Sussexes statement about Californian wildfires

[PrettyFlyforaMaiTai]

Meghan and Harry have released a statement in regards to the California wildfire via their Sussex.com website.

It reads:

”In the last few days, wildfires in Southern California have raged through neighborhoods and devastated families, homes, schools, medical care centers, and so much more – affecting tens of thousands from all walks of life.
A state of emergency has been issued.
If you feel compelled to help, here are some resources and ideas:
Support
Organizations such as José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which has been a longtime partner of The Archewell Foundation, are serving meals to both first responders and victims of the fire.
CAL FIRE and LA Fire Department Foundation and others are working closely to support firefighters who risk their lives, bravely showing up in these high-risk environments to help save homes, families, and communities in need.
Animal Wellness Foundation is continuing to house and care for animals evacuated by the fires while Compton Cowboys is providing emergency transportation services for horses.
Airbnb and 211LA have partnered to provide free, temporary housing for those who have been displaced.

Baby2baby is providing essential supplies including diapers, clothing, hygiene products, and emergency kits to families in need.
All Power Books and many others are staying open for emergency use, offering supplies and water for pickup while working tirelessly to distribute essentials to those affected.

Open your home
If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do. And be sure to check in with any disabled or elderly neighbors to see if they need help evacuating.
Give back
Some families and people have been left with nothing. Please consider donating clothing, children’s toys & clothing, and other essentials. The American Red Cross is on the ground helping those in need.”

It’s down to you who you choose to listen to, or believe, isn’t it? And what weight you attribute to their words?

Just because Boris Johnson held the position of PM and spoke for the country doesn’t mean I listen to him more attentively or with any more reverence than I would anyone else. Probably less so tbh!

@MummyJ12 "I agree that World Central Kitchen is definitely
worthy of our donations (and that’s where my money has gone 😊)."

Pleased about that. As I said at the beginning, it would be great if all of us made a small donation to one of the organizations listed.

It would also be great if we all acknowledged when we got something wrong. But hey- baby steps.....

I’m deadly serious thanks.

Just read a history book!

Many Kings have issued unlawful and mendacious statements.

Just because someone holds a high office of state doesn’t make me automatically respect their words.

And every person has the same right to
make a statement in my view whether prince or pauper.

The most obvious difference being that King Charles is King. He has a Constitutional role. He represents the UK in a recognised official manner. He is the Head of State.

I'm genuinely wondering if you're being obtuse here? Do you not understand the role of a Monarch in a Constitutional Monarchy?

How much people listen to or respect a statement isn’t the issue we are discussing here.

It’s acting as though you are on official business representing a governing body - being ‘toured’ around a disaster site by elected officials - taking up time and resources for your own PR.

At least it makes sense for Meghan to be doing something to help in LA because it’s her home state and the city she grew up in.

But one of the problems for me is she did that reprehensible trip to Ulvade purely for PR purposes - using the deaths of children for a photo opportunity. So she has form for tragedy tourism.

Well yes.

Anyone can make a 'statement'. No law against it. As I said above, I could launch a website and issue sepia toned 'official serious statements' from The Office of the Duchess of Iced Purple. But I'd look like a pretentious fool if I did.

Obviously nobody has to respect an individual just because they hold high office. But that office does make their role fundamentally different to that of two C list celebrities.

The obvious thing would have been for them to issue an informal message on social media, as any number of other celebrities have done. Instead they chose to issue a pompous pseudo 'statement' from their pretend 'office'. And they've made themselves look a bit desperate and silly in the process.

I don’t understand why Meghan isn’t using her Instagram account to share resources and help. Many more people will access information there than bothering to go to their website.

And yes, they are a fairly controversial couple after the events of the last few years so would always get some criticism but they could have done so much better.

Here’s what I would have recommended.

On the Sussex website and the Archwell Foundation website install a full page temporary overlay so that when someone goes to the site it blocks all other links and the silly ‘From the Office of’ banner on the Sussex site.

Titled something simple like LA Fires: How to Help

First paragraph - Pledge $500,000 towards relief funds from the Archwell foundation (they’ve only paid out a fraction of raised funds so they must have a lot available to donate)

Say they are going to spread funds between

World Central Kitchen
Save The Children etc etc

And here’s the links for you to donate directly to the charities

Then the second half on how to get help of you need it.

Then say they will post updates and extra information in real time on Meghan’s social media.

Then on her Instagram stories post every day with more resources information and share all the up to date support areas etc

Put in some 4-6 hour shifts every day helping sort supplies and clothes. Someone would spot them and report on their generous donation of time and effort but it wouldn’t look staged if they were actually getting stuck in.

No faux royalling ‘tours’

There we will have to agree to disagree IcedPurple

I honestly don’t see any difference between their roles because I just view people as people. In particular, I don’t pay much attention to titles or rank that people inherit.

Again it’s your opinion that they look desperate and silly issuing a statement from their office. It’s not fact! That’s all I’m saying and I don’t know how many more ways I can state it tbh.

I honestly don’t see any difference between their roles because I just view people as people.

People are people, yes.

But a Head of State has a fundamentally different role to a minor celebrity.

That is not my 'opinion'.

In particular, I don’t pay much attention to titles or rank that people inherit.

