Sentebale no. 3

[Thedom]

The ex lead Patron Its getting plenty of media coverage today.

(ps, my hash key doesn't work )

Nice to see a signed statement rather than something briefed or leaked.

Yes. Hmm interesting thought experiment.... is Lady C more or less successful as a grifter? One the one hand MM is bigger and brighter but I expect the shooting star will burn out and she will be left flogging leopard print scarves on QVC and on the other Lady C still gets gigs a a commentator.

Side note:

Has Harry fallen out with Elton? His AIDS charity seems to have at one point sponsored the Sentebale cup but doesn’t anymore.

We know Elton gave his house for holidays etc and Elton spoke up for Harry about his private jet use when flying to Elton’s home.

But nothing for years! When you think of the terrible headlines over the years….and how Elton isn’t shy about speaking up….but he no longer defends these two.

Wonder what happened?

I wouldn’t believe much of Lady Colin Campbell tbh.

I’ll say Harry must love Meghan very much to do these things which have so damaged his reputation. Foliè a deux springs to mind.

Prince Harry charity row: why did he resign and what is dispute about? | Prince Harry | The Guardian

It’s probably been said already, but bearing in mind the opening salvo was from Harry’s side, using traditional right wing press to smear Dr Sophie as a woke feminist who spent all the charity’s money on feminist consultants (or whatever) because she didn’t want the rich white men’s polo money any more. Perfect to get those kind of readers riled up and turned against her (some of the comments below one of the telegraph articles were terrible).

When the charity accounts and a fair bit of logic show that the charity was absolutely happy to take rich white mens polo money, but less of it came in when the charity’s patron burned his bridges in the U.K. forced a lot of the old order to choose loyalty between him and his brother, moved to the US where he has less prestige, diminished further by admissions of drug taking, being indiscreet about his family, trashy tv appearances and reality shows. Neglecting his charities while doing phoney royal tours (so his wife can claim to be Nigerian royalty or whatever) and then picking them up again when the Sussexes need a bit of a popularity boost.

I know who I believe

Thanks for the new thread @Thedom

PH sole purpose for the last few years has been to make sure he puts his wife front and centre of nearly everything he does publicly and to make his wife the star she was always meant to be. He cancelled a Royal Marines memorial evening so he could attend a film premiere and tout for work for his wife (how embarrassing), happy to act the court jester juggling balls in the background of one of his wife’s videos, letting her march front and centre in a military parade, present trophies and make speeches at his own events uninvited, and the list goes on. No one who has watched this play out with their eyes open would find it at all surprising that his charities may have fallen victim too. His charitable focus would appear to have slipped to the point where the causes that were close to his heart are taking second place to his wife’s need for positive PR.

All the while she has been painting herself to him as being just like his Mother.

Someone has now stood up and said ‘enough is enough’ and the foundations of the fairytale House of Sussex are looking very shakey. They clearly don’t listen to advice so they have no one else to blame but themselves.

I think they are both as bad as each other and it’s all very toxic.

When you try to be the face of something then you remain the face of it when it all goes tits up. You could of course say " well I didn't know about that" which doesn't bode well either.

Well, some inaccuracies.

He was a patron, not a trustee. So a role without responsibility, he could pick and choose his involvement.

He didn't 'set it up' in any meaningful way, the work was done by others.

On the other hand 'a pet project' is a good turn of phrase. And yes, Sentebale's impact and heart is with the people doing the job, not Harry and his ego.

@sleetysnowflakes
telegraph comments are as a rule Shocking!

PMK

I entirely get the point that Meghan should not have interfered to present the polo trophy.
But. If you have with you international icon and sporting superstar Serena Williams, wouldn't anyone with sense have been pushing for Serena to do the presentation? Did Meghan think that she is a bigger star than Serena?!

"a bigger boy did it and ran away"

I think that’s a very good statement too.

Having been in Dr C's position (and ended up writing to the Charity Commission (and the Inland Revenue) to point out the problems at a time I was being voted off a board for insisting on not breaking the law), I have a lot of sympathy for her. The only thing that makes me feel there are at least 3 sides to this story is the low key Times interview with Baroness Chalker. You may or may not like her politics but she is an impressive woman with decades of experience and interest in Africa and aid work. For someone who served under Mrs Thatcher (and was almost certainly overlooked for a cabinet post as Maggie didn't want another woman in the Cabinet) she probably has good reason if she describes Dr C as difficult.

Possibly, but maybe Serena is a bit more savvy than Meghan and didn't want to take the spotlight at an event that she had nothing to do with.

😂 You don't know him, he goes to a different school!

If M was paid or sponsored to wear that dreadful apron of a dress, it would make the whole podium invasion even more shoddy

Very possibly - Serena is certainly more PR-aware. I would just love to know how the discussions played out..... 😂

@MyCatIsTheHeadChef well there is always I'm a Celeb. IIRC it had quite the rejuvenating effect on Lady C's career (more commentary gigs spouting the bleeding obviously because she has no insider intel. Much like other people...).

Absolutely this.

These events are a massive organisational headache. So, yes. If they had known it was Serena and she had agreed in advance to present then it would have been a great win.

But that ,apparently, isn’t what happened. What happened was Harry have them a month’s notice that he would be using a charity event for his Netflix Polo show. The venue pulled out and they had to find a new one, setting up all new arrangements, getting film releases signed etc. A massive amount of work for a small charity.

And then Meghan arrived unannounced wit Serena, I assume to be photographed by the press, and hijacked the presentation.

If I’d organised that event I would be furious at the extra effort wasted to turn a charity polo match which was supposed to be raising money for a charity into a PR self promotion circus.

Of course!

Of course she does ! Meghan is a DUCHESS!

Interesting to hear one of the Sky presenters say 'this isn't the first time they have been accused of bullying behaviour ' or words to that effect.