What were Harry and Meghan hoping to achieve?

[HumousWhereTheHeartIs]

This is an honest question not a chance to bash anyone. I'm curious about why Harry and Meghan would do this and what the consequences could be. They must have realised the massive fall-out this would cause. This could be the end of Harry's relationship with his family. But for what? Sympathy? Increased profiles? Honesty?

@lightand

Money to pay for security for Archie

But they've got millions already. I can't believe that they're scraping around to pay for security.

Who should pay for their security?

MM is criticised for eating avocados and not standing outside for a photo op, hours after giving birth!!

Upon entering the RF, Meghan instantly challenged the hierarchies, age old principles and systems of the Monarchy. She didn't want to play second fiddle but expected to be a super star in her now right. That is not how the royal family operates, it is completely hierarchical. Had she just slotted in kept her head down for few years and done lost of great charity work especially with disadvantaged people from minority backgrounds she could have become the people's princess number 2. She blew it because she was used to having a lot of power as part of her more recent roles, especially on SUITS. Vanity comes before the fall.

isitfridayyet1 Wed 10-Mar-21 07:37:04
@PowerhouseMamma" I think that's a step too far saying that this will effect the uk economy!. Wow the lengths people go to to blame Meaghan and Harry for things have no barriers! I wonder if you've held Boris Johnson and his cronies to such high scrutiny. Their performance over the pandemic has been shocking. He has openly lied to the public, MPs, given contracts to friends for important tenders, made decisions which have directly led to people dying!
It's crazy how people's minds have been warped to hate and blame someone like meaghan when much worse has been done and still is being done by people who actually hold the power in the nation!"

This

Women know your place

Meant to add, they should have said who made the comments.

Either said who it was or kept it to themselves and discussed it in private with the RF.

However at least the interview and fallout should clear the air.

Or, made it 1 million times worse. Harry can never be trusted again.

I actually ultimately blame Harry for this. He is just a pampered spoilt brat. He is a spare, 6th in line to the throne. To put this into perspective, before Wills and Harry were born, Peter Philips was 5th in line and Zara 6th. Could you pick out Peter in a line-up? That is how significant being 6th is. He could have opted out quite easily. They sent them on their way with their blessing. MM is just someone who thought she'd live in a castle, be adored, look good saving people around the world whilst dripping in diamonds and wearing designer gear, all free. Many women have made that mistake before her. She should have done her research. In particular, she should have read up on Grace Kelly and her misery as Princess of Monaco to get an idea of what marrying into an old European dynasty turns out like. Instead, she hoped she'd be the one to revolutionise the RF. They both want to have all the lavish trappings of a royal but don't want to chat with Maureen in an old person's home in Stafford. They think they are better than that when actually the BRF serves the people, not the other way round. The British people won't worship a Kardashian-type monarchy. They are hanging on by a thread as it is. We demand that they earn their keep.

Prince Charles is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He is an unlucky fellow. He knew the RF's popularity was waning and he slim-lined the monarchy to save it. It's not the first time people have thrown their toys out of the pram over this, except this time it wasn't a toy, but a scud missile.

I think for her it’s fame any way it comes; acting or activism or both.

It’s not “women” knowing their place, it’s any spouse marrying in. Can you imagine Mark Phillips (Princess Anne’s first dh) who was an equivalent person (large wedding as well) saying he wanted to “modernise” the monarchy?

Philip didn't become 'king consort'.

The rf is about power for the monarch. Anyone who challenges this will be sidelined. See Princess Margaret.

Meghan remind me of the entitled uni graduates who expect to be paid £££ as their first salary and only pick and chose the interesting tasks.

She didn't want to play second fiddle but expected to be a super star in her now right.

But how do we know this? From the media? which have their own agenda From her (estranged) family?
I've only heard her speak a few times. The "are you ok?" Interview and the Oprah one. Of course she is never going to say "yes I went in, wanting to revamp the monarchy and get those crusty old dinosaurs to make way for me" if that was her intention, but equally what reliable source is there for saying that was her main aim?

