Porkies, Perfidies & Pomposity - Harry and Meghan thread 2

[YaMuvva]

I do not take credit for the title

First thread here

Shall we continue the discussion? I will not be engaging with the posters spouting damaging and unfounded gossip

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/5084429-why-do-harry-and-meghan-tell-porkies-that-are-so-easy-to-prove-wrong?page=1

The avocado story might not have been front page but nevertheless it was a prominent article in the DM. Proof that in 2019 they were still determinedly trolling Meghan and she hadn’t even left the country yet.

Obviously opinions will vary, but I saw that as the DM recognising that Meghan was the golden goose du jour - people would click on articles about her, whether because they like her or dislike her, it doesn’t matter. They click. That is therefore a revenue stream to the DM that they are 100% going to pursue.

On 20 January 2019 Meghan’s sometime makeup artist Daniel Martin posted a shot of avocado toast on Instagram and thanking Meghan for hosting him that weekend and still being “the avocado whisperer”.

On 22 January 2019 the Mail ran an article headlined “How Meghan’s favourite avocado snack - beloved of all millennials - is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder”. They specifically referred to Daniel Martin’s instagram image as the hook for their story.

it was complete click bait - all they were doing was taking an existing story about avocados and blatantly linking it to a figure who they knew would mean a hell of a lot more people would read it.

It’s classic DM to loop a ‘boring’ serious news story in with a celebrity angle to hook their readers. Meghan was a top celebrity (and still is!) so she was used to liven up the page and make it relevant for real people (‘imagine even Meghan might have to stop eating her favourite avocados even though she’s a princess! This is relatable!’). I genuinely have never seen the drama in the avocado story. The pornhub stuff though is gross. She was an actress; of course there were images of her online. Mind you poor old Kate has had the fashion show see through dress included in articles thousands of times. I wish they’d just stop, for both women.

The part about him using up a whole tank of gas to get high while Meghan was in labour in hospital and the midwife being shocked at his behaviour made him look absolutely awful. His wife is giving birth to his child, he uses up all her pain relief and then presents it as a “look at me, I’m such a card!” anecdote. Beggars belief.

I think part of the problem is Harry and Meghan positioning themselves as victims.
Victims of the RF, victims of "the media".
Stuff doesn't always work out perfectly when you're an adult. Not everyone likes you or makes you the centre of their world.
If you chase celebrity fame, want publicity and want the clicks, (which they demonstrably do) you're going to have to understand that sometimes a free press may well be negative. It happens to everyone in the public eye.

@EverybodyLovesString I really hated that section. He took her canister of gas and air to get high when his wife was in labour?
I thought that said a lot about him as a man.

I can’t read Moehringer’s piece (but found it would allow me to listen to it) on writing for Harry, Agassi and Nike CEO, and mentoring other Ghostwriters in the New Yorker. Very interesting. And fun to read/listen to. Warning: towards the end he’s sympathetic to Harry.

I’ve read his memoir The Tender Bar and I think the movie adaptation is still on Amazon. It’s worth reading and then watching, if anyone is interested.

I’ve also read his piece ‘Crossing Over’ for which Moehringer won the Pulitzer. It’s available on LA Times.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/j-r-moehringer-ghostwriter-prince-harry-memoir-spare

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-22-mn-21385-story.html. Crossing Over

Sadly, if I’d gone that far, my ex would have thought the gas and air thing would have been a jolly jape too.

I believe his words to me were ‘I think childbirth might nip a bit’.

The words I thought about him are probably not repeatable but I imagine that Meghan thought the same ones though.

He's as pathetic a figure as Edward VIII, slowing fading into obscurity, puffed up with his imagined self-importance and obsessed with what might have been.

There was a photo yesterday of Edward in his Royal robes in his later years. I thought yes that will be Harry - carrying his grievances until the end of his days.

I feel rather sorry for Meghan being married to Harry, I hope she is in love and doesn't see what an entitled prat he is. He does her absolutely no favours in anything he says about her.

The bit I really don't believe about Meghan is this insistence that she is hard working. I don't really see any evidence for that in their public lives. She flits from cause to cause and never seems to commit to one thing for very long. I remember when they went to Canada, they kept releasing statements that their website at the time would be a hub for information about, in turn as the issues were in the news, covid, BLM, mental health etc but nothing every lasted long. ARO, producing, Archwell, coming from Malta, Nigeria, is just more of the same.

The funny thing is that often H&M supporters will accuse people of not having read Spare in full and being misled by the dreadful media about the contents.

