With an audience greater than even Donald Trump could engender the British Royal Institution, which Meghan and Harry euphemistically labelled “The Firm” was exposed as being a mob like operation. The gist of the pair’s story was that Meghan was subject to pressure which was opaquely designed to axe her from her position. Oprah Winfrey with clinical precision extracted empathetically and professionally details of The Firm’s operation which visibly shocked her. The couple, exuding authenticity, compassion and honesty, protected the key royals, particularly Queen Elizabeth although, it is highly unlikely that any of Meghan’s treatment could have happened sans the acquiescence of Her Majesty who is the Head of The Firm. If it did, after all she has been Queen for sixty years, it is time she fired all around her and took control. Elizabeth’s sixty - one word response to her grandson and his wife’s allegations was insulting and paternalistic to say the least and did not jive with the facts or sequence of events.
However the British seem divided a la Pierce Morgan who has an unshakeable belief in the Monarchy and an unshakeable belief that Meghan is a barefaced liar. Whichever way this is viewed the Queen is ultimately responsible to provide either a credible response and/or an investigation. Jay H. Ell believes that the reason Meghan had to be axed as she, with her highly unsuitable biracial pedigree threatened to take over their world like Diana almost did. That is the irresistible conclusion. The only alternative is that every word of their interview with Oprah was fabrication.
MEGHAN AND KATE
The problem directly was not solely racial. Yes that was a part of it but the fact that Meghan was about to dominate “their” world much like Diana did was the real problem. It is almost twenty - five years since the “Peoples’ Princess” was killed in a motor car accident, being chased by the self same paparazzi, that Harry and Meghan were accusing of smearing them off the face of the earth. Diana’s presence still looms over “The Firm”. Harry put his finger on it when comparing his wife’s reception particularly on the South African and Australian royal tours to that of Diana. Prince Charles was noticeably miffed at Diana upstaging him while Prince Harry was extremely proud. Nevertheless the magnetism that a biracial divorcee exhibited was a threat to the establishment which has yet to let go of their colonial past.
Prior to Meghan’s arrival the Duchess of Cambridge and future queen Kate Middleton, a commoner, had given the Royals cover that they had learned the lesson that their attitude to Diana was toxic. Ms. Middleton was British, very white, a graduate of a a highly exclusive school, undivorced and had been Prince William’s steady for a decade before they married, and obviously knew the rules of the game. Her parents weren’t an embarrassment. She then produced heirs at a regular rate pushing Harry further and further from the throne.
All in all commoner and affable Kate reinforced the image of the thoroughly modern Royals who were keeping up with the times. However she was completely eclipsed by the arrival of charismatic attractive poised confident but divorced biracial Meghan Markle. The fear was that in the eyes of the British public and the world the union of this oddball couple would become the “optics” of the Royal Firm. Harry himself had barely played by the rules as it was. However in his own right there was a charm, spontaneity and credibility to his persona that had already endeared him to the citizenry. He already was heavily involved in a charitable cause much like his mother was. The magic this couple would conjure up could be explosive. Now if this is obvious to Jay H. Ell it must have been the number one item on the agenda of the consiglieri that reported to the Dons of The Firm.
THE PRESSURE WAS ON FROM THE BEGINNING, WEDDING AND ALL
Not that any of this should have come as a surprise to the couple. Even before the pageantry of the wedding with its carriages and horses and uniforms Harry had been told that there wasn’t enough money to support his bride. It was suggested that she continue acting! At the same time the Head of, dare Jay H. Ell say, The Firm paid for the wedding herself which decreased her eighty - eight billion in assets by a paltry forty - five million dollars. The reason the good cop did this was so that the half African American bride could have her Episcopalian traditions honored at the ceremony. The first African American Head of the Episcopalian Church gave the sermon quoting Martin Luther King. The Negro spiritual Abide By Me was sung and the Anglican purists uncomfortably nodded their heads in approval. The celebration could be held at her beloved Windsor Castle where she had to be dislodged with a crowbar by Prime Minister Tony Blair to go to London where the mob were howling at her disinterest at her former daughter in law’s death.
THE FIRM HAD SURVIVED TOUGH TIMES AND THEY WOULD SURVIVE MEGHAN
Most important was that Queen Elizabeth had sent a message to the planet of love, tolerance, understanding and racial equality. Nothing that was to follow nor that had preceded the marriage could be associated with her. What had to be flashing through her mind was that the Royals had come through it all. They had survived the drunken gambling womanizing Duke of Windsor’s abdication of the throne for a thrice divorced American woman, her sister Margaret’s bohemian dissolute life after she had turned down her request to marry a divorced man, Charle’s disastrous ongoing affair with Camilla which had finally been made kosher by his marriage to her and the ending of her three eldest children marriages in divorce. Sordid Prince Andrew and his totally inappropriate wife Sarah Ferguson’s continued abominable behavior and most of all the near take over of “The Firm” in the eyes of the British Public and the world by Diana all were sagas of the past successfully navigated. (It is a wonder that this dysfunctional family is held up as all things bright and beautiful and subsidized by the British citizenry)
Little did anyone know that at that very moment of the wedding pageantry that was being watched by nearly two billion people across the world was the fear that this bond between Diana’s youngest son and an American biracial divorcee produced yet another threat to the image of The Firm. There wasn’t even the hope that there had been with Diana that she had been bred well enough to know that you just grin and bear it and think of England.
