Feeling sorry for the Duchess of Sussex

[8AndGreat]

It must be so surreal for her to be caught in everything that is happening at the moment. I know H&M are controversial to say the least but they came here to do a feel good tour and are now caught up in everything that's going on. If I were Meghan, I'd travel back to the US to be with my dc and leave Harry with trusted family and aids. It was odd that the Sussexes said they'd both travel to Balmoral and the media now say that King Charles said that Meghan wouldn't be welcome. I can understand why as only close family attendee's Balmoral.

To sum it up, I feel sorry for both Harry and Meghan, I think they are out of their depth. Their autobiography will be interesting.

*The hatred towards her is because she

married someone

moved with her husband to her homeland

dumped her narcissistic dad

called out her in-laws (like her MIL did)

earns her own money

successfully sued the DM

is black*

Oh behave. The dislike comes from her selling family stories to the highest bidder.

This in a nutshell.

Lots of people wished them well - but then they went on Oprah, told a load of half-truths (at best), made allegations which couldn't be proven either way but sounded extremely unlikely (such as Harry not knowing or being able to access mental health support, despite being a patron of mental health organisations), and so on. Any time proof is offered that they're not telling the truth, we're told it's "their truth". Which is bollocks. At best, they've deliberately misled people to garner sympathy, at worst they've lied outright.

Meghan lied in the court case about something that there's absolutely no way she forgot, and had to apologise to court. It just demonstrates that she has a very loose relationship with the truth and was the one time she couldn't get away with claiming it as "MY truth" because she needed to tell the actual truth, and failed.

They've continued to trade on the narrative that they are the victims and the RF are terrible. They've made a lot of how awful the press is - but they're extremely happy to throw Harry's family to the press to achieve their own end. FWIW, I completely accept the press are shitbags - but to know this, and STILL slate your family in the way that they have, knowing how the press will then hound family members - it's extremely low.

They preach kindness and acceptance - but have shown anything but to Harry's family. Her own family is a hot mess, and they all seem as bad as each other tbh.

If they just left the RF alone, stop slagging them off or hinting about the "pain" that they were caused by the RF, lots more people would feel positively towards them. They're just both displaying many self-absorbed, narcissistic traits and it's hard to summon up a lot of sympathy for a situation that they not only created, but perpetuated.

And just as an example of that - they were in the country, knew that the queen was very poorly - as we all did, presumably they knew more as Harry "talked to her regularly.... - but chose not to go and see her on their PR trip. They rarely come to the UK. It's shitty of them not to take time to see her. Harry lost the chance to see his grandma before she died. No excuse - but demonstrates how it's all me, me, me with the pair of them.

HRH Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

All that's come in is "The". It means little really to us mere plebs, but in the circles of The Firm, it's an important inclusion to his status and proximity to The Crown apparently. He is now The Prince, not Prince Harry.

Same as Princess Anne is

HRH The Princess Royal

but we all call her Princess Anne. The Princess royal is again an important bestowed title showing her closeness to The Crown.

Feel sorry for her? God no! She is the author of her situation, just as her husband is. They really could have had it all but their egos and self importance are their downfall. Her speeches are all about herself so there’s no loss there in the cancellation of that.

Same here.

As far as Prince Andrew goes - would you not help him to attend his mother's death bed? Even murderers are allowed out for that.

And now I'll be called a "P.A. apologist", and "what about if it was your daughter etc etc."

Basically some people hate her because she married into our most “precious” cultural institution - thought “wtf is this freak show, no thanks!” and then buggered off back to the States.

The rest of the whole drama is just either side trying to polish the above. ^

So the BIG question is whether PH and MM go down the same route or risk accusations of massive hypocrisy by using the titles

As I understand it, the children are in fact not owed the titles because the titles are not endowed retrospectively. That is - if the children had been born after Charles became king, they may have automatically received their HRH, but this automatic entitlement did not apply because they were born before he came to the throne.

A new letters patent would be required to give them titles - and that seems vanishingly unlikely to happen.

If you were in the depths of a deeply personal, deeply emotional, deeply traumatic time would you want Meghan around, making notes on your private conversations so that she could later relay them to the world?
Once bitten, twice shy.

I think Harry is going to have some huge regrets in future years. I hope he has the emotional strength to cope with it.

The Queen and Prince Philip were pretty much the only major royals that Meghan liked to make out they had a good relationship with. (Personally I think it just confirms what masters the Queen and Philip were at dealing with anyone and making them feel welcome, even when that person wasn't really someone they would choose to be with). Now they're both sadly gone Harry and Meghan will be even more isolated.

But Meghan wasn't invited to balmoral just as the now princess of Wales, catherine, wasn't Neither was Beatrice and Eugenie and most other royals/family. it wasn't personal

Edward and his family haven’t really been in the spotlight as such. I mean if I passed Sophie or their children in the street, I wouldn’t recognise them. Obviously I would know who Edward is.

