PR Disasters part 11

[HoldMyWine]

The ongoing dramas from Montecito courtesy of H&M.

I can’t see another thread but I made the same mistake last time …

Honestly at this stage I’d rather hear from the Duke of Gloucester (Richard), who seems like a good egg.

@Effervescentfrothy - yes.

What did he diagnose him with? Self indulgentitis ?

ADHD, @Starryfifty - what else?

It's often said on here that the diagnosis involves a long and gruelling process, but apparently Gabor Mate did it on the basis of reading Spare and an hour's conversation with Harry

Possibly the fact he was raised as the spare and expected to go out into the real world and get a real job as he wouldn't inherit fortunes made him a more well-rounded, down-to-earth sort of man who devotes himself to philanthropy and championing good causes...

That’s why I have no time for the man now.

None ! Unlike his brother, father or late grandmother 🤷‍♀️

Tosser!

Assuming you were referring to H rather than me 😉I think the Fresh Prince of ChatGPT should just learn to keep his trap shut when it isn't required.
I do think H is living in a world where he still thinks he's part of the WRF and so he either says something therefore it is important or something or happens so he has to say something. I am sure DA would have appreciated a very nice card posted in time.

He was an architect . When his older brother William was killed , Richard became heir to the Dukedom .

It sounds nothing like Harry’s own ‘voice’, it’s so clear it’s not his words but someone else’s, which makes it even more cringe and out of place. Its so inauthentic he really shouldn’t have bothered.

Quite. He didn't just spend his life whinging how unfair it was that he wasn't going to inherit the Dukedom and demanding he be awarded all the same privileges afforded his brother. The rest of the aristocracy seem to fully understand the whole heir/spare thing, I'm not sure why Harry finds it so tricky.

Harry really thinks his is an important voice to the world . 🙄

No - I think it is a consequence of the US-style, celebrity focussed PR agency they hired where you need to announce everything in a press release or SM announcement.

It comes across as a bit crude and gauche in the UK royal context where the royal family frequently have private contacts without getting their PA to call the Daily Mail/People celebrity desk to pitch a "look at me, I know famous people" puff piece.

It's probably second nature to Meghan and how she raised her profile as a cable show actress, along with freebie PR holidays/ paying for awards/cash for selfies etc - but it seems strange for a royal.

Exactly so & sadly has no-one who is prepared to properly tell him otherwise , and nor does he have the wit to realise how far he has travelled from being a fully paid up member of the WRF . All he sees is his "platform" .

He really is coming over as a self entitled git.

The rest of the aristocracy seem to fully understand the whole heir/spare thing, I'm not sure why Harry finds it so tricky.

Don't they just!

They were very keen to protect male primogeniture when the gender recognition act was passed.

But what I don't understand, is he must have seen it in his own family, he must have realised Andrews life was very different.

I have always found it a bit unfair that he was expected to give up his career to serve the royal family, when he was always going to descend in importance. Plus, it made him financially dependent it on the institution. His older brother had also been, unfairly in my opinion, expected to end his diplomatic career at some point to enter royal service. Ironically, H didn’t have much to give up. It sounds like he had got as far as he was capable of in the military.

As I've said before, he still hasn't woken up to the fact that he's not a working royal anymore. By his own choice.

That said, even if he were a working royal he wouldn't be making a 'statement' about Attenborough as he has no real relationship with him. But of course he had to 'get in there' before William. And in Time magazine? Who reads Time these days?

I’m expecting something to be posted on the insta this weekend in a counter attack to the glorious pictures of William and Kate hosting a garden party at BP today.
The Prince and Princess of Wales hosted on behalf of the King, supported by Zara Tindall , and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
The three woman all looked wonderful I don’t mind saying.
Nice to see Zara there-I think she and Peter are very close to the Wales family.

Just think -if H&M hadn’t flounced off they too could have been hosting garden parties for 8000 on behalf of the King. Instead they are -well, doing very little and nothing of any importance.

I think -with hindsight- it was always Meghans plan to get back to California. I don’t think she ever had any intention of actually staying in the UK.
I think she hated it and us.
She just wanted wealth and fame.
And I think Harry is starting to realise this as he sees that he gave up everything and she gave up nothing.

Andrew didn't have Diana for a mother and I genuinely think that, as far as Harry is concerned, that makes all the difference. We know he didn't learn any family history (mentioned in Spare) so he is very slow to learn.

DA tribute: I can't bear Harry's preachy side. I can see that he's trying to represent or embody British culture (cup of tea, national treasure, type stuff) but he certainly pitched it at a British and an American audience, trying to win over both. Very self -important to address the people of two countries in that way. Any normal person writing a tribute to somebody would simply write about them but Harry attempts to decode what DA does/should mean to Americans and Brits. Very pompous.

(I'm aware it was written by staff and/or AI but Harry would have read and approved it).

Edit: my Diana comment was a response to PP saying surely he noticed that Andrew's adulthood was very different to Charles's so why does he think he should get the same or be treated the same as William.

It was assumed hat Harry would stay in the army until his 40s. That was the expectation for 'spares'. While Harry sometimes hints that he was obliged to leave the army, he chose to drop out when he got to the point where he'd have had to take exams and take a desk job. In fact he became a 'full time' working royal even before William!

@DaisyDooleyI think you are right about M’s attitude to the UK. I don’t understand why she ended up in London in the first place if that was her attitude.

I just don’t get it. Why would PH think anyone would care what he thought of DA. I’m no PR expert but I’m sure none would advise doing that.

He really can’t shut up, can he?

It’s almost every other day something is coming out in the media from them or their PR team.

All he needs to do is keep his head down and shut up for a couple of years. However with IG threatening to crack open and all the court cases, there’s not much chance of that.

Look at Amber Heard probably one of the most trolled people at one time, but she lost, and left the limelight gracefully. Don’t think I’ve read anything about her since, and I hope she’s happy.

Ouch, Prince William is spending the evening of DA's 100th birthday with the man himself. There's just no competing with the heir and Harry looks very foolish in the attempt.

Ouch is right! Looking at them right now!

Harry had the money, fame and connections to build a totally new life for himself. But instead he tried to create a 5th rate version of 'royal' life in California. What a sad life.

I think they (H&M) have a sympathetic contact at TIME.

I’d bet someone at TIME was trying to pitch a DA birthday article and an editor said - is he interesting enough to the US readers as a personality? How about you get a famous Brit to juzz it up a bit and explain his significance. And Harry was the only one who agreed to do it because he knew William would be doing something. Then what he wrote was unintelligible so they had a staffer rewrite it.