The antics of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have thrown the royal family into a tailspin over the last several months, and it appears that the Queen has let it be known that she may officially abandon the policy “never complain, never explain.”

A pithy little phrasing that was first used by British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in the late 1800. It has been used and has been adopted by the royal family ever since. When a controversy comes up, the monarchy simply doesn’t respond and tries to simply let the news cycle bury it.

As Elbert Hubbard explained, “Never explain—your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you anyways.”

It’s a policy that has mostly worked—however, when Meghan Markle joined the royal family, she didn’t take kindly to it. She wanted the PR team at the palace to respond to every single, supposedly, false story. And since she and Harry left, it has become apparent that the policy no longer works.

Simply, with the constant barbs from Harry and Meghan, the policy no longer makes any sense. The palace must respond in some way, and the Queen has let it be known that she will now respond to the Hollywood twosome.

It was the claim that the couple asked permission before using Her Majesty’s precious childhood nickname for their daughter, Lilibet. They say she approved, but a palace source told the BBC that she actually did not.

Most reports indicate that she wasn’t happy with the news, and the couple supposedly told and did not ask about her name.

This has supposedly pushed the Queen “over the edge,” and so now the palace will now respond directly to Harry and Meghan.

Though the public has been clamoring for the palace and the monarchy to take a more direct approach in dealing with the California couple, it may also play into the couple’s plans as well. 

Meghan is clearly a master manipulator, so a direct war of words may be exactly what she wants. But she has also been accused of bullying and many people simply don’t like her, so a war of words may continue to erode any positive press that Markle once had.

Either way, Meghan has successfully transformed the British monarchy into a reality television show, ala The Kardashians. A word of words may make it better or could make it worse. At this point, it’s unclear but the royal family has to do something to address the Sussex lies.

Picture from Closer Weekly.