In some ways, the coronavirus has been a great equalizer, as celebrities and politicians have been forced to take the same precautions and suffer the same anxieties as the rest of us.
In other ways, however, it’s served to highlight the ways in which crises affect various socio-economic classes in profoundly different ways.
Many believe that the best example of this can be found in the recent behavior of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
The royal family was hit hard by the pandemic, with 71-year-old Prince Charles contracting Covid-19 and being forced into isolation in Scotland.
Despite the virus hitting that close to home, Meghan and Harry proceeded with plans made before the pandemic in a way that many have chided as irresponsible.
With numbers sky-rocketing in the US and billions sheltering in place worldwide, Meghan and Harry moved to Los Angeles from their previous home in Vancouver.
And with all hands on deck in terms of global relief efforts the Sussexes announced plans to rename their charity, but added the organization will not launch until after the pandemic subsides.
The couple is still internationally beloved, but they’re undeniably in the midst of a rough patch in terms of negative press.
And there was a time when it looked as though they were soon to make the situation worse with even more unnecessary travel.
Insiders reported that the Sussexes were planning to return to the UK to celebrate Archie’s first birthday on May 6.
Fortunately, it appears that they’ve abandoned those plans.
“Plans have changed,” a source confirms to E! News.
“I think the hope in royal circles had been that the Sussexes would return to the U.K. in May, either before or after their attendance at the Invictus Games in The Netherlands next month, and they were also due to attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade, Trooping the Colour on June 13,” the insider explains.
“But with both those events now cancelled, and Harry and Meghan holed in California where they are likely to be social distancing for the next few weeks, Archie is set to celebrate his first birthday with only his parents.”
Amid all of those events, the parents hoped to arrange a Buckingham Palace photoshoot as a means of sending the message that all is well within the royal family.
“The hope had been that Archie’s first birthday would somehow be marked with some members of the royal family, cousins, grandparents and some godparents in the U.K. when they were over in the U.K,” says the source.
Those plans have been scrapped not only due to health concerns, but also due to fears of how such a trip would be depicted in the press.
It may have taken Harry and Meghan some time to fully appreciate the severity of this situation, but at least they got there eventually.