The British royal family has several working and non-working members, who grab headlines and the spotlight with public engagements, charitable works, and personal stories.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also capture attention with their own way to serve and showing up.
The Sussexes are under fire as they face fresh accusations of overshadowing royal events and the senior members’ announced engagements with their surprise moves and appearances at the same time.
The Palace aides suspect that the couple allegedly hijack diary to upstage official events, according to sources.
It emerged after the Sussexes shared romantic photographs celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary while King Charles and Queen Camilla were carrying out a high-profile three-day visit to Northern Ireland.
The timing reportedly fuelled tension between the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace.
Some aides reportedly believe the California-based couple repeatedly seek to redirect media attention toward themselves during important royal engagements.
“There is enormous frustration in some Palace circles because this pattern keeps repeating itself. Every time there is a major royal engagement involving the King or Queen, something appears from Harry and Meghan that drags media attention back toward themselves,” a royal source told Radar.
“Those inside the royal family increasingly view it as cringeworthy and deliberate, and an attempt to hijack Charles’ activities,” they added.
The criticism comes six years after Harry and Markle stepped back from royal duties and relocated to Montecito, California, where they have since built careers around media production, philanthropy, and political advocacy.
Harry and Meghan’s relations with the monarchy have remained strained since they relocated to the US after stepping down as senior royal in 2020.
Their public disputes over security, interviews criticizing royal life, and repeated disagreements about the couple’s role within the institution worked as fule to the already rgaed fire.
Royal insiders also pointed to a growing list of incidents they claim diverted attention away from senior royals.
Harry’s recent article discussing a “divided Britain” appeared during Catherine, Princess of Wales, 44, carrying out a heavily publicised visit to Italy.
Earlier this year, Harry also traveled to Ukraine on the eve of Charles’s state visit to the United States, prompting comparisons with the humanitarian work of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died aged 36 in 1997.
One palace insider said: “There are advisors around the King who genuinely believe Harry is trying to rebuild relevance in Britain through carefully staged interventions tied to emotional causes.”
The source added: “There is now a barbed joke among palace aides Harry and Meghan have a secret ‘hijacking diary’ listing upcoming royal engagements so they can try and launch something to overshadow or at least steal the limelight from their every public move.
“They think they will appear relevant by appearing in headlines at the same time as an official royal engagement.”
2026-05-28 20:30:00
