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?

she didn’t have to wait around for him to propose so their relationship is more romantic.

Not because it was romantic, it was because she was closer to 40 (36, 37?) when they got married, the alarm on her biological clock was pinging like crazy. They almost had no choice in moving quickly if they knew they wanted a family.* *

She really wasn’t “very successful in her own right”. Can you off the top of your head name anything she did other than Suits?

"Even if the public saw H and M as exciting and glamorous and W and K as a bit staid and boring, it’s irrelevant as W and K get the top jobs and staid, traditional and perhaps a bit dull are the qualities required for the role"

Yes I think this nails it. Until the shenanigans with their exit to America in 2020 I suspect the whole royal family and their advisers were glad to have a glamorous 'fun' and 'younger' seeming duo around. That fed the public desire for something more modern and international, and also more diverse. Meghan and Harry left Kate and Will more free to continue plodding along safely in the way they do very well.

I bet the advisers were glad to see the back of them. Everything they do is a drama, everyone else is wrong, they are always right. No wonder they have lost so many staff.

Not just unreasonable but completely bonkers 😂

I think W&K have enough on with their family and K recent illness. H&M are off trying to lead a billionaire lifestyle in LA, I wouldn’t envy anyone that lifestyle

Yes, there was a lot of media interest at the beginning for H&M. Then we found out what they were really like; petulant and spiteful.
Rest assured, I don’t think W & C have any competition there.

Blink and you’ll miss it Fed Ex girl in Horrible Bosses. Head bobbing girl in a car in Beverley Hills 90210. BBQ girl in an ad. Party girl best friend in a tv movie whose name escapes me.

Meghan Markle isn’t beautiful naturally. She’s had plastic surgery, she has a full set of veneers and wears tonnes of make up. Pretty sure she wears hairpieces too but I’m no expert.

I appreciate she might be someone’s idea of beautiful (not mine) but to say it’s natural is a bit daft.

Of course she's naturally beautiful. She's having some work done as she gets older and extensions are very common but she's a naturally beautiful woman. No point in denying that.

I think she is very pretty but she only has a few limited expressions
The PoW is beautiful IMO and her face has character.

MM reminds me of a friend who is very pretty.
The friend has loads of cosmetic work done including reconstruction and veneers. I'm curious as to what she looked like before.

I think Meghan Markle has a kind of generic cosmetic surgery look, she doesn't look too different from her friends Jessica Mulroney or Abigail Spencer, they all have that similar LA look, Meghans' work does look good at the moment.

We clearly have different standards. I don’t see what you see at all.

I’m not going to criticise her appearance, but I think it’s fair to say that there is nothing natural about it, or indeed recent. She herself referred to her veneers on The Tig, and her nose shape was changed a long time ago, so this isn’t just a case of maintenance as she gets older.

MM is a pretty woman who has been improved by spending a lot of money on herself. She looks as you would expect for someone who is pursuing a career in the lifestyle/influencer industry.

Natural beauty is quite another level.

Not forgetting Deal or No Deal, box opener extraordinaire!

Young actors and actresses have to eat, they take whatever work they can get. It usually takes until they are in their early thirties before getting a good part - if they are lucky. It's the same here in the UK. Some exceptions are people like the Harry Potter actors who started off big when still kids, some who have been in a long term role in a soap but for the majority it takes longer. There's no shame in taking some rubbish jobs, at least they are showing they have a work ethic, they are also versatile.

I think Meghan is attractive, beautiful. Catherine is beautiful too, Elizabeth was very beautiful.
No one is perfect.
Meghan hasn't really hurt anyone, most people on Mumsnet have had issues with their inlaws.
Imagine the world reading about it.
Ignore the daily mail, according to the daily mail she is the devil in high heels.

