Speaker 1: Calorouga, shark, media ballo and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I
Speaker 1: am your host, Mark francis complete with summer allergies, so
Speaker 1: please bear with me. A newly decoded exchange between Prince
Speaker 1: Harry and Meghan Markle is raising fresh questions about just
Speaker 1: how early the couple may have begun plotting their royal departure.
Speaker 1: According to a new Channel five documentary titled Lipreading the Royals,
Speaker 1: the secret conversations the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were
Speaker 1: overheard via lipreading during the solemn event at Westminster Abbey
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. The occasion was the Service of Remembrance
Speaker 1: marking one hundred years since the end of the First
Speaker 1: World War, a formal moment with the entire royal family
Speaker 1: in attendance, including Queen Elizabeth. But while the cameras captured
Speaker 1: polished expressions and respectful silence, lipreading expert Nicola Hickling says
Speaker 1: something else entirely was unfolding in hushed tones between the Sussexes.
Speaker 1: She claims Meghan quietly told Harry to take advantage of
Speaker 1: the situation, prompting him to ask today. Her reply, do
Speaker 1: it tonight? Then, in what has become the documentary's most
Speaker 1: startling moment, Harry is said to ask, you do realize
Speaker 1: that this is the end, to which Megan reportedly responds, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do know. Harry's recent solo visit to Angola highlighted
Speaker 1: his commitment to a life of service, but it may
Speaker 1: have also brought about a quiet personal reckoning. Royal expert
Speaker 1: Jenny Bond reflected on the significance of the visit, telling
Speaker 1: the Mirror, I think this is precisely the sort of
Speaker 1: work that Harry should do. It's not only a hugely
Speaker 1: worthwhile cause, but it also connects him with his mother,
Speaker 1: which is something he yearns for. Bond went further, suggesting
Speaker 1: that the trip marks a shift in Prince Harry's priorities
Speaker 1: and perhaps his self perception. I think he is coming
Speaker 1: to recognize that the la celebrity world is one in
Speaker 1: which he is not especially comfort and he seems quite
Speaker 1: willing to let Megan take the limelight over there. Harry's
Speaker 1: trip took him to a remote village near Africa's largest minefield,
Speaker 1: where he met with families living in the shadow of
Speaker 1: the long buried explosives. The scene echoed the now iconic
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven images of Princess Diana walking through the
Speaker 1: minefield in Angola wearing a protective vest and viasor just
Speaker 1: months before her tragic death. For Sky News, Rhennon Mills writes,
Speaker 1: I can't help feel Harry's team are trying to push
Speaker 1: the reset button. The unexpected headlines around Harry just keep coming,
Speaker 1: as when he popped up in Angola his second visit there,
Speaker 1: this time with no press pack in toe, So why
Speaker 1: the surprise visit. Harry has worked with the Halo Trust
Speaker 1: for some time and it's clearly still a priority for
Speaker 1: them to highlight the dangers faced by those living with
Speaker 1: the potential dangers of land mines in Angola, but it
Speaker 1: also feels like part of a push to get Harry
Speaker 1: out on more public engagements. Some think Princess Anne might
Speaker 1: be the one that can bring Harry back into the
Speaker 1: fold by talking some sense into him. A source told
Speaker 1: The Times she often talked about how as children she
Speaker 1: was treated so differently from Charles. She was second to
Speaker 1: him and kicked further down the line of succession as
Speaker 1: a woman, but she forged her own path. In her twenties,
Speaker 1: she was boldly an upset about a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but she came through that he should talk to her
Speaker 1: about her experiences. She is shrewd. She could tell him
Speaker 1: a lot about what she went through. Will Harry and
Speaker 1: Charles meet again? Royal biographer Tom Bawer thinks perhaps not
Speaker 1: saying whether they'll meet again in Charles' lifetime depends on
Speaker 1: how long Charles lives. I couldn't say never, because I'm
Speaker 1: sure Charles wants to meet his son, but so much
Speaker 1: depends on how Harry behaves. Harry is seriously worried that
Speaker 1: when his father dies one day, William will literally banish
Speaker 1: him and he will have no status in Britain at all.
Speaker 1: He will be person and non grata. Harry needs a
Speaker 1: meeting with Charles to show he is part of the
Speaker 1: royal family and to establish his credibility in Britain, but
Speaker 1: as long as the Palace won't give him access to Charles,
Speaker 1: he can't take the first step. They suspect that the
Speaker 1: moment he meets Charles, he will use it to establish
Speaker 1: his credibility, because that's what he desperately needs, and that's
Speaker 1: also why he's kept away. My money would absolutely be
Speaker 1: no if he did meet him, it would be in private.
Speaker 1: A lot depends on charles health. That is the unspoken
Speaker 1: issue in Britain today. Because Charles will be in Scotland,
Speaker 1: the question is will Harry be invited up to Scotland.
