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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

1000 replies

Bassarid · 23/05/2021 06:01

Is it just me?

OP posts:
ncgy · 23/05/2021 07:48

How is MM to blame when we’ve not heard from her?

Everything is her fault remember

16purplecolour16 · 23/05/2021 07:49

@Sssloou * Has MM actually said anything before or after to the press since the one off OW interview - or is it just PH giving repeated interviews because it seems that the initial narrative about issues THEY had with RF has moved on to be solely about PH and his MH / upbringing which has nothing to do with MM.*

Wonder if Megan is thinking she’s bitten off more than she can chew?

shamalidacdak · 23/05/2021 07:50

This reply has been deleted

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devastating · 23/05/2021 07:50

I agree with the PP who said they are tone deaf and out of touch. Plus being exploited by the US press now.

On the continent minor royals are normal untitled working members of the population - not sure why we can’t have the same here??

No other European royal family took Britain’s monarchical route to A-list celebrity. This path was not only unnecessary, it was high-risk. The sleeping dogs of republicanism are best left to lie undisturbed. A racing certainty was that as each heavily publicised child stepped forward into adulthood, the searchlights would come on and the public glare descend. A photograph, a gossip, a nudge, kiss or cuddle is now instant front-page news.

None of this had anything to do with the roles and duties of the monarch, let along with government – though try telling that to Americans, for whom the British monarch is like a president. To be fourth, fifth or sixth in line to the throne is a meaningless job. Yet the policy was to harness the potency of celebrity to enhance the constitutional status of monarchy. The policy was a bad mistake.

From this article:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/13/britain-royal-family-prince-charles-monarchy

RoseAndRose · 23/05/2021 07:50

what works best? stiff upper lip, or let it all out?

It's not either/or like that.

I think you do need to let it out, but in doing so you open up and make yourselves vulnerable. So you do that with people you can absolutely trust to look after you in that time of vulnerability.

Twinkie01 · 23/05/2021 07:51

I think you're right OP. He's starting to look like a right David Ike.

LeilaLiesLow · 23/05/2021 07:52

yesterday, I walked past the newspaper stand in Waitrose and another shopper (male, middle aged) took a glancing look at the front pages of Harry and said 'He's just lost it'.
I think that sums up many of our thoughts on him.

Sad, but true.

Throwing your family under a bus in public does not do yourself any favours, especially when they have payrolled you for a lot of your life and paid millions for the refurbishment of a house you no longer want to live in.

Bluntness100 · 23/05/2021 07:55

Wonder if Megan is thinking she’s bitten off more than she can chew?

Yes I’m wondering that, although she’s clearly played a heavy hand in it getting to this, she’s melted into the background now and I’m wondering if she’s thinking I never signed up for this.

Three years ago she married a prince, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, and now he’s stripped of his titles, constantly trash talking his family for money, totally osctracised, and the pair of them are deeply controversial figures who no one would employ for the kind of work she wants to do, and it’s clear she’s married to a very damaged, angry, bitter, resentful man.

chaosrabbitland · 23/05/2021 07:55

yes i think they both have made themselves look awful, although with his latest babblings on the me you cant see , harry is actually outdoing his wife , i didnt watch it though , iv just seen the clips , the bit where he folds his hands accross his chest has me both cringing and wanting to laugh all at the same time , he looks bloody ridiculous , not the effect he intends im sure , if meghan doesnt shut him up soon they are going to be going down like stones over there as id have thought even your average american might be reacting negativly to a privilaged idiot slagging off his family and their amendment , hes certainly not coming across as someone thats really happy and doing well for himself , how meghan can handle being married to a petulant man child i dont know , but then shes doing very well out of it . its going to be interesting watching him keep digging to see how low he will go

Whinge · 23/05/2021 07:57

Three years ago she married a prince, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, and now he’s stripped of his titles, constantly trash talking his family for money, totally osctracised, and the pair of them are deeply controversial figures who no one would employ for the kind of work she wants to do, and it’s clear she’s married to a very damaged, angry, bitter, resentful man.

I can't believe it's only been 3 years. How quickly things have unravelled. Shock

pilates · 23/05/2021 07:59

Agree op, I’m sick to death of hearing and reading about them. Fair enough, they went to America as they didn’t want the royal life and the publicity but they have done the exact opposite.

chaosrabbitland · 23/05/2021 08:00

@Bluntness100

Wonder if Megan is thinking she’s bitten off more than she can chew?

Yes I’m wondering that, although she’s clearly played a heavy hand in it getting to this, she’s melted into the background now and I’m wondering if she’s thinking I never signed up for this.

Three years ago she married a prince, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, and now he’s stripped of his titles, constantly trash talking his family for money, totally osctracised, and the pair of them are deeply controversial figures who no one would employ for the kind of work she wants to do, and it’s clear she’s married to a very damaged, angry, bitter, resentful man.

i agree , it must be hard work mustnt it ? . i doubt very much she can look up to him , i reckon shes absolutly now in the default position of being mummy to him as well as to the actual kid
SakuraEdenSwan1 · 23/05/2021 08:00

@Bluntness100 no I mean he is speaking up about what he has experienced and it's not all as perfect as it seems.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 23/05/2021 08:01

interesting thoughts, what about the rest of us?#
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/21/the-me-you-cant-see-review-prince-harry-oprah-winfrey-mental-health-apple-tv

LeilaLiesLow · 23/05/2021 08:02

and now he’s stripped of his titles, constantly trash talking his family for money, totally osctracised, and the pair of them are deeply controversial figures who no one would employ for the kind of work she wants to do

He's not been stripped of his titles. Far from it.
That's a controversial issue which some people are demanding happens.

