With his toothy smile and his windblown hair, Prince Louis turned eight last month against the backdrop of a blue Cornish sky. And while fans were delighted to get a glimpse of the youngest Wales, over in Montecito the professional portrait sparked a reaction of a different kind.
PORTRAIT WARS
Prince Archie turns seven this week and –no doubt inspired by the delightful trove of pics and clips released of Prince Louis – Meghan wants to finally release a formal photo of their eldest child to mark the special occasion, putting her at odds with Harry, who is not convinced her reasons are enough to put Archie at risk.
“Harry knows from bitter experience how a childhood in the spotlight can change your life and not always for the better,” a royal insider tells Woman’s Day. “It’s an ongoing tug of war for the Sussexes over how much of Archie and Lilibet’s lives should remain private. It’s hard for Meghan to see her kids’ cousins have all the fun while her two have to be protected at all costs because of security.
But Harry’s other concern is that Meghan keeps pushing her luck with her branding and using Archie and Lilibet, who are in line to the throne, and he thinks it’s a dangerous game.”
MONEY-MAKING SCHEME
Along with spruiking two $89 candles “named in honour” of Prince Archie and four-year-old Princess Lilibet’s birthdates on her As Ever lifestyle website – products described as being “beautifully crafted” by Meghan herself – it’s been suggested the duchess is now eyeing a move into the “mumfluencer” space.
“Let’s face it, the lifestyle influencer space hasn’t really worked but the mummy influencer space seems to be really opening up for her now and what she is leaning into,” says royal writer Tom Sykes.
Harry, however, mindful of the backlash the couple received for their Australian tour, is starting to worry about Archie and Lilibet losing their titles, if they keep blurring the lines between being royalty and monetising it.
Tom Bower, author of Betrayal, a new biography about Meghan and Harry, believes the couple’s recent “quasi-royal” tour could result in dire consequences – Prince William removing Archie and Lili’s titles. It’s something the future king undoubtedly doesn’t want to do, but may have to in order to protect the Firm.
“Charles should never have given them titles. He was weak to concede it and he made a mistake,” he exclusively tells Woman’s Day. “It was quite clear the whole thing was to monetise the royal family, and they wanted the children to be on the same level as Kate and William’s children. That’s Meghan’s obsession – that Archie should be the same as George.
“I can’t imagine the King is going to help Harry promote his Invictus Games when he comes to the UK this July, because it will damage the royal family enormously. I don’t think Charles will even meet Harry, because it’s far too dangerous,” he says.
“But who knows what can happen between now and then. Meghan would just be commercialising herself and selling all her clothes and validating herself as a member of the family and that would be,
in my view, catastrophic… ”
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