The third day of the excerpts and many of us are already really anxious to find the freedom of Finding Freedom: the new book that traces the desperate flight of a family of refugees from the clutches of the British monarchy.
The suffering of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who fled a luxurious mansion in Windsor to seek refuge in a luxurious mansion in Hollywood through a luxurious mansion in Vancouver, is not for the weak.
On hundreds of tear-stained pages, authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie narrate the litany of cruelty and oppression the Sussexs suffered during their short-term membership in the Royal Family.
If you have a peeled onion on hand, feel free to shake it under your eyes when we go back to an incident at first, when Prince William worried that his younger brother would rush into things with his new girlfriend.
Get ready for the bombings, like the afternoon the Queen was too busy to see the Sussex and they had to wait for a date like everyone else. On another occasion, the Duchess of Cambridge was unable to take the Duchess of Sussex to the shops.
Elsewhere, Meghan once tried and failed to get her sister-in-law’s attention during a service at Westminster Abbey, and there was an unforgettable day when Harry was upset to see a rude reader’s comment on himself in the newspaper website.
If you have a peeled onion handy, feel free to shake it under your eyes as we move on to an incident at the beginning, when Prince William worried that his younger brother would rush to do things with his new girlfriend.
Harry was furious when William advised him to “meet this girl first”.
Well, what’s wrong with that?
Everything, apparently. According to Finding Freedom: “In those last two words, ‘this girl’, Harry heard the snobbish tone that was anathema in his approach to the world.”
Hope for? It’s hard to see anything pejorative about these loving fraternal concerns, or to conclude that, according to the evidence so far, the Sussex’s complaints don’t add up to a hill of half-baked beans.
Harry was furious when William advised him to “meet this girl first”. Well, what’s wrong with that? All apparently
To be honest, when it comes to memories of misery, Finding Freedom is not exactly about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. He is more like teenage Kevin and Veruca Salt dictating their faint moans to Scooby-Doo and Velma, who then publish their findings as The Secret Diary of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Mole.
The irritating tone is monstrous and unforgiving, while its utter emptiness and self-absorption are no surprise.
However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have always struggled, huge pains! – to emphasize how serious they are about their designated role as saviors of the world. It is not for them the old royal prerogative to gorge on peeled grapes while reclining on padded velvet, oh dear no.
From the outset, they virtually pinpointed a philanthropic and campaign agenda that they hoped would enrich the planet. They wanted to make a difference, they wanted to change the world, but most of all, they wanted to matter. Inside the royal cloisters or on the global stage, he was going to be a homme serieux, she a woman in the background.
Together they would be a force for good, writing about bananas and more, insisting that the population should acknowledge the Commonwealth’s racist past (what?) Or telling us about our travel options. To be or not to be? A private jet or not a jet? These were the questions.
But now we discover that behind the scenes they did not always lend their voices to those who could not be heard, because they always joined in harmony in a long howl of childish petulance; an endless growl about the lack of status and respect from inside and outside the Windsor House.
They tent here, they complain, they seem annoyed because their needs and desires always seem to occupy the second, third and fourth place of the Queen’s, the Cornwalls and the damn Cambridges.
The pair feel looked down and overlooked, especially since they suspect they are the new hot stars in the spider’s web orbit. To this end, they viewed each denied request as an act of sabotage, their star power being deliberately diluted as they were restricted to normal pageantry.
What did they both want or expect?
Higher billing, apparently. What is remarkable is that all of Harry’s life and upbringing have been dedicated and calibrated for him to be a prince. Surely he understands how it works? Surely he could have explained the system to his upset new girlfriend?
Mainly, that being real is a form of active duty, with ranks and hierarchy so simple that schoolchildren across the kingdom understand the line of succession and its importance to the Windsor, and to us.
In Finding Freedom, Meghan is gleefully compared to Kate as “a royal family co-worker and wife of William’s brother.”
However, Meghan was unable to understand the simple truth that, constitutionally, she was not exactly the same as her sister-in-law. And that is nothing personal, nothing racist, nothing sinister, nothing bad. This is how it works when you are a not so happy Windsor wife.
What is remarkable is that all of Harry’s life and upbringing have been dedicated and calibrated for him to be a prince. Surely he understands how it works? Surely he could have explained the system to his upset new girlfriend? Harry and Meghan are shown upstairs on their wedding day.
In the pages of Finding Freedom, we learn that the Duchess of Sussex found real life ruthless and friendless, not the fairy tale she had dreamed of since she was a child.
Here in the badlands of Buckingham Palace, her hard-earned Hollywood status didn’t matter at all, and the overwhelming suggestion seems to be that she and Harry thought it should count for more. Much more.
One can understand his urge to flee. Perhaps they asked themselves this: if we don’t decide what we are worth, who will? But everything they do seems to make things worse, not better.
Every time they try to wrest control of the narrative, they are only exposed to more ridicule. Sometimes you wonder if they ever stop to smell the roses or read the room or even consider the deep ignominy of their own situation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex like to portray themselves as a deeply awakened couple who care about the sins of the past and the turmoil of history, particularly the horribleness of what it was before versus today’s enlightenment.
However, if they really believed in any of it, they would be against hereditary royalty in all its forms. They would be ashamed to take their place in such an elite conspiracy of privilege.
Yet here they are, as journalist sympathizers portray it in this laughable book, complaining about every footman, brother, or newspaper that failed to deliver due deference or give them the esteem and status they feel they deserve.
They may have found freedom, but by airing these nickel and dime complaints, they have lost even more respect.
.
