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

[Bassarid]

Is it just me?

Harry needs to look at all the interviews he has given in the last, the Ant and Dec one for example where he said his df was always available for support and advice

There's a lot more in that vein, and for all I know he might have felt he had to say it, but the trouble is that people aren't stupid and it just gets added to the pile of inconsistencies

I guess it's that word "credibility" again, and it seems to be disappearing fast

@DolphinFC

Megan and Harrry's aim is to build a successful media career in the US. It's going well.

Is it?

The Vax Live concert had dismal viewing figures. According to a poster above, this 'mental health' series is getting very poor reviews. It's been 5 months since they produced a Spotify podcast, and that was just a few 'celebrities' giving boring, unconnected accounts of how they spent lockdown. The only Netflix project announced is an Invictus documentary which presumably won't happen for another year. As well as being a commercialised version of something he did as a royal, I doubt it's going to bring in Bridgerton levels of audience figures.

If I were a business person I'd be very wary of getting involved with these two, as they lack discretion and loyalty. Harry seemed to enjoy his royal duties, yet now he turns around and says he had to 'grit his teeth' when talking to poor folks, and that a trip to Nepal to visit communities devastated by an earthquake was a massive burden on him? If he didn't get exactly what he wanted from your business, will he be on Oprah next year whining about a 'toxic environment' which 'destroyed my mental health'? Given that he's been more than happy to do that to his own family, why would he not?

@Proudboomer
And yet no other member apart form Doria was invited. Not just from her fathers side but also from her mothers. Even if she didn’t get along with her half siblings from her father where were her relatives from her mother.

Her father has two brothers, one of whom is in the diplomatic service and got Meghan work as an intern as some embassy whilst she was a uni. He was pretty upset to be missed off her wedding list. The other uncle is a minister of his own church, so possibly embarrassing, but even so. They've never slung mud in her direction since her wedding.

I was very supportive of them for a long time but even my gears are starting to grind a bit now.

I would really hope that Meghan didn't deliberately conspire for her dad to no attend. I prefer to believe that the health reasons cited really were the main driver, even if it might have been a bit of a relief all-round that he couldn't come.

More concerning in my opinion, is the fact that some of Harry's old, old friends were not invited to the evening reception do, which was "the" golden ticket event. Now that had to be deliberate. How many of his old crowd is he still in contact with, I wonder?

In the interests of being factual, it is true that Diana had seen very little of her sons in the last months of her life. In late June and July she had been in Pakistan, New York and London. She then took the boys to holiday on the Al Fayed yacht in August. It was not a great trip - the boys were unhappy, and once Diana had the news that Gianni Versace had been murdered they actually cut it short and the boys went back to Balmoral to stay with their father. After the funeral Diana and Dodi spent more time on the yacht then travelled to Paris. If the parties had been been clairvoyant, and realised they would not have more time together, I am sure that different choices would have been made. I don’t think it’s at all necessary to be judgemental about it through. Diana was only 36, had just broken up with Haznat Khan, had had a turbulent summer herself and had no reason to think that she’d not have plenty of time in the future to spend with her sons. I think it’s all terribly sad, particularly as her sons have admitted they have some regrets about how things panned out (of course they must - it’s only human ).

Any idea why they weren't happy on that yacht trip, @Serenster?
I do recall reading one/both of them saying that they cut short what turned out to be their last phone call with Diana, as they were in the middle of doing something exciting at Balmoral. That is obviously a source of real regret to them now.

That's interesting Serenster, thank you.

@CallmeHendricks

I would really hope that Meghan didn't deliberately conspire for her dad to no attend. I prefer to believe that the health reasons cited really were the main driver, even if it might have been a bit of a relief all-round that he couldn't come.

More concerning in my opinion, is the fact that some of Harry's old, old friends were not invited to the evening reception do, which was "the" golden ticket event. Now that had to be deliberate. How many of his old crowd is he still in contact with, I wonder?

