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[susan12345678]

With another podcast set for release this week, The Sunday Times has a piece addressing Harry and Meghan's apparent strategy:

Courtiers are bemused by the Sussexes’ determination to rage against the past. As Davis observed of Meghan in her article: “She has taken a hardship and turned it into content.” A source who knows the Sussexes questions why Meghan “is constantly looking back at how awful it was to briefly be a royal. What does success look like, is it a number in the bank? Is it that they’ve killed off the monarchy?” Another Palace source says: “Ultimately they are bashing the institution that has put them in the position they’re in, the longevity of that strategy is not sustainable.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/harry-and-meghan-keep-bashing-the-monarchy-because-its-good-business-royals-believe-nq29p6g7z

I'm curious about their strategy, too. They seem to think that criticizing the royal makes them look better - it really doesn't. Instead, it just makes them look petty and increasingly irrelevant.

@StickywithSuncream - I completely agree with you, not sure why you put my quote in? She's toxic and race has little to do with it

Lol 😆

You’re more than welcome to say what you like - just like I’m free to share that using certain phrases should be avoided. I have had people shouting me (I work in public facing environment) and it is absolutely unpleasant. I hope you found a way to let her go - she sounded like she was really challenging to manage.

Thank you . She was a nightmare . I am now retired so she became someone else’s problem !

@Serenster I can't quote your post as in the app and there is already a quote within it but I really do think that is an excellent summary of how women marrying into the RF have been and are treated as standard.

I went back and had a look at what Don lemon had said, and it’s quite interesting what he said about Maria too, Do they market her as a Black woman? Do they market her as a mixed woman? Do they or as a white woman? They didn’t really know how to do it this is so interesting ,
i think In the US and most places there are so many boxes and stereotypes POC and minorities are put in.
I
you can be a successful POC as long as you act Black/Latino /Asian/Arab and stick to these labels.

i think it’s a very interesting topic MM but the delivery and flow of the discussion was so lacking,
what Don Lemon said imo had more impact.

Examining my motives for my dislike of this pair, I always go when reading the posts on these threads believe it or not , I really do think that what leaves the bad taste in my mouth is mainly the timing of all this. Prince Phillip dying and clearly now the queen is in such poor health. The dreadful stress of all this on two such elderly people must have been hard to bear and I very much hope that QE is being protected from the worst of it.

What a fabulous post @Serenster

Misogyny at the heart of a lot of the reporting. I don’t think the male married ins get anywhere near as much negative publicity.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

😀Sorry!

Yes, we’re on the same page here. Just me not noticing it only quoted you.

I too thought Serenster’s post was an excellent summary. I can remember the teenage Lady Helen Windsor being called Lady ‘Melons’ Windsor in some papers - you can guess why

it has occurred to me to wonder if HMQ has sat firmly down at Balmoral, too frail to return, so she is not at Windsor when Harry and Meghan are ?

See I actually agree with you that the RF are bullshitting with this too. But I would turn it around and say well then why should H&M be given a free pass to do the same, while simultaneously criticising the RF? You can't have it both ways - so you are part of the royal elite institution, and all the titles and unearned privileges that come with that, but you can't then try and claim some victimhood and egalitarianism along side that, because people will criticise the hypocrisy.

And of course Harry, Charles and Andrew are far worse in their behaviour and entitlement than their chosen spouses, but will be defended by the institution regardless because that's the whole point of born rank and privilege - you get it no matter what. I imagine they would love to banish Andrew and never hear from him again, but they are stuck with him because he has been born into their ranks, so they do what they can to tolerate him, because it's in their interest to do so. Whereas the spouses are expendable.

Brilliant post @Serenster

Perhaps we can agree that there are all of the factors you mention which come into some of the discourse of Meghan and not solely one (racism)drives the narrative.

I remember this as well. It was really awful.

Plus, around the same time, the prurient intrusion into Marina Ogilvie’a love life (shock, horror, she had a love child out of wedlock the slag).

And Fergie was relentlessly hounded for being ‘fat and frumpy’ at the same time as Diana was slated for being a too-thin ‘clothes horse’ - ie a shallow and vapid spend-thrift.

The Royal males get the occasional dig, especially Charles (as he dares to voice views that challenge the right-wing values the tabloids, especially the Mail, push), but it’s never ever been anything like as bad for them as it has been for the women.

It goes back decades.

Agree with this and @Serenster ’s post .

I do think there's some cultural elements at play as well - the very California esque 'speaking my truth' navel gazing just really doesn't sit well with the British public in general, particularly when pitted against the head down and get on with it of the RF (mostly the Queen).
Which is why it's hilarious how Harry is now ingratiating himself into that woke world of liberal elites in the US, he is from one of the most archaic, hierarchical institutions imaginable, but still tries to be one of them.

I think Meghan Markles commentary since she left her royal duties behind have as much relevance to the issues we as a nation face today as Mary Ann aged 10 who is my neighbour. In fact Mary Ann has a better handle on it. We face unprecedented issues of poverty, we have an irrelevant government, an energy crisis, a staffing crisis, nhs crisis and humanitarian crises all across the globe. Meghan me me is just that. Irrelevant.

