On Christmas Day, the Queen’s annual speech went to air. After a tumultuous and painful year that saw her favourite child, Prince Andrew, effectively sacked as a working royal, the feud between Princes William and Harry bursting into the open and Prince Philip hospitalised, 2019 was something of annus horribilis 2.0.
With her trademark steely gaze the longest serving monarch in British history stared down the barrel of the camera and admitted it had been a “bumpy” year.
We are only days into 2020 and already this year is shaping up to be even bumpier with Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dramatically announcing today that they are stepping back as senior members of the royal family. According to a number of reports from the UK, the Queen (along with Prince Charles and Prince William) was blindsided by the stunning revelation, with some reports suggesting Her Majesty only learnt about her grandson’s decision when it was reported on TV.
Ever since Harry and Meghan opened up to ITV’s Tom Bradby in October, revealing their struggle to contend with the pressures of royal life, there has been speculation that the couple might step back or even base themselves overseas.
Despite the fact that this sort of rogue move had been mooted, it is still a stunning blow that will have potentially far-reaching and damaging consequences for the royal family.
To start with, there is the simple fact that the remaining Windsors face having their workloads grow even further. Those plaques just won’t unveil themselves after all.
In 2019, Harry and Meghan carried out a combined 284 number of official engagements. Though they have said they will be “continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages” what that will mean in practical terms remains to be seen.
However, the far more significant and deleterious issue is the harm the Sussexes’ unprecedented move will have in regards to the health of the royal family as an institution. Harry is routinely voted as the first or second most popular member of the Windsor clan (occasionally being usurped by his tireless nonagenarian grandmother). Losing such a popular member is a definite blow.
With today’s news, brand Windsor has just taken a significant hit. Gone (or going) are two of the most charismatic members of the The Firm, who generated truly staggering levels of publicity – and more importantly, interest – in an institution that was in danger of looking increasingly like some fusty hangover from a bygone era.
Harry and Meghan were a powerful revitalising force for the institution of the monarchy who crucially made connecting with younger generations a core part of their work, giving the royal family a much more youthful face.
This might sound trivial, but consider that of the roster of working members of the royal family, nine out of the 13 are over the age of 70. For the royal family to maintain their relevance (and by extension, the benign acquiescence of the people to let them to continue to reign) it is imperative they establish and maintain their popularity with millennials. Losing the Sussexes will make this a much steeper feat.
More broadly, as Harry and Meghan embark on a new chapter, which will most likely only see their international celebrity (and bank accounts) grow, questions will be asked about why they were forced to take such a dramatic step.
In the 80s and 90s, when Lady Diana Spencer and Sarah Ferguson married into the Windsors, they struggled to survive with the icy strictures of royal life. As her marriage foundered, Diana went public, portraying the Queen, Prince Charles and the royal family at large as often cold and unfeeling, a perception that was exacerbated in the wake of her death.
It took years, if not decades, for that heartless image to be replaced with that of a (mostly) functional and modern family. Now, that hard fought impression is at stake.
Essentially, Harry and Meghan were unabashedly open about their desire and plans to forge a new model for royal life from the get-go, so why wasn’t Buckingham Palace able to find a way to accommodate them?
Then there is the existential threat Harry and Meghan’s resignation poses.
In 1947, the then-Princess Elizabeth gave her first public address, solemnly saying “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service”.
When members of the royal family give speeches or the rarest of rare interviews, they invariably bring up duty. They know they have, by dint of birth or marriage, been given something truly exceptional.
So, what happens if being royal is something you can simply discard when it no longer serves you? When it becomes too hard? It’s hard to escape the sense that Harry and Meghan’s choice might, unintentionally, diminish the very notion of what “royal” means.
The timing of this move is far from ideal, coming less than two months after Prince Andrew was effectively sacked as a working royal in the wake of his toe-curling interview. His at-times arrogant and self-righteous primetime performance on the BBC only served to strengthen the notion that the royal family is an out-of-touch, hoary beast.
Faced with the relentless drumbeat of excoriating coverage on a global scale, the Queen was left with no option but to force her favourite child to humiliatingly quit public life. This unseemly and bruising chapter had only just disappeared from the headlines when today’s bombshell broke.
Only days before Christmas, Prince Philip, who is 98, was hospitalised.
The Queen turns 94 in April this year. Facing ill-health and advancing years, the overall message coming from Buckingham Palace should be one of unity and continuity, not long-faced HRHs who want out.
Harry and Meghan’s plan would have had a seismic impact whenever it was publicly revealed but the announcement coming so soon after the Andrew fiasco will serve to destabilise the royal family’s public image.
The Queen is the 38th monarch, the list of which stretches back to Egbert in 827. The institution of the monarchy has survived the Industrial Revolution, civil war, and the unrivalled social upheaval of the 20th century over the last millennia, so it will take far more than two unhappy members jumping ship to endanger the whole institution.
That said, this year, Prince George will turn seven, meaning we are a decade or so away from the next generation of Windsors stepping into the spotlight. The pressure on his shoulders to ensure the vitality of the monarchy will be immense.
Walter Bagehot famously said of the royal family “we must not let in daylight upon magic”. No matter what you think of the contentions, headline-making Sussexes, there is no question that today, a little bit of the magic disappeared.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
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