I wonder if reconciliation is possible?

[sunnyblackwidow]

With Prince Philip now gone, the queen not as robust as she once was and grieving her loss, Prince Charles looked distraught today, Harry with a new baby on the way, memories of Diana's funeral today....I wonder if now isn't the perfect time for them to just all get together show their love for each other and clear the air (perhaps without Meghan's presence as she seems to inflame things).

I think it'll be telling how long Harry chooses to stay in the UK before he returns to the US (a clear indication of whether he's willing to hang around for a little while to mend fences or rush back home to Meghan and Oprah and Gail) I really wish the best for them all, family is everything but I'm not holding my breath.

Meghan was doing pretty well for herself before Harry came on the scene, her star was in the ascendant and she would have gone to do even better. She gave up a heck of a lot for him.

I don’t agree. Suits was by far the biggest thing she had done. Was it likely, as a relatively mediocre actress on a successful but not exactly a hit show (yes, a big achievement, most actors never get anywhere near that) that she’d go on to bigger and better things, in her late 30s? She had a successful blog and a boyfriend who was well known in Toronto, was friends with Jessica Mulroney - IOW she was a medium sized fish in a smallish pond.

I think it’s accepted that HMQ offered her the opportunity to continue her career (as Sophie Winkleman, admittedly a much lower-profile member of the RF, has done. MM wanted to be a FT royal - fine, that was her decision, and a perfectly reasonable one. But she wasn’t exactly Katharine Hepburn or Judi Dench career material.

I agree with @MissLathbury.
She was coming to the end of her time with Suits, in a notoriously fickle and ageist industry. She had a rented home and seemed more than happy to pack up and move to the UK.
I thought it interesting that Harry referred in the Oprah interview that it had been suggested by the Palace that Meghan should earn her own living, whereas previously it had been made known that the Queen had thought she might like to continue her career. Two very different slants.

@LouiseBelchersBunnyEars I agree. As someone who moved to another country to marry someone from a different culture , I can testify how hard it is. People warned me but I knew better. Being pregnant made me crave the familiarity of home. I did think when watching her talk about how low she felt when pregnant with H was down to that. I could relate to those feelings- not the suicidal ones but I certainly went through a long phase where I cried every day.

MM was misled by Harry as to what working in the RF entailed. He knew it was about commitment and duty and standing in the rain to talk to the little people. It wasn't going to be her thing and good on her for deciding to back out and move to where she would be happier. I just wish she hadn't gone public to OW - the only winner in that interview was Oprah.

I can't decide if she was misled or just didn't listen thinking she could change stuff.

The half in / half out I guess they'd have been happy to do the glamour stuff, like fancy banquets and wave from the balcony, the stuff that would keep their profile high, while skipping the mundane visits that few know about.
High profile would pay off from their business point but the Royal boardroom saw right through their plan!

What is both sad and chilling is that h and m have completely reproduced the situation they were in with Thomas Markle. They couldn't reach out to reconcile with him for fear he would go straight to the media. Now this is how they are perceived by Harry's family. Meghan has become her father.

exactly StartupRepair.

What is both sad and chilling is that h and m have completely reproduced the situation they were in with Thomas Markle. They couldn't reach out to reconcile with him for fear he would go straight to the media.* Now this is how they are perceived by Harry's family.*
Meghan has become her father.

Armchair psychology based on tabloid tittle tattle clickbait for gullibles.

MM may live rent-free in your head but you aren't in hers. You don't know H&M or TM or the RF personally.

Tomorrow there'll likely be another bit of juicy clickbait news based on some unfounded rumour, or fiction. More sales and views, more fodder for the armchair bullies wishing ill on a couple, specifically the woman.

Smart move to go to America they'd need security to the hilt here as some really have lost the plot (& made up their own fantasy plot too) regarding them.

Even PM who flogs a story to death, has shut up about MM (at least for now).

