Harry and Meghan on the cover
– 3 min read
The news that Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex were returning to England last week is still a major story in what’s otherwise a slow time in entertainment news. These two have always been a gift to gossip, ever since they started dating ten years ago – WTF IT’S BEEN EXACTLY TEN YEARS – and even more so now. The British tabloids will never admit it but no one is happier than they are that this decision has been made.
Harry and Meghan cover the new issue of PEOPLE Magazine, which tracks. It was PEOPLE and not a British paper that broke the news that Harry and Meghan were going back to the UK. This week’s featured story elaborates on their initial exclusive.
Nothing super groundbreaking here, more of a summary of the ongoing conversation that started the moment they revealed the Sussexes’ plans. And a note about how Harry never “fully found his footing” in California and always missed home.
This makes sense, the way it would make sense for anyone who grew up in one place and then suddenly moved elsewhere. Omid Scobie writes about this in his first newsletter for his newly launched Substack, Off Script. Omid of course wrote two bestselling books about the British royal family, Finding Freedom and Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival and also moved to California, stepping away from royal reporting to work on other projects.
As Omid notes in his inaugural essay on this platform, Harry and Meghan have become a “fixed narrative” with certain corners of the media – and they are seemingly unwilling to change direction which is why so much of the reporting about their re-relocation is negative and smug.
That said, you don’t have to be a hater to be confused. And if you are confused about this it doesn’t mean you’re a hater. Their experience was awful and they’ve talked about it so publicly. PEOPLE, however, has a counter to this, more evidence that they obviously have an open line of communication with the Sussexes. And one of the points they’re making is that before, when Meghan first joined Harry’s family, her “team” was the royal institution – so, basically, no one other than Harry was protecting her or advocating for her.
Now, though, since she and Harry are not working royals and don’t operate within the Firm, they have their own team, she has her own people and their entire job is to handle her business. This makes a big difference.
And then there’s all the speculation about Meghan and acting. She was said to be in negotiations to join the cast of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen series that airs on Netflix. But then a couple of days ago Tina Brown claims that talks broke off because producers were scared off after all the noise from the Sussexes moving back to the UK.
Multiple other outlets, including PEOPLE, however, are saying that the project is not off the table and discussions are still happen, even though Tina is standing by her reporting. My first thought when I heard about The Gentlemen and another Netflix title, given Harry and Meghan’s ongoing relationship with them, was this event from five months ago, when Harry and Meghan were invited to Ted Sarandos’s home back in April. Flip through the carousel.
Clearly they have some kind of relationship with Ted, and he and Netflix and the series producers would likely be well aware of the kind of discourse – and volume – that surrounds the Sussexes. Would they be scared off that easily? Or would they welcome that kind of scrutiny, considering, let’s be honest, The Gentlemen isn’t exactly the most viral of shows. Meghan Sussex joining the cast might be exactly the kind of heatscore they’re looking for.
You know what show that films in the UK that I’d loooove to see her join? Industry. Cutthroat world of finance and dealing with British media and scumbags and backstabbing. She would know something trying to survive that.
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