VF: Prince Harry & Meghan ‘reinvented the royal tour’ in Colombia & Nigeria

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The past week has been full of royal drama. There’s one small part of me which wonders if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Colombian tour would have been such a major gossip story if the British media wasn’t hellbent on screaming and wailing about it for an entire week. Not only that, it was clear that the Colombian trip bothered the hell of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. BP was issuing talking points about the trip, encouraging royal reporters to downplay and obscure the purpose of the visit and then complain about how they had zero access. Meanwhile, Prince William has been raging and lashing out at reporters – first Roya Nikkhah (who wrote that horrible piece in the Times) and then Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast. I wonder if the palaces had stayed radio silent in the past week, if the Colombian tour would have been several days of good media coverage and not much beyond that. There’s absolutely an element of Streisand-Effect-by-royalist. Anyway, it looks like Vanity Fair got the palace talking points and didn’t feel like playing along. VF subtly pushed back on the royalist narratives in this summary of the trip: “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Have Reinvented the Royal Tour.”

The Duchess of Sussex connected earnestly with a group of regular people in a country other royals might not have been able to visit, at least not in an official capacity, and the scenes were a reminder of what the Windsors are missing now that she and Harry have set up their own court in Santa Barbara. Still, it’s hard to get the images of their days as representatives of Queen Elizabeth II off our minds, and that might be why their recent international travels—including a February trip to Whistler, Canada and a May tour of Nigeria—have felt so familiar.

These recent trips were made at the invitation of government officials, but, as the British media is quick to point out, they are not “official royal tours.” Even though there isn’t a cut-and-dry definition of an official tour, it generally refers to the fact that when working royals travel on the public purse, they are often representing the head of state at the request of the Foreign Office. The traditional royal tour is about diplomacy—managing relationships with the heads of other countries.

The Sussexes return to the road in 2024 is a sign of just how much their ambitions have broadened since they left the royal fold. Over the last few years, they have been collecting experiences and making connections on issues that include veteran’s advocacy, mental health, online safety, and women’s empowerment. Now, they are beginning to call attention to just how important those issues are to people around the world. Call it the next step in their plan for world domination—or at least their path to global policy change.

… But the main focus of the trip was connected to their recent Archewell Foundation push to raise awareness about the harms that children might encounter online and provide support to victims. The centerpiece was a panel where they spoke about their work, and it had a similar format and topics to the one they hosted in New York City in October 2023. In his remarks, Harry mentioned the couple’s shared belief that “information integrity is a fundamental right.”

Over the weekend, The Sunday Times published an in-depth look at Harry’s life and career, with commentary from some of the friends and employees he left behind in the UK who worry that his California lifestyle might not be enough to sate the prince’s ambitions. “What is the purpose of Prince Harry and what is Prince Harry’s purpose?” a former aide told the newspaper. “The work with Invictus is great and fatherhood was the role he most wanted, so perhaps those are enough for him. But everything else is a bit woolly. I always thought he wanted more from life. I can’t help but think he must be wondering, ‘Where do I go from here?’’”

In Colombia, Harry’s answer to that question was on display, and if his former confidants were able to see it up close, maybe they wouldn’t be so confused. In their post-royal work, Meghan and Harry have tried to change up the old royal routine. In May, Afam Onyema, the CEO of GEANCO Foundation who accompanied the couple on their Nigeria trip, told Vanity Fair that their goals are about doing, not just looking. “I was really touched when they said, it’s not just going to be a speech and a photo op. They want to leave something, leave a legacy,” Onyema said. “That’s very important to them, from my experience with them and their team—leaving a legacy and impact and really helping people in direct, tangible ways.”

[From Vanity Fair]

The reference to that Kensington Palace-sourced hit piece masquerading as a “Harry’s 40th birthday” piece is smart – Nikkhah’s piece was an obvious piece of ham-fisted manipulation from the wrathful egg, timed to drop during the Sussexes’ Colombia tour. William was the one who wanted quotes like “Harry’s an angry boy” and “I always thought he wanted more from life.” That’s William beside himself with anger that his favorite punching bag moved out of the country with his beautiful wife. Anyway, “the scenes were a reminder of what the Windsors are missing now that she and Harry have set up their own court in Santa Barbara.” That too was why BP was issuing talking points and furiously trying to diminish Harry and Meghan’s tour. What would happen if people genuinely started asking why the Windsors were incapable of accepting and nurturing Meghan and all she brought to the table. What would happen if people genuinely wished Harry was the heir?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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  3. VF: Prince Harry & Meghan ‘reinvented the royal tour’ in Colombia & Nigeria

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