I don't think Meghan was misled, but actually living something is quite different to hearing about it. She is not the first person to become unstuck in that situation. It's sad but I do hope they are happy and work out some plan for their future, wherever it is. When all the Covid restrictions are lifted, it will be easier for them to move forward. I believe any 'rifts' with Harry's family will eventually heal.

I admire your optimism @Maggiesfarm, but I fear it is misguided.

Armchair psychology based on tabloid tittle tattle clickbait for gullibles. MM may live rent-free in your head but you aren't in hers. You don't know H&M or TM or the RF personally. Tomorrow there'll likely be another bit of juicy clickbait news based on some unfounded rumour, or fiction. More sales and views, more fodder for the armchair bullies wishing ill on a couple, specifically the woman. Smart move to go to America they'd need security to the hilt here as some really have lost the plot (& made up their own fantasy plot too) regarding them.

The thing is, you say this isn’t true. But how do you know with confidence that this isn’t true? This is your own perception and it is as likely as anyone else’s POV.

I used to like the Royals and now I just can’t. Wish them all the best with whatever happens but I’m no longer interested. This recent crazy couple stuff with Oprah - nope. Done.

@StartupRepair

What is both sad and chilling is that h and m have completely reproduced the situation they were in with Thomas Markle. They couldn't reach out to reconcile with him for fear he would go straight to the media. Now this is how they are perceived by Harry's family. Meghan has become her father.

Wasn't Meghan's father being media managed by Jason Knauf, at the time his media went off piste? Isn't it said that Knauf gave the letter to the media? And Knauf's been awarded by becoming one of William's executives?

Knauf helped wrote the letter and there are suggestions he may have even suggested it be written.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/18/meghan-markle-sought-advice-from-two-royals-over-estranged-father

mobile.twitter.com/pagantrelawney/status/1367005763365974019?lang=en

Going back to the obsession with MM on Royal Family threads (which I compared to the trans obsession on FWR threads, it is the only subject that generates multiple posts and threads). I continue wonder why she elicits such a voluminous and visceral response.

Even if every bad thing reported about MM was true, every red top rumour, suggestion and made-up story, every blind gossip nonsense, every armchair psychologists speculation was all true. Even then, what has she done that is so very bad? She is not Myra Hindley or Rose West. She is just a fallible human being, probably as much a mix of good and flawed as all of us on this thread. What is it that rouses such ire that people just can't let it go?

She generates the obsession which is what is fascinating. She sees herself as a victim. Her perception of herself is so at odds with what the RF see and what 50% of thepublic see, that that incongruity is what fuels the comments.

@SelkieIntegrated genuine question - how do you know what her perception of herself is? That seems like quite a deep thing to know about a family member or a close friend, it seems to me a stretch to think you can beso familiar with the inner mental life of a woman you have never met. I think many of us (most?) struggle with a true understanding of our own self-perception, let alone a complete strangers.

But perhaps that is the answer - she is the blank canvas onto which posters can project.

Taking the 'blank canvas' idea forward - why has MM been selected as the recipient of this? Out of all the other Royals (and celebs), she has been used as the recipient of posters' projections of their inner views, feelings, discontents and cultural values.

It's interesting that any views anti-Sussex are lampooned as "clickbate"; "gullible" and posted by "armchair psychologists" who read the "tabloids"

Can we therefore assume that the Sussex Squad have personal knowledge denied to the common herd? Or where does their information come from - including their knowledge of how flawed the Cambridges are?

What is it that rouses such ire that people just can't let it go?

Good question. I wish I knew. Again and again I've seen on these threads (even on this one)I see that some people have her down as a scheming hussy who as stolen a Prince, our Prince. How dare she!
He had no say in it of course... but her feminine wiles and obsessions lured her in. He is now the equivalent of comatose of course, whilst she spins her evil web. He has no say in anything according to some.
Which is beyond ridiculous of course.

She sees herself as a victim
Of everything said about her, I really think this couldn't be further from the truth. She comes across to me as a strong empowered woman and I think that's too much for some. Royal women should be servile and accepting of everything. They have to toe the line, never bring forward new ideas about anything, never suggest changes, keep the status quo.

