26 THENEWYORKER,APRIL20, 2020
LETTERFROMTHEU. K.
FRACTURED FAIRY TALE
The short and unhappy royal career of Harry and Meghan.
BY REBECCAMEAD
The couple’s departure suggests that life on a pedestal is not a life worth living.
ILLUSTRATION BY JAVIER JAÉN
PHOTOGRAPH: NEIL MOCKFORD / GC IMAGES / GETTY
I
t was raining in London on the eve-
ning of March 5th, and so only a small
crowd had gathered outside Mansion
House, the official residence of the Lord
Mayor of London, to watch the Duke
and Duchess of Sussex arrive for an
awards ceremony hosted by the En-
deavour Fund, a charity that supports
wounded ex-servicemen and women.
As press photographers waited for the
couple to dart from Land Rover to lobby,
they had little hope of a great shot: rain
complicates flash photography, and the
Duke and Duchess might be obscured
by an umbrella. Luckily, Samir Hus-
sein, who has frequently photographed
the Royal Family, had an inspiration:
flashes of cameras in the crowd could
create a dramatic backlighting effect, as
in a studio shot, and other flashes might
illuminate the faces of the Sussexes,
Prince Harry and the former Meghan
Markle. Hussein snapped a picture the
split second that the couple, their arms
linked under a single umbrella, turned
toward each other and smiled. The
image became instantly iconic. The pair
gazed into each other’s eyes with the
insular complicity of newlyweds, un-
scathed by the rain falling around them
like glittering confetti.
Although the photograph suggested
nuptial bliss, it marked the conclusion
of a whirlwind divorce—the abrupt sep-
aration of the Duke and Duchess from
the United Kingdom and its monarchy.
The event was the couple’s first public
appearance in the U.K. since announc-
ing, in January, via Instagram, that they
were relinquishing their roles as “ ‘se-
nior’ members of the Royal Family” and
would henceforth be spending much
of their time in North America, where
they hoped to “carve out a progressive
new role within this institution.” In the
days after the Endeavour Fund event,
the couple—who, amid alarm over the
spread of the coronavirus, had left their
nine-month-old son, Archie, in Can-
ada, where they had been living—car-
ried out their final engagements before
formally stepping down from their offi-
cial duties, at the end of March. The
Duke and Duchess will no longer use
the honorific H.R.H., which stands for
His—or Her—Royal Highness, though
they will retain the titles. In February,
in Edinburgh, the person introducing
the Prince at a conference on sustain-
able travel asked him how he preferred
to be addressed. “Just call me Harry,”
he said. The couple will also stop re-
ceiving income from the Sovereign
Grant, the pot of public money allo-
cated to the Queen and to family mem-
bers who represent her in official roles.
(The Sovereign Grant currently amounts
to about a hundred million dollars.)
The Sussexes have declared that they
plan to work, with the goal of becom-
ing financially independent, though for
now, at least, they will continue to re-
ceive funding, reportedly amounting to
several million dollars, from the Duchy
of Cornwall, the property of Harry’s fa-
ther, Prince Charles. An indication of
the kind of revenue streams they may
explore came in February, when Harry
travelled to Miami and gave a speech
at an investment summit sponsored by
JPMorgan; he spoke of the lingering
trauma of his very public childhood and
bereavement. And last year he signed
up to produce, with Oprah Winfrey, a
documentary series for television, on
mental-health issues; Winfrey was a
guest at the Sussexes’ wedding, which
took place in May, 2018, in Windsor.
Markle, the former star of the TV se-
ries “Suits,” may resume her Hollywood
career; at the end of March, the Sus-
sexes relocated to Los Angeles. (Pres-
ident Donald Trump greeted their ar-
