Meghan and Harry Debacle part 2

[RosesandIris]

New thread

Has anyone seen that Lady Colin Campbell has written a book on Harry and Meghan using insider information. Apparently she’s has members of the Markle family to stay. She’s brave!

All good points but also he did a lot of engagements with the Cambridge’s so maybe the hierarchy wasn’t so official.

Great post caperberries

H&M have tried provoke a modern day War of the Roses fought out on Instagram instead of the battlefield.

That's a novel thought. I need to revise my history there. Does it all boil down to jealousy of younger sons v the heir?

This is how all the great estates work - son no 1 gets it all. Siblings get a few scraps. No doubt many find it a bitter pill but others seem to cheerfully accept they have also been spared a lot of responsibility and weight of expectation.

Why does he keep making videos?

I think I've said this before, but I really thought W & H would modernise the monarchy by making the role of King into a short of job share eventually. W would always be King, with H as a valued and trusted right hand man, often standing in for W.

Why would she even have been thinking about the difference between her and Kate’s position? Why couldn’t she just recognise the incredible good luck that landed her in such an unbelievably privileged position, and make the most of it.

And how much longer do we have to put up with Harry popping up to give supportive thrive-don’t-just-survive messages to the folks back home? It’s already wearing pretty thin.

The thing is I don’t think for a minute Harry would have wanted to be King. I think both W and H hate being Royal. I don’t see jealousy of W from H as being the issue. More likely the problem is with Meghan. The strictures and hierarchy are not for her. She isn’t a team player and she doesn’t like having to kowtow to anyone. I’m sure she worked hard at appearing to be very keen and capable to H before they were married, however the truth is she can’t hack it.
Harry’s anger is directed at the Press and his family for not controlling the Press. He feels his hand has been forced by the criticism they have received, without any reflection as to what they may be getting wrong.

I think a lot of the problems between C and D were also to do with his lack of understanding of how extreme the shock is of coming from a relatively normal life into a gilded cage where life is no longer your own.

To be fair, she'd have had more a clue, she didn't even really have a relatively normal life, she was a major aristocrat herself, she was also very young when she got involved with Charles (nowhere near as experienced as Meghan), Charles was much older and of course, he was also cheating on her from the get go .

I can’t quite believe he’s used the surviving & thriving sentence when we have the highest death toll in Europe. And I don’t care who he addressed that video to, it’s completely tone deaf imo.

Oh, I can! He's very self-absorbed. Remember last year when he gave that speech in front of a bunch of parents whose children have died and made it all about how when Meghan was pregnant and how becoming a father was for him, what a joy blah blah blah. Just, totally fucking insensitive and me, me, me.

I don’t see how the the onus of explaining their position would fall on Harry. There was no expectation that William tell all to Kate. Isn’t it the job of the grey suits?

I agree, Rose. She'd already been pipped to the top post but truly believed she and the spare could usurp in the popularity sweepstakes, to what end I don't know.

We still don't know who actually owns the mansion they stayed at on Vancouver island other than the fact that he was a rich Russian man who H apparently met at the Google Environment gathering in Italy

I thought the Russian named denied owning the mansion, and that David Foster arranged for them to stay there?

I can't see how H&M could come back. Isn't the mood among the British public against them? Can it be turned around if they keep their heads down and just get to work? I can't see them doing that.

There was an article in the Sunday Times (also quoted in Marie Claire of August 2019) that Meghan and Harry asked to live in Windsor Castle, but the Queen refused. This ties in with having a court of their own. What I can't explain is how they ended up in Frogmore Cottage which is very unimpressive. Did they think they were agreeing to Frogmore House? Some international papers made that mistake!

@ BarleylemonPenguin from what I have read , M did not want any advice from palace officials

Did they think they were agreeing to Frogmore House?

I think I’ve seen this suggested before actually. I’m puzzled as to why they had another place in the Cotswolds. Makes sense if that was just during the renovations maybe but thought I’d read that it was afterwards to be near the Soho House country set.

that Meghan and Harry asked to live in Windsor Castle, but the Queen refused. This ties in with having a court of their own.

Wow, that is some serious cheek considering they knew public sentiment is for a scaled-back monarchy and that the castle is an official residence of the Queen herself. That's one hell of an ego.

Oldbutstillgotit - well, quite. It seems clear that M came in wanting to change things. She came into the family as an activist and was partisan from the outset. It was never going to work when the only requirement is not to rock the boat. As she is finding out, rocking the boat results in the spotlight being shone where it is not wanted.

I cannot get my head around a personality type that comes into the Royal Family with all that massive weight of history and culture and pomp and tradition thinking you are going to change it.

Frogmore Cottage does seem a rather downmarket house compared to the other royal residences. Edward and Sophie quietly live in substantial grandeur at Bagshot Park.
I once read it's the biggest/most expensive of all the royal siblings houses.
Still, I'm sure there must have been another house available or Charles was offering a country mansion.
Or they should have played the long game. After the Queen and PP pass and then after Charles there is going to be an excess of royal residences and they will surely have to have a rethink.
I'm sure there would have been some crumbs for Meghan.

I believe that having had two serious girlfriends who were not prepared to take on the responsibility, Harry did not explain the situation in full details to Meghan - although I suspect she was equally keen to get the deal done asap.

With regard to the house, I think that when the Queen told them they couldn't have Windsor Castle, she probably said 'we could probably do something for you at Frogmore', and they assumed it would be the House. Jumped up and down and said how grateful they were (maybe ), and only when it was announced did they receive the plans showing that it was infact the Cottage.

Darn sight nicer than a rented house in Toronto though!

the spotlight being shone

Well they do like to ‘shine a light’!

I think the phrase ‘staggering hubris’ could be applied to Meghan.

I can’t quite believe he’s used the surviving & thriving sentence when we have the highest death toll in Europe. And I don’t care who he addressed that video to, it’s completely tone deaf imo.

"Yes, it’s completely insensitive. He clearly doesn’t have a clue about the mood in the UK."

I can't believe he's used that phrase considering how it was ridiculed.

What were they offered in the Cotswolds? I thought they'd also been offered something in Wales.

It amazes me how many people seem to have forgotten that H is Charles' son and not HMQ's.

Edward has a substantial estate because he is the Queen's son. Harry is just one of the grandchildren, along with Zara, Peter, Beatrice and Eugenie. She didn't give them estates either.

the Queen told them they couldn't have Windsor Castle, she probably said 'we could probably do something for you at Frogmore', and they assumed it would be the House. Jumped up and down and said how grateful they were (maybe ), and only when it was announced did they receive the plans showing that it was infact the Cottage.

I think that's quite likely. I'd have liked to have been a fly on the wall when they worked out it was the Cottage.

I wonder if Meghan ever got invited to Bagshot before Sophie got the size of her.

Good point cats. I'd forgotten that too.