....to think that this is a new low in the Meghan Markle Debacle

[Bestfootforward1]

Up to now I've been fairly neutral about Harry and Meghan. I'm not a royalist, im a bit of a republican, but I like to see what the royals are up to, and like a royal wedding. The family rows, extravagant baby shower, all the rumours....I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, i was pretty indifferent. And i liked the way she was shaking up the royal family.
However, this sickened me a bit. Using an instagram post supposed to benefit mental health charities to flog her rich mate's £900 a night hotel/retreat. Its such a blatantly tasteless and crass thing to do I think its shocking. Welcome the new Fergie.

What is laughable is that people think that MM is actually running the account. That's just not how it works. They may have had sign off over the original comms plan but that will just have been a timeline off the types of messages the entire PR team put out.

Her friend's Instagram account does have a lot of positive quotes and self esteem content; similar to Matt Haig. I figured that's why they linked to them; once you follow them (or I weigh or any of the others) you have some very positive, affirming posts on your feed.
That's how Instagram works, you see the content and they've chosen accounts with affirming, reassuring content.

It’s okay to think someone has made a mistake, regardless of their ethnicity, HTH wink

Thank God you were here to put everyone straight, otherwise we would have all been in dire trouble.

Oh.

LaurieMarlow

or do you think only their friends view it?!

No and I never said that.

But I don’t see what great protocol has been breached by suggesting followers view an Instagram page.

hi megan (@ lauriemarlow)

how is baby archiebald?

Her friend's Instagram account does have a lot of positive quotes and self esteem content; similar to Matt Haig. I figured that's why they linked to them

Of course that’s the primary reason why she linked to them.

Clearly though, her PR team need to ‘daily mail’ proof everything and work through all possible dastardly motives and all potential internet activity ‘4 clicks away’ and beyond.

I mean, what isn’t 4 clicks away on the internet?

Oh that old chestnut

Of course I’m not MM, what a brainless comment.

I’m a Republic at heart I’d be glad to get rid of the lot of them, it just angers me to see the way she’s been pulled apart for not being white and English.

I can't believe that Meghan posts herself.

So we're talking about something now that happened weeks ago?!

If you believe Harry & Meghan post themselves then you'll believe anything but then you do read the Daily Mail so I suppose that's not a jump too far.

And you're no more than 4 clicks away from anything on the internet.

Apparently it's OK when Kate Middleton's tacky family exploit their Windsor connections in order to promote naff, badly-written books and nasty party tat. Or when a couple of the others flogged access to their Windsor connections through their PR companies or even a crude, mismanaged effort to make a fast quid.

If you're not asking yourself why all members of this vulgar, unelected family hold the positions they hold, and questioning their validity of these positions in a supposed democracy/meritocracy, then ask yourself this. Why Meghan in particular?

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed

Ffs it’s not even thinly veiled racism now it’s so f*cking obvious

do you care to point out any racist comments you are alluding to?

I don't believe she posts herself either, I also think she and her Mother will have a very low opinion of the hatred directed towards her as it's incessant and vile

MarieIVanArkleStinks

Apparently it's OK when Kate Middleton's tacky family exploit their Windsor connections in order to promote naff, badly-written books and nasty party tat. Or when a couple of the others flogged access to their Windsor connections through their PR companies or even a crude, mismanaged effort to make a fast quid.

If you're not asking yourself why all members of this vulgar, unelected family hold the positions they hold, and questioning their validity of these positions in a supposed democracy/meritocracy, then ask yourself this. Why Meghan in particular?

kate has had a fair share of criticism levelled at for over 10 years!

are you saying mm is the only member of RR who is being criticized?

Or when a couple of the others flogged access to their Windsor connections through their PR companies or even a crude, mismanaged effort to make a fast quid.

I'm pretty sure there was a massive fake sheikh scandal with Edward and Sophie over that kind of thing, it was front page news IIRC and nobody thought it was okay. Do we have to qualify any criticism of MM with renewed criticism of something else that happened 20 years ago?

PortiaCastis

I don't believe she posts herself either, I also think she and her Mother will have a very low opinion of the hatred directed towards her as it's incessant and vile

the american wording on her ig is by whom? royal aides? you see mm thinks she can do things and hide behind "its an aide" people are not stupid, they will always figure things out

Do people honestly think that someone who had millions of followers on IG up to a year ago and drove 100% of their own content (very effectively I must say) is just oblivious to their own Instagram account? And it's some shadowy PR person doing all of this with almost total control and barely any consultation of the Sussexes?

