More News on Harry and Meghan

[Viviennemary]

Two little bits of news I read today. First the bells won't ring out at Westminster Abbey for Meghans birthday next month and she'll be devastated. No I don't think she'll even expect them to ring. And I had to smile at Bogart the dog was left behind in Canada because it didn't take to Harry. What else could she do. Hardly leave Harry behind. And it would have been a worry with a baby in the house too. She did the right thing here.

That’s nice it’s your final word. I have everything tightly crossed you stick to that statement!

Back atcha...

Oh dear. That book is going to make things worse.

There's no way all of these "insiders" have dished every last detail that is in that book without the Sussex's approval.

It's too detailed. There's too much information and specifics to just be a friend blithely talking without thinking about the consequences.

And I just confirms a lot of the rumours about them. For example them not being happy at having to wait to announce things.

It makes the pair of them sound like petulant brats, definitely not the intention.

I'm sure they are right in that palace officials were probably concerned about their popularity right after the wedding; they need the focus to be on the direct line of succession, that's their job.

Sigh. They must feel pretty horrendous right now. Stuck in their mansion, worried about drones, no work in sight and a book that just attacks the royal family.

I don't see how they can move forward. Will there really be a market to listen to them talk about anything other than the royal family? Enough to pay them more than the sovereign grant?

The book makes it clear Harry wanted out first; that he was sick of playing second fiddle to William.

In which case Diana and Charles did him a great disservice by treating them equally and not supporting Harry to find his own role away from the palace.

He's shot himself in the foot and taken his wife and child along for the ride.

Even if they decided to come back to the fold, that's going to take years to get over, and he still has to accept he is 6th in line to the throne.

What in the world are they going to do?!

I suspect at least some of the DoE's military roles were earmarked for Harry. Now they have to place them elsewhere.

I was (irrationally) mad at the pair of them when they announced their exit in January, now I feel very sad for them. They've thrown everything up in the air with no real plan going forward.

Eleven articles in the DM on Harry and Meghan. The record I counted was 15. I think we can all agree this book won't make things better. Is that right.

It makes me love Beatrice and her low key wedding all the more

It's not what she wanted though. She didn't have a choice.

Fair play Rousette if a photo has been published, but none of the press reports I've seen have mentioned publication, let alone in Germany. As an aside, I can't see how H&M can return to the RF fold without a very public display of penitence. Would anyone believe it was genuine anyway? And wouldn't MN be advising the RF to go NC with H&M given the toxicity of their (failed) brand? On a personal level I'm not sure it's fair to expect for W&K to work with them knowing how much H apparently resents his older brother's position. H doesn't seem to get the difference between family and family business

Oh dear. Like others, I am surprised at the critical tone of quite a bit of that Finding Freedom extract, given that Scobie has been very obviously a
Sussex-positive commentator, and given all the reports that they were keen for the book to be published asap to get their side of the story out.

I did feel some sympathy at the point where Harry was told that the Queen 'wasn't available' till 29 January - that is a dysfunctional family model and no mistake. It's not that the Queen should be on call for him 24/7, but the line given seems very stark to a grandson really in turmoil. That said, I think they didn't play it well in making the announcement when they did. And Harry's disappointment that the family members he was walking away from weren't more 'on his side' in negotiations seems naive at best.

The overriding impression I come away with is that Harry's therapy to date has not actually equipped him well to cope with life and his own decisions. Any decent therapist would have got him to see the damage he is causing to himself by reading online comments and led him to find a way of valuing and validating himself outside all that.

As I've said on other threads probably now deleted Harry is in the same position as Andrew. I can see that it's awkward to grow up as the spare heir, yet be expected to find something to do the instant the heir produces their own children. It's not news that he'd be pushed back down the line at some point. Whether the RF should do more to help them at that point and preferably shortly before or whether they do actually point it out in advance, it's an awkward position to be in.

I suspect that when Harry said he wanted to leave, the RF thought this would be a good time to do a root and branch assessment of the spare heir situation (Princess Charlotte next ...) but the speed of that didn't suit Harry so he pushed on (that's only my thoughts, I haven't seen anything to indicate that).

There was plenty he could do. And was doing.
I've never really understood why people have banged on about Charles "waiting all his life" for the top role - he's been doing masses all along and has made a real difference in the areas he's concentrated on.

But now? As someone said above, what on earth is he going to do now? I don't think he could work in the USA even if he found something. Meghan can, but Harry, on a spousal visa?

If it is true that Harry has wanted out for a long time then I wonder how much choice Meghan actually had. After all, she could hardly stay a senior member of the RF without Harry. As a PP said the RF is a job (as well as a family) but it seems to be a job for couples or those born into the RF rather than those who marrying in continuing alone. Then again, I suppose the RF hasn’t been in the situation before so (like most things) who knows.

