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?

Perhaps Harry and Meghan have landed to upsetting news about Thomas Markles continuing health struggles and the sad faces are simply concern about him following his recent major stroke and hospitalisation?

Harry must be concerned that his children may never get to meet their American Grandfather, and he them, at all.

Maybe those burnt bridges more local to them could be the ones they start with?

After all if they can forgive HM The Queen for the 'generational pain her toxic parenting' has caused Harry and the 'institutional racism and bullying' at the heart of her Firm - enough for them to bring Lilibet to met her - perhaps they can try and forgive Thomas Markle for staging some pap pics of himself getting measured for a suit pre-wedding.

He's 37 not "in his 40s".
calm down , meant nearing his 40s , kept deleting and rewriting without checking .
anyway by 37 most people have grown up and are thinking more rationally about their decisions and the outcomes.

I did feel sad for him but as others have said, this is what he wanted. They didn't want him to leave.

I think the issue is they always wanted this half in half out role which is impossible. They wanted to pick and choose their work as 'working royals' but have complete freedom to earn their own money.

It doesn't work like that, comparisons to Eugenie etc. are not valid, she is not a working Royal.

I think they both also want top billing. 'Star power' doesn't equate to rank in the royal family. They want to set their own agenda but you can't do that as a working royal, unless you are top dog. Even then you have to do your share of bridge openings and garden parties.

At the jubilee party they would want to be the last to arrive to take their seats at the front. The front man not the backing singers.

I would have so much more respect if they walked away completely but they seem to intent on a pretence that they still have some sort of official public role - turning up at schools to give talks etc.

I can't see where they go from here. Apparently Harry has been told to give the book a re-write as it is too boring as is. Not dishing enough dirt? Even if they do the ' At home with the Sussexes' for Netflix - how can there be more than one season? What is the content? How many more interviews can there be? I think their star is on the decline (especially after this jubilee) and they are acutely aware of this.

I feel sad for him that he lost his mother in such a way at such a young age. It must have been truly traumatic and I honestly believe that it would affect anyone for life. That being said, his current relationship with his family is the result of his own choices. He didn't have to go on Oprah or star in a Netflix production about himself or write a book. He chose to do those things and it is increasingly clear that he is doing it for the money as well as the associated influence and power. It's more than a little unseemly and I don't have a lot of sympathy for that.

@ArabianLeopard I totally agree with you. I can't see where they go from here either.

No sympathy whatsoever.
They chose not to have anything to do with either of their families, one of them even has a father who just had a stroke but still gives zero fucks.
All they have done is slag off their families yet expect themselves to be welcomed with open arms.

The Harry people loved doesn't exist any more. Just a grumpy looking misery in his place.

Perhaps Harry and Meghan have landed to upsetting news about Thomas Markles continuing health struggles and the sad faces are simply concern about him following his recent major stroke and hospitalisation?

Meh, he probably faked his stroke like he faked his heart problems, or if he didn't it certainly wasn't a major stroke (since he had the presence of mind to ensure paps were outside his house in Mexico when he had his stroke, and was sitting up lifting his head unaided while being rushed to the ambulance, and managed to be extremely chatty to the press afterwards).

He's done far, far worse than simply staging some pap pics!

There's a reason all his children and adult grandchildren went NC with him.

Pot meet kettle? Sounds like nothing they do will be right in your opinion. Thomas male has shown himself up and the royal family has invited the pastor of them over so...

He didn't have to star in a Netflix production about himself

But he hasn't. He literally hasn't. Why are you talking about something that has not even happened, based on the assumption that it will happen in the future?

People have been saying for two years that he's going to, have assumed with no grounds that his every movement is being filmed by secret Netflix cameras, but the fact is as of right now no Netflix reality show or documentary exists.

Why are people so determined to castigate this "dreadful" unpublished book and hypothetical future TV show before they even exist or have been seen by anyone, and we have no idea what they will be about, if they ever actually happen which is by no means certain?

If and when any TV show actually happens, then you can judge.

The US is so very different , specially in California where it’s all about personal interests, they are friends with you now but will completely ghost you and move on after getting what they want, this is from personal experience I must say.

Lots of siblings have intense and enmeshed relationships after a shocking parental bereavement in childhood (especially following a very bitter, long winded and painful family breakdown). All of their money and privilege hasn’t buffered them from this childhood trauma - if anything their lifestyle (boarding school, stiff upper lip, 24/4 public exposure) intensified it.

It looks to me that H&W had this enmeshed trauma bond and Kate became part of it. M joining this intense trio shifted the dynamics - pretty positively in the early days it seems - remember the 4 of them running a MH campaign?

It then looks like other factors added complications and strain - the wedding, the racist press, the racism and unsupportive family and firm around MM fragile mental health during and post pregnancy and the enmeshed sibling relationship imploded.

