Netflix has delayed start of Meghans show

[Viviennemary]

Just seen on Sky News. Breaking News headlines. Delayed because of the wild fires didn't say if this was technical difficulties or it would be a bit crass to launch a frothy type lifestyle show with all the devastation. Anyway it might be shelved for good with any luck.

But that's what you get when folk are surrounded on all sides by sycophants who seem to convince them that their very existence is enough

Exactly as with H&M it works as long as the palace PR staff can control the narrrative, but when the family member goes off piste it all has a way of going horribly wrong

H&M and Andrew get all the heat through willingly putting themselves out there, but who knows what we'd think of the others if they did the same

I'm not sure it is. There has been significant investment in the Games, and there isn't that sort of money around at the moment.
It is hard to justify the millions that will be spent by the government to host it in 2027, I'm not sure there will be the support.

Harry has been lucky to have government support, he got that as a royal, he wouldn't get anything like it now. So even his 'success' isn't able to be replicated .

I forgot this, just further proof that they think they deserve to be paid for who they are, not what they produce.

And The Duchy selling her homemade jam

@Puzzledandpissedoff - I do agree with what I think you are saying - sometimes it is good to have someone trusted who will just say 'No , not a good idea " . I think that counts generally actually , not just for ultra famous people who perhaps think they always know best.

This makes me think of that quote from I forget who about Paul Newman: He was as nice as you could expect for a man who hadn't heard the word “no” for twenty-five years.

I still think that the main issue is that they were getting bad advice back in 2019 from the American PR people that Meghan had kept on staff. They had represented her before the Harry news broke so they will have had experience of trying to get good PR for her like any of thousands of other actresses in her position. It's hard work when the pool is so big.

Then suddenly she's one of the most talked about women in the world ahead of the wedding - people will have been falling over themselves to offer opportunities, free stuff etc. It will have been a huge head rush not just for Meghan but the team at Sunshine Sachs - they suddenly had one of the hottest and most leverage-able personalities around on their books. Before when they could barely get Meghan a couple of inches of copy in People magazine, now big names like Oprah are chasing her for an interview.

But like Meghan as Americans they hadn't really understood that the star power comes from the royal-adjacency - specifically to the most famous woman on the planet at the time QEII.

I'm sure on that 'time out' trip to Canada they had at the end of 2019 they were holed up with the American PR teams strategising about how to leverage the fame and celebrity they were witnessing - thousands of people turning out to meet the new royal couple etc. And Harry has shown he also doesn't really understand how anything works so I can imagine him saying that the security would definitely we paid for, Pa would keep funding them for a couple of million a year, and they could pick and choose cool royal events to attend while being free to rake in money from speaking events etc.

They had no one there who was wise enough to realise that the Queen wasn't going to let them do the half in scenario, and no one understood that one their own merits that the shine was going to wear off.

That's exactly it, BasiliskStare - but for someone in a position where they didn't had to hear "no" (or possibly just ignored it) things can become difficult since real life just isn't like that

Hence, perhaps, why members of the RF come a cropper when they have unprotected contact with it ...

And Harry has shown he also doesn't really understand how anything works so I can imagine him saying that the security would definitely be paid for

Yes, he pretty much says that in Spare.

And even then Harry appears to play the victim ffs by comparing himself to Andrew.

https://www.newsweek.com/prince-harry-finally-breaks-silence-uncle-andrew-scandal-memoir-spare-1771872

"He was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman and no one had so much suggested that he lose his security ... Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren't on the list"

Andrew was (and remains) a pariah effectively confined to the secure Windsor royal estate. Harry was living freely and 'independently' as a non-working royal in California and had had the situation regarding explained to him over and over again.

I'm sure on that 'time out' trip to Canada they had at the end of 2019 they were holed up with the American PR teams strategising about how to leverage the fame and celebrity they were witnessing - thousands of people turning out to meet the new royal couple etc.

I've often thought the same, @wordler, though my personal view is that, for Meghan at least, it'll have started long before that ... maybe even before the wedding, so that she still had time to pull out if someone had advised "Nah, not going to happen; he doesn't have the skills so you'll end up carrying him"

It must have been amazing for the PR reps - having once had a job where I was trying to pitch clients to podcasts to get them airtime, it's such a slog, especially when you have someone who is just wanting publicity rather than offering a specific skillset.

