The combination of the Duchess of Sussex’s successful Paris Fashion Week appearance alongside the Sussexes receiving the Humanitarians of the Year Award has really broken a certain type of hater. They’ve been fuming for days, trying to convince everyone that Harry and Meghan’s marriage is in shambles (lol) and that Meghan wasn’t invited to Paris (lol) or that the Sussexes are still somehow, impossibly, desperate to return to the UK. Most of these storylines are playing out in the British press, but Page Six ran a suspicious exclusive over the weekend. It hits all of the Sussex attack lines, but it also includes some strange embiggening of Prince William. Perhaps that’s our clue about which palace communications’ office is the source of the story.

The Sussexes have barely been seen together!! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were crowned “Humanitarians of the Year” Thursday evening — promoting family values while desperately trying to forge a path of reconciliation with their own clan. The couple were honored in New York City at a gala for Project Healthy Minds, a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to mental health services throughout the US. Despite having barely been seen together in public this year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wore coordinating Armani suits and clasped hands on the red carpet.

They need the Windsors!! Insiders told Page Six that, behind the scenes, Markle — who has never shied away from going into detail about how her husband’s relatives allegedly mistreated her — has actually been supporting Harry’s recent bid to reconcile with his family, especially his father. “They need the [royal] family,” said a source, adding, “Meghan is aware of that. Meghan knows that Harry won’t be returning to royal duties, but on a human, personal level, [she wants for him to be] able to get on good terms with his father.”

Meghan wants King Charles to spend time with Lili & Archie: But one insider made it clear that Markle is not holding Harry back from his family and that she encouraged him to see the king while he was in London. The insider added that the couple both very much want Charles to spend time with his grandchildren, and that Harry gave his father a photo of Archie and Lilibet during their private tea together at Clarence House. Harry is said to have been relieved to find his father doing well after not having seen him in person for 19 months — wearing a big smile afterward as he told reporters Charles was “great.” And the wayward prince has seemed lighter and happier since, sources said.

Harry was happy at the events in NYC, despite the tabloids’ desperation to say he wasn’t: He was seen beaming at Thursday’s gala as well as Friday at a Manhattan forum for Project Healthy Minds in honor of World Mental Health Day. “Harry is just at his happiest when he is at events like this,” said one guest who has worked with Harry for years, “This is basically just what he sees as his life’s work.”

William is Diana’s son too!! And even if Harry does bring his young family back to the UK to visit the king, sources said peace between the brothers is still not in the cards. But they also believe William — who was seen crying this week during an on-camera chat with a woman whose husband committed suicide days after the loss of their child — feels things more deeply than he’s sometimes given credit for. They take care to point out it’s not just Harry who has Princess Diana’s empathetic nature. “We see that William is more like his mother than the royal family — the previous generation was stoic,” said Hugo Vickers, royal author and friend of the family. “The only tears the Queen [Elizabeth] ever showed was when the Royal Britannia, the royal yacht, was decommissioned. She certainly didn’t express emotion when Diana or [her own mother] died. William has some of [his mother’s] traits too, not just Harry. He has her charm and empathy.”

[From Page Six]

Something I’ve noticed in recent days/weeks is that the disparity between the tabloid talking points and the reality which we can all see has never been greater. They cried and whined and tried to convince everyone that Meghan’s PFW appearance was scandalous or awful, when we could plainly see that it was a complete success. They’ve been trying to convince everyone that Harry and Meghan looked “awkward” at the PHM gala, when we can literally see the photos and videos of the Sussexes looking happy and loved up. They’re trying to say that H&M “need” the royals when the past five-plus years have shown that the Windsors desperately need the Sussexes, not the other way around. They’re trying to force this rebrand/narrative that William is suddenly a compassionate, normal bloke who cries and has compassion, when we have ample evidence that his emotions/behavior tend towards violent rage, lies and bullying. Those gold-standard palace advisors certainly are bad at their jobs.

Also: this whole “Harry and Meghan have barely been seen together this year” thing is bizarre. They were together for Invictus in Canada, they were in New York together in April, and Harry has been all over Meghan’s social media too. They’ve been seen out together more often than the other couple, which means this is just projection.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.