Prince Harry traveled to Angola around July 15/16. He was there for a few days, highlighting the work of his longtime patronage, The HALO Trust. British outlets were not allowed anywhere near Harry, but his trip – and his walk through a minefield – garnered international coverage. According to the Mail, Harry traveled to Botswana for several days after he left Angola. He likely visited his surrogate parents, Tania “Teej” Jenkins and Mike Holding, and the Mail is making a big deal about how Harry went off-grid, with one source telling them: “This time he took some more time and space, and made the trip into a week-long visit to reconnect with old friends and get some headspace away from his phone and emails. He went off comms for two days or so. It was a good moment for Harry to take some time away from everything, enjoying total peace of mind and being somewhere so remote that he couldn’t even get emails or texts or calls.” I hope he did go to Botswana for a week! I honestly wondered at the time if Meghan and the kids were relatively close-by when Harry was in Angola, and it would not surprise me at all if this was actually Archie and Lili’s first trip to Botswana.
Speaking of the Angola trip, did you know that it overshadowed Queen Camilla’s birthday? LMAO. Well, connected to that, the usual suspects are still talking about the “peace summit” several weeks ago, with the Sussexes’ reps meeting with King Charles’s PR guru. Apparently, Prince Harry made a “peace offering” to his father: an offer to share his schedule with the palace, to avoid constantly stealing the left-behinds’ thunder. I cannot stop giggling at this.
Prince Harry has offered to share his official diary engagements with the Royal Family in a bid to further reduce tensions between him and his father, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The peace offering is aimed at avoiding a repetition of the date clash that resulted in his trip to the African country of Angola knocking coverage of Queen Camilla’s 78th birthday portrait off the front pages earlier this month. Images of the duke retracing his late mother’s footsteps through a minefield – accompanied by throwback pictures of Princess Diana in the same location 28 years ago – dominated almost every UK newspaper.
The new diary-sharing arrangement is even believed to extend to Prince William’s court at Kensington Palace. And it is also hoped the move to ‘deconflict’ their diaries could lead to the King and his younger son finally being able to fix a date in their busy schedules to meet face to face.
It comes as lines of communication between the Sussex household and Buckingham Palace have continued to remain open since The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed earlier this month that peace talks had been held between representatives from both sides. The King’s head of communications Tobyn Andreae and the Sussexes’ chief communications officer Meredith Maines were pictured in the MoS a fortnight ago meeting on a London club balcony, accompanied by Harry’s UK press officer Liam Maguire.
Last night, a source described the latest development to share the duke’s schedule as a significant milestone. They added: ‘Before that meeting between their aides in London, conflicts of interest or clashes of publicity were relished and even perhaps encouraged by the Sussexes. Now, Harry has shifted into a new way of thinking. The tone is now all about ‘deconflicting’ with his family. That’s why his household agreed to draw up a “grid” of his activities and share them with Buckingham Palace, and by extension with Kensington Palace. Harry still doesn’t like being controlled by the Royal machinery, and that won’t change. However, if the Royal Family have full sight of his movements they can at least plan accordingly. It’s a significant gesture.’
The Angola trip was only the latest in a number of personal appearances by the California- based couple which overshadowed coverage of a series of official engagements and good works by the Royals. This year, matters have been further complicated by Harry’s wife Meghan starting up two social media pages offering glimpses into her home life with Harry, which inevitably dominated the news agenda in the UK.
This state of affairs cannot fail to have upset King Charles, who is known to be a stickler for ensuring Royal Family members do not schedule engagements that clash with each other. It is understood that, while the new regime will stop short of Harry giving his brother the power to control his diary, the duke is – for the first time since hostilities began in 2020 – open to Prince William being given knowledge of his movements.
It could be an initiative that William comes to appreciate when he travels to Brazil to promote his Earthshot Prize, which recognises ‘game-changing innovations that will repair our planet’, in early November. But it is a reconciliation with his father rather than his brother that appears to be at the top of Harry’s list of priorities.
What a self-own by the Windsors, you know? Having to acknowledge that the Sussexes still overshadow them constantly when the Sussexes are just living their lives. Meghan posting on her Instagram overshadows William and Kate’s bare bones work schedule. Harry working with the HALO Trust overshadowed Camilla’s hilariously Photoshopped birthday portraits. As for Harry’s offer to share his schedule… it’s actually a terrible idea and I hope it doesn’t happen. One of the few things Harry has going for him is his Incognito/Ninja Mode, where he can just turn up in Shanghai or Ukraine or Canada without anyone releasing that information to the British tabloids in advance. As soon as he starts sharing his schedule with his father and brother, the Daily Mail is going to get so many “exclusives” about Harry’s travels and events. Harry will also find that William and Charles will be doing the most to “compete” with Harry on days where he has events. Hopefully, the first time that happens, Harry will rescind his offer of schedule-sharing. Still, it’s insanely funny that they mentioned Meghan’s IG posts. The palace is begging to know when Meghan is going to post on her social media!!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Meghan’s IG and the HALO Trust’s IG.
