Why Prince Harry and Meghan face more challenges after their return to the U.K.
asserted
Harry → face → U.K.
New issues for non-working members of Royal Family include concerns over security
Public or private?
asserted
issues → include → security
In ways, it can get confusing — there was Prince Harry, smiling for the cameras that often capture his comings and goings as he arrived at a charitable event Thursday night in London.
asserted
he → get → London
His attendance at an awards ceremony connected to the Invictus Games, which he founded for wounded and ill service members, garnered headlines.
asserted
he → connect → headlines
Media reports noted that it was his first appearance in public since he and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, returned to the U.K. from California with their two children late last month.
asserted
he → note → children
Still, in the past few days, it has also been made clear — via a letter from Buckingham Palace — that he and Meghan remain non-working members of the Royal Family.
"In short, their position is akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests," the letter stated.
asserted
letter → make → interests
The missive from the palace and all the media attention it garnered in recent days are a stark reminder that issues that arose when Harry and Meghan stepped back from official duties in 2020 remain front and centre with their return to Britain.
asserted
Harry → garner → Britain
The letter affirms that King Charles agrees with his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, that there can't be members of the Royal Family “who are half in and half out, especially in the 21st century,” Toronto-based royal historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.
asserted
Harris → affirm → interview
At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, she was “quite inclusive” in terms of bringing in members of her extended family to carry out royal duties, Harris said.
asserted
Harris → bring → duties
But times — and public expectations — have changed.
asserted
times → change → ?
“In the current climate, when there's a lot of scrutiny of how taxpayers’ money is being spent … the emphasis now is on a small, streamlined Royal Family and for there to be a clear divide between those who are working members of the Royal Family and those who are not,” Harris said.
asserted
Harris → be → Family
The letter — particularly the timing of its release — seemed to catch Harry and Meghan off guard, and was seen by some royal observers as a “brutal put-down” for the couple.
asserted
letter → seem → couple
The line “has been drawn in the sand quite clearly,” Chandrika Kaul, a professor of modern history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said in an interview.
asserted
Kaul → draw → interview
“The palace … has issued statements very clearly saying that if Harry and Meghan wish to do whatever they wish to do in terms of charity work or other engagements, they're doing so in their own capacity as private individuals,” she said.
“They are not representing the Royal Family or the monarchy.”
asserted
They → issue → Family
Harris sees parallels between Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K. and their departure six years ago.
asserted
Harris → see → U.K.
“As in 2020, Harry and Meghan might have thought making a major life change is going to lead to certain decisions unfolding in their favour, and instead there are challenges.”
uncertain
decisions → think → favour
Six years ago, one initial challenge was whether Harry and Meghan might, as they seemed to hope, essentially be part-time working royals while also pursuing private, commercial interests.
uncertain
they → seem → interests
This time, one challenge has been around security, an issue that has been of particular concern and spawned a previous, unsuccessful legal challenge from Harry.
asserted
that → spawn → Harry
Now, however, the U.K. government committee that oversees tax-funded security for public figures and royalty will reconsider the level of police protection for the couple.
asserted
that → oversee → couple
Earlier this week, word also emerged that Harry and Meghan’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, were changing schools, reportedly because of security concerns raised over traffic and the length of the commute from their home.
uncertain
children → emerge → home
“Prince Harry may be hoping that a decision will be made in his favour regarding security now that they are back in the United Kingdom,” said Harris.
uncertain
Harris → hop → Kingdom
“But there is a long history of Harry and Meghan making a major life change, but the details are still to be arranged, and that can lead to tensions on all sides.”
asserted
that → be → sides
Charles confirms Harry and Meghan to remain non-working royals after their return to U.K.
- THE ROYAL FASCINATOR
The 'shockwaves' of Prince Harry and Meghan's return to the U.K.
Overall, says Kaul, attention and reaction to Harry and Meghan’s return has been “relatively muted.”
asserted
attention → confirm → return
“It has been noticed and covered and discussed on national mainstream media, but … the popular media haven't gone berserk over the impact.”
asserted
media → notice → impact
She also sees the potential for Harry to carve out a new identity now that he’s back in the U.K.
“There has always been and there continues to be a great deal of public affection and regard for Harry.
asserted
he → see → Harry
I don't think that's ever gone away.”
asserted
that → think → ?
Inside the restored 18th-century Palladian country house that serves as the home of his charitable foundation, King Charles signalled both the hopes and risks that surround a very 21st-century concern.
asserted
that → restore → concern
“AI is already showing its immense capacity to improve and save life — for example, in the field of life sciences and medicine,” Charles told leaders of some of the world’s leading AI firms who accepted his invitation to come to Dumfries House in southwestern Scotland on Thursday.
asserted
who → show → Thursday
“Yet, those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities — perhaps even to take life.
asserted
AI → create → life
In this regard, if I may say so, there seems urgency in adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways.
uncertain
technologies → say → ways
“Surely, we need sufficient means of control before it is all too late?”
asserted
it → need → control
Charles’s convening of AI leaders is in keeping with both longstanding interests the monarchy has had in technology and his own efforts to bring people together on issues of the day.
asserted
monarchy → have → day
“There's always these intersections between royalty and new technology, whether it's Queen Victoria embracing photography and then right at the end of her reign, film, or Queen Elizabeth II embracing video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Harris said.
asserted
Harris → be → pandemic
But there was more than that at play on Thursday, Harris suggested.
uncertain
Harris → be → Thursday
“For King Charles III, it's clear that he sees his role as King is to bring people together in the hope that solutions to complicated issues may be found.”
uncertain
solutions → see → issues
Charles does that from a unique position, Harris suggested.
uncertain
Harris → do → position
“It's part of that unifying role of the monarch, the ability to bring people together.
asserted
It → bring → people
Anyone who receives an invitation to Buckingham Palace is likely to accept.”
asserted
who → receive → Palace
Kaul also saw the focus on AI as a reflection of some of Charles’s longstanding interests and perspectives.
asserted
Kaul → see → interests
“It testifies to the King's lifelong commitment not just to technology, but to this kind of harmonious balance between nature and human beings and his deep interest in civilization and the continuation of culture.”
asserted
It → testify → culture
…and 46 more, not listed.
The Aporia
