Prince Harry and Meghan’s next power move decoded

Lydia Spencer-Elliott, The Independent

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry looked visibly distressed as they stood at the bedside of Maria, a 14-year-old burns victim, at the Speciality Hospital in Amman this week. The Sussexes — on a 48-hour non-royal trip to Jordan — heard how the teenager narrowly avoided amputation of her right leg, losing her toes, after her parents and four other family members were killed in an explosion in Gaza. “Does she mind showing us?” Harry intervened as Maria’s doctor lifted the 14-year-old’s blanket to show her badly injured foot to the bedside crowd, demonstrating the signature care and compassion that characterised the charity visits of his late mother, Princess Diana — but Maria didn’t mind.

Dr Hamzeh Odeh, the emergency department manager at the Specialty Hospital, said that the Sussexes’ visit — one of many the couple will make to projects they’ve financially backed that facilitate the medical evacuation of children from the Gaza conflict — had been encouraging for staff and patients: “They have a very beautiful touch of humanity and it affects us,” he told reporters. “We take it as appreciation from them to come and say ‘thank you’ for our work — it’s like a very good push forward.”

The praise was a stark contrast to the heat hurtling towards the monarchy back in Britain, where the royal family is reeling from the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Harry’s uncle was last seen looking pale and startled as he attempted to recline out of view in the back of a car while leaving Aylsham police station, having spent 11 hours in custody. But, much like when Andrew was first linked to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Harry didn’t address the arrest.

As Meghan, with Harry at her side, stepped out in Jordan earlier in the day in an all-white £1,500 ivory Veronica Beard jacket, a white T-shirt, and matching trousers, the couple looked like the antithesis of the hell storm circling the monarchy in the UK. Squeaky clean and stainless, literally and figuratively. Accessorising the angelic look with an excited smile, the Duchess appeared eager for her engagements, while William and Kate put on a contrastingly tense display at the 2026 Baftas on Sunday night.

Unlike Harry, William doesn’t appear to have had the option to decline to comment on Andrew’s arrest. He and his father have spoken of their “concern” over the former prince’s conduct, with William adding at the film awards that he was unable to watch the historical drama Hamnet before the ceremony because “I need to be in quite a calm state, and I am not at the moment”. No kidding.

There has been some suggestion that Jordan was a tactless location choice for Harry and Meghan’s charity visit. Kate has a personal connection to the country as she lived there for two years as a child when her father, Michael Middleton, was sent to Amman during his career at British Airways.

Meanwhile, William and the country’s Crown Prince Hussein watched England beat Panama in the World Cup during his trip to Jordan in 2018, and the pair have remained friendly since, with William welcoming the Crown Prince to Windsor Castle last October. Buckingham Palace officials are understood to have been informed in advance of the couple’s trip to Jordan.

Nevertheless, Meghan and Harry’s visit — at the invitation of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation — is evidently far more of a philanthropic than social excursion. Following their time at the hospital, the pair visited the Za’atari refugee camp, where tens of thousands of Syrians fled to escape conflict in their country, until recently ruled by Bashar al-Assad.

Having changed into a more demure brown trousers and T-shirt outfit, Meghan joined a group of young girls for a football skills session, during which Harry’s shot at goal was saved by one of the female players, and Meghan scored a penalty. Any bragging, though, was cut short when one of the little girls was asked by staff whether she knew who Meghan was, and she promptly walked off in the other direction. “So sweet, so confident — that’s what you’re instilling,” Meghan said in response to the humbling moment.

For their last day in Jordan, Meghan and Harry will spend time at Amman's National Centre for Rehabilitation of Addicts, visit the World Central Kitchen’s regional headquarters, speak with female leaders at the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development, and tour the King Hussein Cancer Center, headed by Princess Ghida Talal, who is a cousin-in-law of William’s pal, Hussein. In their bid to learn more about the humanitarian effort for Syrians and Palestinians in Jordan, the Hollywood-leaning former royals have offered an antidote to the dark side of the monarchy that hit the headlines last week, as well as somewhat successfully distancing themselves from the accusations of navel-gazing that marred them following the release of their numerous Netflix projects.

Over on the opposite end of the spectrum, Kate and William are recovering from the Baftas (please, simply imagine them in the same room as Kylie Jenner). Meanwhile, King Charles was last seen sitting front row — next to Stella McCartney — at Tolu Coker’s London Fashion Week show, holding up silk scarves emblazoned with the name of his sustainability charter, Terra Carta. At a very serious time, it seems that the Windsors are opting to wholeheartedly embrace the entertainment industry, while Harry will return to the UK this summer to mark the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games. At this difficult time for the institution, they are both harnessing the opportunity to remind us of their staying power.