{"id":3877,"date":"2024-08-14T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/?p=3877"},"modified":"2024-08-14T16:32:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T16:32:03","slug":"the-secret-story-behind-harry-and-meghans-risky-royal-u-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/2024\/08\/14\/the-secret-story-behind-harry-and-meghans-risky-royal-u-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret story behind Harry and Meghan’s ‘risky’ Royal U-turn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-post-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Black Han Sans|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”46px” header_letter_spacing=”4px” custom_margin=”25px||5px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]

What’s really behind harry and meghan’s ‘risky’ royal u-turn?<\/span><\/span><\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Words by Emily Andrews
<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/08\/imago305399627.jpg” alt=”Jennifer Aniston” title_text=”imago305399627″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”107px” custom_padding=”||0px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Ostensibly, the point of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex\u2019s quasi-royal tour to Columbia is to highlight child online safety ahead of a national conference dedicated to ending violence against children in November. The couple have just launched their Parents\u2019 Network which aims to tackle online harm and offers a ‘safe and supportive community available to all caregivers navigating the complex digital world’.<\/p>\n

Certainly their four-day trip, which was starting as Grazia went to press, including tourist attractions in Cartagena, a cultural festival in Cali and social initiatives in Bogota, will offer colourful pictures and the opportunity for Meghan to use her fluent Spanish. But the question on everyone\u2019s lips back at Buckingham Palace is \u2018why are they going?\u2019<\/p>\n

The Sussexes and their spotlight will not be there on behalf of the British Government.\u00a0
They are not working members of the Royal family, they are not understood to be representing a particular charity (aside from their own non-profit foundation Archewell), nor do they have any public history or heritage in the country.<\/p>\n

When they visited Nigeria in May, the focus was the Invictus Games, Harry\u2019s tournament for service personnel and veterans which is about to celebrate its tenth year. Yet the reasoning for visiting Columbia is more opaque, aside from that they were invited by the country\u2019s vice president Francia Marquez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Colombian government, the incentive for a high-profile, high-impact visit from international celebrities is clear. The country will gain a whole new audience of potential tourists from photographs of ex-royals smiling at government-organised engagements, dancing at music festivals, and banging the drum for the vice president\u2019s key causes.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

‘The question on everyone\u2019s lips back at Buckingham Palace is “why are they going?”‘<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||0px||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Yet for the Sussexes, it is also somewhat risky. They don\u2019t have the guard rails of Foreign Office advisers, whose briefings and guidance underpin all royal tours, nor diplomatic protection. And Harry has just lost his chief of staff Josh Kettler, who was expected to be an instrumental strategic \u2018guide\u2019 for the tour and for the much touted \u2018next phase\u2019 of the prince\u2019s career, but suddenly quit after just three months (Team Sussex maintain he left by \u2018mutual consent\u2019 after a \u2018trial phase\u2019).<\/p>\n

For many Colombians, this \u2018royal visit\u2019 is viewed as little more than a cynical attempt by the government to use the glamorous couple as ‘political pawns’ to divert attention from a series of corruption scandals.<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan\u2019s reputation has also taken a bit of a hit in the US while the launch of Meghan\u2019s lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard has still not been finalised. It was initially scheduled for this spring, then this autumn and now has reportedly been put back until next year to tie in with her new cooking show for Netflix and to iron out trademarking issues.<\/p>\n

Other Sussex challenges include Donald Trump\u2019s claims that Harry could be deported if he wins the presidential election (over potential visa issues), their ongoing rift with the Royal Family and the King\u2019s refusal to take his younger son\u2019s calls (apparently all Harry does is berate him about security).<\/p>\n

So perhaps then, these tours offer Harry and Meghan another initiative to highlight: themselves. Earlier this year Harry suggested to his father that he could \u2018help out\u2019 with royal duties while Charles and the Princess of Wales were undergoing treatment for cancer.
This was rejected by Buckingham Palace, and subsequently Windsor eyebrows were somewhat raised to see Harry and Meghan effectively carving out an international platform for themselves with these royal-type tours.<\/p>\n

With Harry celebrating his 40th birthday next month and ongoing courtroom battles in the UK, it does feel like a pivotal time for the Sussexes in their attempts to \u2018look forward\u2019.
The coverage of this trip has been tightly controlled to ensure it is glowing – one invited reporter from a hand-picked American magazine, with official photographers and videographers shooting material to be issued later (post Team Sussex approval).<\/p>\n

The question, then, is what happens next? As the invitations from other countries in need of a little Sussex sparkle roll in, how will Harry and Meghan manage the risks of being \u2018rogue royals\u2019 without the safeguards of royal life? Only time will tell.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]

IMAGE: IMAGO<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s really behind harry and meghan’s ‘risky’ royal u-turn?Words by Emily AndrewsOstensibly, the point of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex\u2019s quasi-royal tour to Columbia is to highlight child online safety ahead of a national conference dedicated to ending violence against children in November. The couple have just launched their Parents\u2019 Network which aims to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3877"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3884,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions\/3884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}