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The royal family

Harry and Meghan biography

999 replies

sunshinesupermum · 26/04/2020 12:08

Hasn't Prince Harry learnt anything from his mother's experience of having someone write her biography 'to set the record straight'? Couldn't they have at least waited until after his grandmother's death, however long that might be?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8257071/Meghan-Harry-biography-bombshell-Royals.html

OP posts:
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28
SadOrWickedFairy · 02/05/2020 17:13

once nice translation of the Barrister speak and confirms what most of us thought when he made that comment.

Harping back onto the 'friends', if, (and I don't for one minute believe it as such purportedly good, close friends would have known not to say anything at all), they had spoken to People magazine without MM's permission and knowledge and MM was, as has been reported, shocked and upset then the 'friends' would have been immediately cut loose and as such stickler for the truth being told MM would no doubt have issued a statement to the effect that they spoke without her permission or knowledge. Having been cut loose the ex-friends wouldn't be such a pivotal part of the court case and one plank of the MoS argument would have fallen. However, it seems that these friends were not dumped after the article and are still supposedly part of the favoured inner circle, which now puts them in an invidious position, they've been well and truly set up, lose-lose for them whatever happens.

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/05/2020 17:15

At times like these, I am reminded of spitting image and Harry Enfield. I wonder what Tim nice but dim would do.

Harry and  Meghan biography
DeRigueurMortis · 02/05/2020 17:28

once

Please can you elaborate on this?

barrister moves into damage limitation mode fully aware that how he or she handles diva client will be more important than the judgement.

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/05/2020 17:42

This just popped onto my news feed. A tell all book from former servants “An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle”. www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/11533197/diana-naked-builders-meghan-markle-kate-middleton-staff-book-palace-secrets/ Just FYI.

FannyCann · 02/05/2020 17:46

there was no public message of support from Serena herself. She has far more to lose than most of the other lesser known friends.
*

User* I'm not sure what Serena has to lose. Sure, she won't want to be made a fool of if she is called to give evidence, but she doesn't need friends like these. She can just back away.

thisenglishlife · 02/05/2020 18:31

@Mummyoflittledragon
How is Meghan mistakenly looking the wrong way at one moment an example of her trying to modernise the RF?

CraftyGin · 02/05/2020 18:47

I went to Windsor on the eve of the wedding, so definitely a 'fan' at that point.

What put me off since then was:

  • definitely going to reform/modernise the Royal Family
  • wearing £10000 gowns to inappropriate events (what was that ridiculous dress she wore to the Braemar Gathering, when she should have been in modest tweeds or tartan?)
  • private jets when lecturing the rest of us, especially the ridiculous baby shower
-hand hammered copper baths in Frogmore Cottage -clearing out the stands at Wimbledon, and wearing jeans so she couldn't use the Royal Box. -generally being woke, but hypocritical.
LittleBearPad · 02/05/2020 18:49

barrister moves into damage limitation mode fully aware that how he or she handles diva client will be more important than the judgement.

I imagine he’s protecting his reputation - making it clear the apparently stupid approach isn’t his approach and he’s having to do it despite his best advice to proceed differently.

When it’s a complete disaster he can make it clear that it wasn’t his approach.

alliwantisagoodnightssleep · 02/05/2020 19:00

Crafty when did Meghan attend Braemar Gathering? I don’t recall her doing so but my memory is getting worse ever month!

CraftyGin · 02/05/2020 19:01

Maybe I got the wrong Highland Games, but it would have been the summer of the wedding. She wore a white dress with a weird lid over her shoulders.

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/05/2020 19:09

@thisenglishlife
As I said it’s what I read and someone was apparently waiting just outside to brief her in the moments before she went on the balcony. She didn’t look the wrong way. She turned around to speak to her husband. Twice. And the second time moments before the national anthem was played... in her gmil’s honour. Did you not read about it or see the tv reports?

KayakingOnDown · 02/05/2020 19:15

According to that servants' tell-all, Kate is very kind and polite to the staff, whereas Meghan was imperious and shocked everyone by shouting at one of Kate's staff members.

Shock
alliwantisagoodnightssleep · 02/05/2020 19:18

Crafty I think that was when she visited Chester with the Queen. When she ignored the advice about wearing a hat. After receiving one of the biggest compliments and being permitted to stay overnight on the royal train!

