Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Forty-Six: Expect the Best, Prepare for the Worst

25th of October 2018 - Windsor Castle

Two days after Eugenie and Jack's wedding, the Sussexes flew to Sydney, over the 16 days, they would fly fourteen times to seventy-six engagements the full itinerary was normal for royal tours and no different to what Adeline and Simon had done back in June. 

From the outset, the reception for the Sussexes in Australia was ecstatic with large crowds cheering the couple, delighted by the news that Meghan was pregnant with the couple's first child. 

The Commonwealth, everyone agreed, would be enhanced further by the birth of the next mixed-race child of the royal family in the contemporary era. 

Throughout the first days, the tour was perfect with their visit on the second day to a family five hundred miles east of Sydney, bringing with them a banana cake baked by Meghan the night before which aroused euphoria from the crowds. 

Harry also scored another triumph with the Invictus Games which saw the Australian flag replaced on Sydney's Harbour bridge with the flag of the games. 

The couple were loudly praised for arranging free flights from Britain for the participants of the games and members of charities, warmly welcoming them at receptions. 

However, the mood in the Sussexes' Sydney headquarters was by contrast miserable. The couple had arrived with four members of staff – Samantha Cohen, Amy Pickerill, Heather Wong, and Marnie Gaffney – but Meghan decided that she needed to be surrounded by people that she trusted. 

So, at her request, Jessica and Ben Mulroney flew in from Canada to provide the couple with round-the-clock support. 

Jessica doubling as Meghan's stylist as she worked through her 'show-stopping' wardrobe that she had brought with her for the tour; no expense being spared by the Sussexes on Meghan's clothing for the tour. 

Boosted by the presence of the Mulroneys, Meghan turned abrasive with the four female staff members and even towards the local British diplomats. 

Reports started leaking out from Admiralty House, with stories such as Meghan expecting Peter Cosgrove and his wife to leave their home at Admiralty House not expecting to share the place with them to Meghan throwing a hot cup of tea at staff members in a rage. 

In the mornings they bombarded their staff with demands for retribution and the removal of the criticism that appeared online that they found on social media, and they turned on the journalists that had travelled with them. 

The blame was quickly passed to Knauf and his staff for not suppressing, Hollywood-style, all the embarrassing media reports that neither of the couple seemed to like. 

Their press secretary was at a loss on what he would do as Harry and Meghan turned on the press around them who were left baffled by the prince's sudden cold treatment of them.

The only headline that they could pinpoint was a report on one of Meghan's outfits that cost £19,960 from the accompanying journalists that were with the couple as well as Meghan wearing one of Serena Williams brand jackets. 

Only one week into the tour, decisions had clearly been made with Harry and Meghan convincing themselves that the Cambridges were jealous of them, and they needed to break away from Kensington to establish themselves. 

They proposed that the Palace should rewrite the rulebook, instead of them playing the dutiful members of the supporting cast they would star as campaigners, independent of the Cambridges and even the Queen. 

They wanted a separate court of their own as well as administration; they would no longer work with the Royal Foundation but operate a separate charity, Sussex Royal.