Courtiers the release !

[jeffgoldblum]

In preparation for the books release , and with permission from randompenguin , I thought it would be good to start this thread now !

I could claim to be the long lost love child of Charles and Camilla on YouTube

It's you, Iced! 😀

@BadgerB

Does anyone have a bridge to sell? 🙄

There have been some crazy stories over the years.

They don’t work though!

Apparently they are making a $1million donation through Archewell.

Harry and Meghan to donate $1 million to American women in need
mol.im/a/11291699

Lady Bountiful springs to mind. The thing is other FAR wealthier people are able to donate much larger sums, and most probably do so entirely secretly most of the time outside of charitable foundations they may have set up. Surrounded by the mega wealthy I'm not sure their neighbours will find this as impressive as they might hope.

JKRowling encouraged donations to her Lumos charity to help the children of Ukraine earlier this year adding £1 million of her own. But she set up that charity and has presumably donated many millions to it over the years before this fundraising push in response to the outbreak of war.

I note the press release about that is very carefully worded, ShamedbySiri:

Today, the duke and duchess of Sussex announced a new partnership with The VING Project—a national movement which is helping create the next generation of philanthropists.

Together, the organizations will invest $1 million to a national giving movement inviting individuals between the ages of 14 and 18 to "nominate a woman who has inspired them and defied life’s hardships," per an Archewell statement. If chosen, the teens will be able to give a $1,000 grant to their nominees to help them make a difference in their lives.

It doesn’t actually say the $1 million is being given by Archewell to Ving to distribute, just that they are partnering to invest to the national giving movement. But Ving has been operating for a while now giving $1000 gifts away to teenagers. It is already well funded from the Lefhovsky Family Foundation, which set it up. So I am not remotely convinced that Archewell is giving Ving the money (I’m sure that’s what we are expected to think, though).

A bit more about JK Rowling's philanthropy.
She also donates all the royalties from her first Strike novel "Cuckoos calling" to charity, I think it goes to Lumos iirc.

If one is doing well in life then would one resort to paying Backgrid to take photographs of oneself at a music concert in Santa Barbara looking oblivious to the cameras?

Before the point is raised, Backgrid work exclusively with clients who pay them to drum up publicity via ‘I was not aware’ pap shots.

H must have some new crayons - he’s adding an extra chapter to his ‘memoir’ - Goodbye Granny

It sounds to me that Archewell IS donating $1m. Although it's charity money and not a personal donation, that is the common form of philanthropy in the US. The people who set up the foundation take credit for the donations, even if they never contributed to the charity. Maybe, however, I'm doing H&M a disservice because it's possible that Archetypes might have generated the $1m and so it was a personal donation. We'll probably never know as their finances are dealt with in Delaware.
But at least money is being released so, personally, I think that's great.

Speaking about the initiative, Meghan said: 'Two things that bring me great joy are supporting women, and the spirit of giving.

With the return of Archetypes, Archewell Foundation and VING have come together to create the perfect combination of these loves.

'By donating $1million in grants to women in need, our hope is not only to provide support where it may be felt deepest, but also to empower young adults to embrace the gift of giving at an early age.

'I'm very proud of this partnership and the good we hope to see come from it.'

The Archewell Foundation will donate the $1million to the VING project so it can carry out its work.

Nominees for a $1,000 grant have to be US citizens and cannot be immediate or extended family members of the nominator.

Why do they have to publicise every bloody thing they do? Just give the money quietly for God’s sake. They always seem to be looking for attention and praise.

As blowing their charitable trumpet gives them so much joy maybe they can now compound that by telling us where the charitable donations originating in the Royal Foundation and diverted to the private company Travalyst have been spent.

How do you know this stuff? I’m impressed.

individuals between the ages of 14 and 18 to "nominate a woman who has inspired them and defied life’s hardships," per an Archewell statement. If chosen, the teens will be able to give a $1,000 grant to their nominees to help them make a difference in their lives

Call me cynical, and I'm sure some people will nominate others in the spirit of the programme but i can't help thinking it sounds all too easy to nominate a mate. Albeit an inspiring mate in need. I'm sure the charity will do due diligence to check applications.

Do you think the Wallace photos are photoshopped to suit the narrative?

Exactly.
Things have changed. It is very obvious that Kate and William are very hands on parents. We haven't seen as much footage of Harry and Meghan with their children but what we have seen also indicates a close and relaxed relationship.

Gilmorehill - if you are interested in the celebrity photo agency market, have a read of the judgement in the Rebekah Vardy v Colleen Rooney case - it’s really interesting! (It won’t tell you about Backgrid specifically, though).

Why do they have to publicise every bloody thing they do? Just give the money quietly for God’s sake. They always seem to be looking for attention and praise.

They publicise because the purpose of their business IS philanthropy. It gives them their USP. Otherwise they'd be B list entertainers. Using their royal connection to enable them to develop their philanthropic intentions is what gets them noticed and will make others donate to them.

As Archewell is registered in Delaware, it's unclear to me whether their accounts will be made public and how much detail of the source of their money will be revealed and the wage bill. Overall, though, It's just good that they are giving money and if publicising leads to more donations, then charity is the winner. (And I say that even though I'm a bit uncertain about some of these causes.)

No, but the Gromit ones are.

Oh dear.

Gromits face says it all!

I did read a bit about that and I have to say how horrible it would be to live like that - constantly trying to get yourself in the media as you have no intrinsic value, just your image.

No one is saying much about the book. I’m finding it fairly tedious and not saying much that’s new.

😂 I love this. I meant Wallis, of course 🫣

SilverLiningPlaybook · Yesterday 21:35
No one is saying much about the book. I’m finding it fairly tedious and not saying much that’s new.

I'm finding it fascinating - and I haven't even got to the H&M bit yet.