"World" editorial. The British royal family plays such a role in the cohesion of the United Kingdom, holds such a place in the hearts of the British and in the soft power of their country on the international scene, that the moods and the bickering of Windsor cannot be regarded as trifles. The decision, announced on Wednesday 8 January by Harry, second son of Charles, the heir to the crown, and by his wife, Meghan, to cease participating in public events, the main activity of members of the royal family, is causing trouble. London.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, want "Work to become financially independent" and live partially " in North America ", probably in Canada, the country of which Elizabeth II, 93, remains the queen. Far less significant, the event refers to the abdication, in 1936, of Edward VIII, uncle of the current sovereign, following his decision to marry a divorced American, Wallis Simpson. But he also recalls the decision of Diana, Prince Harry's mother, to withdraw from royal charities after her divorce from Charles in 1996.
The scent of scandal that surrounds the couple's distancing from the monarchy is linked to the fact that he did not consult the queen before announcing his decision, which would constitute a mark of contempt for the sovereign, head of state. The event occurs especially after the withdrawal of his royal engagements from Prince Andrew, the Queen's second son, the day after the revelation of his proximity to the American sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The discomfort is reinforced by the break announced by Harry and Meghan with the media rules of Buckingham, which reserve the contacts to a restricted circle of "royal correspondents", whose chronicle more or less informed of the facts and gestures of Windsor constitutes the winner. bread, but can make life untenable.
Harassment of tabloids
Because it is indeed the role of the British tabloid press which is, once again, questioned by the "divorce" of the couple with Buckingham. In October, Meghan filed a complaint against the Mail on Sunday for the publication of a private letter addressed to his father. Harry then declared that he could no longer remain silent in the face of media harassment targeting his wife and "Private suffering". "I lost my mother and I now see my wife targeted by the same powerful forces", he declared, a clear allusion to the death in Paris of Princess Diana, pursued by the paparazzi. Even before their marriage, in 2018, Harry had denounced the racist allusions of the press to the fact that Meghan's mother is black.
The British tabloids, which constantly oscillate between the glamorous stories filled with wonder about the royal family, the chronicle of the rivalries between its members and the denunciation of the exorbitant financial privileges which they enjoy at the taxpayer's expense, are now pouring a torrent of mud on the accused couple of treachery and selfishness. The Daily Mail do not hesitate to demand that the queen "Fire the crooks of the monarchy", these "Spoiled children, impostors, raptors", which, according to the newspaper, endanger the institution.
The arrival in the Windsor family of Meghan Markle, American, mixed-race and divorced, had been hailed as a boon for a monarchy which must constantly display a desire for modernization to hide its anachronism. It is an understatement to say that the fate of a royal couple who was once a favorite of the British shows the difficulty of the task.
