*Objectively, there’s mud slinging from both sides. The palace has unwisely, imo, with its rather narrow preoccupation with itself, chosen to pick another fight with another royal wife.
Last time, no matter how many stones they threw nothing could dim the popularity of Diana, indeed the more they threw, the more popular she became.*
Ok let's break that down.
What evidence do you have that the Palace has chosen to "pick a fight" with M (and H) because all the evidence (not gossip) suggests the reverse.
H&M took the "gloves off" in boxing terminology when they made their exit statement public and have been throwing punches ever since.
Every statement from the Palace has tried to cool the temperature.
The only "barely" contentious statement has been about public service and frankly I think the Palace and Michelle Obama got that right.
We've discussed the bullying investigation to death on here and again that's not picking a fight. It's the Palace who come out worse than anyone on this. Yes there's "stories" about M but there's evidence about the Palace categorically failing in their duty of care as an employer.
Ok - Diana.
Can we all just cut through the myth here. She wasn't a saint nor a sinner.
She was adept at manipulating the press when it suited her and playing victim when it didn't.
The Palace didn't have to throw stories "at her". She managed to supply the media with a lot of stories herself - anyone still remember how bloody dignified Julia Carling was? The Hasnat Khan affair?
It absolutely wasn't the case at the time of her becoming more popular whatever the press "threw" at her.
A lot of people seem to have total amnesia about her in the sense the tragedy of her death has only left the legacy of the (what I found as a late teen at the time) bizarre public outpouring of grief about a woman who wasn't actually universally "loved" and "Queen of Hearts" until she'd died.
If the Diana "loved/victim" trope is something H&M are buying into then that's very worrying because it's a viewpoint that's insured by the heavily rose tinted glasses of the past than the reality at the time.
And now the isolated Duchess has found support in powerful black American women - Oprah, Gayle King and even Michelle Obama. No-one could have predicted that.
Has she found support though? Sure in terms of the former she's been provided a huge platform but that comes at the price that it's a relationship that's to the benefit of two extremely savvy businesswomen - both who unlike M have known real suffering and hardship.
As for MO I think her comments were pretty neutral. She's a class act and it's not surprising she's not weighing in on this - rather she's cleverly using it to articulate her core values about service and family without condoning or condemning anyone.
This is not a fight the palace can win. If they had more enlightened PR they would be well advised to retreat from a squabble they should never have indulged in from the start.
You're assuming the Palace even want a fight. They don't - it's not in their interests.
They didn't "start" this fight in the public eye. H&M did. The Palace seem to be doing everything from a PR perspective to get out of the boxing ring while H&M keep pulling punch after punch.
Either way, to hear discussion of racism within the royal family as ‘not a complete surprise’ is far from ideal from their perspective.
Referring to MO again. I think you've misunderstood what she said.
Quote: "Race isn't a new construct in this world for people of colour, and so it wasn’t a complete surprise to hear her feelings and to hear them articulated.”
Of course that's not ideal. As I posted earlier perhaps the only "good" thing about this situation is that it's raised awareness and brought home some very uncomfortable truths about racism (as well as other issues such a dynastic wealth, privilege, the media, bullying etc).
The mess the palace has now got itself into is entirely self-inflected.
Perhaps but I think you underestimate the self inflicted "mess" and its consequences for H&M. I'd put the scales being pretty balanced at this point.