Harry stepping down as a senior royal ..PART TWO

[Dowser]

As I finished the last one
Only right I start the new one.
Here you go

on the same rent-free basis as before

It was a wedding gift from a grandmother to her grandson. People don’t pay for their wedding gifts.

Why did we pay to refurbish this wedding gift from granny?

It was a wedding gift from a grandmother to her grandson.

It wasn't. It was "given" when they got married, not the same. And given means allocated in this context. Frogmore Cottage is part of the Crown Estate so not the Queen's to give away.

Here is a full explanation of the cost and how the renovations to the cottage were paid for.

I doubt that anyone who loathes MM will read it but hey ho...
fullfact.org/economy/frogmore-cottage/

Incidentally H&M privately paid for all fixtures and fittings themselves. The above article just details the necessary renovations

Last night's statement in a nutshell:

Everyone: Meghan hates the UK and is never coming back and not letting the Queen get her hands on Archie and Harry is torn and OMG it's all falling apart

Ma'am: Nothing to see here, move along.

Well played HM, we wouldn't expect anything less, would we?

I really wish the press would shut up about Frogmore. It's such a distraction and actually this is one of the areas where I think the Sussexes are getting unfair treatment and there is true misinformation.

As with everything they do, it's not their aims I object to but the extremely shady way they go about achieving them.

I'm glad Harry had a private conversation with HMQ. Hopefully she was able to get to the bottom of what he really felt without going through the filter of Meghan.

The Queen has shown great wisdom and compassion in giving H&M their independence, but she will also have her boss brain engaged so they can't hope to have everything to suit them.

Do people really believe that Eugenie pays rent for Ivy Cottage out of her own pocket .
This
Eugenie lives with her husband at Ivy Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace and Beatrice lives at St. James Palace. Their rent and other expenses have always been covered by Andrew, who received an allowance from the queen for his work on behalf of the royal family.

suggests the usual merry go round of Royal finances - the Queen gets 25% of the revenue (c.£330 million pa ) from the Crown Estate . More than enough to dish out allowances to filter down to grandchildren and cover living costs .

So what. As long as the queen is frugal in areas like keeping her breakfast cereal fresh in a Tupperware box and keeping the heating low she will have the cash to subsidise her grandchildren's rent. (flippancy alert)

My own life feels similar albeit on a far smaller scale. Her choice to spend the money keeping family close.

Well ,exactly so what if the RF want to protect their members from media criticism of living rent free ?

I'm sure neither Eugenie or Beatrice have ever benefitted financially from being born into the R.F . and if they have they've had the decency to keep their mouths shut .

How very dare H&M for underhandedly and secretly burying in Instagram that they want " financial autonomy to work externally".

And while we're at it - how dare they say that they will continue to honour their duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and their patronages ? Outrageous ,half in half out ! Having their cake and eating it !

And what's this ? They'll give more details in due course as they "continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, and all relevant parties." !!!!!

Disgusting ,disrespectful . They should have carried on as they were until all their plans were costed and agreed by The Firm . It's all immensley complicated - how will security be funded ,will they keep titles ,exactly how many Royal engagements will they carry out ,and the burning question ,will they use Frogmore when they are in the UK ???

How on Earth can it be sorted it ?Surely it would take months and months ?After all there are no firms ,experts ,lawyers etc that could be called upon to help . And if there were they would need years to justify their fees .

What a crisis !

There is no where, were the Sussexes said they want to live for free in Frogmore, where did you get that.

Also, the cousins do get paid security when they do official duties. And none when they are not doing the duties.

"financially independent' pretty much covers this.

I always find it interesting when the posters vociferously defending Meghan feel they have to tear Kate apart to do it. Why fall into the tabloid trap of pitting women against women?
fwiw I think Meghan is an excellent public speaker and I hope her and H are happy.
That doesn't detract from the fact that they have handled this shoddily and for maximum publicity rather than minimum impact. They could have opted for a few private meetings, let the grandad and great-granny see the baby, put out a joint statement - no fuss and palaver. And yy they could have done this even with the leaks. The RF would have put out a non-committal response to the Sun exclusive and then released the statement they wanted to, once all the details were finalised.

They could have opted for a few private meetings, let the grandad and great-granny see the baby, put out a joint statement - no fuss and palaver

No arguing with that Lord . Why do you reckon they didn't ? I'm leaning towards H&M thought process they'd begun would be too slow,maybe deliberately slow ? Maybe irritated by the leak ?

I agree with you Lord. (Except the bit about M being an excellent public speaker, she's a confident public speaker but that isn't quite the same thing.)

I think the pace of change was too slow for Meghan and Harry so they decided to force the issue. I suspect they thought palace officials were obstructing progress and they may be right. Shitty way to treat the monarch though, they should be ashamed, the pair of them.

