Harry and Megan: changed my mind after episode 5

[Lotzana]

I was never a massive H&M hater but I wasn't keen on how they kept going on about their experiences and being constant victims. Why not just let it go?

However after episode 5 where they explain the events around their decision to leave, I find myself feeling really bad for them and surprised at how different it was to the narrative we were fed in the press.

If it's all true what they say then it's appalling how they were treated and Im not surprised they want to set record straight.

I know many will say it's not all true and they're lying/ exaggerating but I'm not inclined to believe these royal secretaries/ William / Charles are all saints while H&M are the big villains either.

We only see a very polished version of the royals in public and everything is well controlled and orchestrated. Who's to know what it's really like behind the facade?

Yabu - can't stand H&M regardless of what they claim in the documentary

Yanbu - documentary made me rethink my view of them too and question narrative in press

@Sindonym it had clearly been much commented on - including by Oprah (!?) - that they weren’t living in the glamorous accommodation that Meghan expected. And is clearly very important to hear.

even they aren’t so dumb as to come out and say we can’t believe we were living with a 1980s b And q kitchen. But clearly the point was that their accommodation was not as would be expected. Including by Meghan. (I exclude Harry because obviously he would
hVe expected it!)

meghans idea of success is very clearly tied ip
with material goods including housing. That may or may not be laudable. But it’s disingenuous to say it’s not clearly true.

She was definitely bitching about the cottage, low ceilings poor harry in danger of bumping his head, all so quaint and English and poky, unlike our fab Californian estate. The whole tone is just so glib.

Meghan was certainly not 'bitching' about the size of the place (I've watched the doc twice), both she and Harry were laughing about the size of it, showing a photograph of Harry standing up and almost touching the ceiling. They were merely stating facts, not 'bitching'. Honestly 🙄, talk about taking remarks out of context.

They also both knew they didn't have to stay there (which, as it happened, they didn't), could easily move somewhere else.

@LBFseBrom

Eh? It's so obvious they are bitching.

Video here.
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/harry-meghan-episode-four-nottingham-cottage-b2245738.html

"Kensington Palace sounds very regal, of course it does," she says. "It says 'palace' in the name!

"But Nottingham Cottage was so smaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall."

In episode four, the couple lament the reality of living at Kensington Palace, which "sounds like a palace" but, for them, wasn't.

"As far as people were concerned, we were living in a palace," Harry says. "And we were, in a cottage..."

Meghan continued: "He [Harry] would just hit his head constantly in that place because he's so tall."

"It was just a chapter in our lives where I don't think anyone could believe what it was actually like behind the scenes."

Describing an occasion Oprah Winfrey, who attended the couple's wedding, visited them at the cottage the couple tell how she had looked at the cottage and exclaimed: "No-one would ever believe it."

uk.news.yahoo.com/harry-meghan-nottingham-cottage-so-small-netflix-documentary-103214524.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKLrrJpBd34Cp2QG6ayzn3I1-PdgI2BIAgrQEToLodZ8ohDkbx2GcIlIMAH8PSocxZ1Bn1SS1uVsfe0w7FtoTC_a85yUIIQoXn79348-ZIFKEhh2FVZ5WdfUb6Bvc7gC7DiMq-ijYRqkEYV6xdWA_myLEvb8-UgR7UAfa5gIO2FT

They make their feelings clear that Nottingham Cottage was not good enough for them.

Oh come on. Even i thought they lived in Kensington Palace. I didnt know there were smaller buildings on premises like Nottingham cottage.

To be gone straight if someone said to me hey we are going to live in a palace and then turns out its a cottage on the grounds even id be a bit surprised.

Stop making something it isn't.

@Spectre8 but how can Harry have been suprised by it!!??

and it does rather get to the point that it appears he doesn’t seem to have explained ANYTHING to Meghan about what she was marrying into.

Surprised? Or annoyed?

Urgh he wasn't saying he wa surprised. He said as far as ppl were concerned they lived in a palace so people assume they were in thisnbig place but reality is they were ina cottage.

So surprising for others to learn that

I would of been one of those ppl he refers to who thought he lived in Kensington Palace I didn't know there was Nottingham cottage first I heard of it.