I think MM has an agenda to elevate herself to the same level as Kate, I’d guess Harry / Wills too by default. However, I think she got more and more frustrated that it wasn’t happening, her true colours were flowing out all over the place and she couldn’t control the situation - so she’s been desperately trying to become an international /USA based Kate, but she’s failed and the world sees her for what she is! Harry has a carefully sculpted PR facade which, without the palace keeping the sticky tape over the real Harry. He’s shown his spoilt bratty entitled little idiot real self … he looks like a hollow man in MM presence too, she’s sucked him dry and doesn’t give a toss. The RF have turned their backs and it’s clear why!

I think this is the key. In the RF I feel like people know their place. Sophie and Edward don't seem to have tried to be anything other than who they are and have got on with their royal engagements professionally.

I think you are right that MM wanted to be more centre stage, not in the shadows of W and K, and H wanted her to have what she wanted. It just doesn't work like that in the RF but also she doesn't have anything much to offer, as seen from the vacuous business / media attempts. She could have had a nice life being a more minor royal than W&K.

@Zonder- absolutely, and MM no longer does anything except centre of attention, unlike her ‘acting’ career where she was very much the minor role, she decided enough background for me, married for status (clearly not looks or personality!) and has botched it all… now she’s spending her time shoe horning herself into the centre of attention, these days, due to her being elbowed away, these are mostly things she sees up and plonks herself in the middle of … playground antics - it’s pretty sad really that a mid-40’s woman has achieved so little from the world she tried so hard to get into only to flounce and play Dollie’s with her ‘mates’ in her back yard in front of a camera - yawn!🥱

Totally and completely agree. It's always been my belief that Kate was hugely threatened by Meghan's beauty and popularity, which is why Meghan became a hate figure. There is no one will convince me that any woman wouldn't be threatened by what MM brought to the table initially. I really don't understand why she has become a hate figure.

So? At least she has worked! She can't be criticised for what she did before. It wasn't hurting anyone. She was an actress trying to make a living. It defies belief to me that every move she makes is criticised, when there is a woman currently on the throne, who hasn't worked a day in her life, but manipulated and cheated her way to the top spot. It's sickening.

Eh? Camilla has had jobs in the past, and now does her part, even though she’s well above retirement age, within charities, royal duties etc.
Charles and Camilla met before Diana was on the scene, he was advised by someone in the family not to marry her, but actually they were clearly in love as 50 ish years later they’re married now and work well together, both doing a lot for the country.
Meghan works solely for her own gain, be it money or PR, clothing / expenses, she has clearly said, along with Harry, they don’t want to do anything crappy, just anything they chose to do, and make money off the back of the RF name, which is disgusting, that’s not what the RF is about

They were popular, yes, Catherine is extremely pretty and popular too, there may have been jealousy, on both sides though, BUT Meghan is a nasty piece of work, bullying staff, bulldozing herself into the family and trying to change things, elevate her own position. It’s very very quickly come to light, after the protection of the RF PR no longer helps them, that they’re nasty lying hypocrites, selling people out, selling lies, the list goes on and on … do you not think it was completely obvious to those close on the family what she was doing, manipulating everyone and everything, getting her friends to reinvent private conversations to her own positive light and giving them to the newspapers she apparently loathes, unless they print her fabrications, not the truth of course…. But yes I’ve no doubt her joining the family caused some ripples, but quickly became obvious she’s a nasty person, ugly on the inside leaks to the outside eventually!

I think W&C saw a dangerous, malicious, festeringly jealous narcissist who had caught a dim, emotionally-arrested, resentful, entitled Prince and realised they were out to try and destroy them.

And they were right. I hope H&M stay in Cali and leave this country alone. What they did to Catherine in particular, I have no words for. Vile pair.

They are wealthy they have luxury of choosing what to do. Who would purposefully choose fo do something crappy as you put it.

Most of us also have a bit of that too in that we can choose not to do something crappy as well. I would only do something crappy as a last resort or had no choice but to do it to earn money. Otherwise I like pretty much everyone would choose to do something they like and want to do.

And please do give examples of a royal family member who isnt making money ey off the bsck off the rf name....Andrew, Fergie, tindalls etc have all done this.

William and Charles receive private income via the duchy which is making money off the rf name .....

So yes i look forward to hearing who isnt..