To feel sad for Prince Harry

[OldManRivers]

Have been looking at the photos today of Harry in the car being driven from the airport in America back to his home. He looks so sad. It must be very difficult for him to attend a huge family occasion like that with his role drastically changed, and to see all of his family but now he's on the sidelines popping in so very sporadically.

Also I can't help but think he must feel sad to think his children won't grow up around their cousins, and extended family. Meghan doesn't have any family except her mother so they don't have any in America either.

Originally he and Meghan wanted to carry on being part of the royal machine and do appearances etc but also have some independence so it's not as though this life was their original plan, where it seems like they're sidelined and alienated. AIBU to think regardless of what's gone on it must be very hard for him to be in another country, away from his ailing grandmother who he is very close to, and feel like a bit of an outcast?

It's great he can keep his children private.
As much as I loved seeing Kate and William children they are being paraded by the same machine aren't they although they seem more protected than William and Harry were.

I actually don't know why Harry felt the need to release the birthday photo. We don't get birthday photos of the Wessex, Yorks, or Philips children.

It seems to be 'thing' for the Cambridges in exchange for those kids never being filmed or papped on holiday or normal family days out. They have more privacy than William and Harry had growing up. We never see photos of George & co unless they are at official events and their birthdays.

According to 'The Fail' the Queen banned the photographer they wanted to have take a picture of her meeting Lilibet for the first time...if it's true, it shows the length the RF are having to go to protect their privacy. I'm not surprised nobody wants to talk to them really, they must be terrified of everything they say being repeated, out of context, to the media. All this from people who are desperate for privacy...

I think people would have a lot more respect for him if he’d said he’d always struggled mentally with public scrutiny, media intrusion etc and that his wife was now also struggling so he’d like to escape it and move away to have a private life… then actually be private and avoid media attention as much as possible. Instead they have both courted the media ever since they left with various interviews, Netflix shows and so forth. That’s where my sympathy fell flat because I did completely understand why he chose to move to America initially.

How many interviews have they done since leaving the 'working' part of the Royal family?

People don't like largely unfounded accusations of racism being levelled against them. Who knew eh?

What makes you think it's not true, besides the fact you don't like them? It is racist to speculate on the colour of someone else's baby, especially negatively. If you don't think it is, maybe you are, too.

Bloody loads. I don't feel like trawling google, but he did the Today show on NBC and a People magazine cover interview in April alone.

Nothing stopping them from staying at Frogmore if they wanted too as apparently they've renewed the lease. As everyone says, Harry made his choice [well I suspect Meghan made it for him.] Lets face it, she's cut off from all her family apart from her mother and has made sure that Harry's cut off from his. If I was a member of the RF I certainly would be extremely cagey about conversing with them at all after the Oprah interview. That alone burnt their bridges and was unforgivable in my opinion in terms of what it must have done to the poor old Queen.

Also racist dont like accusations of racism being levelled against them.

@letsnotdothat I totally agree.
They said they wanted privacy but continued to court the media.

Even releasing photos of Lili, what's that about really?

The only Royals who do it are the Cambridges and that seems to be in exchange for not having the press follow them around on holidays or days out.

The press was never over the top racist and 99% of it wasn't even a little bit. That Oprah interview they did had to pull headlines from totally different countries, or edit them, to get anything like that

I wouldn't have said 99%, but do agree it was a shame about the headline editing. As with the word being "right over Meghan's face" I'd have thought some of it was bad enough without having to make things up

For me this comes back to the thing about if you've got something to say then say it - but don't lie, because that can lead to people questioning everything else you've claimed.
And before anyone says "But the palace lie all the time!!", yes they do - which is why the same applies to them

I totally agree about the WImfrey interview, even at the time he apparently looked uncomfortable with some of the things his wife was saying. If they wanted to step back from being full time working royals they could have done that without going for the nuclear option. Other grandchildren of HM are not working for the Firm but are there to support HM when called upon and he could have had a similar life, even if the US or Canada was their main home.

Sadly I think he is very unhappy at the moment, I hope he can find some peace in his life, he was probably saying farewell to his grandmother, little wonder he looked very pensive.

Constantly levelling 'racism' against anyone who has a negative thought is in itself a form of 'racism', white people shouldn't comment.

It is racist to speculate on the colour of someone else's baby

Then I know lots of people who are in families of different heritage who you could throw that accusation against! When a baby is expected parents to be, families, friends often debate characteristics, a Ghanaian friend married to a Japanese woman is having some real fun at the moment. It's not nasty, it's normal behaviour.

I think my opinion is that this is all Harry's fault.

I think he rushed into marriage without truly preparing Meghan for what to expect. Chelsy and Cressida both walked away because they knew they couldn't handle the pressure - so he should have made damn sure that Meghan knew what she was signing up for.

