Annus Horriblis with a touch of Megxit

Who here is getting fed up of constantly hearing about the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry saga? Or, what is now being termed, ‘Megxit’.

You have to admit that the British Royal family has been in the news a little far too frequently in the past year. More so than when Prince William married Kate Middleton. Moreover, I think that the level and frequency seems to have escalated to a level we’ve never seen before. There’s always a Royal baby being born or a high profile royal trip but it’s gone to a different level a little too soon.

First it was Prince William and Kate Middleton visiting Pakistan, which apparently went down a treat with both the Pakistanis and the world press. Then it was Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s turn with a trip to Africa and news of the possibility of the two permanently moving to the African continent. My question is this, though: does anyone really care what the royal couple or the family in general gets up to? I do not, to be honest, unless of course it’s something they do that directly affects a ‘commoner’.

However, having said that, if you recall that, during her annual Christmas message the Queen did intimate that the year 2019 was annus horriblis for her family. Well, it certainly had its challenges.

Remember when I said earlier that I don’t particularly care what the royal family gets up to, unless it affects a ‘commoner’ like you and me? Well the 98 year old Duke of Edinburgh certainly caught our attention when the car he was driving collided with another vehicle in a country road, causing extensive damage to both vehicles and, more importantly, injuries to the occupants of the other car. It was staggering that the Duke himself sustained no injuries at all! I repeat that the man is 98 years old and escaped without a scratch on him!

We also had Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s trip to Africa. Unfortunately, even though they appeared to be enjoying themselves, the event was marred by the fact that someone had hacked into their smartphones and stolen some photos. In addition to that the couple appear to be suing a number of tabloids for spreading misinformation about Markle. That being said, there are rumours going around in the press that there may be a slight rift between the couple. I don’t know if you’ve seen a YouTube of the royal family on the balcony at the Trooping the Colour last year. The video appears to show Harry somewhat snapping at Markle during the anthem. She kept turning back to speak to him when the band was playing. His eyes indicated to somewhere off to the right of her and lip readers swear he said, ‘turn around’ at which point she turned back and stood up straight.

It seems that the press in the UK has not been kind to Meghan. I don’t know whether it’s to do with the fact that she is a person of colour or that she is an American or both. But one recent interview with a colleague/friend of Markle suggests that the friend tried to warn her about marrying a Prince after what happened to Princess Diana with the press intrusion. But the friend/colleague claims that Markle didn’t want to hear it, told her to ‘save it’ because she was going to take the prince and rule the world. It’s rather shocking that all those people Meghan called friends are now spilling the beans to the tabloids. She is now in Canada and there is no telling if and when she will return.

There are also reports of a rift between the two wives, Middleton and Markle, and worse than that, between the two brother. There are rumours that William apparently bullies Harry. The latter denies it and I don’t really believe that he would do that.

But this one last bit of scandal is the worst of all the scandals in the history of the royal family. It is worse than the Prince of Wales’ infidelity, his break up with Princess Diana over Camilla Parker Bowles and even the death of ‘The People’s Princess’. I am sure that when she heard about Prince Andrew and his connection to the late paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, she wished that the ground would open up and swallow her up. Moreover, instead of denying it or keeping his head down, the Prince and his team thought it would be a bright idea if he accepted an invitation from the BBC to be interviewed so that he could explain himself. But boy, was that a terrible idea? I don’t know if you saw it but it was like watching David Brent from The Office explaining to his boss why he threw an important memo in the bin. Only, it wasn’t a memo. And now we may never see Prince Andrew in public service ever again since the family seems to have shunned him aside. He is an embarrassment to them, more than his brother, the future king, ever was.