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!

Beast. They are a beast.

And they definitely say Poor Queen about Andrew. Who wouldn’t?

all people with lots of money have pretty suspect tax arrangements. Off shore accounts and the lot. Harry and Meghan probably do.

Whats William done to the media?

@FishBowlSwimmer I agree with your measured take on the situation. I've always thought that Harry can't have been open with her before they married about what royal life was really like, he probably feared she'd run a mile. I also doubt he's much use in "civilian" life, he's used to having other people running around organizing and paying for everything. She's got no choice but to take the lead - and then she's accused of dragging him around looking miserable!

Sorry, OP, I'm bashing him now, but at least it's not her.

Totally agree with the points made by Mathanxiety.

I admire the Queen's physical resilience just as I would admire the resilience of anyone who is living an engaged life at ninety six years old. But I am afraid I don't find her a particularly sympathetic character and I think she should have reformed and substantially slimmed down the monarchy years ago rather than determinedly clinging on to the status quo. Imho she and her advisors are not really reading the room and haven't been for some time!

Owing to her enormous wealth and privilege I am afraid the Queen, and other members of the RF, have grown far too distant from their subjects. Other European countries seem to manage with a slimmed down low key hands on monarchies.
It's possibly not a popular opinion but I think ours need a heavy dose of humility frankly! And fewer properties!

I quite agree. As my mother said he couldn’t find anyone who’d marry him. And
as I say, he was 33 when he married…he shouldn’t have been in such a hurry. Someone would come along.

I don’t think he was straight with her. And no he is probably as useful as a chocolate teapot at everything. I mean he probably has to work next to her because he can’t be trusted and he pretty much mouths her words now anyway, I think she is a ‘unique’ human but I don’t envy her her husband.

@AuroraCake
Do they have numbered threads pursuing Andrew ?
No

My point was about how Meghan is picked apart with such frenzied energy , an energy that they don't apply to the very real and v serious issues surrounding the royals . Why?

Re william : google his meeting in Edinburgh.

Yes yes yes. I have said so many times on royal threads, the Queen should've abdicated 20 years ago. Other European royal houses have managed this and it works.

I look at the speech given by Queen Beatrix of Netherlands...
""Responsibility for our country must now lie in the hands of a new generation,"

The House of Windsor would be in a very very different place if the Queen had abdicated.

As it is, we are set in the past. What admiration I would've had for her had she done this.

Oh that. Don’t really care about that. Thought he had paid one off to continually slag of Meghan or something.

Andrew isn’t contentious. Everyone agrees he did a bad thing and deserves what he got. Problem is M and H are.

Nothing interests people more than other people. Human connection, if they stopped talking people should soon cease to care.

Human connection, if they stopped talking people should soon cease to care.

So they're not allowed to talk? To promote charities they're involved in? To get involved in anything?

Course they are but maybe don’t say the media called your child an n word. Discuss the family. Cos really that’s all that is reported. They can talk and promote what they want all they want. Don’t mention the family.

I have no real opinion on Meghan or Harry but I’m sick of all the media posts about them!

Surely we as a country are going through a huge economic shift and families can’t afford to heat or eat and then there’s the global issues ( to which there are many) but what do the tabloids want to discuss in this ever changing landscape? Meghan and Harry! I’ve not read any media outlets for two days as I know it will be wall to wall M&H , I bet even they are sick of it although I suppose being in the tabloids daily is what they need ( any publicity is good publicity )

I look at the speech given by Queen Beatrix of Netherlands...

I think she is a very wise woman Roussette in touch and down to earth. Studied law at university. Not too elite to shake hands with the people she encounters, or knead dough with scouts, or indeed abdicate when the time came, just as her mother did. Wise and sensible. Practical and dignified. It is possible!

I would be physically resilient too if I just woke up with piles of cash, unlimited wealth, servants and the freedom to do whatever I want without many negative consequences . . .

Foreign royals don't usually flaunt their wealth. Some even go to state schools.

They can do as they please. Why do you follow them? I don't understand people who don't like them being so obsessed and following everything they do constantly writing drivel about them - almost daily.
So you are saying they shouldn't say their child was called the n word? Why?
They shouldn't talk about their family but the family is allowed to talk about them?

People should do as they please provided they aren't breaking the law.
To those saying they owe the British Public for wedding. Well, it wasn't paid for illegally, you are the RF's subjects. Let me remind you that the Queen once said she had nothing more to say about slavery, it was legal back then. In the same sense, Meghan and Harry's partly tax payer funded nuptials will never be refunded - all within the law.

I think with Andrew everyone is in agreement and there's nothing interesting about a thread where everyone is in agreement.

