To think Kate and William saw Harry and Meghan as a real threat to their image?

But Kate and William and everyone else in the UK old enough to vote has seen decades of the ups and downs of media story telling over the royals

You get a big wave of positive attention for the engagement. Then there’s a couple of months of attempts at dirt digging or things going wrong in the run up to the wedding. Then there’s a next huge wave of positive attention for the wedding.

Then there’s a cooling off period and more attempts at dirt digging and drama.

Then there’s a huge wave of positive attention for the birth of a baby.

And repeat.

What’s astonishing is that Harry didn’t understand that or didn’t explain it to Meghan before they got married. There will be ups and downs and ups and downs.

They sounded ridiculous complaining as though they were the only ones to get that kind of media attention.

@PotolKimchi I agree, but I was referring to when she started out, not her current image.

I have no dog in this fight, I dislike all of them equally and monarchies are pointless.

(okay maybe I dislike Andrew and princess Michael a bit more than the rest of the lot)

William is famously work-shy. His elderly aunt does more engagements than he does. What causes does William highlight? I haven't heard of any so I don't think he is doing it very well. I think that the Queen's life could probably be described as a life of service but certainly not William's.

And yet @Bingbopboomboomboombopbaam this ‘socially conscious Californian’ constantly calls herself the Duchess of Sussex when I am fairly sure she wouldn’t be able to locate Sussex on a map. It’s mind boggling the things one is willing to ‘endure’ when one can monetise it.

' global profile' 'disruptive'

I feel like I'm reading a sycophantic editorial for some sleb mag like Hello or OK trying to be cutting edge

What was Kate's? She worked on a yacht too

No OP.

They are a sad pair. An entitled and dim Prince whose childish resentment was exploited by a malignant narcissist C-list actress looking for a leg-up to wealth and status her own talent couldn’t supply.

W&C will be king and queen and H&M sink without trace.

You talk like you are either staff or a member of the family.

You cannot assure us of anything. No one knows

’Human feelings… like image management’?
I may live on a different planet to
you.

Wasn't that Megan's strap line when she was working on the yachts?

@BluntPinkNewt I think you are overestimating how well known MM was before she started seeing Harry , she wasn’t A list and unless you watched Suits you would never have heard of her , it was hardly a global profile .

"Women don't need to be given a voice, we have a voice", said Meghan.

Yes, but her actions show a different attitude. anyone who thinks highly of Meghan can't have seen the video of her during the tour of South Africa, meeting a group of women who had suffered sexual abuse.

One of them with a tragic background was invited to tell her story. Instead of giving the woman her attention, Meghan ignored her,sat on the floor and asked the other women to join her. It was obvious they were hesitant as they wearing skirts. Meghan gave all her attention to their babies and barely glanced round at the woman whose story she was there to hear.

It was beyond rude, utterly shameful. I'm convinced Meghan was spoken to about this when the tour was over and that was one of the reasons she and Harry left.

🤣🤣🤣

It would always have gone downhill.

I honestly can not imagine what a socially conscious woman born and raised in California could have in common with them. Coming from a completely different sphere of existence and not wanting to seamlessly fit in? That was never going to go down well.

If Natalia Vodianova, a well known, resilient supermodel, found aristocracy in the UK unwelcoming, I can only imagine the pressure MM felt.

I can assure you that Kate has never once felt threatened by the media profile that Haz and M had created for them.
Any differences are to do with normal, familial differences.
They're such different people and there's much behind the scenes that the general public have no knowledge of. 😂
Both sides with the best for each other privately and there is a lot communication betwixt the families that is, rightly, kept private.
But, yeah, keep on believing everything you read.
😅

You can criticise a woman without it being misogyny. Name-calling is often used (especially on social media) as a pretext to end debate, usually when the poster believes they are losing the argument. There is plenty to criticise about MM and doing so doesn't make you a misogynist.

We needed them,

Speak for yourself!

What exactly did you 'need' Harry and Meghan for?