ALovelyBitOfSquirrel · 02/05/2020 19:19

@Mummyoflittledragon is this it?

www.dailymail.co.uk/video/femail/video-1946046/Video-Prince-Harry-tells-Meghan-turn-Trooping-Colour.html

miri1985 · 02/05/2020 19:20

I may have posted this before, but Serena tweeted ‘sips tea’ when the people article came out which suggests she may be one of the 5

I'm not sure that she is, they were identified by people magazine as "A long-term friend, a co-star, a former colleague, a friend from Los Angeles, and a close confidante".

I think if they'd had a comment from one of the best sportswomen ever they would have alluded to it more.

I would put money on Mulroney being one of the five but its hard to gauge the others from the description. Maybe Abigail Spencer for the former costar, they seem very tight she was on the hike with H&M in Canada when they took the photo for those people during their break.
Long term friend, Lindsay Roth? Former colleague rather than costar implies that it was a non acting job, no idea on that one.

thisenglishlife · 02/05/2020 19:31

@Mummyoflittledragon
How is that an example of her trying to modernise the RF? An example of saying something at the wrong time.

Meghan didn't shout at Kate's staff or Kate.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 02/05/2020 19:40

In respect of the pre trial application to strike out parts of the claim, MoS offered to settle the application on terms that MM withdrew her more lurid allegations and each side paid their own costs. MM refused

Thanks for clarifying that, once - if the MoS made the offer, Meghan refused and the allegations were struck out anyway, at least that explains why she's been landed with their costs for this particular bit

Thanks for the insight into the "legal speak" too Grin

Mummyoflittledragon · 02/05/2020 19:48

thisenglishlife
I’m talking about a pattern of behaviour, where the agenda is she knows best. Sorry if I was not clear enough. As for shouting at Kate’s staff, this is reported by the sun and part of the link I posted upthread.

Harry and  Meghan biography
Mummyoflittledragon · 02/05/2020 19:49

@ALovelyBitOfSquirrel
Yes, that’s the one.

Womanlywiles · 02/05/2020 20:08

Craftygin I am not a fan of M & H but they have categorically stated that the "copper baths" do not exist. They had a list of stuff (maybe filed in these court papers) which the tabloids have claimed they have at Frogmore which the Sussexes say don't exist.

I also think it's pretty hard to slate an American for not wearing a hat when the Queen hinted she would be wearing one. I live in the USA, Americans just never wear hats. It's extremely unusual and just not a thing at all. I think Meghan would've felt like she wasn't being herself at all in a hat and also just had no comprehension how some people would read so much meaning into it.

I am married to an American and we married in London. It was a huge deal for his female relatives and friends to wear hats (which they were not required to of course but enjoyed the British dress code). Most if not all had never worn one before and have never worn one since.

I just think it's unfair to slate someone for not perfectly meeting every requirement when she clearly was trying her best in her own cultural way to be respectful. Meghan has never fluffed a line and has often stepped in graciously when other people have been caught on the hop publically.

As I said, I am not a fan but she never did anything in her public events that were outrageous or disrespectful. I think not wearing a hat is scraping the barrel for someone from a different culture who was suddenly catapulted into accompanying the Queen on a public event. I am sure the Queen would never show displeasure over something like that as it would be the height of bad manners. Good manners is always to make others feel comfortable and at ease.

sunnie1992 · 02/05/2020 20:09

I think all of this essentially boils down to William being right.

If it's true that he suggested that things were moving too fast, he was 100% correct.

In any situation, this has been a very fast moving relationship/engagement/wedding/pregnancy/baby.

For anyone entering the Royal family, it would have been a bit of a shock. There is so much protocol and etiquette to learn, and then there's the rank and file, and the duties, and the orders of the garter etc etc etc.

For all of their own mistakes W&K were together for a number of years before they got married. They spent three relatively quiet years together at university, generally ignored by the press.

Then Kate spent years in the public eye, gently being introduced into the Royal Family, being introduced to his friendship circle.

She put up with a LOT of press attention and did it exactly as the Royal Family wanted. She proved herself able to deal with the press attention and the requirements of being the wife of a future King.

I appreciate that there was the break up and the rumours that William was looking for someone else, but the reality is that being the wife of a future King involves much more than love.

You can love completely the wrong person, we've all been there. It takes time to really learn who a person is, and how they behave in different situations. This is especially important in the public eye.

Then once married W&K took it slow. He isn't the heir to the throne yet, so they went off to Wales where he could have a normal job and they could have a few years of normal married life.

It was only really when she was pregnant with George that they began moving back towards London, and have only really been resident at Kensington Palace when George needed to go to school.

I think that was a very savvy move on the part of the Royal Family. W&K were barely mentioned in the press outside of their official duties, which there weren't many of.

I think Harry was every bit as keen as Meghan to get down the aisle, and possibly more so.

