A positive and non-bashing thread about Meghan and Harry

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

I have rejoined Mumsnet after leaving a few times. The first time I left was because I was concerned about the coverage and uncomfortable undertone of the commentary on Meghan Markle after the engagement was announced, before she had said a word, and before she had married into the Royal Family.

I came back around the time she and Harry left the UK, to be stunned by the pages and pages upon pages of virulent threads. At that time Mumsnet actually banned all threads about Meghan, it had become so toxic.

They have now made their lives in Montecito, but still the virulence continues. Yes, she speaks in a mix of therapy plus corporate gobbledegook, yes, she is occasionally vapid and irritating.

But who is she actually harming that she deserves all this virulence?

Yesterday, when the new UK Prime Minister was elected, the coverage in the Super Tory Daily Mail was all about a seven minute speech to a bunch of young people. Article after article after article. Body language experts. Counting the number of times she said "I" in a speech in which she sought to inspire young people by attempting to relate to them. Before that, 18 articles were devoted to the first podcast by the Daily Mail alone. 18!

Same with her podcasts. The series is about HER and HER take on labels, and she discusses HER take with HER guests.

It's all very anodyne, even vanilla. It does not deserve any of the vitriol sent her way.

SO:

As the next twelve weeks are going to be wall to wall Meghan, and the Meghan haters and detractors have several threads here that fill up rapidly with bile, scorn and mockery, I have started this thread, reminiscent of previous " positive" threads, to talk about what some of us like, enjoy, find amusing and even (gasp) admire, in the next few Meghan rich weeks.

If you don't have anything positive to say, that's okay, you can keep to the existing threads.

Looking forward to a bile-free discussion of everything Meghan!

Why would you do that unless you wanted to be a spiteful arsehole? The OP wanted this to be a positive thread. Why can't you have the decency to respect that? It's not like you don't already have around 10 or so threads to engage in a hatefest against them. Why not show some respect for one thread and leave us alone? Or is being as spiteful and vindictive as possible more important than respect and human decency?

I know your obsession with the Royals Really?

@Iamacatslave

Do you say this when someone starts a Meghan bashing thread? If not, why not?

@TrashyPanda

Indeed you can. As you are. Confirming to me that some will take every available opportunity for a bit of Meghan bashing!

Its them or the weather perhaps....filling the paper perhaps on a low news day. Fodder for the pages I have no idea. But yes, no one here cares any longer what they do. So a waste of time and energy reporting. Most people pass over it and would rather read about the weather or the bin collections.

If you ask people if they are interested the answer is uniform and resounding no.
I guess the media will catch up eventually and stop bothering.

If you put yourself in the public eye and voice your opinion on anything you have totally agreed to the debate and differing opinions that it will generate.

Very rarely do I see personal insults. In fact to the contrary many many posts admire her wardrobe etc

But her very public, high profile persona invite comment. I'd go so far as to say she wants it.

Sonic she makes a speech then she should expect it to be discussed.

@Festoonlights

Yesterday was a HUGE news day. New UK Prime minister and all. Yet the lead coverage was all Meghan.

I think it's more than just fodder on slow news days!

The OP wanted this to be a positive thread.

Yet it's mainly full of vitriol about people who don't like Meghan and Harry. Maybe practising what you preach would be good? As it is, it's another bashing thread, just with different targets, and looks more like virtue signalling than a genuinely positive thread.

No, I don’t think so.

The Royal Family is The Crown and the Crown is the Queen. There’s a line delivered by Q Mary in the NF series, she says something to the newly crowned Eliz like ‘I’ve seen so family RF fall because their members prioritised their own selfish interests over the crown. Don’t make that mistake. The Crown must always win’

That’s fiction, obviously, but it’s a fair reflection of reality.

As to that specific working question that Meghan has an issue with - there’s no question the Q would have played an active role in that decision.

Your gaslighting is interesting. It is full of vitriol from people who don't like Meghan and Harry, yet have to enter a positive Meghan and Harry thread and piss in it out of spite.

I like Meghan and her husband. They don't want to be surrounded by sycophants and live in a royal bubble. Fair enough.

People seem to think that the RF are like an ordinary family, but that's far from the truth. They are not popping in to see one another. If they wish to see the Queen they have to book an appointment and that can be refused. They are The Firm, a business obsessed by rules and PR.

I've met Charles in a non formal setting, completely by accident, and he was a pretty normal bloke. The RF are nothing special. They are ordinary people with an extraordinary lifestyle.

What I can't stand is the soapy promotion of Will and Kate. They are the ones I don't warm to.

If I had joined the RF I'd have struggled to cope with the formality. Imagine curtseying to your in-laws!

The media portrayal of Meghan is completely out of proportion and most of it is utter nonsense.

The thread will probably die anyway, as you have requested positive posts only and they are very thin on the ground.

