This week, the Times of London published a piece about (what else) the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visit to the UK. Specifically, these horrible people have already started wringing their hands and screaming about whether Harry and Meghan will bring “Netflix cameras” into the sanctity of a castle and demand to take photos of King Charles with Archie and Lili. They’re calling it the “money shot.” It would not occur to these people that if Harry wants photos of his children with their grandfather, it’s literally the most normal family thing ever, especially given Charles still has cancer. Well, at least one royal commentator thinks her royalist brethren are being much too gross about all of this. Sort of. Jennie Bond wrote a piece in the i Newspaper about photos with grandfathers and more. An excerpt:
The vitriol that’s constantly spat out when Harry and Meghan are mentioned appalls me. And now, with their visit to the UK just around the corner, it has been suggested that they are looking for the so-called “money shot”: a picture of their children with their grandfather, the King.
Yes, of course that photo would be gold dust. It would probably break the internet. But in my view it’s unlikely to happen without a cast-iron assurance that it would remain private. If it were released by the Sussexes, it wouldn’t be just the internet that was broken. Any progress made towards reconciliation between the King and his younger son would be smashed to bits once and for all.
Trust between the King and Harry and Meghan is still on very shaky ground. The Oprah interview, the Netflix tell-all series and Harry’s scathing memoir blew a giant hole in the Palace ramparts. During decades of royal reporting, I’ve found that one truth remains unshakeable. Those in the royals’ inner circle who know what’s going on do not talk. Those who do talk are not really in that inner circle. But suddenly, shockingly, the family found it had two of its own spilling the beans. Feelings were hurt but, more importantly, trust was kiboshed.
Now, three years later, the Prince has said he wants his children to understand their heritage – and it’s a pretty amazing heritage for a seven-year-old and five-year-old to comprehend. It would therefore be perfectly reasonable to ask the King to be pictured with them. Any family would do the same. But this is not any family. I hope that, behind the scenes, there has been enough communication between father and son for the Charles to feel comfortable about seeing Archie and Lilibet and confident enough to pose for a family photo. But I’m not convinced.
And that’s a terrible shame. Because, at the heart of this long-running and bitter rift are two small children. I have grandchildren of almost exactly the same age and they take in more than we might sometimes realise. They can pick up on family tensions, and surely Archie and Lilibet must sometimes wonder why their friends have grandfathers and they apparently do not.
Which brings us to Thomas Markle. Just like Harry and Meghan, he too has caused hurt and sown mistrust. He admitted lying about staged paparazzi pictures of him preparing for his daughter’s wedding, and he repeatedly gave media interviews about the breakdown of their relationship. But he is now elderly and not in the best of health, having had his leg amputated last year. How about a family photo with him? As Harry said in an interview last year, life is precious and there’s no point in continuing to fight. The children surely deserve to know both of their grandfathers before it’s too late.
Whoever had “what about Thomas Markle” on the royal bingo card, collect your prize. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next few weeks will bring some big new exclusive interviews with the one-legged Thomas Markle. It will probably be a big Daily Mail cover story: “Why Won’t Harry and Meghan Bring Their Kids to See Me Too??” Poor Archie and Lili, honestly – imagine having terrible grandfathers on both sides of the family. At least they have Doria though. As for the photos of the kids… this is yet another situation where the British royalists would do absolutely anything to see the kids or get photos of the kids, but they can’t admit that openly so they create these convoluted arguments about how the Sussexes want to show off their kids, therefore the tabloids will be completely justified in publishing ANY photo of the children.
Photos and screenshots courtesy of Avalon Red, GB News and Meghan’s Instagram.