The reality is that the more you see, the worse it gets. So much complete delusion, and even more stuff that if true, makes Harry look worse and worse with every anecdote.

I don't know how many times, @elessar someone on these threads has accused me of not actually reading Spare - as if reading it would make me feel sorry for him/them!
I have read it, because I like to inform myself
It was actually a tipping point in my opinion of Harry . Someone at the pinnacle of privilege in society, presenting himself as a victim, whilst behaving in a self centred, cruel and mendacious way, I found it absolutely extraordinary, lacking in any kind of self awareness or consideration for others.

On a recent thread about the Naked Bike Ride, there were plenty of posters who were convinced that it was mainly for fetishists and flashers because it was on porn sites (and yes, a few pix did appear to have been uploaded - but Internet Rule 34!)
I think mentioning that some pictures of her had similarly been uploaded by random third parties to such sites is an attempt to appeal to the same mindset, and they were wrong to do that.

I do not think Harry ever prepared himself that this could be the ending of his father’s and brothers relationship. He probably envisioned being called to the war summit after he pocketed all the money and the family would hash out a deal of some reconciliation that saved faces all round. Harry’s supporters, always ignore the fact he never wanted to be estranged from his family, for all the mud that is slung it’s Harry who still wants a relationship with William and a closer one with his “Pa”. Anyone saying Harry is living his best life do not listen to Harry himself.

What people forget is Kate went through EXACTLY the same nasty insults, headlines, and cruel names. Except she wasn’t as protected as Meghan and tolerated it for much longer. Kate was only worshipped after a good evade and a half of abuse and when the world had a new woman to hate on

If there had been another younger child born to Diana and Charles, and after Meghan they met a woman, she’d have gone through the exact same and Meghan would be the lauded one.

It’s pure misogyny and it IS a problem and it is also nothing to with race - it’s also getting better post Levenson

I don’t forget Kate went through the abuse. She still is. Although at least the news media is not as bad to her as it used to be. But it still can be bad.

The abuse the married in royal women experience from the press, and now social media, is something I’ve talked about before.

Something that also bothers me are the born to privilege RF members seeming to think it is like a rite of passage for the women or something.

it’s not acceptable, and I believe all those men should have spoken up more about how disgraceful this bullying and vilifying of women is.

Who will want to marry into the next generation? What women will subject themselves to that? And even if they do think they can best it, or that it won’t happen to them, I think very soon it must seem unbearable for most.

I would imagine any woman marrying into the royal family will be more than aware of the mountain they have to climb. Not that they should have to of course.

They will be far more savvy to the shenanigans of SM. And will probably be able to Google anything they are unsure of.

Tbf that’s not the reason many posters said that about the naked bike ride - just wanted to highlight that.

Apologies for the derail OP.

I don’t really understand why pro-Meghan people push the “beautiful” line. What does it matter? What if she looked like the back of a bus? And she’s invariably trying to look sexy . Not that she has to limit herself to androgynous or frumpy clothes, but backless side-boob see-thru bum dresses ? It’s outfits first, cause or visit a very poor second (if that).

I read a couple of pages of Spare and I was shocked at the feeling of bitterness towards William that jumped off the pages. H was writing about William's wedding. He said W had been up late drinking the night before and was hungover and miserable. He claims he stunk of alcohol. You only had to look at H at that wedding to know he was the one hungover while W looked fresh as a daisy. This was confirmed by newspaper reports at the time that H had been up late drinking at the Goring hotel. Yet another lie to make him look good and W look bad.

@JSMill it's full of stuff like that.
Others are at fault, he never is. Petty, ridiculous barbs which just wound others.
He's always in the right. Always the victim.

I haven't read it. In every quote I have seen Harry calls him Willy, when I remember very clearly that Diana called him Wills. I can't help thinking that Harry is being particularly juvenile. His resentment of William seems pretty clear.

Petty, silly things - William going bald, losing his looks. Harry getting a smaller portion of food, the smaller bedroom.
The smaller bedroom - in a castle or palace!
Just very self absorbed.

He said that Willy and Harold were their nicknames for each other, so I think it's fair enough that he uses them

I didn't realise that. I wonder if it's true, sadly I no longer believe him even when it comes to his own life.

he would end up looking foolish and weird with his anecdotes about putting his Mum's favourite moisturiser on his frozen penis

IIRC, he didn't say moisturiser. He said it was something (widely believed to ne 8 hour cream) that his mother used for the relief of sore lips. Which is verging on Oedipal