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The royal family

Harry and Meghan, more news!

999 replies

callmeadoctor · 20/06/2020 08:24

New thread following on old one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_royal_family/3932323-Harry-and-Meghan-news?msgid=97617755

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20
ARoseInHarlem · 01/07/2020 18:47

Blush didn't realize that post was so long!

miri1985 · 01/07/2020 18:49

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8478955/Meghan-Markle-names-five-friends-People-article.html
The friends aren’t named in the DM but there are some stinging allegations

Her legal team said Meghan had already said that at the time of the articles in February 2019 she was 'a working member of the Royal Family and to some (relatively nominal) extent publicly funded'.

Its really not a good look when a lot of people are struggling to call a £2.4m refurbishment, several million from the Duchy of Cornwall, several hundred thousand from the sovreign grant and several million in security as nominal public funding!

Viviennemary · 01/07/2020 18:51

Look at Camilla. She has received the worst press of the lot. But has she resorted to the blame game. No. She could easily have complained Charles and the Royals didn't support her enough. But she kept quiet. Sensible. Meghan wants the rules to be rewritten. I doubt they will be.

Adante · 01/07/2020 18:55

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Adante · 01/07/2020 18:56

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Adante · 01/07/2020 18:59

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MissEliza · 01/07/2020 19:04

Wow MM is openly blaming the RF. She says they didn't support her. She must be pretty confident about the future if she wants to burn bridges like that.

Roussette · 01/07/2020 19:14

Maybe they didn't? Not enough.

We don't know do we.

Viviennemary · 01/07/2020 19:21

Apparently we owe her money. Because the wedding generated £100m and only cost the taxpayer £32million. Hmm

FannyCann · 01/07/2020 19:22

I will never believe that she didn't authorise the five friends to speak on her behalf. It's not a trait exclusive to the Royal family - many, if not most, people in the public eye would abhor friends spilling the beans and talking to the press about them. I think most people value loyalty and discretion in a friend. I suppose we will have to wait and find out who the five are to know if she is still friends with them. I know I would drop any friend who spoke to the press about me, I wouldn't wait to hear them say they just wanted to set the record straight on my behalf.

Oldbutstillgotit · 01/07/2020 19:27

I know that everything will come out in court ( if it goes that far) but what else could the RF have done ?
I still think that Fergie received much worse but she just smiled and got on with things . Same as Catherine , Camilla and Sophie not to mention the York girls.
One thing is for sure - there is no way back .

MissEliza · 01/07/2020 19:32

@Roussette maybe they didn't but the decision to say that publicly says she doesn't really care about having a good relationship with them.

Serenster · 01/07/2020 19:39

It would be interesting to read the actual papers filed that the Daily Mail is quoting from in that article - it is obviously difficult to get a view of the case as a whole from snippets. But, having said that, based on the quotes they publish, I think there's a good chance that she will face a very tough time giving evidence in her case. Meghan is said to have been 'unaware of the interview and the identities" of the five friends. The submission also says that she 'did not know that the contents of the letter would or might be revealed or referred to by any media outlet or to any person for the purposes of publication in any medium', adding that she 'would not have consented to this'.

So, those quotes present the following scenario: that she told so many friends about the letter in such detail that the five who were contacted by People magazine were able to accurately describe it to the journalists. It seems, however, she didn't warn them that it was a confidential letter, as not one of them thought to give her a heads up that they had spoken to the press about her, and about the letter. And then it seems she told so many people about the letter that when the story came out she had no idea who amongst her circle might have blabbed. That will make it rather difficult to maintain that she had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the letter, as it works both ways - you can't tell everyone you know about something and then complain when it gets out.

Other possible scenarios don't sound very plausible - that actually she only told 5 people about the letter, and coincidentally they just happened to be the friends contacted by People. Or, she did warn them it was private and confidential and they spoke to the press regardless. These 5 friends who were so worried about her mental health due to the press attention she was already getting.... a top barrister will go to town on all of this.

BrieAndChilli · 01/07/2020 19:48

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Myimaginarycathadfleas · 01/07/2020 19:49

Excellent posts, Serenster and ARoseInHarlem.

catinb0oots · 01/07/2020 19:57

Great post @ARoseInHarlem

catinb0oots · 01/07/2020 20:01

Yes and @Serenster

ARoseInHarlem · 01/07/2020 20:17

@Serenster

MM could have talked to 20 people about the letter, in detail, without prefacing any of the conversations with "please don't talk to the press about this, but...." and still, imo as a member of the imaginary jury on this case Grin, feasibly and realistically maintain that she "did not know that the contents of the letter would or might be revealed or referred to by any media outlet or to any person for the purposes of publication in any medium".

To argue to the contrary is to suggest that people in the public eye are not entitled to a realistic expectation of personal / private conversations being kept private. Which is what the case is about. (They don't, there no such entitlement). Maybe they should.

ARoseInHarlem · 01/07/2020 20:33

And thinking that through, I expect the DM will say (using grand notions such as defence of the truth, and espousing the virtues of investigative journalism) that if they're to be silenced on "private" matters, they'd be nothing more than an unpaid advertisement agency for people in the public eye, as they'd have to seek permission to print anything.

Which, of course, won't fly.

Which brings me back to the point I was longwindedly getting at in my earlier post: this Instagram generation don't seem to realize that IG, FB, Twitter etc are basically advertising media (it's why they're free to use). They're a vehicle for people and corporations and political parties (and royal families) to put out their own messages, cutting out the middle men (newspapers). In the old days, Diana and Charles etc were briefing and leaking all the time. Their children just go straight to Instagram.

So when there's a challenge to that carefully controlled message, it all goes tits up. They don't like it, so they bring lawsuits, and run away, complaining that they're being treated unfairly.

If the time spent curating an image on IG had been spent doing something constructive - such as, oh I don't know, unpublicized charitable work, learning the ropes, listening to advisers and experts - none of this mess would have happened.

I sound more and more like my elderly mum with each passing day....

Cartesiandebt · 01/07/2020 21:03

-8473871/Prince-Harrys-increased-spending-habits-helped-spark-rift-Prince-William.html#comments-8473871

This almost makes me feel sorry for Harry, what a predicament he’s in.

StartupRepair · 01/07/2020 21:36

Maybe Meghan should be suing her friends for breaching her privacy.

MissEliza · 01/07/2020 21:51

@StartupRepair exactly.

Blossom513 · 01/07/2020 21:51

Excellent posts, Serenster and ARoseInHarlem.

Yes agreed.

What I don't understand, certainly without seeing the full papers, is what have all these new claims and submissions, such as how her wedding generated £1bn of revenue, she wasn't protected by the institution etc, got to do with a breach of copyright case? Or was there another claim I've forgotten about? I know she's been trying to get across how she feels the reporting has been unfair but this isn't a defamation case. I'm wondering why she didn't go for defamation actually, if she feels that strongly about the lies and volume of negative press.

I appreciate it may be just the way DM have reported it but it just seems like she's using this as an opportunity to have her say. But she's really not coming across very well. Just more entitled than ever.

As for the five friends - only a fool will believe that she had no idea about the interviews or that they would speak on her behalf without her knowledge. She's made it clear she felt she couldn't defend herself and that the institution didn't protect her so having her friends speak as anonymous sources is the only way she could have her say. Maybe she didn't know they would specifically mention the letter. But I'm not sure how valid that is in this case. It was made public knowledge before TM went to the press. I've no legal knowledge though so not sure whether any of this makes a difference specifically to copyright.

MissEliza · 01/07/2020 21:57

@Blossom513 I think the lawyers for the DM will argue that she was using her friends as a mouthpiece.

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