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Controversy surrounding a video posted by the Duchess of Sussex has become the latest event to overshadow any positive talk of royal family reconciliation.
Meghan, 44, filmed her view of Paris from the backseat of her car after attending the Balenciaga fashion show on October 4. Her footage included the Pont de l’Alma bridge, which leads to the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, the site of the car crash that killed Princess Diana.
The clip ended with a blurry shot of her feet, with many slamming the former actress as ‘insensitive’, reports the Mirror. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams says while Meghan simply made a genuine mistake, it’s unlikely the clip and subsequent fallout has gone down well at home.
“I suspect Harry will be horrified and extremely angry, because the video links to the most traumatic period of his life,” he told OK!. “He would be aghast, because even though it wasn’t intentional, it was a very bad mistake.”
“Meghan simply cannot afford to behave like that, because of who she is and the fact she has made herself into a brand. Her airily filming part of Paris, while it wasn’t intended to offend anybody and was clearly a mistake, was grossly insensitive, and these mistakes hold weight.”
Meghan’s solo visit to the French capital was her first trip to Europe in two years, while Prince Harry remained at home in California with Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four. She was there to support her friend, Balenciaga’s new creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, and was photographed mingling with Vogue icon Dame Anna Wintour, as well as film director Baz Luhrmann.
But it was the video she posted after the glitzy fashion show that became the talk of her trip online. One person wrote on X, “I’m speechless. This doesn’t show love or respect for Harry. I feel for Prince William. This is beyond insensitive”.
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Others called her post “tasteless”, suggesting she had “disrespected” Diana’s memory. The video also reportedly went down badly with Harry’s relatives. One source was widely quoted as saying Prince William, 43, was “livid beyond words”.
Richard, a former editor of The International Who’s Who, agrees that the older royal sibling won’t have been impressed with the clip, telling us he suspects William “would regard it as an ill-judged and self-centered mistake”. He adds that the fallout could put Harry in a difficult position when it comes to publicly supporting his wife.
“He is unable to shield Meghan from the repercussions of her mistake, it cannot be undone,” he said. “If the average person filmed a video like that, it wouldn’t matter. But every single thing Meghan does is scrutinised, by friend or foe.”
However, her trip undeniably boosted her profile in the fashion world, especially after photographs of her stepping out in eye-catching pieces from Balenciaga’s new collection were printed on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Jennie Bond, the BBC’s former royal correspondent, says the Paris Fashion Week trip was a clear sign of where Meghan is heading.
“You can see from the interest in her at the show, including a greeting from Anna Wintour, that the fashion world values Meghan,” she told OK!.
“And she is likely to become more interested in the fashion world with all the collaborations and commercial opportunities it can offer. And that’s fine. She’s a pretty woman and is now free to do as she pleases.”
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Jennie also agreed that upsetting Harry with the video would have been “the last thing Meghan meant to do”, adding, “She could have thought about it harder, but, like so many people these days, it’s all about sharing your life instantly without considering the implications.”
Despite Harry and King Charles, 76, meeting in person last month, the path to mending their relationship has been far from smooth since. Following their private tea at Clarence House on 10 September, Harry’s office accused “sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son” of leaking details about what happened between the pair.
While Meghan’s Paris trip might have been deemed a success – in terms of press coverage – had it not been for the video, Richard says the social media post is just the latest in a series of blunders that has potentially further delayed an end to the royal family feud. On Harry’s recent trip to Kyiv to promote his Invictus Games Foundation in Ukraine, the duke spoke to a journalist about his current family predicament.
As well as saying he wanted to spend more time in the UK and for the focus to be on his father in the coming years, he also addressed some of the personal disclosures in his memoir Spare. Harry denied he “aired his dirty laundry in public” and said he wrote a “series of corrections to stories already out there”.
While maybe well-intentioned, Richard says his words likely did more harm than good.
“There was much talk about his meeting with King Charles, and then Harry had a few good days with WellChild and his trip to the Ukraine,” he explained. “But then he sabotaged himself, saying he regretted nothing. It is beyond belief. I don’t imagine there will be another meeting between the King and Harry for a long time now.”
