Omid Scobie Endgame PART 4

[Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar]

Continuing an enjoyable and civilised discussion of Endgame, and all things relating to its contents.

Previous thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/4954329-omid-scobie-endgame-part-3?page=1

Going back to inheritance matters, I think I read that he gets his inheritance from the Queen Mother when he turns 40.

Megan was given the opportunity to keep acting, and quite frankly having a royal title and subsequent increased profile would have likely made her very successful. She chose not to. She could have attended royal events with harry when she deemed fit.

It's possible that with the kids still young they might have done very little.

W&K took quite a back seat for a while didn't they?

Listening to his old interviews (and I know he was much younger) even then he really did seem to hanker for a life of anonymity, away from the media and able to get on with a normal, albeit fabulously wealthy, life
You’re absolutely right @themessygarden , in which case wth did he marry someone hellbent on the opposite?

Very astute analysis, @cyclamenqueen

I've watched it all with interest. Like others, and most people I know, I loved their wedding, and loved seeing Harry so happy. He was very popular. It looked like Meghan was welcomed in very nicely from the unemotional royal family.

Then they changed from being a popular couple, but entirely due to their actions.
They're very typical of a couple I know who are always putting down people they know won't answer back, but if anyone pulls them up on it, they're immediately the victims. Most people recognise that they are doing this to stop repercussion from their bullying behaviour, but it's always surprising how many people fall for the victim narrative even when they've seen their behaviour elsewhere, and start excusing it.

I think the only way they could pull this back now is to do nothing large for the next year. Keep quiet, not court the press, do some charitable things and not say anything negative or ask their pet press people to say negative things. The only thing to say connected to the royal family would be positive things like birthday greetings etc. If anything negative comes out from "royal experts" a bland denial, but not engaging at all.
Then this time next year, they could ask for a Christmas visit, and gradually do a few things with the royal family, but being careful not to say anything negative at all.

With that they may come back into the fold and their popularity would probably go up again, although I doubt to the level it once was.

Is it verified that they asked to visit Sandringhan for Christmas and were rebuffed?

The Times or Sunday Times had the story about them wanting an invitation to Christmas.
Nobody has said that they were denied an invitation but are assuming that because of Endgame.

How would you verify that then,,,

I think it was all 'friends have said', which could mean anything!

Agree about the asture analysis.

Also interesting to be reminded of Harry being dismayed about Meghan still working. I agree had she still worked they could have had what they wanted.

I think you're right, but what you describe isn't "half in half out", it's having a few years with low expectations of many Duties (especially when there are young DC in the mix). It was widely understood that the Queen was in favour of that (having very much enjoyed her 'pressure off' time in Malta) and of course the then Cambridges did that in their Anglesey years - where William was working in helicopter rescue, not anything commercial.

But the Sussexes themselves rejected the idea in favour of "hit the ground running".

"half in half out" was tried with the then Wessexes, and we all know how badly that ended.

Hitting the ground running.... that went well.

Doubt it - latest iteration is that they are still considering their Christmas plans, and that KC is desperate for them to come.

I think the whole shebang is invented press bollocks on this issue

I think Meghan had a different idea of what royal life would entail, that’s obvious. I think her baby shower in NYC was a crucial turning point, in public perception. The show of wealth, the gifts arriving… It was too Hollywood. I would imagine royal aides had a stern word, which didn’t go down well…

Remember when Kate was seen skipping around the Kings Road shortly before her wedding? That endeared her to people. What Meghan did turned people off. The press / public is such a knife-edge. Even her father not going to the wedding, which was the first crack, was saved by Charles’ kindness to her.

There is no way Charles is desperate for them to come, how awkward would it be, and Charles has hardly been overly enthusiastic to get them here any other time, that’s just spin from Harry’s side.

it might be bollocks, but it is their freinds saying they want to come, and harry is quoted as saying an apology or explanation at this point is irrelevant, that they just want to come and will bring the kids,

i suspect this one is prob true. But they will climb back and deny as not invited, or to be more accurate, claim it was Charles who wanted it.

@EdithWeston I suspect it's just made up by the tabloids. It is a shame that KC never gets to see his gcs and they don't get to have a relationship with him.

Give it 12 months and Harry will be claiming that Meghan begged to continue working as an actress after they got engaged / married but the palace cruely refused this request so she had no choice but to become trapped as a full time working royal.
he’s spun the “leaving” from “finding freedom, just call me Harry” to the Queen forcing him to leave so he’ll spin this too!

I think working as an actor would be difficult in the years when you are actually having babies. They said they wanted DC - indeed Harry had been saying on and off for years how important that was to him - and it was totally unsurprising that they chose to do that early in the marriage.

That said, she did a Disney voiceover in early 2020 (Archie would have been about 6 months old) and I think she could have done more. But by then, they were already half out of the door

so Harry on the BBC now has another trial to prepare for as he has been refused a summary judgement in his favour. This cannot be good for her general reputation or his mental health.

BBC article

Prince Harry loses battle to get Mail on Sunday defence thrown out in libel case - BBC News

I'm not sure this will be a blow - of course they'd try to get it dismissed, but he'll have known from the outset this could mean a trial. I've not seen any word of potential date for the trial - how long after a ruling of this kind does it typically take to set a date, and how far in the future would that date be? Or is it too variable to generalise?

Relevant to this thread - the High Court said in its decision today held that the Mail has a real prospect of demonstrating that Prince Harry had issued a misleading description of the issues in his claim against the Home Office. They said so because the press release he made hoped to show his claim in a positive light (the court said a true description of his claim - that he’d actually started litigation against the Home Office before he made his offer to pay - risked showing him in a negative light).

Who issued that misleading description of Harry’s claims. Well, that would be Omid Scobie. Imagine if he got called as a witness to explain where he got this information from…

I think Charles' red line is Camilla and I think even if he wanted to see Harry and family over Christmas that he wouldn't make Camilla uncomfortable like that.

If you look at the timing of their eviction from Frogmore it was around the time of Spare where he really went after Camilla.

Also Camilla's children are invited to Sandringham this Christmas, Harry was less than kind to Tom Parker Bowles in Spare, basically accused Camilla of planting stories about Harry to deflect from TPB's bad behaviour.

I also think if Charles wanted to see Harry so badly he would do so, he would fly over to California whereas he seems conspiciously absent from the country on any recent time Harrys been over. Thats not to say that he doesn't love Harry, I think he does I just don't think he trusts him anymore

FYI, a possible accurate description of his claim would have been: “Prince Harry has applied for a judicial review of a Home Office decision not to allow him taxpayer-funded security for himself and his family whenever they are in the UK”.

Covid scuppered their plans to some extent. If the pandemic hadn't happened they would have hit the ground running and made more of the moment. By the time things were getting back to normal them leaving was old news and there will have been a lot of lost opportunity and money.

I think you're right about longer term prospects though and this should have been obvious to them to an extent. There is a bit of a blueprint for exiled Royals - Edward & Wallis, Fergie. The exception is Diana but as she sadly died at the height of fame we don't know how things would have panned out longer term. I suspect they looked to the popularity of Diana as inspiration whilst ignoring the fate of the aforementioned.

I think they probably have enough money to live quietly and comfortably in the US for the rest of their lives just not at Oprah levels of wealth and luxury. Meghan, having come from nothing and worked her way up could probably adapt to that. Harry, I'm less sure about.