Harry stepping down as a royal family member

[kittykatkitty]

Just read this on their instagram page.
They plan on becoming private citizens

Nobody knows yet but what if they're trademarking to raise funds for charity and their new foundation ?

I can't see this marriage working like this at all. Sad to say, I bet it unravels completely within a year. It's nothing to do with me of course , but it's not looking that good from where I'm sitting and once she's back where she feels comfortable and happy then he'll become a bit surplus to requirements and they will realise it's all a bit of a sham.
I hope it doesn't , but I suppose I'm old and seen this sort of thing happen too many times to ordinary people, let alone ones like these are! He has alienated himself now from his family ( for whatever reasons) and that will take a lot to build again. Plus they both strike me as a bit too self absorbed and there are a few red flags around the whole thing as well as the negative press they both have had over the years. It's enough to put a strain on any relationship.
Its all a bit sad really I think and been handled really badly too.

I do think they've blown their chances of repairing the damage with Meghan flying back to Canada so soon tbh. I said on another thread (about to be deleted I believe) that Harry has the victim mentality and blame-game tendencies of someone suffering mental illness.

H&M have acted liked a pair of total prats, I doubt the RF will remove the titles and HRH but tbh, I would love it if they did. Fine for Harry to leave his role - I said earlier this year that I though he should - but leave completely and not try and force the RF into funding some cherry-picked lifestyle.

The fact that Meghan has left him on his own (taking yet another flight ...) to sort it out is really sad. She could have supported him.

They don't want to step out of the limelight. They want to control their image. They need the limelight to make money, they just want to cut off real journalists (like the dedicated royal rota correspondents who seemingly get on with other royal member as they cover royal events) and control the narrative through Instagram.

They see themselves as victims, but they are extraordinarily out of touch - and have purposefully distanced themselves and refused to take advice from more experienced royals and staff.

They want to give up on royal duties, yet cash in on the royal status. They want to skip boring family occasions (like Christmas) but use their royal image to access A list celebrity circuit and hang out with their celeb mates like Elton in glitzy locations. Harry has already signed up to do a documentary with Oprah.

Did you see the pad on Vancouver Island? Eight bathrooms in the main house, only three in the lodge in the grounds. Two private beaches. Extra cameras, fences and massive screens erected the week before they went. Neighbours asked to sign privacy contracts.

How selfish and narcissistic can you be.

I am worried about Harry's mental health, he seems totally out of control.

Surely the crux of this is that the neutral and incorruptible nature of the monarchy is very undermined if working members of the RF start whoring themselves around for money.

H&M want to have the freedom to become financially independent by any legal means they choose, and I fully support them in that, but I can't see how they can do this while they are constitutionally still within the Royal circle.

I genuinely think it would be better all round if the media just stopped reporting on them, full stop.

They’d love that, eh? The royals, I mean. Enjoying all the cash and privileges, accountable to nobody, able to do whatever they like in secret.

Once upon a time we saw very little of the RF other than a few formal shots on official duties

Yes, when we all knew our places and happily tugged our forelocks to our betters. I don’t suppose they like the way that has changed either.

None of the Royals are independent. Homes are provided by the Crown (Gatcombe Park, Highgrove, Verbier chalet, Sandringham estate). Viscount Linley is a 'joiner' but has the connections/marriage to provide a nice living

Other thread deleted
It must e been my picture of frogmore that did it

I also don't think that they will remove the titles.

Afterall, there can't be a married GS to the Monarch, son, brother & uncle to future monarchs without his own title, can there?

And they'll probably keep funding him so that he feels he hasn't been cast out & is welcome back in the future should things not work out.

Peter and Zara have actually done a bit of cashing in on royal connections with Hello! magazine photos. In Peter's case Hello! paid quite a considerable sum to photograph his wedding. It created quite a furore at the time.

The royals in general have always had an uneasy relationship with celebrity culture.

To be fair to Viscount Linley, he has huge talent and would have made a success of his career without his Royal status. His sister too. They are both intelligent and talented.

he is as British as they come. I think he would have been happier a minor ranked officer in the army with a jolly army wife who drank a bit too much at the weekends surrounded by his old Eton and polo chums.

As long as he is fabulously rich, courtesy of us, eh? Not many minor ranked army officers go to Eton (circa £50k a year, I think?) or are wealthy enough to play polo.

Would he be happy as a junior officer if he had to pay a mortgage on a £38k salary, pay for childcare, etc., do you suppose? Jolly wife notwithstanding?

What I don't really get about this is that if they have been upset by negative press etc and want to avoid it-then why make rushed announcements and not discuss this with the 'palace' properly first?

