As Ever Part 6: Definitely NOT a trad wife

[Strudie]

Previous thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/5286597-as-ever-part-v-two-stunt-lemons-with-love-meghan

Carry on! Reviews from the US are trickling in, so far, not so good - https://variety.com/2025/tv/reviews/with-love-meghan-markle-netflix-duchess-of-sussex-1236327469/

I really think that's the last thing he should do. I can't imagine either the Spencers or Charles and William ever forgiving him for monetising her.

Perhaps she means, actually plucked by one's own fair hand, rather than bullying and haranguing that peasant of a gardener down to the dahlia bed to fetch the joyous bloom. What an honour, that would provide enough joy to last a lifetime.

No to the dog show idea. She dumped one of her rescue dogs in pursuit of more money and more fame. The dogs were only props for The Tig to show how kind and wonderful and caring she was.

The idea that Meghan and Harry are anti-Royalists who took on the system is laughable. They loved all the money and the titles and the adulation but they hated not being first in the pecking order, having to do the non-glamorous stuff and living the millionaire and not the billionaire lifestyle. The only reason they left is because they thought they would make more dosh by monetising their status and they assumed they would glide into the Gates/Obama/Clooney philanthropist class instead of having to visit care homes in Doncaster.

I very much doubt that Harry's 'insights' into his mother would be much cause for celebration. I think open-mouthed horror would be the more likely reaction.

@MaggieMistletoe I really don't think she's done much cooking at all from the way she poured the pancake batter into the pan , held the knife, even the stirring whatever was in the saucepan all looked so cack handed .

I’ve seen lots of comments online about her lack of eye contact, social awkwardness, moving her head constantly, bad posture, rapid blinking. Questioning what’s going on with her. That’s never happened on such a scale. A video of her talking to Drew about how she met ‘ H’ …it’s excruciating. Minimal eye contact, constantly moving her head away, blinking like she’s malfunctioning, nervous energy flying all over the place. Drew looks like she’s thinking what the fuck is going on.

I also noticed the lack of eye contract and awkward body language. She looked deeply uncomfortable, which is strange for a woman who is hardly new to the spotlight. Over a billion people watched her wedding and 50 million saw the Oprah interview, so a spot on daytlme TV should be nothing in comparison.

And maybe that's the problem. This is a massive come down and she knows it.

That would be a lovely tribute 😂

She does a lot of 'closed eye talking' which comes across as smug and condescending.

I don’t think William would be impressed at all and what could Harry say anyway he was a child and spent a lot of his childhood with nannies.

Hasn't he also said, at some point, that he doesn't really have many memories of her? That is actually terribly sad, but given that he was only 12 when she died and that was now nearly 30 years ago, it's not surprising when you think.

Some of the articles have been quite amusing. I didn't like the Spectator and NYP pieces - critical commentary shouldn't cross over into being spiteful. I'd also question whether this is a tactical move from Netflix to engineer an exit from the contract. Leaving comments open for as long as they did, seems odd, unless it was a deliberate move.

Meghan comes across to me as inconsistent. I watched the H&M documentary when it first aired, and the positioning was down to earth and casual, the whole meeting William & Catherine in bare feet and so on. Whereas it feels now as if she's being positioned as someone aspirational and 'not normal'. The comments about being amazed she ate fast food, the sensitivity about her surname, all feel very at-odds with her previous persona.

Likewise in five years, she's moved from philanthropy, to media via book-writing and podcasting, and now to lifestyle influencing. Nothing feels like it has stuck, and the changes suggest she's still searching for something which will be a hit - which doesn't support a brand message of being authentic. It also feels poorly planned, which undermines the message about being detail focused - the problems with the trademarks, not having products ready to order when the current show went live.

It would be really interesting to hear the assessment from PR experts on what would work for her, and what she needs to do to try and connect and achieve the success that she's clearly trying for.

’Lavatory!’ Please…

You saw her take them out the oven. Hard to tell if there was steam but I couldn’t see any. I did even wonder if they were cold as there was no mention of Ooh they smell good (3 cakes coming out the oven would smell good yes?). They also looked a little anaemic to me so I would have wanted to check they were cooked through. To be fair she did say baking wasn’t her favourite thing so I don’t expect Mary Berry levels of love snd attention to a cake. I know when I bake (not often now) I do spend a few moments checking it and just generally taking an interest in it (smelling it, maybe giving it a gentle feel) but Meghan just put them down and said to let them cool. Maybe she’s just not into cake whereas I love it 😁

Likewise in five years, she's moved from philanthropy, to media via book-writing and podcasting, and now to lifestyle influencing.

She's pretty much come full circle, back to where she was pre-Harry. Didn't she try to get on some kind of cookery show back then?

Or … her usual self confidence has been eaten away by the media and sm onslaught against her … and she’s trying to behave normally but she is aware that every one of her actions, words and gestures will attract negative attention.

I don’t think any of us can possibly know how psychologically damaging it would be to be the focus of so much negativity.

I would have thought her appearing awkward would be a cue to refrain from commenting further, for most reasonable people anyway, not doubling down.

