H&M vs Backgrid

[PicturesOfDogs]

H&M have apparently ’demanded’ pap footage from Backgrid, according to TMZ.

Their lawyer has replied with the following:

In America, as I'm sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do. Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago. We stand by our founding fathers

Court case #6 incoming?

https://amp.tmz.com/2023/05/18/prince-harry-meghan-markle-demand-photo-agency-give-them-footage-of-chase/

@MrsFinkelstein that is a very scathing take on the couple, and one which many, me included, would agree with. Indeed how can you be a role model if you have no role apart from marrying a prince, becoming a Duchess of a county you've never seen (but insist it's always used) b list actress specialising in 'hot girl' roles, toe dabbler in various charities, consummate liar (well not so consummate as they're always exposed) and fabulous at self aggrandising?

@Gilmorehill so true ☹️

Paparazzi photographers have publicly confirmed that various photos they took of her in the past, up to and including her first appearance out as a couple with Harry in the UK, were pre-arranged, nonheme.

That was the question from the start, though, wasn't it? What was their platform for their 'life of service' outside the RF?

I too don't have a clue what their 'role' is.

With just about any other public figure, I would have no trouble explaining what they do and what their role in public life is. Not these two. Other than being former high profile members of the British royal families, what is their role?

I thought that he testified that he didn't have Prince Harry's number? As far as I know he wasn't asked if he had Meghan's or alternative contact method like email.

" Meghan Markle and her agent have been accused of colluding with a paparazzi photographer to set up shots of her entering a London restaurant.

The Duchess of Sussex was pictured going into Toto’s restaurant wearing a stylish white coat in Kensington during March 2015, the year before she met Prince Harry.

At the time, Meghan was a relatively unknown American actress playing paralegal Rachel Zane on cable TV drama Suits.

It was all prearranged. She was very calm when she arrived and even gave the hint of a smile. For someone who wasn’t very well known in the UK at that point, she certainly didn’t question why a photographer would randomly turn up to take her picture.

Funnily enough though, the pictures never sold at the time. The only time they started to sell was when news broke that she was with Prince Harry.”

Why do they need to run to Omid Scabies with their whining constantly? It’s so childish

Bizarre, isn't it?

If Harold wants yet another whine the least he could do is have the cojones to cut out the sock.

It's not like nobody can deduce Scobie isn't handsomely paid to roll over...

I think what they want is something they can never have. A lucrative public "celeb" style lifestyle with press that they control and that is all positive, combined with a completely private personal life that is never discussed negatively.

Pretty much like the deal his sainted mummy aspired to.

I appreciate that I don't actually know anything here and it's just conjecture but

Sent too soon!

if they were genuinely striving to achieve this completely controlled press narrative from within the RF, I can see that the RF would have tried, repeatedly, to convince H&M that it was just not possible to achieve what they were looking for and that the arrangement/understanding already in place was actually pretty good all things considered and they shouldn't rock the boat.

I wonder if H in particular felt that this was a betrayal, that they wouldn't see the light and join him on his mission?

If it was possible to control your public image with money then there's a long list of even wealthier men who would have paid up decades ago.

Wealthy men can and do suppress damaging publicity.

Only to a certain extent, and only for so long. If their behaviour is so damaging it always comes out. Can take time, but it always breaks.

See Schofe for a current example.

I was thinking about Bill Gates when I wrote that and I suspect that it won't be the last we hear about it. Agree that revelations can be delayed with money.
Hoping that all of Schofe's wrongdoings come to light quickly and that losing his TM job is just the beginning.

Well the main difference between different very wealthy individuals is if they want publicity at all. There are obviously a majority of uber wealthy individuals of whom we know nothing, in fact we probably would never to be able to identify them or their family members. This is because they value their privacy and jealously guard it.

If you actually WANT to be in the public eye that’s a different matter and once you place yourself in the oublic domain it’s much harder if not impossible to control the narrative and how you are portrayed and perceived - unless you are a dictator and even then you may have to lock up, exile or bump off journalists to shut them up. If you want a very carefully curated and crafted PR image it helps to have some talent or personal success which invites respect and then are only wheeled out in a rare few tightly controlled occasions. It’s just not possible to control what the media says about you everyday if you decide to be public figures who intimately share your home and write books and appear on interviews with very famous people such as Oprah revealing personal details.

Jeffrey Epstein a case in point. H&M employ and expensive PR team to try to control their narrative

I think you’re absolutely right about that.

It’s clear to me the RF could foresee exactly how difficult the half in half out model H & M wanted. After all a lot of us remember Sophie and Edward having issues balancing their media careers and the adverse publicity. in the end they had to make a choice. It was easier for Anne and Zara as three day eventing is far less of a conflict.

For example, It’s why as a celebrity M was used to free gifts etc. but as a member of the RF she had to declare them or even reject them. M allegedly couldn’t understand why but it’s obvious the press would latch onto Freebies as they have with other royals.

I honestly think the RF are just quietly waiting for H to realise how much sense their approach makes and that they were right. Not easy for H to accept.

I agree - I think the relentless criticism of Edward and Sophie during those days, plus the actions of the press round them, were the reason why a half/half model was not a possibility.

I also think it quite likely that back in 1999 there was a lot more trust that Edward and Sophie would at least be trying to do the right thing in being half in and half out (though, as they all discovered, elephant traps abound). Whereas at the point that the Sussexes announced this, I imagine there was no trust at all.

It would have been a constant stream of the media shaming the Sussexes for avoiding engagements in favour of paid gigs but them turning up for high profile events like meeting Presidents and wearing tiaras. Paps would try and get the photos that proved that they weren't really too busy to go to a low key event.

Absolutely, I think the RF have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. Some of H's comments about wanting William to join him etc. make me think that he genuinely did feel there was a better way, that they could somehow gain the upper hand. That the RF had made a pact with the devil and he wanted no part of it.

I have some sympathy for how he might feel that way but it's my personal view that he's perhaps been quite naive about his level of personal power in this situation.

he's perhaps been quite naive about his level of personal power in this situation.

Naive and poorly advised.

I'm on page 16 and I have nothing to add except that the last two or three pages have been very interesting, with points well put. Thank you.