american riviera orchard - what was that all about then?

[Tenmus]

It seems to have gone the same way as their Sussex Royal site. I don't know much about social media or PR, but this all seems pretty odd and ineffectual.

Hard agree.

Absolutely great she did it, not sure why it needed to be done as a faux Royal visit with as many cameras.

This is what H&M seem to struggle with - they can't or won't separate from their previous roles as Senior Working Royals.

Exactly - this is the crux of it. Who is she representing? Herself, that's who. It's like Harry speaking to First Nations people in Canada as some sort of royal/British representative when he's neither. He doesn't speak for the RF or for the British government, so who the hell does he think he's representing? Again, just himself.

The weird thing is, I can understand Harry finding it hard to step away from the royal template of who he is and how he presents himself, because that was his life from birth to 2020. But Meghan only joined the RF in 2018 and she left it 18 months later, so why is she parading around like she's a working royal and can't figure out how else to be?

To be honest, if the sick children enjoyed the visit, I am all for it.

It is awful when little ones need to be in a hospital and anything that can lighten that up is good. I would assume parents could refuse the use of photos with their children?

The children very likely know who Johnny Depp is, and are excited to be visited by him.

How many American children have a clue who the wife of the 5th in line to the British throne is?

I also agree. Even if it was leaked she went and read to the kids, it would be fine. But taking a camera crew and dressing in thousands of dollars worth of delicate silk and posing for pics beside sick children, is just so far from ok.

they chose to not be working royals. And not even simply chose it. They went after the British royals hard. Invaded their privacy and sold tawdry stories on them. Now we have the faux royal Sussex site and Megan acting like she’s a working royal and missed the briefing on how to do it correctly.

how the pair of them continually get it so very wrong is beyond me. Yes they need to do something to rehabilitate their public image. Yes charitable work is the way to go, But visiting sick children with a camera crew and wearing silk Oscar de la renta, is not charitable work and it’s not a good idea either.

its like they thought this is whay Diana would have done, so we should do it too. Visit sick children. But Diana didn’t take a camera crew when she did private visits and she didn’t dress in thousands of dollars worth of silk when she was doing it either. She went in humble.

I’m fairly sure they’d have enjoyed it whomever read to them, but would have preferred it to be not photographed when sick for publicity purposes for a woman they won’t even know who she is.

She (Diana) went in humble.

This was not that.

Absolutely this. I think it’s nauseating and tone deaf .

@JJathome I do see your point that they would prefer not to be photographed. But I am pretty sure they could opt out?

I quite like the impracticality of the Oscar De La Renta dress, the world is too dreary, horrible and serious. Unfortunately I don’t have any designer gear but if I had, there are days when I would use it to cheer myself up. Rely on lipstick to do that at the moment.

I'm wondering if M saw the coverage of Catherine meeting the young cancer survivor who asked her to dress in pink, and she was trying to emulate that type of look.

The visit happened on Thursday 21 March, the day before Kate’s video was released.

Never let a good bit of grifting go to waste, eh? Gotta stay relevant.

Too much of a coincidence I think that H&M pop up every time the actual royals attend an event.
Must be a disappointment to have the Royle's visit rather than the Royals 😂

Oh god really, so they sat on it and released it now. 😱

That crossed my mind too. Trying to look like a princess (I know she’s actually Princess Henry, but not quite the same as Princess of Wales)

Just read an article comparing this floral dress to Diana’s Belville Sassoon floral “caring dress” as she called it, which she often wore on hospital visits. So it would seem Meghan is indeed trying to channel Diana 🙄

edited to try and add photo. Didn’t work

There you go

Look at this headline. It's not really a Royal visit is it ?

I'm wondering if Catherine's statement delayed this release?

I''d be very surprised if that was so, MrsF - not when you consider their frequent lack of judgement and form for releasing stuff at (for them) opportune moments

Predictably though - and as with Riviera Orcahrd - it's a narrative being insisted upon by their remaining supporters

Well no, since the Americans got rid of British royals centuries ago. It's the cornerstone for their entire system of government.

And what's with the whole cloak and dagger 'secret' stuff? The whole point of royal visits is to draw attention to the work of organisations. Then again, this isn't a royal visit, which begs the question of what exactly is it, especially given that the children won't have a clue who she is or why she's there. And it's hardly 'secret' when photos get released at a time of her choosing, is it?

Not exactly secret when you take camera crews and then release it officially?

I’m all for the impracticality of a floaty frock.

You’d just think you would go for one that made you look good.

But Royal visit?

Mon now. I thought they’d left that behind in their flight to freedom.

I can't believe she's not getting paid for this.

@IcedPurple I thought the same but then realized we have no way of knowing that.