He's trading on his title to get this TV platform.

ncgy · 23/05/2021 08:02

Throwing your family under a bus in public does not do yourself any favours, especially when they have payrolled you for a lot of your life and paid millions for the refurbishment of a house you no longer want to live in.

I thought a lot of Harry's motivation was that he felt (rightly or wrongly) that him & Meg had been thrown under the bus. Didn't they pay back the 2.4m for Frogmore?

Gucci1961 · 23/05/2021 08:04

Obviously I don't think he should have made his therapy public but nobody's grandparents were good parents so I don't think it makes the queen or PP look that bad. We knew that they were distant in their parenting. That's not news. So I don't think he thought he was revealing anything too shocking.

Remmy123 · 23/05/2021 08:05

I really dislike what they are doing .. they wanted to step out of the limelight but are having interviews with Oprah .. they are trying to prove a point and justify thier decision by making the Royal family look bad.

It's bad taste and I cannot stand either of them.

Norked · 23/05/2021 08:05

@Bluntness100

Actually I think Harry is just being vindictive because he is angry and resentful. Remember he never ever intended to stop being a working royal.

They left for Canada and wrote that daft letter about how they were going to earn their own money and collaborate with the queen and be this new hybrid of working royals shaping the monarchy, splitting their time between here and the us….,..then they got slapped down by the royal family, most likely Charles, and lost their titles, their met office protections, all their patronage’s and were told you’re either in or out, you can’t monetise your position like that.

So now they are out and he’s angry and resentful. It was never ever what he intended. The fact what they intended was never ever going to fly is irrelevant, they thought it would, they didn’t get what they wanted, and he’s angry bitter and resentful about it, so giving his family a thorough kicking becayse he thinks that’s why they did to him.

Absolutely.

And to say his pleas of help for M were met with silence and neglect is odd considering he originally said that he was too ashamed to ask his family for help.....Confused

Bluntness100 · 23/05/2021 08:06

I can't believe it's only been 3 years. How quickly things have unravelled

I know right? They have literally just had their third wedding anniversary.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 23/05/2021 08:06

it is interesting how harry is not naming his mother or the queen in his criticism

Gucci1961 · 23/05/2021 08:07

@Whinge

Three years ago she married a prince, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, and now he’s stripped of his titles, constantly trash talking his family for money, totally osctracised, and the pair of them are deeply controversial figures who no one would employ for the kind of work she wants to do, and it’s clear she’s married to a very damaged, angry, bitter, resentful man.

I can't believe it's only been 3 years. How quickly things have unravelled. Shock

He tries to make it sound longer. PH said that they tried to make it work for four years. They'd only been married for about a year and a half when they left.

It reminds me of the flowers in the attic! Tuesday Tea twice a week.

Whinge · 23/05/2021 08:08

[quote SakuraEdenSwan1]@Bluntness100 no I mean he is speaking up about what he has experienced and it's not all as perfect as it seems. [/quote]
Did anyone think life in the royal family was perfect?

YanTanTethera123 · 23/05/2021 08:10

Throwing your family under a bus in public does not do yourself any favours, especially when they have payrolled you for a lot of your life and paid millions for the refurbishment of a house you no longer want to live in
^^and all for money, money, money.
It makes me wonder just how low he’s prepared to stoop for money and —notoriety— publicity.

Mumoftwo1990 · 23/05/2021 08:10

@Comeinoutoftherain

I have been rather critical of H&M since their "Half in half out" statement, but right now I feel rather worried about them.

I think it's been the perfect storm of things happening to a couple who (it now seems) are far more vulnerable than they initially appeared.

Despite M's previous experience with being an actress, she doesn't seem robust enough to cope with being on public display, as being a working member of the royal family demands.

This is not a criticism, it would have had me crying in a very short space of time.

They got engaged and married very quickly, having mostly lived on different continents. M did not have the time to get used to the press intrusion and decide whether the life of a working royal was for her.

I don't think they really knew each other that well either, having barely lived together before they were engaged.

H had met Doria but not Thomas Markle. This is a rather large oversight given her clear affection for her father (see her father's day post in 2016), even for someone outside the royal family.

Within the royal family, it was a huge mistake for both H and the royal family not to have looked after M's immediate family and helped them to navigate the media attention.

Then they threw themselves into being working royals. From the OW interview, H makes it clear that there were more than a few suggestions that M did not become a working royal, so it's clear that they were not pressured into making her one.

Rather than just going off and having some time to themselves (to actually get to know each other properly) they thrust themselves into the limelight.

They both cope very badly with any negative commentary in the press. It's clear from the OW interview that H&M are much more aware of the press articles than they like to admit to. They do not like the "never complain, never explain" mantra, and want every negative article corrected.

M found the confines of royal life a strain (I would too). She wanted to be able to have her own opinions and not be told what to do or what to say.

That is fine in theory, but the royal family pay heavily for talented PR people whose job it is to maintain very good impressions of the royal family.

H&M might not like being told that certain topics should not be discussed, or having speeches heavily edited, but if you look at the image of H before his marriage and his image now, I think the PR people were probably well worth their salaries.

They decided being a working royal was not for them (which is completely fine, and probably a wise decision) but announced it before working through the details.

So they have been left having to pick up a hefty security bill, and having taken on a huge and expensive house, with staff, without a sufficient guaranteed income to cover it.

They don't appear to be listening to the PR firm, and H in particular appears to be unravelling on camera for the world to see.

The fact that H&M seemed unable to reach out to M's Obstetrician, a GP, or Harry's own therapist, when M was suicidal, makes it look as though H was already struggling to cope.

H had many avenues to get M some mental health treatment, and he did not do so. M was suicidal, so it's understandable that she did not know where to start, but he was seeing a therapist at least once a week. He could easily have mentioned it.

It feels like they are being exploited by those around them, and it doesn't appear to be doing either of them any good.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this one
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