AIBU to think King Charles comes across as a really crap dad?

[mintleavesandthyme]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77yykl87yno

I mean really, this is just pathetic. No one is believing that KC couldn’t find a spare bed for his son. AIBU to think that as the parent KC needs to get a grip and grow up instead of just fuelling the drama?

I read enough here and most of it’s behind a paywall

https://theroyalist.substack.com/p/who-is-this-guy-harry-joe-marler

He is so crass on that podcast. He's nearly 42, he's like one of those awful boorish loud blokes in a bar who think toilet humour is funny.

The lies and the ignorance shown by H & M in that interview were embarrassing. So Harry didn't understand why his children didn't automatically get Prince and Princess titles??? "Hwhaaaaat", as Oprah might say??? And he sat beside her and allowed Meghan to ascribe this to racism on the part of the RF (which has stuck, in some cases, despite being easily debunked).

It was a shocking travesty, but still taken as Gospel by many less discerning people.

I mean - without going into the detail - surely by now they'll be asking 'Mommy, Pa, don't I have any grandpas?'

Er, yes, honey - you have one who we don't speak to living in (somewhere in the Far East now??) and another who's the King of England (and other places, but they'll get that wrong as usual). The only way out of this is to tell the kids some horrible lies things about their grandfathers...which will be horrible for them to hear. It's a no-win scenario.

And cousins, and aunts and uncles....I wouldn't like to be H & M in a few years' time.

So Harry didn't understand why his children didn't automatically get Prince and Princess titles???

I never understood how they didn't seem to be aware of this. There were plenty of ordinary people who did... how come Harry didn't?

I can only assume because he's a bad husband. He appeared to explain very little to Meghan.
So why did he go along with the outrageous lie that the children wouldn't get a title because of their skin colour?
Because they could accuse the RF of racism, and monetise it.
They accepted a Kennedy award for fighting racism in the RF which didn't exist. These are the kind of people we are talking about. Mercenary.
Yet absolutely no shame and embarrassment to accept the children are now Prince and Princess.
Shameful.

Harry seemed caught off guard by things Meghan said during some of the Oprah interview.

I think Meghan was driving that bus and decided to punish them for not giving her what she wanted by telling the world they were racist.

Harry is the one that back tracked it later. She never has, and double down via Scobie.

And to add to Fenella's post, I have to say a very unkind thing but...here goes:

Harry is thick not the sharpest knife in the box, bless him. He struggled at Eton - it wasn't the right school for him, I think Diana and Charles sort of knew that (and the school knew that he didn't meet their normal admission standards) but they sent him their because it was felt more important that he should be a) with his brother and b) just across the river from Windsor Castle.

The history master who taught him was shocked at his lack of interest in history and specifically his family's history. It wouldn't surprise me if I could beat him on Mastermind with the special subject of 'The Royal Family since 1900', or similar.

He wouldn't have clocked about the Letters Patent, or anything like that. And not only did he not understand these things himself, he was so stupid and unimaginative as to fail to tell Meghan, or at least to put her right, when she jumped to the conclusion that the RF were being racist.

I felt so sorry for Prince William having to do that engagement the day after the OW farce and being asked if the RF were a racist family. He answered very well and kept his composure.

I've only ever seen excerpts of the Netflix documentary (couldn't stomach the whole thing) but it's telling that Meghan's mum says something like 'I warned you - it's racism coming down the line!' at one point. Clearly she and Meghan were very ready to look for and find all kinds of micro-aggressions in her dealing with the royals.

Oprah must cringe herself inside out whenever she remembers her performance at that interview.

You're right, @CoffeeCantata, which chimes in with the Valentine Low book. No matter what they did for Meghan, it was the wrong thing. They were helping her to make the role a success, she was looking for ways to make it fail. Move to California, monetise the titles and victimhood.

Good to see the majority of the respondents to the poll disagree with the OP that Charles is a crap dad. Only a minority agree with the OP, seems the majority believe Harry is a crap and manipulative son.

👏👏👏👏

Some unoriginal pps dragging up the old chestnut about the princes being forced to follow their mother's coffin has got me thinking.

What was traumatic about it was the fact that there were huge crowds along the processional route and that the event was televised to a world audience.

I followed my parents' coffins into the church and to the graveside. The princes would undoubtedly have followed her coffin into a church in the normal way for family members. It wasn't that per se - it was the millions of people watching them with such minute attention.

