A return for Meghan Markle, if it actually happens, could drop like a lead balloon with the British public. She torched her bridges in her husband’s homeland, above all, it seems, through the couple’s conduct toward the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in their final years. Publicising this family trip for the Invictus one-year-to-go event in Birmingham looks like an attempt to put the King in a tight spot. After years of setbacks in California, it may just have sunk in, even to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: without the royal connection they ditched, their draw is limited.
Media reports over the past few days frame a July visit for Meghan and Prince Harry as a homecoming, with the children, Archie and Lilibet coming along. Many will be sceptical. Harry founded Invictus in 2014 and built it into a respected platform for wounded veterans from his own army days. That endeavour still earns credit. Tying the Birmingham countdown to a Sussex family spectacle pulls the focus away from the veterans. They should stay the main focus.
British opinion of the Sussexes understandably turned sour early. Their 2021 Oprah interview levelled racism allegations against the royal family that lacked solid evidence. Harry’s damning memoir Spare cashed in on private family matters. The pair demanded privacy while selling their exit story abroad.