With H&M there's a whole range of views and that back and forth is what keeps these threads going. If you were looking to reduce the amount of discussion on these two all either side would have to do is ignore the thread, it will die very quickly without disagreement.

Secretly we all love a good bun fight and get bored of one sided discussion relatively quickly.

@darmaka Why do you follow them? I don't understand people who don't like them being so obsessed and following everything they do constantly writing drivel about them - almost daily.

100% this.

I saw a comment on a One World Summit article tonight that said Meghan joined the One World Order team back in 2014 just so she could catch and marry Prince Harry. Not that she was social climbing or trying to be above herself in general. Nope, she decided back in 2014 that she was going to marry Prince Harry specifically and she joined this organization in order to catch him.

The entire comment section was full of similar comments. It baffles me. The people making these types of comments are actually drawing more attention to her. If someone really wanted her to go away, the best thing to do would be to stop talking about her anywhere. Stop reading the articles and buying the papers. They will stop printing them if they are not making money.

@CathyorClaire

Do you really think a rather dim spare dreamt it up and made it happen all on his own?!

And there it is.

So in your view, the only value Harry can have in his life is to be what you call a spare. And because, in your opinion, he is dim, he has no right to aspire to anything but being a spare, whatever that means now that his brother has children.

So his life is to be without value or ambition beyond being a dim spare.

How unpleasant you sound.

I am so so glad they left this country!

Absolutely.
I read her whole abdication speech, it is very moving and so right
It's all about the future and how the Monarchy will be under her son. How prepared he was and everything was forward thinking. For the people. She was very much loved and respected, what a selfless act.

Then I think of us and to be honest, the Queen is leaving behind a bit of a shitshow. A disgraced son, an estranged grandson, an elderly son who isn't popular taking over, waning popularity, it really didn't have to be like this. Of course she's admired for her dedication to duty but isn't life about what you leave behind also?

@Fishpawsandchips

This is for you.

King Willem and Queen Maxima dancing in the street with the public on their Kings Day.
He loves concerts and can be seen dancing to Shaggy and Snoop Dog in other footage too!

I am so glad they left too.

You know all the variations of calling someone dim... sandwich short of a picnic, not the sharpest knife,. brightest bulb etc etc.
I have seen Harry called all of them for years on these threads. Repeatedly. It's vile.

If I challenge it, I'm attacked, so thank you for pointing this out. I talked of my experience of leaving school at 15 with barely a qualification to my name and was told I was lying about it to make Harry sound better 😮
The one thing a person can't do anything about is the family they're born into or their academic prowess, apart from bettering yourself in later life which is what I did. I think he's remarkably astute getting out of the family he was born into

i think the posters that call him dim are saying more about themselves than him.
if you only judge someone by their passing exams and being academic that shows how sad you must be. as a parent of someone with ld's I find these kids of insults very telling.

@FishBowlSwimmer and @AuroraCake
You aren't getting my point re Andrew . Maybe I'm not being clear .

I use Andrew as shorthand for the many corrupt things the royals get away with ( and conceal) . Many issues which when raised often get a shrug and a 'well it doesn't bother me' . Rather like your 'oh that ' when I mentioned William and channel 4 news. It was a suspected political meeting ( sticking their noses in again) and the news team were falsely accused of trespassing. I think that's very important.

Oh and re Andrew despite your claim that he is universally derided . The Meghan haters who are also royalists will say 'he's horrible ' then write many posts about how she consented, it wasn't illegal etc .
It's v revealing

So in your view, the only value Harry can have in his life is to be what you call a spare. And because, in your opinion, he is dim, he has no right to aspire to anything but being a spare, whatever that means now that his brother has children.

I think the whole lot of them are useless and venal.

He's just one of many.

@CathyorClaire I see the clarity of your point of view .
I feel a bit uneasy joining in the Meghan pro/ anti for the very reason you give .
But dont you hope they are going to blow the lid off the whole royal nonsense ? Insiders revealing and confirming what we all suspect will have so much more impact .

I'm convinced they have a lot planned and are keeping their powder dry until after Liz goes- very wise too.

Andrew isn’t contentious. Everyone agrees he did a bad thing and deserves what he got. Problem is M and H are

Another notable difference is that Andrew isn’t paying millions & millions of pounds each year for publicity & positive PR (including positive posts on social media & fora, Twitter bots et al). He’s keeping a low profile. If H &M did the same & actually diverted the millions they are squandering on propping up their fragile egos and public image - and spent them instead on the causes they profess to care about - they might even end up with the reputations they want.

but I won’t hold my breath :D

@susan12345678
I'd like to see Andrew try ...