Omid Scobie Endgame PART 3

[Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstotheyard]

La Pom Pom Girl is doing the Double Dutch. But who is turning the skipping ropes? Part three/trois/drie of the continuing discussion of Endgame by Omid Scobie. Previous thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/4951834-omid-scobies-new-book-part-2

Tbh I think that their current lifestyle is probably a disapointment. That they believe they are victims of all sorts of conspiracies.

Instead of two very privileged individuals who have had numerous opportunities to develop a lifestyle beyond most people's dreams.

They have unearned millions (Harry's inherited wealth, from Diana's divorce settlement i.e. the RF, plus the Queen Mother's trust fund, far outclipses what Meghan earned), put them easily in the top 1% globally. They don't have to work. If they are interested in specific causes they have the time and money to commit to those causes.

Money doesn't earn them respect, however.

And they seem to want to buy respect, not earn it

In all this time it's never been explained why they'd even want half in/half out considering Meghan was alllegedly nearly driven to suicide

I think they thought half in half out meant they'd keep their security and also all the appointments and patronages they wanted with the tax payer on the hook for the security and flights to wherever they decided to live.

They clearly wanted to be the Royal Family of Canada without giving Canadians a choice

Not being allowed to wear dress uniforms means that Harry isn't special anymore hes just another retired solider

Harry was always given exceptional status. Would he have been acceped by Sandhurst if he wasn't the Queen's grandson? He scraped through the minimum requirments, but most (all?) of the others accepted had way more than the minimum.

So maybe it was a shock to him when he lost some of that status. Let's face it, the immense (unearned) wealth of the RF is the basis of Harry's immense, unearned wealth. The QM's legacy, plus his inheritance from Diana's divorce settlement.

He has never been a man of the people!

They have unearned millions (Harry's inherited wealth, from Diana's divorce settlement i.e. the RF, plus the Queen Mother's trust fund, far outclipses what Meghan earned), put them easily in the top 1% globally. They don't have to work. If they are interested in specific causes they have the time and money to commit to those causes.

In Spare Harry said hes not touching the money Diana left him, hes keeping it for Archie and Lili which is why they needed money asap. Can you imagine the privilege of a man with millions in the bank being like well I don't want to spend those millions because I've decided to leave that money to my children.

Also I think part of the issue is that they've moved to a place where they're not really part of the 1% and keeping up with the Jones' costs a ton. I remember Caitlyn Jenner saying Kylie spends $400k per month on security which presumably their security costs would be similar. So at the start of the year if you know your security costs alone were $5m, the inheritances (even if he was willing to spend them) wouldn't last long.

So he wants the taxpayer to pay for his security.

Can you imagine the privilege of a man with millions in the bank being like well I don't want to spend those millions because I've decided to leave that money to my children.

Tbh that's a lesson he learned from his family - the QM died in several million pounds worth of debt yet set up multi-million pound trust funds for her great-grandchildren.

I would hope that I have a very different perspective from my great grandmothers, having been born 80+ years later!

Tbh I think that their current lifestyle is probably a disapointment

And it always will be if its put against W&K.

Plus they were the new young things, put against W&K who had been married a long time and who had children and were heading towards middle age.

The truth is that is what they are now, the new bright young things are coming, they are becoming irrelevant and will have no new stories to trade on.

Entirely possible that the QM wasn’t in debt when the trust funds were set up? Once the money was in trust for her great-grandchildren, it’s was no longer her money.

He always did - that the whole point of half-in, half-out. They'd get to keep all the bits of being royal they liked (the titles, patronages, security, everyone bowing/scraping, the safety net/security blanket of being part of the royal fold), and ditch the bits they didn't (tedious royal duties, living in a modest little house in the middle of a park, stifling royal protocol and limiting royal hierarchy that prevented them being the huge stars they could be [hollow laugh]). But unfortunately for them, it didn't quite work out that way ....

....living in a modest little house in the middle of a park....

