In the Queen’s Christmas message, she observed that 2019 had “felt quite bumpy” at times. Her implication was that a new year could well bring happier, more stable times. Unfortunately for Her Majesty, it isn’t how 2020 is panning out.
The pseudo abdication of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the Royal Family, just in time for the early evening TV news yesterday, will come as a bitter personal blow to the Queen. It also presents the monarchy with a problem that may come to dwarf even the terrible ongoing publicity about Prince Andrew’s friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Harry and Meghan’s announcement came, we are told, despite the Queen not having been given prior notice of their intentions. It presents Her Majesty with a truly unenviable choice. If she allows the Sussexes to keep their royal titles then everything they say or do in their new, freewheeling and globetrotting ventures will reflect directly upon how the monarchy is perceived.
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