‘Courtiers’ 2

[RandomPenguinHouse]

The last thread filled up during a particularly chatty morning.

How is this an impertinent question for an engagement interview?

Int: But the friend who introduced you, was she trying to set you up?

Meghan Markle: Yes, it was definitely a set up. (laughs) It was a blind date. And it’s so interesting because we talk about it and now and even then, I, you know, because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family and so while I now understand very clearly, there’s a global interest there. I didn’t know much about him, and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, I had one question. I said, "Well is he nice?" Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn’t, it didn’t seem like it would make sense and so, we went and had a, met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that we said, "Well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again."

I'm sure it does, but equally what could you actually learn from googling that you wouldn't be better off finding out organically by getting to know someone? It's not like she needed to do a deep dive to check he wasn't married or something. She was probably just excited about having a date Prince Harry and is not short on self-confidence or unused to mixing with different types of people.

I’m sure Meghan took the approach

‘fail to prepare is to prepare to fail’ she’d have done some research, she’s an actress, she’s used to researching roles, we’ve seen her detailing the flowers she used in Prince Phillips flowers etc.so she always does her research -

That’s a good point. My DH had a challenging relationship with his mother and went to an all boys’ school. He would say it took him time when he went to uni to become equally comfortable with women. The world has changed in this way as well since the 80s. There were definitely a lot more unnecessary delineation between the sexes that is slowly being sorted out in Uk. A lot of my children’s friends don’t see the point of Mr, Mrs, Miss… and Duke and Duchess 🤭. They had a function in the past when those titles impacted societal contracts but what’s the purpose of them now? Sex is important in some instances - for medical reasons, safety and a few others situations. However, for example, Amazon needs to know who to send the parcel to to get it it me. But why do they need to know my sex and whether women are married or not?

Ah, fair enough. I thought the interviewer asked how much she knew about him. Sort of the "What attracted you to the billionaire?" type thing. Anyway, what's wrong with what she said? She knew he was Prince Harry, she didn't grow up with the level of coverage that we have in the UK, she wanted to know if he was nice on a personal level. Seems fine to me.

Meghan had spent years trying to cultivate Hollywood relationships, she knew how to network, she wasn’t going to put her foot in it on the first date, she would have done some research, texted her friend who knew him.

Ok. I really doubt that Harry is that complicated tbh. She's a very beautiful and engaging woman, I don't think she needed a dossier to attract him. This is along the same lines as the nonsense about Kate stalking William to St Andrews. A relationship is just two people getting to know each other and being attracted to each other. Just because he's a prince doesn't make it rocket science.

It is unfair that RF don’t pay inheritance taxes like the rest of us.

The RF DO pay inheritence tax. Only new monarchs inheriting from the dead monarch don't pay tax. But all the other RF members inheriting from the dead monarch pay tax. And the monarch inheriting from anyone else pays tax too.

Again, why would she need to? I thought the point was that claiming not to know much about him was ridiculous? Which seems to be a misunderstanding of what she said, it's not like she claimed she'd never heard of him.

I can certainly believe she would be taken by surprise by how intrusive the media interest in her life was. I can't believe she didn't know much about Harry because he's been globally famous - even in the U.S. - for all his life and she's been connected to the periphery of his social circle before they met. It just doesn't ring true for me.

She strikes me as someone who is very careful, does her research, and likes to appear prepared. I would think that would carry over to a situation where a friend was offering to set her up with a Prince.

She wasn’t beautiful and engaging enough to make it on her own to a+list in Hollywood. Her show was ending and she wasn’t beautiful and engaging enough to have any new projects lined up.

Hollywood is cut throat, she was hoping to arrive back From Canada via London to raise her profile. She wasn’t going to let the chance of a hallmark ending go 🤣

@Aspiringmatriarch

i think you just don’t appreciate the environment she was in before coming to London. She wasn’t an 18 year old on a gap year

Didn't her friend who was trying to help her establish herself in the UK say that she was interested in meeting Ashley Cole? I think if Meghan knew who Ashley Cole then it wouldn't be hard to believe that she knew about Prince Harry, who is a million times more famous internationally.

That's a bit mean-spirited @Ohnonevermind. Not many people make it to Hollywood A List level, including a lot of very beautiful women. As you say, she knew how to network. I'm sure had she not met Harry she would have been just fine.

Well that hardly matches the narrative of meticulous research since Ashley Cole is notoriously unfaithful.

I think it was interesting that she tried to get on Made in Chelsea - I sometimes wonder how that would have worked out!
Possibly the meeting to get a connection with Piers Morgan wasn't the best idea in retrospect......🤔

Re the difference between how Meghan and Andrew are treated by the press, it's worth remembering how pre the Epstein revelations, Prince Andrew got very positive coverage, especially in the aftermath of the Falklands when he was presented as a war hero. The real turning point was the Newsnight interview.

Andrew was getting pretty poor press pre-Epstein.
His made up 'role' as trade envoy was a cover for schmoozing dodgy billionaires
and he was nicknamed 'Airmiles Andy' in recognition of his services to the private jet industry. The queen was supposed to be concerned about what was going on but the problem seemed to be what else was to be done with him.
Agree though that the gloves really came off after Newnight.

True! Ashley Cole would have been a very poor choice for Meghan. I don't think he would have enjoyed listening to her talk about her philanthropy either.

Is this Ashley Cole the footballer we're talking about - who used to be married to the singer?

Yes, the footballer.

Well that hardly matches the narrative of meticulous research since Ashley Cole is notoriously unfaithful.

But he was single and had a fairly high profile at that time and I do think that was the best Meghan could hope for at that time. Potential A Listers don't come to London to try to drum up work, they don't need to. Why not straight to Hollywood if she had so much to offer and so much in the pipeline? Also her home town after all, would have made much more sense. No one with any kind of solid profile would have been cultivating the likes of Lizzie Cundy let's be honest!

I'll confess, I am a fan of MIC. I live nearby and fairly regularly see the cast members about. She was approaching her forties and that's definitely a very young cast, I can't see how she would have fit in on there at all.

Good lord! Serial shagger, no?

Maybe she fancied the look of Ashley Cole?

I don't think Ashley Cole is the best anyone can hope for tbh but if you think she was only interested in using a relationship to further her career then I guess maybe it made sense.