Set to make their very first public appearance after the shocking allegations made against her father, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are this week travelling to Brussels to speak at the European Parliament to raise awareness of the dangers of social media.
It’s been reported Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will not be taking questions from media at the event – perhaps understandable given reports that Filipino police are “very close” to bringing charges of possession of child pornography against her dad Thomas Markle, 82.
This comes after a quiet few weeks for the couple, who took a brief step back from public life so as not to deflect attention from the King and Queen’s recent Caribbean tour.
Harry, 42, and Meghan, 45, also moved into a new house on a friend’s Cotswolds estate – amid claims they couldn’t afford to buy their own property in the UK – and spent precious time with their kids, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, during the school holidays.
The charges against Meghan’s father
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Meghan remains deeply affected by the allegations levelled at her estranged father.
Respected royal biographer Victoria Arbiter says the duchess is “in bits and tears” thinking about his alleged child victims.
And the palace is increasingly horrified by the furore, with Charles, 77, reportedly offering Harry help with an easy exit from his marriage.
“The King knows his son isn’t happy and he told Harry years ago he would help him through a divorce if he ever wanted it,” a royal insider reveals. “After this latest revelation, Charles is desperate for a clean slate for Harry and wants him to reconsider.”
The King’s final straw
We’re told the King’s public temper tantrum when he was caught without an umbrella during a Caribbean downpour was a sign of the stress the latest scandal has caused. He’s also blamed palace staff for not doing a more thorough background check on Meghan back in 2016, when she first started dating Harry, because they didn’t want to upset the young prince.
A similar misstep appears to have been made by the UK’s Metropolitan Police in 2019, when they intercepted a letter containing serious claims of child abuse against Meghan’s father but for some reason never investigated it further.
Our palace insider says, “Clearly the allegations involving her father have nothing to do with Meghan, but the King is fed up with all the drama this has brought to his world.”