They went from 'Meghan who?' responses to everyone chasing them.

He doesn't seem to understand that taxpayer funded security isn't some sort of perk given to those who 'deserve' it on a character basis. It's based on complex threat assessments and evaluations of the impact of a potential attack on national security. Plenty of objectionable individuals have full round the clock security.

But then, what Harry doesn't understand could fill the state of California.

no one understood that on their own merits that the shine was going to wear off.
I maintain that on their own merits the shine could have been maintained. I mean, not the merits we’ve seen them have, obviously. But there was a lot of excitement and goodwill and intrigue; they could have so easily parlayed that into lasting fame, success and likability if they’d picked a brand and stuck with it. They kept the titles which pissed off royalists. They did Oprah which pissed off a lot of people. They did too many things at once (audio producers and TV producers and charity philanthropist people and fake royalling and receiving of bought awards), never decided on a brand.

If they’d picked one charitable endeavour, with Meghan as popular fashionplate and Harry as nice-but-dim accompaniment at appearances, they’d have been fine. Or he could have carried on with Invictus and she with acting/a talk show/the Tig (pick one, Meghan! Not three), if they wanted to be professionally separate instead of Meghan & Harry, salt and pepper.

@CoffeeCantata (someone mentioned the Hairy Bikers ) "And, for this concept to even have a chance of working, the person has to be popular, come over as genuine, likeable, relatable etc. Or possibly have comedy potential - eg I may be alone in this, but I'd watch say Alan Carr or Rob Brydon trying some cookery...even if no skills or expertise were apparent. "

I watched a programme on Amazon - James May - Oh Cook. It was utterly watchable. He deliberately put himself forward as someone who can't cook but he was personable and entertaining. When he got stuck - he had a food expert - the premise was he got her out of a cupboard to help him. But one week he tried to make pies , one week noodle things etc. But he did not take himself seriously and it was watchable & funny in parts. He wasn't scared to take the piss out of himself. Now, how well this would have gone down in the US , I just don't know.

I wonder if a lot of their resentment comes from the American teams saying 'here are all these amazing opportunities' and the palace team constantly saying 'no you can't do that - royals receiving taxpayer money can't do that'

Because they made such a big deal on their first website about explaining the funding model and how only 5% of their income came from the Sovereign Grant so they would generously give that up and therefore could pursue this progressive model of making their own money but still coming to royal events to help the poor old Queen out with their star power.

I'm sure if they hadn't thrown the grenade into the family with that website just to stop Dan Wooten getting an exclusive article then Charles would have found a way to keep supporting them.

Agree - I think the Harry and Meghan, that we thought they were, could have been successful and had a really lovely life with the best of both worlds.

But we now know that they both lack focus, don't listen to advice, and have a lot of resentment (at least Harry) that they can't let go of.

I still think that if they focus on one thing - and start small and low key and build over years then they could possibly turn things around.

our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope

What hopeful message was Harry trying to convey with his polo show? 🤔

It really was dreadful. I love anything horse related normally, but the people they chose to be the main characters had not an ounce of charisma. I mean, that white haired geezer who fucked off on a private jet to Argentina twice a week, leaving his pregnant wife behind... what on earth were they thinking giving him air time?

Around this era I’d have followed them anywhere. Bought whatever they were selling! The fame level they had ready to convert into any empire they wanted was insane.

Gosh, Harry looked genuinely happy in that photo. Meghan looked lovely in non-beige.

Oprah, Netflix and Spare were the biggest misjudgments of all time, they demolished their reputations, I think any single one of them may have been somewhat recoverable from, but all three, one after another just proved they had no integrity or ethics or compassion. They have just proven it again and again in the ensuing years.

It's a great photo and she is lovely in that colour

I wouldn't say I would have followed them anywhere but they definitely had star power at that point. M looks great. She really should wear more vibrant colours.

Understandable!

I think the basic problem is that they had fame without talent. Neither of them has the ability to make content remotely interesting. Harry can talk about his mother s tragic death but he can't build a career on that. Meghan's dreadful children's book shows her lack of compelling story telling ability.

You have to wonder how he could have been , and still is, so woefully ignorant.