ARO thread 2

[OneHeartySnail]

To continue the discussion...

What next? What did the launch aim to achieve? Did it get the desired result?

Tom Bower is well known for his biographies - he's very thorough.

She would have run straight to Kigali airport in her stiletto heels if she had got an invitation to the BAFTAs.

And if she had been invited, and I agree that there's no way a minor American cable TV actress would be, then surely she'd get a lot more than a few weeks notice? I imagine events like this are planned well in advance. I guess it's just about possible, but not at all likely, that someone dropped out and her agent put a word in for her, but even if that were true, as @Serenster said, the dates don't line up.

So it would seem that she's flat out lying. What a shocker.

I’d love to hear what Angela Kelly’s opinion is.

I think we could hazard a guess.... But I don't think she'll ever tell. I've read her book. She really loved the Queen. I don't think she'd ever tell anything the Queen wouldn't have wanted told.

ETA: I've wondered whether, when H talked about 'making sure the Queen had the right people around her', he meant AK. Good luck with that, Harold. She's a working class girl from Liverpool, she'd have had you for breakfast.

Hadn't realised about the timelines on the BAFTA thing ... is there anything about this couple which will stand up to enquiry??

I know, he has absolutely no idea. None.

Doesn't look like it.

Revenge is a good read. I thought Bower was too hard on child MM including being unfair or perhaps ungenerous in what he wrote about her racial heritage and identity. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In fairness it's Tom bower who said on some show that "It's Meghan I'm after", which doesn't sound very objective to me, but that said I don't think anyone's ever managed to sue him for inaccuracies which backs up the argument for his rigorous research

It's also true that if H&M went legal on everyone who displeased them they'd never do anything else, but that certainly doesn't stop them when it suits - not even in seemingly hopeless caases like the security one Harry lost

Her nickname was AK47. From what I've heard, not without reason.

.It's not just dressing up in bespoke designer gear and smiling - there's a lot of work involved. Neither of them were up to it, didn't want to admit their weaknesses so left. (By IsoldeWagner)

I said something similar here once, about 2 years ago at least, that being a working royal is not as easy as it may look and you’ll need to know quite a bit if you are intending to do it well. I got so much ridicule about it, was told that basically any idiot could do what royals do. I guess I am an idiot then because I would struggle to memorise a lot of info (often dull) about the business/charity/school etc, remember people’s name, trying to be diplomatic in the face of provocation and so on. I would also be absolutely peopled out by the end of the day. I would do the inane smiling part well though

I downloaded Revenge as an e-book from my local library. Am part way through.

It is well researched on Meghan's early life, and adult life before she met Harry. But TB doesn't seem able to find anything pleasant to say about any of the people he's writing about. He keeps having little digs at Charles, for example, about things that have nothing to do with his relationship with H&M. He refers to the Queen as 'weak'. It all begins to leave a nasty taste after a while, and I don't know if I'll finish it.

What an interesting life Angela Kelly has had, I’m sure Queen valued her very much.

I find great joy in thinking of how much her gatekeeping enraged Harry

Working class Scouse women of her generation are bombproof. I speak from experience! And I mean it in a good way!

Indeed they are.

I speak as someone who was simultaneously in awe and bloody terrified.

A redoubtable woman.

You're right, @WhataPithy - being a working royal actually requires such a lot of social skills, diplomacy, tact, enthusiasm, stamina and interest in others. Not everyone is up to the task, and they clearly weren't.

Harry has lost it again, I see.

Lost what?

He’s lost the initial bid to appeal on the dismissal of his case against the home office for his security,

Initial bid ? So what can he do now ?
DH is a retired lawyer but never here when I need him ……

Goodness. That must be a shock to Harry, to be told "no".

He can apply directly to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal (the first stage is applying to the court that issued the judgement you want to appeal).

I'm pretty confident it would be a shock to any of his family to be told no, but nobody else has chosen to put themselves in a position where they have to experience it

After all, hideous as his entitlement is, what we're seeing is the naked truth now all the skilled PR/spin's gone

Edited to add glad you're here @Serenster

Thanks . Is he likely to succeed given that he has just been told no ?

Hard to say - I would tend to say no, as this case seemed to turn on its own particular facts, and the decision-making processes of RAVEC aren’t exactly of general application! I don’t recall there being any key issues of law involved in the first instance decision either. But never say never when it comes to the judiciary…

Harry was very stupid to think that 1 single, petulant Prince would be able to take on the might of the Home Office. He is used to people saying yes and courts rolling over because he generally takes on the little people. He took on a foe far too powerful for him. There was no way he was ever going to win that battle against a national government.