Rebrand, Restructure, Harry and Meghan 2025 version

[Thedom]

The Era of Joy didn't last long.

This is going to be interesting, it's going to be a full on PR onslaught for the next few months, and then we will have Harry launching his very own 'commercial project'.

Clearly an article straight from the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, giving an exclusive to the DM.

archive.is/ufM7K

Yes I do! Yellow and white striped box. I didn’t know it was banned in restaurants 😂

We always pronounced it Annay Annay!! Do you mean it isn't? I'm flabbergasted!! My favourite was Rive Gauche (pronounced Reeve Go-shh, hopefully?)

I said it as Annay annay, less of a mouthful than the correct pronunciation.

It's pronounced "A-nayz" in a heavy French accent. By Cacharel, which always makes me think on Victoria Wood: "Welcome to the world of Cach-a-relllll..."

Victoria Wood for the uninitiated.

Aaah RIP Victoria

My very first perfume 😬

Anais Anais was super popular back in the day. My Mum used to wear it and it smelled lovely on her. I've always liked it and I'm not bothered about whether something is fashionable or not; if I like it I'll wear it. Sadly it smells like zoflora on me!! Skin chemistry is a curious thing, lots of perfumes that smell great on other people smell bloody terrible when I try them.

My Mum also used to wear Giorgio BH - but only a tiny spritz as it's so strong. There was a half full bottle on her dressing table when she died, which I have kept. Every so often I open it as it takes me back to when she was still here. Smell is incredibly evocative and emotional.

This has made me think back to the Diana early days with her Laura Ashley blouses and love of Duran Duran (and Anais Anais) Earl's daughter or not, it was all so normal and pretty standard teen girl stuff for the time.
There was a genuine relatability there and I think the echo of that lasted, however fraught it got later, an authenticity that Harry and Meghan seem to have utterly lost, if they ever had much of it. William (future King or not) and his love of the Villa and jumping off sand dunes in Norfolk is much closer, as is Kate. Perhaps this is mainly significant to a British audience, not sure.

People like it when they see the royals do or wear things that they might also do. People loved the idea that QE II had a three bar electric fire in her living room in Windsor Castle or that Catherine was spotted at the Range in Norfolk during lockdown, probably buying things to amuse the children. I think William’s clear love of football and Aston Villa has made him relatable to a whole group of people - young men - who would normally have no interest in the royals. (I am basing that on the opinion of my two dss!) H and M just don’t have that. They try to fake it eg photos taken at a burger drive thru but everyone knows these things have been staged so it makes it even worse.

They try to fake it eg photos taken at a burger drive thru but everyone knows these things have been staged so it makes it even worse.

Spot on @JSMill. They consequently have a massive problem becasue authenticity can't be manufactured and they get further from it by the day.

Anyone remember the “ hike “ Meghan took on Coronation Day ? Complete with thousands of $$$ worth of jewellery!

That hike was hilarious - imagine trying to figure out how to upstage the coronation of the British monarch, an event of global and historical significance that nobody has seen for 70 odd years. And coming up with hey Backgrid, look at me hiking in my jewels 😂😂

That In n Out Burger she was papped in is a good hour's drive from her house. Why would you drive a 2 hour round (without the kids) trip to buy them milkshakes? I am sure she's capable of making her own as she's the domestic goddess who "shows up" for her kids, is she not? Or she could buy a nice, organic, locally sourced one from Montecito. And why would the paparazzi randomly hang out in a burger joint?

Authenticity is a huge issue for Meghan now. I think South Park had it spot on when they observed that there was nothing inside. She appears to have no real interests or passions of her own, no humour, nothing. It all feels so hollow and insincere, and any attempts to make her look relatable inevitably fail because they are clearly set up nonsense (like the drive to the burger place). Gwyneth Paltrow leads a life that most people can only imagine, and yet manages to be relatable because she has humour and appears to be embracing and promoting things she genuinely loves and cares about.

And where the first wife turns out to have been a mad, manipulative cheat.

The authenticity thing is very simple: if one is to compare William and Kate, no pretense is required. They are actually next in line for the throne, so they’re free to be whoever and whatever in whatever space is permitted around that. Charles wasn’t ever interested in “common” stuff, but seems William always was (probably his mum’s influence - Thorpe Park, Macdonald’s etc) and Kate was brought up as a “commoner” (albeit a fancy one) so it literally is what she is.