They allegedly asked over Christmas and apparently were told it would take some time to work out, and were asked to speak to Prince Charles and first. (Which seems perfectly fair to me-the Queen is an old woman and she probably deserves to not have to deal with this directly herself)
It seems they have felt that was stalling and it wasn't going quick enough for them (or it didn't happen overnight in the middle of Christmas when they weren't even in the country and when those that could have helped plan and make this go more smoothly were probably busy with other things as most people are over the Christmas period) and have made this rushed statement, hurt their relatives and been a bit flouncy about it all.

Which is guaranteed to give them what they want to avoid-bad press. It's just seems a bit needlessly dramatic to me. And doesn't help them come across well.

To me, fine-do what you like as long as they aren't being funded by the tax payer going forwards. But just don't be Dickish about it.

I'm no real fan of the royal family but even within a regular family one member treating the others shabbily would be seen a bit shitty wouldn't it?

I

None of the Royals are independent. Homes are provided by the Crown (Gatcombe Park, Highgrove, Verbier chalet, Sandringham estate)

Really? The Verbier chalet is provided by the Crown? I seriously doubt that.

myimaginarycathasfleas
posted "..............the neutral and incorruptible nature of the monarchy is very undermined if working members of the Royal Family start whoring themselves around for money."

Well said.

We know it didn't end well for some in the not so distant past.

To be fair to Viscount Linley, he has huge talent and would have made a success of his career without his Royal status. His sister too. They are both intelligent and talented.

What nonsense. Would ol’ David be so feted if he was Dave Lindley from Essex, making fine furniture? Would posh rich people be clamouring to buy his stuff? As if!

Why pretend that the members of this family are special and would be just as successful without royal connections? Is it some kind of desire to be servile?

Other thread deleted
It must e been my picture of frogmore that did it

I saw that. Your second picture was of Frogmore House. The first one you posted, of Frogmore Cottage, is where the Sussexes actually live(d).

I can't believe Meghan has gone off to leave him to it. I was a bit shocked when I saw that on line today.
I thought that the baby had come back with them at least , but it seems he won't be back in the UK anytime soon either.
Seems like that was the plan all along? Let them think it was a Christmas vacation / holiday but really it was a chance to get their ' ducks in a row' regarding a place to live and setting up new websites etc etc. She has helped to drop the latest bombshell , then gone off again!

I have stuck up for both of them in the past on mumsnet threads and in real life conversations and I do feel sorry for all the bad and negative press she's had to endure for years now, but these latest shenanigans has made me wonder about both of them.
He does the victim blaming ( as someone else said on here and that is true enough ) and she has latched on to this as a way of getting him away from his family. Maybe they are as toxic as each other.
I have no idea at all about any of it, but I've read enough about these kind of relationships on mumsnet to know this isn't a healthy one , not at the moment anyway. Maybe they might be better once they are living away from the UK and the dust has settled and the press move on to other people to criticise , but I still think it may be hard for them.
I can see the scene where only Harry turns up for things / funerals / weddings etc and she just stays away with Archie and her mum!

Why is everyone so horrified by archive being left in Canada for a night or two? He was presumably with a nanny, not abandoned.

Are they?

The queen was apparently very annoyed about Peter Phillips selling his wedding photos. There is no way she’s going to stand for H and M selling “merch” while continuing to cherry pick the fun royal engagements. “We’d be delighted to represent the queen on overseas trips” of course you would. The queen has to do plenty of boring stuff herself as part of her job.

Fraggot it might have been on oe of the now deleted threads. Lots of people saying thy couldn't believe she'd left her baby in Canada etc.

I am worried about Harry's mental health, he seems totally out of control

How the hell can you deduce that Harry is out of control?

Mindboggling.

I don't know what I think - initially I thought good, hope it works well.

Now though with all the stuff on the radio and online I've just been surprised at how indulgent some of their stuff had been - the documentary about Africa and talking about their own 'suffering'.

I think the mainstream media has been unkind and relentless in its stories - provenance if a baby blanket etc - but I haven't seen overt racism. I suspect that's social media?

I don't know. I doubt the merchandise is real, I think it will all be related to the charity work.

How can they set up a separate 'court' and not overshadow K and W?

All a bit odd.

I read an interesting article on the timeline of this, suggesting that whilst in Canada, shut away from advisors, the rest of the RF, they just wound each other up (in a feeding off each other kind of way). I'd imagine by the end of 7 weeks they had convinced themselves that they were victims, them against the world etc. Doesn't sound like a very healthy dynamic.

It's also been claimed that she already has business meetings already lined up with fashion houses, might be why she's gone back so quickly.