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Are we sure Jussie Smollett wasn’t driving?

I was going to open by saying I didn’t want to talk about the latest bizarre episode in the Mrs and Mr Markle story, but who am I kidding? They’re like a skin condition, you KNOW you shouldn’t scratch but…

So, a two-hour high-speed car chase through New York? Really? I know that my knowledge of New York City comes from decades of TV and a single visit back when I was a teenager, (which was so long ago that both the UK and US had adults in charge, y’know Ronnie and Maggie) but surely that strains credulity? Even the mayor of NYC has expressed doubts.

And the Ginger Whinger and the Wicked Witch of the Woke fleeing paparazzi? Not sure I buy that. It’s not an area I’m expert in, but surely prostitutes usually hang around and make it easy for the Johns? They don’t make the clients chase them.

I did wonder when the narrative would say that the paparazzi were shouting “This is King Charles Country!” while waving shoelaces tied in nooses at the fleeing couple.

The deliberate and desperate attempt to try to inflate a minor traffic incident into a full-blown evocation of the death of Harry’s mother in the Pont D’Alma tunnel in 1997 is so on the nose as to require rhinoplasty.

It is all so silly, tragic, and unnecessary. I do sometimes feel for Prince Harry, it is hard to be the younger son, as the main line of the monarchy moves on and you become a footnote of history, but that’s how it works. It’s not like there are not excellent examples for him to follow. HRH the Duke of Kent, and HRH the Duke of Gloucester are both grandsons of George V and first cousins to the Late Queen. The Kent and Gloucester families have done solid work as minor royals, they’ve led useful lives without seeking the limelight. Harry’s aunt, Anne, The Princess Royal, is also a wonderful and solid role model. Prince Edward maybe less so, and the less said about Andrew the better, of course. Nevertheless, there are positive role models.

I cannot help but blame this on his marriage to La Markle. Not necessarily on her completely, I do think he’s under the thumb, but he must take responsibility for much of this. If half of what Meghan has said about her introduction to the royal family is true (a generous assumption I admit) then he did not do a good job of preparing her for a notoriously difficult transition into an unusual life.

That said, from what I’ve read about her ambitions, it does look like there is a real agenda here. Using the royal family to push her fame and influence as far a possible, with a view to maybe standing for office in the US. Problems seem to have started when she realised that being the wife of the younger son of the Prince of Wales didn’t make her a Disney princess. The idea of spending her days opening hospitals in dull and rainy provincial towns did not fill her with joy. Now, with the coronation, and Harry’s rather awkward back seat there, the realisation that their family will be a fast-withering branch of the royal family tree seem to be prompting more desperate and extreme stunts.

The shrill screams of “racism” are losing the power they did have. The deliberately prominent role for various people of different colours and races at the coronation, coupled with the increasing willingness of many folk on both sides of the Pond to stand up and say “No, I am not a racist just because I disagree with you.” is helping to draw the racist sting from this story, and others.

Lord knows what the exit strategy is. They have firmly shut the “low key working royals” door, yet the only “value” they have is as royals. Without the glamour of royalty, he’s just a slightly dim ginger posh bloke and she’s someone that used to be in Suits. They have condemned, rejected, and antagonised the very institution that makes them news. Yet they need to be news to be anything. I don’t pretend to know where it will end, I do know one thing though, sales of popcorn are likely to go up.

PS

I thought I’d share this little true story with my friends on BW.com. I’ve told it to many of my friends here and they have all concurred with my reaction, which says a lot about Markle’s accusations of racism.

A few years ago, I was supervising the gates at an event, a concert in aid of a charity jointly founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, in southern Africa. Prince Harry was there, of course, as well as plenty of the great and the good from southern Africa and the UK. After the main gate had closed, we had a side gate open, and a thick wadge of envelopes with tickets for folk who hadn’t turned up yet.

After a while, two well-dressed young black women came to the gate and gave their names. I found one envelope swiftly and was going through them a second time when I had a realisation.

“Your name is Buthelezi?” I asked. The second lady nodded.

“There isn’t a Buthelezi here, I’d remember that.”

“Oh, why?” she asked.

“Well, Mengosuthu Buthelezi, prince of the Zulu.” I replied.

She gave me a bright and sunny smile, saying. “He’s my grandfather!”

Naturally, I ushered them both in, 3x great granddaughters of King Cetshwayo kaMpande don’t need no ticket.

This was before things had got to the horrible, toxic state they are now with the Sussexes, but the shine from the wedding had worn off and there were already signs that La Markle was not going to be a good fit. I remember thinking, oh why didn’t Harry meet and marry this lass? A genuine black princess…

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