Can someone explain why Harry and Meghan are Humanitarians of the year ?

[Mylovelygreendress]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15178897/prince-harry-meghan-markle-award-new-york.html

I’ll also add that the RF serve at the pleasure of HM Government. If the government wants to use Harry as a working royal, then I am not certain the monarch or his heir have the power to say no.

Thank you for that! Exactly!

True. I'm just trying to imagine anyone less useful to a functioning government than Prince Harry. Although I think one of the Chuckle Brothers is still alive.

@OctopusFriend
😁

He was there at the same time but they had their own itineraries. He wasn’t with YC.

I always think it's weird when people who are republican support H&M. They're more royal than any royal! They just want the titles, wealth, status and privilege without the limits and restrictions of being official royalty.
They're hardly socialists 😂

He wasn’t there with YC at all. And he didn’t have the support of the UK govt to be there. He is a law unto himself and a complete liability.

Haha ! Yes , very true . I mean who sends a gift to a friend signed HRH The Duchess of Sussex .

😂The phrase useful idiot comes to mind. But he does have credibility within the military, and I am sure the government watched the faux royal tours in Nigeria and Colombia and wondered how they can use the energy those events generated on the ground (I'm not talking about the cynical UK commentators now, I'm talking about other countries that still might see them as credible).

Yes, he didn't have permission from the Foreign Office. He must be an absolute headache for them.

Well opinions can differ on that point, since the government has not come out with a strong statement that he was there against advice and without their sanction. Just like the government/RF failed to say the Colombia tour wasn't a royal tour, and the denial that the Nigeria tour was "official" was so half arsed as to be meaningless. And nobody admonished him for speaking for his father in Canada, and being greeted by First Nations groups as the only royal who cares, and hobnobbing with the republican PM of Jamaica. At some point the RF and the government have to stop being so bloody lame about him being a law unto himself and a complete liability. Or they can choose to leave matters as ambiguous as they have done, thus handing over PR grey areas Harry's people can exploit.

Too true, @Indianrollerbird - I don't know why everyone tippy toes around him and his wife and their strange quasi statesman like behaviour.

Would agree. None of that makes sense. I like Shauna and do find her entertaining and sometimes insightful. But is Australian and has never lived in the UK, I think she's also being fed some stuff from more RW leaning Royal commentators.

None of that stuff about Birmingham, Harry and IG makes any real sense.

What energy did those events create? Genuinely? They were parodies and majority of the world had a bit of a giggle at them. Hence why they haven't yet been invited anywhere else.

Whatever your personal political views (& I'll openly admit to being a Labour voter & supporter), Kier Starmer is out meeting World Leaders and signing trade deals, he has a difficult job rebuilding the UKs reputation and is starting to do so. H&M are an international joke, no one serious is going to touch them with a barge pole. YC may have signed that letter, but that was 6yrs ago - we've since had Oprah, NF, The Cut, Spare etc. H&Ms popularity is almost in negative figures - only Andrew polls lower. He may have gone to Ukraine at the same time as YC, but they weren't together and the HO made statements saying that.

I'd be interested to see polling on Harry's credibility within the Military because I think it would be similar to his general popularity.

Eden's article, The Vintage Read's take - both shit stirring IMO.

If Rebecca English writes something similar I may then take notice. Until then I really need the laugh emoji back because some posts are 🦇 💩

Were they not supposed to be going to Ghana ?

I don't think I have made myself clear. Shauna's contact told her "Thaw" was about Invictus. The rest is my thoughts on what Labour's thought process might be if Thaw is about Innvictus. I grew up in the West Midlands, my dad was a local Labour councillor and very in with local Labour MPs. And I'm from an ethnic minority, and I know there is still a lot of sympathy for H&M within groups who haven't looked beyond the superficial headlines and victim narrative. My fellow West Midlander, Lenny Henry, was calling again for reparations last week. You don't think H&M's racism claims, all the Commonwealth 2.0 stuff, have fed into that conversation? A conversation Keir Starmer appears to be willing to engage in (even if he does not want to pay in monetary terms). Just because H&M are a pair of hypocritical, gaff prone grifters, doesn't mean they aren't politically useful. In fact their sheer lack of integrity is probably what makes them most useful.

Excellent points, @Indianrollerbird .
They're useful idiots.

You've missed my point. They weren't being laughed at on the ground in the countries they were visiting. And it's those countries feeling honored by their presence is what might be useful in terms of diplomacy. Unless it's made absolutely clear - which it hasn't been - that there presence has nothing whatsoever to do with representing the UK or the RF, they can get away with the impression that they are just an alternative branch of the RF offering service and a pipeline/ear to the head of state; as opposed to 2 private citizens out to enhance their own commercial interests.

... I'm talking about other countries that still might see them as credible

Are there any such countries, @Indianrollerbird? If so I've not noticed them queueing up to host another "royal" visit, prrobably because they'd rather be seen to throw their hats in with more reputable people

BTW I think the Foreign Office did indeed issue a statement to the effect that H&M were representing nobody but themselves?

There was a statement issued for the Nigeria trip, but not for any of the others. And that did not stop H&M being given royal honours (military inspection, national anthem, colonial style polo match etc) on the ground in Nigeria.

As to whether there are any other countries. I don't know. I hope not. I hope everything they do falls flat, because I think they are a pair of dangerous liars. But so far, they do keep bouncing back.

Who knows what funding Harry has received apart from the trust funds from his mother / granny etc. But yes he will never be left on his uppers in any meaningful sense. The problem is what CIII might leave in a trust to give H&faily a very very nice lifestyle may be different to what they think is a very very nice lifestyle. I truly hope C is not giving them money through the back door at the moment. Harry has enough for the time being.

There was a statement issued for the Nigeria trip, but not for any of the others

Many thanks for the clarification, @Indianrollerbird; I knew I'd seen it but hadn't realised it was only said about Nigeria

And no, it didn't stop H&M carrying on with their quasi-royal tour, but then I wouldn't have expected it to ... after all wouldn't the Foreign Office also be considered part of the "stitch-up"?

Quite. Harry probably thinks the Morning Star is an outré sexual position involving butter croissants and a spliff.

Just because H&M are a pair of hypocritical, gaff prone grifters, doesn't mean they aren't politically useful. In fact their sheer lack of integrity is probably what makes them most useful.

Yes they are politically useful to corrupt / dodgy regimes as we have seen to date - but there is ZERO a chance that any UK government of any political persuasion will have any interest in engaging with them.

They are a source of ridicule around the world as well as PH especially being highly volatile, demanding, entitled and boundary crossing.

Any Republican agenda (I am one) would, I hope, be one of considered dismantling, trimming of funding and privileges, transparency and accountability of RF operations and behaviours - not some Insta cancelling blow up by a couple of grandiose and delusional fools who have stated publicly their foundational support for the monarchy by announcing their purpose to collaborate with the Queen’, and who hang on to their royal titles, who fashion their DC proactively with similar titles - what republican attributes do H&M have - zero!!

😂