I actually feel really sorry for H&M. They've made a lot of very big decisions at haste and without real consideration of the consequences.
H has made no bones of wanting a family and he'd already had two girlfriends cut and run because of the stress of being followed by the press, and not wanting the eternal life of ribbon cutting.
I'm sure he was very keen to get M down the aisle ASAP.
Speculating here, but if Meghan wanted a family, she will also have been conscious of her age. So she might have been happy with the speed of the courtship.
Harry was very quick to rebuke the press when the news of their relationship was made public, perhaps that made the press back off a little... enabling them to get down the aisle.
Meghan had spent very little time in the UK, and clearly doesn't have a close circle of friends nearby. Her only real family relationship is with her mother, who is obviously not up for moving to the UK.
I'm sure the wedding day was fabulous, but I suspect Meghan thought she was getting A list celebrity, and not the stifling confines of the royal family. I'm sure Harry did not sit down and spell it out either.
Meghan was a minor celeb before, who was probably only noticed in the occasional restaurant and asked for signatures. She certainly wasn't chased down the street/had her entire family and life probed by scores of newspapers.
I'm sure it was a complete shock.
I know Kate, Sophie and Camilla had it just as bad at the beginning, but it's still not acceptable. I wouldn't want my every move raked over and photographed.
Then she realises that she's absolutely trapped into very rigid confines of a role which means she can't really ever have a political opinion (magnified when Trump did his state visit - if she hadn't been on maternity leave, she would have had to attend).
Kate had a long time to really consider whether she wanted William and the royal family badly enough to put up with all the crap. She decided it was worth it for her.
Meghan did not have the time, and I don't blame her for panicking when she realised what the rest of her life would look like.
They moved to Frogmore apparently because they didn't want to be near W&K, which is fine in theory, but I suspect Meghan would have been happier in central London. Windsor is very British. I think she could probably have found aspects of California in London.
I'm not surprised she wanted to get back to LA/Toronto asap and go back into relative obscurity. The problem is that Pandora's box is open and they can't close it again.
In retrospect they should have refused the Sussex title, and Meghan could have carried on working. Harry could have been a minor working royal. But hindsight is 20/20.
I'm sure the Queen would have been open to them being very minor working royals while they had a family, as they did with W&K, but H&M went about it the wrong way with the announcement in January that they wanted to be royal as well as work commercially, which the Queen couldn't allow after the Wessex's chaos.
The announcement in January created an absolute frenzy because of the ramifications throughout the royal family. It caused a media storm.
They could have said nothing, spent a few months in Canada/California/Africa and enjoyed the time with Archie. Now his first year has been marred by the chaos that they created, by simply not being patient.
And now what?! Harry doesn't have the skills to be an independent billionaire, which is the lifestyle he's been living. His only skill is being a member of the royal family, which he seemed to do quite well (obviously some moodiness obscured by good PR).
Meghan probably had the a list pull immediately after her marriage, so could have taken good film roles, but the way that the exit from the royal family has been handled won't endear her to film producers.
The charity seems to have been cobbled together to give Harry something to do, as at least he has some experience in engaging with charities, but he's not capable of running it, so someone else has to be paid to do that.
Then Covid trashed any momentum they have had, so it's like starting again.
I suspect by the time of the Commonwealth Service Harry had begun to realise some of the realities of the life they were leaving, and the difficulties ahead of them.
Meghan can probably do quite well outside the royal family. She will get some film roles, possibly more than she would have done pre-marriage. She's probably still breathing a sigh of relief - she does not appear to be someone who wants to be directed to the nth degree for the rest of her life, and I wouldn't want that either.
The concern would be what happens to their marriage. One of them must life in a country they are not familiar with, with no family or close friends around them. Right now its Harry. He is directionless and with no obvious money making skills.
That's a tough position for anyone to be in. Plus now there is Archie to consider.
I don't envy them at all. They have made it worse than it needed to be, but they are where they are.
