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 …

You don’t need to propel them into representing the country and the monarchy from virtually day one though either. The Queen could have been very firm about them taking it slowly and not given them patronages they were quite ill equipped to cope with.

My brother married someone who everyone disliked and didn't trust....it was impossible to speak to him about her. He thought we were were 'against' him. He is now estranged from the whole family and we don't know their kids - their choice.

So I can understand why the RF were unable to stop Harry insisting on marrying her asap. I do think the RF could have put the reins on a little....talked about the importance of learning about the RF before 'hitting the ground running'. She shouldn't have been handed patronages.... ridiculous and demeans them - such things should be earned over time. The whole notion that they were out doing Tours really quickly is nonsensical - she was a girlfriend one year and the next she was greeting the crowds...it just seems crazy.

Harry had already set the scene very early with the racism accusation statement, that statement was the first time most of the public even heard he had a new girlfriend. So that will have set the scene for where Harry and Meghan would take any criticism or reluctance about their relationship, and this was at peak BLM times, so highly sensitive and volatile period.

That’s very true. And didn’t he get William roped into it?

Crikey, did the royal household (including the Men in Grey Suits) and security services really not know about (the then) Ms Markle’s PR/agent entourage when they authorised the ‘girlfriend’ statement? (Thanks to pp who pointed that out.)

Did they know they were getting played?

Sorry about your brother, @Papercompany. Must be tough.

Anyway, I’ve bored you all to tears enough on this. I’ll let it lie unless something new comes up.

Thank you for your patience!

I think had Meghan not been mixed race, the RF would have played things differently.

Too difficult at the time, those Oprah headlines after, they had been given everything on a plate and still it was good enough for the pair.

I am not sure why people are blaming QE2 who was in her nineties. IMHO, KC3 deserves the overwhelming share of the blame from the RF side for the Meg-entry to Megxit fiasco.

KC3 was the one who wanted H&M as working royals despite whatever the intelligence services had gathered...and they would have gathered info as standard practice. KC3 gave them chance after chance...even after William wisely walked away from the hot mess that was H&M.

I think people also forget that there were changes going on behind the scenes focused on preparing for the inevitable change in monarch...the most visible being Christopher Geidt exiting as Principal Private Secretary and Edward Young coming on board. IMHO, H&M were a bit of an after-thought for the men-in-grey and H&M exploited that gap in attention ruthlessly.

Yes the speed of the announcement was interesting. They met in July 2016 - after first two dates in London their 3rd date was a trip to Botswana the next month. He issued the statement in early November which would have cemented the seriousness of this particular girlfriend in the publics mind despite them living on different continents so can’t have spent too much time together then. I don’t recall the racist and sexist material he was referring to then as I didn’t follow them then - but I have no problem with him calling it out and I have no doubt it happened. This was followed up by a cross party group of female MPs in 2019. However I do think that two things can have been happening at once - an appropriate shot across the bows - but also an underlying toxic dynamic of ‘White Knight charging in to save his Damsel in Distress’ which I believe is the core of MM shtick and how she reels him in and whips him up time and time again.

There's some heavy-duty hindsight going on in this current thread, and I'm interested to read opinions that 'they' (RF, men in grey suits, government ministers) shouldn't have allowed H&M to do so much so quickly.
It's very clear from their own mouths that the Sussexes 100% believed they were the new Royal Superstars and were capable of all W&C were doing and more. I imagine, knowing what we now know, that H was being advised to take it steadily but wasn't taking at all kindly to that. M also has an inflated opinion of her capabilities but they did not want to hear that they couldn't do exactly what they wanted to do.
H has led the Royal life and I have no doubt that he persuaded others (or sulked enough for them to agree) that he would support M and help her. They rejected help from people who could have made this easier for them.
This is why I think Harry bears the greatest responsibility - not QE2 or KC3 - for any difficulties they got into and Meghan's reported state of mind.
And it's interesting that there's a lot of shouting on here sometimes about the laziness of the RF who have no skills and just turn up to do bugger all from time to time, but now H&M were forced to do too much and take on responsibilities they simply couldn't understand without more help, the poor dears.

I have no idea if this is true or not but I have read more than once that M told H she was pregnant hence the rush to get engaged .
If true ( and I am NOT saying it is) it would help to explain the late Queen’s response when H asked if he could marry M . H himself said that she replied “ well I suppose I have to agree”

Were they ill equipped to cope with the work load and patronages? It looked to me that they were hugely popular and welcomed on their visits / tours etc. - whether this pace and popularity was sustainable is another story - but not sure I have seen reported that they failed in their duties?

Wouldn’t the wedding have been sped up if Meg was thought to be pregnant? It was set for six months later as the televised grand spectacle, which was announced at the same time as the engagement I think.

But yes, I’ve heard this too.

I’m very uncomfortable when her pregnancies are brought into the discussion.

Slightly different take on this. It was generally accepted that H&M would want to start a family quickly: both were over 35 so didn't have loads of time to play with, and Harry had spoken openly of his wish to have children. I think he told the Queen that they wanted to immediately try for a baby so they would need to get married quickly. Hence QE2's 'suppose I have to agree' as the alternative was a baby being born outside of marriage.

Six months is a pretty standard length of time for a royal engagement. But I think they wanted to get moving on a pregnancy, not that it was actually necessarily happening earlier.

A lot of the theories don’t really make much sense to me anyway.

However I suppose if H&M themselves have said or published something, it’s fair for people to discuss it, like H’s weird story about using up the gas & air tank and the twerking video on Instagram.

Agree. This is very intimate personal and medical speculation.

Harry was extremely popular at that time, he was on record saying he quit the army to commit to being a fulltime Royal, in the same interview he said he would like to meet someone to be by his side doing the Royal duties.

He met Meghan a few years later and they were amazingly popular as a couple, so I can see why the RF were happy for Harry to continue his Royal job but now with his adoring new fiancé / wife by his side in public.

Who would have guessed it would collapse so spectacularly in such a short time.

Yes, makes a lot of sense. H might have said, we’re going to start trying to have a baby early next spring whether you like it or not. Something along those lines?

Which, in fairness, was completely reasonable of him.

I’m afraid that Harry has breached so many people’s medical privacy, personal privacy and personal boundaries in the past few years, that many might struggle to feel much sympathy for him. Meghan too has provided reams of information about her pregnancies including medical information.

It could perhaps be argued that a huge amount of what is in the public domain has been placed there by them and their PR people, and that they have therefore consented to it being discussed themselves. M, for example, specifically and explicitly asked one media interviewer if she saw her pregnancy twerking video. This was broadcast.

I agree with you to an extent, however Meghan has published a quite detailed description of a miscarriage and Harry in Spare claimed he dug a grave with his hands to bury their miscarried fetus.

I really don’t think discussions around her pregnancies are exactly off limits for them.

Absolutely. I really don't agree with the revisionist theories that it was everyone else's fault. The pair of them were adamant from the start that they were God's gift and rejected all offered help and advice.

Harry was extremely popular at that time, he was on record saying he quit the army to commit to being a fulltime Royal,

Well that's maybe one way of putting it.

I think the considered/slightly informed view was that he wouldn't or couldn't do the work needed for promotion, didn't fancy a desk job that would have gone with that promotion and the Army wasn't keen on keeping him on the books as a surplus to requirements Lieutenant who would have had significant extra curricular commitments.

Basically he and HM forces went their separate ways by mutual agreement.

Agree. But this is their personal and medical information that they have decided to disclose which is entirely different to speculation that either MM had a futher pregnancy and miscarriage prior to the wedding or that she lied to PH that she did. Really insensitive.