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.

@Myimaginarycathadfleas

MM isn't vegan. According to interviews she eats vegan during the week, then whatever she likes at weekends. Conventional vegan constraints are not for her.

Just like every other vegan then.

😁😁😁

Sorry, that was in response to Windsor’s post!

“Trying to cook roast chicken “ implies she isn’t very good at it.

Here’s what I think about the race issue. Am tagging @MNHQ given the particular interest MN has on this topic.

I can well believe (as one of the book extracts claims) that amongst the aristo/toff friends that H used to hang out with regularly, one or more may have said something about MM which to them would be completely unremarkable and, if challenged, would be just “joking” and no big deal, but which to everybody else would be out and out racist. A bit like H’s raghead/paki comments when he was in the Army. It’s my experience that that’s the world-view and the mindset that certain parts of the Chelsea/ country set have. They don’t see it (at best), and if they do they don’t care or (at worst) revel in it because they know they’re at the top of the food chain and believe they set the rules. It’s rarified and insular air they breathe up there.

If H stood up for MM against this sort of racism to the point where these friends weren’t invited to his wedding, that would have been the principled thing to do. Good for both of them.

But where does this leave H? He comes from a background where this sort of casual racism is as commonplace as shooting weekends and fox-hunting. Members of his own family will think this and, no doubt, say things like this out loud (his grandfather, for example). He will have condoned this, through his lifelong silence, not to mention his own Nazi-costume, army slang etc.

People can learn and evolve, they can have remorse and strive to do better. It might be too much to expect someone to break convention from an early age. I suspect he’s getting quite an education from MM on this, and he seems to be receptive and willing. Wonderful. But it’s not credible to, within a couple of years of marriage to a biracial woman, preach about this, especially as representative of the Commonwealth.

And where does this leave the friends and family he’s left behind? The ones who live in that world of casual racism? It’s a burn. I think it’s likely that the RF will go in for some old fashioned gaslighting and/or play up the other stuff in order to deflect attention from this issue where H&M are unquestionably in the right and whichever friends/courtiers/aides unquestionably in the wrong.

On the race issue, H will never be able to win. The best he can do is to quietly support MM who can speak much more credibly on race.

Didn’t MM describe herself as white in her acting cv?! I’m not sure she’s really that fussed about race relations except now when it’s a good “cause” to be seen to be following. Harry’s never apologised for his own past racism (I don’t recall William dressing as a Nazi). I really think their decision had very very little to do with racism. If they were that principles they should have stopped accepting money and security etc etc.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8562519/JAN-MOIR-Meghan-Harry-biography-whinge-Windsor.html

Very amusing and makes good points.

Great article thanks for link. Quite funny and shows up how ludicrous this all is.

Thought this was spot on:

But now we discover that behind the scenes they weren’t always lending their voices to those who could not be heard, because they were forever joined in harmony in one long howl of childish petulance; an endless grumble about lack of status and respect from within and without the House of Windsor.

Also this really sums up their failure to understand THE JOB:

What did the pair of them want or expect?

Top billing, it seems. What is remarkable is that Harry’s whole life and entire upbringing have been devoted and calibrated to him being a prince. Surely he understands how it works? Surely he could have explained the system to his vexed new bride?

Primarily, that being royal is a form of active service, with ranks and a hierarchy so uncomplicated that schoolchildren throughout the realm understand the line of succession and its importance to the Windsors — and to us.

This is a good sensible article also...

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8562517/ROBERT-HARDMAN-Harry-Meghan-just-hell-bent-finding-offence-everywhere.html

Maybe the book is aimed at the US market? The celeb magazine writing style, the lack of understanding of the RF hierarchy, the frankly ludicrous idea that they were the stars of the RF, etc. It all plays better for the US.

@EvilPea that was my theory

[quote WaterWishWash]This is a good sensible article also...

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8562517/ROBERT-HARDMAN-Harry-Meghan-just-hell-bent-finding-offence-everywhere.html[/quote]
Absolutely nothing in the Daily Fail is good or sensible - or believable.

Yet if the Scobie book is to be believed, it appears the majority of DM stories were accurate.

