Prince Harry and Meghan Markle_ 'No Evidence' of Separation (Royal Expert)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle_ 'No Evidence' of Separation (Royal Expert)
Transcript
00:00 My experience of Harry and Meghan, whenever I have been with them,
00:03 is of a couple who are very, very close.
00:06 A sort of spark between them that always struck me as being very authentic.
00:11 However, there have been rumors circulating in recent months
00:14 that the fallout from Spare, which was pretty epic for Prince Harry,
00:18 you know, he had Britain really turn against him,
00:20 his home countries really not very welcome here.
00:23 It's left a bad taste in people's mouths.
00:26 It's further alienated him from his friends and his family.
00:29 And I think inevitably that has put a strain on them.
00:32 And I think it was very notable that in the run-up to the launch
00:36 of his autobiography and all of the publicity,
00:38 Meghan was notable by her absence.
00:40 And that was really the first time we'd seen a divide between them,
00:43 because up until then, they'd very much been a partnership.
00:46 And then at this crucial moment where Harry is probably doing
00:48 the boldest and possibly bravest thing of his life,
00:52 she's not there for him.
00:53 And that has continued.
00:55 It has led to more rumors of a split, of a split being on the horizon.
00:59 And, you know, you need to look at the US tabloid magazines
01:02 to see that that is, you know, a long-running story.
01:05 As yet, there is no evidence,
01:07 and they're presenting a very united front.
01:09 I think these are challenging times for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
01:12 Of course, they retained their royal titles.
01:15 And you can't take the fact that Prince Harry
01:18 is a blood-borne prince away from him.
01:20 However, I think people have been watching this couple very closely.
01:23 Let's rewind a little bit to Megxit and to that period
01:27 where they said they were leaving to start a new life,
01:30 to essentially start a philanthropic lifestyle
01:33 and build this big philanthropic empire.
01:35 And it was all based around Archwell.
01:37 And I think people have been left wondering where the philanthropy is,
01:41 because the deals have been big-dollar deals,
01:44 very financially driven.
01:46 And it does all seem to be a bit of a money-making exercise.
01:49 And so when you look at it in terms of a business,
01:53 in the first year, they were incredibly successful.
01:55 They signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Netflix,
01:57 a multi-million-dollar deal with Spotify.
02:00 But these have sort of run their course,
02:02 and there is a sense that they have exhausted their narrative,
02:05 which has essentially been attacking the royal family,
02:08 explaining why they left,
02:10 explaining why they felt driven out of Britain.
02:12 And I think we're at a really pivotal and important point for them
02:15 where the big question is, "What next?"
02:18 You said you wanted to become global philanthropists,
02:20 to become humanitarians.
02:22 When are we going to see the evidence of this?
02:24 In terms of their next move, I think the world is watching very closely,
02:27 because I think there had been an expectation,
02:29 particularly when you consider Prince Harry
02:31 and all of his charitable work.
02:33 I mean, he hasn't been back to Lesotho to do anything with Centabali,
02:36 his charity, ironically called Forget Me Not,
02:39 with Meghan for years.
02:41 And so I think there is a big question mark about what next,
02:43 what are they going to do?
02:44 The reality is, I think while many people want to see them
02:47 do the charity work and use their global spotlight
02:50 for the causes that they care about,
02:52 the reality is that actually they do have to make money.
02:55 They've got a big mortgage, they have very expensive lifestyles,
02:58 they have to fund their own security.
03:00 So money-making has to be an element of what they need to do.
03:04 And in fairness to the Sussexes, when they left,
03:07 they said part of the reason that they wanted to leave
03:09 was to become financially independent.
03:12 I think the problem for many people is there's been too much emphasis
03:15 on the financial side and not enough on the charity work.
03:19 The royal family has to move on.
03:21 It has to continue to evolve and regenerate
03:26 and put on a good show for people.
03:29 And so the idea of this rift at the heart of the royal family
03:32 was really very damaging for the House of Windsor.
03:34 So there has been, I think, a drive and a determination
03:37 on the parts of senior members of the royal family to move on from it.
03:40 And I think it was a great show of love and support from Charles
03:44 to Harry in inviting him to the coronation.
03:47 I think it was very magnanimous of Charles.
03:49 It was Harry's decision not to be there.
03:52 And I think, really, from that moment onwards,
03:54 there was a sense of the royal family really stepping back.
03:57 You know, making such an effort,
03:59 I think is probably not going to be a theme for the future.
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