When the plane lands in Washington DC on Monday at the start of their historic visit, Charles and Queen Camilla won’t be the only members of the Royal Family to find themselves working in the US – not, at least, if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s cheerleaders are to be believed.
For Prince Harry and Meghan are ‘running the Montecito branch of the House of Windsor’, according to briefings given to sympathetic journalists who covered the couple’s quasi-royal tour of Australia earlier this month.
While some of us were highly critical of the way the Sussexes used their trip Down Under to combine money-making with public engagements, they are said to be delighted with how it went.
Their allies have made it clear that they saw the trip as a successful blueprint of what we can expect from them in the future.
It is a highly dangerous turn for the King and the future of the Monarchy.
Harry agreed with his grandmother Queen Elizabeth at the so-called Sandringham Summit in 2020 that he and Meghan would neither exploit their royal connections nor use their titles to make money.
But that is exactly what they did in Australia – in the most egregious fashion. For example, they visited the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where they met youngsters suffering from cancer. At the same time, Meghan was trying to sell the clothes she wore for the occasion to fans via a new Artificial Intelligence fashion portal in which she’s now investing.
Queen Elizabeth would have been horrified.

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Meghan and Harry taking a selfie with patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne during their tour of Australia this month

Apparently determined to keep himself in the public eye, Prince Harry made a surprise visit to Kyiv this morning ‘to remind people back home and around the world what Ukraine is up against’.
It’s all a big change from the Sussexes’ original plans for their life in America, which involved signing big-money deals with giant media companies such as Netflix and Spotify to produce programmes and podcasts.
The King is desperate not to antagonise his younger son and his American daughter-in-law. Indeed, royal officials are horrified when they are asked about the Sussexes because they fear saying something which could offend the Sussexes.
His Majesty entertained Harry last September when he invited him for tea at Clarence House. Although they have not met in person since then, moves are being made behind the scenes to pave the way for the prince’s return in July, accompanied by his wife for the first time in four years.

 The fears inside Kate and Wills’ camp as Harry and Meghan put on a royal show Down Under

It’s telling that when the royal and VIP executive committee, which authorises security for senior royals, met earlier this year, it was civil servants and not the King’s representative, who raised objections to the couple having their automatic, taxpayer-funded security restored. The civil servants feared a backlash from hard-pressed taxpayers who would have to pay for this automatic security.
A friend of the royals tells me: ‘Their Majesties will not see Harry and Meghan while they are in the States, but don’t read anything into that. The King hopes to see more of his son and spend time with his grandchildren. This will happen in Britain before long.’
During an event in Australia, Harry claimed that his late mother, Princess Diana, would have approved of the life he has chosen. Speaking on stage at the InterEdge leadership summit, he said he’d asked himself after her death: ‘What would my mum want me to do?
‘That really changed my perspective,’ he continued. ‘I realised well, actually, helping other people is also helping me. Service, for me, is a cure in itself.’
The problem is that he is funding his ‘service’ by making money, and that a ‘half-in, half-out’ model could ultimately destroy the monarchy, as the late Queen wisely understood.
In my opinion, the King needs to take drastic steps to prevent the Royal Family being tarnished.
He should strip them of their Duke and Duchess titles, as well as Harry’s styling as Prince, just as he has done with his brother Andrew.
If the Sussexes’ new model of money-making royalty is allowed to take root, it could eventually spell the end for the House of Windsor – and not just the Montecito branch.