The season of goodwill is upon us, but there’s no sign of peace breaking out in the ongoing feud between Prince William and Prince Harry, which now threatens to carry on into the next generation.
Both sets of parents are convinced they are in the right, and refuse to apologize, even performatively, in the service of peace. It’s safe to assume that both sets of children are therefore subject to a one-sided account of the accusations, backstabbing, and betrayal that have characterized this family breakdown.
The Daily Beast’s Royalist has heard that no Christmas presents or cards are exchanged between the children. Harry, we have been told, has sent Christmas and birthday presents to the Wales children in the past, but is not sure if they were passed on.
It’s an issue that has come into focus as both Prince William’s kid, George, and Harry’s children, Archie and Lilibet, were publicly introduced into their respective family (charity) businesses this week, with both sides no doubt keen to cash in on the season of goodwill to start positioning their kids as their inheritors.
Meghan and Harry went first. In a statement on their Archewell website, the couple revealed that the organization was being rebranded as “Archewell Philanthropies.”
Accompanying the rebrand was a striking line: the charitable entity, they said, would allow “the couple and their children to expand upon their global philanthropic endeavors as a family.”
The implication that children as young as Archie and Lilibet—6 and 4—are already participants in “global philanthropy” and are looking forward to getting more involved is absurd, grandiose, and self-important. The duo are probably more interested in laughing their heads off at yelling the word “poop.” It also raises serious questions about who is advising Meghan and Harry, and whether they are being listened to.
Publicly positioning very young children as active participants in a global philanthropic enterprise, without them having any meaningful say in it, is also, of course, something the royals do, a lot.
On Saturday, Prince William thrust his son and heir, George, fully into the limelight for the first time, as photographs and video were released of George making Christmas lunch for the homeless at London shelter The Passage, a favorite cause of Princess Diana’s.
Strategically, the idea of George, 12, helping out at The Passage for an hour or so is easier for us (and him) to understand than a deluded statement suggesting your 4-year-old is already a global philanthropist. The Royalist recalls caroling at Christmas to raise money for the homeless at about that age; it’s a cause that, to a child, is (perhaps deceptively) easy to understand, especially at this time of year, because the immediate demand—shelter—is both straightforward and of a piece with the nativity story.
Notably, Harry and Meghan took their kids to do something similar ahead of Thanksgiving, when the family spent time preparing meals for the Los Angeles community with Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles (OBKLA).
Meghan shared snaps of the experience on her Instagram Stories, including one of her smiling and holding Lilibet’s hand as Harry poured ground beef over rice into containers.
However, because the children’s faces were obscured as part of the worldwide privacy tour, the images didn’t really have much impact, certainly not the impact that the crystal-clear footage and photos of William and George smiling broadly made this week.
It was notable that Meghan posted the most revealing images yet of Archie and Lilibet on the very day the charity rebrand was announced.
It is now undeniable, as The Royalist has long argued, that the Sussex children’s faces are being revealed incrementally as a powerful promotional tool, stoking interest and attention at pivotal moments, such as this announcement that Archewell is not a conventional charity, but a heritable, brand-driven enterprise.
Archie and Lilibet are being eased into their roles as components of the Sussex brand before our eyes every bit as much as George is, and they will surely be fully unveiled to us soon in service of that cause.
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