Royalist: Prince Harry & Meghan are still ‘wildly unhappy,’ just in the UK now

This past spring, there was a whole gossip storyline fueled by Dan Wakeford, a former People Mag and Us Weekly editor. Wakeford was shilling his new subscription Substack, and he was trying to build his subscriber base off of the deranged community. Wakeford claimed that his sources were telling him that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were “wildly unhappy” with each other and with their life in Montecito. Something about how Harry would prefer to live in Montana, and how Harry’s misery was affecting the Sussex marriage. In retrospect, given the Sussex family’s move to the UK, I think there was something to the gossip around “Prince Harry is bored of Montecito and he wants to get out of California.” Well, Wakeford is back and he’s still ringing the “wildly unhappy” bell.

A top royal insider has blown the lid off why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are “wildly unhappy.” Dan Wakeford, a cultural commentator and founder of the Celebrity Intelligence newsletter, tells The Royalist’s Tom Sykes that the Sussexes were miserable living in California and that their conflicting passions complicate their relationship.

“The ‘wildly unhappy’ came not from within their relationship in their life right now,” the former People and Us Weekly editor-in-chief said, referring to an article published in Celebrity Intelligence in April. “It was their life in America they were wildly unhappy about…They were wildly unhappy with how things had gone, and they hadn’t gone how they expected. I don’t think they could find—think of a way out of that. And so it’s very interesting.”

Wakeford said the couple’s move back to the United Kingdom has helped to make Harry happier, but he does not believe it has done the same for the Los Angeles-native Meghan.

“The problem with this couple is you have two people with completely different goals in life and geographical, like, homes,” he explained. Wakeford said that, according to his sources and other reporting, the two are “very much in love,” but they butt heads over what makes them truly happy.

“They’re not on the same page with where they’re going in life, whether that’s living in England or living in America, whether that is philanthropy or a glamorous Hollywood lifestyle brand,” he said. “And so doing that as a couple—they oppose each other, really, of what to their core, makes them happy and their reasons for being.”

Sykes noted that relationships, even between two people who are “very much in love,” can falter when their goals are not aligned.

“I think we’ve all seen plenty of people who are madly in love and carried away with the whole thing who can’t make it work as a relationship, because the relationship is a very different kind of thing,” Sykes said.

Wakeford agreed, saying their different goals make it hard for them to be happy and “power forward and be on the same page…I mean, from the moment Meghan entered into the royal family, it was obvious that she was naive to the understanding of the structure and what was expected from the royal family and felt that she could change that,” he said. “And that was incredibly frustrating for her…Obviously it’s easier for her now that she’s not in the royal family, but to me, I don’t see their goals and their aspirations and what gives them their reasons to live individually don’t necessarily marry together, to result in a happy and easy life.”

[From The Daily Beast]

To me, this kind of hand-wringing over “where will they build their life longterm” is idiotic because they’ve already been together for a decade and they’ve figured out ways to make it work internationally, even if that means Harry moving his wife and children to a country which is extremely dangerous for them. Harry and Meghan have always prioritized their marriage above everything, and that’s clearly what Meghan has done this year as well – she made this move for Harry, because this is what he wants and where he wants to be. And I think everyone has their fingers crossed that this stupid UK adventure is over by next summer. If it’s not… well, then maybe I’ll believe that someone is “wildly unhappy.”

Photos courtesy of Instar, Backgrid, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of The Sun.

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53 Responses to “Royalist: Prince Harry & Meghan are still ‘wildly unhappy,’ just in the UK now”

  1. YankeeDoodles says:

    What does it tell you about “this carnival of so-called experts” that they’re always claiming Meghan and Harry are the ones who are “unhappy?” ….as Diana urged others, in her brother’s recollection, “Don’t judge others by yourself.”….

  2. MidnightSuperNova says:

    Whatever. Now go analyze the marriage the is so obviously loveless in the Wales. He doesn’t know shit about Meghan and Harry’s marriage and all the deranged fanfic they write can’t change that.