Ooh you must have read and be emulating her Cut interview... All those coy and choreographed 'knowing glances away' and darting eyes being cast hitherto am dram fashion, none of which impressed the journalist. Come back when she and you want to talk like grown up, 😂

Great posts, @Serenster and @skullbabe .

Ofcourse other royal married in ladies have been treated like sh*t, but that does not make it right and should not go on.

It is expected that a little pop would be taken here and there, but there are some outright made up nonsense about MM. To me she did try to toe the line, but something was constantly made up at one point or another.

She avoided what others were critiqued for- unjustifiable I may add, but still the umbrage kept on coming in.

For other royals, people felt justified :
Camilla - seen as a home wrecker who made Diana's life hell
Fergie - a toe sucking saga (none of our business since her marriage was going down the drain, presumably)
Sophie - tricked into a cash for access saga (so what, it was a complicated sting/ trip operation , yet there is no outrage when Prince Michael does it and we are shown a video even. Let alone Charles and his own involvements)
Kate - seemed to have indeed waited for year to marry W (so what?)

I will point out the disparities between the treatment of other royals and H&M, but I do not go into posts after endless posts about them as I do recognise they were treated unfairly.

It's inexcusable to talk about their weight, class etc.

In my view, people on here keep saying that MM was naive, and should have known. Known what exactly ? That the rf themselves are the ones who throw you under the bus? That they are happy to defend others, but not her? That there would be racim? (well maybe, but no one could have predicted this scale of it, not even H). Others keep on saying H should have prepared her.

I can see that conversation :
H: you know you will be attacked by the press, even for the mundane (maybe H shows her or drags up past issues like weight etc.)
MM : yeah no problem, got it. Stay away from cash for access; will watch my weight as I always do; can't really help my class and heritage, but you know what people nowadays are more open minded and informed, so don't really see how much trouble this all will be, but get it ,it will come up occasionally. Just looking forward to us shearing the good causes on a wider platform.

How wrong they were !

They probably didn't anticipate that other things will be blown up this hard - to make front page? really ? We want critique on the government on the front pages, not some gossip about the rf members.
While we are happy with the press putting a royal charity centre stage on the front pages, we are also happy to point out valid 'crimes' like cash for access, involvement with the Kremlin or Bin laden and any other serious issue. Don't make a big thing about H&M flying private - whilst sticking to their travelyst ideals - which you don't mention I may add, while at the same time keeping mute about other royals also flying private (and probably not eleven offsetting)

To say MM is treated with kid gloves is laughable.

Don’t you think it’s about morality? She seems to have no moral compass whilst professing all the time how incredibly empathetic she is. She has absolutely nothing to offer beyond a pretty face . Her speeches are vacuous self serving rubbish. She does nothing worthwhile with her time apart from to try and feather her own nest. The ‘charity ‘ work she does is either to raise her own profile, requiring minimum input, or it’s performative.

People feel angry that a woman living in a mansion with a rich husband and titles can only spend her time complaining, criticising and causing division in Harry’s family. They have so much to be thankful for, but the pair of them show no awareness at all of this. It’s absolutely sickening actually.

*Lots of spell check mistakes, apologise, but you read the thread, so please don't latch on to that and make a big deal out of it. I let spell mistakes pass, as I know the subject matter and know people use different devices which can lead to this.

Thanks

We're all the same though, the only thing skin tone indicates is what climate our ancestors lived in. We're all flawed and we're all wrong sometimes, we can all be misguided and selfish at times. Meghan and Harry are no different, both are a little spoiled and over indulged and neither of them seem to be able to move past the fact that they were unable to monetize their RF connection whilst still working for them. They're hypocrites, a lot of people are sometimes, but you can only hold on to bitterness for so long before it becomes self indulgence. The traits and characteristics they're highlighting in their public lives is painting a very negative picture of themselves and it makes it very hard to like them.

There has been some appalling racism in connection with Meghan, but most people are outraged by that and backlash against these things shows most people are not inherently racist, but neither are they fooled by the pretence that M&H are only interested in fame as a platform to help people.

I hate racism on principal and will call it out if I see/hear it even if I dislike the person it's aimed at. I can still be critical of someone and defend them against racism.

@SilverLiningPlaybook Yes, there's a truth to that. Kate at least got what she wanted and does the royal thing with amazing skill and finesse. But she at least had a general idea of what she was pursuing whereas I think for M it was a complete shock to the system. She should have been better briefed. Not to make too fine a point of it but when you're navigating the world as a Black woman the onus is really on you to understand that the world will be hostile to you, so you act accordingly. E.g planning a holiday for me is a lot more than just picking a nice looking destination. As is moving house - schools & shops are the least of my worries. M should have been briefed that she's basically going to be looked at as some sort of underworld alien in these types of spheres. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't have the stones for it. Harsh lessons all round.