Speaker 1: My guess is no. The interview he gave after he
Speaker 1: lost the security case and accused the establishment of a
Speaker 1: stitch up showed that he's completely uncontrollable. He is unpredictable
Speaker 1: and his own worst enemy. But he fears that once
Speaker 1: Charles dies he will get no help from William. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if William won't have him at his coronation.
Speaker 1: Charles health is the prime concern and William's succession is
Speaker 1: the next thing. Harry's problems are irrelevant and they are
Speaker 1: irritated by him. Harry can't just arrive at the palace
Speaker 1: and see his father. When Harry was in Britain at
Speaker 1: the time charles visit to France was canceled because of
Speaker 1: the riots, there was ample time to meet and one
Speaker 1: would assume charles diary was empty, but Harry was told
Speaker 1: his diary was full and he couldn't see him. He
Speaker 1: can't even get him on the phone because they don't
Speaker 1: trust him, and they're angry with him. They don't understand
Speaker 1: his motivations. Megan is tired of it all. She wants
Speaker 1: it to be over. She doesn't give two hoots about
Speaker 1: what happens. It puts a great strain on their marriage
Speaker 1: and their relationship because Harry frets and becomes very unhappy
Speaker 1: about it all. Megan wants to get on, build herself
Speaker 1: up as a television personality and have nothing more to
Speaker 1: do with Britain at all. It doesn't interest her. In
Speaker 1: The Independent, Tessa Dunlop writes, the mirroring in recent history
Speaker 1: is spooky. After the nineteen thirty six abdication, stumbling George
Speaker 1: the sixth never resumed a normal relationship with his charming
Speaker 1: callo brother Edward the eighth, who also wrote a biography,
Speaker 1: but emotionally is not on one way street, and the
Speaker 1: Prince of Wales would be foolish to take his familial
Speaker 1: cues from the unbending social structures of a bygone era. Today,
Speaker 1: william sits at the heart of Britain's most revered institution,
Speaker 1: and in the face of recent domestic adversity, enjoys enormous
Speaker 1: public sympathy, but moods can change. As a nation, no
Speaker 1: matter how much we verbally kick Harry, affections run deep
Speaker 1: beneath it all. What really rankled was the Sussex's rejection
Speaker 1: of our most revered institution. Likewise, William surely knows that
Speaker 1: one day he must rediscover his affection for his younger sibling,
Speaker 1: protected by a preordained sovereign destiny. The longer he withholds
Speaker 1: the olive branch, the more churlish it could start to look.
Speaker 1: At the moment, King Charles is Harry's best hope, and
Speaker 1: even then Sussex returned to the sunlit uplands of royalty
Speaker 1: may well prove short lived. For the Duke to make
Speaker 1: a meaningful comeback, good relations are required on two levels,
Speaker 1: with his father King and with his older brother, the
Speaker 1: future King. William is not a man for turns, unless
Speaker 1: the spare knows all too well, one day the Prince
Speaker 1: of Wales will have all the power but impressive kingship.
Speaker 1: Like all, good leadership requires flexibility. If at the moment
Speaker 1: Harry steals all the negative headlines, it will be history
Speaker 1: that judges William his more powerful older brother only by
Speaker 1: genuinely forgiving and including the spare, will he be able
Speaker 1: to boast that his reign as the requisite hallmarks a
Speaker 1: modern monarchy, compassion and magnanimity, And most important of all,
Speaker 1: he will know it is what Diana, his mother, the
Speaker 1: self proclaimed Queen of Hearts, would have wanted. More palatin,
Speaker 1: just a moment. Hey, don't forget. A new episode of
Speaker 1: Crown and Controversy comes out tomorrow Sunday. It's our new
Speaker 1: spinoff series and kind of takes off where the Crown
Speaker 1: on TV left off, and you can get that wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Crown and Controversy. It's available now.
Speaker 1: Harry did receive a rather unexpected show of public support,
Speaker 1: this time from European Royalty Princess Delphine of Belgium, speaking
Speaker 1: on the Its Reigning Men podcast, that said, they lost
Speaker 1: such an important figure, and I feel very sorry for
Speaker 1: Harry because I think that was traumatic for him. She
Speaker 1: was referring, of course, to the death of Princess Diana
Speaker 1: when Harry was just twelve years old. Delphine went on,
Speaker 1: I think Harry suffered so much, and I think he
Speaker 1: was traumatized, and it's coming out now. He's just traumatized.
Speaker 1: He's doing these things, and everybody's bullying him but not
Speaker 1: thinking about his trauma. I just find it terrible because
Speaker 1: I feel like he's just been kind of left. Delphine
Speaker 1: herself has personal experience navigating royal tensions. She discovered in
Speaker 1: adulthood that her biological father was King Albert the Second
Speaker 1: of Belgium, and endured a year's long legal battle before
Speaker 1: finally being recognized as a member of the Belgian royal
Speaker 1: family in twenty twenty. And there you have it. Tact
Speaker 1: to email us. Our address is the Palace Intrigue at
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Speaker 1: of him joining the show. I Mark frantis my thanks
Speaker 1: to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue and good Damns