama is unspooling everywhere from Buckingham Palace to Montecito. The next front in the long-running tension between the duke of Sussex and “The Firm,” as the royals are sometimes called, is set to open Thursday evening at New York City. The Sussexes are in town for the Ripple of Hope Gala, thrown by Kerry Kennedy, herself a daughter of the closest thing America has to royals.Ms. Kennedy is honoring the Sussexes for what she calls their “heroic stance” against the “power structure” and “structural racism” of the royal family, with the Daily Mail reporting that seats at their table are going for a million dollars. Ms. Kennedy, who was formerly married to Governor Cuomo, told a Spanish news site, El Confidencial, that Prince Harry and Ms. Markle “went to the oldest institution in UK history and told them what they were doing wrong.” In addition to spotlighting the alleged “structural racism within the institution,” Ms. Kennedy is praising the Sussexes for insisting that the royals “could not maintain a misunderstanding about mental health” in their midst.Ms. Kennedy added that she believed that the Sussexs “couldn’t live with themselves if they didn’t question this authority.” They will be honored alongside President Zelensky, who on Thursday appeared at the city of Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region, not far from the front lines.For King Charles III, the gala is but one worry in respect of his younger son and daughter-in-law, who in 2021 renounced their royal patronages and ceased to be working royals. This turn was termed “Mexit,” after Ms. Markle, and precipitated a conclave known as the “Sandringham Summit,” in reference to the palace where it was held. After that family gathering, Queen Elizabeth II issued an unusual personal statement in her own name, to the effect that she “would have preferred” for the couple to “continue to serve as senior members of the family” but respected and understood their “wish to live a more independent life.”That “independent life” has been a lucrative one, involving a reported $25 million deal with Spotify to produce podcasts and a pact with Netflix. That later deal has yielded a two-“volume” documentary, “Harry & Meghan,” which has its premiere Thursday.That timing has raised eyebrows, coming not long after the death of the queen and on the heels of a visit by Prince Harry’s brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Princess Kate, to Boston. The heir to the throne met there with President Biden. The trailer for “Harry & Meghan” is likely to cause consternation at London. Prince Harry describes the “pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution” and a commentator intones, “It’s about hatred. It’s about race.” In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Ms. Markle suggested one royal asked “how dark” her son Archie’s skin turned out.The trailer claims that Ms. Markle was a “rock star” until “everything changed.” To blame, it suggests, are not only leaks but also the “planting of stories.” It references a “war against Meghan” to “suit other people’s agendas” and includes footage of Prince Harry’s mother, Diana Spencer, the princess of Wales.The footage featured in the trailers has come in for its share of scrutiny. The BBC reports that it is “thought that at least three such images were taken from events that had nothing to do with the couple,” and that a photograph intended to show hordes of paparazzi is thought to have been taken at a “Harry Potter” premiere five years before the Sussexes met. The Mirror reports that “senior aides to the monarch and Prince and Princess of Wales” plan to watch the show “in order to react swiftly to any further damaging accusations against the monarchy.” These aides are planning a “swift and robust” response, should one be deemed necessary. The tabloid adds that “palace insiders” have taken to calling the Sussexes “the Kardashians” due to their pursuit of “all the attention they can possibly get.”

Harry and Meghan Ready To Take On the Royals

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