Revenge - by Tom Bower

[TideTimeSea]

As the other thread has filled up I wondered if anyone would like to discuss the book here. I’m listening to it on Audible now.

You know I don't think Meghan is in any way criminal. But I wouldn't confide in her. Small talk only.

You're talking rot. Find one nasty thing I've written about PH, MM or anyone on this thread.

@Roussette

her Oprah interview was the turning point for me. I can understand her feeling angry and frustrated, but she went on TV and lied. This to me was spiteful behaviour.

Sometimes you have to sit on your hands. It was supposed to be a launch to a wonderful life, but it backfired badly. They would have been far better off leaving with grace, they’d still have a lot more fans (including me)

Since you do not actually know her, it would be weird if you confided in her. How would you do it anyway? Send a letter to Meghan Markle, California?

So sad. He almost died as a result of trying to help people with clean water issues. He seemed like such a lovely man who overcame that awful start he had where he was ridiculed. He showed huge strength of character.

Oh piffle. I just wrote this really good post (well, I thought so anyway!) in reply to 'ohnonevermind' (It was nice honest!) and I've lost it.
I give up. 😂

I do think we can say that Darius was a brilliant bloke, AND Meghan isn't the spawn of the devil either. One doesn't cancel out the other.

No. Meghan isn't evil or anything close to it. She's just a normal flawed human being. Why pretend otherwise.

I can sort of understand why they did the interview, though. And I do wonder if she actually ended up saying more then she meant to. Oprah is such a good interviewer, never challenging her, always encouraging her with oops and aahs. When you think you're doing a good job and the interviewer is agreeing with everything, it's so easy to say more and even embellish. I think they had a lot of sympathy after that over her suicidal thoughts and the racism claim. I think that when that support started to slip was when PH had spoken to PC or PW on the phone and they immediately rang Gail King and repeated everything to her. It's not like they said a lot, but it's just the fact they were happy to dish on his own family.

I've never said different. Of course she is flawed, we all are. She may be more flawed than most, who knows.
But it's a bit different saying she's just flawed, as opposed to not being able to trust her as far as you can throw her and she isn't nice. I don't know her. I have no idea.

MM has many great characteristics - your Nemesis Tom Bower acknowledged it too @Roussette 🤣

many great people are flawed. Some of the best people are flawed (Mozart/George michael) but other flawed people are a bit shit (Donald Trump) - but they’re never boring !

Meghan has good and bad characteristics, she’s human. Each of us attribute different weight to different characteristics. Each of our opinions are equally different and equally valid.

'Oprah is such a good interviewer, never challenging her, always encouraging her with oops and aahs'

Ah yes. I thought it was a sycophantic pile of crap but maybe you're right she lulled them into a false sense of security so they'd dig themselves into a massive hole. If she'd have probed and challenged H may have got his back up and stopped blabbing.

Are we gonna compare MM to Trump now? Quite a stretch.

William told Roya Nikka about the conversation, which Gail asked Harry about and he told her the truth that things are not going well.
The British media then maliciously turned this to Harry is giving the press private conversation.

There's a group of 4 guys on MN (I can't remember their name) and they were analysing PH on the Apple show that he did with Oprah about mental health. I, too, had thought that Oprah had just softballed them but I realised from watching their analysis on how she handled PH, just how good she was. At one point PH started to talk about his family and it looked like he was going in quite hard and she gently stopped him with an apparent clarifying question but in fact it actually broke his focus and she led him off in another direction. She was so neat how she did it.
It was really kind of her, not letting him expose himself, but very professional and appropriate. My appreciation of her skills really rose. I guess those years of OW shows really paid off.

@notanotheroneagain

not at all, perhaps my point was a little too Sophisticated for some 😆

sophisticated 😂😂😂

Well you’re the one who thought I was comparing MM to Donald Trump 🤷‍♀️

I know we've covered this before but there is a difference between a conversation being confirmed as having happened and the details of said conversation being shared -Roya Nikka v Gayle King

I think the shopping snub happened when Meghan was 'just' a girlfriend and still obviously teasing the press by wearing Harry's hat, bracelet, initials etc. I imagine Kate didn't want to be part of a circus with someone Harry had been with for a few months who was playing up the attention.

I wonder if this ‘snub’ (for want of a better word) at the time James Middleton was suffering with mental health? Maybe Kate wanted time to herself. Bit of a reach of my thinking but just wondering

And thank you Rousette about my sensible 🤣 post yesterday morning - I’m not often called sensible so I’m taking that as a win 😀

Do you have proof that William told Roya anything ?

So how do “fans” explain the details about the shopping trip appearing on a Toronto gossip site ?

I should think that K was wary (or had been warned to be wary) as there was every chance of their being “papped” on a shopping trip, a photographer quite coincidentally lying in wait in the Harrods lingerie department. As I previously said, maybe it was a clash of, what could be the term, fame ideas? and M believed behind-the-scenes snippets raised her profile, or it could all be advance planning for a documentary.

Just another small review now that I'm 3/4's way through the book.

• When M first came on the scene, it gives a good timeline of events, the media did really go after her background, family, ethnicity. Things seemed to calm a little around the wedding but they really tore her up to begin with.
• Things seemed to have calmed a little around the wedding, Tom Markle notwithstanding.
• A lot of leaks seem to have come from staff, the palace, old friends, her father post wedding which started to give the media an idea of what M&H were really like.
• From then on, everything they did was ridiculed and a negative slant put on anything they said or did.
• M&H fought back and it was just a pure and utter mess, day in, day out. I am actually exhausted just reading about it.
• They were better off leaving but in my opinion they should have left the Oprah thing go, just to have some peace in their lives.
• It's sad that a couple who have a lot going for them have been embroiled in such angst since day 1, what should be a great part of their lives is just full of fighting, lawsuits, negativity. Maybe it's calmed down for them now but I don't know.
• I dunno was it worth fighting the media, I don't think they will ever truly win as it must be so impactful to their day to day lives to take on board everything that's written about them.
• Tom Bower lets himself down at times with his petty digs, e.g. MM at 5ft 5in standing next to our statuesque future queen looked rather diminished or some such snobby, nasty nonsense.
• Then you have MM saying when she was pregnant with Archie that she could feel the embryonic stirrings of feminism. That kind of stuff is not helpful to not being ridiculed either.

Anyway, I can't wait to get to the end of it, as I said, it's exhausting.

@OliviaBean

Interesting and informative. I so agree with the targeting of them and this...
"everything they did was ridiculed and a negative slant put on anything they said or did"

It is still happening now, and just lately, since their September visit has been announced, its certainly ramped up on here. But nowhere near as bad as pre wedding and after.

I agree with all your points and views on it, and I find it interesting not having read the book. You are calm and measured in your take on it.