It’s the photo that has shot round the world faster than coronavirus.
Meghan and Harry, arm-in-arm under an umbrella, in a howling torrent, flashing movie star smiles at each other just like Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in Singin In the Rain.
The picture was snapped as the couple walked just 50 yards into London’s Mansion House for the annual Endeavour Fund Awards honoring wounded servicemen and women who’ve taken part in remarkable sporting and adventure challenges.
The Duchess of Sussex wore a blazing turquoise fitted teal dress by Victoria Beckham and purple Manolo Blahnik heels, the Duke wore a navy suit.
But they both wore the exact same joyous expression that said: ‘Screw you, haters – we’re happy and in love!’
As comeback photos go – this was their first appearance together in Britain since they announced their hugely controversial Megxit decision in early January to quit royal duties and live in North America – this was right up there with Princess Diana’s famous ‘Revenge Dress’ that she wore in 1994 after her husband Prince Charles had admitted adultery.
Scroll down for video
It is the first time Meghan has carried out a public royal duty in the wake of the Megxit crisis
This seemed just as planned, and just as calculated: Meghan was clearly determined to show off the ‘Markle Sparkle’ that’s been so noticeably missing in recent months, and Harry seemed equally keen to throw off the sulky frown that’s dominated his own public appearances.
They wanted the world to see they’ve got no regrets about a decision that caused chaos for the Royal Family, and very damaging problems for the Monarchy that the ageing Queen has had to try to sort out.
Whatever the truth, never has the phrase ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ seemed more appropriate. In fact, I’d add a few noughts to the wordcount.
Within seconds, Meghan and Harry’s Grinning In The Rain moment – brilliantly captured by award-winning photographer Samir Hussein – was flying around social media and sending their supporters into a frenzy of delirious excitement.
And very soon after, I began to be bombarded with tweets of the ‘Take THAT, Morgan!’ as if somehow, I find it deeply upsetting to see two people happy and in love.
For the record, I don’t.
The Duchess of Sussex wore a blazing turquoise fitted teal dress by Victoria Beckham and purple Manolo Blahnik heels, the Duke wore a navy suit
I’ve made no secret of my disdain for many of the Sussexes’ antics since they got married 20 months ago, nor indeed for my former friend Meghan ghosting me the moment she met her Prince.
But it would take a heart of stone to look at that picture and feel anything but warmth, and contrary to popular myth, my heart both exists and is granite-free.
And it merely served to prove my point about them anyway, which is that being a popular royal really isn’t that hard if you just play the game, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been proving to very good effect.
The reaction to Meghan and Harry’s already iconic umbrella photo has been universally positive, not just from social media but from mainstream media.
It made newspaper front pages across the U.S. and UK – and doubtless many other countries too – all with ecstatic variants of the Grinning In The Rain theme.
And I’ve seen no snide headlines, no nasty digs, and none of the sneering cynicism that’s greeted so much of what the Sussexes have done since their wedding.
Even the most diehard Meghan fans, who see subliminal racism in every criticism of her, have had to bite their indignant protective lips.
Yet my overriding thought process on seeing the photo was simply this: ‘There you go… that wasn’t too hard, was it?’
This is all Meghan and Harry ever had to do: pitch up looking like rock stars, smile for the cameras, do their bit for charity, and let the photos do the work for them.
That’s what they did before their wedding, to great successful effect.
‘As comeback photos go – this was their first appearance together in Britain since they announced their hugely controversial Megxit decision in early January to quit royal duties and live in North America – this was right up there with Princess Diana’s famous ‘Revenge Dress’ (seen above) that she wore in 1994 after her husband Prince Charles had admitted adultery’
But after their marriage, which was marred by Meghan’s bitter falling out with her father Thomas, they embarked on a catastrophically self-harming behavioral path that drew heavy media criticism, not least from me.
Forgetting the Queen Mother’s golden rule of ‘never complain, never explain and rarely speak in public’, they never stopped complaining, explaining and speaking in public.
Worse, they set out to single-handedly turn the Monarchy into a ‘progressive’ new entity dripping with new-fangled PC-crazed wokeness.
This was never going to do anything but annoy people and lay them open to endless charges of hypocrisy for preaching about the environment then jumping on private jets like taxis, preaching about poverty then throwing $500,000 baby shower parties, and preaching about privacy then guest-editing magazines.
They took millions of dollars of taxpayer money to refurbish their home but refused to give the public basic details of their son Archie’s birth, or pose for pictures with the public at places like Wimbledon.
They abused and sued media outlets who didn’t toe the sycophantic line, whilst readily colluding with those who did.
They absurdly ended a tour of poverty-strewn parts of South Africa by moaning about their own ‘struggle’.
The couple attended The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House in central London on Thursday evening
And then they tried to bully the Queen into doing royal things THEIR way.
None of this was either wise or necessary.
I’ve never believed the criticism of them for all this nonsense was anything other than perfectly justified and most definitely NOT part of some vile ‘racist’ campaign by the press to drive them out of Britain.
After all, the same press – including me! – had spent their entire engagement waxing lyrical about how great they were as a couple, and in particular how good it would be to have the first bi-racial member of the Royal Family.
No, they brought most of the adverse reaction on themselves, and got the same negative treatment any public figures get when they hypocritically lecture us on how to lead our lives but lead very different lives themselves.
Last night, Meghan and Harry went back to being the happy, smiley loved-up and non-confrontational couple that melted everyone’s hearts before things all went sour.
They didn’t preach, or whine, or scowl.
They just did what royals do best – turn up, wave and smile, and pay tribute to ordinary, less privileged people, for doing extraordinary things.
And guess what? The world’s media gorged on the photos, and the event, with just the same glee it had gorged on all the hypocritical preachy woke nonsense that had come before.
I hope Meghan and Harry see the reaction to last night’s Grinning In The Rain photo and understand the royal game is a lot easier than they have tried to make it.
It’s just a shame they didn’t work it out before their petulant abdication from regal duties – because the Meghan and Harry from last night could have been a great asset to the Royal Family.