Schrödinger’s Duchess
Will she, won't she? It seems she will. Unless she doesn't.
I had rather hoped this weekend might belong to me. A quiet Friday, perhaps a Saturday morning of no particular consequence. The Sussexes had other plans.
Let us begin with what we know, or what we have been told, which in Sussex matters are rarely identical propositions.
The Duchess and the children are apparently, maybe, perhaps, be making their way to British soil to join the Duke.
We are told the visit by Meghan and the children will be entirely private. No public engagements. No cameras invited. No choreographed arrivals. They shall be here, and we shall not see them.
Which raises the question put by Robert Jobson, a man who has spent long enough around this family to know when something doesn’t add up , who asked with characteristic directness: “They won’t be seen. Not in public. Not by us. So why tell us at all? You cannot have it both ways. The world must know they are here. The world must not see them. Pick one.”
It is, I think, the correct question. And Jobson goes further, which is where it gets interesting: “So what changed? Where did the security threats go?”
Precisely. You will recall that for weeks, the stated reason the family could not travel together was security. Private protection could not be arranged to a satisfactory standard. The taxpayer-funded arrangements Harry has been pursuing through the courts, and losing, were unavailable. The whole enterprise was said to be logistically fraught. And then, rather suddenly, it wasn’t. The family is coming. The security situation has apparently resolved itself. Somehow. In ways that have not been elaborated upon.
I am not a suspicious man by nature. I merely observe.
His Majesty, I am told by those closer to the matter than I shall pretend to be, genuinely wishes to see the grandchildren. Whatever the accumulated complications of the past several years, Charles has not ceased to be a grandfather who feels the distance. If this visit gives him an afternoon with Archie and Lilibet, he will be quietly glad of it.
Somewhere, I have no doubt, Prince William will be reported as being furious about all of this. We are told he was seen at the polo looking entirely unbothered. I shall leave it to the reader to weigh that. That said, if Diana’s memory becomes part of a photo-op, he may indeed by furious. The tabloids will let us know.
And I, meanwhile, will be here, waiting for Schrödinger’s Duchess.
One serves.
— D.C.
So is this 'no public engagements, no cameras, no choreographed arrivals" supposed to be a punishment for the British public, press, charities, Invictus? A lil spiteful revenge for not getting blanket security from HM's government or the red carpet treatment from the Palace? The hilarious aspect of this is that the hurt & punishment will be to Ms. Norma Desmond Jr. herself, who lives for the camera, the mic capturing her ultra words of wisdom for this age (if you don't believe her ask her LOL), the coverage, the attention! It's hilarious, we all know that just below money & fame, her biggest love in life is "coverage" to be sent out to the masses depicting her beauty, her perfection, her sesquipedalian speeches. The joke's on her, we're vastly relieved not to see that apparition of clawing fame. Let the 2 Charleses -- Mountbatten-Windsor & Spencer have it all to themselves. They're more than welcome to soak in her magnificence in utter solitude - we're more than grateful.
"That said, if Diana’s memory becomes part of a photo-op, [Prince William] may indeed be furious."
Haha! That scene in Harry's book in which he recounts leaving Meghan alone at his mother's grave -- to commune with Diana? -- and then returning to find her prone on the slab, or whatever is there, having evidently done so, was one of the most nauseating things I've ever heard.
I didn't read the book, but in those days you'd have to live under a log to avoid that one.