As posted yesterday, after meeting with Princes Charles, William, and Harry yesterday at Sandringham about Sussexit, the Queen released a very personal, rather informal statement expressing that she and her family are “entirely supportive” of the Sussexes’ plan to step away from royal life and be independent, adding that there are “complex” issues that remain to be sorted out but that she’s asked that a resolution be taken within the coming days. I called it an early victory, though money matters and other logistics are still on the table, and it’ll be interesting to see just how transparent or not they’ll be once they formalise a plan. There are some short term agreements though that are worth discussing.
Harry reportedly arrived two hours early to get some facetime alone with his grandmother and then the two of them met for another two hours with Princes Charles and William. Meghan Markle did not call in as she and Harry apparently decided it wasn’t necessary. Whatever went down in those four hours, and people will be speculating forever about it, was enough for the Queen to announce that while she would have “preferred” for Harry and Meghan Markle to keep their royal roles, their decision has been respected. And that’s when the letter came out.
I mentioned yesterday that the letter came out quickly – and one of the reasons for that had to have been to prevent leaks. As we’ve seen, aides from these households have been leaking against each other repeatedly for months as the internal division has become more and more toxic over the last year. What have I been telling you since the latter part of 2018? That’s when I started calling them “viper courtiers” – and they can be deadly. They’re not entirely responsible but they have played a part in this mess with their shenanigans.
Which is why it was insisted upon that the Queen’s letter be drafted swiftly and released swiftly, bypassing the usual several layers of vetting that happens when the monarch releases an official communication. I’m told that it was also agreed upon, between Charles, William, and Harry, to stop with the backstabbing. Obviously they’re not calling it backstabbing but the point is, there is an unofficial gag order on the usual tipping off of the media from palace insiders so as to protect their fragile peace and whatever compromises and gains that might be secured going forward in order to achieve Sussexit – which we saw yesterday when William and Harry released a joint statement condemning The Times story about William bullying Harry. We’ll have to see how long that holds up and if they and the courtiers representing their respective royals can actually stop selling each other out. There’s a lot of broken trust – and some of that was addressed during the summit yesterday, which OMG must have been f-cking wild, especially since these people aren’t exactly comfortable talking about their feelings.
That said, we’ve already seen some extraordinary concessions. The tone of that letter, how personal it was, and… she TALKS ABOUT MONEY.
“Harry and Meghan have made it clear that they do not want to be reliant on public funds in their new lives.”
The Sussexes, as they’re still called, for now anyway, were pointed about their hopes for “financial independence” when they released their statement last week. That the Queen highlights this point in her letter has to have been upon Harry’s insistence. Because you know these people. Royal people, nobility, aristocrats, they don’t talk about money. The money taboo is largely attributed to the British. They consider it gauche – people with money never talk about money; talking about money is what downstairs people do, upstairs people consider it low classy to talk about money. There is no one more upstairs than the Queen of England.
And now the Queen of England isn’t just talking about money, she’s addressing money matters in a piece of official correspondence! I’m DYING.
You can imagine then how pressed certain people are. The old schoolers, the pearl clutchers, the tight ass etiquette bitches who must be appalled that Her Majesty the Queen actually included a sentence about MONEY on her letterhead – this is the kind of sh-t that scares the status quo the most: this represents change and this is an institution that has always been resistant to change actually changing the way it behaves. Which means they don’t get to impose all the rules anymore. Most of the rules, sure. Some of the rules, though, well, they’re crumbling. That’s why so many people are afraid. It’s what they’ve always been afraid of. And that fear is where they’ve been operating from. We’ve seen how that fear has manifested itself up to this point – through anger, largely aimed in one direction. It’s going to be interesting to see what this will look like as Sussexit becomes a reality and how all the players will react to it.