It's telling that Charles and The Queen have had face to face with H&M (on their last visit) - but do we know if they have met again in this visit and have met their DGD and DGGD? It seems it easier for a parent and a grandparent to soften / reconcile but harder for a sibling. I think both brothers have an emotional rawness to them that is manifest in different ways. I think hurt people hurt people and I hope they can stop lashing out at each other in their different ways.

I think there are some men (and it usually is men) who have this habit of meeting a partner, completely and utterly idolising that person to the extent that they are prepared to walk away from pretty much everything that came before, including their own immediate family. Everything will be sacrificed to keep the partner on the pedestal happy.

I am not suggesting this is Meghan's fault or Meghan told him to do it.

I have had it in my own family and have heard about it so often from others.

I think a day will arrive where he will wonder what on earth he has given up.

The Netflix contract, like the Spotify contract, and the online mental health startup company contract are public knowledge, the companies are publically traded corporate entities, just as Archewell is a publically registered charity with a very robust media arm. The only thing they have to market for these well known and lucrative media contracts is their royalty. They are hardly producing a film about the Duchess's calligraphy or the Duke's polo prowess.

The US is so very different , specially in California where it’s all about personal interests, they are friends with you now but will completely ghost you and move on after getting what they want, this is from personal experience I must say.

Except that Meghan's friendship group are people she's been close friends with for decades.

Maybe you should look at why you struggle to make lasting friends and why people don't want to continue being friends with you, rather than making sweeping statements about an entire country/state?

They are hardly producing a film about the Duchess's calligraphy or the Duke's polo prowess.

The first project they announced for Netflix was a documentary about the Invictus Games.

The second project they announced was an animated children's show about a small girl who learns about inspirational women from history (which was cancelled due to Netflix's cutbacks).

Last year Harry's series about mental health was released.

I checked iTunes and the only documentary they have under Prince Harry is one about rhino conservation.

The only thing they have to market for these well known and lucrative media contracts is their royalty.

You could say the same about William and his various far less successful efforts to make TV content.

jemima u don’t know me and you don’t know what sort of experience I’m referring too.

Except that Meghan's friendship group are people she's been close friends with for decades. I don’t think she knew Oprah before marrying Harry and inviting her to the wedding ?

@JemimaPuddlegoose wow, that's a very nasty and rather personal jab at another poster. Why such a directly confrontational remark when we are all just discussing public figures with whom we have no relationship?

You could say the same about William and his various far less successful efforts to make TV content.

Well no, you couldn't. William doesn't 'make TV content' for starters. He has appeared in some programming, but he doesn't 'make content'. He doesn't have to, as he has no need to pursue commercial projects.

Harry does. And NF will want programming that gets large audiences. They rejected the extremely dull sounding 'Pearl'. You'd have to wonder about the alleged 'Invictus documentary' as the games are finished for this year and frankly I don't see a lot of interest in a documentary just about the athletes.

The PP was right. They really only have their royal links to sell. This weekend has shown that those links have loosened considerably. So it will be interesting to see what their upcoming 'documentary' consists of exactly.

The Netflix contract is for them to produce multiple projects, one of which was to do with the Invictus Games and specifically Harry's involvement with it. All directly related to his belonging to the RF. Pearl was floated as a possible project and was loosely based on Meghan's own childhood nickname. It was cancelled due to lack of interest, possibly because what the network really wants is more tea. Tea similar to that spilled by Harry in the mental health documentary or in the CBS interview when claimed to be protecting the queen. Reports are Netflix executives were livid that material hadn't been provided to them instead.

That part of California has earned this reputation, along with everything being about appearances rather than substance. I spent a great deal of time there (for work) and it's not a place I could comfortably live because it is so socially very different from my part of the US.

I am sorry you had that experience, too.

Why such a directly confrontational remark when we are all just discussing public figures with whom we have no relationship?

Because there is a lot that some of you want to say but arent able to. Some see it and some relate to it

Ofcourse William has not need to do anything 'commercial'. He wouldn't know where to start lol

It's telling that Charles and The Queen have had face to face with H&M (on their last visit) - but do we know if they have met again in this visit and have met their DGD and DGGD?

It seems Scobie reported that they'd met, but he can probably be safely ignored.
I'm not aware anything's been announced officially, though, which may be telling in itself

Whatever the truth here it's pretty clear that the RF had no intention of H&M getting headlines unless they made them themselves. Happily they didn't this time, though what comes next now they're back in the US is anyone's guess

Ofcourse William has not need to do anything 'commercial'. He wouldn't know where to start lol

That's kind of my point. William has the security of his royal position. He has no need to seek out commercial endeavours.

The same used to be true for Harry, but he found freedom. Now he has to peddle his wares in the celebrity marketplace, where his only stock in trade are his royal connections.

So the comparison with William is silly. William is a future king. Harry is a wannabe NF producer. The only reason he got that gig is because he is a prince, and his employers are going to want a return on their investment.