As for Andrew- does anyone else think Charles will distance himself from him? I mean he’s toxic to the Royal Family, I can’t see why they would want him hanging around?

Andrews great defender was his mother, who has passed.

However, i think she should have walked away from a relationship with a member of the royal family if she dislikes everything the RF stand for

It wasn't about 'what they stand for.'

What she didn't like was the reality of being a member of the RF and having to toe the line - that being the price you pay for having a life of relative luxury, (never having to worry about money.)

Her idea of being a Princess or a Duchess was a fairytale, because all she knew of the RF was what she'd seen on US TV.

She'd 'bagged a prince' and didn't understand what life in the RF would be like.

A little bit like Princess Diana, she wasn't aware of the reality of the responsibilities she would have. Basically, she was naiive.

As a bit-part minor actress she thought being Royal would be her claim to fame. But rather than work within the RF and their conventions, she tried to make them do it her way.

IMO her behaviour has been utterly appalling.

She's been completely disrespectful and self-centred at a time when the Queen's health was failing ( over the last couple of years.)

I see Harry as her puppet who is too weak and dim to really see what she has done. He was clearly damaged by the death of his mother, never really worked through it fully and his behaviour seems adolescent at times.

So to go back to the OP- do I feel sorry for her?

Not at all. I feel sorry for Charles, who is estranged through no fault of his own, for William, and for the late Queen.

As for Andrew- does anyone else think Charles will distance himself from him? I mean he’s toxic to the Royal Family, I can’t see why they would want him hanging around?

It's been reported that Charles and William want Andrew out, but the Queen kept including him in stuff.

If rumours for years are to be believed Charles and Andrew have never really had a great relationship, so regardless of his vile behaviour I think Charles would have distanced him in status and proximity to The crown regardless.

Andrew has just handed Charles a "trump" card to do it, and it be widely accepted. Andrew has really shot himself in the foot with his abhorrent behaviour.

The RF want the minimum contact with H&M anyway because everything said and done will be splashed across the tabloids and distorted, and is just a money spinner the the couple. They've proved they cannot just shut up and live the private lives they wanted.

Ok, thanks. I never heard that before, but I think his name is actually Henry not Harry, so surely he would be The Prince Henry.

It all feels a bit like The Batman.

A little bit like Princess Diana, she wasn't aware of the reality of the responsibilities she would have. Basically, she was naiive.

Diana was barely out of her teens, you can see in hindsight how messed up that whole set up was.
Meghan was 36 when she married Harry. It’s not naivety at that age it’s just wilful ignorance.

Harry lost him mum Diana at a young age.You’d think that would make him realise that life’s too short wouldn’t you?

I get he loves his wife and wants to be loyal to her, but also would have thought he’d want to mend the relationship with his own family?

if you’re a misogynist who believes poor menz have no capacity for thought or responsibility for their own behaviour.

Surely that's misandry not misogyny?

Technically yes he should be known as Henry as per his birth certificate, but he has always used Harry as his name, his parents have always called him Harry, he's always been known as Harry, so The firm continue to call him Harry.

His full name is

Henry Charles Albert David

I can see why they went with Harry 😂

This weird narrative comes from the obsessive press attention, not from Meghan.

Meghan spend months being silent, the hate didn't stop.

She did one interview on Oprah then practically vanished for a year. Harry was far more visible than Meghan yet it's Meghan who's called a fame chaser.

The Queen is dead, yet it's still Meghan who people are obsessing over and can't stop talking about.

Meghan is an endless source of fascination for the very people who claim to want her to disappear. She would disappear if you'd stop obsessing over her!

Wasn’t Diana 18 and Charles about 32when they met? At that age there’s obviously a bit of an age gap. When I was 20, I thought 35 was old !

I genuinely believe Diana was just used to be a wife for Charles. Clearly they weren’t suited to be together.

I feel very sorry for Harry.

Returning to Balmoral, the place where his grandmother cared for him and his brother when they learned that their mother was dead.

Now grieving for his grandmother while the press picks apart his life, and a media circus and countless people who never met his grandma ‘grieve’ and weep and blather on while his brother and father have to take part in Stupid ceremonial engagements less than 24 hours after the death. I.e EXACTLY the emotional robotics that we, the vulture like public and media, seem to demand and what Harry couldn’t cope with.

Ugh, all of it.

I met Sophie Wessex at a mini-conference about Neurodivergence & Diagnoses. She was (a) extremely chatty and likeable; and (b) very well informed.

She also drove herself down to the event without fuss; but she did have to have one protection officer with her, from the 'pool', who drove a separate car behind her. He was really chatty and pleasant as well. It was far from the Men In Black Suits With Ear-Pieces that I'd imagined.