If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pulled off another successful tour that might have the British press up in arms. In May, they were invited to visit Nigeria on behalf of the Invictus Games which led to Colombia requesting the Sussexes’ presence in their country. However, the U.K. media hates that they aren’t given access to the couple which might be Harry and Meghan’s savviest PR move yet.
The Telegraph criticized the dynamic duo for keeping them at bay instead of allowing their reporters and photographers to get a close-up view. “Unlike a traditional royal tour of old, the media were not invited, save for one handpicked reporter whose job it was to relay each event to newspapers and other outlets across the world,” the outlet complained. “The chosen journalist was an online reporter from US publication Harper’s Bazaar, who duly filed a brief overview of each engagement.”
What The Telegraph is failing to see is that Harry and Meghan are no longer senior royals. As private citizens, they can control the narrative. If they allowed members of the Royal Rota to join in, we all know what those headlines would look like. There’s no reason for the Sussexes to subject themselves to such harassment or abuse willingly. While curated snapshots only tell one part of the story, the British press is forgetting that the video coverage will always tell the real story.
Meghan’s use of her linguistic skills in speaking Spanish to the crowds made an impact. “For Meghan to say my friend in that way is such a powerful statement and shows just how close they have become. People will take note of that,” a Colombian journalist told the Daily Mail. It’s those connective moments that make Harry and Meghan very popular during their visits to promote the Invictus Games, which is being courted by many countries for future games.
While the royal family may not enjoy the Sussexes’ goodwill tours, it points out the magic the palace is missing — especially with Kate Middleton largely out of the public eye with her health battles. Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor–the Truth and the Turmoil, might have summed it up best after the couple’s trip to Nigeria. “When I saw him and Meghan in Nigeria, I had a nostalgia. I felt this is what it could have been,” she told the BBC in May. “These two, who are enormously appealing to the public and who are very good at it, were out there in Nigeria sort of looking really attractive and being appealing people.” Harry and Meghan had left a “charisma vacancy” at the palace.
Before you go, click here to see more of Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s milestones since leaving the royal family.