Its not that big a deal its being made out to be.

I mean I when I was house hunting id see pictures then I go there and I'm like oh its not as big as the picture made it look oh its much darker than it looked
Is that big deal..no.

Not sure I can feel sorry for Harry and Meghan living rent free in a beautiful royal cottage as newly weds.

I wonder if Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and son of King George, and his wife, Princess Alice who also lived together in Nottingham Cottage for some years were as ungrateful and surprised about their accommodation as Meghan.

Prince William and Kate lived in the same cottage while in London after getting married, never heard them moan and at 6′ 3″ Will is taller than his younger brother so would have bumped his head too, unless he's more graceful than H.

They weren't asking for sympathy about the cottage, just having a laugh about it. He lived in Nottingham Cottage before marriage anyway.

They weren't asking for sympathy about the cottage, just having a laugh about it. He lived in Nottingham Cottage before marriage anyway

Yes that's how I read it.

Yep - to anyone who isn’t frothing about H&M is was clearly the two of them laughing about it.

A cottage in that setting is a bit different to a normal cottage - in that they will have had access to the grounds, to other facilities like gym/swimming pool, servants coming in daily, bigger palace rooms to hold an event or entertain, storage for whatever they needed, it's not like a normal couple living in a self contained cottage.

It's official
Oprah Declares: Size Matters!!!

It really didn't look like the type of cottage from the inside that would have servants coming in!

Probably a cleaner at least.

I am positive they weren't cleaning their own loo

Well there’s plenty of mumsnetters who pay someone to clean their loo. Didn’t think that was a hanging offence.

Also plenty who have nannies or au pairs, get their nails and hair done, buy expensive handbags and clothes

I wasn't implying that there was anything wrong with it - just that there wasn't any need to have space for live in servants because it is in the Kensington palace grounds so servants will come in from there. It's different to say Anmer Hall where it's a standalone property. Ditto other facilities.

Why are you calling people who are employed in the Royal households ‘servants’? You’re implying some kind of archaeic practice.
Whereas in reality, they will be qualified housekeepers, maintenance staff, kitchen staff and gardeners. All paid a decent salary, with employee rights and pensions too!

Having a laugh about it?

Harry may have been joking but Meghan was clearly like WTF, why have I been banished to the servants quarter? Not realising that many senior royals had happily lived in the cottage before her them. It's her victim mentality, whether it's real or put on to sell a certain narrative.

Regarding OW, how come she visited them and attended the wedding? Were MM and her very close before she met Harry? Or had they planned an OW tell it all interview all along?

Is it true H&M want an apology from the royal family? An apology for what though?

If they had just wanted to tell 'their truth', why did they not just blog about it or do it on twitter? Was the NF programme mainly to earn cash? I feel sorry for Meghan in some regard as I think Harry has not helped her settle in. He doesn't seem all that bright, educated or self aware, and was probably already a ticking time bomb before he met Meghan. He is a result of a dysfunctional upbringing and I agree that they should do more to help him or them back into the fold. I can see it happening if H&M do another Oprah interview where they admit to their own mistakes and that includes badmouthing Kate and William, which was a really low thing to do. It's one thing if the press is misbehaving and I don't know what can be done about that but it's another to have members of your own family slagging you off publicly, which is such a betrayal.

I can see how she could get totally sick of Harry and his self-pitying ineffectiveness.

Harry doesn't seem like a man who provides for his family, that will be up to Meghan, she seems like a grafter, him not so much, he's just a big man child.

I think you watched something different than me. @Orchinal Maybe you are just blinded by hate.

@Sindonym perhaps you are projecting?

Anyway, the footage is there, for all to see and make up their own mind. In the end, who cares, Harry and Megs don't come across well in any of this and I wonder how they are going to reinvent themselves?

Portraying themselves as spoilt victims isn't going to elevate them to the social strata they presumably aspire to. They haven't done themselves any favours at all with all this Jeremy Kyle style 'truth speaking'. To succeed, they will have to get over their victim mentality. I wish them both the very best, especially peace of mind and self-awareness.