What is positive about falling out in such an acrimonious way with both sides of the family and cutting yourself off - and then demanding a private life whilst also cashing in on publicity, and blatantly lying during interviews for attention.

It is very hard to dig out anything 'positive' in the ashes with all of the above taken into consideration.

All I can say, that is most definitely 'positive' for most of us: they now live thousands and thousands of miles away thank goodness, and are someone else's problem. There, now I have added helpfully to your 'positive' thread.

I am bored already...good luck op!

@CatsandFish

I am deliberately ignoring @sitandwait but thanks for your post. You have said it all!

@DreadingWinter

I am with you. They are ordinary people who are simply in their position of power and privilege through of a combination of primogeniture, longevity, and the accident of history.

The thing that gets me about it all is that the basis for becoming monarch is that your parent has to die.

It's actually pretty horrible, when you think about it because it is not a job you can actively look forward to because of what has to happen first.

No wonder its all so pretty dysfunctional.

Love Meghan and Harry ! Fantastic role models. Feel the press haven't helped Kate & William by the relentless " haven't they done well" stories that have continued to irk somewhat.. I'm sure they are hard working fairly normal people but their inability to stand up for their family against bullying but continue to champion charities that provide support for those being bullied is also confusing.

Well a stopped clock is right twice a day and he was right about this loony

@Festoonlights

I see you have not addressed my comment to you, but thanks for stopping by. See you on the Meghan bashing threads😁

Not gaslighting to point out that posters complaining of 'vitriol' don't mind deploying it themselves.

To see the only woman of colour to enter the Royal Family have to walk away sends a clear message that the British press ( Daily Fail) are trying to drown out but they can't. On a global platform the appeal and popularity of M and H is huge .. I think the whole Disney " villain and heroine" narrative the media have tried to play out between Kate and Meghan has backfired .. and looks desperate. I think she's amazing .. and I love how she dresses too !

@doubleshotcappuccino

What in your view, makes them fantastic role models? I like that they seem to be consistent in their causes, and they seem to have great rapport with young people, especially people from backgrounds you don't normally see as Royal Family fans.

I think it’s unfair the way Meghan seems to get most of the criticism. I thought she did a great job at the One Young World summit speech - she looked and sounded great. It was just meant to be an opening speech and I thought she hit the right note. It really didn’t need huge depth or the amount of over-analysis in the media. What annoyed me was Harry sitting petulantly in the front row looking like he wanted to be anywhere else and like he might need to jump up and rescue Meghan at any moment from a disgruntled subject. Are things really that bad? Maybe they are.

If you put yourselves forward as public figures, you need to accept there will be comments and discussion about you - both positive and negative. They could have lived quiet lives in California but they chose not to. So they do need to learn to live with the media interest and ride out the negative stories rather than giving even them more fuel. As they say if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!

Virulent

I like Meghan and her husband. They don't want to be surrounded by sycophants and live in a royal bubble. Fair enough.

It appears to me that they are still surrounded by sycophants, they are just ones of their own choosing. They have created a new RF bubble all of their own which basically consists of the bits they like about it and discarded the bits they don't (but have no problem making $$ off the back of the bits they don't like). I think that makes the couple sycophants themselves does it not?

Hold the front page! Mrs Max de Winter has been appointed undisputed ruler of the internet whose rules about what/where you may post must be obeyed. On pain of a hissy fit. You have been warned all you pesky opinion-havers, get back in your box!

😀😀Oh how I wish I could be appointed Undisputed Ruler of the Internet! Maybe one day, if I am very, very good!

Thank you so much for confirming my correct use of "virulent" in this context. As I said above it means bitterly hostile or rancorous, as in "the virulent attacks on Meghan Markle."

I find them both a huge turn off, and she clearly convinces herself so much about 'her truth' that she forgets there are ways of checking.

But it does annoy me that she gets all the flack and it is misogyny, as he gets very little in comparison. Wearing an outfit that costs thousands of pounds is hardly relating to the public is it? But his might have cost similar and nobody bats an eyelid.

The thing that has pissed me off the most in the whole shit show of their lives so far though, is why didn't Oprah, (or anybody else since) say to Harry "why didn't you tell her?"

Why didn't Harry tell her she had to curtsey and show her how to do it?

Why didn't Harry tell her she'd have to sing the National Anthem and make sure she knew the words?

Why didn't Harry explain how difficult it is to be a member of the RF, and explain that his past girlfriends have not been able to handle it, which is why they split?

He has a lot to answer, and the fact that he hasn't and they've both gone around blaming everyone else, (IMO) is the reason they're not liked.

That, and the hypocrisy about preaching environment shit then taking private planes. and I wonder if the 'train' they took yesterday had any other passengers on it or if they booked out the whole carriage? (Which would negate environmentally friendly points).