The biggest cruel thing they did to the British people in my view was not following the convention - of a photo of the baby leaving the hospital - which is the British understand with the press . The new couple endure that and in return the press allow them some privacy. MM decided not to do that kind of thing and of course that is her legal right but it comes with consequences. The couple can go on the media if they want but then cannot complain that the media writes about them.

They could instead had settled in an English village near an army base and Harry could have had a career on £25k a year in the army or something along those lines or they could have gone to the US and lives off her acting earnings.

@malificent7

Good grief...now Megan is responsible for the imminent collapse of our economy on top of everything else! you'd blame her for armageddon given the chance.

Yep...plus we'll never win Eurovision now...bastards

Transcript About the prince part - :

Meghan: Separate from that, and what was happening behind closed doors was, you know, we knew I was pregnant. We now know it’s Archie, and it was a boy. We didn’t know any of that at the time. We can just talk about it as Archie now. And that was when they were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or a princess — not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol — and that he wasn’t going to receive security.

Oprah: What?

Meghan: It was really hard.

Oprah: What do you mean?

Meghan: He wasn’t going to receive security. This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy, where I’m going, ‘Hold on a second’.

Oprah: That your son — and Harry, Prince Harry’s son was not going to receive security?

Meghan: That’s right, I know.

Oprah: How . . . but how does that work?

Meghan: How does that work? It’s like, ‘No, no, no. Look, because if he’s not going to be a prince, it’s like, OK, well, he needs to be safe, so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince or a princess — whatever it’s going to be . . .
‘But if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect their protec-tion, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder. You’ve allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe’.

Oprah: So, how do they explain to you that your son, the grandson, the great-grandson of the Queen . . . 

Meghan: Mm-hmm.

Meg shocked the world when she admitted she was struggling in an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby
Meg shocked the world when she admitted she was struggling in an interview with ITV's Tom BradbyCredit: ITV
Oprah:  . . . is not going to have . . . he wasn’t going to be a prince? How did they tell you that? And what reasons did they give? And then say, ‘And so, therefore, you’re not . . . you don’t need protection’.

Meghan: There’s no explanation.

Oprah: Hmm.

Meghan: There’s no version. I mean, that’s the other piece of that . . . 

Oprah: Who tells you that?

Meghan: I heard a lot of it through Harry and then other parts of it through conversations with . . . 

Oprah: Mm-hmm.

Meghan:  . . . family members. And it was a decision that they felt was appropriate. And I thought, well . . . 

Oprah: Was the title . . . was him being called a prince, Archie being called a prince, was that important to you?

Meghan: If it meant he was going to be safe, then, of course. All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment that I don’t personally have, right? I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess. I’ve always just still been Meghan, right? So, for me, I’m clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff. And the most important title I will ever have is Mom. I know that.

Meghan: But the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be . . .  You know, the other piece of that conversation is, there’s a convention — I forget if it was George V or George VI convention — that when you’re the grandchild of the monarch, so when Harry’s dad becomes king, automatically Archie and our next baby would become prince or princess, or whatever they were going to be.

Oprah: So, for you, it’s about protection and safety, not so much as what the . . . what the title means to the world.

Meghan: That’s a huge piece of it, but, I mean, but . . . 

Oprah:  . . . and that having the title gives you the safety and protection?

Meghan: Yeah, but also it’s not their right to take it away.

Oprah: Yeah.

Meghan: Right? And so, I think even with that convention I’m talking about, while I was pregnant, they said they want to change the convention for Archie.

Oprah: Mmm.

Meghan: Well, why?

Oprah: Did you get an answer?

Meghan: No.

Oprah: You still don’t have an answer?

Meghan: No.

Oprah: You know, we had heard — the world, those of us out here reading the things or hearing the things — that it was you and Harry who didn’t want Archie to have a prince title. So, you’re telling me that is not true?

Meghan: No, and it’s not our decision to make, right?

