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

I think it comes from "Spare" so I suppose it might not be totally reliable....

Just about the treatment of Royal women in the Press and on SM.

It's not just Royal women. It's every woman who is in a relationship or married to a famous man. Look at the treatment of Benedict Cumberbatch's girlfriend (now wife), Henry Cavill's partner, Hailey Beiber, Chris Evans' new wife, Chris Hemsworth's wife. The list is endless. SM is toxic, but it's not a new thing. The wives of the Beatles were treated horribly in the Press.

It's a human issue. I don't know why, but many people behave this way, and the Press pick up on it.

Frankly I don't believe Meghan was psychologically strong enough to cope with the scrutiny that would come with the level of fame she wanted to achieve. She was far happier with the level she had achieved and coped well with it - because the scrutiny was pretty much non-existent, so everything in the Press about her was a positive puff piece set up by her agent and PR. I think she thought becoming more famous would just be the same, but bigger. If she had gotten onto Made In Chelsea as she was initially aiming for - she would have struggled with that too. Marrying Harry just made it go stratospheric. They both would have benefited from not rushing things. Taking themselves away has just removed any kind of protection they had, all they have now is the SS - who just turn everything toxic and make it worse.

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.

Not just the married in ones. Anne was subjected to some fairly harsh treatment when she was young. Mostly I think because she didn't bother to smile and pose prettily for the press, and wasn't afraid to show it when she was pissed off. But she never made it all about her. She just got on with whatever job she was doing.

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 find this really hard to believe as well. I just see no evidence that Meghan (we know about Harry...no surprise there) knows what hard work is. Their history with Spotify and others shows this. I think it links to the my impression that Meghan, for all her speechifying, is a pretty superficial character with no real intellectual depth. If you're expected to produce content -now that's hard, and people get paid well for it because it's hard. You need to have genuinely interesting ideas (and a wide cultural knowledge and understanding) and be able to research them in depth. It wouldn't surprise me if H & M think just having an idea is 'producing content'. That's the easy bit.

Didn't the Spotify man (or someone) say that Harry had pitched an idea for him to interview public figures who'd suffered childhood trauma, and the two he suggested were Putin and Trump? And this was after the war in Ukraine started. You couldn't make it up!

On a slightly different point...I don't question that H & William suffered trauma as a result of their parents' marriage, and later Diana's death - of course not. But there was a story - maybe it's from Spare?? - that William had a picture of the wife of Diana's lover (don't know which one - Hasnet Khan?) on his dartboard while at Eton. Now, for that to happen, I'd assume that Diana had been guilty of involving her sons far too deeply in her personal problems, but I'm sure Harry would never consider his mum to be at fault at all. It's that kind of thing which would really help him to move on - to understand that she was flawed like all of us, and not some kind of immaculate saint. His unhealthy attitude to him mother must be linked to his feelings for Meghan.

@CoffeeCantata , I don't think it was Hasnat Khan, was it Dodi?

Continuing to use personal childhood nicknames is one thing, but Harry is well aware that William's nickname (in the UK certainly) is also a childish insult and slang for pen*s.

Using it so freely towards his now adult brother out of the context in which it was initially used is just a poorly veiled insult IMO, and a way to demean and diminish his brother in the eyes of others.

Harry did say that the reputation William had for being lazy was very unfair. He said William was a very hard worker.

So does that go in the ‘believe Harry column’ or the ‘don’t believe Harry column’?

I’m not sure that many RF members really know what hard work is. Anne gets some kudos for turning up to 2 and 3 royal appointments a day regularly. And the late Queen did too of course. But also, they have very luxurious lifestyles and plenty of holidays. No one is cooking the dinner unless they want to. And no one is trying to find the time to scrub the multiple loos or iron a shirt for work last minute.

I’m not convinced that either Harry or Willian know what hard work is. Maybe their time in the armed forces? Other than that, pfft.

I find this an interesting topic. Often the royals are told they don't work hard because they don't scrub toilets but many people don't scrub toilets, they pay cleaners, does this mean they don't work hard either?

I don't know how hard individual royals work, I don't know how it can even be quantified when we don't see what they do outside of engagements. I feel the same about CEOs of large companies. They seem to be paid what I consider a ridiculous amount and I find it hard to believe they work harder than nurses, to use an example. But I don't actually know what a CEO does so how do i know how hard they work.

How do we even define "hard work"? Do we mean the same when we use that term and is it even possible to produce a scale by which disparate jobs could be measured? I don't have any answers. I just think there are probably stresses in every life and pluses and minuses to every job.

Some random Friday ramblings!

I’m not sure that many RF members really know what hard work is. Anne gets some kudos for turning up to 2 and 3 royal appointments a day regularly. And the late Queen did too of course. But also, they have very luxurious lifestyles and plenty of holidays. No one is cooking the dinner unless they want to. And no one is trying to find the time to scrub the multiple loos or iron a shirt for work last minute.

