Prince Harry and Meghan Have 'Made Every Wrong Move'—Ex-Vanity Fair Editor

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are "fascinating concepts" who have made mistakes that will "come back to haunt them," according to a former editor of society bible, Vanity Fair.

Graydon Carter, famed in journalistic circles for his tenure at magazine publishing house Condé Nast as editor of Vanity Fair from 1992 to 2017, was asked his views on Hollywood's new royal couple as part of a wide-ranging interview for British broadsheet newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, published on Friday.

"Harry and Meghan are just fascinating concepts," he said before citing their isolation from family members and decision to move to a wealthy part of California with an increasingly aging population.

"They've done something they'll live to regret, which is their children have no relatives," he noted. "They have no cousins that they see, or uncles or aunts, and they don't see grandparents, except for one. That will come back to haunt them at a certain point."

"Montecito is gorgeous but it's God's waiting room: there is nothing, nothing, nothing to do. It's a 40-minute drive from LA. There can't be many kids there because young families can't afford it. It's a lonely, beautiful place."

Harry and Meghan's relationships with family members are well documented and undeniably strained. Harry's tempestuous relationship with his brother, Prince William, and father, King Charles III, were laid bare in his bombshell royal memoir, Spare, which also cited difficulties with sister-in-law Kate Middleton.

On Meghan's side of the family, she has been estranged from her father since 2018 and is currently being sued for defamation by half-sister, Samantha Markle. The duchess' mother, Doria Ragland, remains very much an integral part of Harry and Meghan's family unit.

Carter's assessment does not include the fact that at least one of Harry's royal family members has visited him in California, and that they have evidently spent time with his children—his cousin Princess Eugenie.

The youngest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, Eugenie was included in self-shot footage of the Sussex family playing with their eldest son, Prince Archie, on a beach, in their six-part Netflix docuseries released in December 2022.

Carter also went on to discuss Harry and Meghan's recent car chase which broke headlines in May after their spokesperson described their pursuit by paparazzi through New York City as "near catastrophic."

According to the couple's spokesperson, on May 16, following an awards show in Midtown Manhattan, they were victims of a "relentless pursuit" through the city, resulting in "multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers."

A number of commentators presented a tamer version of the events, including the NYPD who released a statement saying that the couple's journey from the Ziegfeld Theatre to their residence was "challenging," but added that: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard."

"I've lived in New York for 50 years and you can't go faster than three miles an hour," Carter said of the incident. "When I first read about it I thought, 'That doesn't look right.'"

Summarizing, he assessed that the couple has "too much attention."

"For people like that, unavailability is your greatest asset. If you're out there too much, the public has a chance to get sick of you. I think they've made every wrong move you can make."

Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for comment.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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