‘Courtiers’ 2

[RandomPenguinHouse]

The last thread filled up during a particularly chatty morning.

I’m interested in the courtiers’ upbringings.

Do you think any were raised by communist parents and so rebelled by becoming a staunch monarchist dedicated to serving The Queen?

All staff have to pas extremely strict security vetting. I have a friend who works at Highgrove. Family background and relations are looked at. Social media thoroughly examined. Financial status checked (no debt etc).

I have no idea if a background in communism would automatically rule a person out but I suspect political activity that included attending demonstrations etc would.

I know two people who held senior courtier roles.

Both were ex military. One had been an equerry - those are specific military posts - and then moved in to a different role. The other I don't know how he got it.

Neither of them really talked much about their work when in those roles

And yes, staff (including junior staff) need to pass vetting

@SallyLockheart

Meghan funnelled information to Omid Scobie via Jason Knauf about her step siblings including Samantha leaving school before graduating and her losing custody of her kids’

what does that say about MM then ?

Then she lied about it to the court, was found out and and had to amend the court record

even worse

This interests me a lot too. It is human nature to look at other human beings and try to work out why they behave as they do. Whether Meghan was white or any other colour would make no difference. People who choose to be in the public eye attract attention . Meghan enjoys being the focus of attention and courts it. So she is open to scrutiny.

Indeed. Hence the huge market in best selling biographies/autobiographies. Including the one soon to be released and apparently just bursting at the seams with scandalous information about the BRF, which Harry has apparently cooperated enthusiastically with being written. Are we to ignore Meghan? Or only have to questions about the positive areas of her life, in case we are declared racist/sexist? Cannot win here, to want to know more is deemed distasteful etc, to ignore her, yet talk extensively about white members of the BRF would likely also be criticised too.

White members of the Royal family are included in the extracts of the book this thread is about.

Nothing stopping you discussing what's been said about them by their courtiers

The late Queen's househld seems to have been the most happy/normal/functional one from one snippet. But it's not clear (at least not to me) if that was before or after change of PS - or indeed just true under either of the last two

I strongly suspect that William & Catherine were forced to raise their game due after their first joint appearance with Harry & Meghan.

I do too. I'd actually forgotten about that first public appearance of 'the fab four', until someone posted a pic on the last thread. Meghan looks SO MUCH more glamorous, relaxed and confident than Kate. Meghan is clearly in her element, her jumpsuit is really stylish, she's smiling and leaning forward, looks engaged and happy. In direct contrast, Kate is wearing a frumpy, unflattering dress and looks positively ill at ease. When sitting down, Kate's willowy figure and height advantage mean nothing, whereas Meghan's ease in front of the camera means everything. I suspect the Cambridge team took looked at the optics from that event and said collectively 'This can never happen again!'

Are we really expecting them to shoehorn an overweight disabled lesbian in there or something just to show some diversity? So weird.

Sorry - that made me spit my tea over my keyboard 😂

@maranella

Catherine was pregnant at the time, we know she suffering with extreme sickness, so perhaps ‘frumpy’ is a little unkind,

I would imagine courtiers would have developed vetting, which is the next stage up from security clearance. They’ll have their lives analysed very thoroughly and will expected to be totally open. That said, it’s as much to look for an eliminate potential blackmail routes as anything else. So someone in a lot of debt would be seen as vulnerable to bribery, potentially, someone who wasn’t willing to be open about their sexuality might be at risk of being blackmailed. But if you’re open about it, no one can threaten you because at the end of the day, the people who matter already know.

They will also need to provide the names of friends and colleagues who are happy to be interviewed - I’ve done it for people. You get asked if the person being vetted has ever shown any extreme views, that sort of thing. Whether you see them as being honest and open.

It’s not a very pleasant process but it’s fairly standard for certain types of roles. I don’t think having attended demonstrations would automatically rule someone out, it would be about the type of demonstration, whether there was any criminality involved, whether it involved extremist groups.

Is this the discussion about mental health where Kate was heavily pregnant?

@LondonWolf - I believe so 🤣

I was talking about the dress, not her. I know she was pregnant (which is hardly a time in a woman's life when she feels most fashion forward, comfortable and confident!). The point I was making is that next to shiny, confident Meghan, Kate looked less-than. I'm no fan of Meghan's, but she is clearly in her element when doing stuff in front of a camera - Kate is not.

I've just check - Kate was 7 1/2 months pregnant at that conference. I never looked that neat!

