When Prince Harry picked up the phone in late March and heard the tension in his father’s voice, he immediately knew something was wrong.
It was bad news: Harry was shocked to learn that Prince Charles, 71, had tested positive for the life-threatening coronavirus.
Worse still, after moving to Los Angeles, Harry was 5,000 miles away from his family.
“He realized that Charles and the Queen are not going to be forever,” says a source in the new book “Royals At War: The Inside Story of Harry and Meghan’s Shocking Split With the House of Windsor” by Andy Tillett and Dylan. Howard (Skyhorse Publishing), came out Tuesday.
“Harry’s biggest fear is not being there if his grandmother dies,” adds a source in the book.
The worrying update that his beloved father was ill with COVID-19 was one of many reminders that the 35-year-old man was stranded far from home after leaving Britain with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their 1-year-old son. . son archie
Such struggles in Harry’s new life, first on Vancouver Island, Canada, and now in Los Angeles, are exposed in the new book, along with Meghan’s determination to get what she wants.
“Meghan has always been fascinated with creating a ‘brand’,” says a former friend to the authors. “I don’t think she married Harry with just that in mind, but it was a determining factor.”
So the question is, how does someone who, as the book says, was born into fame and came to detest him and someone who aspired to fame and became armed, lives happily ever after in La La Land?
“She is ensuring [Harry] Once things are back to normal, he will love his new life in Los Angeles, “says a source.” Meghan wants to take him for a walk and talks about the local polo club and how much she will love to surf. “
But right now, life is a bit of a shiny front. The authors paint a depressing image of Princess Diana’s second son, once adored, “overwhelmed with guilt for not being closer to home while this [the pandemic] is happening. “
It seems like a very high price to pay for what many believe was an ill-conceived and somewhat stubborn decision by Harry and Meghan to turn their backs on royal duty, citing their desire to live as a normal family with Archie, away from the attention of means and protocol of congested palace.
The duo announced their determination to part ways with the Blue Blood family in January, just 20 months after their fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018. According to sources, the departure, which was widely known as ” Megxit, “he was deeply saddened. 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth II.
It also widened the gap between Harry and his close brother Prince William, as well as William’s wife Kate Middleton. According to a royal member quoted in the book, the second in line to the British throne and his spouse “feel screwed” because they will likely have twice the workload now that Harry and Meghan will not be attending many official engagements. .
“They think it is unfair that Harry and Meghan continue to reap the rewards of being part of the royal family without having to make any effort,” explains the royal insider. (While Harry is still a prince by birthright, he will no longer use that title or His Royal Highness.)
The actual source says Kate in particular is “panicking” about how she “will juggle additional responsibilities with family life” during the pandemic. It’s a time when older royalty, like her mother-in-law Camilla Parker Bowles and her father-in-law Charles, who has since recovered from COVID-19, need to take a break from the front line for their own health and safety. .
Image has always been important to Meghan Markle. Now it’s more important … [because] She needs income.
– Source in “Royals at War”
Another person familiar with the situation claims that Will and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, feel that Meghan, 38, is a manipulative teacher to her husband, who is known in internal circles for not being the smartest of men who often act first and think later.
“They think it is pathetic how Meghan works Harry as her own personal puppet,” says a source. “They resigned themselves to losing the Harry they once knew in the foreseeable future.”
According to Ninaki Priddy, who grew up with Meghan, the actress has long known how to shape people and situations to her satisfaction. Priddy reveals in the book how Meghan changed once she got “Suits,” the USA Network series that brought the first real taste of stardom she craved.
“There’s Meghan Before Fame and Meghan After Fame … The tone of her voice, her manners, the way she laughed, they didn’t seem real to me anymore,” says Priddy. “In the second season of ‘Suits’ she rejected lunch with [old friends] because she said she would be recognized. “
Initially, it looked like Canada would go to a permanent home for Harry, Meghan, and baby Archie, with the family locked in secluded Mille Fleurs, a five-bedroom house inspired by the French country borrowed from an anonymous billionaire on Vancouver Island.
But the itchy feet soon struck again. According to the authors, the duchess soon “unleashed her long-desired plan” to return to Los Angeles, the city where she grew up. It is also the home of her mother, yoga instructor Doria Ragland.
Southern California was calling the name of the former actress. After looking at mansions in gated communities around Bel Air, the family moved into an $ 18 million, eight-bedroom, Tuscan-style villa on 23 acres of land in Beverly Hills. It is owned by actor and producer Tyler Perry, whom Meghan is believed to have met through her mutual friend Oprah Winfrey.
In Beverly Hills, Meghan is indulging Harry’s whims, aware that her nostalgia was probably exacerbated by the blockage. She is eager for the reopening of the city so that they can start dating again.
Harry, who has taken yoga to ease his anxiety, is trying to minimize his discontent. At least to his wife.
Another of the book’s sources comments: “Like any home, right now, there are ups and downs. To Harry’s credit, he has tried to protect Meghan from her stress. So he will entrust it to his friends in London over the phone.
Blocking the Los Angeles pandemic did nothing.
“In addition to everything, he has a cabin fever,” adds that source. “It was far from being an ideal situation. Harry has gone from feeling excited by the move to feeling secretly tortured.
But the couple are already busy making contacts at Golden State and exploring career opportunities for when the pandemic ends.
“They are in contact with several powerful players in Los Angeles and hope to organize dinners with people like George and Amal Clooney and the great film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg,” says another source.
Meghan, who recently made a highly publicized voiceover for the Disney documentary “Elephants,” loves the idea of being the breadwinner with Harry as a stay-at-home father.
“Image has always been everything to Meghan Markle,” says a friend of hers in the book. “It is more important to her now than ever because, because the Queen’s money is no longer coming, she needs income.”
But she has no plans to do another television show like “Suits”. Instead, according to another source, her husband has encouraged her to do more voiceover work, as well as “write, produce and direct in her spare time.”
Harry also has Hollywood ambitions, focused on documentaries about the charities he supports.
“We will see him on camera, mainly as a spokesperson,” a source tells the authors. “He’s not trying to be the next Brad Pitt or anything. He understands that it is a risky company. Harry knows that Hollywood is fickle.
“He wants to do everything right from the beginning and if everything works out, he will use the exhibition to shed light on worthy causes.” With Harry and Meghan, it’s not just about making quick money, there has to be a purpose behind their work. “
Meanwhile, Meghan is enjoying the little things that her renewed life in America can offer. That includes having the freedom to use what you want instead of following the strict guidelines of purists in their old office at Kensington Palace.
The book quotes someone on her fashion outfit as saying, “Meghan was told she should start dressing less like a Hollywood star and more like royalty,” such as not wearing as much black and wearing a hat only when approved by the queen. .
You can also go back to other old Hollywood habits.
The book mentions how “Meghan’s West Coast particular brand of energy,” meaning he got up at 5 a.m. and bombarded aides with text messages, irritated his former London staff and earned him the nickname “Hurricane Meghan”. Also, a source in the book says, he led Kate to tell Meghan not to speak to her staff like that.
It doesn’t matter how Los Angeles changes Meghan, or allows her to return to familiar behaviors, only now with another level of fame, one thing seems certain. The authors are convinced that Harry will be in Meghan’s bondage for years to come.
As the book says: “She is your only survival strategy for your biggest dream: a life forever free from being real.”
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