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The future of the Royal Family ‘might just, dare I say it, look a little dull’ without the Queen and the ‘Gen Z-favoured Sussexes’, Meghan Markle’s friend Omid Scobie insisted today following the Platinum Jubilee.
The royal commentator, who is known as a cheerleader for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, also said there was ‘no interaction’ between the Sussexes and Prince William and Kate during the four-day weekend of celebrations.
And Mr Scobie claimed ‘one couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed when looking at the royal landscape without the Queen’ and that the ‘institution’s next chapter is yet to feel like it aligns with modern day society’.
His comments in a column for Yahoo came as the Queen’s official Twitter account @RoyalFamily posted a new header image today of a photo of the Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Sunday at the finale of the Jubilee pageant.
Royal expert Roya Nikkah said this had some ‘clear messaging – here is the future of the British monarchy’. The account’s main profile image is now a picture of the Queen at the Palace during Trooping the Colour last Thursday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend the Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral in London last Friday
Prince William and Kate along with Prince Charles and Camilla attend the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s last Friday
The Queen’s official Twitter account @RoyalFamily posted a new header image of a photo of the Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Sunday
In Mr Scobie’s column – entitled ‘Other royals can’t match the success and popularity of the adored Queen. The jubilee proved it’ – he wrote: ‘Prince Harry and Meghan’s presence at two engagements quietly came and went (to cheers).
‘Their private moments with the Queen, who met great-granddaughter Lilibet on more than one occasion, were kept exactly that.
Harry and Meghan reveal new photo of Lilibet, one
Lilibet in Windsor on Saturday
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle last night gave the world a first glimpse of their daughter Lilibet – taken as she celebrated her first birthday in the grounds of Frogmore Cottage.
The snap, taken by family friend Misan Harriman, shows the toddler grinning at the camera in a powder-blue dress with a distinctive shock of red hair on display.
Harriman, who made his name documenting Black Lives Matter protests across London, took the portraits used by the Sussexes used to announce Meghan’s pregnancy with Lillibet in February 2021.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex invited close friends and family to an ‘intimate backyard picnic’ last Saturday to celebrate Lilibet’s first birthday. East London baker Claire Ptak – who made the couple’s wedding cake in 2018 – baked a special order for the low-key bash.
A spokesman for the couple did not name family members who attended the party, but Zara and Mike Tindall are believed to have made an appearance.
‘Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall were also able to spend some time with the couple before they returned to California on Sunday. (For those wondering, I’m told there was no interaction between the Sussexes and the Cambridges – but that story is for another time).’
He also wrote: ‘Speeches from Prince William and Prince Charles during the Platinum Party at the Palace allowed the two heirs to give a taste of what’s to come when they take on new roles in the not-too-distant future, but one couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed when looking at the royal landscape without the Queen (and the additional loss of the the Gen Z-favoured Sussexes).
‘And this is where one of many problems lie ahead for the future of The Firm. While we celebrate the Queen’s golden reign, we are also reminded that the future without her might just, dare I say it, look a little dull.
‘Though her successors are no doubt capable in their royal roles, the institution’s next chapter is yet to feel like it aligns with modern-day society, and our expectations within it.’
His column was posted after Harry and Meghan last night gave the world a rare glimpse of their daughter Lilibet.
They released a picture taken as the toddler – named in tribute to the Queen, whose childhood nickname was Lilibet – celebrated her first birthday in the grounds of Frogmore Cottage at Windsor on Saturday.
The snap, taken by family friend Misan Harriman, shows her smiling towards the camera as she sits on the lawn in a powder-blue dress with a distinctive shock of red hair on display, just like her father.
The Sussexes invited close friends and family to an ‘intimate backyard picnic’ while in Britain for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Mr Harriman took the portraits used by the Sussexes to announce Meghan’s pregnancy with Lilibet in February 2021. His wife and their two daughters appear in another image issued last night.
Meghan and Harry arrived back in the US at 6pm California local time on Sunday, leaving Britain even before the the Platinum Jubilee celebrations had concluded.