  3. Tessa says:

    More spreading fake story hoping harry returns to be third wheel to the keens

  4. 2legit2quit says:

    I think Harry is actually the naive one and wants to live a life of philanthropy like he is a working royal and Meghan is like “sure you do you, but honey, we are not working royals. We need to just work.”
    That’s where the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle comes in because for better or for worse, it makes money. I think Harry is a natural and should be in front of the camera more. He’s charming and endearing, and Americans love a posh British accent.

    • YankeeDoodles says:

      This is intriguing, @2Legit2Quit, because I feel like this used to be true, but it isn’t anymore. And I think it says a lot about the politics of class, respectively, in our two countries. Class is kind of a taboo topic to Americans, except in England, where it seems superficially harmless and charming… until it isn’t. Because I think what a lot of Americans have realised in beholding the coverage of Meghan and Harry is that there is a really nasty class-based angle to it, which kills the vibe. Total buzz kill. One article on a US site actually asked, rhetorically, “What Have Meghan and Harry Done to the British White Working Class to Offend Them?”… And a lot of the coverage of Meghan cannot pin her down in UK class terms. To wit: “Straight Outta Compton” would demonstrate a very dim grasp of L.A. geography, but then they pivot seamlessly to the fact that she attended a private Catholic girls’ school. …which would be unlikely to sit in Compton, FWIW. Sometimes it reminds me of the 1930s-era propaganda about Jews in Europe, like, “They’re Communists!” ….but also, “They’re all bankers!!!!” ….really can’t be both at the same time. You know?

      • FromDaBay says:

        A superdupe homeboy from Oaktown!

      • Cindy says:

        Very interesting read and I agree with a lot of it. To add to it , I think that in the UK Harry was obviously in an upper elite group. As high as it gets., so, In any group or conversation, he was always the centre of attention and placed above the others in status. However, America is not the same. In America work and abilities place a person on a pedestal and people dislike nepo babies – which is of course exactly what Harry is.

        Once he moved to the states in a group he was actually an equal of the people around him and perhaps less than. What did he actually do for work? I don’t think for a second their friends in California and celebrities they hung out I thought that Harry was in no way above them. And I think honestly that was very difficult for him. Added to that Megan does understand working and trying to get ahead. Harry has never had to even worry about that. What does being a prince in America even mean? So he lost his identity. Can you imagine for your whole life having police with you and suddenly it’s just you and some random body guard.

      • Mairzy Doats says:

        @Cindy — I believe the nepo baby argument dissolves when you consider Harry’s two deployments in a war zone where comrades do not care if you are royal, they care if you pull your own weight, support your team against deadly threats, fly the Apache helicopter out of the line of fire, and properly operate a gun when necessary. If anything, I believe Harry appreciated the leveling of status while serving because he showed him what he was capable of achieving without higher status, and that he gained respect from his fellow soldiers on his own merits, not because he was an HRH. If anything, on his return home he felt a disconnect from perfunctory royal charity work and instead strove to find meaningful causes, such as founding Invictus. I also think the royal family has underestimated the effect active military service had on Harry’s maturation; they had pegged him as the proverbial cheeky “spare” and nothing more.

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        @Mairzy Doats: Harry’s military service certainly helped him understand what being non-royal means. But he was still royal and knew he would return to being royal once his military service ended. As for whether he was a nepo baby even in the army, his grandmother was literally his commander in chief. He noted this himself.

      • Kingston says:

        @Cindy writing fantastical pieces again. LMFAO

      • Becks1 says:

        I dont understand this idea that Harry wasn’t a huge star in the US because of how much we value hard work. We also really like royalty. And we do value charisma and personality. Harry was in the upper elite circles here. He went to parties with Oprah, Kevin Costner, and other millionaire/billionaires. People on here used to screech about how H&M should cut ties with their billionaire friends but now he wasn’t in an upper elite group?

