Harry's speech at the UN

[KatharineofAragon]

Just what is going on? Why does Harry think he is qualified to pronounce on various political matters in another country? Why is he invited and who cares what he thinks? Am I the only one thinking he is behaving like a total numpty?

If they’ve done some stupid things what are they? Apart from the OW interview? You just keep banging on about Sarah Ferguson as if that’s in any way comparable.

Unname

That's a lovely first paragraph from you. Really sweet. I am not being facetious or sarky. I mean it.

Thank you for your questions. As for the last paragraph. No I don't think that. I'm not sure what you mean by 'keeping all of the benefits'.
What are they?
All of the benefits would mean to me, being funded by the taxpayer. They aren't.
All of the benefits would mean keeping Frogmore for when they want it without paying. They don't. They pay a commercial rent on it.

Security... I think they should get it. It's going to be rare for it happen, once a year maybe and I just think he should.

I don';t loathe the rest of the family, why would you say that? I don't like the RF as an Institution anymore, that much is true, but it's not personal at all. I feel sorry for them if anything, because the whole RF thing is fading, and when the Queen dies, it's going to be very different. The institution is archaic and needs revising.

I have my views on H&M and why I am on these threads but I know to my cost, if I point out my views on it I get flamed, and it can be very unpleasant. Needless to say I think the best thing ever was for them to leave, there was too much of a clash of cultures, it was never going to work. And I think W&K have been protected at the expense of H&M. And I think the RF could've done more with regard to the MSM. That's all I'm going to say on that.

I wish that the H and M fan club would just admit that without their titles they would be of very limited interest .

Off topic but what happened to the 40 at 40 initiative that M announced ?

Because I don't agree. Fan club lol... is that meant to be an insult?!

They will still be called Prince Harry and even Princess Meghan by those in the US with or without titles. Or Duchess Meghan.
And Harry will always be either grandson, son or brother of the UK Monarch.
Nothing would change, they are far too well known.

Do you think it’s right that they make money off the back of their titles? Having left the country to be independent and make their own money, why are they using their titles to gain access to money making ventures? No one would give a fig what either of them thought about anything without the titles. Harry talks about his mother ad infinitum and trashes his family . Meghan writes Harrys painfully rambling and dull speeches. We assume. He doesn’t know anything about the subjects he speaks about , he’s like a performing parrot.

At the UN event he looked like he would preferred to be having root canal treatment than standing preaching to an ( almost) empty room .

'Do you think it’s right that they make money off the back of their titles?'

The answer trotted out will be 'they all do' 🥱. Missing the point spectacularly that Harry flounced as he couldn't hack the demands and the pecking order. So you would think he would want to be Mr not Prince. But we all know, well most know, he's a walking mass of contradictions.

I think he looks absolutely miserable a lot of the time. (I know you disagree Rousette and think he’s blissfully happy)
All the fun and humour is gone. We are left with an angry, exhausted looking man who is dead behind the eyes. How could he possibly be happy when he’s alienated his whole family apart from Eugenie and the Queen? I don’t think he thought through the impact of the things he has said about the family at all. Now he possibly realises there is no going back. His brother does not know his children. His father has met them both once in the last three years . Judging by the body language at the Jubilee Zara , Mike and Peter have no time for him either. He has burned all his boats.
I used to feel quite affectionate towards him. I think he’s behaved disgracefully. He’s not the same man anymore .

He looked to me as if had a cold or something. He wasn’t himself and looked tired and shoddy.

I think what you’ve said is very true but it doesn’t make me happy.

I agree. He looks empty. However I try to be aware that such photos may be chosen purposely.

@Roussette I can understand all of that.

I think they could have had a different experience with leaving if they had discussed it with the Queen rather than announcing it without any prior discussion. But they certainly knew the commercial enterprises and deals in which they planned to engage would never have been approved.

It seems to me that trading those things - security, funding, honorary titles in exchange for being able to do whatever they like is not the worst deal. They just seemed surprised that they would be required to give anything up at all.

