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 would say there are die hard supporters or bots on both sides. Because they all receive online hate. Plenty of supporters and haters on both sides.

I get that her style rubbed some people the wrong way but that early visibility and confidence is exactly what I meant about her impact. It stood out against the more reserved approach of the others, which is why it may have felt disruptive to W&K, whether or not that was her intention.

🥱🥱🥱🥱

I believe there is a grain of truth in that.
They stood back whilst the media slaughtered Meghan, with their never explain crap.
They allowed staff sell stores.
Wicked pair.

I would say there are die hard supporters or bots on both sides. Because they all receive online hate. Plenty of supporters and haters on both sides.

The rabid supporters on either side are nuts

I think that’s fair if her style of speaking doesn’t appeal to you but charisma is subjective. For a lot of people, that willingness to centre herself in those early appearances came across as fresh and engaging, especially in contrast to the more reserved royal style. That’s the contrast I was getting at.

Definitely.

I think despite the status, William is shaping up as an angry man. Odd, because Charles (as pathetic as I think he is) isn't. Shades of Phillip, DoE.

Whereas prior to the media backlash on Harry, he was very popular as the fun, relatable royal. And Kate was very much just a woman waiting for William to marry her. One dimensional. No life of her own prior to becoming a royal wife. Whereas Megan (Marmite character she may be) had a wealth of life and success behind her.

IMO, H&M did W&K a massive favour, going off and becoming unpopular. W&K get to look preferable in comparison.

I am old and foreign. My daughters married here with local guys and brought me over. I just speak my mind. In my village all women think like me. Did not know defending the moral woman with strong family values and old fashioned class is now called mysoginy , but glad when I learn something new every day on here. My English was non existent last year and now I am even able to post comments. I did not have even internet in my Balkan house

Well yes it is certainly bread and circuses and must help distract some people from the terrible state of the uk

Just stop the money taps please . That family have raided enough from the people .

If they want dress up fake vow coronations ( Wiliam is not religious ) then they can pay for it themselves .
See them run if faced with the prospect of putting their hands in their own pockets

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

What you describe @BluntPinkNewt is an image or a perception rather than fact.

I believe there was a real sense of interest and welcome from much of the public for Meghan as a new member of the RF coming from a very different background. I didn't know anything about her having never seen Suits but absorbed the general promotion of her as an actress with a an interest in global issues, especially relating to women and girls.

I fully expected there to be a period where she settled into the RF and life in Britain before she started specifically to make her mark. There was the already established Royal Foundation as a smooth introduction. But it was quickly apparent that this wasn't a successful partnership.

We have accounts from the Sussexes themelves about events that took place during her brief time as a working rotal. Taking this evidence alone, it is clear that Meghan was not expecting to have to make any adjustments and Harry failed utterly in supporting her.

Her bizzare outrage at not being taught the national anthem and affront at Catherine not being a "hugger" illustrates a quite extraordinary egocentric approach for a mature adult. Her self-professed ignorance about the royal family is either untrue, or baffling. To take her at her word, we must believe she showed zero interest or curiosity in either the family or institution she was marrying into. She stated that she could learn everything she needed to know from Harry, but by their own account he failed to give her even the most basic of information. He didn't even point out let alone introduce her to family members (e.g. meeting the odious Andrew). He didn't explain the most basic of protocols like curtesying etc.

There are then the accounts from Jason Knauf (and others) of the way Meghan treated staff . Harry himself describes how angry William was about this.

I see no evidence of jealousy from the then Cambridges.

Op , I have a question that I would love your help with?
why do m and h supporters always have three word user names?
and the same format too ?
discripter , colour , animal?
@BluntPinkNewtthanks

Maybe it is fluff but atleast it gets some awareness on other hand megan whom some postwrs think is some revolutionary woman does nothing other than talking about herself.

So when I see photos or videos of Kate, I see her being specific to that public event, or talking about that particular topic. Megan on the other hand has no interest in anything other than talking about herself. Even when she talks about her kids, she ia not talking avout their personalities, it is about how loving mother she is.
How someome always talking about themselves is not more boring is beyond my understanding. And I am talking based on what I see of them portray in public as I do not know any of them personally.

Kate broke it off because William wasn't sure he wanted to get married. It wasn't any feminist power play. Quite the opposite.

Meghan was glamorous, charismatic, and had a strong public presence

Maybe in America...

Maybe that was part of her own downfall with some of the British people, she wasn't as well recognised as she thought she'd be.

I never knew who Megan was until she was with Harry.
I don't think I was the only one either.

IMO though she thought she was someone famous in America so she'd be very popular over here.
Doesn't necessarily work that way.

I really doubt it - I'm sure they had much better things to think about than the two perpetual victims whining about their hard lives while living in a free house and spending their allowance from daddy.

William and Catherine don't seem to want the celebrity limelight in the same way as Harry and Meghan. W&C spent their early years of marriage living quietly at Anglesey when William was in the RAF and later in Norfolk when William was an Air Ambulance pilot. They weren't on the red carpet pitching to Disney execs

Catherine was pregnant during Harry's engagement, had a baby 3 weeks before the wedding, and was then on maternity leave for most of the 72 engagements that Meghan performed during her 18 months in the royal family. So I doubt she really thought about them much at all.

William was probably relieved that he wasn't required to "look after" his 2 years younger brother anymore and could pass the baton to Meghan. Charles and Diana appeared to have parentified William at a pretty young age to look after "little Harry" - and judging from "Spare" - Harry seemed to expect William to always include him and became pretty resentful when William married and started a family.

It's actually astounding how Harry and Meghan squandered the enormous goodwill and luxury life they had on their wedding day to making their money from whining about the hardships of being royal and grubbing for money as LA influencers selling pancake mix,

Funny you say that - I noticed royalists often had blue / purple in their username

I am old and foreign. My daughters married here with local guys and brought me over. I just speak my mind. In my village all women think like me. Did not know defending the moral woman with strong family values and old fashioned class is now called mysoginy , but glad when I learn something new every day on here. My English was non existent last year and now I am even able to post comments. I did not have even internet in my Balkan house

Who are you defending by calling Meghan promiscuous?

What is charisma for you? Glamour?

Willingness to centre yourself is not charismatic for me. You must find a lot of fashion and style influencers charismatic.

Op , I have a question that I would love your help with?

@jeffgoldblum why not start a thread about that?

Because I’m asking the op a question!
politely and she will either know the answer and tell me or not!
why do you not want me to ask?

@Trendyname what awareness? what new information has been highlighted? has anything changed?

@jeffgoldblum of course you can ask.
But I had a similar response when I brought up Andrew on a RF thread, just checking if it works both ways. Thanks for clarifying!

When you join mumsnet now, there are suggested usernames and they seem to follow this format. There are a lot of usernames like it all over the site now, not just Meghan and Harry supporters, so I presume it’s because they use the suggested names instead of choosing their own.

Not sure why my post got posted twice. 🤨

Thanks @SmartDog!
I had only seen a few variations on the rf topic , makes perfect sense 😁