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.

Actually, I read somewhere that one of the signs of a narcissist is the ability to chuck a hand-grenade into a situation, upsetting everyone around you, and then be able to plaster a smile on, making the upset ones look unreasonable.

Very true. It's quite an art. I often wish I was good at being nice to people I dislike or who infuriate me.

Still, always looking for a silver lining. The compulsory mask wearing at work means I can openly yawn or scowl without being seen.

@Ballet1992

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?!

agree completely. I also feel sad for us the great British public as we've lost a prince that we (mostly) all loved and watched grow up and was a real asset to the royal family. It's sad to hear he hated it all so much. And would rather live in LA. The polar opposite of the life he should/ would have lived.

I do think he'll be back though.

Sorry, this rant has been building for a while and reading the excerpts in the Times about the Sussex's opinions of their own star power and eclipsing the RF set me off a bit!

@Viviennemary

Less of the insults to Danielle Steele please. I used to love her earlier books haven't read one for years. The Promise was her best. Brilliant if a bit far fetched.

I think you’ll find it was Secrets

Harry was Never going to live in Africa. His friends there are the rich colonials of the past. They are people who have made money out of Africa. They are African whites. Harry hadn’t lived as a standard African. He’s holidayed there. It’s totally different. His security would be totally compromised. East Africa can’t even keep the lions and rhinos alive. What would he have done there other than be a white rich colonial? A non starter!

@IHeartSusanDey

I have acknowledged it *@MrHatMancock* YOU haven't.

No, you are doing the opposite.

And you are proving my point. What she wore was extremely divisive. You think it was great but many people didn't. There are two opposing points of view. Blindingly obvious, no?

They don't call the royal family "The Firm" for nothing. Imagine taking a job in a really prestige company where the CEO owns the whole business and has ultimate decision making responsibility. She's run the show for over 60 years and has never put a foot wrong. You may not like all the company procedures, but they are tried and tested and there for a good reason.

Then the know it all trainee joins the firm and brings along his wife. She has no job training or experience in this industry.

The trainee and wife then start to complain that they don't like the way things are done and demand changes. When they are told to make a proposal in writing, and don't get everything their own way, they have a hissy fit and go and moan all over social media before running away and threatening to publish dirt on the Firm.

Not surprisingly the CEO is pretty upset as she had tried her hardest to welcome the trainee and wife to the company. .....

It's all so sad that H & M couldn't accept the realities of royal precedence and mundane duties and ignore the tabloids. I think they mean well, but despite all the genuine wish to do good in the world, they are both quite self centred people who lack self awareness.

Forcing her to phone them to get confirmation in November!!

If the book told us anything, it is that the families do not pick up the phone to one another.

From what I can understand, the aides want William to be seen as the head of the firm and more popular etc.

There is clearly a huge disparity in what we call the RF (the family) and what they disagreed about (the business).

It must be incredibly difficult to be the younger brother and deemed inferior due to birth order.
The whole idea of the RF being superior to anyone is hard to stomach for many of us non royalists. To be the younger brother and feel this and be treated like this by relatives must be hurtful regardless of always being aware that one day this would come. The day didn’t come until he married which made it harder.
The whole RF is a beyond stupid idea in this day and age. They are all incredibly fcuked up by their birth orders. Time to get rid.

@KrigerMalory
Kate wore this mint green number in Belfast which wasn't one of her best fashion choices.
www.hawtcelebs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/kate-middleton-at-empire-music-hall-in-belfast-02-27-2019-12.jpg

But she didn't wear all the colours of the Republic of Ireland flag when visiting a part of the UK. Those velvet shoes of Megan's were deliberately chosen to be as close to gold as possible. Really stupid of her to advertise her own opinions.
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/23/15/4A7AEF6E00000578-5535801-image-m-97_1521817426125.jpg

Other posters seemed to think Harry’s problems centred around him being bright up to think he was equal to William! So which is it? He was never going to be equal and he didn’t know what to do after leaving the army. He had a long time to think about it and get advice! All the advice in the world!

If (the book is) true, the level of self absorption is astonishing and the RF have shown great restraint in not having a public reaction to all the demands

TBF the RF don't need to react while the couple are doing a perfectly good job of discrediting themselves

Not sure either why H&M would want to sue the book's authors. The prose was so awful that admittedly I skimmed a bit, but seen from the perspective of the utterly self-absorbed it might well be thought sympathetic

Though if the fallout's too awful it may be worth yet another lawsuit and a claim that they had nothing to do with it ...

I don't buy this idea that Harry was always made to feel less important than William. I am sure William would sell his soul not to have to be King, they have both said in the past that neither of them wanted the responsibilities of being Royal. Harry is the lucky one. He doesn't have to be King. His child has the luxury of being his own person, not having to be heir apparent. He can grow up in LA and be a normal person really , if that's what he wants. Harry could just disappear quietly now if he wanted to, take up woodwork and potter about in his shed. He won't of course.

Diana indulged Harry. Everyone has indulged Harry ,covered up his mistakes, made allowances and bent over backwards to accommodate him. The RF made a special effort to welcome his wife ,even asking her to Sandringham for Xmas before they were married, something that had never been done before. In every respect, Harry has been given his head, but he's thrown it all back in their faces.

