Meghan and Harry drop HRH titles – and Piers Morgan just can’t cope

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Credit: Image: Getty

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Meghan and Harry drop HRH titles – and Piers Morgan just can’t cope

By Anna Brech

6 years ago

As the Queen finalises details for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s move away from the royal household, everyone seems happy – everyone, that is, bar Piers Morgan. 

While Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have undoubtedly struggled as they work to carve out a new role for themselves in public life, the person who seems to have been hit hardest by the move is, bafflingly, TV pundit Piers Morgan.

It was announced last night that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would drop their HRH titles and “no longer receive public funds” as part of a step back from the royal household.

In a statement, the Queen said that the couple would “always be much loved members of my family” and expressed her hope that they would “start building a happy and peaceful new life”.

In other words, the highest-ranking member of the royal family has made her peace with Meghan and Harry’s decision earlier this month to re-work their roles within the institution. 

But you know who isn’t happy about it? That’s right – Morgan. In a series of vindictive and increasingly hysterical tweets last night, the Good Morning Britain presenter aired his feelings on the topic. 

First, he hit out at Meghan herself, blaming her for influencing Harry in a classic show of misogyny that has, sadly, become textbook behaviour for him. 

Morgan, who unlike Harry has never once been in active service, then saw fit to call out the prince’s relationship with the military.

But he did find one thing to celebrate – the fact that the royal household, in his humble opinion, will not be going “woke” anytime soon.

The fact that Morgan has devoted quite so much time and energy to tearing apart Harry and Meghan’s plans is extraordinary. 

While the couple themselves have been pictured going about their business as usual in the past week (Harry at the draws for the Rugby League World Cup, Meghan in a visit to a women’s shelter in Vancouver), Morgan apparently can’t move on.

Although the presenter is known for airing his provocative views at the slightest of cues, his reaction is somewhat frenzied, even by his own standards. 

It’s also spectacularly blind to the fact that press behaviour such as his own may be directly responsible for the couple’s decision to distance themselves from their royal roles. 

Harry and Meghan have faced a torrent of negative and sometimes abusive scrutiny ever since they announced their engagement in November 2017. Morgan, who has lashed out at the couple – and in particular, Meghan – at every opportunity going, has played a central role in a pattern of trolling behaviour; and all in the name of manufactured outrage.

Credit: Getty

In an implicit rebuke to Morgan and his ilk, the Queen this weekend expressed sympathy for “the challenges they [Meghan and Harry] have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years”.

The monarch singled out her grandson’s wife for praise, saying she was “particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family”. 

It was also confirmed that the couple will pay back taxpayers’ money spent renovating Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home. 

With their newfound freedom, it’s very likely that Harry and Meghan will go onto lead the happy and fulfilled lives they always wanted. Even if it’s naive to think their lives will be private, they can at least take the step back from intense royal scrutiny that has caused them so much stress.

Quite what Morgan will do without his favourite figurative punching bag is anyone’s guess, however. Luckily for him, in the narrow world of Twitter, there’s always someone else to pick on.

Images: Getty    

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