      • Mairzy Doats says:

        @Brassy Rebel — Absolutely fair point that Harry has always known that he is royal.
        But the comment I was responding to suggested that Harry didn’t “understand working” and that he probably felt very uncomfortable at being considered only equal to or “even less than” his friends in California. There is NO evidence at all of either of these. The military would have set him right on both points. Doesn’t mean he’s not royal; just means that he is a decent human being, not a pampered, lazy snob.

    • Graphinya Heather says:

      Completely off topic, 2legit2quit but I wanted to say….just seeing your name made my memory flood and I can now say I still remember 98% of the words to that MC Hammer song AND the little hand dance! It made my morning!

      • Jais says:

        Hey hey!

      • Andrea says:

        My, my, my, my music hits me so hard
        Makes me say, “Oh, my Lord
        Thank you for blessin’ me with a mind to rhyme and two hype feet” @Graphinya Heather I remember all the lyrics too! It came out the same 2 days before my son was born, I was on way to hospital from Hayward Ca stuck in traffic on January 15 and our local Bay Area radio station had MC Hammer in studio! I’ll never forget it Lol

      • Graphinya Heather says:

        @Andrea, that’s Can’t Touch This, which was parodied wonderfully by the genius that is Weird Al in Can’t Watch This

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      @2Legit2Quit: When Harry was in Ukraine he gave a brief interview to a British reporter in which he basically said, “I will always be royal and I’m just doing the work I was born to do.” This confirmed for me that he’s leaning into his royal lineage whether the Windsors like it or not. And, yes, I agree that Meghan is just letting Harry be Harry. So they’re not necessarily totally aligned but that doesn’t mean they’re unhappy.

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        @Cindy: Royalty is Harry’s identity. And I agree that he missed having that identity recognized in the States. He wants that back. And as long as the monarchy exists in the UK, he has every right to identify as such. But the monarchy and royalty in general are archaic and undermine modern values such as equality and the dignity of all humans. It raises the question, can Harry ever be truly happy anywhere when his values are in tension and contradictory?

      • Kingston says:

        @Brassy Rebel
        “The monarchy and royalty in general are archaic and undermine modern values such as equality and the dignity of all humans.”

        Are you suggesting that America, in general and any other country that does NOT have a monarchy, is an egalitarian society? LOL Are you for real?

        Newsflash: Every. Society, no matter their official form of government, is based and founded on hierarchy.: Politically. Economically. Socially…………..so long as there are haves and have-nots in a nation, the human psyche is such that we always want to know that there are those less fortunate than ourselves, even as we piously pray for them.

        So while the british “royals” are indeed an archaic and egregious abuser of middle class values, we all live within hierarchical structures, of varying levels of strictness, based on socio-economic and political considerations.

        PS:
        Its very annoying when both seemingly reasonable folks as well as trolls, wonder out loud what Harry does for a living. “He doesnt have a job.” Well no, dear pauper. People who exist and have their being within a certain tax bracket are able to do so because they dont work for money; theyre at a place in time when its their money that works for them.

      • Jais says:

        But I mean he is royal? Look, I’d be happy as a clam if the monarchy was abolished, but it’s not so Harry was just speaking truth. As long as the monarchy exists, he is royal? That’s just a basic statement of fact. I don’t consider it leaning in so much as stating the obvious. Especially considering the fact that like all of us, he has watched the BM and RF twist themselves into pretzels trying to make working royals v royals a thing. It’s about who gets money from the people’s taxes, not about who is royal by blood, and it’s an asinine distraction. The monarchy IS about eugenics and bloodlines, which ew ick, but Harry is right bc by the standards in which it exists, he is royal.

    • Denise says:

      That’s exactly my impression too. I think they both have same goals, they are both into philanthropy and they want to make this world a better place.
      The biggest difference is in how they’re going to get there. Meghan is more grounded and aware that they need to work to get money to be able to do philanthropy. Also she knows they need to hustle for good connections. One of the best places to do that is Hollywood.
      On the other hand, Harry had to use different approach, with more visibility, charm and less background work than Meghan. They’re actually a good team because they complement each others skills but I can’t imagine it’s easy for them. Times are hard and lots of hustling is needed atm to stay funded and connected. Plus they are parents of toddlers. I’m sure they’re making it work though.