I don't know about threat but I remember when the four of them did that interview, as the 'fab four'; Kate was pregnant at the time. Up until then Meghan and Harry were largely feted by the press, the wedding was marvellous, everyone enjoyed it and she made a very good impression wherever she went. Meghan was asked about giving women a voice, or that subject came up, and she said something like, "Women don't need to be given a voice, we have a voice", and went on. I agreed but thought, "Royals don't say things like that", and I said to my husband, "I wonder how long before the press/the firm start tearing her/them down". He agreed with me. We didn't have long to wait. It was disgusting. We needed them, they were a great asset and surely there is room for everyone.

They are rarely off the front pages of the Daily HateMail and some of the stuff printed is ludicrous. What gets me is that people believe it, they enjoy controversy and latch on to the slightest thing.

I was having a conversation with someone the other day about 'Spare', the only book actually in Prince Harry's own words. The person was slating it, things he supposedly said in it, which I did not recognise or were hyperbolised or taken out of context, and I have read it twice. I asked her if she had actually read the book and she said, "No and I wouldn't piss on it". Says it all really.

I have no stake in either couple but take everything I read with a large pinch of salt, especially when 'sources close to' are quoted.

I wish the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had stayed here and fronted it out but do not blame them one bit for leaving, they are far better off out of it with their young family. Good luck to them. It is sad though - and shameful that they felt the need to go. I had hoped they'd come back sometimes but only Harry has done that, briefly and for particular reasons. Though I'm sure he's fairly happy with his life he must miss the UK and his family. Thankfully some of his friends and family do visit but it's not the same.

It's not just the royals the media love to buld up and then tear down, anyone with a high profile is 'fair' game. We see it time and time again and people fall for it. If something dies down, the press will resurrect it - so will facebook.

The Mail today is instigating outrage by publicising a book written about the Yorks, complete with faux sympathy for their two daughters. The media thrives on whipping up outrage. It's sickening.

Nothing fine and good, or even innocuous, is remembered, it's just hate all the way.

Shakespeare was right when he wrote (from memory, I'm 75 and did Julius Caesar for O level), "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones".

I am eternally grateful not to be famous.

I’m sorry but this nonsense

Life of service ?? This is parody surely

William is out worked by his octogenarian relatives !
The only service the Windsors understand is self service

Not at all. I think Harry and Meghan wanted immediate equal treatment, the same as the Heir and his family which is never going to happen. They couldn’t handle it (still can’t ) so they left.

To be fair, Anne was the Spare for a while, then went down the los, like the others. She didn't go that way, so she has bucked that trend.

Stability and tradition are enduring qualities we need in a Royal Family, I believe. Also, I don’t think it matters if they’re charismatic or not. It’s a life of service and if the emphasis was more on their personal image it would be a bit naff.
They’re demure and focused on their work, using their status to highlight causes of local and international communities. I think that’s more classy.
People like them as they are and the two couples are like chalk and cheese so why try to compare them?

This has always been the way with women in the royal family and the press and it's quite ridiculous really.

Diana was loved and then the press turned on her a bit.
Fergie was a "breath of fresh air" and loved for her fun personality, right until they turned on her for being unprofessional and slated for her weight.
Anne is either the dependable workhorse with frugal finances or a dreary and boring (and if they're against her the dangerous dog issue will be brought up).
Sophie was another breath of fresh air, looks compared to Diana but her personality was calm and sensible, until she was a greedy commoner who didn't understand how things worked and shouldn't copy Diana's hairstyle. She's now very much back in favour with the media.

Camilla - well her ride with the press has been an absolute rollercoaster.

Then Kate was young and exciting and fresh. Then she was lazy and work shy. Then she was elegant and the classic English rose.

Around the time of Kate and William's wedding it was the York sisters that became the punchbag.

Then it became Meghan's turn. It's constant.

The habit of pitching two of the most high profile women at the time against each other is also a constant.

From what I could see the only people Meghan had at her wedding were her mother and Hollywood hangers on. I think that says a lot about her popularity amongst people who actually know her. She is manipulative and Harry will rue the day. As for William and Kate I doubt they give a stuff, their position is safe whatever the public think.