‘They've turned their backs on the INSTITUTION'

Duncan Larcombe, a former royal editor and the author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, reveals how Meghan Markle has ‘stolen’ Harry away from his adoring public

- DUNCAN LARCOMBE

When Buckingham Palace was hit by a bomb during an air raid at the height of the Second World War, the Queen Mother uttered the immortal words, ‘Now I can look the East End [of London] in the eye.’

With those words, Her Majesty set a marker in the sand that would endure for decades. At a time of national emergency, the Royal Family was feeling the pain of ordinary people living in terror as the bombs rained down on the capital.

We were in it together, defiantly standing strong in the face of a dangerous enemy.

When, on a glorious spring day in 2018, Harry and Meghan tied the knot in front of almost two billion viewers it seemed we were witnessing a real-life fairy tale being played out. Britain’s most popular royal cementing his whirlwind romance with a beautiful American actress who had taken the nation by storm. Her mixed-race heritage breathing new life into an institution seen by so many as aloof and out of step with the rest of society.

The future, it seemed, was as bright as the glistening Mayday they chose for their nuptials. But fast-forward two years and who could have imagined how sour things would turn out?

Quitting royal life

The ‘Markle sparkle’ has dwindled, the pair have turned their backs on the institution that tried so hard to welcome them in, and in the court of public opinion this golden couple appears to have embarked on a strategic exercise of having their cake and eating it.

For six months Harry and Meghan have been in hiding, far away from the subjects who so eagerly packed the streets of Windsor hoping to catch a glimpse of history in the making.