  5. Shiela Kerr says:

    I think a lot of those gutter rats are hoping and dreaming for the unhappiness they wish upon the Sussexes. I do believe Prince Harry is a restless spirit and Meghan and their children are going on this new journey with him because this is what you do in a marriage, you sacrifice for each other. As far as them being unhappy, I have yet to see either of them demonstrate unhappiness with each other. I also believe Harry and Meghan are each other’s home and they are committed to each other. Always funny to see those folks twist themselves in knots trying to understand how and why Harry and Meghan are together. They cannot understand how a Californian like Meghan can move with her husband to such a dreary place but Prince Harry moved with Meghan to California and I can see them both enjoying each other their family where they are to fill whatever emptiness Prince Harry feels from leaving his home country. I also believe this is a temporary move and they will return to California after the Invictus games. Harry’s life outside of his family is philanthropy, he is good at it and should be allowed to do it on his home country soil if he so chooses.

    • GMHQ says:

      So they have multiple homes! So do I. There is no crisis that arise from moving between houses. You work around school calendars. Otherwise not a big deal. Only rota rats and tabloid trolls who could never even dream of such a lifestyle then project their pedestrian and resentful world view on them and yet be so smug in the process.

  6. Tessa says:

    Sykes pretends to be an expert on the couples marriage. Just more rambling double talk

    • CatGotMyTongue says:

      It’s always Backwards Day over there. Who has a loveless marriage?

    • paintybox says:

      Speculating about the inner state of the marriage of people one doesn’t know is a huge, open field of fantasy and fill-in-the-blanks. Sykes needs to earn his pennies and hate-fiction is his game.

  7. Ciotog says:

    If an RF member can only happily marry someone who understands their lifestyle then that’s a good reason to abolish the RF, because they can’t marry each other. Anymore.

  8. Hypocrisy says:

    Even good marriages are not sunshine and rainbows every day but these people seem to follow, watch and dissect H&M like they are specimens under a microscope to impose their narrative of “marriage trouble” which has been their ultimate goal to disrupt and end the marriage.. they do this just hoping that their article is the final straw that breaks the Sussex’s marriage.

  9. ChillinginDC says:

    For the love of God, she didn’t try to change the RF. Harry wanted them to protect his wife from the lies that were being reported on as they had done for Kate. They didn’t do it. I am so sick of them pretending that their campaign to terrorize her was just what is to be expected. They keep blaming Meghan when she’s no said crap about those people since the Oprah interview 5 freaking years ago. And all she even mentioned in her In the Cut article was that was Harry’s family and he doesn’t have to lose his father like she did hers. It’s mind boggling that 10 years in they still are trying to lie about this.

    • Amy Bee says:

      Yeah she didn’t want to change the monarchy but she did want them to treat with respect and kindness. Unfortunately the Royal Family is incapable of doing that.

  10. Jais says:

    Meh. Harry has stated he’s unhappy at the lack of security and the fact that he can’t freely travel bw the two countries. Who knows how long they’ll stay. But it’s no secret he didn’t like the idea of his family being exiled. That doesn’t mean he hated Cali. This family appears cute and happy together. Ofc no one knows the bts but this just reads like a lot of wishing and hoping for them to have marital problems.

  11. Mairzy Doats says:

    Making stuff up for clicks and money and stirring outrage and fake drama so they can sell more made up stories. Charles Spencer’s book has some real eye openers, not just about Diana, but about himself and others. This has been going on for decades.

    As for Harry and Meghan and their children, are they really having a bad day in the Cotswolds? Seems to me that they look to cultivate joy in that family.

  12. JustCommenting says:

    I grew up in the US but it was in a rural state with a tiny population and a stereotypically poor reputation. I hated it. Hated the way I felt judged for being from there, hated how backwards I felt when I was on school trips to big cities, hated being mocked for my accent so I left as soon as I could. I went to college far away and started my family in another more prosperous state.

