Queen Elizabeth’s real birthday was yesterday, she turned 94 years old, and even though it was her day, she had her team post a message to her social accounts to send love to the people of Nova Scotia and to all Canadians after the worst mass shooting in our country’s history. It had already been a sh-tty few weeks for everyone and now, for one community in Nova Scotia, they’re dealing with unimaginable pain. If you have a few moments to spare, please click here to know the victims.
As for the Queen, many of her most prominent family members wished her happy birthday yesterday on social media, including Prince Charles and the Cambridges, Prince William and Catherine. And we found out that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a video call with Her Majesty to send their well wishes. Baby Archie also made an appearance. We know this because it was reported by certain media outlets: PEOPLE, Harper’s Bazaar, HELLO!, ABC, and ITV. In other words, no British tabloids. Which is why the Daily Mail was kinda salty when they ran the story. Just two days after Harry and Meghan wrote them a letter that they would never make the list, they experienced not making the list and having to follow the lead of other press for a royal headline. It’s not like they could ignore it, as much as they’re fronting that they no longer care about the Sussexes.
Where Harry and Meghan are concerned though, now that we know how we know, why do we know? What was the thinking behind them putting this out there? First of all, they had the Queen’s permission to release the item. The fact that select media outlets were informed of the call had the Queen’s blessing. The reason they wanted to do this is because they’re not on social media now so while the others were able to perform their birthday wishing for the monarch, the Sussexes currently have no means of doing the same, and you know what would have happened if the Queen’s birthday had come and gone and there was no reporting on whether or not her grandson Harry reached out to his 94 year old grandmother: the headlines would be about how cruel he was to ignore her. So it’s either being accused of not acknowledging the Queen or being accused of wanting attention. And between those two decisions, this is the one they made.
I haven’t loved a lot of the recent Sussex moves, like the pap photos and the “we are never ever ever getting back together” letter they sent to the tabloids (which Duana and I get into on the next episode of Show Your Work, posting today), but on this, it’s an understandable rock and a hard place position – and they’re often unfairly put in this position: they’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t.
