King Charles Has Made a "Big Mistake" by Evicting Harry and Meghan: "The Optics Are Terrible," Royal Expert Says
In the immortal words of Vivian Ward, "Big mistake. Huge."
King Charles has surprised royal followers by evicting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from their British home of Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate.
And while some Sussex detractors are in favor of this move, one royal expert and historian believes this was a terrible idea in terms of keeping up appearances.
"Britain's response to the news has, on the whole, been gleeful. On one level the vitriol is understandable," Dr. Tessa Dunlop commented in the Mirror.
"Prince Harry had just lobbed several verbal hand grenades at his family and the former institution to which he belonged. But he did so from a position of weakness, on the outside, in pain and feeling side-lined."
Here, Dr. Dunlop is referring to the reports that King Charles decided on the eviction in the aftermath of the release of Spare, the shock memoir in which Harry made many damning revelations against his family.
"A broad-shouldered confident monarchy would have weathered the storm. With a coronation around the corner, the King has bigger fish to fry," the expert observed.
"Instead, by evicting the couple from the Queen's generous gift of Frogmore Cottage King Charles is going directly against the conciliatory style of Her late Majesty.
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"Worse, he has conflated the problem of the Sussexes with that of Prince Andrew by asking the latter to relinquish his larger home, the Royal Lodge, and move into Frogmore Cottage. Big mistake. The optics are terrible."
Dr. Dunlop believes all of this drama will hurt the monarchy's reputation overseas, and claims that we are unlikely to see the Sussexes at the coronation on May 6 now.
The King has "evicted" his youngest son and his family from Frogmore, even though the Sussexes had paid enough rent for the "foreseeable future," according to royal author Omid Scobie.
The move also puts the U.S.-based royals at a security risk if they decide to visit the U.K., since they will have to do without the additional police protection they were afforded by virtue of staying on the Windsor Estate.
The mess we're in, my goodness...
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.