Ham pr disasters 55! …no neither David Attenborough or John major will be head of state! ….

Have faith, the fact you have onboard wifi might possibly not be anything to do with Elon (other providers have been around for a while)...
but as with many things he's trying to corner the market...

I wrote this on another thread but I’d like to repost it here:

The thing with Meghan (and Harry) is that they’re both so bloody reactive. They’re so desperate to control the narrative that they don’t stop to consider the long term consequences of what they say or how their wording might come back to bite them.

This situation has very little to do with Meghan beyond the unfortunate fact that Thomas Markle is her father. Ideally, she should have stayed quiet or simply said, “This is a private family matter. Thomas Markle is a private citizen, and I am no longer in contact with him. I will not be commenting further.”

Instead, she’s opened herself up to questions that might otherwise never have been asked. If she knew about these allegations in 2018, why hasn’t she spoken before? Could she have assisted the investigation? Did she pass any information to the US or Philippine police? And how does the Dear Daddy letter fit with her explanation for going no contact?

The irony is that she may feel unable to stay silent because she’s previously said that “complacency is complicity”. And because she and Harry clap back at every perceived slight, people have come to expect a response. When they suddenly say nothing about something significant, that silence itself becomes a story. This is why the royals’ “never complain, never explain” approach can be effective. You can’t challenge every criticism and insist on having the last word without creating expectations you may later regret.

At the end of the day, Meghan is not her father’s keeper. She could have maintained her distance, allowed the investigation to unfold and remained confident in her decision to go no contact without making herself part of the story. What happens if Thomas is found not guilty, the allegations prove unfounded, or Thomas Jnr is shown to have misrepresented things? These are possibilities annd illustrate the risks of getting involved before the facts are established.

Sometimes, in trying so hard to control the narrative, you end up giving people even more reasons to scrutinise you.

That’s a problem for Meg n Harry.

It means there’s lots of questions hanging over them like a toxic stench until it’s addressed by police/courts.

It’s the most serious subject matter and this issue will not disappear until it’s resolved.

I agree that details would naturally be withheld pending any possible trial, @FancyBiscuitsLevel, but would expect something to be said if it turned out that an actual letter didn't exist - if only to prevent endless speculation over what they did with it

Edited to add that was a stellarpost at 17:23, @EmpressSisi; in a few paragraphs you just summed up the entire issue around this narrative

Surely it's more likely that the alleged information was passed on to the Met by another police force, rather than the other way round? After all, Markle was not a British citizen nor did he ever live there.

Not about the Royal Status? My arse.

Well said @EmpressSisi

There’s obviously not crisis management involved. Megs fingerprints are all over that statement, hence the situation she’s now got herself into by revealing too much info in her quest to get one up on the press.

Liam does not have the skill set to deal with such a serious subject matter and amount of press interest.

Those men in grey suits will be looking very appealing right now.

If this statement had come out when she was under attack from interviews and articles about how heartless she was for not letting her poor one legged dad see his grandkids, then I might think it wasn’t completely honest. But he’s been arrested. Sadly this has the horrible ring of truth to it.

Shes sat on this for a long time when her dad has sold story after story.

I agree. She doesn't realise that she's judged on her behaviour

Thomas Markle has not been arrested, as far as I know.

Many thanks @jeffgoldblum for the next thread! Just caught up with the last one and the start of this.

My thoughts if I may, I said on the previous threads too many holes and lack of information available to understand the full situation, innocent until proven guilty should still prevail, for any alleged crime.

The HAM statement does mention a number of various bodies, many of which never respond to any statements made about them - so it is easier to mention eg RAVEC were involved and said this or that, because they are unlikely to confirm or deny if it is true.

If all the allegations are true surely HAM would have done anything to remain members of the RF (WRF) and been appreciative they had supported Meghan if everyone had been of the allegations in 2018 - it does not make sense to me to not only lose one side of your family, but to trash the other side with such accusations HAM made against the RF.

I sincerely hope Thomas Snr gets a chance to either defend himself or undergoes a criminal trial if the allegations are provable against him before he passes away. The worse case situation will be he dies without the truth being known.

HAM have cried wolf many times before and been found out the information provided was not true, they really need to be squeaky clean on the statements they are currently making as the media will dig and dig on a story of this calibre to get to the truth.

Those men in grey suits will be looking very appealing right now.

Definitely.

The first paragraph of Meghan's statement was very good. She should have left it at that. But that's not how she rolls.

I suspect if that statement had been run past a lawyer, they'd have said not to include the reference to the 'letter'. Not only because people are going to find out if it actually exists or not, but because it could prejudice any investigations against Thomas Markle.

