Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(62)
Any possible uncertainty about the outcome of this meeting lay not with Meghan, but with the man she wanted to marry. He is the one who has been if not on trial then under close scrutiny.
If he had come to see Grannie a few years earlier, when he had an unenviable reputation as an angry drunk with poor judgment, it would have been doubtful that the Queen would have agreed to him marrying a divorced mixed-race American actor. “It would have been a grim, unhappy confrontation,” observed a former senior royal official, just as it was when she had to put her foot down in 1955 over her sister, Margaret, marrying Group Captain Peter Townsend, who was divorced. If anything, Harry’s transformation over the last few years has, together with the popular union between Prince William and Kate Middleton, secured the future of the monarchy. Harry’s impeccable behavior when representing the Queen abroad and his commitment to the Invictus Games have been shrewdly watched and assessed by the sovereign. As a courtier told me: “The queen trusts her grandsons. She has confidence in them in a way that she never has had with her eldest son. They have really established themselves as being in touch with the public. William and Harry have star quality, believable and authentic heirs to the monarchy.”
The final seal of approval came from the queen’s corgis. This normally irascible breed were friendly and welcoming when Meghan entered the queen’s sitting room. As Prince Harry said, somewhat ruefully: “I’ve spent the last thirty-three years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing.” They lay at her feet and wagged their tails. “Very sweet,” Meghan later told interviewer Mishal Husain.
During their one-hour meeting, Meghan witnessed at firsthand the genuine respect and love Harry feels for his grandmother. “She’s an incredible woman,” she said afterward.
With a flurry of barks and a final curtsy, Harry and Meghan bade their farewells, swiftly leaving the palace before the royal gossip factory was able to get into gear. Job done.
Not quite. Meghan still had to speak to her elusive father and bring him up to speed. Since his retirement, Tom Senior had become more reclusive, heading to Mexico, where he had bought an apartment in the popular beach town of Rosarito, ten miles south of the American border. He changed his mobile phones frequently and even moved on from one apartment because the widow of the recently deceased owner was becoming “too friendly.”
When she finally reached her father, she told him her news, warning him that the media would try to speak with him when the engagement was announced. Of course, he had already spoken with Prince Harry, so he knew what was coming down the pike. At some point Harry had asked the voice at the other end of the mobile phone for permission to marry his daughter. Not quite as traditional as tea with the Queen had been, but then there was not much about this romance that conformed to the conventional royal playbook.
But now that the ring was on the finger, there were other more delicate family matters Meghan needed to raise with her father. She made it clear that she wanted him to walk her down the aisle and give her away. It was a big ask. Meghan realized just how shy and self-effacing he was and knew that appearing in such a public setting would be an excruciating ordeal for him.
Furthermore, it was by no means certain that, even if he wanted, he could walk the length of St. George’s Chapel. Memories of the day Lady Diana Spencer painstakingly walked down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral with her father, Earl Spencer, who had suffered a severe stroke, struggling manfully to stay by her side, came flooding back. Physically Tom Senior was not in good shape, suffering from high blood pressure and a dodgy knee. Not only did he walk with a pronounced limp, but he was also in constant pain. Doctors had told him that he needed a full knee replacement. Not only was he considerably overweight, but he was a heavy smoker. His surgeon would not operate before he had quit smoking and lost a few pounds.
From his home in Grants Pass, Oregon, Tom Junior could feel his father’s agonizing dilemma. “My father worships the ground Meghan walks on. I know how proud he will be to take her arm and walk her down the aisle. But I also know how terrified he will be. If he doesn’t go, he will regret it for the rest of his life. He has to know that he is not representing his family he is representing America.”
If the walking down the aisle was a concern, the very thought of making a speech at the wedding breakfast in front of the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and the rest of the royal family made him half-faint in trepidation. Meghan told him that if he felt unable to speak, she had no problem giving the speech herself. In any case, the bride’s speech is becoming an accepted fixture at regular weddings; why not make it a tradition at royal weddings?
There was also the tricky subject of her wider family. During a difficult phone conversation with her father, she told him that she didn’t want her half brother or half sister, Tom Junior and Samantha (formerly Yvonne) Grant, attending the wedding.
While her father may have felt that Meghan was placing him in a difficult position, it should not have come as any surprise. Ever since her romance with Prince Harry was revealed, Samantha had been sniping from the sidelines, doubtless jealous that her sister was enjoying the spotlight and wanting to garner attention for herself. She even used Tom Senior’s health to criticize her half sister, arguing that Meghan should pay back the money he had spent on her college education so that her father could afford the best possible health care.
Samantha and Meghan had never gelled as children; as adults they could have been living on different planets. Meghan wanted nothing to do with her. Several months before, for example, Meghan had given her father her new cell number, which he quite innocently had passed on to Samantha. In turn she sent Meghan a text saying that it had been years since they had spoken but if she wanted to resume the connection she would be happy to advise and guide her. Meghan was furious. Samantha was the last person she wanted advice from. Meghan’s mother, Doria, called her ex-husband and tore into him, telling him never to give out Meghan’s private telephone number again. “Well, she is her sister,” replied Tom Senior sheepishly.