Oprah: Mm-hmm.

Meghan:  . . . even though I have a lot of clarity on what comes with the titles, good and bad — and from my experience, a lot of pain.

Oprah: Mm-hmm.

Meghan: I, again, wouldn’t wish pain on my child, but that is their birthright to then make a choice about.

Oprah: OK, so it feels to me like things started to change when you and Harry decided that you were not going to take the picture that had been a part of the tradition for years and . . . 

Meghan: We weren’t asked to take a picture. That’s also part of the spin, that was really damaging. I thought, ‘Can you just tell them the truth? Can you say to the world you’re not giving him a title, and we want to keep him safe, and that if he’s not a prince, then it’s not part of the tradition? Just tell people, and then they’ll understand?’

It's all about control.

Standing up to institutional racism

Hugely sad for the RF. That interview will come back to haunt Harry, I think.

Nith, But they've got millions already. I can't believe that they're scraping around to pay for security

Read on another thread that they are supposed to have somewhere between 10 million[not sure whether dollars or pounds] and 40 million.
Archie security apparently costs 2 million a year. Their money will run out at some point.

Meghan remind me of the entitled uni graduates who expect to be paid £££ as their first salary and only pick and chose the interesting tasks

Precisely. Her comments “I wrote letters saying use me, I’m here for you” will have gone down badly. You don’t join a firm and within days start emailing the CEO insisting they put you on the best jobs with your most valuable clients, put you front and centre on the company brochure and keep you abreast of hourly developments. You keep your head down, earn respect and work your way up. It’s what we have all done in our careers, surely.

She didn’t understand that at all.

Unless they basically wanted to make some money and raise their profile in the US, they haven't really achieved anything. I suspect there may be a lot of people who, like me, were team Meghan till this interview. I was quite impressed with what I heard of her previously, and I thought she could bring a breath of fresh air into the RF. I also felt our papers, particularly ones like the Mail, were treating her atrociously. But really, doing a soft-touch easy interview with Oprah which is full of "poor me" stuff and whinges about stupid things like wanting a title and more money from FIL just makes me impatient with both of them.

@Xenia

The biggest cruel thing they did to the British people in my view was not following the convention - of a photo of the baby leaving the hospital - which is the British understand with the press . The new couple endure that and in return the press allow them some privacy. MM decided not to do that kind of thing and of course that is her legal right but it comes with consequences. The couple can go on the media if they want but then cannot complain that the media writes about them.

They could instead had settled in an English village near an army base and Harry could have had a career on £25k a year in the army or something along those lines or they could have gone to the US and lives off her acting earnings.

My understanding is that they were not asked to do the photo thingy

On the title thing, surely the child becomes more of a target with one than without? Is she really saying she didn’t do the post-birth photo because he didn’t have a title?

I’d have preferred her to say “I had just given birth, the last thing I wanted was to do my hair, put on make-up and pose for the press.”

That is what people would have understood and sympathised with actually. Not some fabrication about titles and “no-one told me”.

"maybe they wanted to tell their truth".

"Their" being the operative word

The biggest cruel thing they did to the British people in my view was not following the convention

Yes, for me this is where it took a nose dive. The RF know that you have to come out and smile snd wave to their subjects for a few minutes, get it out the way, then get back to what you are doing privately. If they don’t do that the Brits take this as a massive snub and start questioning their relevance. If you look at Wills he despised the press as a teen then learnt how to deal with them. Make nice, throw them a fish and you have them onside.

H went along with M’s wishes and the press and its readers viewed this as a “screw you” British plebs. That’s how I view their secret wedding. It’s a FU peasants. This is why a lot of people no longer like them.

What is it she said at the end “life is about stories, the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we believe”.

Never a truer word.

@Justcallmebebes

"maybe they wanted to tell their truth".

"Their" being the operative word

Yes absolutely, and no less valid for that.

It was regularly said at school by teachers, 'there's three sides to every story - your side, their side, and the truth'.

They should be allowed to speak.