As ever, WLM, PR disasters continued

[AtIusvue]

Online, people are pointing out that a very expensive cashmere jumper that Meg wore on suits, also made its way to her wardrobe

It’s been nothing but PR disasters of late.

What I have noticed which is curious - is that the UK tabloids are not running with P6 story about the dress. Just like they avoided talking about the NY car chase. They only reported on the media frenzy. But, we know Harry sent out some sort of memo not to publish photos etc. None of the UK press did. Now Meg has acknowledged the stolen dress story and released an official refute ….and none of the UK press are even reporting on that?

That’s weird. They will literally print any old Meg story to get clicks…..but not this one???

The articles on this issue are mainly American.

Absolutely. I do wonder whether posters on here would go on other threads and say women should reconcile with family members they have gone NC with, and call them incredibly callous for not doing so….

Just like the posters who demand William be the “bigger person” in the one sided conflict created by his brother and sister in law.

I think that if the step siblings weren’t around , things might be different .
I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong but I am sure I read that SM and TMjr weren’t close to their father for years but when Meghan met Harry they wanted to muscle in so I can see why M doesn’t want contact with them . It’s just sad that her elderly father is caught in the crossfire .
TMjr even filmed the ambulance journey to hospital . Who does that ?
I rarely feel sorry for M but I do have a twinge of sympathy for her in this situation although I think she handled the wedding issues badly . And I can’t understand why H never met TM before they got engaged or even just after .
What a mess .

They are not step siblings, they are half siblings. Meghan, Samantha and Thomas are all from the same odious tree.

Apologies. You are absolutely correct , half siblings .

I think all of the Markles are the same, including Meghan. Harry couldn't meet Thomas, or her 2 half siblings because she had told him so many lies about her upbringing to paint herself as a victim ('The family she never had' in the engagement interview.) Harry would've realised that it was all bullshit, or at least be given pause for thought. Doria just went with it.

To be fair, what Markle snr has said about Meghan (not talking about the siblings) - is that he wants contact with her…repeatedly. He hasn’t accused her of this, that and the other, like Harry n Megs have accused his family.

I get why she has cut off the siblings and would never have contact with them. But the reason for cutting contact with her father was disingenuous from the get go.

If a Harry n Meg want us to believe in a manipulative and deceitful press- whom Harry has sued countless times, that Meg has accused of making her suicidal, that Harry believes contributed to the death of his mother….then why can’t they see an elderly man being incredibly naive about the press, who had zero support around him, falling into a trap of easy money and a false narrative that it would be positive PR for Megs. Perhaps thinking, that he could control some positive pictures, rather than being papped out and about looking like a slob.

It was no different to what Megs has done. Calling and dealing with the paps for a positive pic. Was it unbecoming? Yes. But the same can be said about Megs.

To cut off her elderly father for it was extreme. She should have brought him in from the cold and tried to keep the situation under control.
The fact Harry never even met Markle snr says a lot. This was an indicator that Meg was always going to drop her father….she just needed an excuse.

No need, I’ve seen it on a couple of threads. I think it suits Meghan to have people believe they aren’t related. Easy mistake.

The RF might keep contact with Harry to a minimum and not share any significant information with him, but he hasn’t been cut out entirely - Charles met with him this year, and has done previously as well - and Harry has been invited to events like the coronation. He has also always been offered accommodation in royal residences when he visits the U.K., although he turns this down in favour of hotels.

Meghan hasn’t seen or contacted her father in any way for years, despite him having serious health problems and now being in significant danger of death.

This is a father according to her own narrative before meeting Harry who she adored and who gave her endless love and support as she was growing up. His major crime that caused her to cut him out of her life was to have some set up pap shots of him preparing for her wedding - a bit tacky and embarrassing but nothing awful or damaging towards her.

Not a patch on the behaviour we’ve seen by H&M towards the RF in terms of the public slurs and accusations, while they’ve expected to be welcomed back with open arms with zero consequences for all they’ve done.

For me it’s two things. Firstly the hypocrisy - you say why is it ok for the RF to cut off H&M and not M her father? Well fair point except that H&M have made a huge song and dance about how unfair it is for them to be cut off.

But secondly it’s the pure callousness - even if Thomas has behaved poorly at points in the last few years, is it really so bad to justify no care or consideration from her when he might be on his death bed?

Do we really think that if Harry had an awful accident and was in a life threatening condition, that the RF would just completely ignore it and carry on business as usual without a care in the world?