This, and the non inviting of some of the Ragland branch of the family - who have done nothing whatsoever to cause trouble - does give the impression that they like to be very selective about who makes the cut for 'their' events and that celebrities count for more than relatives, or other long held associations. Some of Harry's Sentebale contacts were there but in the grounds, i.e. on the same basis as the members of the public who got tickets in the draw. That seems pretty dismissive. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan themselves seem remarkably sensitive and quick to take offence at the idea they might not be at the very top of anyone's priority list, as with the fuss about them not being part of the procession at the Commonwealth service, and William and Kate walking in with them in the end to defuse things.

The constant inconsistencies are really not helping their cause.

Lastest one being Harry saying that Archie’s first word was ‘grandma Diana’. Not that long ago he said it was ‘Crocodile’.

Neither of which seem plausible tbh. Not many babies first words would be related to a photo of someone they have never met surely? Unless they had been holding the photo in front of him every day for months repeating ‘grandma Diana’ over and over - which would be bloody disturbing!

What else was she supposed to do when their father had access? Sit outside the gates of Balmoral and wave to them? didn’t Fergie spend time close by while the girls were with their dad and the Queen? I swear I read it here on MN.

Diana was due to return to England that weekend and then spend another week with the boys before they went back to school. That’s probably why the boys weren’t that bothered on the phone as they were going to see her in a few days anyway (speculation).

@wink1970. There is also the one about a velociraptor

@CallmeHendricks

Any idea why they weren't happy on that yacht trip, *@Serenster*? I do recall reading one/both of them saying that they cut short what turned out to be their last phone call with Diana, as they were in the middle of doing something exciting at Balmoral. That is obviously a source of real regret to them now.

I’m not sure if it’s ever been explained. Andrew Morton wrote about it however - Prince William called it his worst holiday, or similar. It could have been because they got a lot of press attention (Diana’s decision to accept Al Fayed’s offer of hospitality was roundly criticised by the press), it may have been because they felt like third wheels watching their mother get involved with Dodi Al Fayed (they met on this holiday), they may just have been moody teenagers, who knows?

What else was she supposed to do when their father had access? Sit outside the gates of Balmoral and wave to them?
Be in the same country, not humiliate them by dating someone renowned as a playboy?

Get thee to a nunnery and all that @a8mint?

Harry has completely misunderstood the Dodi thing because the discussions at the time were about the Fayeds being Muslim, and how that would sit with the crown if they had children together. It was about religion, not skin colour.

@Ocsetldil

Harry has completely misunderstood the Dodi thing because the discussions at the time were about the Fayeds being Muslim, and how that would sit with the crown if they had children together. It was about religion, not skin colour.

I think it was more about his family being extremely tacky and possibly dodgy.

It was highly unlikely they would ever have married in any case. Diana's friends said it was just a fling for her.

I don't understand the statue to Diana.
I know she had a terrible time of it and was a loving mother and a very tragic death , but I think there are more worthy people to build statues of and she already has her own fountain. The unveiling is going to be mega awkward now and the press more interested in the then ' body language' of the senior royals towards Harry and any gossip etc than anything to do with their late mum.
I feel it should just be William and Kate to do the honors and make it as low key as possible.
I fear it'll turn into another ' media frenzy' around it all , surely the thing he would want to avoid ? Especially as the new baby is due soon as well.

[quote Cacacoisfarraige]@Serenster

I find Harry’s assertion really offensive that the reason for the press attention on that holiday was Dodi’s skin colour.[/quote]
Yes, I haven't heard much comment about that statement by Harry. What was that about then? Was he suggesting that Diana and Dodi were chased by the paparazzi because he was a person of colour (which was the phrase Harry used, I believe)?

Given that Diana had only just ended a lengthy relationship with Pakistani surgeon Haznat Khan, and not been hassled by the press because of it, it’s certainly possible that the press interest in her Paris jaunt with the glamorous playboy son (whose fiancée had been in the press a matter of days before claiming that Diana had broken up their relationship) of the controversial multi-millionaire and owner of Harrods might have had slightly more to do with a gossip angle rather than race…

Diana was with Haznat Khan for more than two years and their relationship only ended a few weeks before she died. Khan is also a person of colour and Muslim and yet it didn’t gain the same interest as her relationship with Dodi which at the time of her death had only been a few weeks long.
Yet Harry still had to bring race into his claims that she was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn’t white”, to his relationship with Meghan Markle and he had to stop history repeating itself.