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When Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stepped out in Brussels on November 10, they stepped right into what one source called an “incredibly messy situation”.
Meghan had been slated to deliver a joint keynote speech about online child safety at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial at the European Parliament – until recent events involving her father Thomas Markle Snr derailed the plan.
Markle Snr, 82, is facing charges of possessing child sex abuse material, which was allegedly seized by the FBI from two storage units in LA he had rented since 2008.
Markle Snr has vehemently denied the accusations against him, calling them “sick lies”. While he was initially released by a judge under electronic monitoring, he was returned to custody on November 10, after authorities learned he had cut off his tag.
Meghan – who has been estranged from her father for many years – had already told of her “distress” over the allegations against her dad, when news broke on November 9 that she was “not strong enough” to give her planned child safety speech.
Entertainment journalist Rob Shuter, however, reported that the duchess had been “quietly asked to withdraw” after Markle Snr’s arrest, with organisers said to be “keen to avoid an explosive public relations disaster” as “the timing was simply too toxic”.
“Make no mistake, this was not Meghan’s decision. She was asked to pull out,” a source told Shuter per his Naughty But Nice substack.
“They were facing a potential PR nightmare, and nobody wanted the entire event hijacked by questions about her father.
“They needed to protect the message, even if that meant sacrificing Meghan’s speech.”
Indeed, Australian body language and communication expert Louise Mahler tells Woman’s Day that when Meghan stepped out clutching Harry’s hand in front of a wall of photographers in Brussels, onlookers saw a version of the duchess “of which we have rarely seen before”.
“This is a serious Meghan,” the expert explained. “Her eyes dart left and right, looking behind her and down towards the ground.
“Her free hand is hidden in her pocket, while the other remains firmly held in Harry’s grip.
“There is no sign of that familiar Meghan smile. No open-mouthed expression of warmth or reassurance, not for the onlookers, not for Harry and not even as a moment of relief for herself.”
Indeed, Meghan cut quite the different figure when she and Harry appeared in Nottingham for a quasi-royal event on October 15.
On that occasion, the duchess – dressed in a rich burgundy coat and clutching gifted flowers – beamed with open-mouthed delight as she worked the crowds.
What a difference three weeks makes.
“What we are seeing is a very different Meghan,” Mahler declared.
“The performance is over. This is serious.”