Well I think these extracts were sensible and indeed believable..:

...
Yet Finding Freedom is a struggle against protocol and seating plans. It is based on the perceived unfairness of a pecking order which has governed — and preserved — the monarchy for 1,000 years.
...

Yes, there were tensions when the couple picked fights with the system. For example, Harry's 2016 statement slamming the media in the middle of the Prince of Wales's tour of the Gulf caused dismay — but not just at the Palace.

The point of a royal tour is to promote the UK. Harry might have regarded his own situation as more important. Yet the real discourtesy was not to Prince Charles but to the Foreign Office which organises these diplomatic missions.
...
These staff were not being 'vipers'. They were doing their job.
...

Kate was sitting in front of Meghan and at the other end of the row. With 2,000 Abbey guests, live BBC1 cameras and the media nearby, it was hardly the moment for the Duchess of Cambridge to turn round and start yelling small talk.
...

The Sussexes might want to paint all of this as a battle between a progressive force for good versus mean, fuddy-duddy jobsworths. At times, they may have a point. But the overarching theme of this book, thus far, is not injustice. It is peevishness.
...

I certainly don’t want to be fighting the daily mails corner. I don’t read it generally. I read previous linked article which let me into the one I linked. I have no clue at to the journalist or their general take off royalty ke the sussexes not any interest in that. I do however think the article made sense particularly those extracts I’ve copied. Everyone’s allowed an opinion and all that eh...

Didn’t MM describe herself as white in her acting cv?!

She described herself as able to pass for Caucasian. That's in terms of what she can look like when she is acting, not what she is.

I imagine there will be a lot of crisis management meetings going on amongst the RF today.
Oh to be a fly on the wall. Meanwhile, in LA..

I wonder what the US market makes of it & If they think they were badly done by.

Maybe they were trying to cook roast chicken on a campfire in Botswana and just transferred the story to the UK?

My (few) thoughts on the whole debacle is that we are witnessing two people, each in their own way, struggle at not being top of the heap. M wanted to be top dog in Hollywood. H, despite protestations, wanted to be top dog in his field (“I’ll do it if you don’t want to, William”). It looks to me that neither has been able to come to terms with not being “the best”, something most children grow out of when they enter adulthood and by which time life has given them a few slapdowns. While pressing on despite the slapdowns is no bad thing, this has taken a grotesque and vindictive turn with a touch of the disproportionate about it. If ever there was a requirement for a couple of sessions with a “life coach”, this is it.

The positive thread on H and M doesn’t appear to have anything positive about the book so this is looking like a spectacular mistake .
I wonder how H and M are feeling now ? I truly want them to be happy but how can they be when they are - allegedly- consumed with anger and grievance ?
It also makes me wonder about their future ? Who is going to employ them ? Who is going to pay big money to listen to them ? Given how critical they are of the RF , how much longer can they expect to be financially supported ?
It really is an almighty mess.

What do H and M’s supporters think about it all ?

Since when has Harry ever been “best” at anything? Certainly not through school and never first by birth. One would have expected him to carve out his own life and not worry about positions in life. He was always going to go down the ranks once William had children. It’s the classic case of the “spare” yet again not being able to engage with a role and finding mature life difficult. Andrew is the classic case. Former Princes of Wales have also been spectacularly useless.

Americans love the glamour of the RF. Not the detail. They don’t “get” the protocol and why would they? Most of us here don’t care either. We simply want a RF that represents us, gets on with their duties in return for support from the state. All the wealth is a by product of centuries of wealth accumulation and the fact H and M don’t seem remotely grateful is galling to others with modest means.

I think they’ve been duped into thinking this book was supportive. But then they are not the most discerning of people in terms of who you should trust. Finding Freedom should have had the title “Finding Freedom ?” There is surely not much freedom at the moment.

If they have been duped ( and I certainly agree that’s likely ) can we expect a strongly worded statement from H and M ? I suspect not as any collusion would then be apparent. However if they say nothing , they look guilty .

Yes, we should be expecting more legal action if this book really isn’t sanctioned by them. I don’t believe for a minute that it isn’t, but I suspect they’ve now realised they’ve shot themselves in the foot and are frantically trying to hobble away.