OPINION BY Chris Riches
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle flocked to the charred scenes of last January’s California wildfires, angry locals branded them “disaster tourists” hunting a PR boost. In scenes from Dante’s inferno, the blaze that sparked on January 7, 2025, tore through Los Angeles killing up to 440 people, destroying thousands of homes and reducing entire neighbourhoods to rubble.
Within days the face-masked Duke and Duchess of Sussex were on the scene speaking to local volunteers and emergency responders at the Pasadena Community Centre. In a Fox News broadcast, Meghan was filmed wearing a protective mask and baseball cap as she handed out food parcels at a kiosk, and hugged a victim of the wildfires.
But it provoked fury from some with the couple branded “ambulance chasers” by Hollywood actress Justine Bateman among others.
Now Harry and Meghan could soon be spending more time on our shores, with rumours they have won their right to have taxpayer-funded police protection – despite not being working royals – for future UK visits.
So could that mean at the next major UK flood or – if they start to get desperate – burst river bank, M25 closure, rained-off cricket test match or Premier League end-of-season relegation we could hear the ‘whop whop’ of the helicopter as the Sussexes swoop down.
