The Hypocrisy of Harry and Meghan’s Decision

In January 2014, the then-president of France, François Hollande, arrived in England for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron on military and nuclear cooperation. No one in the British press really cared about the official reason for the visit, though. At the time, Hollande was living at the Élysée Palace with his girlfriend, but he had just been revealed to have been having an affair with a French actress—he had been darting to her apartment on the back of a scooter, protected by his official security team and his face hidden from view by a motorbike helmet. He had flown into England as the storm still swirled back home. Whatever else was happening at the summit, or in the world at large, all the British press pack could talk about was the affair and their chance to ask Hollande about it.

At the press conference, the moment came. ’s Christopher Hope asked the president if his private life had made France “an international joke,” whether he was still having an, and declined to answer. The French reporters, who had sidestepped the issue, seemed beside themselves with excitement and curiosity afterwards. Had 10 Downing Street put us British reporters—I was working for the at the time—up to it, they asked. (It hadn’t.)