PR Disasters Part X

[AtIusvue]

For all Meg and Harry PR shenanigans

AND it was all to mark America's 250th birthday. I bet grade schools in the USA have activities and related curricular content around this anniversary, and would be mentioning the King's visit in that context. It's nothing like the King of Spain just business-as-usual dropping in on the cousins in Windsor.

Everyone knows vow renewal is code for trouble at ‘mill. Often because someone has strayed.

Marriage vows are for life. They only need renewing if somebody breaks them. I don’t doubt they need to renew their vows. I just wouldn’t publicise it in their shoes.

https://archive.ph/HOnoq

https://www.dailymail.com/news/royals/article-15782955/lost-plot-harry-meghan-burned-bridges-alison-boshoff.html

‘Put simply, it means in the circles that matter, Meghan and Harry no longer have any bridges left to burn.
One source says: ‘They have truly lost the plot. I hear she’s spiralling badly because she knows nothing is working. The whole thing about her [As Ever] stuff selling out isn’t true any more. I don’t think either of them are happy.’
The source tells me they believe the couple’s problems are worse than many suspect because of Meghan and Harry’s unfortunate habit of falling out with the very people who could help them make a go of things financially.‘

Then it’s a list of the people in Hollywood who have fell out with them

I think he’s along the lines of the sausage man who was the messenger boy from the local butchers, he’d come every few days with my grandmas order. And then there was the Betterware man who’d come to the door every few months with a big suitcase full of everything you needed to keep your house sparking clean.

Those were the days.

Wow they have really pissed on their chips. They have no where to go and no one backing them apart from their sewer squad anymore.

Wow that article is damning!

The DM source says the chartreuse dress pics disappeared because Meghan didn’t want to look like she was clinging to Nicole Avant. But I thought hugging was her USP?! Isn’t that a bit cold of Meghan? But Nicole hates her anyway, as does Bella Bajaria. And the Sussexes were briefing against one of Netflix’s executives! I am starting to wonder if Meghan was set up to wear that colour dress and make a fool of herself.

Has there been any other couple that has been gifted so many incredible opportunities, and utterly fucked up as badly as Harry & Meghan?

I was thinking the same thing @Indianrollerbird. Do you remember someone upthread pointing out the parallels between the couple in Beef and M&H? The unfulfilled wife disappointed that her husband hasn’t achieved what they were expecting by 40?
I do wonder if they purposely leaked the colour of whatsername’s dress to see if M would take the bait, or told her that was the theme so they could laugh at her behind her back? With Ted dressing it up as a parting gift. I really can’t see another reason why they were invited.

Yes, someone shared a synopsis didn’t they - and I wondered whether they’d used H&M as click bait publicity for a show many hadn’t heard of. I think some people online were speculating that they had been in attendance at a different time to the main stars. Now I am wondering if a last minute call (mid party) was made by someone from Netflix to come on over and dress in chartreuse so they could have a laugh. Would they be so cruel? You’d have to have majorly pissed someone off to have that done to you.

I don't know why, maybe my imagination is warped but I see this awful Nic Cage image when I think of "chocolate man"

A vow renewal would be hilarious. Apart from the oft quoted wisdom that vow renewal is most often followed by divorce, the other reason is that people who married young had a budget wedding and want to celebrate in style once their finances are more stable.

Are we supposed to think the Windsor castle nuptials were a budget affair to be improved upon now they are doing sooooo much better?

I bet Hollywood is pretty lonely when Anna Wintour, Lauren Sanchez, the Kardashians and the Sarandoses all let it be known that they despise you 😬

I can’t imagine they’d have many friends here either - the elite will line up with the heir to the throne if asked to choose, as evidenced at the Duke of Westminster’s wedding.

It doesn’t seem like there’s much good news is on the horizon either, with the Sentebale defamation case on its way, and questions being asked about Invictus. Their remaining tentative link to the RF, their close relationship with the Yorks, is rather less than useful right now. What are they going to do I wonder..

Would it be the same as Brooklyn and Nicola’s vow renewal - only announced after it’s taken place with the ILs excluded and snubbed?

I hope it’s like Pete and Dawn’s from Gavin and Stacey. They could even have their pal, James Corden, walk Meghan up the aisle.

Thankfully most adults wouldn't upset a six year old who may have a lot to contend with at home anyway.
Throwing a remark to the parents I could see happening but don't know if they do regular school pickups.

I agree that most parents at Archie’s school are probably very careful about what they say in front of their children, but other children in Archie’s circle won’t live in a bubble and will see while out and about things like People magazine. It’s likely they would notice Archie’s parents pictured with Kings and Queens and described a the Royal family - which I would have thought was bound to lead to some natural curiosity! (Some covers from the last couple of months are below).

Kate and William appreciated this - that your children will inevitably come across things about their family from their classmates - when dealing with Kates cancer diagnosis. They waited until school had broken up for the Easter holidays before saying anything publicly so they could shield their children from having to deal with that for as long as possible.

That Daily Mail article doesn't pull its punches. 😂

The trouble for them is , they are clearly distant from the RF so the titles don't count for much nowadays. They're good at cosying up to people when it suits them , but arrogant enough not to realise they have to keep people on side who are more powerful and influential than they are if they want business relationships.