GOODBYE WORLD HULLO PRISON AND TORTURE
As Meghan waved to the adoring crowds in the little town of Windsor did she consciously acknowledge that she was waving good bye to the real world to be totally emerged in the reality of The Firm? What followed and what she detailed to Oprah Winfrey was the total takeover of her life and in retrospect actions that would get rid of her in one way or another. As the Duchess of Sussex outlined, you hand in your wallet, your passport, your keys, your driver’s license at the door of the palace and you become a smiling dutiful prisoner.
It soon became evident on two world tours that Meghan was a star. Harry was beginning to more and more link her persona with that of his late mother. So apparently did The Firm. If the Oprah interview was anything to go by the pressure really mounted during her pregnancy. The message was that her offspring wouldn’t be titled and therefore would not be entitled to security. Meghan was not given permission to go out with friends because the optics were bad.
Her mental health worsened till she became suicidal. She pleaded with The Firm that she wanted help. They refused because of the bad publicity it might elicit with her at a psychiatric facility. She went to Human Resources and all she got was sympathy because they couldn’t help because she wasn’t on the payroll. However when she was needed to go a function the car rolled up and she had to get in and perform with a smile. The breaking point for Harry and Meghan was when the shade of darkness of baby Archie was brought up and of course the incredible media pressure she was under.
THE BRITISH TABLOIDS
Harry had obsessed that it was the paparazzi that were paid by the tabloids that had killed his mother. They attacked Meghan relentlessly to the extent that seventy - two women members of the British Parliament censored the media for their persistent bias against the new royal. It appeared that Prince William’s wife the.Duchess of Cambridge Kate, was the hero and she was the villain. The tell all Sussexes refuted stories that had been headlined again and again. These included that Meghan had made Kate cry when the truth they claimed was just the opposite. In any case the estranged royals said Kate had apologized so why make a deal out of it? Then Harry vigorously denied that he had blindsided his grandmother with his decision to not be a senior royal and would serve the royal mission from Canada. He had had endless discussions about his and his wife’s situation.
What was quite astonishing was the relationship that was revealed between The Firm and the British tabloids. According to the Duchess they held garden parties at the palace with the toxic media. Moreover The Firm would issue denials of stories protecting royals. One can only imagine that there was a kind of quid pro quo so that these two supposedly adversarial entities could exist. The tabloids could be tipped off for example that the Duke of Edinburgh had been admitted to hospital so they could run a story before the conventional media. In return they would shine in a good light someone in favor. As was noted Meghan was hammered for the same actions that Kate would get plaudits for.
So William’s and his wife’s mental state, the fact that the media were slaughtering her without any palace denial and that security would not be available for his son drove the couple to their decision which the tabloids claimed was scheming Meghan’s objective from day one to leave The Firm and exploit their royal position in America for money.
IN CANADA AND THE USA
So off they went to Canada which after all is part of the Commonwealth prepared to continue to bolster the concept of the monarchy and the Commonwealth. Then out of the blue Harry was stripped of his meaningless titles and ribbons not to mention his stipend. But for a couple who had received death threats the removal of security there and then was terrifying. Also their exact whereabouts had been publicized in Vancouver so they had to get out. It was just before the Covid crisis stopped all travel and the African American media mogul, Tyler Perry, lent them a Californian home with security detail for three months. They then purchased a home in Santa Barbara down the road from Oprah and near where the Prince’s mother in law lived. They have secured major contracts with Spotify, Netflix and speaking arrangements which will net them at least twenty - five million dollars per year. (Which the cynics believe that was her objective from day one. She going via Canada one supposes was to not make it obvious).
Meanwhile the attacks on the couple persisted in the British media with no correction by The Firm. As the pregnant Duchess of Sussex exhorted, “Why would they support lies and not challenge reports that were untrue”. Also she claimed that The Firm were still attacking them. Surely they didn’t expect them to remain quiet forever? The one regret she had was she had believed “them” when they promised to protect her against groundless attacks and smears from the media. The Prince had no regrets in what had transpired. He believed he had acted correctly and honestly to protect his family.
WHAT WERE THE FIRM THINKING?
If one believes Meghan and Harry this is an unbelievably shocking story. What would have happened if Meghan had committed suicide? Had they forgotten the storm after Diana’s death? If true the callousness of The Firm”s actions was unconscionable. Did they really think that Harry and Meghan would shut up forever? This could have been leaked by a former palace employee. Was the bubble so intact and The Firm so wrapped up in their own world that they didn’t envisage that the detailing of this story could bring the whole institution down like a pack of cards. Predictably the same media that attacked the Sussexes are coming out in the royal’s defense - How dare they have this interview while the Queen’s husband was in hospitalL?Loyalty to the institution and the queen was all that matters.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Believe it or not The Firm tried to preempt the bad press they would get with the Oprah interview it was leaked to the tabloids that an investigation was being instigated into Meghan’s bullying of staff.
The only way any credibility can be restored is if Head of The Firm orders an independent investigation into their grandson and his wife’s allegations. Don’t hold your breath. These matters are settled “in private”.
Whatever happens while Elizabeth II is around the monarchy will survive. How much longer after that is anyone’s guess. The fact that they need an unholy alliance with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his tabloids cannot be a healthy sign. By definition, by the way The Firm functions, they cannot represent the mores of modern society.
This will all die down because Meghan is no longer around to be the British Commonwealth’s Princess. She is doing what The Firm suggested - supporting herself. The Firm should be satisfied the Monarchy can continue as per usual.
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