Meghan, Duchess of Sussex spotted out and about

[queentim]

Recently spotted at a TSwift (allegedly), Barbie movie for her birthday, a restaurant, and then hanging out with friends in an Instagram selfie. She looks phenomenal in this photo!

Glad to see she's enjoying her life back home with her family.

Meghan summer selfie

Harry and Meghan will always have my support for taking them on.

It would indeed be laudable if they weren’t using the media themselves just as much to get their own messages out while professing that they are above such behaviour. Decrying misinformation while themselves pumping it out.

Just one example - in Meghan’s court case against ANL the judge stated that there was evidence suggesting that Meghan’s side ‘have been energetically briefing the media about these proceedings from the outset’. He set out a timeline of one example - how Meghan filed her application for an injunction and then instantly set about contacting media agencies to let them know what she had done (The judge noted that Sky news had rung ANL for a comment on the injunction 15 minutes after it was filed at court, when ANL themselves had done nothing to publicise it). 45 minutes later Omid Scobie tweeted about the injunction, with quotes from Meghan's witness statement, which the judge found he would have got directly from Meghan's lawyers.

That kind of behaviour completely undercuts the stance they are taking, because it shows they are hypocrites, and they are only against the press when they don’t like what it’s saying. There are other people out there involved in campaigns and court cases against the media who are far ore worth admiring, I think.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with “using the media” (that’s what it’s for), but it is hypocritical to complain that other people also use it. It’s also inaccurate to overstate how much others use the media or to suggest there aren’t many potential sources of information and point the finger.

There were so many middle of the road posters who thought Meghan was OK but it was completely impossible to post in that vein. They tried! The boards were so toxic they were chased off and I cannot tell you how many times I saw posts saying that. I think those posters then went one way or the other.... started disliking her or felt sorry for her.
Yes, some of the threads were awful, especially the ones that were like a class of Misogyny 101: women are responsible for what men do.

As someone who was initially ambivalent about them as people but optimistic about what they could do within the monarchy, I've not liked some of their behaviour. I think there's others like me too. For a while it got a bit tiresome that middle of the road views were met with fan club style fawning, but having lurked a bit longer I can see why that happened because there were so many awful threads.

The big red flag to me is when posters are sticking the boot into Meghan, often whilst excusing or minimising Harry's behaviour (Eg Harry was great until Meghan came along, Meghan is pulling all the strings, Meghan ruined the family relationships, Meghan is toxic, Meghan wants blah blah blah when actually a lot of what's been in the press has been Harry, Harry only does... because of Meghan).

“you are clearly new to these threads.”

Am I the only one who thinks that is a patronising statement?

What gives it away for me @Roussette is that posters who claim to have liked her but have now "gone off her" never fully acknowledge all the issues around how Meghan was dehumanised and othered, or the racist and xenophobic coverage she was subjected to, and how these attitudes reflect attitudes in the UK

Also, just on this point, I fully recognise the way in which Meghan is and has been dehumanised and othered by posters. And I have never thought it’s acceptable. But, I also see how the other members of the Royal family are completely dehumanised too, often by the same posters here complaining about it happening to Meghan. So I have little regard for that position. If you care about someone being treated as a human being and accorded empathy and understanding, you’d presumably apply that to all, not just tactically?

That the Royal Family colludes with these people, out of fear or whatever it is……

When I heard of William’s settlement - it filled me with so much horror for him and the rest of the RF at just how powerful Murdoch is - so many people could only contextualise this as part of the Harry vs William narrative that seems to be a thing with so many people but couldn’t see the broader picture. The media threads were really good for showing how the press have almost become unaccountable.

I will say I don’t like the pair of them. And however much some posters sneer at it, I did like them when they married. I had swallowed the line that Harry was a hale-fellow-well-met chap. And Meghan was an attractive actress who I felt was well-suited to living in a goldfish bowl and, of course, being American and a poc brought some much-needed “difference” into the rf.

As many others observe, it could all have gone so right. We don’t know what truly went on, as we only have one side’s story, but M&H have not behaved edifyingly since. For me the Sussex Royal announcement was my “what a pair” moment. It was cheeky, entitled and preposterous. Stepping back - fine. Sad but understandable. Heading off to California and doing Oprah and Spare and trying to be A Listers accepting awards - not dignified.

That being said, I like most of Meghan’s outfits and merching is a fine and acceptable mode of earning a crust so I would never criticise that.

“you are clearly new to these threads.”

Am I the only one who thinks that is a patronising statement?

Err no - it was meant to be seeing as that poster is very obviously not new.

Meghan wasn't really on my radar before the Canada trip and the subsequent statement about leaving but still collaborating with the Queen etc.. I was so taken aback when I read that in the news, that I can even remember where I was when I read it (having breakfast, on a skiing holiday!) 😂

Since then, I've been alternately amused/irritated by the pair of them. They seem to have soooo much self-importance and so little humility. Yes, they've been badly treated at times and have attracted some vile attacks, but then again, they have also treated others badly and their most voluble supporters (eg on Celebitchy) are every bit as vile about Will and Kate, so they don't have any higher ground there.

I do find it strange that some people seem so devoted to supporting Harry and Meghan, no matter what. Some of their output (Netflix, Spare, Oprah, Cut interview ) has been objectively cringe-worthy.

