Harry and Meghan never admit blame or say sorry – their trashing of the royal family is like a hand grenade, say experts
PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle will never admit blame or apologise for trashing the Royal Family, experts say.
The Sussexes today touched down in Nigeria for their three-day “faux-Royal tour” and were snapped dancing with schoolchildren and chatting to locals with smiles ear-to-ear.
Harry had been in the UK since Tuesday, but jetted off out of London last night after a secret rendezvous with Meghan in London.
The prince didn’t meet with King Charles on his whistle-stop trip, after being snubbed by his “busy” dad.
And now Royal experts have claimed Harry and Meghan’s “thrashing” of the Firm and hurling of “hand grenades” would have had an impact – but that the Sussexes will never say sorry.
Other commentators this week claimed the Monarch would have had time to see his son.
The Sun’s Arthur Edwards claimed the King didn’t want to see Harry, while royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said there was “no question” this was a message to Harry.
On The Sun’s Royal Exclusive Show this week, Matt Wilkinson sat down with Royal Correspondent Jack Royston.
Our Royal Editor said Harry had long been throwing “hand grenades and insults”.
Matt said: “I understand why the King is utterly furious with Harry.
“The trashing of the family has been dreadful.”
He said there was room for change – but someone had to act.
The editor continued: “There’s a big piece of middle ground that no one’s venturing into, an apology.
“Harry and Meghan have never ever kind of admitted any blame – they’ve never actually said ‘oh we made a mistake here, we should have done this, we are sorry’.
“Somebody has to step in, surely it should be Prince Harry or Meghan that steps into that space rather than the King.”
Jack, Newsweek’s Chief Royal Correspondent, said Harry rarely admits blame.
He claimed the only time the duke did fess up was if whatever he’d done had been immortalised in pics or videos.
Jack said: “The take-home appears to be he won’t acknowledge he’s done anything wrong unless it’s on camera.
“And he needs to get past that if he wants the public’s forgiveness.
Inside Sussexes' trip to Nigeria
The Duke and Duchess are spending three days in Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games.
The Sussexes will be taken to a hotel when they first touch down today, then visit the Light Academy, a school in nearby Wuse, before meeting defence leaders and visiting injured soldiers.
Tomorrow Harry’s set to field a team during a seated volleyball match played by Nigeria’s Invictus team, before he and Meghan meet with more soldiers and their families.
That afternoon Meghan will host a Women in Leadership event with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian-American economist who is director general of the World Trade Organisation.
Then, on Sunday, the Sussexes will head along to a basketball clinic that promotes youth getting into the sport, enjoy a cultural reception and visit a polo fundraiser.
“I could tell him what to apologise for.”
Harry and Meghan were all smiles today as kicked off their “faux-Royal tour”.
They had jetted in together at 5am on a British Airways flight after a reunion at London Heathrow’s VIP Windsor Suite yesterday.
Harry, 39, had flown into Britain on Tuesday, with Meghan, 42, arriving from LA.
Just hours before they boarded the flight, King Charles had been snapped beaming in Surrey, while Prince William visited a site where houses were being built for the homeless.
Harry also opened up about how he felt about his time in the UK.
King Charles was spotted on Tuesday leaving Windsor Castle around 11am, just hours before his touched down.
Harry's mental health speech in full
By Matt Wilkinson, Royal Editor
“Hi everybody,” Harry said, before asking for a show of hands, from teacher and kids, “if I say mental health do you know what it means?”
He went on: “In some cases around the world, in more than you would believe, there is a stigma when it comes to mental health. Too many people don’t want to talk about it ’cause it’s invisible. It’s something in our mind that we can’t see. It’s not like a broken leg, it’s not like a broken wrist.”
“It’s something that we are still relatively unsure of. But guess what? Every single person in this room, the youngest, the oldest, every single person has mental health. So therefore, you have to look after yourself to be able to look after other people. And other people have to be able to look after themselves, to look after you. That’s the way it works. And there is no shame to be able to acknowledge that today is a bad day, okay?”
He added: “And you woke up this morning feeling sad and you left school feeling stressed and you’ve lost a loved one in your family and you don’t know who you talk to or who to speak to. All of these things you may be led to believe are not for conversation. We are here today to tell you that that is not the case.
“Every single one of those things is completely normal. It is a human reaction, whether it’s grief, stress, whatever the feeling is, it comes from an experience that you have had. You can have it. She can have it. I can have it. They can have it. Every single one of us is likely to have that on any given day. So if, if you take anything away from today, just know that mental health affects every single person in the entire world.”
And then, motioning as if to kick a football, Harry added: “And the more you talk about it, the more you can kick stigma away, fall far away into long grass, and then everybody will have the opportunity to be able to share how they’re feeling, how they’re coping, and then you can help other people.
“So will you promise to us that after today, no more being scared, no more being unsure of mental health. If you are unsure, then ask. Ask your teachers. Ask your friends. Be there for one another. If you see your friend in your class not smiling, what are you gonna do? You gonna check in with them? Are you gonna ask him if they’re okay? ’cause it’s okay not to be okay.”
The prince was then seen in London before he headed to an Invictus event.
Harry released a statement around 2pm saying he would not be seeing Charles, due to his “father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities”.
Charles then snubbed his son for a second time – announcing William would take charge of Harry’s former helicopter regiment next week.
On Wednesday afternoon King Charles hosted the palace’s first garden party of the year as one of his first events back in the public eye.
Around the same time, Harry was backed by Princess Diana’s siblings at his Invictus bash.
The King was just two miles away.
The party wrapped up at 6pm – just as Harry finished a service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Yesterday turned up as a surprise guest at a party hosted by the charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers – which supports the bereaved children of military personnel.
There Harry was asked how his time in the UK had been.
He told the BBC: “It’s great.”