To think Harry/Meghan are coming out of this worse than the Royal Family?

[Bassarid]

Is it just me?

@GlencoraP

There aren’t any exams for promotion for officers. They’re promoted on the recommendation of their commanding officers. He’d definitely have made major, probably lieutenant colonel and possibly colonel. That could have been where he stuck but there was easily another decade in his career.

That’s not true , they gave to go to Staff College and pass exams to get to the next level. It’s not for every level but there is a limit to how far you can go.

You need Staff College for full colonel, not for major or half colonel. He’d have been good for another few years.

She did no different from every other royal

She did. It was very different. The only valid comparison was Kate’s “exhausting” and she was between a rock and a hard place. If she’d said something up beat and positive the reaction would have been “It’s all right for you”. She tried to be empathetic and was torn to shreds for that. She really couldn’t win

I don't agree. She has a team of advisors for everything she says - she doesn't say much of any importance at any rate and appears to have an opinion on nothing at all.

There was a host of things she could have said that would have stopped the criticism - try the truth
'I am more privileged than most for the support I have, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for those who lack support in this crisis'

There was a host of things she could have said that would have stopped the criticism - try the truth
'I am more privileged than most for the support I have, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for those who lack support in this crisis'

She was allowed one word!

Back to Harry, I do worry that he's making a big mistake with all this. I think he's blaming all the wrong people. I also think he's being exploited and he will regret it.

This isn't everything though either, my guess is there's more bombshells to come.

She was allowed one word!

Not that she would have been shut up - but "different" would have covered it

@StoneofDestiny

The problems the royals claim to have would be wiped away if there were no Royal Family. No need to worry about security, no concern about how to fill all the empty rooms in the many Palaces, no worry about Andrew being questioned by the FBI (he'd have been grilled by now if not 'protected' under Royal privilege), no worry about 'who cuts the ribbon on what' pretending it's a real job, no worry about what tiara to wear or what they can/can't should/shouldn't say to the media.

We could disband the whole farce, they could live off their countless billions and fight amongst themselves. They could live wherever they want, buy their own burglar alarms for security and pay for their own weddings and funerals.

This taxpayer funded nonsense for the idle rich really needs to stop.

I agree

@amusedtodeath1

When the other Royals fuck up they get just as much criticism, the difference is they listen and learn, not rail against the "Firm" for allowing people to criticize them

Agree

@StoneofDestiny

She did no different from every other royal

She did. It was very different. The only valid comparison was Kate’s “exhausting” and she was between a rock and a hard place. If she’d said something up beat and positive the reaction would have been “It’s all right for you”. She tried to be empathetic and was torn to shreds for that. She really couldn’t win

I don't agree. She has a team of advisors for everything she says - she doesn't say much of any importance at any rate and appears to have an opinion on nothing at all.

There was a host of things she could have said that would have stopped the criticism - try the truth
'I am more privileged than most for the support I have, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for those who lack support in this crisis'

Lighten up Stone Are you an ardent SNP supporter? Back to the days of John Knox it would seem.

I don't understand where Doria is in all this. I'd thought she was a safe, wise pair of hands and would have advised them against this - unless they have fallen out with her too.

I suspect she is very careful not to get on the wrong side of Meghan. Having seen where that leads.

@Derxa

Lighten up Stone Are you an ardent SNP supporter?

Yes, proudly.
Not a John Knox supporter though. Quite the opposite.

Not sure of the relevance though.

YANBU.

They are so unbelievably off the Mark it's painful to watch.

Did they really think that a millionaire in his own right sitting in an LA mansion in an Armani suit moaning about how daddy cut him off was going to resonate with the masses?

I agree that 'Not many people have asked if I'm OK' set the decline in motion. It started the trend they've stuck with since not just to say they're unhappy, but to point the finger and blame others for it. Meghan could have said she'd found things harder than she expected and felt down about the media criticism and people would have been more sympathetic. But it has to be someone's fault for not asking. They don't admit to any faults themselves of course.

Since then Harry has outdone her on the tone deaf front with 'I was financially cut off (never mind that he'd said he wanted to be financially independent) by my family with only the multiple millions my mum left me to survive on' and more recently 'I got sent to Nepal to show my support for disaster victims when I was really tired, how cruel!' It's not that the wealthy can't suffer, but it is tone deaf to complain, blame and overlook their assets in this way.

The thing is where is it going to end? At some point people are going to get pig sick of hearing them whinge on about it for money. People already are.

It’s starting to look like that’s all Harry has to sell. And Meghan has become so controversial she’s highly unlikely to be employed in any professional role she’d actually wish to do. Having either of them associated with your business is going to be dubious and will bring publicity for all the wrong reasons.

So they need to turn it round fast, start talking about other things. Becayse they are starting to turn themselves into a pair of social pariahs that only someone wanting to interview them will be interested in.

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

I really like the idea of Harry and Meghan and have defended them here before. However, I don't think endless confessional TV interviews are going to help them here. It is completely tone-deaf to subject the public with their repeated complaints while we are feeling very covid-weary after a horrendous 18months. There are wars and tragedies happening around us every day. If I was advising them on their PR, I'd say to just let it go now- focus on their projects and let their work earn them them the good will they seek. Together I still think they have tremendous star power and a global reach. But this bellyaching is beginning to undermine all that.

So well said.

Would you hire them? Look what happened to the last lot who did.