The fact that Harry never met Meghan's Father can be interpreted in several ways. It may be that the father she created on The Tig was wish fulfilment rather than the reality. It may be that Meghan has been unfair cutting her father off. We will never know because at this point facts and rumour and speculation are so tangled up together no one outside the situation can have any idea what the truth is. This uncertainty around what is truth and what isn't is really common in dysfunctional families, which I think we can all agree the Markles are. We won't ever know the truth and really it isn't any of our business.

Yes it jars when Meghan goes on and on about the importance of family in WLM but I know several people with difficult family backgrounds and they all create the kind of curated holiday occasions that Meghan does. They put far more effort in than I do but I'm not trying to heal family trauma and create a new way for my own children.

I'm still going to give Meghan grace in this issue because I really don't know what is fact and what is rumour related so many times it has become fact in the public consciousness. Whatever the facts are the reality is that it's a painful family situation that The Mail exploits for clicks. And i realise I'm contributing by commenting.

also @MrsLeonFarrellif she actually communicated with her father he might not resort to trying to get her attention using the press.

I’m not saying it’s a good or wise tactic, but I think he’s sad and desperate and she hasn’t given him any opportunity to repair the relationship.

On the contrary, we’ve seen numerous occasions where the RF have opened the door a bit to Harry but unfortunately each time a report of the meeting has been immediately leaked back to the press from team Sussex.

Or he might go straight to the press with anything she says to him. We simply don't know.

Generally with public figures, going to the press is not an effective tactic and Thomas Markle would know that. He isn't a farmer from the mid West who is unfamiliar with the way the press and celebrity life works. Maybe he was a fantastic father, maybe he wasn't, we don't know. But what we do know is that he spent his entire working life on a tv set, he knows how this world works and has chosen to repeatedly go to the media about his daughter.

I still hope for some kind of communication because it's hard when a parent dies, whatever your relationship with them. I don't wish regret on anyone. But I refuse to see this as one side good, the other bad, it's a messy family situation, aggravated by being amplified in the media.

@MrsLeonFarrell as always the voice of such measured posts.

Whatever the facts are the reality is that it's a painful family situation

Agree with this @MrsLeonFarrell

My personal opinion is that Harry and Meghan were publicly discourteous to her father in the run up to the wedding, and their behaviour since has not been such as would make me want to give them the benefit of the doubt.
However, it's a horrible situation, and whatever they do now they will be criticised, so I hope they find some way forward that works for everyone.

But that’s life. Horrible situations happen all the time. It’s how you deal with them that matters.

Meg and Harry have both dealt with their family issues appallingly. Which on its own, may be a non issue. We all have family problems….but I doubt most of the public would pontificate endlessly about family, community, love in the way that Harry n Meg do.

They both seem like dicks to deal with.

They do, William, Catherine and Charles are not only supposed to forgive Harry but bring him back as a working royal with open arms.

Well, that’s a deeply unrealistic expectation. And not one I have personally seen expressed. I’m sure it happens though-people on here are insane enough to say anything. But my question was about other Mumsnetters who have gone no contact with their parents. Is it OK to tell them they are callous for not reconciling?

I think it depends on why they are NC @CurlewKate

This is interesting. There is a site called Meghan Maven which has archived all of the Tig. Now it seems that the one M wrote about her father is scratched out and not available.

As is the case though once something is online it's there forever so here it is elsewhere

It was reported about a month ago that Meghan's "Director of Communications", Meredith Maines, had quit

So perhaps Meghan is doing her own PR at the moment

I'm not a fan of Thomas Markle but this is a complete own goal by Meghan - Meghan has ignored his heart attack in 2018 and his major stroke in 2022 - making no contact at all.

So why put out a press release saying she had "reached out" when it was a lie?

As someone who went NC with my mum, enen when she was on her deathbead - no, I would never urge reconciliation.

And after watching a TV documentary about TM Sr, the only bit of which I can remember is him moaning about money and going on to say ( of Meghan) "time to look.after Daddy" - I can see why she might have gone NC at a pathway fork in her life.

But she should have left it there, and not have written ( and then leaked the content of) That Letter in order to make him look bad.
ETA " fork"

Well if Meredith hasn’t already left then I imagine she will be on her way very soon after this latest PR mess .,

I thought it was the ex Netflix person who had left. I didn't realise Meredith had.