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The news of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle leaving behind the royal life and its largesse to start their own family life afresh outside the glamour of the palace and the unfriendly British tabloids which will be around for a long time. I know, and I am a firm believer that history is made one way or the other, irrespective of the divide where such histories may fall. What Harry and Meghan have just done is historical, and one that would be told for many generations yet to come.
Meghan Markle entrance into the Royal Family in the first place was not without its own antecedent controversy. Many Britons till now haven’t still come to terms with how Prince Harry, the 6th in line to the throne of Great Britain would stoop so low as to marry a commoner, a black American girl with no ties to any monarchy anywhere in the world. Many of us aren’t unaware how monarchies are, and the grandeur with which it comes with. We know that royalties flock together, and most wouldn’t want to be associated with commoners. “How can Harry stoop so low?” “What did he see in that girl?”, some British Media wrote.
But none of those comments stopped Harry from marrying the love of his life. So, the marriage was consummated, the whole world stood still on that faithful day, 19th May, 2018 when Harry and Meghan tied the knot in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, United Kingdom. One would think all the hatred would go away since Harry didn’t change his mind. Little did anyone know that the beginning of Meghan’s media trial had just begun. She would afterwards be attacked left, right and center by British Media. If she walks, they will “say she didn’t walk well.” When she dresses, they will write “she didn’t dress well.” They brought out all the differences between her and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Kate didn’t have many of those backlashes because William had toed the path of the Royal Palace. Kate, unlike Meghan, grew up in Chapel Row, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, England, and not in some Wild West where Meghan happen to come from. She studied art history in Scotland at the University of St Andrews, and not some random actress like Meghan who is probably looking for some opportunity to dig some gold in the Royal Palace. One can simply continue to bring about the differences between the two women, who grew up in different part of the world, but fortunate enough to marry to be married to two British princes in the same family.
The British tabloids didn’t have so much reasons to hate on Kate. She is White and she is one of them. On the other hand, Meghan knew she would not have it that rosy, and Harry too isn’t oblivious about all the possible backlashes that his marriage to Meghan would generate. But hey, these two are adults and they are capable and old enough to take their destinies into their own hands.
How Much Price Can One Possibly Pay For Family Peace?
Earlier in January, 2020, Harry and Meghan made a shocking announcement that shook the entire British monarchy. Harry and Meghan had announced that they would step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family, split their time between the United Kingdom and North America and work toward becoming financially independent. This decision they took, without any prior consultation with any inner member of the palace. The announcement did not go down well with many members of the royal family, but hey, “a man has got to do what he’s got to do.”
For Harry, being the leader and the head of his own nuclear family, this is the price he has to pay to enjoy the necessary family life and coherence that he needed and wanted for his family. Harry has always had a fragmented relationship with the British tabloids who he blames for his mother’s death. Meghan, on the other hand, feels the tabloids were out to destroy her from the very beginning. But they had to choose between staying back in the United Kingdom and allowing the tabloids to have their full feast on them, or leave behind everything they have come to know and take a long walk away from everything. The public funds would no longer come, and they would no longer formally represent the Queen.
Harry will also give up being Honorary Air Commander Royal Air Force Honington and Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Divings, the new arrangement reads. He will also lose the title: Captain General of the Royal Marines, a role he was given by Queen Elizabeth in 2017, succeeding Prince Philip. The new deal also forbids him from wearing his military uniform at public events, including Trooping the Color and Remembrance Sunday at the cenotaph, The Telegraph reports.
But hey, what are all these things when you desperately need your peace of mind, your family peace and what have you? Whether one likes it or not, peace comes with a price, and you must ask yourself if you are truly willing to pay that price. The decision to take a walk by Harry and Meghan sure didn’t go down well with many, not with the Queen, and many other prominent people within the family. But one thing is definitely sure: the ensuing peace that follows is not what money or royalty could buy for them.
That tells you something, that leadership, peace and coherence has its own price. Are you willing to pay that price?
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
