A Royal Mess Word on the Week 13th March 2021.
Family life in the 21st century is not an easy business but when it has to be lived out in the full glare of the monarchy everything must take on a larger than life appearance. Harry and Megan’s interview on Monday night had an estimated Irish TV audience of 725,000. Not bad for an interview!
The couple had a tough assignment. They had decided that royal life was not for them and had sought to put together a part-time post. In it they would cut out most of the functions but keep the perks. The perks that the interview highlighted were titles and security. The latter gives an insight into the sort of life that goes with fame and the anxieties that attach to the name of Windsor.
Megan did most of the talking and delivered the two ‘bombshells’ well. They were the charge of racism (Megan is of mixed race) from the palace and lack of help when Megan felt suicidal. The interviewer, Oprah Winfrey, has a sphinx like face which betrayed little emotion. She extracted the maximum impact from the interviewees words by using minimal words and subtle facial inflections.
Megan’s father, Thomas, when asked what he thought of the interview said “Megan has ghosted all of her family on both sides”. ‘Ghosted’ according to the Oxford Dictionary is explained by the statement ‘being ghosted is one of the toughest ways of being dumped’.
Piers Morgan’s claim on Good Morning Britain that he “didn’t believe” her when she said she had suicidal thoughts and failed to get mental health support from within the royal household. It cost him his job. Piers clearly values free speech more than the job he has held down for a number of years!
Will it sink the monarchy? For all its faults the monarchy, since Brexit, is one of the few assets the UK have left. The Pomp and Circumstance are coveted by EC. The Queen, who has the task of reconciling the matter, has maintained contact with her grandson Harry. She is a godly person and will realise that before reconciliation can flow there is the hard work of repentance and forgiveness to be worked out on both sides.
All this depends on a willingness for those involved to want it to happen. The prodigal son would never have returned home if he had not been hungry (St Luke Chapter 15 verse 17). It may be some time before Harry gets hungry and at age 94 his grandmother will want the process to keep moving!
Families have the power to inflict the maximum hurt or the maximum good on one another. May God give them the desire to sort it out.