LOL OK.

The racism is nothing to do with being of mixed heritage but of being an AMERICAN, where money is not a dirty word and prestige and status is totally income-driven
I don't believe for a minute that she is doing anything deliberately inflammatory - she is just being advised by other Americans who have the same views and ingrained opinions as she does

That's actually an excellent point and I totally agree. FWIW there's a lot I admire about US attitudes, but they don't always translate well and the fact Meghan comes from this background isn't a question of "fault" ... it's just how it is

And it's also why I keep saying it's a shame she didn't have a little longer to find out how things were done in such a high profile family before taking on the role

I don't think they should promote their friends business, however I'm not sure I find this that bad. When you go the The Class on Instagram it has a lot of quotes around self care, loving yourself and growing. I didnt see anything selling the retreat.

I can also see it from the point of view that people living the same lifestyle as Harry and Meghan aren't likely to approach a charity for mental health, but might benefit from a retreat like this. Still don't think they should push their friends one though.

Thank you puzzled! I don't understand (obviously because I'm always right ) why people can't see this. And to your point too, Meghan has absolutely no idea of the culture clash.

She's young and rich and has achieved success and wealth. In the US that's something to be proud of and to build on. Her self-worth will be hugely bound up with building on that. But because of our very strange class system - especially when it relates to the RF - flaunting your wealth is a very bad and common thing to do.

How will she reconcile these two conflicting cultures? You can't spend years building a career based on looks, being an influencer etc only to be told "that's really not how we do things here."

I don't think her friends and advisors and fellow celebrity Americans will have any issues with plugging a retreat, and is she just suddenly supposed to stop doing (posting) what she's done her whole life? The poor woman will never win...

These threads always make me laugh - saying Harry seems so happy etc. I’m sure he is , marrying out of the royal family for love might be common now and going forward but marrying into the royal family is and always has been for gain. Meghan, Catherine, Dianna, nothing to do with race.

I don't understand why race is being brought in, but it says more about the person's bringing race in to it.

she is a divorced Hollywood actress in her 30s, what exactly does anyone expect from her? I used to be a royalist, but then I realised they really have done nothing to stem the cliff this country is heading off. I'm not interested in what they are allowed to say or not, I'm interested in them showing courage and standing up for their people! So with that in mind I'm glad this woman has married in to the family, because all I can see happening is her being a major catalyst for the royal family being torn apart and eventually ceasing to be.

Yeah you never win if you break the rules, not sure how that’s supposed to garner sympathy for a well educated person in your 30s with a large number of advisers and support staff helping you promote the best image of yourself, and unlimited cash and other resources at your disposal for life. I mean Harry and Meghan. There are so few fundamental rules about royalty I can only think of two - you don’t express political views, and you don’t advertise products/ brands.

The reason I’m so disappointed is it was on a mental health post. A cynical attempt by an already incredibly privileged couple to plug another privileged friend’s business, in a post amongst actual mental health charities. Though as a pp has said, very few of these select “campaigns” are even charities.

Decreasing business case for any of the Royals. Not sure why expected different of Harry and Meghan to any other Fake Sheikh plug royals, they’re all the same but wish they didn’t bother pretending to help on a campaign they clearly don’t really care about

Yes OP YABVFU to refer to the “M M Debacle”. What a fucking ridiculous expression.

I visited the Invictus Games website, little did I know that it would land me just 1 click away from buying a Jag!!!!!

What a blatantly tasteless and crass thing to do.

Yes it is blatantly tasteless and crass to plug a friend’s business on a post about mental health. But thanks for the lols for joking about it.

Not quite the same as sponsorship for the Invictus games. Their friend is getting free exposure, for something that would otherwise cost them millions to get access to millions of IG followers

Disheartening to see people at mental health. Why campaign for mental health at all if you do it for private gain.

there, there’s a few more lols for you all

crass to plug a friend’s business

They’re not doing that, they’re directing you to an IG page full of feel good, life affirming quotes. Not my thing, but whatever.

The friends’ business is 4 clicks away from that.