Renewing their vows publicly ( or subsequently "leaked" - same difference ) would be a very cheap thing to do for a couple of days publicity.

Haha that would be hilarious

Who knows? Hollywood is a crazy place, I wouldn’t put it past them.

No I wouldn’t set out to upset a six year old boy. But I would consider it a kindness for him to have a chance to find out about his wider family and heritage. Who knows what they are told by their resentful parents. Seven is plenty old enough to find out your parents aren’t necessarily the font of all wisdom.

I was an older mother, so when DD1 started school I didn’t want to be the oldest mother in the playground and told her I was 21 years old. (She must have asked, I can’t remember exactly how it came about). So I got Happy Birthday 22year old, Happy Birthday 23 year old cards. Once she said “You’re a YOUNG Mummy aren’t you, I’m so glad, you’ve got years left to live”! 😅 (No idea why she was so interested in ages)🤷‍♀️.
Anyway at a family lunch for my eldest sister’s birthday it came about that she put her straight - “You’re good at maths aren’t you?” “Yes” “Well your mother is seven years younger than me, work that out”.
DD was outraged. “You’ve lied to me, all these years!”

That night we read from How to Lie with statistics for her bedtime story. By the end of the week she had ascertained the ages of all the teachers at school through a simple but subtle line of questioning - “how long have you been teaching?” Leave it a few days then “How old were you when you went to university and started your training?”
She got a 1st in a statistics joint honours degree and now her career (& pay) are taking off in a related field.
I take credit for her success being related to that early lie about my age. She was seven at the time.
The perfect time to learn about your family and the wider world.

@ShamedBySiri I work in a primary school and when I get asked my age, I always turn it into maths question for them to solve!

They’ll drag the ex Archbishop of Canterbury out of retirement and fly him over (economy class) to do it in the backyard, surrounded by chickens and A&L dressed up as page boy and bridesmaid. With the dogs as witness. Then we’ll see the pictures on instagram with artsy black and white back of the head shots of the children.

They obviously can’t use the current AoC as she is female and M doesn’t like high achieving women.

I think that is way too convoluted

I think they were likely invited to show there were "no hard feelings" after the spat between H&M and Netflix - a bit of mutual publicity for both sides. Probably H&M's PR, Sunshine Sachs, lobbied for "reconciliation" photos.

But we know 2 things about Meghan - firstly, she refuses to follow dress codes because she likes to stand out (like turning up in leprechaun green at the 2020 Commonwealth Service, which had a red, white and blue dress code that year, and wearing drab olive green to Louis christening that had a blue/cream dress code). The second thing is that she attempts to find out what others are wearing - I think one of Harry's friends recalling inviting H&M to a dinner party and Meghan hounding the host with phone calls wanting to know which colours/designers the other women would be wearing - which surprised them as "statement/attention" dressing was not really a thing in Harry's pre-Meghan circle.

So my guess is that Meghan or her assistant called to find out about any dress code and was told they were going for a black/white vibe from guests with Carey wearing chartreuse as the "star". Then, for whatever reason, Meghan decided it would be fun to wear chartreuse as well - not sure whether it was attention seeking or an attempt to stand out in the photos... But she didn't expect the backlash of being accused of upstaging Carey's party.

Yes! I reasoned with her that she knew what profession I worked in, it took three years to train plus more training in another related field. I’d have had to have been about ten when I had her.
A great lesson in critical thinking.

Sometimes on the news I see items reported where they clearly have the decimal point in the wrong place or have got the maths wrong mcg v mg or whatever and it drives me nuts that no one has picked up on it.

If the renew-your-vows phenomenon gets Markled, that's got to be a good thing.

That was me. I LOVED the first season of Beef and was eagerly awaiting the second (they're totally unrelated stories). It was delicious. Carey Mulligan plays a British woman (who at one point, when drunk and unhappy, tells someone wanting something from her that her name is actually Meghan 😂 - for ppl in Hollywood, that will say it all!) working in Montecito as a woolly, floating-around, just waffling on interior designer at the country club her husband is GM of (implication being she only got the interior design job because of her husband). There's a great story about the vacuity and greed and sharp elbows of those country-club-going Montecito types with lots of drama and capers and serious stuff too, but as the show pertains to MM it's a story about a woman who shoots too high, and experiences bitter disappointment and loneliness (I won't spoil the ending though). This is in counterpoint to another female character who comes from very poor circumstances and by sheer luck and hard work and playing the system ends up very differently (no spoilers!). Also not necessarily a likable character, and ends up not necessarily happy - so basically covered on all sides.

For those lunatics such as on these threads who know all the ins and outs of MM's shenanigans, the first two episodes are bang on the nose about her in the snarkiest, most wicked way. The Beef party with the chartreuse dresses was 100% about the Sarandoses having MM come dressed as Carey Mulligan's character. Ted may as well have held up a sign saying "This show is about MM's greed, two-facedness, hollow marriage, lack of self-knowledge, vanity". It was a fantastic mic drop with which Sarandos has made MM leave the Netflix room. I suspect we won't hear a word about the Sussexes and Netflix again. I almost feel sorry for MM, truth be told. She's been totally and definitively outplayed in quite a nasty way by a man with power flexing his muscles.

@canklesmctacotits I actually hope that’s not true. It’s really cold and calculating.