To think Kate and William saw Harry and Meghan as a real threat to their image?

[BluntPinkNewt]

From the moment Harry and Meghan got together, the media attention was huge. Meghan was glamorous, charismatic, and had a strong public presence - something the royal family hadn’t seen before from an outsider. For a while, it felt like they were the most exciting and modern part of the monarchy.

Kate and William have always been the “stable” and “traditional” royals but suddenly, Harry and Meghan were drawing attention in a way that might have made them seem more relatable and interesting in comparison. The shift in public perception (and maybe even palace dynamics) must have been unsettling.

Obviously things have played out the way they have but AIBU to think that, at least at the time, William and Kate felt genuinely threatened by how much attention and influence Harry and Meghan were gaining?

I think Harry has confirmed that stories against them were fed to the press by the palace to sacrifice Megan and protect Kate.

Harry has said this, but conveniently never suggested which actual stories he’s talking about.

Remember this is the same Harry who maintained in an email that he and Meghan had to be able to say they had nothing to do with Finding Freedom at the same time as they were arranging for Meghan’s notes to be delivered to the author; and who was emailing People magazine directly to give them his point of view. And who was criticised by a judge for filing lawsuits against the press when they reported the truth rather than Harry’s spin. His recent stories about the Sentabale fall-out also give a good indication of the press games he plays.

The boot looks more like it’s on the other foot.

They're 'boring' in the same way the Queen was 'boring', presenting a carefully maintained front of dignified duty with enough warmth that people will feel affection for them - not at all easy to carry off.

I don't think they've quite 'got it' like QE2 has or had. She benefited from longevity, and excuse the phrase,, but kate and william should have hit the ground running (despite having young children). I think they just coast and hope for the best. To me, and just my opinion, but that is just not working.

dreadful punctuation!

Transyvania, had it for years, well documented, on his walking holiday

@Serenster
No need to take Harry’s word for it

The journalists themselves have confirmed that they have stories fed to them ( and no , not the laughable ‘court circular )

Well documented perhaps for people who follow them closely. The rest of us meanwhile...

Where?

If you are referring to the to-and-fro between the media and communications team (press releases issued by the latter, questions and enquiries from the former), that is 100% normal and replicated in offices government departments across the world all day every day.

Who knew until recently that Charles has a favourite holiday home on Romania that he goes to loads. That's never reported on.

It's not reported on in that his privacy is respected when he's there, but it's been known for a long while that he has a holiday home there. Honey from there is sold in the Highgrove shop and you can rent the property when he isn't there.

I know that I've kind of given tragedy a bit of the burlesque treatment in my previous post but here's a wikipedia of the, "Willy and Nicky" correspondence. Wilhelm II and Nicholas II of Russia.)

It would be wonderful to read the full transcripts. I'm sure that they are out there somewhere.

Willy–Nicky correspondence - Wikipedia share.google/2XsTI7n9KsBLlHkVx

Zonder, you are coming in like Elphinstone’s Army …

I like a post that makes me Google!

my pleasure, ha ha ha !

Re posts above regarding the constant holidays - we certainly were never told about these holidays . Yes W and K completely disappeared for long periods but we are led to believe they were enduring rainy walks in Norfolk
We have the current bitchfest between Willaim and Charles to thank for the new details
We had Kate skiing and William waving a bottle on their skiing holiday ( that must have been a Charles leak )
Then a leak about Charles mistreatment of staff ( yawn - we already knew that Charles and W are spoilt hysterical tyrants )

Then a leak about William and Kate on their borrowed ( but from whom?) multi million pound yacht ( that was Charles hitting back)
And now Camilla staggering around on a yacht ( Willaim kicking back)

These holidays aren’t new - they were just covered up before

Well worth the half a billion they cost us aren’t they ? ( royalists - Im being sarcastic )

We like our monarchs to be dull. Surely you’ve noticed?

Do we? I don't remember dull before Diana died? It was all sucking toes, 3 in a marriage etc, very seedy & all over the tabloids.

Are you looking for things that only people who are really interested would know?

I love a bit of history in the form of the Anglo-Afghan wars in the 19th century, personally!

Key phrase was monarchs

I'm pretty sure the Queen wasn't sucking toes and having threesomes!

We like our monarchs dutiful and pleasant.

We like our adjacent royal family members to provide the gossip and tabloid tales.

That's what caused Charles' popularity blip - he chose unwisely for his marriage and ended up in the realms of gossip, affairs, tell all interviews and biographies.

Now he's in his dutiful grandfather King phase he is popular and considered to be doing a good job.

William and Kate are keeping the drama quotiant low and the cheerful public appearances on point.

Andrew and Harry are providing the gossip fodder - all by themselves - no need for any leaking.

Speak for yourself - many of us do not ‘like’ monarchs full stop

( And you are merely repeating the PR - there is nothing dutiful about Willaim and even the royal journalists tell us he is frequently in a furious rage so pleasant ? Not so much )

https://share.google/Lh0bpC8zUbWCQJSaM

Found the telegrams. Probably not what we should be thinking about but it struck me how much they resembled modern emails. Very little formality.

Princess Margaret smoking through State banquets, cavorting with Roddy, married to bisexual Snowdon, QM on the gin and huge debts, Alexandra’s husband Ogilvy and the Lonrho affair, the obnoxious Andrew and his antics, Philip and his crush on Merle Oberon, ultra glam Marie Christine and her nazi father and supposed flings, Anne’s husband fathering an extra marital child, Anne’s relationship with APB while Charles was with Camilla, all change, on and on, paternities questioned, more gin delivered, they are just like us but richer

What an excellent post @Redheadedstepchildhighly entertaining!

Well, if you don't want a monarch at all then I imagine nothing about the current heir would appeal.

You can keep trying to show William in a negative light but he must be doing something right because he consistently polls as the most popular royal in the UK with a very high approval rating.

In America, he polled as the most popular public figure above all their own public figures, universally liked by both Republicans and Democrats.

In a Uk.gov poll in 2021 asking who would you choose as an elected head of state instead of a monarch William was the top choice ahead of David Attenburgh and even his own grandmother who was monarch at the time.

So it's possible he may not be dutiful, pleasant, intelligent and potentially a good leader but he's doing a bang up impression of it.

Ha Ha! Can you imagine that one day Catherine has far too much to drink and then says exactly what she thinks. Now that would be interesting…

@mauvaiseherbe my family are dull compared! It's like posh Jeremy Kyle 😆

You've got to admit it's pretty niche though. Possibly a fair bit more niche than following RF updates!

Key phrase was monarchs

I think how your dc behave does reflect on you so we will have to agree to disagree @wordler