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According to a commentator, the new Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview is another example of a pattern the couple’s followed in recent years. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to “pop up” every August while their royal counterparts across the Atlantic vacation in Scotland.  

Harry and Meghan ‘pop up’ every August

Harry and Meghan’s CBS Sunday Morning interview about The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network aired on Aug. 4, 2024. Not only did it coincide with Meghan’s birthday—she turned 43 —but according to commentator Daniela Elser, the timing proved telling. 

“The timing of this week’s Harry and Meghan outing is a curious business. In short, why now?” she asked (via news.com.au). The couple’s joint interview and launch of the program “follows a pattern that has emerged over the last few years,” she continued. 

“Around the same time the royal family all collectively have their out-of-offices on and are up in Scotland, […] the Duke and Duchess of Sussex pop up.” 

Three days before the interview aired, Harry and Meghan’s upcoming tour of Colombia, was also announced. 

August is known to be a quiet month for the British royal family. Every year, they close out the summer by heading to Balmoral, their estate in the Scottish Highlands.

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan didn’t reportedly get invited this year. Nor have they ever taken their two children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, to Balmoral. 

Harry and Meghan followed the ‘pattern’ in August 2020 and August 2021

Elser continued, noting that Harry and Meghan had either made an announcement or appearance every August since leaving royal life in the spring of 2020. 

The first August after relocating to Montecito, California, the couple “undertook their first live post-royal engagement.” They joined a “charity to hand out back-to-school supplies, taking a personal photographer with them.” 

Not two weeks passed when, on Sept. 2, 2020, they marked the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death by “planting flowers at LA Preschool, [and] later releasing photos of the visit.” 

A year later, in August 2021, Meghan celebrated turning 40 publicly. She appeared in a video alongside Melissa McCarthy to launch a mentoring program, which has “long since disappeared.” 

They did it again in August 2022 and 2023

August 2022 and August 2023 were no different. Once again, Harry and Meghan continued the “pattern.” In 2022, came Meghan’s cover interview for New York magazine’s The Cut. 

“Curiously, she said something not dissimilar back then,” Elser said in reference to Meghan’s  “scraped the surface” comment. “It’s interesting, I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking,” Meghan told The Cut. “I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.”  

Finally, in August 2023, “Harry flew to Tokyo to take part in a conference to declare his ‘life is charity.’” It marked “his first in-person public engagement in months.” 

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