Harry and Meghan’s great timing

When I say great timing, I don’t just mean for them but for the British royal family, because for the last week, every headline about King Charles and the institution has been connected to Just Andrew’s f-ckery, as hard as they’ve tried to provide distractions. Now Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex have stepped into the spotlight, which means the British tabloids can return to attacking their favourite targets, though their weak criticisms are that much less potent now because what could anyone possibly level against the Sussexes that could be worse than Sex Trafficking and Insider Trading?! Not that they won’t make the attempt, since there is no bottom where the British tabloids are concerned.

As for Harry and Meghan, I wrote earlier this week that the Sussexes’ estrangement from the British royal family has now become an asset, given they’re now an entire ocean and continent away from the ripple effect of the flop sweat glistening off the exteriors of every single palace. The Firm is in crisis, its worst crisis in decades, and they are now confronting one of the most intense challenges to their value as even devoted monarchists are grappling with the reality that Just Andrew was enabled by the highest levels of the royal institution. In England and around the world, many cannot separate King Charles and Prince William, the two highest ranking royals, from Andrew’s mess. Harry and Meghan, however, don’t have to wear it, the splash radius of Andrew’s toxic mess won’t reach them because, well, they are the outliers. After eight years of the British media’s efforts to portray them as royal rejects, co-signed internally by Charles, William, and their staff, these tactics have resulted in a bonus. After all, if you’ve been selling the story that Harry and Meghan were interlopers/unwelcome/second tier/inconsequential, you cannot then turn around and claim that they share in the responsibility of handling this f-ckass mess.

But then, looking forward, if we’re talking about how the institution might recover from the devastating impact of Andrew’s alleged crimes, and somehow remain intact, Harry and Meghan are conveniently – thought unintentionally – reminding them that they themselves understocked their arsenal.

The Sussexes today have made a surprise trip to Jordan at the invitation of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). They are visiting with refugees, including medical evacuees from Gaza. Per PEOPLE, one of the objectives of the trip is to spotlight “how Jordan is leading the way in humanitarian response for victims and evacuees from multiple conflicts in the Middle East”. They’re also spending time with youth groups and other community leaders.

It’s their first tour in 18 months, not officially representing the UK government or the royal family, of course, but their presence was acknowledged by the British Ambassador to Jordan, Philip Hall who told them that, "Your visit, your support, your appreciation of the efforts that the United Nations, including of course, the World Health Organization, the government of Jordan and others, are making here is enormously appreciated.”

According to PEOPLE, while Harry and Meghan’s trip to Jordan was not announced in advance, the royal family was informed. They’re not smart enough to be grateful for it but the fact is, the coverage that Harry and Meghan are receiving is pretty much what the Firm wants for its so-called inner circle, top tier royalty. This is the work that they’d prefer to be doing now, without the stench of Andrew following them around. It’s been following them around for, literally, decades. And that’s one of their biggest problems …

There is enough documentation, in the form of photos and video and testimony, that has long indicated that Just Andrew should have been dealt with a long, long, long time ago. They simply cannot offer any credible protestations that they acted swiftly and or decisively. Instead, the show we were all watching was the one in which they put so much energy into trashing the prince and his American-born wife whose biggest crime was asking for more institutional support against racism and disinformation. Well done, Buckingham and Kensington, that worked out so well!

Since we haven't seen these two in a while, let's Squawk! (App link here)