Part 2: The Press & The Royals a discussion

[Whaeanui]

Following on from this thread: Part 1 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/4786923-the-press-the-royals-a-discussion?page=1

As we know, the press often manufacture stories to create divisions between the women in the family, more often than the men. They have also hacked private communications, with cases ongoing. The public seem to feed off this and none of the family get treated very well except the monarch-although not always.

For discussion: do we think it is possible for the royal family to stay relevant and in the publics mind without their unhealthy relationship with the media, and how can they achieve that? How will previous and current legal proceedings alter the relationship?
Please do not intentionally derail this thread by discussing your personal dislike of particular family members or if they deserve it. I would really like to continue this discussion on how the royal family and the press interact, as above.

Harry is fighting for justice...fair enough, he has the right to fight for it. However Charles and William and kate will never get the chance to fight for justice and sue Harry and Meghan for the lies they told on the Oprah Winfrey PR stunt. Harry sat their while his wife defamed the royal family and called them racist. A slur that endured for 2 years, until Harry rowed back on it. Personally this is why Harry's crusade against the media smacks of the deepest hypocrisy to me, and probably many other people too. If the RF chose to sue Oprah Winfrey they would have a rock solid case, as it ticks all the boxes.

He is the one talking of leaking and planting of stories, but he has no evidence of this. The only genuine incident of leaking involved a private conversation between him and Camilla which camilla's employee told her husband and he repeated it. All disclosed and it was a breach of confidence without malice.

His idea of leaking and briefings are legitimate briefings given to trusted journalists or staff talking out of turn. Not a conspiracy theory involving family members.

He and his wife are currently exploiting the media to its fullest, to defame his own family, so Pot. Kettle. Black imo.

I don’t care a scrap about it. I do think Harry should have thought long and hard about the exposure he will get from this. A lot of it not good.

Battles need to be chosen. This will be another point where the media will do their best to make a fool of him. To my mind that isn’t worth it. There is nothing wrong with settling.

What did Meghan get from the letter to her father case. Embarrassment essentially and a judgement of well they shouldn’t t do it. No they shouldn’t. Opps. But you have been exposed as a liar.

Well yeah this. He is just a troubled and traumatised man. He exploits the media and they exploit him. I don’t think he sees it that they are exploring him right now because he, like an addict things he doesn’t have a problem, thinks he is control.

He is making a lot of the mistakes his mother did.

I wish him peace and that his rage ceases. I see nothing wrong with the royal families decisions not to persue these issues. That is their decision and a weighing up of the costs and benefits.

She won her case. And they had to issue an apology.

I care a lot. I care for not just Harry, but all the other claimants who are talking about what they have been put through. It's horrendous.

@AuroraCake Of course the royal family won't pursue a case for defamation, but there clearly is one. They have opted for silence as it their right, but Harry simply doesn't see the hypocrisy of his position.

Harry's crusade is admirable on one hand and insane on another. This case is very weak and he is an unreliable witness. I think he will be mauled in the witness box. I'm torn on wanting to see someone who has damaged the lives of the people who loved him, feel that pain too, but I also see how mentally unstable he is and think he should just take the money offered and go back to his wife and family.

I care a lot. I care for not just Harry, but all the other claimants who are talking about what they have been put through. It's horrendous.

Exactly. If these cases in some way contribute to forcing Leveson 2 then it will absolutely be something that benefits us all. Very powerful rich men have controlled the press in the UK and committed illegal practices to violate the privacy of thousands of people. They torment and intimidate the British monarchy. They significantly impact who runs our country. Sadly too many people are manipulated easily by them and that’s why they blame the victims of their crimes and defend them and their illegal and immoral empires.

Re Harry being ‘troubled’ and ‘mentally unstable’:

Update on the deliberate public pathologisation of Harry - just listened to radio interview in which they said he’s ‘delusional’ and ‘paranoid’ because he ‘takes drugs’ ‘smoked some weed’ and there’s ‘evidence that people who take drugs have mental health issues.’

He is unfortunately, the next famous person to be publicly positioned as mentally ill in order to silence/discredit/humiliate them.

This pattern is becoming incredibly & unashamedly obvious.

I know it annoys people, but this is why I talk so much about pathologisation.

This is why I’ve said for years that the ‘end mental health stigma’ narrative isn’t real. Mental health can and will be used to position you as unstable, deceitful, manipulative, dangerous, abusive, attention seeking and non-credible as soon as that is required.

We can keep pretending we see ‘mental health the same as physical health’ and we can keep pretending that ‘no shame in mental health’ but be under no illusion:

If someone needs to shut you up, the first port of call will be to use mental health and disorder against you.

And don’t even get me STARTED on the issue with the argument that Harry taking Class A drugs or having a joint is making him ‘unstable’ and ‘delusional’ when we know many MPs and senior leaders in our country and the world regularly take drugs.

Watch as they take every single thing they ever heard about him, from this one thing he said when he was 14 to that time he looked sad on a photo to infer things about his mental health, his ‘delusions’, his ‘personality’, and frame him as disordered and non credible. You watch

This is what happens to people who break a rule, leave a family, talk about abuse…

Character assassination ALWAYS includes mental disorder accusations and distance diagnosis - because the entire field of psychiatry and MH relies upon stigma to differentiate and label people.

