King Charles III

[ConstantGarden1]

Will he?

I am no gambler but I can’t see it myself. Not unless he wants to show his support of his son. Would KC be that generous to his ‘darling boy’? If he did it will definitely upset some anti Harry royalists/daily mail readers/ right wing Americans. Can’t have Harry receiving the King surely….he is supposed to be beyond the pale these days.

William is reported as being ‘baffled’. Baffled? More like blazingly angry about it if true. I guess Will’s thought he could act like a ‘cuckoo’ and get Harry out now and forever. Maybe, the ‘bullying’ trait reported over the years by many, many people regarding him is still there.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/style/king-charles-discussions-visit-prince-130106673.html

Yes, I remember. Similarly, Catherine was depicted as a boring frump when Meghan came along. Not to mention all the class and misogyny ridden articles about her and her mother in particular in the early stages of her relationship with William. It’s par for the course. There’s hardly any background outside of landed gentry that won’t be compared as “lesser” than a royal one. As I said above - why would anyone throw away an incredible, virtually unobtainable opportunity because of a few trite headlines? Good job Catherine was made of firmer stuff.

As for the Compton article (which is not at all as characterised by some on these pages, although I agree it’s a pathetic piece of “journalism “) the comments alone are proof enough of the support Meghan had - practically all of them calling the piece atrocious and complementing Meghan on her beauty and accomplishments (and negative comments heavily down-voted and attacked). A mix of British and American DM readers, not frothing at the mouth with racism, but defending her.

@Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar

Diana was denigrated as a "commoner" (i. e. not of royal blood) at the start. As if Charles had a whole catalogue of Royal ladies to choose from. It is really no wonder Camilla ran from the gig at that point.

Very true. Privilege is also not a defence about experiencing racism either. Being a woman of colour attracted vile abuse from older white British men. Piers led the charge and has been called out for it. His profile has sunk so low now compared to what it was. Thank God.

I guess there hadn't been many commoners infiltrating the line of succession at that point @Rhaidimiddim . Before The Queen Mother, it had always been royal born spouses from abroad entering the line of succession, I think. And, of course, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was never originally destined for the Queen's throne and to produce a future monarch. After the fall of so many royal houses during the first decades of the 20th century, there wasn't really any brides from "royalty" to choose from. IIRC, the Spencer clan had a fantastic pedigree within British aristocracy, even if they were technically "commoners". However, pedigree doesn to equate to love and happiness. I am glad the royal family has been able to embrace spouses from ordinary backgrounds and marriages for love. I guess the flip side of that is increased scrutiny of those marrying in, especially if they have no aristocratic background. The inevitable "why her" scrutiny - why that ordinary girl from a background that is not beyond the reach of the masses? Those born into unobtainable wealth and titles won't have the same scrutiny, their desirability is solidified by those credentials alone. Class. Class plays a far greater role in all this than anything else, imo, race included.

Who do you think has more power, privilege, reach and influence? A princess/duchess in the British Royal Family (even if she is a woman of colour), or an aging journalist with a bad reputation? Are you actually a person of colour, because you have a lot to say for us and seem to want to place us firmly in the victim box? Meghan Markle is not a victim of anything other than her own stupidity.

I am.

The press had far more reach than she did having been in the UK only 5 minutes.

.

Right, well I despair, then, and your attitude is exactly the opposite of how I am bringing up my children who are mixed race. Why let anyone take your power and sense of self away with an attitude of perpetual victimhood? Why let someone else's minority opinion of you cloud your entire sense of purpose and your entire present and future actions? Why be blinkered to your own enormous privilege that does and will far transcend anything your critics have and probably will ever have? Thank goodness I was brought up by an immigrant with courage in adversity, a can do attitude and an ability not to look a gift horse in the mouth!

The press had far more reach than she did? Bullshit. She had enormous amounts of positive press and massive amounts of goodwill from the public both sides for the Atlantic. She was about to become the superstar of the British Royal family, the only royal family to have the sort of worldwide recognition and international adulation that is on a par with Hollywood stars. She's supposed to be intelligent. Yet she didn't think that she was in it for the long haul, not a short term bit of adulation or criticism. That, as with Diana, Fergie and Catherine before her, the critical voices - the minority of critical voices - would count for next to nothing compared to the massive platform she had been handed. A massive platform and all the help she could ever want to make a huge change in the world. The sort of platform ordinary civilians can work their whole lives for and never get, and she got it through marriage. If she threw all that away for a few Sun headlines, then she's a bigger fool than I ever imagined.

