The royals and Dan Wootton: Byline Times part 1 of 3-year investigation into how Wootton got information about the royal family

[queentim]

Following their series about the Crisis in British Journalism and MediaToo movement, Byline Times reporters have recently released the first report of the 3 year investigation into the link between the royals and (disgraced) TV presenter Dan Wootton.

The first report reveals how Charles and William were angered that Harry refused to remove the name of an aide (William's aide in Kensington) who was paid cash to leak stories about his wife Meghan, and son Archie. This included investigations by the Met.

As a result, Charles removed the $700,000 granted to support them, which would have seen Harry and Meghan living in Canada and representing the Queen, in an effort to bring them back to the UK by exposing their location in Canada and removing their security. This was the collapse of the 'Sandringham Agreement', which resulted in the signing of the Sussexes media deals.

Some highlights, but can be bought for £3.6:

▪ It followed news that a partner of a key aide to Prince William received £4,000 from The Sun allegedly for stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when Wootton was executive editor.

▪ The Metropolitan Police looked into the alleged leaking but could not go to a judge for a warrant to search royal staff property without knowing the identity of the whistle-blowers.

▪ Two internal royal investigations followed – one involving Simon Case, who is today the embattled head of the civil service facing questions over the Government’s response to the pandemic.

▪ Byline Times has uncovered new photographic evidence of Wootton, the aide and the aide’s partner at a lavish private birthday party Wootton threw for his close friends in a £1,675-a-night hotel suite.

▪ Prince Harry sent formal ‘letters before action’ detailing the claims about Wootton and the palace to News UK.

▪ When the aide’s name was not removed from the legal letters, the Sussexes were cut adrift financially and left unable to protect themselves despite having a security threat level equal to the monarch.

▪ The royal household had thought the threat of exposure would force Harry and Meghan to return to the UK, where their profile could be controlled preventing them from eclipsing the future King

Exploding ‘Megxit’: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-for-Leaks Scandal Split the Monarchy

To be honest I don’t care who pays so long as it’s not me.

Mylovelygreendress yes, that's how I feel about it too.

I fear ultimately, directly or indirectly, it all comes from the public purse.

My sentiments exactly.

Probably right, most things do one way or t'other

@sashagabadon I don't think it came as a surprise to Harry that each office has its own contacts, since he was part of the same operation and clearly described it (Harry's issue, from what he's described, is that it was his own father and brother doing this to him, so he is speaking about his feelings of betrayal).

I don't think this investigation is about Harry per se, but about what is seen as the problematic relationship between the institutions that are the government, Palace(s) and media.

Specifically, the cash-for-leaks, which is illegal (?) - they talk a lot about the Operation Elveden-type scandals and bribery allegations

Wasn't Adnrew still receiving taxpayer funded security like 3 years after he stopped performing duties?

The goalposts keep shifting with this one

Agree that Harry's impulsiveness meant he did not always see the bigger picture. For example the statement he released confirming his relationship with Meghan and asking the press to back off was on a day when Charles was making a sensitive and long planned trip to Jordan. I can imagine Charles' office being exasperated that this visit was overshadowed by Harry's love life. This is not a conspiracy with the press just basic organisational PR timing.

Because it’s not like big media was going to publish anything about Meghan or Harry on that day otherwise.

I agree with this. Byline's 'revelations' seem a bit of a damp squib

But why is it a ‘damp squib?’

@sashagabadon

For me , none of that re. Each house having its own contacts is a surprise. It’s exactly what I would expect like any “business “ and yes the ultimate goal is to protect the monarchy as that is bigger and more important than any individual in it ( with king and queen top of tree but even they are less important than the crown itself)
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this?
i think Harry views these different houses as in competition with each other rather than collaborating and supporbut if I was him I would happily view myself as the support to the monarch, not trying to beat them on some foolish competition that I can’t win.
He would have had a much happier life if he’d just taken that attitude and realised how lucky he was to be a lower ranked royal. Again it’s his arrogance and sense of entitlement mindset being determined to see things and interpret events as negatively as possible.
ironically he said he wanted to “collaborate “with the queen in his manifesto. That I think was a Meghan way of looking at it. He should have chosen the word support instead

Thats how I see it. Harry has shown repeatedly that he doesn’t understand systems and protocols - he announced that amazing gem of wisdom on the NF doc that the RF was a hierarchy......he then gets paranoid and angry when he realises late in life that these systems and protocols both apply to him and provide for him.

He has had contempt for the media all of his life understandably - but IMHO his evident growing personal paranoia and emotional instability has him now pointing the finger at family incoherently and conflating both situations when the arrangements don’t suit him anymore or his new wife.

I would think he understands about systems and protocols totally given he saw it first hand for the first 35 years of his life. He saw it with his mother, his father, his brother... now, he may not have liked it... quite obviously not, given the title of his book. WE might not know about systems and protocols. Harry certainly did.

Systems and protocols weren't why H&M left. The BT article covers it.