I think also because they keep doing it in mansions doesn’t help. If they did it in a studio or hotel suite it would be better, but sitting in a beautiful multi million pound house whinging your dad cut you off financially, when you’re knocking on forty, and trash talking your own family for money, is really not a great pr move.

[quote StoneofDestiny]@Derxa

Lighten up Stone Are you an ardent SNP supporter?

Yes, proudly.
Not a John Knox supporter though. Quite the opposite.

Not sure of the relevance though.[/quote]
Sorry that was a bit snippy of me

They've escaped the constraints of being in the RF and I would assume that they could have had a fresh start in America with no hard feelings. The RF were obviously disappointed, but once the initial media frenzy had subsided, they would have been left to get on with their lives. Instead, at every opportunity, Harry is talking about his family's shortcomings in a very angry and bitter way. What's he hoping to achieve? The RF can't publicly respond so why can't he take the issues up with them in private. He could have far more honest conversations with the from afar without involving the rest of the world. It's all just so pointless.

There aren’t any exams for promotion for officers There are for the Army. It wasn't thought that Harry would pass his for Major, and he didn't want to do the inevitable desk jobs that came next, so he resigned.

The RN is automatic to Lt-Cdr, then on recommendation (and bell curve and needs of the Service) to Cdr and upwards.

You need Staff College for full colonel, not for major or half colonel. He’d have been good for another few years.

Strange - my dh taught many Lt Cols when he was a DS at JSCSC; there were Majors and Lt Cdrs there as well....

@thegcatsmother

There aren’t any exams for promotion for officers There are for the Army. It wasn't thought that Harry would pass his for Major, and he didn't want to do the inevitable desk jobs that came next, so he resigned.

The RN is automatic to Lt-Cdr, then on recommendation (and bell curve and needs of the Service) to Cdr and upwards.

My bloke didn’t take exams for any promotion. He retired as a half colonel so he must have been a bit special, I guess.

The negativity in the press started literally from day one. Are people forgetting that the press were so racist towards Meghan that Harry had to issue an official press statement decrying it? That was when they were first dating. Certainly the viciousness here on MN started in the run up to the wedding. Absolutely nothing compares to how hostile MN was towards Meghan before the wedding. It was ten times worse then it is now.

I don’t really get the comments about Archie getting security. Why would a baby have his own met officers protecting him? Archie didn’t go anywhere on his own.
For the same reason all three Cambridge children have their own security detail separate from their parents: so they can be taken out by nannies or others, and when old enough go to nursery and then school. Otherwise the children would need a parent with them 24/7 and their parents would never be able to take a break while the nanny takes the kids to the park.

As I explained earlier Doris none of the great grandchildren (except Williams) get security, their parents are expected to pay for it out of their allowances.
And it's been explained before that security is based on threat level, not proximity to the Crown. All the other great-grandchildren are pretty obscure (general public wouldn't even know their names) and clearly don't need security since they are not at risk. Archie was the most famous baby in the UK, had the world media and general public salivating just to see him (there were literally posts here screaming about having to wait a few days after his birth to see "THE BABY WE PAY FOR") and had death threats from white supremacists.

My view changed when they published that ridiculous "exit" manifesto.

I was sympathetic about them wanting to have a different life outside the RF until I read it and realised that's not what they wanted at all.

In return for renouncing the sovereign grant (£25Ok a year) and paying back the renovation of Frogmore (when they were able £2m I think which they have now done I believe) they wanted:

• to retain the funds from the Duchy of Cornwall (over £2m p.a.) which were specifically provided to cover the expenses of being a working royal

• earn a living monetising the "Sussex Royal" brand

• Have U.K. taxpayers fund their security (at a cost estimated at more than 5 times its current cost as they spent their life flirting between the US and U.K.)

• break with protocol on the Press agreements wrt the royal rota

• keep their titles and patronage's

• pick and choose their own "progressive" agenda and engagements

On these threads I keep seeing people sympathetic to them saying in effect "well it's not their fault they were forced to flee a toxic family".

The thing is they DID NOT want that. They wanted very much to remain part of the Royal Family. Their statement was full of plaudits for the Queen and supporting her work.

They very much wanted to keep the "perks".

They wanted to use the platform being royal gave them to amass vast personal wealth.

They just didn't want to do the shitty bits of being royal any more.

Glamorous premier where you can tout for business - yay!

Meeting with Brenda in Grimsby - not so much....

This narrative of theirs about the toxic royals ONLY emerged after they were told that they could stick their ridiculously entitled exit manifesto where the sun don't shine by both Charles (re: the Duchy grant - if you leave the family firm you don't get to keep the salary) and the Met (if your not a working royal and not based in the U.K. then no, we are not in a position to continue to provide free security - fuck all to do with titles because remember they still have them).

In a world that's gone to shit in the last 18 months their self indulgent pity party and "fuck you" to Charles because he refused to keep paying "pocket money" wins no sympathy from me.

They've sitting pretty in a $14m mansion. Have a new baby on the way. Have deals worth reportedly $125m with Netflix/Spotify.

Life doesn't get any better than that - but rather than use the position to earn a reputation and some credibility of their own and actually "do good" and demonstrate some real compassion (rather than just talking about it in sound bites) they are just frittering that away in a public narcissistic hissy fit.

The phrase "the best revenge is a life lived well" is one the pair of them have obviously never heard of.

One could nt convincingly write this stuff, now kates shining example of purity "uncle gazza" coke fiend and living it large extraordinaire is selling interviews to oz TV about haz and megs!!