Harry Mountbatten-Windsor served in the armed forces, under his real name, Henry, for ten years. As such he is expected to pay his respects on Remembrance Sunday. As he is no longer a working royal, even if Covid-19 restrictions were not in place, he probably wouldn't be at the service in London. As such, he had to commemorate it his own way.
Firstly. Harry requested that a personal wreath from him be placed at the cenotaph by the royal family during the ceremony, this was refused. While at first glance this seems unkind, it's just not done. No member of the royal family lays a personal wreath at the cenotaph, the wreaths they lay are on behalf of the public and specific parts of the military. The royal family laying the wreaths is part of their royal duties. There are local ceremonies with veteran wreaths placed so he could have easily asked to have a wreath placed at one of those but he didn't.
At the ceremony the first wreaths were placed by Prince Charles, these were The Monarch's Wreath and Prince of Wales Wreath on behalf of the nation. The Captain of the Intelligence Corps, the Duke of Edinburgh, lays the Consort Wreath which is again on behalf of the nation. Prince William lays the Royal Air Force Wreath. The Earl of Wessex lays the Royal Wessex Yeomanry Wreath and Princess Anne lays The Royal Navy Wreath. No personal wreaths are laid during the ceremony so Harry's request was denied for no other reason than that it's not allowed. No-one can do it, regardless of who they are.
Having been raised in the Royal Family as a Prince, Harry would have known this. Harry was 35 when he left the Royal Family, it is not like he left early enough for protocols and the like to have been forgotten, also he only left this year (2020). I suspect, this request was a PR move. If his request had been granted, a single personal wreath form Harry, and of course his wife, would have been placed in a ceremony, the first of it's kind. I believe however, that both Harry and Meghan, knowing the rules, knew it would be refused. This gave them leave to let people know that Harry was "devastated" and "heart-broken". Spinning the story that he simply wanted to pay his respects in absentia. It is doubtful the Royal Family made this public it was undoubtedly team Harry and Meghan. Of course, expecting the refusal, they had a back-up plan.
On Remembrance Sunday, pictures were released of Harry and Meghan visiting the Los Angeles National Cemetery to place flowers apparently from their own garden. Of course, they took a photographer with them and 8 photos were released. The story that Meghan and Harry wanted to mark the day their own way and did so doesn't ring completely true for several reasons.
First of all, why eight photos? A statement from the couple and one or two photos and I would have believed it. True I am a judgemental person and I understand that at the moment Harry is a little damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, but marking remembrance Sunday personally does not merit eight photos. It looks crass. All they needed to do, was release a statement, however they do these days, to say they had marked Remembrance Sunday by laying some flowers at the cemetery and released two photos to go with it. Proof if you like. But no, they are released after being given to an ITV news reporter and there are eight of them. Really? News? Media? The soul sucking, addictive, venomous snake the couple hate so much? They get the photos? This is not some unscrupulous vulture with a zoom lens camping out on a nearby roof and taking candid photos, this is a photographer they took with them. It reinforces my belief that the cry for privacy and condemnation of the press is a lie the couple have used to explain their departure from the Royal Family. They once again took the spotlight from the Royal Family who stand with Britain instead of running off to LA. Harry and Meghan did what they do best, grabbed the headlines, eclipsed what should have been a poignant moment and showed how tasteless they are.
Second of all, the weather in California on Sunday was reportedly cloudy and rainy. If these photos were taken, as claimed, on Sunday, the weather does not match up. This suggests the photos were taken earlier. Here is the proverbial back-up plan. We have these photos ready, let's wait until 8pm UK time then they can be released if our wreath request is denied. It did not only give them time to get the perfect shots, it gave them time to then choose which ones to release to the media they hate so much. Which brings us to...
Thirdly, the L.A. National cemetery is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. How did they get in? They surely would have had to apply for special permission in advance and there would be no guarantee they'd be accepted. It also raises the question of whether their camera crew for the reality TV series (so much privacy) they've signed up for was there. You would need special permission for that but they may have taken them without permission, they do seem to feel untouchable due to their tenuous status and celebrity. If they didn't request a special visit and these photos were taken prior to Remembrance Sunday, they used veteran heroes as a back drop for a photoshoot which is incredibly distasteful.
Now, it does seem to be the case these days that Meghan is asserting as much authority as she can over her husband. When a working royal Meghan was obliged to follow rules and her husband outranked her, I'm sure a modern American girl who is divorced and had a career had trouble with that system. Now of course, the rules don't apply to the same extent. She is still close to breaching protocol, putting herself in danger of losing the title she loves so much. However, in America and in her own home she could have serious influence on her husband, we already know she's a manipulative hypocrite and it would not surprise me if she was a fake feminist, the kind who wants to be above men not equal. My point is she may have been the one to come up with both the request for a wreath and the back up plan of the photoshoot. Harry is already showing signs of being in an abusive relationship. Whether he is or not he does seem to follow his wife's direction more often than not.
Now, we can't know for sure what goes on behind closed doors. We can't know for sure what is going on in their heads. We cannot know how the reality show is going to go. We can't say anything for sure about this couple really, but we can look at the evidence we have. An anti-Trump video has come out, narrated by someone who wishes to remain anonymous (red flag) who sounds very much like Meghan. It may be her, it may just be someone who sounds like her but unless she can prove it isn't her, it may be the thing that loses her the title of Duchess.
Working Royals or not, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are not allowed to get involved in politics, they have to remain impartial. Harry and Meghan have already been treading a fine line with this. Also a website publicising the fact Harry was doing a speech or appearance or something (I wasn't paying much attention to that) called him HRH Prince Harry. Now there's a mistake. Harry and Meghan gave up the HRH titles, it was part of the deal they made with the Queen. If Harry or Meghan is referred to as HRH it is in breach of their agreement. With the fine line they are walking with practically everything these days, it would not surprise me if the queen strips them of their titles. Of course there are many people who think they should lose their titles and others that think they should keep them. While Harry is the son of the future King, he is sixth in line to the throne and the Queen has to do what is best for her family and her country. It may be that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain that for ever, it may be that their titles are stripped. All in all I think it makes little difference. It may be a blow, almost a setback to Meghan but it won't change their behaviour, at least I don't think it will. Again it may make Harry question his marriage, and not before time. Either way this latest PR stunt is disgusting, insensitive and seems to have backfired.
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