Meghan looks SO MUCH more glamorous, relaxed and confident than Kate. Meghan is clearly in her element, her jumpsuit is really stylish, she's smiling and leaning forward, looks engaged and happy. In direct contrast, Kate is wearing a frumpy, unflattering dress and looks positively ill at ease

To be fair, Kate was several months pregnant at the 'fab four' event. Ordinarily, I'd say Kate is much more striking and glamorous than Meghan.

She's taller, better looking (IMO), and dresses a lot better. Meghan has worn some nice outfits, but often the things she wears either don't suit her figure, or don't seem to fit properly. All just my subjective opinion, of course.

In terms of how she comes across, I also think Kate seems pretty relaxed and confident - except perhaps when she's in Meghan's company. But I certainly would not attribute this to her being intimidated by Meghan's superior charisma - I think Kate distrusts and possibly dislikes MM.

@maranella

Kate was 8 months pregnant and you said ‘she didn’t look good sitting down, and how Meghan was leaning forward.

olease explain how you lean forward at 8 months pregnant, I’ve been pregnant 3 times and not been able to manage it and you you look good sitting down at 8 months pregnant

Mm just loves looking the camera and herself on screen

Also, I thought Meghan's over-confident presentation at that fab four event was off-putting. I remember seeing snippets of the footage and thinking to myself, 'oh dear, she's not a team player.'

There's nothing wrong with being confident and articulate, but if there's no real substance, it's just vanity & showing off. That's how she came across to me.

I've just watched the video. I think Kate looks smiley and relaxed. They all do. Honestly would never have occurred to me to compare outfits etc, as Kate was pregnant and wearing a simple maternity dress. I'd not call her "frumpy" but maybe I don't know much about fashion, as I remember Meghan being heavily criticised for a "tent like" garment she wore at the polo on one her first outings with Archie and I thought she looked just fine.

No, I didn't say she 'didn't look good sitting down'. Please don't misquote me. I wasn't being mean about Kate or about her being pregnant. I was merely making the point that the optics of that event favoured Meghan and if I was on the Cambridges' team at that time I'd have wanted to showcase Kate in a better light in future as this event did not do that.

In terms of how she comes across, I also think Kate seems pretty relaxed and confident - except perhaps when she's in Meghan's company. But I certainly would not attribute this to her being intimidated by Meghan's superior charisma - I think Kate distrusts and possibly dislikes MM.

Agree. Also the tables certainly seemed to have been turned after The Walkabout.

Meghan enjoys being the focus of attention and courts it. So she is open to scrutiny.

What a ridiculous thing to say. How does Meghan court attention. Other than BM has seen news about her bring them money.

“If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it.” - Zora Neale Hurston

She has been spending millions each year on a PR company, nota, to keep them in the news (and court attention).

Sending out press releases to media organisations for them to write stories from (on an earlier thread I tracked through the identical wording used in several different reports of her trip to Uvalde, all clearly based on the same press release). Just this week ther’s been a Twitter campaign with several different US magazines tweeting out an identical tweet about her. That’s not chance - thst’s PR (and paid for).

You are saying she must keep quiet while she is smeared.

The Ulvade trip was first publicised by the mother of one of the victims. The press were already there to photograph MM.

It's only natural for her PR team to make one statement if there are too many questions, distribute that to the media as and when. That is how it always works.

Well Meghan isn’t being ‘silent’ about her pain, but she is intent of bring suffering to as many as she can judging by her bullying behaviour

Well Meghan isn’t being ‘silent’ about her pain, but she is intent on bringing suffering to as many as she can reading the bullying behaviour allegations in the book were discussing here.

I agree that William and Catherine upped their game, for years they looked like a staid 'old' couple, so stiff and formal, it became even more obvious when Meghan & Harry, came on the scene. Harry had always been more engaging and less formal than William anyway, , but it went to a different level when he was with Meghan, they both oozed self confidence and charisma.. They really seemed to have it all, and by comparison W&K looked so dull.

However using that clip to compare them, is low and nasty,, Kate was heavily pregnant and could have been feeling very unwell.

Things have changed now, W&K are certainly loosening up, which will help people, relate to them a bit more, I guess. Since the Oprah interview, M & H have shown who they really are, and it doesn't matter how glamorous and engaging they are, their attractiveness and impact as a couple and as individuals has disappeared totally for a lot of people.

Now they are being compared to W&K in a negative way, rather than the positive comparison of yesteryears.

Back to the book, I think this is the first 'Royal' book that I will ever purchase, I really hope it gives insight into the coutriers working for all the other households too.

I really do wish the first extracts had not been about Meghan & Harry, most of it we had already heard about, I am intrigued about the other households, as we rarely hear anything about those, although that may continue to be the case as the other employees either have nothing much to complain about, or their loyalty remains firmly with their bosses.