Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Forty-Nine: Sussex Royal

4th of April 2019 - Kensington Palace

On the 14th of March, the announcement came from Buckingham Palace that the Spectacular Six era was over, the Sussexes' and Cambridges' households were to be split following the Clarences who had parted ways earlier that year.

Behind the scenes and unknown to the rest of the family, plans were already being made for the Sussexes' permanent move to America with Meghan's Los Angeles agents negotiating with Oprah Winfrey.

The broadcaster was set to land the first interview with Meghan when she returned to California and to sweeten the deal, there was a TV documentary with Harry on mental health.

The details finalised on the 'divorce' with the Royal Foundation being continued by the Cambridges while the Sussexes would create their own charity like the Clarences had done.

Three weeks later @sussexroyal was launched on Instagram, 'Brand Sussex' promised to publish important announcements and shine a light on key issues direct to their followers.

The Instagram account announced the TV documentary series with Harry and Oprah on mental health; the truth clear for all to see that Harry and Meghan had committed themselves to Oprah.

Finally Meghan was in control of the narrative that she desired so much, the exclusivity demanded by Oprah matched the mood for retaliation against the Royal Family, the media and the British public.

Sara Latham, the Sussexes' new spokeswoman, announced that the Sussexes would keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private; they would not do as Catherine and Adeline had done in the past.

Not only would the hospital be kept a secret, but even the identity of the godparents remain undisclosed; the Sussexes were determined to have a final say on everything even as they shut out the Palace officials.

Meghan would start her family in a different way than it's been done for more than a thousand years; by royal tradition, births were always a cause for national celebration and the publicity accompanying royal births had always been essential to establish the new-born's legitimacy.

Few understood the Sussexes definition of 'privacy', for Harry and Meghan privacy did not mean remaining 'secret and unseen' rather it meant enforcing total control over their images and the accompanying narrative.

Quickly comparisons were thrown up about the impending birth of the Clarence twins, whose arrival would be celebrated as much as their older siblings.

St Mary's Hospital was already preparing for the birth, the journalist pit being set up as everyone tried to work out when Adeline would go into labour no one wanting to miss the birth of the first royal twins in 588 years.

It wasn't the only comparison that was drawn up between the Sussexes and the Clarences, with many royal reporters and fans pointing out a similarity between the royal brand names.

@RoyalClarence had been the Clarences official social media name for four years now from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and now YouTube; it was the place that the Clarences shared news with their followers.

The naming of @SussexRoyal was hard to ignore the comparisons that only further drew battlelines between the siblings that the media were starting to pick up on for all the wrong reasons.

Gayle King noting that it was hard to ignore the glaring issues that were coming up, that it was odd that both of William's siblings were desperate to get away from him to do their work.

Only in January had Adeline and Simon separated away from the Royal Foundation, now Harry and Meghan were doing the same; the media was awash with speculation about what was going on behind the scenes.