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Calorouga, shark, media ballo and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I
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am your host, Mark francis complete with summer allergies, so
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please bear with me. A newly decoded exchange between Prince
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Harry and Meghan Markle is raising fresh questions about just
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how early the couple may have begun plotting their royal departure.
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According to a new Channel five documentary titled Lipreading the Royals,
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the secret conversations the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were
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overheard via lipreading during the solemn event at Westminster Abbey
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in twenty eighteen. The occasion was the Service of Remembrance
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marking one hundred years since the end of the First
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World War, a formal moment with the entire royal family
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in attendance, including Queen Elizabeth. But while the cameras captured
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polished expressions and respectful silence, lipreading expert Nicola Hickling says
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something else entirely was unfolding in hushed tones between the Sussexes.
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She claims Meghan quietly told Harry to take advantage of
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the situation, prompting him to ask today. Her reply, do
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it tonight? Then, in what has become the documentary's most
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startling moment, Harry is said to ask, you do realize
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that this is the end, to which Megan reportedly responds, yeah,
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I do know. Harry's recent solo visit to Angola highlighted
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his commitment to a life of service, but it may
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have also brought about a quiet personal reckoning. Royal expert
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Jenny Bond reflected on the significance of the visit, telling
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the Mirror, I think this is precisely the sort of
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work that Harry should do. It's not only a hugely
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worthwhile cause, but it also connects him with his mother,
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which is something he yearns for. Bond went further, suggesting
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that the trip marks a shift in Prince Harry's priorities
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and perhaps his self perception. I think he is coming
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to recognize that the la celebrity world is one in
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which he is not especially comfort and he seems quite
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willing to let Megan take the limelight over there. Harry's
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trip took him to a remote village near Africa's largest minefield,
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where he met with families living in the shadow of
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the long buried explosives. The scene echoed the now iconic
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nineteen ninety seven images of Princess Diana walking through the
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minefield in Angola wearing a protective vest and viasor just
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months before her tragic death. For Sky News, Rhennon Mills writes,
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I can't help feel Harry's team are trying to push
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the reset button. The unexpected headlines around Harry just keep coming,
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as when he popped up in Angola his second visit there,
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this time with no press pack in toe, So why
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the surprise visit. Harry has worked with the Halo Trust
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for some time and it's clearly still a priority for
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them to highlight the dangers faced by those living with
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the potential dangers of land mines in Angola, but it
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also feels like part of a push to get Harry
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out on more public engagements. Some think Princess Anne might
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be the one that can bring Harry back into the
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fold by talking some sense into him. A source told
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The Times she often talked about how as children she
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was treated so differently from Charles. She was second to
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him and kicked further down the line of succession as
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a woman, but she forged her own path. In her twenties,
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she was boldly an upset about a lot of things,
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but she came through that he should talk to her
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about her experiences. She is shrewd. She could tell him
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a lot about what she went through. Will Harry and
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Charles meet again? Royal biographer Tom Bawer thinks perhaps not
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saying whether they'll meet again in Charles' lifetime depends on
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how long Charles lives. I couldn't say never, because I'm
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sure Charles wants to meet his son, but so much
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depends on how Harry behaves. Harry is seriously worried that
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when his father dies one day, William will literally banish
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him and he will have no status in Britain at all.
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He will be person and non grata. Harry needs a
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meeting with Charles to show he is part of the
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royal family and to establish his credibility in Britain, but
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as long as the Palace won't give him access to Charles,
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he can't take the first step. They suspect that the
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moment he meets Charles, he will use it to establish
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his credibility, because that's what he desperately needs, and that's
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also why he's kept away. My money would absolutely be
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no if he did meet him, it would be in private.
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A lot depends on charles health. That is the unspoken
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issue in Britain today. Because Charles will be in Scotland,
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the question is will Harry be invited up to Scotland.
