Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ‘non-royal’ tour of the UK has received a mixed response.
Boos were heard amid cheers at their stage-managed appearances; a national poll found Britons have waning sympathy for the self-exiled pair, and Prince Harry was called a ‘traitor’ on social media.
A week after promoting her Archetypes podcast and unleashing more cryptic snipes at the royal family in a bombshell magazine cover interview, the 41-year-old Duchess of Sussex was criticised for her charity speech at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, when she addressed delegates of the One Young World summit on Monday (local time).
The couple entered the auditorium like rock stars, with the duchess holding hands with Harry, 37.
They waved to a cheering crowd that filmed their every move on mobile phones.
The Sussexes’ presence cast a shadow over other keynote speakers – including Sir Bob Geldof (who famously organised Live Aid), Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham (who spoke about the 2017 bombing), poet Lemn Sissay, and ex-Irish president Mary Robinson.
When Meghan took to the podium, she spoke about herself, and how ‘‘pleased’’ she was to be back in the UK.
She reminisced about her first One Young World summit in 2014, and said she was ‘‘the girl from Suits’’, surrounded by world leaders and had a ‘‘pinch me moment’’.
No sympathy
The duke and duchess quit official royal duties in 2020 and have returned to Britain together just twice since – most recently for the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations in June.
This five-day trip includes a dash to Germany to mark a year until the 2023 Invictus Games for injured veterans, before returning for a charity ceremony in London on September 8.
The non-royal tour has attracted massive attention from the British press, fuelled by Meghan’s continued anecdotes from her 20-month stint as a royal, and the threat of what will be revealed in Harry’s upcoming memoir (due for release before Christmas).
A YouGov poll of Britons conducted on the eve of the trip revealed nearly two-thirds of Britons are unsympathetic towards Meghan and Harry.
The survey asked 2627 British adults: ‘‘From what you have read and heard, how much sympathy, if any, do you have for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?’’
It found 43 per cent felt ‘‘none at all’’ and 22 per cent felt ‘‘not very much’’.
#PrinceHarryIsATraitor
British social media users have made their opinions clear, with the hashtags #PrinceHarryIsATraitor and #MeghanMarkIsaLiar trending on Tuesday.
The hashtag was accompanied by comments accusing Harry of turning ‘‘his back on the military and slandered his family’’.
They also questioned the timing of Meghan’s podcast launch and interview so close to the 25th anniversary of the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
Cat and mouse
The strained relationship between Harry and his only sibling Prince William, and father Prince Charles, has divided the country.
On top of that, Harry and Meghan’s choice of accommodation this trip has not gone unnoticed.
They are staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor – where Meghan suffered her severe mental health breakdown before leaving royal duties.
It is a few hundred metres from William and wife Kate Middleton’s new residence, Adelaide Cottage.
To avoid any awkward encounters, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Charles and Camilla, are visiting the Queen at Balmoral Castle during this time.
But royal expert Christopher Andersen, who wrote The Day Diana Died, told Us Weekly: “It’s going to be interesting in the next few days when Harry and Meghan go to Europe, and they’re going to be playing royal hide and seek.
“Right now, the Cambridges have gone to Balmoral … and Charles and Camilla are there. They’re out of the way during the first part of the Sussexes trip to Britain, but on [September 8], the Sussexes return to Britain from Germany,” Andersen said.
“They’re going to be, literally, a brief stroll from each other on the grounds of Windsor because the Cambridges have to [return in time to get their] kids in school.
“It’s going to have all the markings of an old-fashioned farce with these people trying to avoid each other.”
Harry and Meghan arrive at the One Young World 2022 Summit. Photo: AAP
Royal biographer Angela Levin is clearly not a fan of Meghan and Harry, posting on Twitter on Tuesday: ‘‘It’s totally off-putting to hear her first line ‘it’s very nice to be back in the UK’. What a phoney.’’
Last month Levin predicted there would be no off-schedule meetings during the Sussexes’ visit because of Harry’s memoir, and that any amends would not happen ‘‘before the book comes out’’.
Why? ‘‘Because we don’t know what he’s going to say,’’ Levin said.
‘‘[Harry’s] been very unkind and cruel so far. We have to wait to see what he does – maybe they won’t want to see them until all that’s out in the open and they know what he says.’’
For many on the Meghan and Harry tour, though, there was nothing but praise.
Covering the One World Summit event, the Manchester Evening News said Meghan’s ‘‘presence brought about a special kind of excitement’’, and she had given a ‘‘moving speech’’ in her role as counsellor for the organisation, alongside Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Sir Richard Branson and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
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