Harry and Meghan are ghastly and back in Britain. Good

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have returned to Britain, reportedly driven by the cost of maintaining security abroad, drawing accusations from royal commentators that the move is selfish and foolish. The couple's ventures have fared poorly with critics, from Harry's memoir and Netflix series to Meghan's lifestyle show and "As Ever" product line, while her popularity rating trails other senior royals. Yet the backlash itself demonstrates the monarchy's real function: not governance or dignity, but entertainment. Dutiful royals draw little public interest, whereas the Sussexes, whatever their flaws, keep the institution in the headlines during an otherwise grim news cycle for Britain..From The Economist, published under licence. The original article can be found on www.economist.com© 2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved..The Economist.The outrage was instant. When the return of Harry and Meghan to Britain was announced on August 19th, royal commentators had collective conniptions. The Sussexes’ return a week later (widely assumed to be caused by the cost of security abroad) has been called “selfish”, “foolish” and “childish”—all sorts of -ishes. Front pages have been filled, hands have been wrung. Everyone has, in short, been enjoying themselves tremendously. And the monarchy has been doing its job perfectly.Most people misunderstand the monarchy. There is a widely held idea that it is a branch of government and should, as Walter Bagehot, a Victorian writer (and editor of The Economist), put it, be “DIGNIFIED”. Bunkum. No British monarch has truly governed anything since the 1689 Bill of Rights removed all real powers from the king and his “evil counsellors”. Since then the monarchy has become—as Hilary Mantel understood better—a branch of entertainment, not government. Royals, Mantel wrote, are like pandas in a zoo: some like them, some pity them, “everybody stares at them”.Meghan Markle, an actress who began in daytime TV, knows this well. The website IMDB lists “Deal or No Deal” (2005) as an early hit paying her “$800 per episode”. Next came a breakthrough part in a schlocky American mini-series, “Suits” (2012), “$50,000 per episode”; then the even bigger role of, as the website royal.uk notes, “The Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel” (2018- present), salary undisclosed.Despite her marriage, the show has gone on. And on, and on—for, like daytime TV, this spectacle has tended towards melodrama. There have been family feuds, baddies (Harry called Camilla a “villain”), spin-off series, which didn’t really go anywhere, and even a car chase, which didn’t really go anywhere either. Like many Netflix series it has all gone on for so long that no one can quite remember the plot. Something to do with a dog bowl? As the royal phrase has it: “Recollections may vary.”Far more memorable have been the reviews, which have been woeful. “Spare”, Prince Harry’s tell-all book, was widely panned. “Polo”, his Netflix series, was ridiculed. “With Love, Meghan”, her lifestyle show, has a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes, a reviews aggregator. On YouGov, a sort of British reviews aggregator, Meghan now has a popularity rating of 18%, far behind William (71%), Kate (65%) and even Camilla the “villain” (35%).Like other ill-fated royals (Marie Antoinette also liked a farm), Meghan has branched out into agriculture and, like other stars, merchandising. She has a lifestyle brand called “As Ever” that promises to “bring surprise and delight to your every day”. It will certainly bring surprise to whoever pays your grocery bill, as its raspberry spread costs $12 a jar. More surprising yet is its “Sage Honey” ($32). Best of all is “Raspberry Spread Trio”, which offers three jars of that $12 item for $42, thus bringing surprise not merely to bill-payers but to those versed in the usual principles of economies of scale..Read more:.Andrew ’s Epstein fallout: The royal scandal that won’t go away.Now Harry and Meghan are back. Prophets have predicted the end of the monarchy; the word “tumbrils” has, previously, been used. Nonsense. Everyone is enjoying this far too much. Not because Harry and Meghan are good; they are not. They are grasping, foolish and far from DIGNIFIED. But that is their point. The monarchy has royals who are dutiful, admirable and dignified: Princess Anne will, in the next fortnight, visit a youth event in Norfolk, a probation office in Manchester and a fish cannery in Aberdeenshire. Hardly anyone cares.What will really kill the modern monarchy is not lack of dignity but, like any show, lack of interest; not the rolling of the tumbrils but declining audiences and the rolling of the credits. As Bagehot in fact knew: monarchy, he wrote, offers distraction from the “dry scenes of the grave world”. What is drier or graver than Britain’s? Andy Burnham is underwhelming, the drought is ongoing, the green and pleasant land is shrivelling. Meghan and Harry are ghastly but so is life. Let them eat headlines..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Harry and Meghan are ghastly and back in Britain. Good

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