    While I think that was the right decision, I have often felt out of place. Because my state of origin is so tiny (population-wise), it is rare to meet anyone from there. I miss the food, the people, the geography, the quiet of rural life, the feeling of home, and my loneliness about this has only increased as my kids have grown up completely detached from that culture. I have taken them to visit, but they don’t get it and never will. It’s not their home.

    All of that is to say, I think I understand Harry’s desire for his kids to have a meaningful connection to his home. He can miss his home and native culture and want his children to be connected there without also being miserable in his marriage.

  13. iCordelia says:

    This seems like a clickbait fan fiction to me. Nothing brings all the derangers to the yard more than a “Harry and Meghan” are miserable post. He knows he’ll get this covered widely and will get subscribers and readers so why not indulge a bit of fanfic.

    I don’t think their stay in England will signal unhappiness. These are rich people and rich people move around and have homes in various countries. Meghan and Harry are no different.

    • Chiron says:

      Plenty of people here who believe it so. Just read the comments since the move was announced. This used to be a refuge.

    • Becks1 says:

      These were my thoughts exactly. I rolled my eyes pretty hard. They’re wildly in love but also wildly unhappy and they’re so in love but also fundamentally are very different and want very different things etc. its all just nonsense. These people don’t know anything about their mutual goals, etc.

      I dont understand why we are giving credence to people just because they said Harry wanted to move back to the UK. commentators have been saying that for the last 6 years. a broken clock is right twice a day. I doubt he was wildly unhappy in California – you can miss your home country without being miserable in the country where you currently reside. i think anyone who has moved a significant distance from home can understand this.

      They’re still working, still going on dates, still seeing friends, still doing pilates, etc.

  14. Amy Bee says:

    How is Harry still wildly unhappy when he’s got what he supposedly wanted? His life hasn’t changed that much from how he lived in the US. He’s still doing his charity work and travelling the world. It’s Meghan’s and the children’s lives that have changed drastically and if he can’t find the happiness he’s looking for in the UK then the US wasn’t the problem. Perhaps he would find so worth and meaning in his life if he went back to school. All that being said it would seem that Wakeford is wedded to the wildly unhappy narrative which doesn’t make any sense now because Harry is back in the UK as Wakeford said Harry wanted.

    • ABritGuest says:

      Why does anyone even believe Wakeford which is the better question. If these folks claim to know all these intimate details about their marriage how come none of them broke the story of this relocation? Wasn’t Wakeford the one claiming they had money problems recently? What’s happened to those stories?

      I also don’t buy that Harry struggled in USA with not being treated as special- there’s a reason why the BRF is very focused on America and people magazine is KP propaganda central. theres lots of Americans who seem to love royalty from the President to people in the entertainment industry who queue up for palace events, royal connections & to be awarded their trinkets. I think Harry’s status and fame absolutely opened lots of doors to him in USA same as in uk & other countries where his father is head of state. And even for those who aren’t into royalty they are aware that Harry is very famous so I very much doubt he was ever treated like your average Joe in America. Over the last six years Harry was giving speeches at the UN, having events with the First Lady, having meetings at military bases, was a guest of military heads at the warrior games, was a guest for the basketball commissioner- like cmon

      I still think this uk stay is linked to what they said when it was just Archie in 2020- giving their kids chance to experience both sides of their heritage as well as giving them chance to be nearer uk friends, family & orgs.

      I agree it’s always worth expanding your mind & learning always & I think it would be cool if Harry decided to pursue higher education. But Harry has founded invictus, Archewell, sentebale (pre hostile takeover) and Travalyst so I’m not sure he’s struggling with meaning or purpose in his life right now. I think that’s a distinctly tabloid narrative rooted in idea that William has a super important role & Harry is this wotless spare.