Where on earth has the detail that Thomas has been arrested come from, @FancyBiscuitsLevel?
I can't see that reported anywhere ...

PA interview comes to mind. If MM wants to cry on Oprah again, she needs the letter!

My thoughts are:

1. All true, she got told in 2018 and went low contact but was persuaded to use the excuse that it was about him talking to the press because it made better optics. Unlikely: due to they having had criticism for not reconciling with him and they've clapped back on far smaller things/happy to imply nasty things about others.
2. Partially true, she wasn't told in 2018, but in July/August 2026, which caused the midnight flit. Possible but still unlikely. Firstly because she'd surely have then been prepared for it to come out and so would have responded better, but also why would it be better here than there when the news came out?
3. She found out at the same time as us. I think that's the most likely explanation - she thought "ha, I can use this as a clapback for all the criticism for not contacting him and hopefully people will recognise what a victim I am and I'll be popular." By saying the Met told her she's also putting blame onto here which she likes, even if it makes it far more less likely to be true, I don't think she would recognise that. I suspect she also thinks that the Met, like the RF, won't answer back, so she can say what she wants, whereas if she said the FBI then Trump if no one else might take notice.
4. SM is right in saying MM got TMjr up to set TMsnr up. That's in the realm of conspiracy theories. I can see MM "accidentally leaking" something she knows to be true, or can't be proved, to shut TMsnr up. But firstly would she really trust her family to keep that quiet? I mean, let's say she offered TMjr £500k to do it. He'll be back by January saying if she doesn't give him more he'll tell the press she set it up.

I suppose another possibility there is that the whole story has come from her - but then I'd expect TMjr to be coming forward to say it isn't true, and I very much doubt that she wouldn't see that coming - she knows her family is not backwards in coming forward to the press.

I wouldn't like to speculate whether the allegations are true or not and I don't think we should here.

I think this really strongly demonstrates how crucial the MIGS and a professional PR team are in protecting any potential vulnerabilities to the RF. There is with no doubt much unknown how the intelligence networks both home and abroad protect heads of state. For all of Harry’s bleating about Ravec and his desire for armed officers and flashy fleets of cars to protect them from the paparazzi- the more serious threat comes from within through poorly vetted friends, acquaintances and family members.
i expect the LMTQ clearly understood this when refusing a half-in/half-out option. Keeping loose canons like HaM close to the crown was potentially dangerous in both safety and reputational risk.
AMW has learned this the hard way - no doubt not heeding any warnings about his relationship with Epstein and others - particularly when he was an envoy.

Markle Snr’s vetting obviously threw up a big security risk - he would be vulnerable to blackmail, as well as reputational risk. Notwithstanding people’s understandable horror that action wasn’t taken to fully investigate what he was doing - I sadly suspect the lists of people who are accessing images of CSA contain thousands upon thousands of names and it is unlikely that they would all be investigated, just flagged up during visa applications or security vetting.

Headlines are now about Meghan not TM.

If there is enough evidence to charge TMSnr any good lawyer is going to say it will be difficult for his client to have a fair trial following all the press coverage.

If enough evidence to gain a conviction has not been gathered since 2018, one has to question if it will ever been found - so does this mean it is either not provable or untrue?

In 2018 why would she automatically believe accusations against her father?
If they were totally out of the blue you would expect she would at least have some element of doubt about the allegations?
Yet she presumed him guilty?

Unless the evidence was very clear cut and damning in which case wouldn't he have been investigated and charged?

So international law enforcement have had good evidence he's a paedophile and have done nothing for 8 years? And she knew he was a paedophile but kept quiet?

Whilst speaking her truth, and attacking her husbands family?

There is something very wrong with this whole situation and I don't trust a word any Markle says.

Oh Harry what a shit show you've gotten yourself into. And managed to be persuaded your family were the problem.

Worryingly, there's every chance that will suit, FancyKitten

The supreme irony is that she didn't need to say anything - even those who freely detest her aren't blaming her for Thomas's own choices, whatever they may have been - but as usual everything has to be about her, the more so if there's any chance of claiming victimhood

Evening all.

Would he [Knauf] have been in the meeting?

Somebody should have sat in, surely, to witness what was said and determine what action, if any, needed to be taken. I wouldn't think the Met would just turn up and show M a letter without it being noted in someone's diary or a note of the meeting being made.

I think this is the most likely scenario. It doesn't look good for any of the relevant parties. The RF must rue the day Harry got himself tangled up with this dodgy family. He deserves them though, the bloody fool.