Opinion: Harry and Meghan Are Already Undermining Their Own Sob Story Narrative

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Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, whose spokesperson has refused to confirm on the record that she is living in the United Kingdom, has nonetheless posted a video of herself and the fifth, sixth and seventh in line to the British throne gallivanting around in an idealized version of the English countryside, with a Union Jack and a heart emoji plastered over the top.

Lilibet on a bike with pink tassels.

Archie running beside her down a tree-lined path, deer in the distance.

Harry fishing with the children from a little boat, a Labrador on the bank, a fire, the couple holding hands.

It is very squarely aimed at presenting a happy, settled version of the Sussexes as they ease back into British life.

View this post on Instagram This comes just days after Harry was spotted wandering around the reception of the pool area at Soho Farmhouse, a private club in Oxfordshire about 40 minutes from the property where it is believed that Harry and his family are staying. (That followed Meghan’s own first sighting in the U.K. at the same club.) Many people assumed Meghan’s new video was filmed at Althorp, the Spencer family’s estate.

The Royalist’s sources, however, believe this is not the case.

This raises many questions: where was it filmed, whose land is it, and who was behind the camera? Then there are the contradictions, which are hard to ignore.

The Sussexes say they want to be private, that they need protection, that it is impossible for them to live as normal private individuals, and that this is why they must be treated as public figures again.

Then they do a huge amount to publicize themselves.

They say social media is bad and children need to get off their phones.

Then they use the same platform to mediate their relationship with the public, and put their own children at the core of it.

Meghan’s lifestyle brand exists entirely within the attention-economy infrastructure she and Harry denounce : the curated grid, the soft kitchen shots, the funnel from feed to website to jam.