Who buys a cake mix of someone who doesn't bake, shows limited interest in baking and seems couldn't be bothered to do a crash course in baking for the show. I can get behind the cheating/elevating concept, I'm a keen baker but have done many a cheat but this doesn't equal the cake mix, cake toppings maybe but what insight does a non baker have in ingredients. Harry also need to tell Meghan as his pretence of an eco warrior the box for the spread is a no for the environment.

I would have thought her appearing awkward would be a cue to refrain from commenting further, for most reasonable people anyway, not doubling down.

That's not how it works and you don't get to guilt trip people into not commenting on a person who actively chooses to put herself into the public eye.

If she's not comfortable about appearing in public then maybe she shouldn't have a contract with the world's biggest streamer.

Yes she did this when talking about how amazing her children are on that parent interview show (which was horribly insensitive given there were people who no longer had their children there) and then how amazing Harry is on Drew.

It comes across as horribly affected and performative.
Like very bad acting of someone so in love or overcome with the thought of a loved one. From the Joey Tribianni school of acting!

Also why the need to convince others how amazing your family are? I think my husband is generally great but I've never told anyone at work 'he's amazing' because that is irrelevant to them. The amazingness of my husband or children is only relevant and of interest to me. And maybe my mum.

Unless you are trying to sell your family as your brand when their amazingness is really just a reflection of your amazingness and the amazingness of your life.

Whenever anyone is trying to persuade me Their life is amazing I tend to think: there's something very wrong here with you and your life.

Nonsense, if her self confidence is being eroded by poor reviews she either needs to step away or change something she's doing.

We don't need to stop reviewing the content she's serving up.

What a ludicrous suggestion that people shouldn't review her tv show or products to avoid upsetting her.
That's not how life works.

The consumers get to critique what they're being sold not the other way around.

Does anyone have that white lined frame around the screen on this? Is it supposed to be something? (Episode one, I haven't watched anymore).

There's a more underlying problem here, and that is the scattergun approach of the couple, who spead themselves so thinly is that nothing is integrated, nothing hangs together, and therefore nothing comes off properly or just peters out, as As Ever will inevitably do. To go back to a very quick look at the Archewell site (which, we are informed, dropped to $1 million dollars in donations even after 2021) we have themes aplenty here: unsafe apps, recently resettled women migrants and refugees, Black History month, the Archewell Foundation Parent's Network, and projects located in Ghana, Nigeria, Columbia: OK, so, rather than this waffle about "Archetypes" or inconsequential and tedious docs about the elite sport of polo, why not use these opportunities provided by Spotify and Netflix to make hard-hitting docs and podcasts about all these contemporary up-to-the-minute topics, featuring experts, real human interest and stories from all the people involved? And, of course, use these vast opportunities given by Spotify and Netflix to attract donations to Archewell and publicity for the local NGOs and charities associated with it?

Why, instead of this sprinkle flowers nonsense, doesn't As Ever source artesan crafts and produce from Ghana, Nigeria and Columbia, Africa and Latin America and use Meghan's name to market those, doing good and raising funds for producers - not least women farmers - in the Global South, adding another dimension to Archewell itself, and, again, raising funds for everyone concerned? And pledging that a proportion of sales will be donated to Archewell and their related network of charities and activist associations, a la Paul Newman?

Why, instead of the utter tripe we have been treated to on With Love from Meghan, doesn't the series feature recipes and cuisine more in the sprit of what Archewell purports to do and represent, dishes we could all adapt from Africa, Latin America and recipes with demonstrations from migrant communities in the USA, and guests on from these communities on the programme working along with Meghan? I would watch that.

I've watched the first epiode.
For the guest bathroom she makes the ( apparently skin blistering
) glass jar of epsom salts/ oils. Then put the teabags of other smellies in it.
Screws a lid on and then ties a ribbon round the neck of it.
How many people would take a long bath in someone else's house if you're staying overnight but also nobody would see that in a guest room and start removing ribbons and lids and start using the stuff.
You'd assume it was a meh bathroom decoration so what's the point in making it?

Then step away. If she can’t take it then she should step away. No one has forced her or Harry to go on Oprah, NF, write Spare, etc.

@OrdinaryO888

“I stand up for her because she and H had the balls to leave the RF “

Please remember that they didn’t want to leave . They wanted half in half out , the late Queen said no so they flounced off . In Harry’s own words , he never expected his security to be removed nor did he expect to be financially cut off ( even though he was mid 30s!) hence Netflix etc .
H and M thought the RF wouldn’t cope without them , thought Meghan outshone everyone and that they would be missed .
You can feel sorry for her all you want but the numerous reports of bullying and the lies she has told plus the cutting off of people ( eg her father) really doesn’t endear her to people .
Absolutely nothing to do with her being mixed race ( which I never realised until she got married) it’s due to her unfortunate personality.

I totally agree however every negative feeling would be replaced by a positive. planning my next steps with 50-80 million. It’s extraordinary, life changing & affirming money.