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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

To feel really sorry for Prince Harry breaking down

999 replies

AviationLifystyle · 16/10/2019 09:56

At the awards show. I have been a little skeptical about him recently but my heart really went out to him when I saw the footage.

I have a feeling that having a child has triggered a huge amount of unresolved grief and anxiety. Now he has this dear little boy who is at the mercy of the tabloid press, as is his wife and there is little he can do to protect him.

It's time the press laid off. This is a human being breaking in front of us.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/prince-harry-wellchild-awards-speech-emotional-meghan-pregnant-tears-a9157751.html

OP posts:
LaurieMarlow · 19/10/2019 11:52

there is a difference of opinion regarding what is regular royal behaviour

What you’re talking about only happened in the last few days. She’s been criticised for ‘par for the course’ behaviour since the get go.

BertrandRussell · 19/10/2019 11:55

“Oh dear. So mocking her mother for being an air hostess is understandable because it was true, she had been an air hostess! grin, and kate was thin and did 'wait' so that was all reporting of fact. Right”

No. It’s not acceptable.

Pitterpatterpettysteps · 19/10/2019 11:55

Still waiting for pp to provide links regarding criticism of the K&W Pakistan tour. Just scrolled through Google news and every single headline I saw was extremely positive?

Pitterpatterpettysteps · 19/10/2019 12:01

news.sky.com/story/royal-tour-william-and-kate-have-shown-how-they-should-be-done-11839071

A piece about the Pakistan tour from the famous Rhiannon Mills (who Harry was supposedly rude to)

Bluerussian · 19/10/2019 12:33

People forget that, years ago, air stewards/stewardesses were well educated people who could speak more than one language. It's not like that now, all sorts become air hostess but it would have been so in Carol Middleton's time.

Carol Middleton has done very well business-wise and home-wise.

Kate's father comes from a well established business background.

The Middletons are more 'Cazalet' than 'Downton' but what's the problem with that? Kate has easily slotted in since her marriage but she had a good few years preparation. That does help, also the fact that Kate is (or seems), so gentle gives her a sympathetic profile. After a few years of being 'royal', and three children, I've no doubt she is part of the royals.

I know this thread isn't about the Cambridge's but they have been mantioned.

It's very unfair to compare Kate and Meghan, they're very different people but each are good in their own way.

I would hate the negative press to push the Sussex family to live in America or to contribute to them breaking up. My opinion is that they are pretty good in most respects, nobody is perfect.

wondering7777 · 19/10/2019 12:52

I think it’s a tough job to develop resilience in at atmosphere where you literally cannot do a thing right.

But Harry and Meghan had done everything right on their South African tour and were receiving a lot of very positive press coverage for it, until Harry’s announcement that they’d be suing the MoS.

Couldn't she have been positive and said 'yes it is hard, but others have it so much harder and that is where my interest lies'.

I agree this would have been a far more appropriate response.

Blingandrings · 19/10/2019 12:58

I am wondering who Meghan was referring to when she complained that no one asks how she is. Does she mean the public? The RF? Her friends and family? It isn't the job of the public to ask her how she is. The people who work in her charities etc. She is there in an enabling capacity from a position of privilege. The people who she should expect to ask her personal questions are her family and friends . If they aren't offering support, it is inappropriate that she should mention this in an interview for public consumption.
The Queen has never referred in public to her personal feelings apart form in the Annus Horribilis speech.

BertrandRussell · 19/10/2019 13:10

My understanding is the unpleasant and snobbish comments about Carole Middleton were started by people in William’s circle- not sure that the tabloid press would have understood the class nuance involved. She was most definitely “non-u” and that made her a target. She was Valerie Jones hunted down by Rupert and his vile friends.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 19/10/2019 13:10

The appropriateness of this interview is quickly overlooked ...Tell me which Royal has done this during or just after a royal tour?

I'd be interested to see any replies to this and honestly believe that, fairly or otherwise, what Meghan's just done will come to be seen as definitive. Even the "it's only because she's mixed race" and "everyone else does it" folk will struggle to put a positive spin on such a glaring display of narcissism, and with just a moment's reflection it could so easily have been avoided or turned another way

FWIW much the same applies to Harry's bleating about "every camera click" bringing back bad memories. This may well be so, but this was hardly the best time to focus on himself, and anyway the cameras are a price he pays for all the benefits he enjoys. If he can't stand even this without becoming traumatised, maybe it really is time to ring down the curtain on the whole thing

BertrandRussell · 19/10/2019 13:12

Happy to comment on her interview when I’ve seen all of it.

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 19/10/2019 13:27

I feel it's unfair to judge MM on a small clip.

I do think, however, that the line of questioning from TB, and the way the camera zoomed in on her face as she was answering both suggest that this was very much a planned - or at the very least, a foreseen - reaction. It looks exploitative.

