The iconic Beatles song, "Ticket to Ride," is universally accepted as a besotted lover's lament over the feckless girl who is incomprehensibly leaving him to "be free":

I think I'm gonna be sad
I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad
is going away

She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
But she don't care

She said that living with me
Is bringing her down yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around...

And so the world pretty much accepted that Prince Harry abdicated his British royal titles, military honors, and hereditary rights and privileges, to keep his feckless, woke wife, Megan, from leaving him.

Yet a blog post by Daniel G. Jones, "Why English royals fall for American commoners," American Thinker, Jan. 23, 2020, inspired another explanation:

... English dukes, counts, and viscounts have snapped up a many American women in marriage. ... Often these were marriages of convenience. The English gentry needed American fortunes to help them maintain their vast estates, and rich women sought titles.'

Harry didn't marry Meghan for her current bank account.  By all credible accounts, his inherited wealth is at least five or six times her earned accumulation.  However, with a title and elevated royal status, Meghan's potential earnings have escalated exponentially, along with any  collaborations they may undertake.

But Meghan represented more to Harry, it would appear, than mere money.  If Harry was oppressed by his role as the "spare" and perpetually coming up second in his father's eyes to the smarter, more accomplished, and more handsome older brother — the brother who one day would be king — Meghan was Harry's "Ticket to Ride."

Harry has no life outside his royalty.  He did achieve global accolades for his military record and his creation and implementation of the Invictus Games.  But those accomplishments came from his royal platform.

Meghan represents a whole new world.  A world away from the burdensome restraints of strict royal protocol.  A world away from the odious comparisons of the better-at-everything older brother.  A world where dreams come true and, if one is not spit out by the system, lying broken on the sidewalk, global celebrity, and vast fortune.

Meghan still has her title, albeit greatly tarnished by her outlandishly bone-headed behavior.  And, Harry has his "Ticket to Ride."  Only time will tell if it is a one-way or round-trip ticket.

Image credit: Instagram screen shot.