Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ‘quasi-royal tour’ of Colombia puts King Charles in a tricky spot
It’s easy to be cynical about Harry and Meghan’s four-day trip to Columbia.
It had the look and feel of a royal tour with one important difference: the couple doesn’t work for the royal family.
When Buckingham Palace first announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would “no longer be working members of the royal family”, it was the late Queen Elizabeth II who underlined that her grandson and his wife would “not continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service”.
It was a statement that irked the couple. “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal,” they chided. In the three years since that war of words, Harry and Meghan have moved to California and set up their own not-for-profit outfit, The Archewell Foundation, with a mission statement of “Show Up, Do Good”. The latest iteration of that mantra seems to involve overseas tours.
The first was the well-received visit to Nigeria in May earlier this year. Meghan recently revealed her Nigerian heritage, and the tour was firmly linked to Harry’s Invictus Games, Nigeria being one of the countries sending athletes to the sporting competition for wounded members of the armed forces.
The motivations to visit Colombia are a little woollier.
Why the tour puts the King in a tricky spot
Foreign tours are cornerstones of royal work, an important set piece of soft diplomacy carried out on behalf of the British government and people.
The King, then Prince of Wales, and Camilla visited Colombia in 2014; Princess Anne toured in 1997; and last November Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, was there on the latest official royal visit, made at the request of the British Foreign Office to support the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. Sophie Edinburgh’s tour was focused and low key, highlighting her work with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and the rights of women and girls.
