Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s political ambition pales in comparison to the embarrassing materials yet unleashed on the royal family. The media has been abuzz with claims of Meghan’s intention to venture into politics, and publicly endorse Kamala Harris for president ahead of the US election. So far, neither the Sussexes nor their team has verified these claims. However, their influence outside the political sphere still threatens the British royal family.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams discussed the extent of this threat and how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are working to capitalize on it. Speaking to The Sun, the royal expert explained that with senior royals like King Charles and Kate Middleton battling cancer, the Sussexes are more likely to attract all the attention, especially with their recent highly-publicized engagements. Richard cited their May visit to Nigeria, describing it as a ‘faux royal tour” which conveniently sufficed as the perfect show-stealer. He divulged,
“The problem with the Royal Family at the moment is that they are simply not able to do something which attracts attention on the same level – and attention is important if you’re royal.”
The 74-year-old explained how Kate Middleton and King Charles’ reduced royal duties amid their cancer battles created a vacuum in the royal family. According to him, that has drastically reduced the amount of publicity the Royals attract, despite having the likes of Princess Anne and Prince Andrew stepping in occasionally. Richard Fitzwilliams believes Prince Harry and Meghan Markle discovered this loophole, and are capitalizing on it.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Recent Moves Threaten the Royal Family
Aside from their visit to Nigeria, the Sussexes have another “faux royal tour” planned to Columbia following an invitation from the country’s vice president. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ability to pull off both successive trips would attract “an enormous amount of publicity,” which Richard believes the royal family would never be able to match. Even worse, this publicity would offer the Sussexes a platform to take shots at the royal family. He added,
“They’ve shown in the last couple of weeks they’re not afraid to bring up material that would embarrass the Royal Family or refer to rifts with it. And that’s only a step away from overtly criticizing it.”
If indeed the Sussexes take that route, they could possibly attribute their open criticism of the royal family to “doing their own thing” the best way they could. However, that would not make the threat to the royals any less damaging. Richard explained,
“What it will do, however, will be to draw attention to the Sussexes and not to the Royal Family, at least not to the Royal Family in a positive way because the Sussexes and the Royal Family have a very deep rift. That’s the problem.”
Richard Fitzwilliams’ opinion of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “non-political” ambition is not exactly baseless. The two have a history of unapologetically airing private, mostly embarrassing details about the royal family, often necessitating strict damage control measures. From their controversial Oprah interview to Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare, the duo have indeed proven their willingness to shed dirt on the British monarchy when the right motivation presents itself. How far they are willing to go remains to be discovered.
