Prince Harry - AIBU?

[barniee]

Prince Harry saying "we can all do better" has really irked me- aibu?! He has every want and need satisfied while the majority of us and trying to do right by the environment whilst making ends meet. He is becoming very sanctimonious!

“Be more specific”

My irony meter just exploded.

The basic problem MM has is that she doesn’t know Britain very well, and she made the mistake of thinking it would be like a smaller, cuter America. She thought it would be a great opportunity to at last be an A-list celebrity, wear princessy clothes and change the world, and all she would have to do is work really really hard at being the BEST at all that and everything would be great. The trouble is that Britain isn’t all that like America...

If I had been advising MM at the point she got engaged I’d have said:

• Rule 1# - whatever else you do, be polite to the staff. Non negotiable. (The real A listers know this...)
• be polite to the media. Be rude and you are doomed. All the stuff that they might otherwise gallantly ignore (like Kate’s chain smoking) will somehow find itself in print. (Also see 1# above)
• splurge on your wedding dress but then go cold turkey on the haute couture. Don’t slag off M&S.
• play yourself in slowly
• pick one cause you care about, put in the hard yards, listen to others, become an expert
• let Harry carry on doing his own thing with military charities and youth mental health, where he has credibility
• laugh off the inevitable minor etiquette mishaps (crossed legs, going ahead of the Queen etc) in a self deprecating way
• FFS fly commercial where humanly possible...

If she’d done all that I think she’d be in a much better place - no need for flying in Hollywood crisis experts and the like.

@lauriemarlow

If you mean the Queen’s gold piano, it was Queen Victoria’s originally, made in the early 19thC. More frugal to use a vintage family piano like that than to blow £50k on a brand new Bechstein for no particular reason...

it was Queen Victoria’s originally, made in the early 19th

So she has access to vast treasure troves if antiques, meaning she never needs to buy a thing.

Lovely.

And she get still gets through that sovereign grant.

@NoTheresa here
@stickystick - she’s done all that- apart from the flying, obvs.

www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1173298/prince-harry-speech-in-full-prince-harry-speech-today-eco-friendly-tourism-travalyst

Oh the Travelyst launch. Yep- looks like classic greenwashing- but we haven’t got the details yet. Maybe something will come out of it?

Yes! You’ve nailed it.

NoTheresa

This sort of thing

Down with this sort of thing!

"Instead of thinking it's an outrage that media are not reporting on it more, you ought to think why are they not reporting on it more?"

That makes it sound like there is nothing to investigate or report on. The queen in the car with him at Balmoral sent out a message that she's okay with the situation. How lovely.

Regarding Harry's speech, nobody would have even debated the environmental issue if it wasn't him giving the speech. I'm sure lots of experts in the field give speeches, head conferences and publish papers all the time. Do we hear about most of those?

Yes, it was hypocritical. But then they all are. Charles doesn't practice what he preaches. And if you think he doesn't take advantage of his friends' holiday homes and private planes you are delusional.

That makes it sound like there is nothing to investigate or report on

I'm saying the complete opposite

@Stixkystick
My thoughts exactly.

@derxa
Very true

Didn’t Charles and Camilla holiday with the Rothchilds at one time? Bet that was pretty glitzy!

Don't forget the cruises on Latsis's yacht Alexander, OKTO which belongs to Angelopoulos, and of course Donald Gosling's Leander ... all there if anyone wants to spend mere seconds researching it

But Charles doesn't do glitz, oh dear me no

I think your advice is sound, @Stixkystick.

I'd add "Don't try and airbrush your past - someone, somewhere, will be only too happy to tell it like it is/was"

do you really believe that incompetence is the reason (Savile) wasn't arrested and prosecuted when alive? And incompetence is why the sex inquiry became a mess and incompetence is why Epstein ended up dead in his cell?

Instead of thinking it's an outrage that media are not reporting on it more, you ought to think why are they not reporting on it more?

A very insightful post, Catherine ...

Andrew and Epstein is okay and not worth a bit of in depth reporting

Ridic practically new headlines every few days it’s a drip feed tho

@Stixkystick has nailed it in my opinion

Meghan's problem is that she has seemingly waltzed in and tried to make her mark and change things too quickly and it irks people

It's like any club or established group- newcomers if they want to be accepted are wise to ease themselves in gently - respecting the existing order and make their own contribution sympathetically and gracefully until they are established, respected and accepted.

I think we have all been in a group of some kind where a brash newcomer comes in and immediately tries to change things - it never goes down well.

“Meghan's problem is that she has seemingly waltzed in and tried to make her mark and change things too quickly and it irks people ”

What has she tried to change?

Private jets aside, and that’s more Harry than Meghan, I don’t see what she’s done that’s so different from other royals. Kate, Charles and Harry have guest-edited publications or websites, Charles has embarked on commercial ventures (very successfully), plenty of royals have written forewords to books. Meghan was a grown woman with a career and other interests before she married. She wasn’t in the same position as Diana or Kate, who’d never really worked before, so it’s only natural that she should’ve wanted to hit the ground running. As far as I can see she appears to have a decent work ethic by royal standards and took on royal duties from the day after her engagement was announced.

@SamanthaBrique - nobody can ever say what Meghan has done wrong. It’s utterly bizarre. The private jet thing came as a godsend because it was something concrete they could hit her with! The previous 18 months they only had “it was unsporting of her to support Serena Williams” and “She touches her bump too much” and “she seems too confident” . I suspect a lot of it is because she’s not a shy and retiring little woman. She’s nearly 40, ffs- why would she simper in the background? That would be ridiculous. But as so often with women, confidence is called “brash”. And Kate is held up as the perfect royal wife and mother because she barely says anything, smiles sweetly, and focuses on “nice” charities.

It's like any club or established group- newcomers if they want to be accepted are wise to ease themselves in gently - respecting the existing order and make their own contribution sympathetically and gracefully until they are established, respected and accepted

Totally agree.

“respecting the existing order and make their own contribution sympathetically and gracefully until they are established, respected and accepted“
So. For the millionth time. In what way did she not do this?

@BertrandRussell

The very public baby shower
The Instagram style
The Givenchy
The unplanned appearance at the fashion awards
The pretty immediate separation of foundations
The move from Kensington palace
The American PR firm and agent
The collaboration with US news outlets to the exclusion of British press
The A list celeb collaborations
The overbearing manner with staff

One or two things fine but the combination together...

The very public baby shower
paid for by her friends
The Instagram style
matter of taste,surely?
The Givenchy
how much does Kate’s couture coat?
The unplanned appearance at the fashion awards
what’s wrong with this?
The pretty immediate separation of foundations
speculation- who knows why this happened?
The move from Kensington palace
ditto
The American PR firm and agent
why shouldn’t she have an American PR- she is an American!
The collaboration with US news outlets to the exclusion of British press
i don’t know anything about this, so can’t comment. But she could surely be forgiven for not wanting to collaborate with the British press!
The A list celeb collaborations
Nor this- who is she collaborating with?
The overbearing manner with staff
Speculation