The Jamaican prime minister was blindsided by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s visit to the Caribbean island nation last year which left him in an awkward position with King Charles, it has been claimed.
Theresa Roberts, Jamaica’s ambassador for culture to the UK, told The Mail on Sunday that Harry and Meghan’s surprise appearance at the premiere of Bob Marley biopic One Love caused a diplomatic dilemma for prime minister Andrew Holness, who feared their attendance would be interpreted by the Royal Family as a political statement.
Mr Holness, who was re-elected for a third term last week, had previously expressed an interest in Jamaica becoming a republic, and was photographed with the Sussexes – who stepped down as working Royals to live in California – at the premiere in capital Kingston in January last year.
He was accused of ‘cosying up’ to the couple.
But Mrs Roberts claims Mr Holness had no idea that Harry and Meghan were planning to attend the event and that the PM had felt compelled to make a phone call to Buckingham Palace to clarify that he had no prior knowledge of the couple being there.
He wanted to assure the King that the meeting was not pre-arranged and that there was no ulterior motive.
It is not clear whether Mr Holness spoke to the King directly or what response he received.
(l-r) Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Andrew Holness, Juliet Holness and Olivia Grange attend the Premiere of ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ at the Carib 5 Theatre on January 23, 2024 in Kingston, Jamaica
The Jamaican prime minister was blindsided by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visit to the Caribbean island nation last year which left him in an awkward position with King Charles, it has been claimed
Theresa Roberts (pictured) told The Mail on Sunday that Harry and Meghan’s surprise appearance at the premiere of Bob Marley biopic One Love caused a diplomatic dilemma for prime minister Andrew Holness, who feared their attendance would be interpreted by the Royal Family as a political statement
But Mrs Roberts told the MoS: ‘The government were really annoyed about the premiere. They [Meghan and Harry] were invited to attend, but not by the prime minister.
He became the centre of attention because it was said that he was ‘cosying up’ with Meghan and Harry.
That wasn’t the truth. Somehow, they were photographed with the prime minister and he couldn’t believe how much stick he got about being with Harry when he didn’t invite them.
‘The prime minister doesn’t want to be [involved in] royal politics abroad. He wants to focus on business at home and didn’t realise there was going to be a backlash.’
The Sussexes were invited to the event by Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins. The Sussexes were pictured with both Mr Holness and his wife Juliet.
The timing was especially awkward because Mr Holness spoke of Jamaica ‘moving on’ to become a republic after a 2022 visit to the country by Prince William.
But Mrs Roberts, who runs restaurant chain Jamaica Patty Co. and a Jamaican outpost of the Royal Drawing School, said the PM had ‘great respect’ for the King and did not want to be ‘caught up’ in the turmoil between the Sussexes and the Palace.
She said: ‘We all had to try to make it known to Charles that it was not the case that the prime minister was cosying up to Harry. He did say he didn’t expect to be caught up in that thing because he had nothing to do with it.’
Meghan has made allegations of racism against the Royal Family.
However, Mrs Roberts – who has met the King on several occasions – said: ‘There’s no element of racism.
It’s quite the opposite. Those people wouldn’t want to offend anyone in all the world. They’re too nice. They’d die if they offended you. They wouldn’t know how to be racist.’
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment.