I take your point, but there are different ways of working hard! Personally I've always had a horror of precisely the sort of work that the RF (plus politicians, diplomats, actors and performers) do, so I consider that would be bloody hard!

I'm an introvert and NOT a night-owl, so the thought of having to constantly appear immaculate and be the centre of attention, make intelligent conversation (knowing I'll be pulled up for any gaffes), try to be photogenic and be probably at my best late in the evening....NIGHTMARE. When I have to do anything like this I have to de-pressurise the next day.

The privilege makes up for this, of course, but I still don't doubt they work hard in their way. They have to get it right, or there'll be hell to pay on a public stage so the pressure must be enormous. And some people are cut out for this and others - Charles, I think, is naturally an introvert and pretty shy - just aren't, but has to do his best anyway.

I don't think there are "columns" to measure the objective truth, @Wickedlywearynamechanged ?
The problem is that when someone has been a proven liar time and again, it's hard to judge when they're actually telling the truth.
So your confidence in them declines.
This thread isn't about how hard anyone works.
The OP started it as a query about why Harry and Meghan are so economical with the truth.

Also, @CoffeeCantata - as H&M demonstrate, if you're doing some sort of tour, it's worthwhile doing your homework first. Be informed.

MrsFinkelstein · Today 11:38
@CoffeeCantata , I don't think it was Hasnat Khan, was it Dodi?

Ooh - could be. I remember there was that American model who got ditched by Dodi when he thought he could 'bag' Diana. She was supposedly engaged to him, and the first she heard of the affair was seeing pap shots of Dodi and Diana in the Med!

But didn't Meghan let her London girlfriends know she was looking for a British boyfriend....when she was still living with her current one in Toronto???

It wouldn't surprise me if H & M think just having an idea is 'producing content'. That's the easy bit

Given that all they've "produced" over several years is whing about the families and a few "initiatives" that have resulted in very little I'd say you're right

Unfortunately for them both words aren't deeds, and while they might still surprise us it's not looking hopeful that anything with real merit will materialise

I take your point, but there are different ways of working hard! Personally I've always had a horror of precisely the sort of work that the RF (plus politicians, diplomats, actors and performers) do, so I consider that would be bloody hard!

DGM always trotted out this line - she didn't know why I should be tired because I was working at a desk, not digging the roads (she equated the right to be tired with physical effort). Tell her that a slip up could cost my bank 000s and she'd shrug - mental effort just simply wasn't on her radar.

I think it links to the my impression that Meghan, for all her speechifying, is a pretty superficial character with no real intellectual depth. If you're expected to produce content -now that's hard, and people get paid well for it because it's hard. You need to have genuinely interesting ideas (and a wide cultural knowledge and understanding) and be able to research them in depth. It wouldn't surprise me if H & M think just having an idea is 'producing content'. That's the easy bit.

Yes, everything she does is very superficial. The Heads Together campaign where Meghan, Harry, William and Kate spoke was such a good example of this. Meghan spoke so well and so confidently but everything she said was just... waffle. And nothing to do with why they were there. Looking at it now I don't think she had any idea what she was talking about. She's good at mimicking the kinds of things well-informed people say in these situations but it's always hollow, there's nothing of substance.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · Today 12:08
I take your point, but there are different ways of working hard! Personally I've always had a horror of precisely the sort of work that the RF (plus politicians, diplomats, actors and performers) do, so I consider that would be bloody hard!

DGM always trotted out this line - she didn't know why I should be tired because I was working at a desk, not digging the roads (she equated the right to be tired with physical effort). Tell her that a slip up could cost my bank 000s and she'd shrug - mental effort just simply wasn't on her radar.

I remember hearing my boss shout at someone when I was in my first job: 'You're not paid for hard work, you're paid for RESPONSIBILITY!"

You're right - it's the worry about making a serious mistake which could have terrible consequences which takes even more of a toll than hard physical work.

EverybodyLovesString · Today 12:10

Quite!

I remember when I was at university, someone said you could tell a good lecturer by whether or not you could take a good set of notes from what they said. I've sometimes listened to Meghan with a Mic and I'd struggle to write anything of actual substance down!

There’s an interview that seems to be all over X this morning. It’s from a YouTube channel and they are interviewing an employee/former employee of Harry and Meghan. Not sure how much of it to believe or if it’s genuine even, (no way of telling), but it’s going viral. Has anyone else seen or heard of it?

please don’t get stuck in my ‘cleaning loos, ironing a shirt’ statement. It was my lazy way of saying they have an enormous amount of support, live very luxurious lives and holiday a lot.

You were the one who raised the topic of working hard and equating it with scrubbing toilets. And FTR, I wasn't even thinking of your post when I typed mine, I was responding to CoffeeCantata's comment.

Okay.

Do you have a link please?

Now that would be interesting…

Here’s a link from X (video can be found in the comments.)

https://x.com/Savanna221988/status/1796196408078328163