MM and Harry - she saw her chance at something, anything. If she’d had the choice between Harry and, say, a young Kennedy, she’d have gone with the latter. She doesn’t care for or about the UK or the RF.
Harry and MM - he saw someone willing (and maybe he thought able) to take him out of his prison. Her vision of a life in the California sunshine, free and adored with his beautiful wife and son, just like he used to be with his beautiful mum, must have been irresistible. Freedoms at last! He must feel giddy with it all.
They’re both in thrall to each other and themselves. They’re paying people who are reinforcing this vortex of adoration. They’re getting paid in it. The ‘good works’ are a vehicle for this adoration. The security and the titles and insta followers and the houses and the private jets - they’re all necessary scaffolding for this construct of bucolic amazingness, so far removed from the rainy, drab, dull, unexciting, unknown duty of ribbon cutting in Hull.
The pique and petulance comes from reality bursting their bubble, from constantly having to be dragged back into what they’re running away from. Why can’t you just leave us alone but also give us what we need to be amazing?? We neeeeeeed it?? Ok fine, if you won’t give it to me I’ll get it somewhere else. Anyone with a teenager after the latest phone/ shoes/ make-up will recognise it.
But what is it all for? As a married couple, do they want the same things in life? Do the same things matter to them? Harry wants out of the RF. She was never in it so doesn’t need to get out (frankly she’s already out and need never go back). Does he care about California? Does he care about having a high profile? Does he care about making sure you never have to worry about the next gig in a precarious industry? Does he care about making the last 37 years mean something, show that you’re Someone and you’ve Made It? Does she care about Africa? Wounded veterans? Polo? Hunting? Your batty uncles and aunts, your shared history with brother and cousins? England? Getting drunk in Chelsea and falling out of clubs at 2am before driving down to Highgrove for Sunday lunch with your Dad and his mad second wife? (I have no clue what a pampered Prince cares about...)
Maybe the prospect of freedom is so alluring that he can readily wave goodbye to all that stuff right now. But it gnaws at you. Anyone who’s tried to separate themselves from their past will tell you it’s not without consequence. History is very, very difficult to escape entirely.
These stories never have happy, contented outcomes. In her case, a rolling stone gathers no moss. In his case, if you’re going to run, make sure you know what you’re running to.
It’s not even clear they’re running in the same direction.