So you must be rolling your eyes at the pomposity of two C listers insisting on using their empty foreign peerage titles at all times.

The Office Of…. stuff is because there will be people around them in California - albeit fewer than 5 years ago when this was all still fresh - who thought Harry retained some importance and could prove profitable to them. These people will make them feel important, validate their sense of importance in the world, flatter their egos so they continue to put themselves out there expecting adoration and envy, because there’s still money to be made out of them. We find it odd because we don’t see any of that. We just see the output that we’re bombarded with, and it perplexes us. That’s the source of the dissonance: they think they’re amazing, we don’t see why. To us, Meghan (as the outsider and newcomer) is bringing a new meaning to the word “Duchess”, stripping it of any seriousness it may have - it’s now something a plain old soap actress/influencer can be (Michelle Keegan or Helen Flanagan might have been British equivalents). Harry will never suffer that because he’ll always be the King’s son/brother and he has a life history in one of the most secretive families on the planet - and he may go back one day.

Meghan, I sense, has appointed herself Harry’s gatekeeper in California and he seems to have accepted that. Probably because he wouldn’t know how to do any of the work (ie earning a living, staying relevant, working the contacts etc) himself, whereas she will have had experience of tabloids, PR people, agents, paparazzi etc. It makes sense for her to do the doings. Unfortunately it’s culminated in him being relegated to a supporting act as she seems to always be front and center, but if he’s okay with that why should anyone else care. That’s what they’ve chosen.

The trouble now in 2025 is that by their own actions they’ve made it apparent they’re all emporer with no clothes. He’s gone on record whingeing and whining, proving to be utterly disloyal and immature, complaining about being financially cut off as a grown man blah blah blah, ready to throw the roof off the whole RF artifice because he himself - one individual - feels slighted and believes himself uniquely appointed to know what the truth is and share it with everyone. She has, by her actions, shown herself to be hypocritical, lacking talent, fame-hungry, willing to spend immoral amounts of money on herself, and mendacious. The Office Of….now seems pathetic and s. You get the impression there’s one lowly female assistant, harried and bullied by Meghan (enabled by Harry who is off busy surfing) doing all the press releases and website updates and instagram posting while Meghan screams at her in stilletos she’s trying on for her next red carpet appearance.

Give it another 5 years. They’ll either have redeemed themselves with a profitable project, or they’ll have sunk with nary a ripple. There are SOOOO many people who have worked so hard, for so long, and made so many sacrifices in Hollywood/entertainment that without protection from big names (who are rapidly vanishing now that there’s little money left to be made off the couple) these two will have massive targets on their backs if they continue to use and discard people/opportunities. They’ll just vanish into a “private” life. How they support themselves and their children will remain to be seen. I don’t see an alternative than begging, borrowing or stealing.

@IcedPurple you think titles matter, Most people do not. It was why removing Diana's title had no impact on how people thought about her.

Eh? Where are you getting that I 'think titles matter'? And why are you trying to make this personal?

And not sure why you've brought Diana into it, but her title was not removed. Her HRH was, however, and she was supposedly quite unhappy about it.

What's strikingly clear is that the subjects of this thread very much think titles matter. Hence the pretend 'Office of the Duke and Duchess'.

I’m really not rolling my eyes because I don’t care about any of those distinctions that are fundamentally just societal constructs. It’s a different viewpoint to yours that’s all.

There were people at the beginning of the thread saying that they shouldn't have said anything at all- and pages of stuff about the "from the office of..." bullshit. Surely the important thing is getting the message out about how to help as quickly as possible to as many people as possible?

In which case surely Instagram would have been the obvious choice?

She has a fairly piddling follower count compared to many in California, but it would surely be a lot more immediate and wide reaching than a sepia website that nobody seeks out? That's what all the other California based celebrities did, isn't it?

@IcedPurple Christ does it matter!!

You seriously don't see a difference?

God love ya!

Yes, because seeing as she only works an hour a week for Archewell, she should have plenty of time to volunteer!

It's nothing whatsoever to do with "titles"! It's position and status! The King is a figurehead whether you like it or not. Harry and Meghan are not. They are just two private individuals these days who insist on clinging to their meaningless titles.

Harry and Meghan clearly think that titles "matter"! 😂

Diana didn't make pronouncements after her divorce "from the office of the Princess of Wales"!!!

@IcedPurple "
She has a fairly piddling follower count compared to many in California, but it would surely be a lot more immediate and wide reaching than a sepia website that nobody seeks out? That's what all the other California based celebrities did, isn't it"

Well- it seems to have got a lot of publicity-let's hope people donate as generously as they carp!

As an American, I view H & M as ordinary citizens. They aren't elected officials or first responders. They apparently were touring homes that the owners were not allowed back to visit.

This was a stupid move on the part of the mayor, who should have been doing actual work rather than escorting out of town celebrity wannabes in a natural disaster area.

I just got paid. I'm donating directly to a reputable LA charity.

I can't believe this has been said .

"
Seriously, what is the difference between them making a statement and KC and Camilla making a statement? "

In the US, they are just regular people who don't live in the affected area. It would like me showing up, demanding a tour, and calling in a press crew. I find it pretentious and inappropriate.

How endearingly post-modern.