Royals and American media coverage

[ButteryPuffin]

Saw this cover posted on Twitter and noted that it seems the tabloids do indeed exist in the US (amazing, huh?). This is pretty much what you'd expect from the source, and I think it's pretty deplorable, but I am interested to see how the American media in general cover the presence of the former royals who've now arrived to make their home there. Of course we can discuss their coverage of other Royals too and related topics. All welcome.

Link to cover story - please note I'm not endorsing it, I'm just sharing it:
66.media.tumblr.com/79912301ec9c6e0f2cbf902a7a42a540/da60395e577b1897-aa/s540x810/61af854a1eed0d02b6bfa026133d16f8bdb87f41.jpg

It’s not about his military connections, it’s about his royal role in the marines as chief of the doo-dah or whatever it’s called. His job, in other words (technically one word).

Ducking out of a prior engagement is poor form. Ducking out of a prior engagement with the Royal Marines, in order to honour dead Marines, is far far worse than poor form. It's totally disrespectful, and Harry MUST have known that.

So why did he do it?

Of course I know that’s what I meant by military connections. Probably could have worded it better but thought it was clear that I meant between the two events he should have attended the memorial as he was in the military and he was Captain General of the Marines. This was a poor judgement call on his part but I believe he has done such great work in his role that I’m not willing to write him off as not caring about his aim with helping those in the military.

Fans of the couple have come up with the sweet idea so that people can share donations with charities in the countries which Meghan and Harry hold dear, such as America, Canada and South Africa

re Archie day. Did someone forget to include somewhere?

Poor judgement call? Are you serious?

It was a disgrace.

I believe he has done such great work in his role that I’m not willing to write him off as not caring about his aim with helping those in the military

So what on earth could be the reason that he decided a Disney premiere was more important than the Royal Marines? I mean, on what planet would anyone see the two events as comparable, unless perhaps they actually are Beyonce?

I’m sure he does care about helping those in the military.

I suspect though that he only cares about doing it on his terms, eg when he gets done glory and credit.

Frankly though, he didn’t have to care. He just had to show up. It shows an astonishing lack of respect to both the military and HMQ’s values, where duty is considered paramount.

And attending a film premiere to tout for jobs for his wife instead attending the memorial service was unspeakably bad behaviour.
He's an utter embarrassment.

@HarryDaylight yes I’m serious. To me it was a poor judgement call to you it was disgraceful, and that’s okay for both of us and others to see it differently.

I think a lot of this is more Harry’s doing than Meghan tbh. It’s easy to put it all on his wife, but Harry has grown up as a Royal and knows the in and outs more than she or any person he would have married regardless of where they’re from. I think he has been infantised quite a bit and given some leeway because he was still being seen as that little boy following behind his mum’s casket. Considering all that he has done, seen, and been through as part of the royal family, is it really out of the realm of possibility that he wanted out and didn’t want to continue down the route of a senior royal anymore and wanted to be more like his cousins.

chrisseldah1 do you have military connections? I only ask because I do, and honestly what Harry did by not turning up, cancelling late, and then being seen at the Disney prem was beyond disrespectful, it was disgusting behaviour. He should, and I'm sure does, know better.

But he did the wrong thing. I don't give him an excuse "oh it was just one night, it was a mistake" - it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. And the military have long memories and don't like people taking the piss - well, they do! - but not like this.

@DandyPenguin I wouldn’t know why Harry does it, but I would like to believe that he does stuff like Invictus because he genuinely cares and not for glory and credit.

I can see from the arguments above that people feel strongly about this issue like other issues concerning these two. I’m not their advocate so can’t defend or change opinions, personally I applaud Harry’s achievements working with military charities and judge him by those . Maybe I’m naive but that’s my stance anyway.

MM has taken a lot of flak for H, it's true. I've no doubt he has wanted to "step back" for a long time, and with MM came the opportunity.

That doesn't mean she's a hapless victim, far from it, but she is often left carrying the can for joint blunders.

chrisseldah1 He was head of the men who had died and should have been there to honour their lives.
He chose to attend a show biz evening to hustle for voiceover work for his wife.
It wasn't a poor judgement call.
If that really is your opinion, tryto imagine you are saying that to the dead servicemen's families and the men who serve in that regiment.
He's a joke now.

He should have gone to the memorial service, I don’t know what possessed him to think it would be a good idea to cancel and go to the Disney premier.its beyond poor judpdgement.

Sorry, the last word should be judgement.

@yoloPenguinsEatfish actually I do have members of my family who served in the military. I can’t speak for them on how they felt about Harry’s conduct on this issue.

I get that my opinions on this will be challenged, fair enough. But I genuinely think it was a poor judgement call on his part. Others are entitled to deem it disgraceful and uncaring on his part that’s still fine

He really hustled Bob Iger as well! It was an aggressive pitch for work, not an off the cuff remark!

Going back to People magazine (not) being a reputable source, which is on topic for this thread...

I found this (admittedly from 2010) Gawker article about studying and rating the validity of tabloid gossip magazines in the US.

Which Tabloids Lie The Most

It says:

”America's biggest celebrity glossy, People, publishes so few unconfirmed rumors—and instead relies on scoops that have been spoon-fed by publicists—that we didn't bother including it in the mix.“

Now that’s 10 years old but I believe it’s still very much the case - People magazine relies on being spoon-fed information by publicists. It’s therefore very celeb friendly as it says what the celebs want it to say.

Which fits with it being the publication, despite being a tabloid glossy, that Meghan’s friends chose to spoke to.

Being a marketing and PR spin tool for celebrities is a good business model: give the people trashy gossip but have little risk of being legally challenged or publicly called-out by the people you’re gossiping about.

This makes People financially profitable. What it doesn’t do however is make People a reliable source of unfiltered truth; quite the opposite.

It will be interesting to see how many People stories there are on Harry and Meghan in the future and what they say.

@HarryDaylight, it is my opinion that it was not a good call for him to attend the premier, I don’t understand where I have excused or indeed said what he did was fine. I joked that maybe they wanted to mix with A listers but that doesn’t in no way say I excuse it.

Like I said above to Yolo I have members in my extended family who served in the military, I respect the sacrifice they and others have done/do for our country so I don’t want to be deemed as not respectful or excusing Harry’s behaviour on this issue. I can criticise him attending a premier, at the same time I can Acknowledge the good work he has done.

If it were you or me, chrisseldah1 it would be a poor judgement call. But for someone in Harry's position it's very much more significant than that. It's like being the chief mourner at a close relative's funeral and not turning up because you got the chance of a cheap holiday.

Yes exactly myimaginarycat

I wouldn’t know why Harry does it, but I would like to believe that he does stuff like Invictus because he genuinely cares and not for glory and credit.

I wasn’t saying it was one or the other @chrisseldah1 ; I was saying it’s both.

It's like being the chief mourner at a close relative's funeral and not turning up because you got the chance of a cheap holiday

I assume that is why royals/other people in similar positions have advisors, to ensure that this type of thing never happens. What the heck happened to H’s advisors?

He doesn’t listen to them