Harry and Meghan court dramas (not Suits)

[ARoseInHarlem]

Starting this thread while I digest the last few posts on the previous thread. I think the H&M saga could be as unsettling for the RF as the Charles & Diana bad publicity in the 1990s, if not worse.

William and Kate are bilingual. I don't genuflect in awe when I hear them speak in a second language.

Don't most people speak more than one language these days?

I agree with your post EthelMayFergus. However I also think Charles is to blame for including H and his wife in his slimmed down monarchy, apparently on the same level as W and C. He would have been better either leaving them out, or being clearer about the hierarchy.

I also remember Roussette from days of yore.😁

From the Elle article...

Boyle told People that Meghan called herself to connect and arrange for her and Harry's visit to Homeboy Industries shortly after George Floyd's death. "She didn’t want to have a long-table discussion or presentation or even a tour," Boyle said. "They knew we pivoted our organization to help address food insecurity in the county and that was intriguing to her, so she said, 'We want to come and put an apron on,' and that’s what they did. It was quite wonderful."

I actually find that rather telling. You want to go and visit a charity to help, great. Getting stuck in can help with understanding directly what support it is charities provide.

But if you are in a position of influence why wouldn't you want to have a tour? Or give the staff the opportunity to discuss or present whichever way they want about their charity? What are you going to do next to help this charity if you are passionate about the cause?

These one-off visits are obviously a great PR opportunity for both sides, charity and H&M, but it's short lived. So what next?

@HarryDaylight

William and Kate are bilingual. I don't genuflect in awe when I hear them speak in a second language.

Don't most people speak more than one language these days?

Are they?! I didn't know that!

My guess is they didn’t want the tour and to speak to staff because it was quicker to get to the photo op straight away. They were there for their own PR purposes, not to genuinely understand the way the organisation works.

Visits are not the same as prolonged activity. I think Harry is perceived to have abandoned most of his military connections and people feel let down. Just a short visit isn’t the same as a long term commitment. It smacks of the “Lady Bountiful” approach. Willing to drop in for their own PR and consciences, but no real commitment to anything long term. Makes me wonder what on Earth they do every day? Harry must be bored stiff.

But if you are in a position of influence why wouldn't you want to have a tour? Or give the staff the opportunity to discuss or present whichever way they want about their charity?

It’s obvious. They just wanted to put the aprons on and get stuck in - for the photo op.

It's for when he becomes Prince of Wales and King, so William speaks several languages.

Are they?! I didn't know that!

Most well educated people speak at least one other language.

And let's face it, the tour and the long table discussion would have been boring... whereas showing up for a couple of hours, donning an apron and preparing food, having a few photos taken is much more appealing - and you can walk away without any 'action points'

Does Harry actually have any TV production skills?

I don't know about Kate, but you can tell from visits to Quebec and France that William speaks very indifferent French, unlike his grandmother who is genuinely fluent. That's something I definitely put in the "should do better" category - it's not like he didn't know that he'd need to be able to speak in foreign languages from time to time!

apparently PW speaks fluent French, Swalhili, Welsh, some Gaelic and some Spanish

MM’s French sucks. It is nowhere near fluent. It would have been easy to pick up Québécois in Toronto, one is surrounded by it in the centre of the city.

apparently PW speaks fluent French, Swalhili, Welsh, some Gaelic and some Spanish

Some like Melania Trump?
I imagine when you have access to one of the best schools and tutors in the world, and from day one your ‘job’ would involve world tours, memorising enough of a language to enable you to say a few sentences in the beginning of your speech, enough to be polite is expected.

William is not fluent in any language bar English. He’s made a stab at it but it’s learned by rote. He’s lived in Anglesey but never lived in France. Did he do Sm MFL to A level standard? That’s nowhere near fluent. He makes an effort but he’s no linguist. He’s not lived in any East African country either. Degrees in languages require this to be fluent. Dabbling isn’t fluent.

Many very intelligent British people don’t speak another language - I think they should. However on MN education pages, it’s the first subject that’s dropped when the going gets tough. Brits don’t value languages.

Fluent to me means being in that country and conversing in quick fire conversation with locals. And/or having a degree. My DH even adapts his accent to the local area we're in with Spanish.

Realised my post needed better punctuation. The reports I saw said he was fluent in French - the rest were either self taught or 'some'

@HarryDaylight

William and Kate are bilingual. I don't genuflect in awe when I hear them speak in a second language.

Don't most people speak more than one language these days?

Kate doesn't - based on two videos. In one, she said that she only speaks English and in another one (from her Leicester visit), she said that she is "really bad" at languages and she has to pause to remember the word ciao.

Most English people seemingly only know a few words of foreign languages. White Americans don't tend to know much Spanish either.

I think having a Spanish nanny will mean that the Cambridge children will have decent conversational Spanish or even fluency.

I think it must be fascinating to be multi lingual - in terms of how your brain operates...
I speak Spanish well, have some French but last time I was in France I kept defaulting to Spanish mid way through French sentences!

I knew I had reached a reasonable level of proficiency when I woke up one morning having dreamt in Spanish.

I knew I had reached a reasonable level of proficiency when I woke up one morning having dreamt in Spanish
Wow! That's amazing!

Kate doesn't - based on two videos. In one, she said that she only speaks English and in another one (from her Leicester visit), she said that she is "really bad" at languages and she has to pause to remember the word ciao

www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1052106/kate-middleton-travel-news-foreign-language-italian-ciao

Do you mean this? It actually says Kate studied Italian for 3 hours a day learning Italian & spent three months living in Florence during her gap year. She spoke to someone in Leicester in Italian, but admitted her Italian was rusty.

Kate is modest. Her Italian is probably at least as good as Meghan's Spanish

I think there is a big difference between being fluent and being able to converse well enough that others can understand you (and appreciate you making the effort to speak their language). I could go to Spain or Italy and speak their languages all day long with everyone there understanding me, but they would know I was English and many of my sentences would be somewhat stilted.

It actually says Kate studied Italian for 3 hours a day learning Italian & spent three months living in Florence during her gap year

Having been an exchange student, and knowing many, many others, this really is nothing. An average student would need longer than half-days for three months to achieve fluency for sure unless they were really dedicated