The queen's response shows what a loving and compassionate woman she is, despite much criticism to the contrary. Never mind Meghan, I wonder if anyone's asked how she is?

Perdito yy I think H&M were worried it wasn't going to happen quickly enough or that they wouldn't get what they wanted. By pre-empting the RF, it meant H&M could set the agenda. Then the RF had to publicly say 'no'.

It could also be that M thought H would get dragged back into duties/family, etc, hence her and Archie going to Canada and leaving H to sort it out. It puts a pressure on the timescale for H if his wife and child are overseas iyswim.
Or there could be some other reason that we don't know about - tied to the timing of the work they want to do once they've left eg they could have interviews scheduled or a series launch planned, or an appearance at the Oscars etc.

Maybe Prince Charles didn't do the Queen any favours in his handling of H&M's earlier approaches .Did he take them seriously ,did he think in what seems to me like stalling and supposedly asking for written details that he could cool their wishes/get them to rethink .

I feel he should have sat down with them as soon as they raised the subject and that he should have kept the Queen fully updated .Then it wouldn't have come as a shock and might have convinced H&M that things would go ahead .

I think (if the RF leaks are accurate) they were in Canada and Charles was here so there wasn't a chance to sit round the table and hammer it out (until yesterday). Now, I imagine they're just trying to support H as much as possible because he is here alone and he does struggle with his MH.
I'm intrigued to see how long it takes for H&M's first big public initiative once they've cut the apron strings with the RF, and what format it will take.

How many times does it have to be said, they wrote things down and there was a leak. Even the Sun editor who broke this went on tv to say it was leaked by the palace. Even he said they had no choice but to release this statement, because he told them it's going on the publication . INfact they've been respectful to everyone including 'taxpayers', by letting us know about it, instead of just reading on the tabloids.

Incidentally H&M privately paid for all fixtures and fittings themselves.

It would seem that Prince Charles actually paid for a lot, if not all, of this according to press reports.

Mummy you can repeat it as often as you like. It doesn't change the fact that tabloids run stories all the time and the RF don't comment on them until it's the right time for them to do so. What you seem to be missing is that none of the press want to alienate whoever is leaking from the H&M camp, because there are leaks from both sides.

I'm sure neither Eugenie or Beatrice have ever benefitted financially from being born into the R.F

HAHAHAHAHA! Good one.

How do you think both girls got their enviable jobs? Beatrice has inherited her parents’ brains. She has a history degree from an indifferent university and yet is a VP at a private equity-backed software company. VP of ‘partnerships and strategy’, ie making sure that influential people are introduced to the business. She’s also been given a generous leave allowance, to go on her many holidays. Would Beatrice Smith from Rotherham have had the same opportunities, do you think?

Eugenie is a director at a London art gallery. Similarly generous leave arrangements. How many people with art history degrees from Newcastle have just walked into such a role?

Her husband, once the assistant manager of a nightclub, now works as a brand ambassador for George Clooney’s tequila. Would that opportunity have come their way if Eugenie had been born to a project manager from Stoke?

Happens all the time, eh?

I'm quite sure that they could have led whatever life they wanted to, here. When Prince William worked for Norfolk air ambulance he wasn't hounded by the press was he? He just got on with his job and did some official duties. Quite sure that a similar sort of role could have been found for Harry - a "normal" job and then occasional official duties.

I get the feeling though that M doesn't want normal. She wants showbiz and razzamatazz, not duty and tradition in which case she had no business marrying into the RF.

By doing this public flounce they've list a lot of public support and that's going to be hard to get back, particularly if their desire for privacy actually turns into endless red carpets, film premieres, chat show appearances and endorsements.

Cottage is part of the Crown Estate so not the Queen's to give away.

You really really really really really need to write a personal letter to the Queen telling her what she can and can’t do. No doubt she would welcome the reminder and take it on board when wondering what to gift Beatrice. 😂😂😂

By doing this public flounce they've list a lot of public support

Speak for yourself only please. There is a lot of support for them esp outside of the UK.

Wombat exactly !

Clearly H&M have plugged all leaks. Media was tearing their hair out now knowing where they were in their 6 weeks. Did not know where they were for thanksgiving or xmas, with who or where, how they got there. They also did not know about this exit till H wrote it down for the palace. So look elsewhere for your leak.

Speak for yourself only please. There is a lot of support for them esp outside of the UK.

I'm going by the posts on their Instagram page and that's apparently after a lot of them have been deleted. It basically reflects what's being said on here, only in much greater numbers. So, as I said, they've lost a lot of public support. That's not the same as saying they have no.public support.