Lee Cohen

In the annals of recent royal history, few narratives have unfolded with as much drama and tumult as the saga of Prince Harry’s departure from Britain. We (Americans) now find our country the official domicile of an entitled and disgruntled British Prince. Harry filed documents last week to say so. I’m already hearing rapturous cries from our British friends: ‘He’s yours now and good riddance.’ We already have Joe Biden flinging open our border to the masses. Now, to add insult to injury, we have a guy who has made unwelcome intrusions into our domestic politics, and seems to be having trouble with his visa application. So, fine. Britain has had enough of its unhappy former golden boy. But here in America, we are not far behind in our feelings.

I planned my trip from Palm Beach to London almost a year ago. Nothing was going to stop me coming to the UK to celebrate the King’s coronation, the monarchy, and the Special Relationship (Britain-hating Biden notwithstanding). I arrived full of goodwill and looking forward to this historic, and truly rare spectacle. Yet I was surprised to find a substantial number of Brits raining on the Royal coronation parade. We Americans chose to fight to establish a republic, but we remain powerfully inspired and influenced by the status and presence of the British monarch British friends sometimes roll their eyes at American enthusiasm — our sunny optimism and, perhaps, too familiar approach.

With his forthcoming memoir and surrounding publicity tours, the Duke of Sussex has passed the point of no return. He is haemorrhaging friends and goodwill on both sides of the Atlantic. In the past few days, with revelations from his memoir Spare leaking like a sieve, Harry has been denounced for his indiscreet discussion of his service in Afghanistan by everyone from UK military leaders to a former British Ambassador to America – and even the Taliban.  And what of Meghan’s countrymen? Often the British media paints us Americans as blindly Sussex-loyal because we share Meghan Markle’s nationality. Yet it is becoming ever clearer that Americans are becoming as repelled by the couple’s betrayal, false narratives, hypocrisy, and narcissism as our British cousins.

As an American who has spent his career contemplating and writing about the monarchy and the US-UK relationship, my skills were put to the test this week after the departure of Queen Elizabeth II. She leaves an unfillable void, not only in the hearts of those she represented but also for many of us beyond her realm, including here in America. I once met Condoleezza Rice at a Washington Christmas party. I asked this brilliant politician and professor, who had been both US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, what stood out as the most memorable moment of her career. Do you know what she answered? ‘Playing piano at Buckingham Palace for the Queen and Prince Philip.’ I can fully relate.

The press is awash with reports of the disgust and distaste of the American public towards the UK, in particular towards the Royal Family, with Americans apparently uncritically accepting the Duchess of Sussex’s ‘truth’. The UK press may have smelled a rat in what was portrayed at the Sussexes’ Montecito estate in the Oprah soft-soap spectacle; yet it seems overly inclined to take at face value reports of outrage and condemnation in the US. Rest assured, British cousins, this is not the whole story. At present, the big guns of the US media are in the hands of people pushing a certain agenda. In the environment this creates, Meghan Markle must be believed, regardless of the obvious gaps in her account, because that serves the agenda.