When the Queen referred in her Christmas message to the way being ‘quite bumpy’ she did not know the biggest pothole lay just ahead. The Sussex declaration of independence has caused a fuss and flurry entirely out of proportion to its effect on ordinary people. Of course Harry and Megan can go their own way if they want to. They are grown ups in a free country where choice is a cherished right. The argument is they have precedence and privilege, in exchange for which it is expected they enter into a life of luxurious servitude following protocols and practices which they abhor. So they want out. Let them go. They may well carve a far more useful and popular road and bring their joint countries, England and America, many more benefits, than if constrained by outdated rules and expectations.
Above all their desire to become financially independent indicates a much shrewder grip of modern priorities than many of their relatives. A country which has record numbers of children in poverty, people sleeping on the streets, patients waiting on trolleys and families in work paid so little they rely on food banks to eat, is in no position to fund any other than a minimalist so called ‘Royal Family’ at the apex of the State. It is currently a family far too large, served by an army of hangers on and flunkies, stoked by writers, commentators and publications powering a completely superfluous media circus, designed to give value to nonsense. This is now a modern world. The Royal family should consist of no more than the monarch, the heir and the direct line heirs in waiting. The rest should make their own way in life. Most of them will be a good deal happier.