Harry still has some authenticity in that he doesn’t seem to care for clothes and fast cars and palaces. At least, he didn’t until Meghan came along. (Still doesn’t seem like he cares much about clothes!). Yes he’s interested in polo, but he also loved rugby, pints in the pub, roast dinners etc. Basically, he’s old money so all this “normal” stuff is blessed relief - because he always had the knowledge his real place was immeasurable luxury. Now that he’s lost that, I expect he’s a bit lost on this front. I imagine anything nouveau prob makes him grimace; but he’s having to reckon with such things as bills and debts now. Who knows where he’ll end up. And in California of all places. (Not for the first time, what was he thinking?!)

Meghan is new money through and through. She’s not even good at pretending she’s not, hence the inauthenticity. On the one hand she’ll tell you she was an actress and feeds her kids chicken nuggets and loves fast food; on the other she won’t miss an opportunity to show off her expensive clothes and house and general lifestyle. She can’t help it. It pulls the rug out from the fast food and chicken nuggets because it’s clear where she really wants to be, and how deeply she cares about the money.

(Before anyone come at me, I’m very aware how snobby all of this sounds. I was raised in a world probably not unlike Kate’s, easy to spot the Meghans at a hundred paces. I would like to think I’m not a snob myself because, having been raised in a world not unlike Kate’s, I also know how cringe and besides the point actual snobbery is, and the value and pitfalls of money…).

Meghan doesn't seem to know who she really is. It's a succession of poses that she thinks looks good, sometimes simultaneous $$$ of jewellery and glamour vs Mom freezer meals,when we all know she's got a nanny and probably a chef.

She has no hope whatever of convincing a sufficient number of people of sincerity.

I don't think there's anything against the York girls, is there? They just seem to be getting on with living their lives.

Just to go back to this comment - I actually have no time for the whole York family, @HonoriaBulstrode, and I hope that the new Andrew Lownie book (available in August) delves deep into all of their financial affairs.

Beatrice has had some highly questionable and substantial monies in her bank account, for example, that emerged in a financial court case in 2022.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60967996

Copied a key phrase from that article for you:

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Princess Beatrice or Prince Andrew.

Also there is nothing in the article to say the money was in Beatrice’s account

Apologies - it was Eugenie and Sarah that had questionable monies in their accounts, apparently. Beatrice was however draggged into it.

I hope Andrew Lownie gets to the bottom of it. The Yorks seem, to me, very murky.

www.thelist.com/1590202/princess-beatrice-wedding-donation-fraud-scandal/

I’ve been rewatching Suits (all episodes now on BBC iPlayer if anyone’s interested) and remembering that this is where I first came across Meghan Markle, long before she and Harry were an item. She’s really good in her role, very believable, it’s not Shakespeare but she plays her part well. She seems to have enjoyed working on that show and the fact that so many cast members attended her wedding suggests that they were on good terms and she was a good fit.

It’s actually rather sad to see how wealth and fame have ruined her. I don’t think she could ever go back to the lifestyle of someone moderately but not globally successful, but that’s obviously where she naturally belongs.

Came across a channel 5 documentary about the Sandringham Summit, it was mainly a rehash of everything already known.

However, there was one part I had not heard before, apparently on the morning of the Sandringham Summit, there was an article published in The Times by Valentine Low claiming William was not friendly towards Meghan, that William had a bullying and condescending attitude towards them.

In Spare, Harry denied he was the source for that report, but used it as an example of William getting a taste of what they went through, Valentine Low is interviewed on the show and confirms, very adamantly, that his source for that report came from someone very close to Harry and who spoke with authority, he said he wouldn't disclose his source, but he confirmed twice it came from a source very close to the Sussex's.

Its further confirmation, in hindsight, that William saw right through Meghan and her tactics, and as confirmed now by a several reporters H&M were the biggest leakers of all. .

Harrys really made an absolute balls up of everything hasnt he? I don't think he ever expected that this would happen because previously everyone bent over backwards to placate him. Must have been a rude awakening for him to actually have to suffer the consequences of his tantrums for once, but all he has done is double down on everything and really put himself in bad spot with regards to his family, old friends and public opinion. He literally has no one but Meghan now. You might feel sorry for someone else in that predicament but he has had ample time to change his behaviour and put some actual effort into a reconciliation and hasn't so it's hard to have sympathy for him at this point.

Well, not just hard but impossible. It’s like something out of Shakespeare or a Greek tragedy. If he was bright enough he might be capable of reflection but he’s not. Clearly therapy hasn’t helped him at all.