Meghan and Harry clearly believe they can do more good by speaking out free of the straitjacket of royal protocol.Credit:Getty Images
They are promising to continue promoting good causes, but on their own terms. To their credit, they accept that as the price of freedom they can no longer expect British taxpayers to keep funding their lifestyles. Instead, they say, they will strive for financial independence and make money from their endeavours, which is not allowed under current royal rules.
They are probably not taking that big a financial risk, because it should be possible to make a decent income using their inherited money, celebrity status and appearance fees. But their decision is a problem for the monarchy, which has lost a useful symbol that it can move with the times.
The young couple were hugely popular when they visited Australia last year. They have freshened up the monarchy’s image, which has often looked strange and cold since it scorned Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. Now the two most interesting royals say they cannot stand working for the firm full time any longer.
The monarchy is likely to survive this tabloid storm, as it did the death of Princess Diana and the recent scandal over Prince Andrew and his ‘‘perspiration-free’’ ties to the late paedophile multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein. But Harry and Meghan’s seachange will, like Princess Diana’s divorce, be a lasting reminder of the waning attraction of a life of service to a such a rigid and rule-bound dynasty.
Of course, there are many who still value the sense of tradition embodied by institutions such as the monarchy or the church. They are inspired by the Queen’s decades of uncomplaining duty and her heir Prince Charles, who on Wednesday released a heartfelt video message of sympathy for bushfire victims.
But Meghan and Harry clearly believe they can do more good by speaking out boldly for their own causes, free of the straitjacket of royal protocol. They reject the implicit elitism of a hereditary aristocracy whose members were always white.
That is something that will strike a chord for many Gen Xs, Gen Ys and Millennials who are working in a gig economy and resent being a cog in a huge bureaucracy. They too reject old ideas of class and race. They do their activism outside the system rather than through it. Like Meghan and Harry, they are deeply sceptical of the media but are by the same token obsessed by it.
Meghan and Harry’s big decision may not change the world but it holds up a mirror to the changing values that are shared by millions of their supporters. The royal family should listen to what the next generations are saying and adjust accordingly.
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