Nigeria 4!

[OneHeartySnail]

Let the conversation continue!

The national anthem thing was weird. A woman who learned lines for a living needed someone to 'teach' her a few bars of a song? 5 year old Louis had no trouble singing it at the Coronation last year, but a mature woman couldn't manage it?

He was married to Catherine longer than all of the other marriages put together.

In certain countries that shall remain nameless they just lock their mad Princes up in places in the desert with their toys. Harry is insufferable.

Ottoman sultans had the right idea. Lock 'em up or bump 'em off.

'The simmering rivalry, the intense competition (driven largely by the older sibling), it all looked familiar.'

What competition and rivalry? William is the heir to the throne, he had a successful career in the army, a successful career as a pilot after he left the army, married a lovely woman, has three great kids, appears to be supportive of his father, gets on well with his extended family. Where' s the competition?

As usual, it appears to be all in Harry's fevered imagination.

What competition and rivalry?

I think this is pitched at the people who think the monarchy is like Game of Thrones or Shakespeare history plays and don't realise that the succession isn't a competition to see who is strongest and comes out on top, it's all settled and peaceful.

If anyone seriously thinks Princess Margaret would have wanted to trade in the bohemian friendship set, lengthy holidays on Mustique and sybaritic lifestyle of her later years for red boxes, hosting the Ceaușescus and weekly meetings with John Major, I would think them utterly bonkers.

Not to mention a diary scheduled a year in advance.

I think she was aware of it in theory but completely underestimated how it would affect her day to day life as a working royal.

On a film set the stars have a great deal of power and the more successful you are as an actor the greater your status. It's something that you can work on. I don't think Meghan ever really grasped that she couldn't work her way up in importance in the Royal family. And I don't blame her for that I blame Harry, who also never grasped that William as the heir would have privileges, and duties, he didn't.

In other words royal ranking and titles are fixed and pretty much nothing else in the world is where status is concerned. I remember reading years ago that Diana made a point of treating Harry and William the same and was cross that William for tea with the Queen to learn about monarchy. I'm sure she had good motives but I think the result was that Harry grew up thinking he had equal importance and status and he just doesn't.

It’s very sad that Harry’s been unable/unwilling to carve out a life for himself beyond the army (where he couldn’t stay because he couldn’t pass the exams) in which he supported his father and brother but made a worthwhile career.
Unfortunately that probably wouldn’t have suited Meghan who’s clearly hellbent on milking her connections to royalty for all it’s worth while shoving Harry to one side.
It’s such an unedifying picture I can’t see how it’s ever going to improve. At least we are seeing how they are making fools of themselves now.
The palace are wise to carry on sitting back and watching.

Prince Carl of Sweden runs his own design business, he doesn't use his Royal title in any of his business dealings and no mention of his Royal connections.

He studied graphic design after he finished his military career, he runs his business while at the same time supporting the Royal Family and the charities he is involved in.

Classy ! and fricking gorgeous.

Discover the essence of Nordic design with Bernadotte & Kylberg,
founded in Stockholm 2012 by the multi-award-winning design duo, Carl Philip Bernadotte and Oscar Kylberg.

https://bernadottekylberg.com/blogs/studio

Exactly.

This recent visit to Nigeria has shown " give them enough rope and they will hang themselves". They look fools - well she does- in the international community.

Well we used to do that in this country not all that long ago!

@DaffydownClock - I think there is truth in what you say.

Harry seems unable to grasp the concept of primogeniture , whilst equally having been happy to take the privilege , wealth etc of being 2nd son. Had they both been willing I am sure they could have carved out a very useful and even popular role for themselves (H&M) .

But ( purely a personal opinion ) as my granny would have said - Harry doesn't seem to have the brains he was born with

@upinaballoon @MrsDanversGlidesAgain what fostered the close relationship between the Queen & sister? Thinking about what’s gone wrong for H & W.

Is it really true there was no role for H in army as couldn’t pass necessary exams?

The Queen and her sister came from a very close knit family who looked out for each other. With parents who loved each other and supported one another. That’s the difference. They also didn’t run to the media to criticise each other .

Well, if you see the footage of the then York family in the early 30s it looks as if they were a very happy little family and at that point they weren't immediately in line for the throne. They were two little princesses of York, one older than the other but at that point one wasn't expecting to become queen and the other one the spare. That only happened when Uncle David abdicated. Also, I imagine their parents didn't encourage rivalry between them and they (their parents) seem to have had a steady marriage so it wasn't a household teetering on the edge all the time, although I believe George VI could lose his temper sometimes. I imagine the QM, then Duchess of York, would sail on calmly if Bertie lost his temper much like Camilla did when Charles swore about the pen.

I was still typing while @LaurieLeecountry was pressing Go, and we're saying the same.

On a film set the stars have a great deal of power and the more successful you are as an actor the greater your status. It's something that you can work on. I don't think Meghan ever really grasped that she couldn't work her way up in importance in the Royal family. And I don't blame her for that I blame Harry, who also never grasped that William as the heir would have privileges, and duties, he didn't.

I do blame for her that. The heir is always more important than the spare, and you don't have to be British or an expert in the monarchy to know that. What is monarchy, other than a hierarchy based on an accident of birth? Meghan may not be as bright as her fans make out, but surely she could grasp that?

I just don't agree that because someone is American and an actress, that means they have no idea of the basic principles of monarchy. Did she think that if she was more 'popular' then she would outrank the Princess of Wales? As for 'working on it', what did she really do? She seems to have thought that learning a few lines of the national anthem was a tremendous effort.

Although into this comes the weird cosplaying of Diana that we've all read about.

I need to be careful here but the first-born of any family is an only child for a while and may well be a serious carrier of family responsibilities. The next one along just doesn't have that serious weight. No, I haven't studied it formally but analyse all the families you know and think about it.

The thing is, even without using his titles everyone will know exactly who he is, certainly in Sweden. And of course that will be helpful for his business.

Same with Harry. Everyone knows he's a prince and the King's son, without him and his wife insisting on using their titles every time they order Deliveroo. They think using the titles makes them look grand and important, but actually it just makes them look pathetic and rather desperate.

There were 4 years between the two sisters, rather than 18 months between the two Wales brothers - both those dynamics could have made a difference? Also Elizabeth and Margaret literally spent the war together, mostly at Windsor - they didn’t go to school, so were each other’s primary company. I imagine that formed a real bond when they were young/teenagers.

Of course, everyone in Scandinavia will know him and it will, no doubt, help his business, they have designed products for several very well known Scandinavian brands, but the point is he isn't using and selling his royal title to benefit his business.

Plus he went to university to study graphic design, he didn't just set up a random business using his royal connections, he has a legitimate business based on his real credentials.