Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: How they kept Archie from the paps
Life in the public eye comes with a lot of scrutiny, vulnerability, and discomfort. Prince Harry & Meghan understand it better than anyone else. They’ve made it clear, on multiple occasions, that they value their privacy, mental peace, and comfort over royal customs & obligations.
While they may have compromised at various instances for the sake of the royal family, they made it a point to not let the perils of the royal life intrude on their son, Archie’s life & comfort. In an unprecedented move, Prince Harry & Meghan also exited the royal family in what was a messy process.
While the exit was abrupt, it wasn’t shocking: both had admitted in public interviews that they had been struggling with the royal pressure for quite some time. In January, they made a formal announcement that they were moving abroad & exiting the royal affairs. It has now been described in detail in the royal biography Finding Freedom, authored by Omid Scobie & Carolyn Durand.
Distancing from the royal affairs
In March, they officially wrapped up their royal affairs, gave up public funding to them, and started a non-royal life in LA. In their last post from their Sussex Royal Instagram Account, they wrote, “Thank you to this community – for the support, the inspiration and the shared commitment to the good in the world. We look forward to reconnecting with you soon.”
The transition involved a lot of changes – perhaps more than we can keep a count on – but it also involved cutting off all ties from the royal treatment. Buckingham Palace is no longer the media hub for their affairs, instead, their communications & PR are the responsibility of Sunshine Sachs in the US & James Holt in the UK.
The move made it official: Prince Harry & Meghan want a normal life – as normal as it can be when you’re Harry & Meghan – and they’re not ready to negotiate the amount of privacy they get in their private lives. Being a royal comes with a public display of your life, milestones, and actions. But if giving up public funding for their offices is the price, the Sussexes were more than happy to oblige.
The new non-royal, Archie
If their ferocity in demanding privacy is to be observed, look no further than how they handled the birth of their son, Archie Harrison. One might say it’s out of fierce protectiveness, but they played a bluff with the media.
Royal historian & biographer Robert Lacey has brought out his new book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult where he dishes out spicy & scandalous details about Archie’s birth. The detail lies in the timing of Archie’s birth.
In the book, Lacey explains that Archie was actually born at 5:26 in the morning on May 6, 2019. But the press wasn’t alerted with the correct details. The announcement that came from the Palace announced in the afternoon that Meghan had gone into labour. It was misleading since Archie was already home by then, but the royal couple had a good reason behind misleading the cameras.
One for Diana
Lacey explains in the book that the decision to mislead the press was deliberate, in order to keep Archie away from prying eyes, “Harry & Meghan were resolute that their newborn baby’s first sight of the world should not be the same insane and lethal camera-flashing that had attended — had actually brought about — the death of Diana.”
It’s incredibly moving that Harry always keeps his mother in his thoughts, but his action allegedly provoked the wrath of his elder brother, Prince William, who stood by the royal traditions of presenting the royal children right after their birth.
