Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been accused of “openly deriding” the Royal Family. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams discussed the string of revelations, claims and accusations against the Firm and its members made since December by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Mr Fitzwilliams told Express.co.uk: “They pride themselves on keeping control of the narrative, although the irony is they invade the privacy of others and only have work because they are members of an institution they openly deride. They are also keen to hang on to their titles.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have so far done, together or separately, several interviews, a six-part Netflix docu-series, a memoir, a podcast series and a show focused on mental health where they either fully focused or at least referred to their life as senior royals.
The commentator went on to consider whether to expect the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Coronation of King Charles.
In light of the blistering criticism, claims and revelations potentially damaging the Royal Family and its members, Mr Fitzwilliams argued the Firm may not trust their relatives across the pond.
The Duke and Duchess’ claims against the Firm were particularly intense between December and mid-January, when the Netflix show Harry and Meghan was released and Prince Harry’s memoir Spare hit the shelves, an event accompanied by a string of interviews to promote the launch.
Mr Fitzwilliams said: “It has long been reported that King Charles intended to ask Harry and Meghan to the Coronation regardless of their provocations.
“For some six weeks, with a brief truce over Christmas, they placed the monarchy under pressure with a series of attacks in Harry’s memoir Spare and interviews when he promoted it and in their six-hour docu-series for Netflix and their trailers to promote that.
“The Royal Family must clearly feel they cannot trust the Sussexes, anything they say could be made public.”
READ MORE: Meghan ‘craved rejection’ from the Royal Family from the start
Mr Fitzwilliams later added: “If they do attend [the Coronation], surely they must agree to cease their attacks, but if they did make this pledge, can they be trusted to keep their word?”
Harry himself was quizzed over his decision to make intimate revelations about his family during an interview with US journalist Anderson Cooper.
Leading the sit-down for CBS’ 60 Minutes, the interviewer said: “I assume [the royals] would say, ‘Well, how can we trust you, how do we know that you’re not gonna reveal whatever conversations we have in an interview somewhere?'”
Harry replied: “This all started with them briefing, daily, against my wife with lies to the point of where my wife and I had to run away from my country.”
DON’T MISS
The royal commentator also noted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “want an apology from the Palace”, as stated by Harry in his interview with the Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon.
Addressing directly the royals, he said: “You know what you did, and I now know why you did it. And you’ve been caught out, so just come clean.”
Buckingham Palace hasn’t yet released the guest list for the Coronation, taking place at Westminster Abbey on May 6.
Several reports over the past few weeks claimed the monarch does want his second son to attend the historic event.
During a walkabout outside the University of East London earlier this week, Charles was asked by a fan to “bring back Harry”.
The sovereign didn’t immediately understand the question, and replied, “Who?” before quickly realising who the man was referring to.
He then laughed off the plea and appeared to add: “It would be nice.”
Harry was asked directly by ITV’s Tom Bradby whether he would attend the Coronation if invited – but did not give a straight answer.
He said last month: “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then. But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they can, that they are willing to sit down and talk about it, because there’s a lot that’s happened in six years. And prior to that as well.”