👏 👏 Great post @Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar

Really the perfect recap.

A fabulous post @Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar

And as a distinct contrast?

You know when you get told something but you know it is absolute bullshit?

Yeah.

That.

Piers was actually her ally at the start, and wrote some sycophantic stuff about her.

I the time it took you to dig that out and post it, you could have found and posted a real cracker of a headline proving your point. But you can't so you didn't.

"despite her Ivy League education" you say, TicTacToes?

I'm sorry but, along with other pps, I cannot let this one go!

Which of the Ivies did she attend?

Harvard?
Yale?
Princeton?
Columbia?
UPenn?
Brown?
Dartmouth?
Cornell?

Cos it's strange, I thought it was Northwestern, where she studied quantum physics drama and international relations.

Compare Meghan to someone like Jodie Foster, paying especial attention to the way they speak, and you can see the difference a good college education makes. Jodie Foster can listen to others, take up their ideas, express herself clearly and move a conversation forward. And, small bonus, Jodie Foster really can speak French!

Amen 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Talk about downplaying what happened to her. It seems you do not have a handle on what happened at all in the UK.

A pregnant woman is subjected to vileness, she is disbelieved about wanting to kill herself and you berate her further for not having a stiff upper lip or whatever it is you think she should have had. A little empathy goes a long way. Privilege and wealth are not guards against 1. Mental ill health or 2. racism mixed with misogyny. In the UK we place far too little importance on wellbeing and depression.

Absolutely brilliant post @Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar 👏👏👏

A pregnant woman is subjected to vileness, she is disbelieved about wanting to kill herself and you berate her further for not having a stiff upper lip or whatever it is you think she should have had. A little empathy goes a long way. Privilege and wealth are not guards against 1. Mental ill health or 2. racism mixed with misogyny. In the UK we place far too little importance on wellbeing and depression.

Probably will get deleted but I don’t care I’m going to say it anyway, I didn’t believe for one single second Meghan intended to kill herself, it was used as a weapon to control Harry, a bit like how abusive men threaten suicide when their wives want to leave them.

@ConstantGarden1 I am in the UK. Have been for over 50 years. I have a very good grasp of what went on, and I have a very good grasp on what is and what is not a credible narrative. I don't really need a lecture on misogyny and racism or mental health issues from you, there's nothing you can teach me.

I think Meghan was miserable and desperate to get out of the UK. That it was as much about homesickness as it was caused by the media and other factors. Her life dramatically changed overnight. Major life decisions made in the snap of a finger which put her in a completely unfamiliar place, severed her ties with her father and so many friends and support systems.

I don’t think she was manufacturing any of the feelings of desperation; she needed out of there.

The execution in leaving was terrible and caused a great deal of hurt and distrust. That’s a huge shame. Making it such a public drama was a terrible and character defining move on their part.

I definitely don't think things went to her plan - remember 'What Meghan wants, Meghan gets' but 'severed her ties with her father and so many friends and support systems.', I don't agree with at all - no-one severed her from anything - she severed herself from her father. She had her friends around her a lot of the time, and her mother. Yet her narrative doesn't reflect this at all. The rf appear to gave bent over backwards to accommodate and help her, but Meghan, as per, knew best.

When it didn't work out the way Harry and Meghan wsnted/expected, they adopted a scorched earth policy.

Any explanation of why Meghan's husband was seemingly unable to source appropriate help for her, even though he'd had therapy himself? Why the RF would really want a new member to struggle like that and how it would benefit them, even if you look purely at the resulting optics? Why a blood prince who'd been in the household since birth thought the appropriate people to contact were the HR department who deal with staffing issues?

An awful lot does not add up about that whole situation.

ETA and yes, I know about Diana but a) this was a long, long time after her troubles with that history know and very different dynamics and b) it is reasonable to expect Harry to at least have a bit more insight.

Oh she did it, she made the decisions herself. But I think those decisions were too rash and caused her a great deal of genuine stress.