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.

@Eaumyword

I've always found it odd that H never bothered to meet his girlfriend/fiancee's father and yes, it makes you wonder if M was embarrassed about them and they didn't fit the image she wanted to project.

Maybe she wouldn't have wanted Harry to hear what Thomas might well have told him? For them to meet at the wedding, it would have been too frantic for long, in-depth conversation, and afterwards, it was too late.

@Serenster

Yes it could very well be the case that she planned to give Diptyque some publicity. Everybody else associated with the wedding got loads. They even spent their wedding anniversary phoning wedding suppliers to say thank you. How sad is that? Even if friends and family aren't phoning you, wouldn't you call them to say thanks for being a bridesmaid or whatever?

"The truth was that the discreet Baies scented air diffusers for the chapel provided by Diptyque — much like the candles that Kate chose to scent Westminster Abbey for her 2011 nuptials — had been approved by all parties involved."

Thomas didn’t exactly cover himself in glory by posing for pap photos & getting paid for them. Doria was stalked by the paparazzi too before the wedding but she didn’t do this, so in that front I don’t think Meghan was unreasonable to feel hurt and embarrassed. But I don’t understand why she never introduced her father to Harry before the wedding. I also think she should have made an effort to go see her father after the wedding, he had a heart attack so I think Thomas was probably hurt when she didn’t visit and probably that’s why he lashed out. By the time he gave interviews to the likes of PM things had already escalated but the relationship could have been repaired sooner.

Intrigued with the Diptyque diffusers. £130 for an hourglass one that you have to turn over to get scent that lasts about an hour. What actually makes stuff like this so pricey?!

£75 for a car diffuser!

The Thomas Markel interviews on tv last year were not great, but I did take from it the fact that Meghan liked to play people off on each other. She often went to live from her mum to her dad on a whim and her loyalties seem to lie with whoever gave her the right amount of time and oxygen.
I know that he was trying to put himself in the best light, but I did feel a bit sorry for him. I think there was a lot going on with both of them and he did feel pushed out at times. You need to be strong and clamber over people in show business and maybe the adoration she had previously she thought would be the same being in royal circles! Totally different, but she didn't realize this until it was too late : the royal family are steeped in traditions and protocol!

I don’t get why she didn’t have scented candles - there’s no story in candles being lit in a church at a wedding.

Kate seems much more canny at stuff like that.

Thanks @KatherineParr4 for sharing. The pre-wedding stuff with Thomas Markle sounds very sad all round. Like others, though, I still don't see why they hadn't met up with him and introduced him and Harry earlier in the relationship. It should have happened when they became serious, and should have become an urgent priority when they got engaged. When did Harry meet Doria?

@LittleBearPad

I don’t get why she didn’t have scented candles - there’s no story in candles being lit in a church at a wedding.

Kate seems much more canny at stuff like that.

Or maybe Kate is just happy to follow advice?

Don't get why everything has to be vs. Kate - Harry really got on with her pre-Meghan, so I do wonder if there is a lot of jealousy. I think he genuinely though of her as a sister, and loved being in her company. didn't they both attend a church service when Meghan was about to give birth (just Kate and Harry), and they seemed back to their old friendliness.

In the engagement interview they gushed about how 'wonderful and amazing' Kate had been to Meghan.

Kate would have been expected to 'know' that Meghan's feelings would be hurt by not being asked to join. It is the sort of thing that an American would definitely do- extend the invitation-whereas a British person would feel it was okay to go about their business as they had planned.

Why on earth Kate should be expected to "know" this I can't imagine. And I certainly wouldn't be ringing up and inviting the brother in law's new girlfriend every time I wanted to nip to the shops. Definitely AIBU.
I wish someone would start a thread for the entertainment.

I sometimes pass a colleague I'm not overly fond of waiting at the bus stop as I drive to work. Once last week I whizzed by, spotted her, felt guilty, reversed and picked her up.

But on Friday I was going in with my daughter who starts work half an hour before me so we were early. I was looking forward to slumping in the car with my tea and the radio for half an hour. She was driving so that's my excuse as we whizzed by, I did feel a bit mean but then I decided in future I will take a slightly different route to avoid the dilemma.

That's just me. Mean bitch.

Doesn't mean Kate is though.

Question: We know Harry didn’t (and subsequently wouldn’t) meet Thomas before he was meant to fly over to the U.K for the wedding. Do we know if Harry ever met Doria before she came to the U.K for the wedding either?

Kate, Harry and William always got along very well before Megan came along. They seemed like the best of friends at the Olympics, for example.