But Rousette he is perfectly happy with the protocols and hierarchy and systems when it puts him above his aunts and uncles and cousins. Then he fully supports them.
another of his fatal mistakes was to see all the benefits of hierarchy he enjoyed for 30plus years was down to him as a person. It isn’t and wasn’t. It was because he was a child of the heir and then a working royal once an adult. He’s no longer a child or a working royal.
I hope William is doing a better job of explaining the hierarchy and system to Charlotte and Louis. Getting them to see it’s not personal nor a reflection of them as human beings and they can live amazing lives as supports to their brother. Anne got this instinctively, probably because she is female. Males seem to want to be top dog more!

a good example of Harry perfectly happy to benefit from the hierarchy ( and Meghan for that matter) was when eugenie’s Windsor castle wedding / engagement was postponed for Harry. Was he complaining about the hierarchy then? Did he offer for Eugenie to go first as he is just Harry or did he just expect to have the more important wedding as higher in the system ( that he hates)?
Did Eugenie complain? Privately possibly or maybe she accepted how lucky she was to have her wedding in Windsor castle in the first place and the date didn’t matter that much and Harry was a more senior royal ( the sensible view)

What Harry wants Harry gets. In his mind. Throughout his life he was the indulged younger brother.

But Rousette he is perfectly happy with the protocols and hierarchy and systems when it puts him above his aunts and uncles and cousins. Then he fully supports them.
Where has he said this? I have no idea about wedding cancellations at all

I just think it's odd to say he knows nothing about it!

I do agree that Harry seems not to realise just how privileged he is. Yes, his family have a hierarchy but that hierarchy is there in order to protect their position at the top of the tree. The money, the deference, the power comes from them being the family of the Monarch, and the Monarchy depends on having the person at the top of the tree protected at all costs. Without the monarchy he would not have the fame or money he has. I think his main problem is that he supports the Monarchy and all the unearned privilege that comes with it but doesn't want them to have to pay any price for that in terms of having to do deals with the press. His family approved leaks about him allegedly in order to keep other stories out of the papers, but they do that because their wealth and power ( which he benefitted from) depends on tradition, deference, making out they are somehow better people deserving of adulation for doing not that much. Without deals with the press, maybe we would know more about what the Royals do, their financial shenanigans whether or not they are worth the money, the multiple houses, to be listened to, without the dead cat on the table of ' ooh look Kate has worn a dress twice and look at her nice hair!'
Now we don't because Harry and Meghan have made themselves even more Human Shields than they were before.

Exactly @Angrycat2768 the RF system ie continued revenue stream from tax payers money can only be secured and maintained by positive PR ie doing positive stuff and this being relayed via the media to the tax payer.

The RF and media are in a mutually beneficial relationship financially - one needs clicks one needs positive PR to keep the cash rolling in to support both of their business models.

This is nothing new and PH and MM were happy to take the life of luxury this arrangement provided until they decided the wanted more.

I feel more sorry for her than him. Who even if they did know about the Royals would know about all the shenanigans they engage in? The backstabbing, the vanity and one upmanship, the curtseying in order and in private etc, but Harry did know that.He didn't tell her, and he is entitled to want nothing to do with it. But if he wants to expose the press he needs to realise that that's how his family have kept hold of their power for so long and how they get away with so much. They are not innocent victims of the Palace men in grey suits and the press. I highly doubt they feel ' trapped by duty'. They know full well that the main beneficiary's of a monarchy is the Monarch and their extended family. They are complicit in his unhappiness because they don't want scrutiny into anything that may lead to questioning of their position.

In some ways I have more sympathy for PH - I could understand if he felt trapped in his golden cage as he had no choice as was born into it but MM a highly intelligent woman with left leaning egalitarian views to marry into that system is beyond me. What happened to her ‘values’ - and it wasn’t trapped by ‘love’ because anyone wouldn’t even consider a date with a member of an institution not aligned to your ‘values’.

I feel more sorry for her than him. Who even if they did know about the Royals would know about all the shenanigans they engage in? The backstabbing, the vanity and one upmanship, the curtseying in order and in private etc, but Harry did know that

Meghan had spent her adult life successfully building a career in a hugely cutthroat entertainment industry, so I doubt that backstage shenanigans, vanity and one upmanship were particularly new to her. The family hierarchy and dynamics, yes, that must have been different, but a peer/colleague having a higher status is again, presumably something she was familiar with.

I was finding this thread really interesting , like the previous thread it brought to light how badly PH had been thrown under the bus by his family.
its a shame that it has been derailed and become a PH bash.
I doubt even after all this years in the family he expected his family to do that.

I agree.

They come across as very vendictive people to me.

It is hard to understand when you see all they have.

The RF and media are in a mutually beneficial relationship financially - one needs clicks one needs positive PR to keep the cash rolling in to support both of their business models.

Actually I find this way of running the monarchy trashy and distasteful. It doesn't have to be like this, does it? As a republican I find the whole institution baffling so maybe it's me? Are diehard monarchists happy with the Windsors entering into all these grubby agreements with the press? Is it an essential part of any monarchy then?