Harry and Meghan what they’ll do next

[PelicanPie]

Let’s strive to keep on topic and not engage with posts designed to disrupt.

FizzyLimes
Problem with the Sussexes is that they have been so public and vocal about hating their royal life

they haven't though ."Friends" may have said she found it stifling ,Doria reportedly said M was having panic attacks .

Harry disliked the press intrusion .

I get that DeRigueurMortis (great name btw) but it shouldn't have been optional. You don't let someone fly a 'plane or perform surgery without full training. In fact all jobs require some level of training before a person is ready to perform the job on their own. HMQ, PC and the senior royal staff should have put their feet down very firmly.

I agree that they wanted the high profile but they were clearly not ready to wield it. It's been a shit storm of bad publicity for the royal family and I can't see how if can get better unless HMQ puts her foot down very firmly with the backing of PC and PW. They leaks have got to stop they are making everyone involved look like tits.

I think she/they are hoping it will die down after 31st March but I think they are grasping at straws. It's all been too tentative - no removal of the HRH or duchy titles, giving them a year to think about it etc. It all smacks of a parent trying to deal ineffectually with a recalcitrant toddler.

De R he can't stop being Royal ,he is royal by virtue of his birth .He wanted to step back from being a full time working royal .

And neither he or his wife are demanding anything .

I wouldn't have thought that the Royal Family would have taken any chances with Meghan's mental health if indeed she was having panic attacks. They'd have let her have as much time off as she wanted, surely? Particularly given how they've all been talking about and supporting mental health so much recently? No need for all this, surely?

Waspie I happen to agree with you.

Lunde wrote a post many threads back about how in Sweden "Prince/Princess School" is mandatory for anyone marrying into their Royal family.

They get taught protocol, constitutional law etc etc and only after that training do they commit to being Royal or not.

It's think it's a very good model.

Peridito they are absolutely making demands.

Just look at their website....

Then look at their reactions to being told no...

I absolutely agree he can't change who he is and that he should have security.

What I don't agree is that he is entitled to make choices that vastly increase the cost of that security provision and expect the taxpayer to fund it. By all means continue funding security at current levels whatever his Royal status.

Equally he's free to make any lifestyle choices he pleases but the uplift in costs for those choices are for him (or his family) and not the taxpayer to fund.

Peridito And neither he or his wife are demanding anything .

The point is that we don't know that this is true any more than we know what exactly it is that they do want.

Royal training school should be obligatory DeRigueurMortis What a great idea. Sweeping generalisation obviously, but how wonderfully pragmatic the Swedes are

Of course they’re making demands. Why else would there be a need for negotiations?

They’re moving further and further away from the original statement and helpful Q&A section they launched with their website, though. So whether those demands are being met is another thing entirely.

De R I have looked at the website .I honestly don't see demands ,where are you seeing them ?

And what are their reactions to being told no ? I've seen click bait headlines about them being furious etc according to friends who have been in touch with the Daily Mail .

Are there more credible reports of what the couple have said themselves ?

I know people on here feel statements like these below reveal bitter side swipes by the couple .I honestly see them as factual statements amongst a whole list of factual statements .

While there is precedent for other titled members of the Royal Family to seek employment outside of the institution, for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a 12-month review period has been put in place

While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy or Cabinet Office over the use of the word ‘Royal’ overseas, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ or any iteration of the word ‘Royal’ in any territory (either within the UK or otherwise) when the transition occurs Spring 2020..

Are H&M or the palace using the word negotiations ? I've seen H&M saying "details" ,not seen negotiations used by them .But I could be wrong of course ,I'm not quite as alert as some to every possible nuance that could be used against them .

They’re moving further and further away from the original statement

how ?

You can see for yourself if you read the original statement and compare it to their current roles

I don’t understand why Harry being the son of a future king matters if that same logic doesn’t apply to Andrew?

And as many have stated, he can’t expect the same (or indeed a greater) budget when he has decided he will not carry out the function that the security is meant to enable. That budget should be reallocated to the working royals who will need to pick up his workload.

P when the announcement was made their website quite clearly explained how H&M expected this new set up to work.

It covered funding, security, Frogmore, titles etc.

The problem was H&M hadn't discussed or agreed this with the institutions (the Palace and Govt) whose gift these aspirations were to give.

They had an expectation that their forward path would go unchecked - in this sense they were "demands".

Had they been "requests" they would have sought permission/sign off before issuing their statement and updated website.

Their reactions (speeches and statements from them - nothing to do with news click bait) since negotiations have resulted in restrictions on their plan have been peevish at best.

Froq no I can't, that's why I asked "how" ? You obviously can ,don't you want to explain ?

6 full time officers at £100kmeach

Considerably more than that for three of them. I recall there were twelve on one trip before the child was born. Including office back up - which will include state security services liaison and briefings about current terror threats - plus hotel stays, meals, travel, etc.

The cost of protecting them to working royal standards will be about £2 million a year.

DeR
Statements from the Queen and Harry both say "after many months of discussions"

They had an expectation that their forward path would go unchecked
you can't possibly know this ,it's just speculation .

What speeches and statements ?

I apologise ,I know it's not good for the flow but I do have to go and do stuff now .I will be back .

perdito
If the statements ‘friends’ were making were not representative of her true views, I don’t think she would have wasted any time setting the record straight, do you? All of the comments made by her circle have had the same theme. None positive about her experiences of the RF or her life in the UK. All saying how much more free she feels, how happy she is now, how stifled she felt.
She is not on record herself for having said anything positive either, except in the early days before her marriage.
Also the tone of their Instagram posts is clearly pissed off and barbed. I can’t understand how you are missing these things.

P I dont read any Instagram posts ,sorry .

If the statements ‘friends’ were making were not representative of her true views, I don’t think she would have wasted any time setting the record straight, do you

I don't buy this argument that unless something is denied it must be true .The RF's policy of never complain ,never explain seems a good model .Perhaps H&M are learning to adopt it ?

no I can't

Why?

@perdito So you don't read their statements, yet you post that they "didn't say X or Y'. OK.

Yes - as pp have mentioned Sweden expects those that marry into the Royal Family and carry out Royal engagements to participate in training "Prince or Princess school" as they call it.

They have incorporated spouses without royal experience pretty effectively. Prince Daniel (former personal trainer) was expected to attend for a long time - 1½ years as spouse of the future Queen. Princess Sofia (former model and Love Island contestant) did around 6 months. They set up an individual plan with mentors and 1:1 classes that covered things like:

• the workings and administrations of the Royal Court and Royal Household
• Swedish history - royal, military and cultural traditions
• political science - parliament, county and local government and administration. International political issues
• Diplomacy
• Royal etiquette
• languages

Or the spouse can opt out completely and carry out no official work at all as Princess Madeleine's husband Chris O'Neill chose to do. In fact Madeleine and Chris could have been a template for Meghan and Harry -they chose to step back from the Swedish RF and live a quieter life in a secure gated community in Florida with Madeleine doing an occasional Charity event - mostly for her mother's Childhood Foundation.

The Swedish RF will be further slimmed down in the future as the King announced last year (under pressure from Parliament) with the focus on Crown Princess Victoria's family, a scaling back of her sibling's roles and the children of her siblings no longer to be HRH nor to be fulltime working royals in the future.

@Lunde
Does princess Madeleine of Sweden have security; or is the gated community the extent of it.
Also; Chris O’Neill is a wealthy banker, so can presumably maintain a lifestyle for his family.