How could this have been avoided? Should Diana have had a simple funeral and burial at Althorp, using the parish church, and away from prying public eyes? Looking back, this would have been a better option for everyone, but can you imagine the uproar from Joe Public if the RF had done this? It would have been seen as a snub to Diana's memory and standing. Instead she was given the highest honours - which were due to her, of course - but that entailed exactly the sort of public spectacle which the RF-blamers seem to criticise.

I don't see how it could have been done to satisfy all these conditions. And, while I'm sure it was very, very challenging to do what the princes did, no-one forced them - they may have been advised to do it, but not forced. And it was a manly and dignified thing to do and something which I'm sure they are both glad they did in retrospect. I mean - I can imagine the same people saying 'They should have let the boys follow her coffin!' if they hadn't done so.

I doubt the public would have bothered if the boys had gone in a car for their mums funeral. It wouidnt happen now. I think it was a mixture of things why it happened like that. I felt sorry for them both at that time.

It's an interesting point to ponder and I get that some people think it was a bad decision. I don't know whether it was or not, but where I disagree with some pps is that I don't think it was a decision made in bad faith.

Yes, a car would have been less stressful for them, but I think walking behind the coffin is exactly the sort of tough thing the RF do - along with hitting the ground running immediately your parent had died as HoS - and not being allowed any 'compassionate leave', or having allowances made for you. Remember the criticism of KC when he snapped at an assistant over a pen about a day after his mother's death? No allowances whatsoever - it's the downside of the privilege people always point out.

I may be wrong but isn’t she the only non royal/divorced ex royal to get a state/royal funded funeral.

Something she shouldn’t have had.

I could be wrong as I was a mere child back then. But I remember reading something at some point about it being out of the ordinary.

All I know is that King Charles must be a good Grandad, as no one could make a 4 year old boy (Louis), go and sit on the lap of someone he thought of as remote. (Golden Jubilee).
if you read the Housekeepers Diary, it seems clear that after their separation and subsequent divorce, Diana did try and use the children against Charles (but I think this was mainly William)

And Diana was NOT a perfect mum.

I'm not trying to bash Diana - I get that she was in a difficult situation, as was Charles in a different way. But the idea that she was a saintly, self-sacrificing Madonna figure is ridiculous.

When William was at Eton - and about 14, I think, he had the face of Diana's current lover's wife on the dartboard in his study. Now - think about that. He apparently told friends that his mother was involving him in her dilemmas and love triangles much more than he was comfortable with - which, if you're a 14 year old schoolboy, ought to be not at all!!

For him to feel so angry against a woman married to a man his mum fancied and was pursuing is extremely unhealthy and tells us a lot about the way she leaned on the boys emotionally.

I'm not demonising her - I'm simply saying that she was a flawed human being and although she might have been warm and loving towards her children, she didn't always get it right in terms of their needs.

@CoffeeCantata! , a personal question for you! , I can’t help but notice that you went from being a regular poster on the rf board to disappearing, I thought you had left? , it’s nice seeing your name and posts again , feels like the old days 😁 , are you coming back?

Hi Jeff! Yes, lovely to see your posts too!

I did take a break from the board - partly because I got tired of being pursued relentlessly by a charmless poster whose username rhymes with

Hector Gate

I'm sure you know who I mean!!

Will go back and see if they've mended their ways.....

PS I was very sorry to hear that your co-star in Jurassic Park died today. RIP lovely Sam Neill. But you, Jeff, are most definitely the dishier one, but a whisker.

Many thanks ❤️ I was very upset that Sam Neil died! , he was only second to my first love!
on the other topic! Good news ! , it’s safe , after too many attacks on my person it’s been rectified.

@CoffeeCantata You’ve made such contributions on this thread. Don’t let anyone cause you to hide your light under a bushel basket.

@jeffgoldblum @TheHatTrick

I will tip-toe back to the RF board at some point!

Something I always notice though, is the old issue: one side of these discussions is well-informed and argues their points clearly while the other side just crashes in with an outrageous and mean statement, then disappears - and refuses to engage with any kind of reasoned argument. It's happened on this thread and it's very frustrating. And then another one appears and makes the same daft claim, not having participated or read the thread, and round we go again.

Of course,I have my theories as to why this is so, but I'd get rapidly kicked off MN if I put it in writing!!! 😂

Your posts are great, @CoffeeCantata, same with many others on here, who contribute to a reasoned and well evidenced argument.

I think it's unfair to judge Charles as a "crap" parent. He's made mistakes, we all have. However, Harry has used these allegations, many exaggerations and falsehoods for hid own gain.
It's cruel and unfair, and I hope his own children aren't so judgemental.

In a nutshell, OP; no.
Charles has not been a "crap dad".