Meghan and Harry’s star turn heaps pressure on Prince William

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry visited Jordan Wednesday to support refugees from Syria and Gaza—as back in Britain the wider royal family continued to weather the storm of the Epstein scandal.

Meghan held the hand of a wounded child, 14-year-old Maria, a burn victim from Gaza, which was extensively bombed by Israel in the years after an attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The image, from a visit to the Specialty Hospital in Amman, Jordan, evokes one of Princess Diana’s most famous moments as a humanitarian, when she held the hand of an AIDS patient at a time when some wrongly believed physical contact without glove could spread the virus.

Why It Matters

For Harry and Meghan their visit to the Middle East was an opportunity to show themselves as humanitarians motivated by a desire to make the world a better place having previously been called “grifters” by Spotify executive Bill Simmons as their past deal with the streaming giant fell apart in 2023.

For Prince William and King Charles III, though, a successful overseas visit by two exiled royals who—however low their popularity scores—has the knack for catching headlines may turn the screws as they fail to move on from the Epstein scandal.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in a public office over allegations he leaked confidential material from his role as a U.K. trade envoy to Jeffrey Epstein.

He has always denied wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the British government voted on Tuesday to release its files related to Mountbatten-Windsor, which have the potential to reveal who knew what about Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein, and when.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s Visit to Jordan

Harry and Meghan visited the Specialty Hospital in Amman, Jordan, to highlight the work the Middle Eastern country has been doing to help evacuate children from Gaza for medical treatment.

They were invited to the region by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), who they joined for a round table conversation at the start of their visit.

And they met Syrian refugees at Za’atari Refugee Camp as they paid a visit to Questscope, a social development organization.

A press release on the visit read: “During the visit, The Duke and Duchess will support WHO’s efforts to spotlight Jordan’s leadership in regional humanitarian health response and will visit initiatives they have financially supported to help facilitate medical evacuations for children affected by the conflict in Gaza.

“The Duke and Duchess will also visit to the regional headquarters of World Central Kitchen, from where the organisation coordinates and deploys food and humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

The visit will continue on Thursday.

Prince William, King Charles and Business as Usual

Harry and Meghan’s visit appeared to run fairly smoothly, just around two weeks after Prince William’s visit to Saudi Arabia earned him shouted questions about the Epstein scandal engulfing his uncle.

William and Charles have been attempting, broadly, a business-as-usual approach, continuing with the week-by-week engagements in the royal calendar, many of which will have been months in the planning.

However, the pressure Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with Epstein has placed on the Monarchy appears to follow them wherever they go.

King Charles has had questions hurled at him by journalists—which is very rare for the royals in Britain—and also by members of the public.

William also told dignitaries at the BAFTA Awards that he had not in recent weeks been calm enough to watch hit movie Hamnet, which had been tipped to do well.

Initial signs pointed to a successful trip for the Sussexes, with even the usually hostile Daily Mail running the headline: “Down-to-earth Duchess! Meghan has no time to worry about creased trousers as she proudly focuses on her work in Jordan on quasi-royal tour.”