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My guess is no. The interview he gave after he
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lost the security case and accused the establishment of a
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stitch up showed that he's completely uncontrollable. He is unpredictable
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and his own worst enemy. But he fears that once
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Charles dies he will get no help from William. I
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wouldn't be surprised if William won't have him at his coronation.
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Charles health is the prime concern and William's succession is
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the next thing. Harry's problems are irrelevant and they are
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irritated by him. Harry can't just arrive at the palace
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and see his father. When Harry was in Britain at
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the time charles visit to France was canceled because of
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the riots, there was ample time to meet and one
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would assume charles diary was empty, but Harry was told
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his diary was full and he couldn't see him. He
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can't even get him on the phone because they don't
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trust him, and they're angry with him. They don't understand
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his motivations. Megan is tired of it all. She wants
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it to be over. She doesn't give two hoots about
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what happens. It puts a great strain on their marriage
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and their relationship because Harry frets and becomes very unhappy
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about it all. Megan wants to get on, build herself
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up as a television personality and have nothing more to
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do with Britain at all. It doesn't interest her. In
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The Independent, Tessa Dunlop writes, the mirroring in recent history
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is spooky. After the nineteen thirty six abdication, stumbling George
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the sixth never resumed a normal relationship with his charming
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callo brother Edward the eighth, who also wrote a biography,
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but emotionally is not on one way street, and the
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Prince of Wales would be foolish to take his familial
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cues from the unbending social structures of a bygone era. Today,
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william sits at the heart of Britain's most revered institution,
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and in the face of recent domestic adversity, enjoys enormous
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public sympathy, but moods can change. As a nation, no
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matter how much we verbally kick Harry, affections run deep
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beneath it all. What really rankled was the Sussex's rejection
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of our most revered institution. Likewise, William surely knows that
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one day he must rediscover his affection for his younger sibling,
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protected by a preordained sovereign destiny. The longer he withholds
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the olive branch, the more churlish it could start to look.
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At the moment, King Charles is Harry's best hope, and
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even then Sussex returned to the sunlit uplands of royalty
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may well prove short lived. For the Duke to make
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a meaningful comeback, good relations are required on two levels,
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with his father King and with his older brother, the
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future King. William is not a man for turns, unless
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the spare knows all too well, one day the Prince
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of Wales will have all the power but impressive kingship.
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Like all, good leadership requires flexibility. If at the moment
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Harry steals all the negative headlines, it will be history
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that judges William his more powerful older brother only by
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genuinely forgiving and including the spare, will he be able
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to boast that his reign as the requisite hallmarks a
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modern monarchy, compassion and magnanimity, And most important of all,
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he will know it is what Diana, his mother, the
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self proclaimed Queen of Hearts, would have wanted. More palatin,
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just a moment. Hey, don't forget. A new episode of
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Crown and Controversy comes out tomorrow Sunday. It's our new
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spinoff series and kind of takes off where the Crown
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on TV left off, and you can get that wherever
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you get your podcasts. Crown and Controversy. It's available now.
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Harry did receive a rather unexpected show of public support,
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this time from European Royalty Princess Delphine of Belgium, speaking
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on the Its Reigning Men podcast, that said, they lost
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such an important figure, and I feel very sorry for
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Harry because I think that was traumatic for him. She
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was referring, of course, to the death of Princess Diana
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when Harry was just twelve years old. Delphine went on,
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I think Harry suffered so much, and I think he
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was traumatized, and it's coming out now. He's just traumatized.
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He's doing these things, and everybody's bullying him but not
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thinking about his trauma. I just find it terrible because
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I feel like he's just been kind of left. Delphine
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herself has personal experience navigating royal tensions. She discovered in
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adulthood that her biological father was King Albert the Second
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of Belgium, and endured a year's long legal battle before
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finally being recognized as a member of the Belgian royal
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family in twenty twenty. And there you have it. Tact
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to email us. Our address is the Palace Intrigue at
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gmail dot com. Please follow us the Spotify Apple or
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the apple of your choice. And Lives a nice review
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of him joining the show. I Mark frantis my thanks
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to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue and good Damns