For reasons not entirely clear, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will begin their four-day trip to Colombia on Thursday – described as a “quasi-royal” tour as they are going to now not represent the British government but only their interests and private concerns.
The California-based couple can expect glowing coverage from a reporter representing “a hand-picked publication” who has been chosen to be a part of their entourage. in line with The Telegraph. Meghan is bound to vary her designer outfits several times as the previous American television actress and her husband help their host, Vice President Francia Marquez, “illuminate Colombia's role as a beacon of culture and innovation.”
The trip is about to incorporate photo-friendly stops within the capital Bogota and the regions of Cartagena and Cali, The Telegraph reported. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit a city founded by runaway slaves that has grow to be a logo of anti-colonial resistance. In addition, they are going to proceed the work of their Archewell Foundation, which focuses on improving online environments for young people, by attending a summit of experts, activists and community members. People have reported. At some point they will even meet with Colombian participants within the Invictus Games at a lunch hosted by Marquez.
But there are questions on the true purpose of this high-profile trip and who really advantages from it. The Telegraph and the Daily Mail The tour has reportedly sparked controversy, with Colombians claiming Harry and Meghan risk getting used as “political pawns” in a government facing turmoil, corruption scandals and opposition from other branches of power.
“I'm sure Meghan and Harry mean well, but everyone here is talking about how obviously they are being manipulated,” a outstanding Bogota lawyer told the Daily Mail. “Of course their star status is being used to draw attention to poor people and certain areas of culture in Colombia… but the reality is that the Colombian government has been mired in scandal since it took office two years ago. They need something to appease people at home and make them look good abroad.”
President Gustavo Petro is a former left-wing guerrilla and mayor of Bogotá who promised to remodel Colombia right into a more just society. NPR saidHowever, he has faced criticism and protests for failing to implement promised reforms in healthcare, education and welfare for single moms and abused women, the Daily Mail reported.
Some of the criticism is self-inflicted, NPR added. He is understood for his inflammatory rhetoric and has been accused of cheating on his wife. His foreign minister has been suspended over alleged corruption and his 2022 campaign is under scrutiny over possible illegal donations, NPR and the Daily Mail reported. In addition, he recently claimed that the commander of rebel forces paid for his assassination by snipers. Meanwhile, Colombia continues to struggle to shed its status as a rustic inundated by drug trafficking and murderous cartels.
There isn’t any indication that Harry and Meghan will meet Petro, as their invitation comes from his vp. Still, the couple face other questions – which they’re unlikely to reply – namely who can pay for his or her flights to Colombia, their expected luxury accommodation and their security, in line with The Telegraph. The government – and due to this fact Colombian taxpayers – are expected to pay for his or her high level of security, especially in the event that they travel with Marquez, who has been the goal of assassination attempts, the Daily Mail reported.
“People are grumbling about why the Colombian taxpayer should foot the huge security bill for what is essentially a PR exercise for the Sussexes and a government that desperately needs to distract from its mistakes,” a source told the Daily Mail.
The Colombia trip has also reignited criticism over Harry's claims that he didn’t feel secure bringing Meghan and his children to the UK because he was cut off from armed police protection when he and Meghan gave up royal duties and moved to California in 2020. But now he and his wife are travelling to Colombia after the UK and US governments warned against travel to certain regions over concerns about terrorism, kidnapping and street crime.
Since Harry and Meghan will not be travelling to Colombia in an official diplomatic capability, they can not expect expert advice from the British Foreign Office on tips on how to take care of sensitive political or cultural issues.
“When you have this quasi-royal status, you are viewed internationally as a member of the royal family and treated as such when you travel, but you don't have the protection of the State Department,” royal writer Anna Pasternak told The Telegraph. “This is a high-risk tour for her.”
Pasternak has written a book about Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, one other American who married into the British royal family but was banished from the monarchy's center of power. Pasternak sees some parallels between Harry and Meghan's quasi-royal trips to Nigeria last spring and now to Colombia and the controversial trips Edward and Wallis made as “private citizens” on the invitation of foreign governments.
One trip specifically showed the poor judgement of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and did enormous damage to their status. In 1937, a yr after Edward abdicated the British throne, he and Wallis visited Germany, where they were hailed as kings with power and influence. They also drank tea with Hermann Göring, watched the training of the Hitler Youth, and were photographed meeting Hitler himself. Less than two years later, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain, and France declared war on Germany, sparking World War II.
While nobody believes the Sussexes would ever grow to be involved in anything akin to emerging Nazism, Pasternak and others explained that there have been potential risks in Harry and Meghan mingling with heads of presidency without following standard diplomatic protocol. The British government has tried to distance itself as much as possible from the Sussexes' world-traveling activities. A source within the Foreign Office told the Daily Mail that their trip to Colombia was “completely irrelevant” to British interests abroad.
However, Pasternak believes Harry shares a number of the reasons Edward had for these quasi-royal trips. Edward and Wallis accepted Germany's invitation to go to in 1937 “because Edward felt so hurt and angry that Wallis had been rejected by the royal family, and he desperately wanted her to experience the pomp and ceremony of a royal trip.”
“He wanted Wallis to be addressed as HRH and for people to curtsy to her,” Pasternak continued. “I'm not saying Harry wants the pomp and ceremony of a royal tour, but there may be a sense that he would love [to elevate] Meghan to the status she is entitled to.”
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