The term merching belies the thought that people think that Meghan should be able to make a living through influencing. I’ll bite - what actual not speculative evidence is there of paid partnerships of items she wears and herself?

I do find it strange that some people seem so devoted to supporting Harry and Meghan, no matter what. Some of their output (Netflix, Spare, Oprah, Cut interview ) has been objectively cringe-worthy.

No, that would be a subjective opinion. This is the part detractors don't accept, that your opinions of them are just opinions. The fact they are supported by a lot of media and public probably helps you believe it is objective, but it is no more objective than saying that Kate is a stern and cold looking woman with little personality or style of her own.

No, that would be a subjective opinion. This is the part detractors don't accept, that your opinions of them are just opinions.

So to clarify, did you think that Oprah/Netflix/Spare/ The Cut created positive impressions?

Yes, they've been badly treated at times and have attracted some vile attacks, but then again, they have also treated others badly and their most voluble supporters (eg on Celebitchy) are every bit as vile about Will and Kate, so they don't have any higher ground there.

Again this is a false equivalence. Will and Kate absolutely get a pasting on some social media sites as do Harry and Meghan. Both W&K and H&M have no control over social media and what people post. The real difference is in print and broadcast media especially over the past 5 years in which there is no comparison in the sustained negative approach of the British Media towards H&M which has led to real life consequences towards them. It’s how people in the press will and have tried to obtain personal information about them through unsavoury means (again has happened to W&K too). It’s how people conflate the press violating them (hacking, tracking, sharing personal items) with genuine reporting as evidenced by people in this thread complaining that H&M themselves have released statements through the press.

their most voluble supporters (eg on Celebitchy) are every bit as vile about Will and Kate, so they don't have any higher ground there

Which is why I don't go on there and find their criticism of W&K completely ridiculous and mean

Why bring up that site on Mumsnet? We are not them

Why bring up that site on Mumsnet? We are not them

I believe @MrsMaxDeWinter was recommending that site earlier in the thread?

So to clarify, did you think that Oprah/Netflix/Spare/ The Cut created positive impressions?

Well yes - to people who were neutral/positive to positive about them. I have said that sometimes I find Meghan to be overly earnest which I felt when I read The Cut interview but I’ve had no issues with the rest.

I have said countless times they should not have done the OW interview.
The Cut ...it meant nothing to me, whatever you say M didn't write it.

Spare was touching in parts, interesting in parts, boring in parts, daft and cringe in parts but the most critical posters haven't even read it and just pick up the headline grabbing bits which accounts for very little of it

I thought the NF series was good in parts. Not so good in others which typifies just about everything I watch

None of it are crimes of the century. I'm glad they've spoken out and I don't blame them for leaving. Not one little bit. Good luck to rhem

I don't blame them for leaving either. But smearing family members on their way out was bad form and it will take them a long time to undo that damage.

They have a right to say why and how.

For me, and lots of people I know, yes. But @boxedandribboned what you said was they were objectively cringey, and that is not objective, it's just your opinion. I admire Harry for rejecting a role and institution that treated his wife poorly, to say the least. I think he is a husband and father willing to do the right thing by his family, which is something his father and brother have been unwilling to do.

MrsMaxDeWinter earlier in the thread, Roussette, saying she reads it avidly, and later that it’s a riot.

it’s also a site that treats all famous women, Meghan and Angelina Jolie excepted, as human punching balls. Kate however gets their especial vitriol (several articles a day, by far the most covered person) for every single thing she says, does, or wears. Or the way she walks, talks, gestures with her hands, styles her hair. And of course she is the most stupid, vapid, worthless person imaginable, and inferior in every single possible way to her sister in law.

Sound familiar?

So when the same poster who avidly reads and enjoys that site says it’s a “giveaway” that posters don’t acknowledge the dehumanisation of Meghan - well, let’s just say I have little to no time for their position on that. Or any of the other posters who praised the site.

. But smearing family members on their way out was bad form and it will take them a long time to undo that damage.

Is what Charles, Diana, Andrew and Fergie have done smearing? The leaks to the press by his family? I mean why is Harry being held to a standard nobody else is. They all talk about press intrusion, Charles has often complained about it, and he's complained about his parents, boarding school, Diana....

I personally think people are entitled to tell their story, lots of famous people do, and that includes the people in their life. Nothing Harry said was brand new information, even the fight with William was in a book, minus the part where William was violent. Why is it ok for other people to tell his story, but. not him. All this reading about him in the press, discussing it here, all fine but Harry himself can't talk about any of it?

I admire Harry for rejecting a role and institution that treated his wife poorly, to say the least.

But they didn’t reject it. They explicitly wanted to be half in and half out. To continue to represent the UK and collaborate with the Queen while also earning a private income. It was only when QEII said no to that that they changed their narrative to the environment being “unsurvivable”.

(and that’s not opinion - you can see it yourself in their own words on the published Sussex Royal manifesto on 20 January 2020)

Is what Charles, Diana, Andrew and Fergie have done smearing?

Given that Charles and Diana did their tell-all interviews nearly 30 years ago and are still poorly regarded for it, Fergie has never recovered and nor I suspect will Andrew, doesn’t that rather prove what the poster said, that it will take Harry and Meghan a long time to repair that damage?