Out of all the other Royals (and celebs), she has been used as the recipient of posters' projections of their inner views, feelings, discontents and cultural values.

So much this. I think that is because she is of a different culture, a different working background, a troublesome family background, different ethnicity... there is so much to fuel the fire.

I think Selkie is right. MM often presents herself as a victim. But she also presents herself as a wise, powerful source of strength in the world (often in quite grandiose terms). She & Harry lecture others on how to behave while appearing to ignore the same advice themselves. There is real dissonance between what they say and how they behave.

@SelkieIntegrated

She generates the obsession which is what is fascinating. She sees herself as a victim. Her perception of herself is so at odds with what the RF see and what 50% of thepublic see, that that incongruity is what fuels the comments.

I agree.

@Roussette

Not flimsy at all.... *@Skiptheheartsandflowers*

Here is the thread. This is the one if I remember correctly. You need to read the whole thing, there's 700 posts.

Plus on the 'Harry is better than Andrew' point. Agreed, but - low bar or what??

I am shocked at that statement

No, it is not a low bar. You need to read up about Andrew... try his Wiki page for starters....
Corruption, Arms sales and Kazaksthan
Sunninghill sale for £3M more than it was worth to a dodgy ME billionaire
Backhanders and corruption
Sex allegations, friendship with a convicted paedophile

Yet you put Harry in the same category...

@Roussette - I can only assume you've misunderstood 'low bar'. As in: it's a low bar to get over (i.e. incredibly easy) to be better than Andrew. Which I agree Harry is. I've just checked that I'm not the only person to use this expression, and I'm not idioms.thefreedictionary.com/setting+a+low+bar and other posters seemed to understand.

You seem to have thought I was comparing them, and also that I was questioning how bad Andrew is, which I wasn't at all. I'd said twice in earlier posts he was disgusting. I did not put Harry in the same category. I also said earlier that you tended to retract if you were shown you were mistaken about something...

It's shit that people minimise the idea of child sexual exploitation. That doesn't happen on 'every story about Andrew' thankfully. I don't read Andrew themed threads. My opinion of him is formed at its current low level and is unlikely to change without the FBI being involved further. I do read Sussex threads and the references I see are from people saying exactly what's been said here, i.e. one side says 'what about Andrew?' other posters say 'he's awful.. we know, what's the point of the comparison?' Same here. Except when someone doesn't get your metaphor.

No, I think the only thing that fuelled the fire was that she and Harry didn’t just leave - they left acrimoniously and won’t let things lie.

All the negative coverage of the baby shower/bump/messages on bananas stuff would have calmed down and they could have been very, very popular and done a lot of good for not only charities but the rf’s image as a whole.

But I think M soon realised she’d been sold a pup and that a lot of royal work is incredibly dreary and boring and, worse, she was trailing behind Kate Middleton from whom it seems she had received a frosty reception and was now full-blown dislike.

When it was laid bare that no, you don’t get to live in Windsor Castle and no, you have to open community centres in Grimsby then that was it. Emergency exit plan.

Except the exit plan still involved being royal and not being Mr and Mrs Sussex in the back woods of Canada (which is what I think Harry had envisaged - or being King of Botswana).

@MissLathbury

I think Selkie is right. MM often presents herself as a victim. But she also presents herself as a wise, powerful source of strength in the world (often in quite grandiose terms). She & Harry lecture others on how to behave while appearing to ignore the same advice themselves. There is real dissonance between what they say and how they behave.

I agree and think Harry has been bad in this respect. He's failed ever to take responsibility for and properly discuss his own racist past, making a brief mention of how he's 'done the work' then expecting others to be lectured by him. The 'poor me, I've been cut off from my money for being a working royal now I said I wanted not to be a working royal and I've only got the many millions in the bank my mum left me' was I think where a lot of people who weren't that bothered got irked and rightly so.

a strong empowered woman What does that mean?