I am hoping that in the context of the whole documentary it is just a very small part and that what we will see is the excellent work they did on the SA tour.

What possessed them to allow the release of this particular clip leaves me baffled.

derxa · 19/10/2019 13:30

not sure that the tabloid press would have understood the class nuance involved. The Daily Telegraph had a 'doors to manual' feature every week on what was u and non-u for months. The tabloids picked up on it.

wondering7777 · 19/10/2019 13:37

What possessed them to allow the release of this particular clip leaves me baffled.

Agree - really strange.

Mummy195 · 19/10/2019 13:48

In all likelihood, the documentary is now in the hands of the broadcaster and they can distribute it as they want? Don't know, just guessing.

Haha, funny enough so many have already fallen right into the hands of the DailyKlan and are making so much criticism already on a few seconds of clip - damage done, without the DailyKlan having to show their hand, you did the work for them.

timshelthechoice · 19/10/2019 13:57

And there you have it: these two thickos go on camera whinging away about how hard done by they are and there are still people saying it's all a machination by the press to make them look bad.

They could suggest burning down the Tower of London and the usual posters on here would be saying it's all been twisted by the Tower itself to make them look bad.

All the more reason we need a republic.

sniffsneeze · 19/10/2019 14:05

I think the media are falling over themselves to go after them. Focusing less on the good they do and more on things other Royals get 'let off' with. The media are hurtling to another Diana situation and this time people are less likely to forgive so easily. I hope I'm wrong ...

BertrandRussell · 19/10/2019 14:06

“ All the more reason we need a republic.”
Well that’s something we can agree on!

fourforksake · 19/10/2019 15:00

i feel more sorry for the new dad who has to work a 60 hour week just to pay the rent because his wife's maternity pay is less than half what she would usually earn. or the new mum who is so tired that she can't see straight but has no-one to help her because her husband has to work 60 hours a week and her family live too far to help. or the child who lost his mother at the age of 8 and had to go into the "care" system and has struggled to maintain normal, loving relationships ever since.
i am not anti royalist, but H&M's self pity is starting to grate on my nerves

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 19/10/2019 15:14

I do think, however, that the line of questioning from TB, and the way the camera zoomed in on her face as she was answering both suggest that this was very much a planned - or at the very least, a foreseen - reaction. It looks exploitative

Sorry but this is delusion.

We are quickly forgetting who we are talking about. M was a relatively successful actress, used to giving interviews and dealing with the media. She absolutely had to be. She arranged to meet cynical PM in a pub (whatever you think of him, he is an astute man. And I suspect that's the true reason he's so pissed off, because he was blindsided) and in one meeting had charmed him. Then there is their engagement interview. In it she noticably takes the lead in answering the question and was comfortable speaking. She has also spoken before the UN.

But you think she was caught out by the journalist?

CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook · 19/10/2019 15:17

Also she set up a meeting with a DM journalist herself at one point before meeting H didn't she? Do you imagine she didn't know what they are like? Their influence? What Piers M stood for etc?

louderthan1 · 19/10/2019 15:18

I dunno. I have a certain amount of empathy with him and Wills because they lost their mum very suddenly and I lost my dad very suddenly at a similar age to Harry.
It ends there though.

mrscampbellblackagain · 19/10/2019 15:39

I am also intrigued as to what/where joyful has been reading about the disappointment over the Pakistan tour. I did see some ministers were very cross not to get to meet Kate and William at the gala dinner but pretty sure that wasn't them personally saying that but more it was a security thing. I imagine there were lots of people who wanted to meet them.

Everything I have seen has been full of praise for the tour as was everything about Harry and Meghan in South Africa. The tours generally seem to be great positive PR exercises.

I totally agree that Meghan does look super upset and she is of course entitled to her feelings. It is just sometimes it is wiser to pick and choose the time/whom you share those feelings with. So I agree that whilst on tour in South Africa maybe not the best time.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 19/10/2019 16:45

I am hoping that in the context of the whole documentary it is just a very small part

So am I, but if it is only a small part, that raises the question of why bring it up at all? Just as with Harry whinging about camera clicks, what on earth's the point of handing critics such an obvious target, especially when the tour had gone so well and the overall coverage was positive?

As Catherine mentioned, neither of them are unaccustomed to how the media works, and for all the twisting and turning there's no getting away from the point that they really should have known better

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 19/10/2019 17:15

I feel I need to make myself a bit clearer!

I don't think M was caught out. I think the line of questioning was planned and the reaction expected. I think the camerawork was exploitative of the audience and intended to provoke a sympathetic reaction. Which it has, largely.

It is just a small clip and I hope the bulk of the programme focuses on the positive aspects of the tour, but I remain cynical about why this clip, of all the others they could have chosen, was put out as a trailer.