The Sussexes didn’t ‘leak’ to TMZ, TMZ got their info from LAX

There were some very tragic anti-Sussex people on the internet yesterday. They were weeping and screeching loudly about how Prince Harry and Meghan “exploited” a poor old Queen by leaking their visit to her to TMZ. TMZ’s time-stamp on their story is 1:13 PST, meaning 4:13 EST, which is when the last-minute British reporting happened almost simultaneously. The British reporting centered around Harry and Meghan being seen by church-goers and tourists outside Windsor Castle. Minutes later, the Sussex spokesperson confirmed the visit, but Harry and Meghan had already flown out of the UK.

TMZ’s “exclusive” reporting seemingly comes from LAX, big surprise. Their LAX sources say that Harry and Meghan flew out on Tuesday night first class on a commercial flight, which means they would have arrived in the UK Wednesday morning, spent a day resting and hanging out with Eugenie, Jack and August, spent one night in Frogmore Cottage and then they went to see the Queen on Thursday morning and flew to the Netherlands soon after.

Just so we’re clear, the narrative in the British press before Thursday afternoon was “how dare Harry and Meghan travel so close to the UK and not even stop in and see the poor ill Queen.” Following the Sussexes’ visit, the narrative is “how dare they stop in and see the poor ill Queen, they’re such famewhores!” The Daily Mail’s coverage has been predictably bonkers, especially since all of their commentators are on record saying that Harry would never, ever visit the Queen again. One of the dumb new talking points is “It was all done for their Netflix documentary.” These people are complete morons – the Netflix documentary is clearly about the Invictus Games!

👉 For more insights, check out this resource.

I was surprised that Ingrid Seward didn’t go hyper-negative (probably because she was wrong about sh-t too). She said: “It is a wonderful opportunity to clear the air and offer an olive branch. After everything that has gone on it must have taken a lot for Harry and Meghan to go to Windsor. Also Maundy Thursday is a very special day for the Queen as it is about forgiveness. She is not one to hold grudges and I think she would have happily welcomed them with open arms.” I think it was less about an olive branch and more about Harry and Meghan seeing the Queen one last time.

👉 Discover more in this in-depth guide.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.