Structural Balance in Relationships in the Royal Family
In March, prominent public figures Meghan Markle and Prince Harry opened up about their personal lives, including their recent split from the royal family. Prince Harry spoke about how he had to step back from the royal family for his mental health, but that none of his family members had reached out to apologize for the reasons he felt he had to leave. Prince Harry further mentioned how he was no longer in contact with his father, Prince Charles. While he believes there is a lot of work that is needed for the relationship between Prince Harry and his father to be mended. Upon his departure from the royal family, ties between Prince Harry and his brother William also seem to be severely damaged.
As the basic rules of structural balance between three parties applies here, it is interesting to wonder if and how the relationship between Harry and his family members in the royal family will be repaired. Currently there is a negative relationship between Harry and Charles, as Charles has not spoken to his son since the announcement that Harry and Megan were leaving the royal family. There seems to also be a disconnect between Harry and his brother William, and a strong tie between William and Charles. This structure is balanced, as there are 2 negative edges and 1 positive edge in this example. However, Harry has mentioned that he is open to repair relationships with his father and that he loves his brother dearly and states, “Time heals all things, hopefully.” Even though Harry is open to repairing these relationships, the structure will become unbalanced if he does so individually; repairing his relationship with William puts William in an awkward position, where William has a positive relationship to both his brother and his father, but they have a negative relationship together. This would bring some form of stress on the relationships, which would either end up with one of Williams relationships turning negative, or possibly helping Harry mend his relationship with his father.
Articles:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-harry-meghan-markle-oprah-cbs-interview-royal-family-split/
https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-prince-harry-oprah-interview-always-be-there-for-brother-william-family/