The Queen has called a summit for Monday at Sandringham, her estate in Norfolk, to which she has summoned Prince Charles from Oman, where he has gone to attend the funeral of Sultan Qaboos, Prince William from Kensington Palace in London, and Prince Harry from Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.
The gathering, described by the BBC as “unprecedented”, is aimed at trying to find a revised role for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who have said they want to step down as senior royals, divide their time between the UK and north America and be financially independent.
Harry’s wife, Meghan, who has returned to Canada with her two dogs — this indicates a long stay — might dial in from Vancouver although this will not be easy given the eight-hour time difference.
The New York Times has touched a raw nerve by suggesting that Meghan has been driven out by racism, in an article, “Black Britons Know Why Meghan Markle Wants Out. It’s the racism.”
The writer, Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging and who teaches journalism at the University of Southern California, has alleged: “The British press has succeeded in its apparent project of hounding Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, out of Britain.”
Hirsch, who is herself British, said: “From the very first headline about her being ‘(almost) straight outta Compton’ (a violent area of Los Angeles) and having ‘exotic’ DNA, the racist treatment of Meghan has been impossible to ignore.
“Her treatment has proved what many of us have always known: No matter how beautiful you are, whom you marry, what palaces you occupy, charities you support, how faithful you are, how much money you accumulate or what good deeds you perform, in this society racism will still follow you.”
Just as damaging has been the New York Times editorial, which summed up: “Good for Meghan and Harry. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are right to blaze their own trail.”
It said: “Almost from the outset, a parallel line of nasty stories spread in the tabloids about Meghan’s difficulties with her American family and purported rifts among the royal family.
“Given this background, the couple’s decision to withdraw from the Firm should not come as a surprise, though it appeared to be just that to the queen and the heir apparent, Prince Charles. Reared in the tradition of monarchy as the symbol and mainstay of the nation, they have stoically carried on in their duties even as their world, and their family, has been battered by the winds of change, discontent and scandal, as dramatised in the Netflix series The Crown.
“In this story, Prince Harry and Meghan should not be lamented as defectors from the old order, but celebrated as the heroes of the next installment, as modern royals renouncing some level of privilege to seek their fortune in the real world. May they live happily ever after.”
It is fair to say much of the media reaction to Harry and especially to Meghan has been hostile. The general line is that they cannot be “half in and half out”.
The Sunday Mirror claimed that Harry and Meghan told the pop star Sir John Elton about their plans even before they had informed the Queen.
The Sunday People reported that Meghan and Prince William’s wife, Kate, had not spoken to each other in six months, so deep was the family rift.
The Mail on Sunday, which is being sued by the Sussexes because the paper had published the contents of Meghan’s letter to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, claimed that Harry and Meghan would be warned that in their new life, they would have to face a heavy tax burden.
The Star on Sunday said the couple had triggered an “abdication crisis”.
And The Sunday Telegraph warned that Meghan’s “decision to move to Canada could affect her application to obtain British citizenship under Home Office rules”.