      • Androsoul says:

        Yep. It’s always amusing when people say “Oh Harry missed being treated like royalty, so this UK move makes sense..” 🙄. Dude was shopping at TJ-Maxx and using garbage bags for luggage. The US may not have been bowing and curtseying to Harry, but he was definitely held in a privileged position

      • Lurker says:

        I am just reading Spare (again). Harry was so happy when he wasn’t recognised or treated as royal during his time in the army, in Australia, in Lesotho, visiting Botswana. Now we should believe he missed being treated as a royal? When he in his own words said how much he hated it?

        He said he is a royal and he is working. A direct response to the constant “he is no working royal” claims. Well, he is right. He doesn’t get the perks (security) as a “working royal” but he still gets to meet important people due to his own merits as the founder of Invictus, Travalyst, and philanthropist. He is actually the royal who makes the “working royals” work. The Wails are never that busy when Harry spends his days surfing.

  15. Andrea says:

    Harry was pissed when he found out this summer that RAVEC stopped working on his case. So he pulled an “I’ll show them” and moved his family. Rich people can do that stuff. So they figured to temporarily relocate and Harry could be closer for Invictus events. The tabloids just need content.

    • Jais says:

      Except there were signs that they had been planning this move well before this summer. Downsizing, James Holt going back. I don’t believe it was as rash a decision as some do.

  16. QuiteContrary says:

    Kate must wish that she and William were as “wildly unhappy” as the Sussexes supposedly are.

    And this is what I wish: that the rota would focus on dissecting the couple living on the public dime and waiting to inherit the British throne.

  17. Puff Updater says:

    Everytime Psykes makes these pages I’m going to mention the fact that his wife Sasha pours what looks like As ever Flower Sprinkles into molds full of plastic resin and calls it Art.

  18. Little Red says:

    My IG algorithm has started showing me this Wakeford guy posts. I watched a few and he was not informative. He tries to sound reasonable but he’s selling the same lies as the rest of the British media.

  19. JFerber says:

    I’d be wildly unhappy if I were stalked, maligned and chased no matter where I went.

  20. Emma says:

    Why would anyone who is friends with Harry and Meghan be talking to Dan Wakefield? An ex magazine editor and gossip monger. Didn’t he say in April they had no money? Has he given up on that fiction now? Of course they are aligned they have both moved countries to make the other happy. It’s obvious the kids and the marriage are the number one priority. If Dan has such great sources how come he didn’t know they were planning on moving to the UK because they had obviously been planning it for a while. Scaling down their team in the US and Harry was obviously making enquiries about schools. I actually believe the move has been in the works since the end of last year when they downsized their charity! Why would a husband who wants to do philanthropy care if he wife wants to run a lifestyle brand as well as do charity work? Don’t most couples have separate jobs?

  21. Sonya says:

    Still pushing the unhappy marriage angle.

  22. Lorelei says:

    What I find wild is how confidently he makes these statements, as if he’s in the Sussexes’ home and privy to all of their conversations. He’s literally just pulling all of this out of his ass.

  23. tamsin says:

    I think Harry was treated better in the US than in Britain. Being in the US didn’t prevent Harry from doing his philanthropy. It expanded while he was in the US. He certainly had a better quality of life. Can Nott Cottage or a bedroom at Clarence House or even Frogmore Cottage compare to Montecito? Not to mention that he gained a wife and two children.

    Harry was probably thrown in at the deep end regarding finances after marrying Meghan. Didn’t he say he didn’t even have his own credit card? Meghan obviously has managed her career and finances very well before meeting Harry. She knows how to make money and to manage it. He’s lucky he married a woman of Meghan’s skills, integrity, and grit. She is also kind, hard-working, loyal and loving. Of course it’s normal to miss one’s country and when your family is bicultural, bi-national, and bi-racial, you want to give everything a go for your children’s sake. Hope the children as they grow see both the positives and negatives of the UK and US.

  24. Sean says:

    Sykes might want to rename his site to The Harry&Meghanist.
    Gosh, think of the massive coverage if they were working royals…

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