Harry and Meghan news

[callmeadoctor]

www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1292590/meghan-markle-prince-harry-la-career-plans-latest-royal-news

So they planned to leave according to the conspiracy theory 'evidence'.

Clearly they did not want to leave, but felt they had to (possibly to protect their son from negative headlines?). I don't know if part time was possible, but they seemed to want to carry on with the patronages and Commonwealth and military related work.

Yes @CallmeAngelina He was also their mouthpiece when other royal reporters were shunned so I’m inclined to believe it over the other conspiracy theories shared here.

Doesn't this provide an insight into whether they planned their exit all along?
I believe Harry wanted to leave before the wedding, due to the media, but felt a sense of duty to stay.

I think this applies (from the Bradby interview):

“It’s hard... ” Meghan Markle said. “In all fairness, I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand, but when I first met Harry, my friends were so excited, my US friends were happy because I was happy. But my British friends, they were sure he was lovely, but they said I shouldn’t do it because ‘the British tabloids will destroy your life’.”

“Because I’m American I very naively didn’t get it. It’s complicated.”

Meghan Markle added: “I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair and that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile.”

The Earl and Countess of Wessex Charitable Trust will not be publishing an annual reports for the 3rd year in a row, as they received only £770 in income this year ... and had expenses of £154,431

Sorry, I know the thread's supposed to be about H&M, but just to ask an obvious question here - who's picking up the shortfall?

What with Edward's failed production company and Sophie's RJH debts they seem to be pretty good at losing money - ironic, perhaps, that they've ended up with one of the largest properties of all the Queen's children

I wonder what would have happened had HM agreed to their half in half out proposal ?

Frogmore Cottage was a series of older split up office units and bits that had to be made into one home.

The Wessex property is magnificent (over 50 acres and over 100 rooms), but I don't think it's all used/renovated.

The white building is Frogmore Cottage, the red building is the Wessex house (Bagshott) and Sophie is pictured inside it.

The Queen gifted Sunninghill Park House and its hundreds of acres to Andrew. He and SF lived there and then Sarah Ferguson lived there for two years after Andrew had moved out. He later sold it.

legal title records [show] that the house and some of its grounds were sold for £15 million in 2007, £3 million over the asking price, to an offshore trust in the British Virgin Islands

It then fell into disrepair and had to be demolished.

I remember Sunninghill being referred to as SouthYork (a take off from South Fork/the house in Dallas soap)
I'm not sure it was terribly tasteful.

Clearly they did not want to leave, but felt they had to

At least I have some evidence for my opinion, you have none at all!

You didn't provide any evidence. It was froq:

claims have today emerged that the couple started talking about plans for a life away from the Royal Family before they even got married.
The reports are set to emerge in a new book about the couple which will be released in August.
Finding Freedom - said to have been written with the couple’s knowledge - is also set to detail the couple's plans for the future following their decision to quit the UK.
A source told The Sun Online: "The book will explore the journey that Meghan and Harry went through in coming to the conclusion that they did.
"It will make clear that far from it being a snap decision that they took a long time to make it.
"The seeds of Megxit were sown before they even got married. The truth is that Harry had been deeply unhappy for a long time.
"And he and Meghan openly discussed going in a different direction well before they got married.”

If true, this states that Harry was unhappy, that they had discussed leaving before the wedding and took a long time to reach the final decision. Not that they had to planned make money and renovate Frogmore, etc prior to the wedding before running to a new life.

@thisenglishlife

Why renovate the house and have a 32 million pound wedding if they weren't 100% committed to fulfilling their duty?

It says they took a long time to reach that decision but they only actively 'worked' for about 8 months. And even then, nowhere near every day.

Why are you heaping praise on a couple who treat us, the public, with such contempt and greed?

They did try to do their job though and the actual projects were successful.

I feel they are being overly targeted and criticised, when the other royals have done/are doing the same thing.

As I undestand it, Frogmore Cottage was in desperate need of renovation, the Queen had to do it. H&M contributed with furnishings and white goods. That is not me saying they personally paid for the renovations. The Crown Estate paid for the renovations. It was public money, but not taxpayers money as such.

As sources are often required on here, this is an easy explanation

fullfact.org/economy/frogmore-cottage/

I feel they are being overly targeted and criticised, when the other royals have done/are doing the same thing. Oh dear. Harry and Meghan left the UK and are no longer working royals in any real meaningful sense. I think that's a clear difference.