It seems really strange that Harry was miserable at the time when he looked the opposite. It's only now that he looks miserable as sin, although he is supposedly happy in his new-found freedom.

He was happy until his wife came along, that's the truth. She told him why he should be miserable and resentful. I do hope the royals forgive and forget when Harry is on his own again. The Queen and the DofE won't be around for ever though. Harry needs to build bridges before it's too late.

@LadyPerseverance

Question: We know Harry didn’t (and subsequently wouldn’t) meet Thomas before he was meant to fly over to the U.K for the wedding. Do we know if Harry ever met Doria before she came to the U.K for the wedding either?

Yes - I'm pretty sure that she was at one of the Invictus Games events with them in Toronto. Harry also referred to her as being amazing (or similar) in an interview fairly early on.

Harry did meet Doria before they were engaged as I remember Meghan mentioning her mum in the interview and he said ' she's amazing' or something, which hinted that he had met her previously.
Thomas in the channel five interviews was very complimentary about his ex wife too.
She is probably just as baffled about all this as most people are on here and how much is made up also has to be taken into account as well. Small things seem to be blown up into huge things.
It's a classic ' my sil is being unreasonable' thread though and it's always the women that struggle to get on ( been the same in my family too!)
Women as friends and family is a much bigger dynamic than men tend to be.
So much 'power play' in action.

Yeah the shopping with Kate thing is weird. There are so many valid reasons why Kate might want to go shopping on her own and I'm sure she doesn't want to attract any additional attention when she's out on private errands. Maybe Meghan can't relate to that if she likes being centre of attention.

I personally find shopping boring - I definitely wouldn't want someone I didn't know very well tagging along making it take longer than necessary.

K and W are very protective of their private life . Many of their trusted friends are people they have known since childhood eg Sophie Carter and the Van Cutsems . They are not going to open up easily to someone with a high social media presence, they would need to be absolutely sure that MM understood the need for discretion. If the stories about her sharing pictures of their children without permission are correct then most mothers would be wary.

I can imagine MM could be quite overwhelming for long periods particularly for an English introvert. I myself have several close members of my family from the US , I love them dearly but the upfront ness/positivity is sometimes exhausting, I have certainly disappeared on ‘shopping trips’ In the past 😳

Harry doesnt seem to be looking at the long term picture. Where is he going to he living in 20 years time? William could be king then and holding the purse strings. His 3 kids could all have a few kids Harry will be way down Williams priority list. He seems to have burnt his bridges with his entire family, his friends, his army charities, the public. They could have had such a good life here, they could have stepped back a bit if they wanted. They were popular with the public but they have thrown all that away. The book has just made everything a lot worse, W and K must be fuming.

When M arrived on the scene K and W had a 3 year old and a 1 year old so pretty busy ( and yes I know they have a nanny) then K became pregnant summer 2017 , giving birth weeks before the wedding plus she had royal duties . Not sure when she had a lot of time to devote to M.
I still don’t understand why H didn’t meet TM at some point before the engagement.

fannycann
The mysterious Ways of the Yank coujd fill 16 threads of its own.

You're supposed to be able to intuit others needs. Forget about any boundaries you may have yourself.

I can't believe I'm actually going to weigh in on "shoppinggate!" I wouldn't have offered a lift either because I A) hate clothes shopping with other people, I only go alone and B) I'm not a spontaneous person and I do dislike changing plans at the last minute. I'm sure that Kate had absolutely no idea that MM felt snubbed at all. Kate may have had a list of things to do while she was out that she wouldn't want to drag MM around with for. Or, like many people she just wanted to get on with it alone.

As for the lack of friendship between Kate and MM, why hasn't H encouraged friendships with other RF members? I posted above that H was really close with Zara and Mike Tindall and also Beatrice and Eugenie, but there seems to have been no efforts made to bring MM into their circles. It's been written that Zara and Mike Tindall were used to seeing H regularly and they've barely seen him since around his wedding time. Basically they were dropped like hot bricks. Why is this all Will and Kate's responsibility to be the lone family welcoming committee? The picture that I get suggests that H&M didn't view many members of his family as worth bothering with.

Zara had to hide her laughter at the wedding when Megan's preacher got going. She may find Megan's pomposity hard to take. I can't see a down to earth horsey person getting on well with a woke American actress.

Maybe the younger royals just saw through her?

I cannot imagine two people less likely to have anything in common than Meghan Markle and Zara Tindall!!

I can imagine Zara ribbing Harry if he started expressing views that seemed to come from Meghan

It is all so unedifying but gripping at the same time