Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s 2020 in review
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have their 12-month review for their post-royal life coming up — and royal watchers are speculating whether or not the Firm will choose to clip the couple’s wings. They have already distanced themselves significantly from the royal institution over the last few months. Harry’s mission statement for his new venture Archewell glaringly omitted any mention of Prince Charles, while championing Princess Diana’s memory.
Archewell’s website includes a “letter to 2021” which outlines how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be driven by “compassion in action” in their new work.
Crucially, the letter begins: “I am my mother’s son. And I am our son’s mother. Together we bring you Archewell.”
There is another reference to Diana alongside Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland included further down: “We have experienced compassion and kindness, from our mothers and strangers alike.”
By not mentioning Charles, Harry could be focusing on how he plans to move away from any royal connotations — but fans could not help seeing it as a snub.
This would not be the first time Harry has chosen to appear as his mother’s successor, rather than his father’s.
Prince Charles and Prince Harry (Image: Getty)
Harry appeared to snub his father Charles in his mission statement for Archewell (Image: Getty)
Speaking to journalist and author Angela Levin in 2017, the royal explained: “I intuitively know what my mother would like me to do and want to progress with work she couldn’t complete.”
He added: “My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life, including taking me and my brother to see homeless people.
“Thank goodness I’m not completely cut off from reality.”
This appears to imply that it was only royal rebel Diana who gave him any grounding away from his life of privilege, rather than his father.
As Ms Levin noted: “He says less about William and Kate, and almost nothing about his father or his stepmother.”
READ MORE: Kate championed ‘kindness and compassion’ months before Sussexes
Archewell.com includes a reference to both Princess Diana and Doria Ragland (Image: Archewell.com)
Diana with Harry, William and Charles — she died in 1997 (Image: Getty)
Harry spoke to Ms Levin for the best part of a year and she was given access to his daily life, making this omission all the more surprising.
Instead, Harry praised his mother’s “most wonderful sense of humour” and how she wanted to “make things fun for us” as well as protect her two sons in their discussions.
Ms Levin also claimed: “He exudes a combination of royal stardust, accessibility, confidence and mischief, a mixture that reminds many people of his mother.”
Harry did follow in his mother’s footsteps and went to Angola last year, where Diana spearheaded a campaign against landmines.
He is the patron of the anti-mines charity HALO Trust, too, and has claimed he is following his mother’s goal “to rid the world of landmines”.
The Duke made headlines around the world when he took HIV tests in public, in an effort to mimic his mother’s groundbreaking work removing the social stigma associated with the disease.
He has evidently remained true to his word that he would continue his mother’s legacy, as mentioned in his Newsweek interview with Ms Levin.
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Charles with a young Prince Harry (Image: Getty)
Harry (L) has already replicated some of his mother’s (R) humanitarian work, as pictured in Angola tackling landmines (Image: Getty)
While Charles’ name is missing from the interview, Harry does mention the Royal Family as a whole.
Instead, Harry made a tacit dig at the Firm when he complained that no child should have to walk behind their own mother’s coffin, as he had to in 1997 — something he did with Prince William, Charles, Prince Philip and Earl Spencer.
He was criticised for undermining the Firm in the Newsweek article as well, after saying he did not think “any one of the Royal Family” wanted to be King or Queen.
But it is Harry’s most recent snub to Charles in his Archewell launch which could be seen as more hurtful towards his father.
The Prince of Wales has been especially supportive of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex despite the chaos they unleashed through their sudden “declaration of independence” a year ago.
He reportedly pushed for them to keep hold of their HRH titles even if they cannot use them in a working capacity.
Harry said his mother always aimed to protect him and his brother William, while “making things fun” (Image: Getty)
Harry made almost no mention of Charles or his stepmother Camilla Parker Bowles in the 2017 interview (Image: Getty)
He also provided the couple with funds from his private income, the Duchy of Cornwall, to help them stay afloat in their first few months outside the royal fold.
Charles famously stepped in to walk Meghan down the aisle in the absence of her own father, too, back in 2018.
Yet it’s clear that Meghan reminds Harry of his mother, rather than his father.
He even claimed his wife was “falling victim to the same powerful forces” as his mother when hitting out at press coverage of the Duchess.