I'm sorry, but you simply cannot justify them sitting back and going along with the millions spent (aside from the structural alterations/improvements needed) on refurbishing Frogmore Cottage to their taste, when they KNEW damn well they were buggering off and not intending for one moment to live there - at all, even visiting so far. It has been alleged (although not verified) that Meghan stayed in a hotel when she was last here.

I am saying that the Queen had no choice but to start renovations on Frogmore because of some structural problems or something. It needed gas and water mains, rewiring, floor joists etc. Somewhere I read an article that this was the case and yes I have looked for it, but cant find it.

I did find this....a bbc piece

Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said: "The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the royal palaces estate."

What really happened:
HMQ: Harry dear, I thought you and dear Meghan might like to live in Frogmore after you are married? It needs a little renovation but it's rather charming.
Harry: Oh yah Granny that would be just spiffing!
Meghan (quickly looks at image of Frogmore House on her phone) Gee thank you, Your Majesty, we will just love it there!

(Two weeks later) Harry is contacted by the Project Manager for the works to be done on Frogmore COTTAGE.
The rest is history.

The logic behind the public paying for the wedding and the house, from their perspective, could have been that it was their due because they would remain part-time Royals. Frogmore isn’t a patch on what’s used by W&K, more on a par with W&H’s cousins. And perhaps they thought that would be okay because it’s so close to the airport which they would be using all the time for their toing and froing as part-time Royals, and they’d have something more amazing and up to their aspirations in California. That they’re paying it back (yeah, right) because they can’t be part-time Royals and so won’t need it kinda makes sense.

Honestly, as a Prince of the realm whose tastes lie more towards Soho House in the Cotswolds, Frogmore’s ONLY appeal is its proximity to Heathrow and the castle where they got married.

I am defending them because they are being overly targeted and criticised as stated. This was occurring on MN when both were still in the royal family. If Sophie or Kate left, would they be subject to these sorts of threads continuously? No.

when they KNEW damn well they were buggering off and not intending for one moment to live there
We don't know this. Frogmore Cottage was a wedding present, work was carried out They moved to Frogmore in April 2019 and said they were leaving in January 2020. They are paying a monthly rent to pay off Frogmore Cottage (The Week):
It was “quietly arranged for the couple to start paying rent on the property, beginning last month [April]
The arrangement is being described as a “‘rental-plus’ agreement” and sees the couple pay more than the commercial rate

I imagine seeing the harsh press during her pregnancy hurt and then the negative headlines after A's birth and the online chimp comparison didn't help. Perhaps this made them decide to leave?

Or they found definite proof someone was leaking? Harry had the summit with Charles and HM only. If this was the case, I can see that Harry wouldn't have wanted to stay after that.

To be fair, Frogmore Cottage isn't quite the dump it looks on most photos we've seen. Someone posted an aerial view which I can't find now, but there's this instead

@thisenglishlife Meghan Markle added: “I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair and that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile.”

Who at 36 years of age, believes that life is fair?

I believe that from Day 1, they wanted a half in/half out life. When that was not accommodated, they then left.

@Wolfgirrl is correct, that they didn't really do much in terms of royal work after their marriage.

Only @thisenglishlife could be so shockingly naive. Face it, theyve drained the public purse and done a bunk.

from Day 1, they wanted a half in/half out life

With the 32 million wedding and all the finery of course!

they didn't really do much in terms of royal work after their marriage Fairly comparable to the more senior Cambridges

2019:
Prince William carried out 220 engagements
Prince Harry carried out 201 royal engagements
Duchess of Cambridge had 126
Meghan – who pregnant and then on maternity leave for much of the year – attended 83.

2018:
Prince William attended 150 engagements in the United Kingdom and 70 engagements overseas
Prince Harry had 108 engagements in the U.K. and 85 overseas.
Kate Middleton (pregnant until April) attended 64 engagements in the U.K. and 23 overseas
Meanwhile, pregnant Meghan Markle, who only officially became a royal in May, had 45 engagements in the U.K. and 51 overseas.

Face it, theyve drained the public purse and done a bunk

The RF are broke now because of M&H, is that what you're saying?!

To be fair, that did make me laugh!