He was openly keen to get married and start a family. He had had two girlfriends subjected to the media excitement; both of whom had said "no thanks" and married someone with as much money but without the trappings of royal duty.

He did not want Meghan exposed to that, particularly before they got married. In case she ran. I doubt there are many people in Harry's social circle who haven't already been married off with children; so his choices were not exactly booming.

Hence the quick relationship and engagement.

The Royal Family seem to have tried to slow it down. Apparently the Queen suggested that Meghan not receive a title, so that she could continue acting. That was refused, as was the offer of a place in Wales so they could have some privacy for the beginning of their marriage.

They wanted to "hit the ground running"... and they did. But with that comes the media, and it quickly became out of control.

When W&K did their few engagements a year, I'm certain a lot of mistakes were made. Kate certainly didn't do much speaking in the early days, that came as she built confidence and learned the ropes.

The Royal Family is not celebrity; and I think Meghan and Harry wanted to match up to W&K asap and be The Fab Four.

The royal family have gone too far the other way. They didn't want to be seen to choose brides for William and Harry, given the rubbish job they did with Charles and Diana (and potentially Andrew and Anne given neither of their marriages lasted).

Camilla, in hindsight, was actually a pretty good choice. She was from the right social circle, had an idea of what was expected, and seemed prepared to do it. Until it was decided she was not appropriate.

I'd guess that they wouldn't want Harry, who seems to be harbouring resentment about Diana's marriage, to think they were trying to control who he married, so they let him get on with it - which has proven to be a disaster.

How on earth can a marriage survive this? Even if Meghan had the acting ability to win an Oscar (I have no idea - not seen Suits) - then she's rapidly losing time to get on with it. Corona Virus has put paid to that.

And if she plans on having another child, that will put her out for a further amount of time while she is pregnant and recovers.

I cannot see how they can possibly be financially independent by December. Unless they have hundreds of offers in the bag, which are acceptable to them, they surely won't want to relinquish the purse strings.

Harry will be between a rock and a hard place; unless they are in such a bad position, that Meghan is willing to capitulate.

Then what? By that time the media will have spat them out, and the public opinion will be in the gutter.

They've pissed Canada off with the midnight flit. They could have agreed to do 6 months a year there, in the commonwealth roles, and 6 months a year in the UK doing the trooping of the colour etc.

I suspect there could be a way back, but I'm not sure Meghan can cope with it.

They could come back; and go to Wales as originally suggested (or just back to Frogmore).

They could start again as W&K did. Appear for the major royal events; and start small with small patronages.

Have a lot of time for themselves and Archie, and wait for the dust to settle - which it will, eventually.

Which means the magic question is whether Harry and Meghan are actually compatible. She doesn't appear to be the kind to wander to the pub in a village in Wales and just chill out.

In reality I think Harry has just repeated the cycle his parents were in. Got married without knowing each other, went too fast at being in the headlines, struggled with mental health because of the pressure (I would find it horrendous).

I think that Meghan will end up divorcing him; and he will end up in the UK without Meghan or Archie. She will get quite a bit of money for child support and possibly spousal support (not sure of the rules in California).

It's actually incredibly sad. I wish there was some obvious way for it to work out, but I can't see one.

caperberries · 02/05/2020 20:12

m.media-amazon.com/images/I/417wTmjOxAL.jpg

The synopsis from Amazon.co.uk:

When news of the budding romance between a beloved English prince and an American actress broke, it captured the world’s attention and sparked an international media frenzy. But while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have continued to make headlines—from their engagement, wedding, and birth of their son Archie to their unprecedented decision to step back from their royal lives—few know the true story of Harry and Meghan.

For the very first time, Finding Freedom goes beyond the headlines to reveal unknown details of Harry and Meghan’s life together, dispelling the many rumors and misconceptions that plague the couple on both sides of the pond. As members of the select group of reporters that cover the British Royal Family and their engagements, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand have witnessed the young couple’s lives as few outsiders can.

With unique access and written with the participation of those closest to the couple, Finding Freedom is an honest, up-close, and disarming portrait of a confident, influential, and forward-thinking couple who are unafraid to break with tradition, determined to create a new path away from the spotlight, and dedicated to building a humanitarian legacy that will make a profound difference in the world.

Harry and  Meghan biography
OVienna · 02/05/2020 20:19

Gag.

CoolCarrie · 02/05/2020 20:25

Bloody hell, the title of the book is ridiculous!

CoolCarrie · 02/05/2020 20:27

The subtext is cheeky fucker territory “The Making Of A Modern Royal Family “!