How the queen proved that Harry and Meghan were wrong in four minutes

COMMENTARY

When the Queen delivered her landmark speech last week, she showed the gross miscalculation that Meghan and Harry made in Los Angeles.

In the coronavirus era, we all spent a lot of time reading, thinking, and talking about numbers. The number of new infections. The number of deaths. The approximate number of days until this horrible and brave new world ends.

So here’s another one: 23.3 million.

This is how many Brits tuned in LIVE to see the Queen give only the fourth televised address of her nearly 68-year reign since Windsor Castle while addressing the current pandemic.

With his measured signature, crystal tones, and a blend of seriousness and genuine tenderness, he spoke to an eager and angry audience directly from Windsor Castle.

It was a historical direction in more ways than one. There was a consensus among experts across the political spectrum that his performance was Churchillian, a certainty that his words will end up in history textbooks and be slapped in Instagram posts for years to come.

Unlike previous broadcasts that have required an entourage of BBC technical staff to help express their measured words, this time, there was only one person with a masked camera in the room with Her Majesty.

It is a shocking and powerful image: a woman who leads an army and leads a religion alone with one of its 2.4 billion subjects, united by a common cause.

The popularity of the Queen’s speech was not limited to the United Kingdom. In France, 2.35 million people tuned in and was broadcast live in Germany and on all major US channels. USA And Australia in commercial networks.

In just four minutes, the 93-year-old man managed to demonstrate the amazing, remarkable relevance and power of the monarchy.

READ MORE:
• Archie, the son of Harry and Meghan, “well on the way to walk”
• Harry and Meghan’s awkward website mistake for a charity
• The new Prince Harry and Meghan website launches when they launch the Archewell Foundation
• Prince Harry and Meghan: What comes next for the Sussexes?

What other world leaders could attract so much global attention? What other figure could unify a nation divided by political differences and provide such immediate aid and support for millions?

But this was not the only true story that made headlines last week.

On Tuesday, the name and approach of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s upcoming philanthropic offering, were revealed. The Daily Telegraph (UK) first reported that the couple have filed documents in the United States for an entity called Archewell, named after the Greek word for “source of action” and her son Archie.

On the charity’s potential agenda are things like volunteer services, “education and training materials”, film deliveries, podcasts and books, along with the possibility of a “website with information in the field of nutrition, general health and mental health. “

So let’s talk about another number here: 11.3 million. That was the number of followers the couple’s Sussex Royal Instagram account boasted of before April 1, the day that marked the official departure of the real-life duo, and therefore the day they no longer they were allowed to mark themselves as “real”.

Or to put it another way, less than half the number of people who, in the UK alone, tuned in to Grandma’s televised address this week.

Looking back over the past two and a half years, Harry and Meghan have largely mastered the royal narrative (aside from Prince Andrew).

They were the magnetic duo whose love for each other was positively infectious. When they came out in event after event, hands clasped, smiling at each other, the audience fell again at the very idea of ​​a hereditary monarchy.

They were a much-needed tonic to try to shore up the public interest and support of the institution in the 21st century.

And then the story soured. They faced a series of public relations crises and became real lightning rods, their options on everything from where to live, to the birth of their son, to their predilection for private planes that dominated the coverage of the Palace.

Then their smiles began to waver and they went to South Africa in September last year. Both shared their personal struggles in real life with a veteran journalist, a film crew who captured his obvious anguish.

They took a six-week gap year in Canada over Christmas and then, in early January, there was the surprising announcement that they wanted to renegotiate their job role in the royal family and that a new website was ready to go.

When the Queen, Prince Charles, and Prince William came to negotiate a week later, it was reported that the Sussexs were presented with an entry or exit ultimatum.

Harry and Meghan, the Windsor’s great bright hope, chose not to participate.

In hindsight, his left start stage looks like a calculated power game. They were the stars in the real drama who commanded large crowds of worship both in reality and on social media. With their departure, they could get rid of the shackles of Palace protocol and enjoy an almost perfect entry into Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Hollywood.

They could build philanthropic power and tremendously valuable branding and never have to reveal a plaque or cut a ribbon or shake hands again with a nervous Lord Lieutenant.

However, like many other assumptions and options, the rampant and appalling spread of COVID-19 has exposed the void of that model.

With just 532 words, His Majesty demonstrated the relevance and sheer innate power of the monarchy to provide true comfort on a global scale.

In contrast, the Sussex hash tagged aid brand has begun to resemble a flimsy imitation of the real and royal deal.

To be fair, Harry and Meghan’s longstanding interest in mental health and their apparent plans to continue that work will be more vital than ever as billions of us grapple with loneliness, depression and anxiety. (Although given the large number of charities already in place to deal with these issues, it is up for debate whether the Sussexs could achieve more by simply channeling money to these valuable organizations rather than establishing another.)

In the coming weeks or months, when Harry and Meghan launch their new Instagram account, they will surely accumulate millions of followers and I like it with record speed. But contrast that impressive digital influence with the Queen’s impressive tangible influence and reach.

It’s hard not to think if your decision to get rid of Royal-Dom is starting to look like a miscalculation; after all, just look at the numbers.