Re the commercial rent, the general public could not rent Frogmore at any price, so they still retain access in that sense.

I think they could have had a different experience with leaving if they had discussed it with the Queen rather than announcing it without any prior discussion

They had no choice as it had been leaked, which has been covered on these threads before.

The commercial rent is what they pay to be able to come over to Frogmore. So I agree, they pay to be able to access it.

Thanks for understanding certain points I make

They had no choice as it had been leaked, which has been covered on these threads before.

This doesn't foot with me. They obviously talked about it with far too many people before their own family. If you want to be respectful you don't start something like this by talking to Disney and Netflix first.

Do you have a source for that, because I haven't read that at the time it was happening.
As I understand it, someone leaked they were talking of leaving and they had to hastily put out a statement. I cannot go back and link to that but it seemed to be from all sides that that was what happened.

Going off at a bit of a tangent - but in Scotland there is a wonderful post known as QLTR - which is short for Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer.

isn’t that magnificent?

i always used to picture the Crown Estate Commissioners wearing black velvet Tudor costumes, with white ruffs and carrying the Queen in a sedan chair.

don’t ask me why. I was in my 20s and learning about Scots Law, which can be a bit dry.

While their titles cannot be removed without an Act of Parliament, they can voluntarily decide to renounce them.

it’s an important distinction to make.

otherwise it sounds like they are forced to keep their titles, which is not true.

From very early on they were making plans to leave. I can’t remember th specifics now but didn’t they register a website and start looking at merchandising ideas?

I feel very sad for Harry. I think he’s made an absolute mess of his life. No envy and no gloating, just incredulity that he’s been so stupid. In his position, family are probably the only people you can really trust. He’s turned himself into a performing monkey.

He has a lovely home and two beautiful children, but they have boxed themselves into a corner.

It might be my imagination. I just remember the scrambling.
I guess it's possible they had no plans for income prior to leaving.

I don't care if Peter Philips does tacky foreign adverts. The point is we know none of his personal opinions about anything apart from his admiration for his mother. He doesn't write tell all books or appear in damaging interviews.

A company (Peter Phillips) owned also miraculously won the tender to provide picnics to the public invited to an event during a Royal event a few years ago

Actually it didn't "win" anything, since the contract wasn't put out to tender; it was simply handed to him, very possibly after a few words with grandma

A thought, though, on the thing about why Harry should give up his title when Andrew hasn't: isn't it Harry and his wife who profess to have huge insight into fairness, compassion, empathy and all the rest - something which Andrew has (for once, fortunately) never banged on and on about?

And if it is, might it not be considered a trailblazing example for him to take a lead in doing exactly that? Were it not for the Netflix paycheck, he might even be able to persuade us that all those claimed principles matter more than money, which really would be a novelty for the RF

in Scotland there is a wonderful post known as QLTR - which is short for Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer

Isn’t that magnificent?

Not really, no

But it might draw the sting a bit if - as with so many of these ridiculous "positions" - it turns they merely get a butt of malmsey or something for doing it

A thought, though, on the thing about why Harry should give up his title when Andrew hasn't: isn't it Harry and his wife who profess to have huge insight into fairness, compassion, empathy and all the rest - something which Andrew has (for once, fortunately) never banged on and on about?

And if it is, might it not be considered a trailblazing example for him to take a lead in doing exactly that? Were it not for the Netflix paycheck, he might even be able to persuade us that all those claimed principles matter more than money, which really would be a novelty for the RF

You mean, align their words with their actions and practise what they preach? I don't think they are ready for that yet they still think we don't know how they make their money

I think the Queen got a good deal on that as they paid for the renovations £2.4M

Someone somewhere got shafted since that £2.4m also included an undisclosed sum for eighteen months 'market rent'. V. interested to know whether that someone was HMQ or the taxpayer.

As for Peter Phillips and his sainted sister I've said it before on these threads but they milk their royal connections so hard it's a wonder their hands don't fall off. But it goes under the radar because their mother was smart enough not to saddle them with fairy tale titles.