Uncertain times lie ahead for the British Royal Family in the wake of Queen Elizabeth‘s passing.
To death of Her Majesty in early September didn’t just mark the changing of a monarch, but rather the end of an era some 70 years long.
That society – and indeed the Royal Family’s power and standing in it – changed during the decades that Queen Elizabeth sat the English throne is a given. Considering now how the family will move forward and the role they will have in the years to come makes for quite the interesting study.
Charles, who waited longer than any other heir apparent in history to ascend a throne, has become King, and with that title comes any number of new responsibilities that will rest more or less solely on his shoulders.
Far from helping matters is the ongoing passive-aggressive turmoil within the family itself, sparked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to give up their official positions and move to the US.
Of all the trials and tribulations facing King Charles in the coming years, it may well be that his handling of the “Harry situation” is the one that defines his reign. After all, the whole debacle has been very out there, very public, it would seem that things are going to continue in that same vein.
Only those who have been living under a rock for the past year will have missed the fact that Harry is preparing for the release of a new memoir in January, 2023.
Spare has been promoted as being an “accurate and wholly truthful” account of his life. The Prince dropped the news that he was writing a new book four months after the now-infamous Oprah interview aired in 2021.
“Prince Harry will share, for the very first time, the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him,” Random House said in the press release, teasing the book as an “honest and captivating personal portrait.”
New details about Harry’s book were disclosed recently, and the release date has been set for January 10. Harper’s Bazaar speculate that the book might address Harry’s “spare” role as the second son of a King, or that perhaps he is being “spared” from the Royal Family now that he has left.
In any case, the memoir is sure to stoke the flames of tension where Harry’s family is concerned. The Prince filling the pages of what will surely be a book read by millions with disparaging stories and comments about the likes of his father, Camilla, Prince William, and the rest is a genuine cause of concern for the Royal Family.
It’s generally rumored that the memoir will paint a negative picture of Harry’s family. According to Page Six sources, the book will contain several truth bombs.
“It’s juicy, that’s for sure,” one NY publishing source told the news outlet.
“There’s a lot of new stories in there about the past that Harry has not spoken about before, about his childhood … there is some content in there that should make his family nervous,” another publishing insider added.
In order to find the eye of the current storm regarding Harry, Meghan and his family, one needs to go back to the early days of Harry and Meghan’s marriage.
Back then, it was hoped that the couple would symbolize a more modern shift within the Royal Family. Meghan is far removed from any sort of aristocratic elite – which the Royal Family has tended to lean on where finding suitors for its senior members is concerned – and fit well with the progressive narrative the Firm wants to be associated with.
And yet it wasn’t long at all before glaring cracks began to show.
Meghan herself has spoken openly of the the sharp decline in her mental health during her time living in the UK, while Harry has admitted their decision to move to the US had a lot to do with his unwillingness to see a repeat of history (referencing the press’ hounding of his mother, the late Princess Diana).
Just what Harry and Meghan’s daily lives were like while they were active members of the Royal Family will likely never be fully disclosed, but we can glean that a number of issues plagued them. Issues, it seems, that the other members of the Royal Family either ignored or, in some cases, compounded.
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