He was the head of a mental health charity and had been open about having therapy, so why the hell, when his pregnant wife told him she felt suicidal did he not seek help for her? He openly admitted his response was to tell her to put on a posh frock and take her to the theatre. What a shitty husband.

For someone who had grown up in another country, was hugely independent and a hard worker, and had strong opinions, it was always going to be a monumental culture shock for her to discovered that she was never going to be allowed an opinion on anything, ever again. That's an absolute mind fuck, so I really truly don't blame her for freaking out and wanting to go back to some resemblance of normality.

However.

I genuinely believe that the pair of them could have easily walked away with a lifestyle similar to the York sisters, whereby they could live their own lives, yet still honour the family where needed.

But the way that they left - the petulant "service is for everyone" remark, the comment about how they could use the word 'royal' outside of the UK, announcing their departure before the details had been ironed out, moaning about having to give it a year's trial, then the Oprah interview and suing the UK government...that's where they went wrong. To me, they didn't just burn their bridges, they threw a fucking Molotov cocktail at the bridge.

I think that Harry has never heard the word 'no' in his life. Therefore, he was genuinely stunned that he couldn't get what he wanted, hence the constant hissy fits. Its a real shame that he's burnt his bridges so badly that him and his family cant participate in things with the rest of the wider family - e.g. the party at the palace and the parade with everyone else. That would have been lovely to see a real bonding moment there and to be honest, I can't see how they will ever resolve it.

Speaking of the possibility that things have been made up, does anyone have a link to the Mail's alleged "original headline" quoting Jo Marney's disgusting remark about Meghan's seed? And preferably something that really is original, rather than an edit job from Twitter?

I'm aware that they quoted this in the context of Jo being removed from UKIP (and a damned good thing too), but not that they published it without that context, so I'd rather like to see this for myself

That's really interesting that the racist British press were at it from the beginning in an underhand way that not everyone could see so overtly. They obviously know that this sells papers and as PP has said is a covert dog whistle to the public who overtly post racist comments.

How did the rest of the RF respond in 2016? Did they support Harry's complaints from the top and from the start?

If not how would it have benefited the firm/RF to collude or allow this to happen?

My personal experience was one of sensing positivity through their relationship, engagement, wedding, trips abroad and birth of Archie etc - maybe I was just in a different echo chamber. I am not denying this was happening as it clearly did just can't fathom what the RF role in it was?

They could easily have had a life like the Yorks and Phillips.
The Wessex are full working Royals but guard their privacy and their children few people would recognise their kids in the street.

But they seemed to wants the glam bits of being royal without the mundane opening community centers.
And they desperately wanted to trade of the Royal name and connections. It never worked for Edward either.

My predictions for the future is he and Meg will split and he'll slowly work his way back into the Royal fold.

@thebellagio I think you've made some good points. I wonder if he didn't brief her fully because the others had walked away.

Their behaviour has been very spoilt - complete public fits when they didn't get what they wanted. Combined with a bizarre level of helplessness - if Meighan was suffering why didn't he get help? Why was it the palaces job? He'd been in therapy so it's not like he couldn't pick up the phone easily enough.

It comes across like everything wrong is someone else's fault, they are victims, and it's all unfair so I'm going to throw my toys out of my pram. In public so everyone understand how hard done I am. It's like complaining about being 'cut off' financially, in your thirties, when you've £34 mil in the bank. I don't get why people weren't outraged by the entitlement.

When and why did people come to dislike her @MangyInseam?

And what people are you referring to - the immediate RF (C&C, W&K?), the broader RF firm “men in grey suits”, the press or the public?

People came to dislike her because she and Harry seemed to be taking the piss, mainly.

But it doesn't really matter, there are all kinds of royals the press have not liked, sometimes quite unfairly. Racism is hardly the only explanation.

@JudgeJ No. another family member who is asking whether the baby will be too dark is racism. Black people are NOT exempt from colourism either, it's very common for people to check babies' ears at birth to see the colour.

It is not normal to question how dark another persons baby is. It IS normal to wonder what you're baby will look like. We're not stupid, nor is Meghan.

I don't know what alternative there is to the irrational hate - the people who actually follow people they hate (more than people who like them!). Not everyone is, but out of all of the people who hate her I'd guess racism plays a role.

Definitely those who deny the racism accusations. Whether or not you like Meghan, you don't have to snip and poke holes in everything she does.

I have never warmed to MM because she reminds me very much of someone I know. And I think this maybe the same for others.

Yes this is from media reports,and their own interviews,not for personal experiences but I think others have come to the same conclusion.

This person used me,and others for their own gain. Once I saw through her and stood up to her she never spoke to me again,yet from the outside she had friends. These people were similar to her,or were scared of her.

I think we all went to school with a women like MM,we've all worked with a women like her and we have all seen the fallout to someone we care about when a women like her turns.

Its nothing to do with the skin colour of her father or where she was born,she just doesn't come across as a nice person and maybe the public are protective of Harry after his mothers death.