Knew it wouldn’t last

Sorry? I said I wouldn't be discussing the drone pap photo and I haven't, you must be getting confused, I never said I wouldn't be commenting on the thread at all if that's what you mean!

The thing is ButteryPuffin Harry's granny isnt just 'granny' is she? She's the flippin' head of state and she's no spring chicken, either. I'm sure that she is booked up well in advance and has commitments that she can't/doesn't want to just walk away from. Letting people down seems like it's just not in her dna. We assume she's fine because that's the impression she always gives publicly, though she's scaled back engagements in recent years. But she is old and she isn't invincible. Maybe she needs to factor in more rest days than BP lets on. Maybe the logistics of getting people in play were complicated. Maybe she didn't have the energy for a family row, and was avoiding it. Especially with that metaphorical gun to her head, the one that was still smoking from firing drivel all over the Sussex website. Less evidence of family dysfunction than the logistical 'mare that comes with a family business . And the complications of an elderly person at the helm.

wonder if he really does read them. I would have thought that either he’d stay away from them on the basis that he had learnt they caused him upset or else teach him he had misread the public mood and look to do a similar situation differently in future.

I think he does. Confirmation bias. Confirming that he's right to feel hard done to and attacked and that he has no option but to cut himself off from his old life in order to protect his wife and child.

Oh dear. That book is going to make things worse.

Just like Morton/Diana all over again, and the Times running the serialisation again too.

I read the extracts in the Times (I subscribe to their digital edition) and it was definitely food for thought. From my perspective it shows very clearly they are not team players and would be terrible employees. I was also side-eying the expressed view that, having attempted to blackmail the family into getting what they wanted in January, publicly taken relations up to Defcon 5 and deeply upset the Queen in the process, they had expected they should be feted as if nothing had happened on their trip back to the UK. I suspect that many of us on this thread are reading it from a similar perspective.

Having read a few of their fan sites however, I suspect that they will love this book because it confirms their view of what has been going on all along - the Royal family was jealous of the popularity of Meghan and Harry and acted despicably in not giving them everything they wanted, when they should have accepted them for the bright shining stars that they were. These fans are not remotely interested in the concept of the Royal family as an organisation set up to support and maintain the Monarch and make her the focus of most of their efforts, nor indeed in the essential truth that it's a hierarchy, not a free-for-all. So I do think they'll probably see this book as confirmation of what they always thought - that the Queen, Prince Charles and William and Kate are petty and jealous, and resented having someone as Meghan around who showed them up just by breathing.

@Serenster

Totally agree

Serenster listening to Sky News, I came to the same conclusions. It seems this procession issue made them particularly angry but I don't know why they would imagine they would be joining senior royals when they were walking away from the institution. It's quite deluded and suggests people who are unable to see things from others people's perspectives.

Give it a rest, sunbathing.

@Serenster

I read the extracts in the Times (I subscribe to their digital edition) and it was definitely food for thought. From my perspective it shows very clearly they are not team players and would be terrible employees. I was also side-eying the expressed view that, having attempted to blackmail the family into getting what they wanted in January, publicly taken relations up to Defcon 5 and deeply upset the Queen in the process, they had expected they should be feted as if nothing had happened on their trip back to the UK. I suspect that many of us on this thread are reading it from a similar perspective.

Having read a few of their fan sites however, I suspect that they will love this book because it confirms their view of what has been going on all along - the Royal family was jealous of the popularity of Meghan and Harry and acted despicably in not giving them everything they wanted, when they should have accepted them for the bright shining stars that they were. These fans are not remotely interested in the concept of the Royal family as an organisation set up to support and maintain the Monarch and make her the focus of most of their efforts, nor indeed in the essential truth that it's a hierarchy, not a free-for-all. So I do think they'll probably see this book as confirmation of what they always thought - that the Queen, Prince Charles and William and Kate are petty and jealous, and resented having someone as Meghan around who showed them up just by breathing.

I agree with you. I think some people will always see it from their own perspective though which is fine, although I do think many of their original supporters have changed their minds now.

As far as the RF popularity goes, HMQ is generally the popular one (with the public) and I think many of those who like HMQ feel almost protective of her in the way she has been perceived to have been treated.

I don’t blame H&M for wanting out of the RF. It’s just the way they went about things and even now, they seem to be drawing far more attention to themselves in terms of court cases than charity work. There are things work taking legal action for, and protecting Archie is definitely one but it’s just lost in all the other litigation right now.

Very soon they’ll have so many legal cases going at once, they won’t have time for anything else.