Prince Harry was seated at the opposite side to his brother William and the two did not speak at St Paul’s Cathedral last Friday
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2021 family Christmas card showing the couple with Archie and Lilibet last December
After the Sussexes arrived in California on Sunday following the trip to Britain for the Jubilee, the family quickly transferred to a waiting Range Rover. Harry, 37, was seen in the passenger seat looking thoughtful as they were driven away
Harry and Meghan, along with their children Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, flew out of the UK on a private jet, departing an hour before the spectacular Platinum Jubilee Pageant finale on Sunday began.
Royal commentator Omid Scobie is pictured in London last Friday before the service at St Paul’s Cathedral
Their plane, which departed from Farnborough Airport at 1.30pm, was in the air travelling across the Atlantic by the time the Queen, Charles, Camilla, William, Kate and their children, were cheered as they waved to the crowds from the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
After the family arrived in California, a high chair was seen being unloaded by staff as the Sussexes quickly transferred to a waiting Range Rover. Harry, 37, was seen in the passenger seat looking thoughtful as they were driven away.
As the Mail revealed last week, the couple were always intended by mutual agreement to have limited involvement in the celebrations, in spite of the Queen’s olive branch of an invitation to join the rest of the royal family.
In order to minimise family drama overshadowing the historic celebrations, the Sussexes kept a low profile at Trooping The Colour on Thursday, staying largely hidden inside the Major General’s Office at the parade ground – although Meghan was seen to wind down the window of her car and smile at well-wishers as they left.
They did attend Friday’s Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral but were kept well away from William and Kate on the other side of the aisle, alongside Princess Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands.
They did not join family members for an official reception afterwards and simply returned by car on their own to Windsor.
Neither were they invited to a private lunch held by the Queen at Buckingham Palace after Trooping The Colour – those invitations went to the 17 other working royals and some of their children who joined her on the balcony.
Harry and Meghan released a new picture of Lilibet at Frogmore Cottage where she celebrated her first birthday on Saturday
In this second picture, Lilibet is seen in her mother Meghan’s arms inside Frogmore, beside photographer Misan Harriman’s wife Camilla Holmstroem and their two daughters
However the Queen did see Archie and her namesake Lilibet at Windsor privately shortly after arriving. Charles and Camilla also met with the couple too.
William is not believed to have seen his estranged brother, however. In fact the warring siblings didn’t even glance in each other’s direction in public.
Instead Harry and Meghan celebrated their daughter Lilibet’s first birthday in Windsor on Saturday with a small party to which they invited several UK-based friends and cousins, while William and Kate went with their own children to Cardiff on behalf of the Queen.
One royal source insisted, however, that the family appeared ‘grateful’ for the lack of drama.
‘The Sussexes said they planned to stick to the script and make it a low-key visit, and they did just that,’ they said. ‘It was no bad thing.’
Harry and Meghan’s noticeable demotion in the family pecking order – despite the prince still being sixth in line to the throne – demonstrated just how bad relations have generally become since he and Meghan acrimoniously quit the royal family two years ago, hammering their relatives with a string of accusations and bitter recriminations as they went.
Matters are unlikely to get better with the publication of Harry’s memoirs later this year, which senior aides fear he will use to settle even more perceived scores.
But the weekend demonstrated the admiration and affection with which the vast majority of the country still have for the Queen, 96, who overcame debilitating mobility problems to make four major public appearances over the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
In turn, she used the occasion to emphasise the continuity of the monarchy, making her last balcony appearance flanked by her three heirs – Prince Charles, Prince William, and her great-grandson, Prince George.
Both Charles and William also gave speeches in her honour at Saturday’s Party at the Palace.
There are no plans for the Sussexes to return to the UK in the near future. They continue to retain Frogmore Cottage at Windsor, their former UK home.
Meanwhile the couple have now been accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for using one of the most polluting private jets for their visit over the Jubilee celebrations.
According to The Times, the family took the Bombardier Global 6000 from Farnborough, in Hampshire, to Santa Barbara which generated 60 tons of carbon emissions – more than ten times more than if they had taken a commercial flight.
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