I arrived three weeks ago to a Britain in full coronation celebration, reveling in the historic and impressive crowning of Charles III. I returned this past weekend from a Britain in stitches over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest whopper — what they claim to be a two-hour car chase.
The jokes, the roasts, the eye rolls haven't stopped for days on both sides of the Atlantic. One thing is clear: this couple who take themselves oh-so-seriously have been reduced, in the world’s eyes, to circus clowns — out-cartooning even their "South Park" depictions.
For a duo with lofty leadership aspirations, the Sussexes suffer a wincing worldwide credibility gap that the latest histrionics immortalize in stone.
MEGHAN MARKLE'S INNER CIRCLE: BEYONCÉ, OPRAH, GWYNETH PALTROW HELP DUCHESS CLIMB STATUS LADDER
Last Tuesday, Markle received an award in New York City from the Women of Vision. And then the latest drama began. The Sussex press team announced that Meghan and Harry had been "involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi." That resulted in "multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers."
Ironic, that Meghan can be recognized as a Woman of Vision when she and her husband seem blind to the reality of the impact of their own behavior and tone-deaf perennial pursuit of victimhood.
I tried to suppress my first reaction, as the English say, "rubbish." I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, that this couple, which has an impressive track record of lying and distorting, was in harm’s way. Many of those on the ground in New York and just about everyone else across the globe were less charitable.
The NYPD released, "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard." That's entirely consistent with a close witness, a cab driver personally involved: "It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie," said Mr. Singh. "[I]t’s New York, it’s safe."
Harry and Meghan’s lies are legion. The most egregious was their backfired attempt to cause reputational damage to the royal family through the blockbuster 2020 Oprah interview. During this spectacle, Markle alleged that their then-unborn child was a victim of racism when a family member she refused to name speculated about which parent the child might resemble.
The duke has attempted to walk back from this — attributing the accusation to, of course, the British press. He shifted to a suggestion that his family is guilty (merely) of "unconscious bias" that they would recognize if only they would have a sit down with him so that he can share the benefits of his California therapy sessions.
Comedian Chris Rock nailed them on it. He responded to the Oprah interview, saying, "I'm like, 'What the f--- is she talking about?' 'Oprah, they're so racist, they wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be.' "I'm like, 'That's not racist,' cause' even Black people want to know how brown the baby gonna be. S---. We check behind them ears.'"
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British journalist Camilla Tominey has suggested, suggests that the timing of the alleged chase is suspect. She said the incident occurred just as he was battling to keep his security detail, with his lawyers claiming, "that it was not only wrong of him to be stripped of his armed Metropolitan Police protection when he is back in the UK, but unfair for him to have been denied the right to reimburse the taxpayer for it." Perhaps that does provide the motive for this particularly egregious attempt at playing the victim.
It's long been observed that it's much harder to maintain a narrative when it's based on lies rather than truth because the liar has to remember what they said rather than what they actually experienced. Therein lies the trap, self-created by those insisting on "their" rather than "the" truth.
The falsehoods of the deceitful duo indeed have demonstrated this. They have even contradicted themselves and each other, Page Six, reported about their then-released teleseries, "Netflix and the series’ filmmakers were confused by some of the comments that Harry makes in his upcoming book being at odds with what he and his wife said on camera."
Former allies now mock Harry and Meghan with each new humiliation resulting from their own misbehavior. Perhaps most wounding for the couple is the point I’ve made before on these pages, that the only reason anyone pays them any attention is their link to the family they have betrayed.
Harry and Megan were given the chance of a storybook existence. They took the titles but rejected the rest in a way that made them the villains of this particular fairytale. But the storybook ending almost always turns out poorly for the villain.
