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?

Of course Diana and Armstrong-Jones brought glamour in their eras but that was decades ago. Meghan’s appeal was a different kind, rooted in a modern, global profile. That contrast to Kate’s more traditional image is exactly why it may have felt disruptive.

I’m sure in 20 years Charlotte will also apparently be so jealous of a new sister in law. It’s so tediously predictable we could write the headlines now.

True but it's depressing how the public lap it up.

This is the wrong forum for it though OP, people are irrational when it comes to H&M.

Did Meghan really have a strong public presence before she got with Harry? I had honestly never heard of her before that point nor of that series she was in. It's not like she was a big Hollywood name.

If anything it was Meghan who thought she was going to outshine W and K, and she did liven things up when she first came on the scene.

When she realised she wasn't going to, she flounced off with H trailing at her heels.

She could have achieved a lot as Royal but nothing as photogenic and SM friendly as making jam with her 'friends'.

Diana certainly had a modern, global profile.

I’d imagine they are more “embarrassed by” than “threatened by” what with all the dirty laundry that H&M have aired….

Agree. Never heard of her before she met Harry.

I’d imagine they are more “embarrassed by” than “threatened by” what with all the dirty laundry that H&M have aired….

Nah, tampon gate has primed them 😆

I suppose an impact is one way of calling it

I think Kate would have married William regardless of his royal status and had an easy, happy life like her sister Pippa and her billionaire husband. I suspect that she was relieved that she got a break from being in the media and that she would happily give up her for fame tomorrow

It also depends what you mean by glamorous? They met Beyoncé but W&C met with Tom Cruise on more than one occasion and he seems to really like living in the UK which is good for the UK film industry.

If William felt any sibling rivalry it could have been during Harry’s national second favourite royal days but that’s before Meghan.

Who knows, but YANBU to think it’s a possibility. Kate had been the unquestioned darling of the media for years, so pretty, look at her in her lovely clothes etc. I think it’s just human nature that she might have found it a bit difficult to suddenly be sharing that spotlight, especially with someone that she apparently didn’t particularly get on with.

Kate got a lot of unfair shit in the beginning & then it was transferred to Meghan. It's embarrassing tbh.

There was so much goodwill towards Harry and Meghan in the early days - they could have carved out a meaningful, and glamorous role for themselves but neither was up to the job, which is a pity.

They had it on a plate and turned their backs. They seem happy as a couple so maybe it was the best for them.

I agree to an extent. I'd never heard of her and I don't suppose anyone had unless they'd watched "Suits". But, had she stayed in the RF, her public presence would have grown by default. She was everything the RF needed. She's attractive, black, got some charity work credentials behind her and she's a commoner. And at that time everyone loved the man she married - Harry. They would've appealed to young people (who generally don't give a toss about the Royals) way more tham K &W ever could, or ever will.

Hi Meghan

Let me spell it out for you, Williams and Catherine are the future King and Queen of this country. You will always play second fiddle to them and I firmly believe the only one threatened was you as you couldn’t get your own way

Catherine, as well as Sophie all tried to help you mitigate into and old family, set in their ways, and actually Harry should have supported you better and explained how the image of the RF works in this country, changes will be made but slowly

Because you didn’t get your own way, stamping your feet, you threw your toys out of your pram and left, good we don’t need Royals you and your husband

you can learn a lot from the current, smaller Royal Family

Maybe they were threatened. Maybe they were relieved. This is all literally conjecture.

What we do know is that Harry and Meghan wanted to be more than just the ‘Spare’. He wrote a book about this.

That’s not how hereditary monarchy works.

Then they had a strop and wanted half in and half out and to collaborate with HM.
That didn’t work out. See original statement from the Sussexes that was then heavily edited.
So they went to America and gave a trail blazing interview to Oprah with a lot of accusations.
Many of which have now been shown to be not quite true or they have rowed back on.
Then came the documentary.
And the book.

Since then they have struggled to carve out an identity for themselves that isn’t about being anti RF.
Harry’s security claims failed in court.
Sentebale is gone.

Meghan’s TV show flopped as per recent ratings.

As Ever as a brand is much of nothing. The Netflix contract ended.
The Spotify contract ended.
The new podcast was universally panned and even less interesting than the old one.

So we can only speculate about how W&K might have felt. What they probably feel now is some degree of relief.

@ginasevern yes I found them quite exciting & for the first time in my life I read about the RF. W&K appeal to the older demographic hence why I thought a foursome would have been great.

This. W and K are the heirs to the throne. In photos together K makes MM look dumpy and badly dressed so no, I'd say K & W made MM feel inadequate and insecure

Before I open these threads, I always have a little bet with myself about how many posts in it will be until the predicatable (prefect like) post telling the OP they should be posting in The Royal Family. Always with the first few.......

As for charisma and glamour, Edward 8th had it in spades, imo, but while he was born into the RF, he took himself out of the RF like Harry did. I dare say George, Duke of York suffered a lack of confidence, at feeling compelled to be King in comparison. However at the end of the day, Edward and Wallis Simpson seemed to live shallow empty lives, as rich socialites - but were they happy? I don’t think so?

Whereas George was admired for his conduct throughout WW2, trying to keep people’s spirits up, despite ill health eventually.

The “men in grey suits” would probably have been pissed off that Meghan’s PR people (Sunshine Sachs?) were doing her PR rather than going through them and I suspect that they were caught by surprise on some occasions and had to change plans. I wouldn’t call it impressionable and impactful but being famous in the US was clearly a priority from day 1 and probably not even top 10 priority for the Firm.

I can imagine that William found discussion about the Sussexes at “work meetings” annoying as it probably took lots of time but I wouldn’t call that threatening.

In photos together K makes MM look dumpy and badly dressed so no

This is untrue & completely unnecessary. Why would you write such a thing

As for the Royal Family not having seen charisma and glamour before from an outsider before, have you ever heard of Lady Diana Spencer? Anthony Armstrong-Jones?

Elizabeth and Philip were seen as extremely glamourous in their early married life. Young, good looking, fashionable, happy.

And no, I don't think W&C felt in the least threatened by H&M. They had more important things to occupy them.

But William and Catherine are the next king and queen. Harry was always gonig to be second fiddle to his big brother. They have nothing to be "threatened" about.