Dr Jess Taylor, Psychologist

I do wonder... if Harry wasn't involved in this ongoing case, whether posters on here would be applauding it?

Anyone?

I would love to know.

That last post of yours @Whaeanui is spot on. It's character assassination.

@Roussette thanks. You won’t get an honest answer to your question here.

Quite.

But when people are obviously struggling, Harry runs the risk of being humiliated and mauled on the witness stand, then it is inhumane not to say something.

The media exploit his pain. He thinks it’s the other way around.

I do not see what he is doing as the mentally healthy choice.

For others then yes maybe. H dis a unreliable witnesses, a lot of his accusations have been shown to be without merit. He uses these cases to get at his family. No if I was advising him I would tell him not to do it.

It isn’t being pejorative. It’s thinking about what is best for a person. Battles shouldn’t be fought when the personal cost is to much. To admit to having health frailties whether these be psychological or physical is not a failing but it should being adaptations to lifestyle. I would not have a diabetic a biscuit unless I really knew their blood sugar level. I wouldn’t advice anyone who could not psychologically bare the brunt to go on the stand and face potentially being pulled apart.

its an excuse to gain publicity and maintain links with the UK.

There are many such cases.

everyone is within their rights to claim when a wrong is done. Would it get this publicity. No. Will any of the claimants be subject to such scrutiny. No.

so Unfortunately tell the playing field is different for Harry.

@Roussette to be honest I don’t know who the other claimants are or what their cases are like as Harry has had all the headlines. Have they brought their cases within timescales and what are they saying?

There is so much on it out there. I really can't put it all together for you, sorry. I'm not being rude here, I cannot sum it up in a nutshell.

Lots of the other claimants have had the headlines too. Medical records hacked, houses burgled, Private investigators pretending to be members of a family to exhort information from sources, phones hacked, trackers put in cars and so on...

Sorry I don't have the time to list it all, I am cooking a roast for family today and need to peel the spuds!

@AuroraCake I don’t think you or I can speak to what he is capable of or what’s best for him. He’s got a legal team and therapists around him and I think he and his family will know what he’s capable of better than we can. People who have or have had mental health struggles are much more capable when they’ve had therapy and the right support. I wasn’t capable of leaving my house at one point, I would have hated anyone saying it’s best for me to stay home forever because I once struggled.

No but I can speak to the fact he is being exploited by the media. Because that is what they do.

You don’t play with them and you don’t engage with them. Ever.

There are many famous people who walk this line well. Do their job and refuse to engage in any other way.

unfortunately by ‘having his voice heard’ in a book and on TV Harry is just colluding with them.

I will respectfully disagree with your thoughts there. I don’t think any of the claimants on this or the other two cases are ‘colluding’ with media. Baroness Lawrence thought they were helping her get justice. Instead they were hacking and invading her privacy.

Not here but giving interviews to Oprah and making a documentary et al.

He was but they were exploiting him and he thought he was using them.

The media is not an animal ever to mess with.

Harry admits in his book to smoking cannabis during his days at Eaton and was clearly a young teen. It's scientifically proven this early use of cannabis on the developing brain can cause incidences of paranoia and mental I'll health.

He continued to use drugs, and it appears quite heavy drug use, during his life and still to this day, in California with young children in his care.

I don't think it's an unreasonable conclusion to reach that he has clear ongoing mental health problems, which he himself has discussed openly.

Eton.

@Roussette no worries - enjoy your lunch!

This poster is constantly exaggerating, making things up or straight out lying about Harry.

The Mirror defence is that of the 33 or so stories at issue, ONE story came from an interview he gave to another outlet AGED 18, and the rest from the palaces, other royals or other outlets.

They have not said some of the stories came from himself or his own PR.

For one thing, Harry did NOT have "his own PR". His Comms were managed by Clarence House together with his father and brother's.

Harry has always hated the press and the idea that he was giving "briefings" about himself as a teenager through his PR is just silly.

Totally true? Admirable? You mean like when his team was implying that there was something nefarious about William settling his claim privately when he was hacked by news of the world? Despite the fact that it was William who was smart enough to figure out he was hacked and actually did something about it by going to the police. That lead to the investigations and enquiry? Harry had no qualms throwing his brother under the bus yet drags his wife Catherine into his lawsuit, without asking her permission first. He even drags his ex into this, and has he bothered to ask her? I doubt it. Harry has a disturbing pattern of invading people’s boundaries and privacy, as can be seen when he talked about his family in his book and the Oprah interview and when he slapped the foo fighter drummer to ‘wake him up’. There is nothing admirable about this guy who is only doing this for himself, because he's years too late to have actually made a difference.

Harry has a disturbing pattern of invading people’s boundaries and privacy, as can be seen when he talked about his family in his book and the Oprah interview and when he slapped the foo fighter drummer to ‘wake him up’. There is nothing admirable about this guy who is only doing this for himself, because he's years too late to have actually made a difference.

I totally agree, it's all about him. The idea that he's some sort of valiant crusader against the press is quite laughable.