HARRY and Meghan are likely to be planning more international trips to boost their “brand”, a royal expert has said.
The Sussexes have returned home after a four-day “faux royal” tour of Colombia – weeks after a similar trip to Nigeria.
They were seen packing on the PDA throughout their trip, including sharing a passionate kiss during an intimate salsa session.
The purpose of the trip was said to be building bridges, joining forces against cyber-bullying and promoting women’s leadership.
But royal author Ingrid Seward has suggested Harry and Meghan had an ulterior motive for taking up an invite to visit Colombia.
She also claimed the international trips may be a veiled swipe at the Royal Family, given Harry‘s reluctance to visit the UK owing to his ongoing row with the Home Office over security.
Ingrid told The Sun: “[The trip] was very carefully thought out from beginning to end. For instance, there were was chosen reporter photographers chosen.
“It was all very, very tight – and so there was no chance of anything going wrong.
“Most of the things they went to, and the few people that they met, had really no idea why they were there.
“What I went away with was the feeling of why were they there? What were they doing?
“And the only answer one can come up with is that they were promoting their own brand.”
Harry and Meghan‘s trips to Nigeria and Colombia come as the duke has been stuck in a long-running battle over his protection in the UK.
King Charles is understood to be frustrated by his son’s legal dispute with the Home Office after he lost the right to close protection when he stepped down as a working royal.
Ingrid has suggested the trips abroad, of which there are likely to be more to come, could be seen as a subtle dig at the Royal Family.
She added: “It does look as if it’s a dig at the royal family. Apparently when they were there they never met the ordinary man in the street at all. They were kept miles away from anyone.
“The security was absolutely tremendous. So unless people had been picked to meet them, nobody even saw them or didn’t even know why they were there.
“The only reason they knew they were there was because all the roads were closed.
“So from that point of view I would think it was quite a strange thing to do – just to go to a country, be completely surrounded by security and talk to really, ostensibly very few people say.
“It was all very stage managed, as everything with the Sussexes is. I think everything was very, very carefully constructed.”
Ingrid’s comments come as friends of the duke have said his relationship with the King will only be repaired if his full security is restored.
Harry lost a High Court challenge against a ruling it was legal to remove his protection, but is set to appeal.
CHEER up Harry it might never happen . . . or maybe it already has.
I think our once favourite royal is bored to bits, fed up of this endless woke pantomime he now finds himself starring in.
How else to explain his glum-looking expression during yet another tedious tour with his publicity hungry wife?
Even with the red carpet rolled out for him during his faux-royal tour to South America, the Duke of Sussex often struggled to raise a smile.
While his wife, Meghan, got into the salsa spirit with an almost permanent grin, the exiled Royal stood downcast by her side.
Looking at the photos from the couple’s four-day trip to Colombia, it appears to me that Harry is a very unhappy man.
They were there at the invitation of the country’s vice president, Francia Marquez.
Colombia is a fabulous country and I have been there with the King when he was Prince of Wales on a real royal tour hosted by the then president, Juan Manuel Santos.
The contrast could not be more obvious.
Charles appeared to me to love every second of his time in this truly exciting country in the autumn of 2014.
It seemed to me the Duke would rather have been somewhere else.
His dad is said to find the long dispute between the US-based prince and the Home Office “very tricky”.
But friends of Harry told The Sunday Times it would be “swords down” if his security were restored.
Pals have also said the prince and his brother William haven’t spoken for two years.
Growing up, the now estranged brothers shared many of the same friends who were part of their close, tight-knit circle.
But the pair are thought to not have spoken since the Queen’s funeral nearly two years ago.
William also appears unlikely to invite Harry to his coronation.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan packed on the PDA during their four-day trip to South America.
The besotted couple joined the student dancers on the floor – even participating in a steamy salsa dance.
The duchess was then seen grabbing her hubby’s face before the pair shared a passionate kiss.
