Harry and Meghan fly off into the sunset (soon)

[PelicanPie]

New thread!

But presumably his new charitable role focused on veterans will give him new impetus and a sense of purpose.

I guess it depends on how much of the causes he was originally involved with he is able to put his efforts into.

It's a bloody shame he didn't find someone he could have settled in Africa with.

It's a bloody shame he didn't find someone he could have settled in Africa with.

Too true.

Releasing those photos then to clash with Camila's speech was a real low point after BP asked the photos not be released.

I don't give two hoots about Camilla, but I hadn't heard that Buckingham Palace asked for the photos not to be released. Is that definitely the case @coconutpie?

Harry can't fly helicopters? I thought that's what he did in the Army. He was always photographed/interviewed in front of the damn things a lot

Of course he can. He qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot. He trained for 3 years to be one. Don't believe everything you read on here.

I’m always amazed that they let these two brothers fly helicopters, knowing how dangerous they are.

The brothers or the helicopters?

@Dongdingdong I read that on the previous thread that people at BP had asked for the photos not to be released and that the royal correspondents had been advised to focus on Camila's speech ... I'm only repeating what was said by somebody else though so not sure if it's a rumour or is fact! I thought though that BP always wanted to avoid clashes of big events which is why everything is scheduled so carefully. Again, read that on here!

The brothers or the helicopters? grin

Now THAT is proper humour

Remarks about cats aren’t humour

In my humble opinion

apparently it's on telly at 2.15. I shall be glued while pretending to tidy the kitchen.

I think we could all agree that every single one of us that reads and posts here must be quite invested in H&M, no matter which 'side' you are on

I agree too, as long as we include them all and not just H&M. There's a ghastly fascination about the whole lot of them and their utterly illogical positions, which probably explains why I turn up on most RF threads. Also - occasional derailing attempts excepted - the standard of discussion's pretty good on these, with lots of sharing even where we don't always agree

Not sure about the remark that Meghan wouldn't understand taxpayer accountability though ... what taxpayer accountability?? It's true we may all want to see value for our money, but as with the security costs issue what possible difference does anyone imagine individual opinions make, just so long as their positions remain intact?

I dislike Princess Michael of Kent (speaking of racists) so her having a cat is definitely not persuading me that cats belong here

It's not your board and I wasn't trying to persuade you.

If they aren't part of the procession then I reckon its to minimise conversation / interaction between the cambridges and sussexes and also because Andrew is unlikely to be there,

Less hassle overall really.

I'll be watching the body language very closely. Is it being televised?

It's on BBC1 starting at 2.15, february
I wasn't going to bother this time, but find I have a fairly empty afternoon so may check it out

Of course he can. He qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot. He trained for 3 years to be one. Don't believe everything you read on here.

There were several points of controversy around Harry's entry into Sandhurst and 'qualification' as helicopter pilot (as well as other events). The situation is far more nuanced than we might think.

The key point, of course, is that he is not flying helicopters, even for fun, but is begging for voiceover work for his wife at a Disney premiere instead of.. you know the rest.

I dislike Princess Michael of Kent (speaking of racists) so her having a cat is definitely not persuading me that cats belong here

Oh I dunno.

Cats belong everywhere, really.

Where would we be without cats?

I am remarkably keen on cats.

I think I'll stick the telly on at 2.15 as well.

Just to be matey.

Princess Michael was known as Princess Pushy (which really isnt very nice is it? if we are on the topic of niceness).

Pushy sounds a bit like pussy, as in pussy cat, and therefore cats are an important part of the thread.

As the saying goes, 'a cat may look at a king...'

Please let there be cats. I haven't any pets of my own so I rely on other cat owners to share.

I'm very fond of black cats, also Siamese, if anybody has any.

TBF though helicopters are not really all they're cracked up to be. I went in one once, had a lovely flight looking at pretty landscapes etc, but after about 20 minutes I was like, nah, done this, don't need to do it again.

Flying a fucking expensive Apache laden with all the kit known to man may be more exciting though.

Yolofish

Cats belong everywhere, really

And where they don't belong, they'll go anyway

About the helicopter thing ... it's fairly widely reported that Harry actually qualified as a co-pilot gunner, so if that's true presumably he needs someone else with him in the "driving seat" so to speak?

I am totally fascinated by the whole thing - I couldn’t possibly analyse it to this level to an actual person and I find most other posters’ takes on it very interesting. I too can’t see the way it has come to this;

full on adoration across every national paper, endless talk of the Markle Sparkle, then slowly the Marie Antoinette approach to the clothing budget (so rarely British labels - pick a French label for your wedding dress whydontcha), hiding your baby and lying about giving birth - this only upset fans of H&M, it just played right into the hands of the critics, then complaining in a documentary at a point when criticism had fallen away completely after a successful Africa tour. They had totally nailed it then sent a PR wrecking ball at it by making it all about how awful poor Meghan’s life is.

Lengthy holiday at taxpayers’ expense (fine actually - she didn’t have a massive mat leave), then come out and kick the Queen in the teeth by ignoring her request to sort out the details of their new role in private before releasing details.
Put website up with grandiose statements and ludicrous vernacular, backtrack repeatedly as the Palace point out the details needed thrashing out privately for a reason - reason being, the taxpayer has been pissed off a LOT.

Now they’re all “oh we want to support military causes and homeless people” - but they could have done that beautifully if she hadn’t just chucked it all in, in a flounce! It is barking mad. Bad press rolls into good ALWAYS - look at Camilla! She had so much worse for years and years and years. Now she’s practically a national treasure!

MM didn’t deserve all the negative press she got - I don’t care about her badly fitting clothes - though I despaired of her constantly not picking British labels as it really does help them to be showcased like that. I don’t mind bump touching or teeth or anything about looks etc. I think Harry is loyal and loves her and she wanted to go back to Canada and he is backing her to the hilt. As any good husband would do for their unhappy wife.

But she could have tried a bit harder. She really good. And all the last three months and the EGO of it has been so unattractive. They’re on the defensive and it could have been so different. They could have worked hard and played hard and really represented the Queen across the Commonwealth bringing attention to causes that are close to them.

Or they could have quietly retreated to a lovely country estate and had a fantastic private family life on his £30m and pitched up like Zara at the odd event.

It’s a crying shame, and frankly, I am gripped by it! I love a royal biography etc so am reasonably interested anyway but their behaviour and statements and actions are gobsmacking. So I love this thread - mostly. I scroll on by the personal insults towards either of them as I don’t want to get bogged down in whether she looks good (she looks excellent a lot of the time) or conspiracy nonsense but they give out plenty of material for discussion.

How can you compare Camilla to MM though? CPB had an affair with Prince Charles which effectively destroyed PH's parent's relationship. MM hasn't done anything like that.