William has the tougher deal. He has no options. He has to toe the party line, he has to make his marriage water tight. His children have to be above reproach. He has not got the option to do what he would prefer with his life - be a helicopter pilot. He had to give that up. His eldest son is being primed to be King even though it may not be what he wants. Harry needs to grow up and stop whinging. He's spoilt and over indulged and has no idea what real life or sacrifice involve.

It depends what you mean by important. Harry doesn’t have the same level of duty and being the next King after Charles. That makes him less important in terms of succession. That’s fact. In terms of love and affection - I think he had a lot of it. Rightly so. I too think he’s been indulged but not everything is equal in life for anyone!

@KatherineParr4

I don't buy this idea that Harry was always made to feel less important than William. I am sure William would sell his soul not to have to be King, they have both said in the past that neither of them wanted the responsibilities of being Royal. Harry is the lucky one. He doesn't have to be King. His child has the luxury of being his own person, not having to be heir apparent. He can grow up in LA and be a normal person really , if that's what he wants. Harry could just disappear quietly now if he wanted to, take up woodwork and potter about in his shed. He won't of course.

Diana indulged Harry. Everyone has indulged Harry ,covered up his mistakes, made allowances and bent over backwards to accommodate him. The RF made a special effort to welcome his wife ,even asking her to Sandringham for Xmas before they were married, something that had never been done before. In every respect, Harry has been given his head, but he's thrown it all back in their faces.

William has the tougher deal. He has no options. He has to toe the party line, he has to make his marriage water tight. His children have to be above reproach. He has not got the option to do what he would prefer with his life - be a helicopter pilot. He had to give that up. His eldest son is being primed to be King even though it may not be what he wants. Harry needs to grow up and stop whinging. He's spoilt and over indulged and has no idea what real life or sacrifice involve.

Completely agree.

I hope it's the final eradication of publicly funding this privately immensely wealthy family
Yet another poster that doesn't understand how the Royal Family is funded.
The Queen owns the Crown Estates, all revenue from the Crown Estates is handed over to the British Government. A small percentage of this money is then given to HMQ this is known as the Civil List. HMQ then funds various members of her family with the Civil List.

used to work with a young (now not so young) Omid. I don’t know anything about his royal connection, but in general terms, I would take a lot of what he says with a pinch or two of salt.

I would love to know more about this person. There is nothing on the internet about his qualications, experience.

Hasn't he changed his name? I thought I read he had.

mateysmum Great analogy, but you missed out the part about them leaving, but nonetheless expecting to keep their salary, benefits, company car and passkey.

It must be incredibly difficult to be the younger brother and deemed inferior due to birth order.
The whole idea of the RF being superior to anyone is hard to stomach for many of us non royalists

I think there is a difference between "the Royal Family the Institution" and "the Royal Family the family". Often, we see the Institution on display: the strict orders of entering and leaving functions, the bows and curtseying, the differing classes on honours etc. We see the latter less often publicly, but it obviously exists - take Zara for example. By rank she's one of the least important in the family, but when you see her at Ascot she is always warmly hugging all her relatives, and spotted laughing and joking with them. Sophie's widowed father has often come to Sandringham to spend Christmas with his daughter and her in laws too, apparently. I'm sure they are also dysfunctional in their own way, but then aren't most families!

Anyway, Harry may be lower in rank than his brother, but I have also got the impression that he was a much loved family member.

In every respect, Harry has been given his head, but he's thrown it all back in their faces ... (he) needs to grow up and stop whinging. He's spoilt and over indulged and has no idea what real life or sacrifice involve

Completely agree

And yes, we all remember that he lost his mum in tragic circumstances, but so did William and there's only so much traction still to be got out of that all these years on

What I have read has not been as fawning as I anticipated. I can’t imagine H and M to be thrilled with this book so can we expect them to sue ?

And as far as one can tell from photos, the "younger" ones always seem to have got along really well. I remember seeing them all up in Edinburgh for Zara Phillips' wedding to Mike Tindall. There was a rehearsal dinner on a boat and there were pics of them all stumbling down the gangplank having a right old laugh.
There's another pic (at Ascot or somewhere?) of either Kate or Sophie Wessex falling over in a carriage and them both laughing hysterically.
There are loads of shots of Kate and Harry giggling together.
Not seen any much of that since Meghan arrived on the scene.

Apparently Charles found it difficult to find anyone to sign up to be his wife and a future Queen. Most of these women could have very nice comfortable lives without doing any of the duties being royal involved. Do we conclude Meghan didn't really know what her life would be like as a royal. If so I would find it easier to sympathise. It really looks like a mistake on both sides from where I'm standing.

I think Harry will cling to her like a drowning man. If that marriage goes tits up, it will be her, not him.

Charles went out with a few well bred young ladies. Some didn’t have titles and it didn’t go anywhere. He met Camilla at Cambridge but didn’t have the guts to go out with her publicly and stand up for who he loved.

The Queen Mother and her coterie found the very young Diana. No baggage of previous boyfriends, malleable, had a title and, as her father said, bred for the role! What could possibly go wrong!?

@MrHatMancock I am so sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about. I have touched a nerve, obviously.