The Queen reportedly offered them a country house as a wedding present, but they declined. The Highgrove or Gatcombe lifestyle wouldn't have been Meghan's thing, I suppose - even though she had the wellies!

I can’t help thinking they were pushed a bit on their way out
The bitterness seems out of proportion
I think Harry never for one nanosecond thought he would be left without privileges
He always thought he could force it through - and obviously hasn’t given up

This has been discussed ad nauseam in previous threads ...

They jumped, they weren't pushed, but what they're bitter about is that they thought Harry would be able to railroad the Queen into agreeing to what they wanted (half-in, half-out, Sussex Royal website/branding, pursuing commercial ventures while still representing HM, monetizing their royal status), but Harry failed to get that private meeting, because word got out what they were up to, the Queen was suddenly unavailable and they were thwarted by Charles, William and 'the men in grey'. They've been out to exact revenge ever since.

Indeed @cheezncrackers . Harry himself said that he assured Meghan that his security would never be removed .

That makes it sound as if they thought the Queen would be a soft touch whereas from what I can see she was far from that particularly when it came to protecting the monarchy. Edited to add, H seems to place all of the blame on the aides but it is likely even probable that they were acting on HMQ's instructions.

And then Harry's comments about visiting her to 'make sure she is protected' 😂as if her staff were exploiting her instead of being appoited and trusted by her over a number of years, plus being in frequent contact with her children, and long standing appointees such as her ladies-in-waiting and dresser, among others

I think the Queen was a very shrewd operator and she was very careful never to alienate Harry and Meghan, to always say how they were valued members of the family, always welcome at Balmoral, etc. But Harry, I believe, tried to manipulate her by exploiting the grandmother/grandson relationship. Whether she played a blinder or the courtiers did on her behalf, I don't know, but either way Harry was forced to deal with his father and brother at the so-called Sandringham Summit, which didn't go well for him.

Exactly @parksandrecs - that interview was nauseating for his hubris and smug arrogance. It was also deeply ironic for a man who barely saw HM after he left the UK and didn't bother to go and see her during her final summer, despite an open invitation to do so, and his presence in the UK for other purposes.

I think Meghan never really took in what it meant that the Queen was sovereign and head of state. In Meghan's superficial world view she categoirised the Queen as 'sweet little old lady who can be charmed and manipulated '.

This narrative about being ‘young things’ really gets on my nerves ; Meghan is actually older than Catherine ( and already once , possibly twice married) and Harry is barely two years younger than William. In any event they were both in their late thirties, hardly teenagers .

I think part of it was lost in translation. We know that MM is a fan of Beyonce - look at the way the Hive refer to her as a Queen. In MM's head, Her Majesty was just someone who was super-famous and her husbands gran. She really didn't understand that this is a Sovereign.

Even now - as someone said in a PP, if H&M try to claim that the Palace leaked Charles' letter, then there's HUGE security implications in the fact that a Head of State is having private correspondence read and leaked to outside sources. The political implications of that are unthinkable.

That is possibly one of the nuttiest things he has said and there are many to choose from!

Harry failed to get that private meeting, because word got out what they were up to, the Queen was suddenly unavailable and they were thwarted by Charles, William and 'the men in grey'. They've been out to exact revenge ever since.

There’s a bit of ageism inherent in Harry’s view of this - his seeming confidence that if he just talked his proposal though with Granny, she’d be amendable to it. As if she didn’t have 65 years of experience of dealing with politicians, foreign leaders and communist dictators and outright chancers all looking to press their own advantage on her. We also all know she once kept an intruder engaged with casual conversation until security arrived!

QEII had vast experience in avoiding making a commitment or comment. I don’t think she would have let herself be put on the spot if it didn’t suit her.

I think he genuinely believed it. That she didn't support him because she was vulnerable to the people around her, not because she just - didn't agree with him.

But situations change things.

Being knee deep in nappies makes you less 'young' regardless of if you are in your 20s or 30s.

There situation was young- but you are right and I bet MM is furious that she is older