When he marries Meghan Markle next year, Prince Henry (Harry) of Wales will do Britain a great favor.
Put simply, as a mixed-race American, Markle will bring much needed genetic diversity to the British royal family.
Like many European royal houses, it was only until the marriage of Harry’s father, Prince Charles, to Princess Diana that the ruling House of Windsor took steps to expand its genetic diversity. Harry’s impending marriage makes clear that Diana inspired her two children to look more broadly for love and family. Note here that Prince William’s wife, the now-Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, also came from outside Britain or European upper classes.
This concern of fresh blood in the gene pool should not be taken wholly in jest: Harry’s lineage reaches back to the mentally-ill King George III and the hemophilia-gene-carrying Queen Victoria.
Of course, Markle isn’t just a good choice for reasons of avoiding genetically-inherited diseases. She strikes a positive contrast to some of the poorer spousal choices that British royals have made in recent decades (and I do not include Queen Elizabeth’s husband, an absolute legend, here). Markle is intelligent, skilled, and very attractive. For a family that sometimes struggles with public relations, Markle can only be a good thing.
Still, Markle is also good news for America.
After all, inheriting their mother’s U.S. citizenship, Harry’s children will be incarnate manifestations of the U.S.-U.K. special relationship. If Harry’s ten-year service in the British Army is any guide, we might even see a British royal-lineage American one day serving in the U.S. Army or even becoming U.S. president!
And if nothing else, Harry’s male offspring are likely to follow their father’s example and take full advantage of their titles and accents in Las Vegas.
