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

Just popping this here because THIS is how you monetise your social media account (Joe Wicks, in case you didn’t want to click on the IG link).

Well I can't vouch for the timeline Penguin but it's almost as if someone was inspired by someone.

Maybe there was excess material on special offer.

How do people know it was Camilla?

Nobody knows it was Camilla. Nobody even knows it was an incident of tongue-sticking-out as opposed to a licking of lips.

It just suits some people's narrative to say it was evidence of poor judgement and a character flaw..

As above with pictures. If it was a licking of the lips (on multiple occasions) the green is very apt because she must be a frog.

images.app.goo.gl/Y7addwK6VW559T3y7

Yes, @alliwantisagoodnightssleep, in the first two photos you linked it’s obvious she’s purposely sticking out her tongue. I remember the second one. She stuck her tongue out when Harry was giving a speech, and stopped because a bee was bothering him. There was an article about it, as Charles and Camilla were there, and it was noted they had all laughed a little about the bee.

You are assuming that mental health problems or the hurt and serious effects of racism don't affect the well off.
You are dehumanising them both if that is so. Everyone's problem with mental health and racism is a serious problem.

In speaking about the issues they face, they speak for people who will never have a microphone placed in front of them.

No @mathanxiety what I’m saying is that if they wanted to speak about their MH struggles in public, they would have been much better advised to do it an any time OTHER than on their African tour.

Presumably you recall Barack and Michelle Obama, and the comments directed at them and in particular at Michelle ('ape in heels')?
Maybe you think they should have shrugged everything off?

That’s a massive leap

I don’t follow US affairs quite so closely. Was this the small town mayor/councillor/public official of some sort? The one that went full KKK and made those remarks?

I think she should have immediately lost her job and probably faced criminal prosecution. I’m not sure if that’s even possible under American law.

I have the impression that the right to freedom of speech ( which has arguably been too drastically curtailed in the UK) has been allowed to continue without sufficient curtailment in the States, which is why we end up with slightly different problems.

Anyway, I remember the reports of the disgusting remarks about Michelle O, but I don’t remember the outcome. It’s not quite 6am here yet so I won’t google it until I’m more awake but from this side of the Atlantic it was just so shocking that anything so blatant could be said in the first place AND be a public official AND (I think) remain at liberty while the scandal blew up.

I wouldn’t assume to suggest how on Earth Michelle O should deal with situations like that, but I do think she is very calm, very classy, very accomplished and handles herself magnificently. I know she wasn’t keen for her DH to run in the first place but she has done a lot of good. I’m a bigger fan of hers now than I am of Barack O (since the water drinking stunt he pulled in Detroit and a couple of other things).

Sorry, Flint, wasn’t it? Not Detroit. The water contamination scandal.

And presume rather and assume.

TONGUE IN CHEEK Meghan Markle’s ‘flirty’ tongue-pokes are a bid to make public see her as ‘funny and likeable’, body language expert claims

Body language expert Judi James says the gesture is both 'cheeky' and 'flirty'

A "body language expert" no less.

Don’t read the article look at the pictures. I said that a few pages back that it was an article from the Sun “news” paper.

Math I think at this stage we just need to agree to disagree. I truly believe if Meghan came up to you and stuck her tongue out you would find a way to deny it. I applaud you for your consistency.

I hope everyone here, home and abroad has a lovely Easter in these strange times.

The 'ape in heels' remark was one of many. The President himself was accused of not being American.

My point was that if this sort of remark can be made in public against a prominent women, if it goes unchallenged, then the prominent woman has failed those who don't have her clout.

So yes, Meghan Markle was indeed right to speak about her own experience of racism. She wasn't saying she was poor. She wasn't saying she grew up in a Township. And why not speak of MH struggles while there in Africa? Are you saying it's unseemly to speak of such things?

People of all heritages in SA have struggles with MH issues. In some African cultures there is a huge stigma attached to MH problems, to the extent that people can be ostracised, exploited, treated cruelly, and subjected to all sorts of unsuitable 'treatments'. By speaking of their own struggles, maybe they struck a blow for de-stigmatisatising psychiatric or psychological problems? Maybe if they had held off until safely back in England nobody in Africa would ever have heard their remarks?

Where did I say she didn't stick out her tongue?
All I am saying is 'So what?'

A sorry excuse for a paper, a product that makes a mockery of the rights of the press, printed the 'analysis' of a 'body language expert' on what must have been a dreadfully slow news day, and a few years later this is trotted out here, with the comment offered that the pictures had "stories behind them".
How sad is that...

And oh so funny - she's wearing green, she stuck out her tongue a few years ago, she must be a frog. Falling off my chair here.

What exactly do you want from your royal family?

Still waiting for Winterlife's explanation for her 'strange coincidence' remark, incidentally.

And why not speak of MH struggles while there in Africa? Are you saying it's unseemly to speak of such things? It was unseemly in that context. And completely tone deaf.

maths it was Joe Wicks in a frog costume and given that I had just put up a link to his life story as a social media sensation (and given that the Sussexes want to be social media sensations), the photo was highly appropriate and played on a different level of your interpretation.

And I have lived in a country which is very similar to South Africa and if a member of the Royal Family toured around at great expense in the lap of luxury and then moaned about how hard their life is when standing half a mile from corrugated iron shacks (in this country where I lived, yes, a common dwelling) then I’d want to tell them to FOTTFSOF.

The thing is it undermined the idea that they were there to do good for those in SA. It gave the impression that all the time their thoughts were really on themselves. Their imminent battle with the media (what happened to that?) and their unhappiness with their lot. So really they were just going through the motions, visiting villages and giving speeches. It’s always all about them. If their focus is on others, it’s all about their own image, all the time.

And why not speak of MH struggles while there in Africa? Are you saying it's unseemly to speak of such things?

It was unseemly in that context. And completely tone deaf.

How was it unseemly in that context, and tone deaf?

Because the people that they were purportedly there to HELP have much much worse problems and none of the resources that they do. Isn’t it blindingly obvious??

..if a member of the Royal Family toured around at great expense in the lap of luxury and then moaned about how hard their life is when standing half a mile from corrugated iron shacks (in this country where I lived, yes, a common dwelling) then I’d want to tell them to FOTTFSOF.

You are saying that mental health struggles are not really real if you have money.

That is a pity, because money doesn't insulate anyone from the pain of mental health problems.

Because the people that they were purportedly there to HELP have much much worse problems and none of the resources that they do. Isn’t it blindingly obvious??

It's not, and if that's the case, going home to Kensington Palace and speaking to the press there about their issues wouldn't be appropriate either, would it? Because there's always someone worse off than them in some way.

Just because people live in poverty and that's a huge problem doesn't mean that people who are wealthy don't suffer from mental health problems. Depression and grief are real for the rich too.

It’s like your very rich Aunt coming to visit you in a tiny council flat when you have lost your job and you have several children to feed, all with disabilities. The Aunt sits down, expresses concern for your plight, brings you a cake to eat. You’re feeling a little better until she starts to talk about how annoying the staff are and how her bunion hurts. How annoying the lawn mower sounds when she’s lying in bed and the gardener is using it. And she has a headache today.

Rose