Harry & Meghan made an appearance

Prince Harry & Meghan Sussex made a public appearance in Nottingham today, returning to the city of Meghan’s first official royal outing, all the way back in 2017, for their first actual public appearance since moving back to the UK. I continue to be a little baffled by that move, because while I can understand totally valid reasons for it (schooling for the kids, Charles is sicker than they let on, Harry is homesick), I just cannot imagine any of it is worth a full-on MOVE back to the place that almost ruined Meghan’s mental health.

Anyway, they went to visit a couple of youth-oriented charities Harry has supported in the past, the Community Recording Studio, which started in 1991 to give kids a place to make music but has apparently turned into a broader youths-in-the-arts initiative, and Epic Partners, another youth-focused organization that provides mentoring, sports, and educational opportunities. This is NOT a royal engagement, this is just Harry & Meghan showing up for causes Harry believes in.

Which is kind of a problem for the royals, because even if Harry & Meghan aren’t as popular in the UK as they are elsewhere—and I fully believe they are not—they do still have supporters in England. Looking at the photos of who showed up for them in Nottingham, and it’s hard not to see that it’s a lot of women, women of color, and people of color. If they keep doing this, I think that’s going to become more obvious. And if and when it does become more obvious, how long before people start talking about race and misogyny in the UK? Louder than they already do, I mean. If this move back to the UK was meant to heal something with Harry’s family, I can easily see it doing the exact opposite, it might end up driving an even bigger wedge between the Sussexes and The Firm, because however unpopular Harry & Meghan are, they do highlight the royal family’s problematic—at best—history with race.

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Also, there is a lot of blather about the crowd size. Tom King, on his The Royalist Substack, called the crowd “sparse” and said there was more media than onlookers. Looking at the photos, though, I don’t think that’s true. There are a lot of photographers, yes, and while the crowd isn’t as big as an official royal engagement would get, it’s not “sparse”. There ARE people there, and they seem genuinely excited to see Harry & Meghan. Honestly, it seems like there’s about as many people as media.

And again, it’s notable that the crowd is predominately women and POC. THAT should be the conversation, but I don’t think anyone who supports that dusty institution wants to draw attention to that, so they’ll pick on crowd size. It’s an easier mark than admitting Harry & Meghan appeal to parts of the public the royal family typically don’t.

I can’t help but be cynical about all of this. That in a few years, maybe not even that long, Harry & Meghan moving back to the UK is going to look like a mistake, if not catastrophic. For their sakes, I hope not, I hope they can find a balance that is tolerable for them and their family. But if they’re going to move around like this, crowd size debate or not, it’s going to be a problem for the royal family. I’m sure the briefing has already begun. Can’t wait to see what sludge hits the papers tomorrow.

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What else happened today…

The Gilded Age returns soon, and Carrie Coon looks FABULOUS. (Go Fug Yourself)

In case you were wondering, Meghan wore British designers to the Nottingham appearances. (Celebitchy)

Speaking of British media and mess, Russell Brand’s sexual assault trial has begun. I’m sure the coverage will be totally normal, sensitive to the survivors, and not at all unhinged. (Pajiba)

James McAvoy is talking money! On Josh Horwitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, he revealed that Split is still generating healthy residuals for him, entirely because the movie became profitable on its opening weekend. The combination of a low production budget and reasonable marketing spend means that the film cleared the hurdle to profitability immediately, which in turn means the actors started receiving residuals immediately after the film opened, and everything the film has made since—licensing deals, streaming deals, etc—is gravy. This is why budgets are so important! Most movies do not need to be made for $200 million! Anyway, good for Jimmy Macs. I wish more actors would talk about this openly. (Page Six)