Whether it’s out of anglophilia, nostalgia, masochism, traditionalism or simply a particular sense of loyalty to the rich and famous, the quixotic America’s devotion to the British monarchy remains strong.
What, then, accounts for America’s particular infatuation with the semi-royal Sussexes?
Harry and Meghan haven’t been particularly kind to the monarchy since they fled Frogmore, their renovated royal ‘country home’, in 2020.
Nor have they ever fully realized the perspective of a infiltration American in the crown.
But his recent cross-platform, multimillion-dollar media blitz, which started with Meghan’s podcast on Spotify, has turned into a documentary about Netflix A six-part tribute to their love for each other and for themselves, culminating this week with an interview with Harry on Sunday night’s ’60 Minutes’ and the release of his memoir, ‘Spare.’ The duke and duchess were spared the anger they aroused abroad.
Why they chose the United States.
Apparently, it’s better to be a celebrity in America than fifth in line to the throne in the UK.
While Harry and Meghan don’t now have a royal salary, they do have a sizable legacy in a country where the wealthy are getting richer and where royalty, free of tax burdens, are treated with less skepticism.
Initially moving to Vancouver Island, British Columbia in search of privacy, they soon fled to Los Angeles in search of…what is the opposite of privacy?
As Harry says in the documentary, he had “outgrown” his surroundings and “this was the obvious place to come”.
The fact that the Sussexes got rid of a country they describe as anti-immigrant, full of racists and burdened with the legacy of colonialism makes Americans feel better about their own country, which might as well be (whoops) described as anti-immigrant , plagued by racists and burdened with the legacy of colonialism.
But Harry and Meghan see the United States as a shelter.
“They made that a problem when I went to the UK,” Meghan says of her mixed-race heritage in the documentary.
“Before that, most people didn’t treat me like a black woman.”
Perhaps Americans like the idea that nationalism and xenophobia somehow come “from there” and not from here.
It’s nice to be left alone, for a change.
It’s because they fight for change.
Call them martyrs, call them revolutionaries, call them anti-establishment or just switch agents.
Harry and Meghan, who have learned much about the evils of the old order, stand up against colonialism, racism and oppression of all kinds and travel the world, sometimes on a friend’s private plane, in their campaign against injustice.
As your organization’s website proclaims Archewell (“Leading the way with compassion”):
“Each of us can change our community. We can all change the world.”
Many people in Great Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States saw, in fact, the union of the interracial couple as a sign of positive change, but perhaps none more so than the couple themselves.
In an earlier interview to promote her podcast last year, Meghan recalled a South African who compared the joy of their royal wedding to celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela.
But, according to the Sussex account, they became too popular, threatening the monarchy.
As Harry put it, they were “stealing the spotlight” or “doing the job better than someone who was born to do it”.
The series takes its anti-establishment fervor one step further, tying the couple’s personal tribulations to a showdown with British colonialism, the mistreatment of Princess Diana and the Black Lives Matter movement.
One of the sympathetic talking heads in the documentary refers to the pair as “symbols of social justice” and says that the hatred directed at them was “a way of signaling the rest of us to back off.”
According to this version of events, the palace reacted to the couple because, as Harry explains, “if you speak truth to power, that’s how they respond.”
It’s because they speak our language.
It’s not about accent, it’s about mode. Harry and Meghan value sharing more than keeping calm.
Instead of keeping quiet, they insist on speaking and speaking their truth, rather than the more rigorous undertaking of truth-telling.
When they speak, it’s in the curated, massaged, meditative language of self-care and cause-exchange.
Words like “conscious,” “consent,” and “purpose” slip off their tongues in soothing speech.
They have created a “safe haven” for themselves.
It’s a “new path we were trying to forge.”
His work consists of “creative activations” and “community building”.
Everything is done with intention.
“We have been very conscious of protecting our children as best we can and also understanding the role they play in this truly legendary family,” Meghan explains in the documentary.
Since the palace doesn’t protect them, they have to protect themselves.
Before they were victims; now they survived.
As the media-scarred Harry told Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes” on Sunday,
“I will sit here and tell you the truth with the words coming out of my mouth, instead of using another person, an anonymous source, to feed lies or a narrative to a tabloid that literally radicalises its readership and thereby potentially harms the my family, my wife, my children”.
It’s because they are American celebrities.
Harry and Meghan have surpassed Princess Diana’s partnerships with the press by taking full control.
They are our first royals ever.
And in the US, while it’s wrong for another person to invade your privacy, it’s perfectly fine – also applauded – blow up yours
The Sussexes are available.
They are fun.
Meghan is just a “working mom”.
Harry is a playful millennial dad.
These celebrities are just like us! — can tell us all about them through their artisanal media empire.
You can find them on Instagram, where they first met and where they decided to announce their independence (as they would say “take a step back instead of resigning”).
They take selfies, film themselves endlessly, and at least one of them has a strong opinion about portrait or landscape on the iPhone.
The documentary devotes an entire episode to recounting their courtship step by step – or rather, text by text.
They give us so much private information, saturating us with the minutiae of each brilliant hug, that they essentially rob us of the desire or need to get anything else anywhere else.
Like many Tik Toker or SubstackerHarry and Meghan enjoy taking charge of the narrative.
They made their documentary, they say, because, as they say, they were never “asked” for their story and not “allowed” to tell it.
That’s if we don’t count the fawning coverage of Oprah, People or The Cut. (Just very recently – was it in the middle of episode 5? Or 6? – some US media he staggered palpably in his flattery).
But even the friendliest places stopped at the couple’s favorite twist on “The Little Mermaid.”
In Harry’s eyes on Twitter: Meghan “sacrificed everything she knew, the freedom she had, to join me in my world.”
And soon after, I ended up sacrificing everything I know to join her in her world.”
It is undeniable that Prince Harry sacrificed his family and his birthright.
Most people, real fans or not, wish all of this had happened different.
Despite the dings and holes in their well-honed and highly profitable story, the Sussexes have offered a uniquely American take on what American Meghan calls a “modern fairy tale.”
America loves melodrama, a story against all odds, an us against them.
America loves “happily ever after” and constant gossip.
As has become more than clear, Harry and Meghan are doing their best to offer America all this.
c.2023 The New York Times Society
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.