Nigeria 4!

[OneHeartySnail]

Let the conversation continue!

This country really is quite the melting pot!!

It is a bit scandalous to an old stick in the mud like me!

I've been skimming through "Spare", having recently got hold of a copy. Here's what he says about Princess Margaret, who he calls Aunt Margo:

Now and then, as I grew older, it struck me that Aunt Margo and I should've been friends. We had so much in common. Two Spares. Her relationship with Granny wasn't an exact analogue of mine with Willy, but pretty close. The simmering rivalry, the intense competition (driven largely by the older sibling), it all looked familiar.

So, all the rivalry/competition was coming from William! I suppose that ties in with Harry's view that he and Meghan were doing royalty better than W&C and were more popular.

Aye. It will always be someone else’s fault that they are resentful, whinging, entitled, disrespectful knobbers.

Thank fuck he wasn’t born first.

So he’s saying the Queen was responsible for simmering rivalry and intense competition between her and her younger sister? What a Prince.

Don't forget William of Orange being brought over from the Netherlands to be king!.

He thinks the Queen viewed her sister as a rival.

That's delusional thinking. Even if he felt like that with William, and feelings aren't facts, I have never seen or read anything to suggest the late Queen was in competition with Margaret.

Nuts, isn't it? It has a whiff of derangement about it.

Charles, Elizabeth's legimate heir, was already born when she became the Queen. He was four when she was crowned. Anne had been born too - she was two.

All Margaret was, from time to time, was a bit embarrassing and expensive to run.

I have never seen or read anything to suggest the late Queen was in competition with Margaret

All reports I've read suggest that they were very close all their lives.

I greatly suspect that any attempts to educate Harry about affairs of state, the role of the monarchy etc would have been unsuccessful, he clearly thinks he knows better than anyone else and unfortunately he’s married someone who is completely unsuitable for a life of service to others. His eternal flow of self pity is pathetic in a middle aged man.

Margaret was famously supportive of her sister and very loyal.

Which is completely false.

It’s so cute obviously as to proof he is completely delusional.

There are accounts which suggest Margaret was in competition with the Queen. She thought she should take a more active role and “share” the job. The Queen actually did a very good job of managing her, and the Queen Mother, who also didn’t want to hand over the reins.

I don’t agree with Harry’s comparison. Margaret was completely loyal to the Queen and ultimately respectful of the institution. She would never have betrayed either.

I can only see hostility in PH eyes! I suspect PW is very 🙄 /FFS Harry for most things he has done over the years, he's very sensible and projecting a sensible person, PH has always been a jokey, dippy, piss head, flirty bloke, sense of entitlement and posh twat persona - perhaps PW wants that life, I rather suspect PH though wants what he can't have

MrsLeonFarrell · Today 16:10
MrsDanversGlidesAgain · Today 16:08

And of course if you go back further they are French!

Yup, a whole other conversation. Try explaining the 'well, not really French more Viking, at least in 1066, but getting more French until they became half Scottish/Danish/French etc etc again and THEN German.'
This country really is quite the melting pot!!

It's ironic, isn't it? The first 'English' monarchs were basically German and spoke a language very like German, then along came the Viking Normans, then the true French Plantagenets etc, then we had the Welsh Tudors followed by the Scottish Stuarts...followed by more Germans with a bit of Scottish (and Danish) in the mix as you say.

The English have never really had an English monarch!!

Ohpleeeease · Today 17:04
There are accounts which suggest Margaret was in competition with the Queen. She thought she should take a more active role and “share” the job. The Queen actually did a very good job of managing her, and the Queen Mother, who also didn’t want to hand over the reins.

I don’t agree with Harry’s comparison. Margaret was completely loyal to the Queen and ultimately respectful of the institution. She would never have betrayed either.

Good point - I agree. I've read lots about Margaret, and it seems that however outrageous or prima-donna-ish her behaviour she was always completely loyal to the Queen - and this pulled a few friends up occasionally when they assumed she was that sort of rebel!

If Harry had just left with Meghan and not trashed his family we'd all have understood. It's the appalling cruelty and nastiness which they showed towards Harry's family which sticks in the throat. How much more we'd like him if he'd stayed outwardly loyal - even making a big show of it - that would have been so much more gracious, and he'd still be seen as very much 'royal'. He wouldn't have burned his bridges and he and M could have had much more of the arrangement they wanted.

But he's got the self-awareness of a toddler and seems not to be able to imagine the effect of his actions on a future time.

The English have never really had an English monarch!!

Tudors probably edge it (not that the Welsh would like them being described as English). Elizabeth I boasted of being 'mere English.'

Had Bonnie Prince Charlie succeeded with the 1745 rebellion England might have had a monarch who was half Polish. And the RF from 1714 to the 1860s was pure German.

Harry's distortion of the relationship between HM and Pss Margaret is so spiteful and deliberate designed to show how wronged the spare always is.

Not necessarily, I have lots of American friends and the conversations I have had with them about protocol and the intersection of royal family and society here have been fascinating. It's something that is really hard to grasp if you haven't grown up with it, particularly if you live in a country where class depends on wealth not who your grandfather was.

But presumably these people weren't intending marrying into the royal family and moving to another continent to take up a role representing the monarchy? People normally do some research into a potential spouse and their family, even if it's only Andy from Accounts. But when you're giving up your whole life to marry into the world's most famous family, surely you'd do some pretty serious research before accepting it all?

I don't buy that you have to be raised in a country with a monarchy to understand the basic concepts, such as that the eldest son will always outrank his younger siblings. Meghan and Harry were and are delusional and divorced from reality. But that's not the same thing as saying that she had no idea that the future king was more important than his younger brother. She's well aware of the value of titles and royal ranking when it suits her.

The English have never really had an English monarch!!
**
Edward IV, and Richard III had both English-born parents and grandparents….

You're right, @IcedPurple . We're not talking about a young ingenue - Meghan was late 30s and could hustle with the best of them.
Not knowing what the UK system was, the nature of the hereditary monarchy or even the National Anthem 🙄?
Either dishonest or very ignorant.

Henry VII married Elizabeth of York which certainly boosted his English credentials!

And he needed them. Although he was very careful to avoid giving the impression that he needed Elizabeth to do that.

Fun fact - I worked out yesterday that five of Henry VIII's marriages covered a period of only fourteen years.

True - wasn't he married to Catherine of Aragon for over 20 years? Some of the marriages were very short lived 😬