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 …

I agree that’s my recollection of what happened. He left the army in June 2015 and transitioned to being full time working royal from then on - so his few short years 2015-2020 is doing some heavy lifting as a lifetime of service - same IMHO of his military contribution not extensive time-wise or noted for any achievements by comparison to others military careers.

I expect the left by mutual agreement situation with the military will be a pattern repeated elsewhere in his life.

Unfortunately for them, that is the downside of publicly oversharing and trauma-dumping, it invites and justifies speculation and supposition.

It’s interesting now to look back on why they did reject help, support and direction - maybe it’s because MM didn’t want anyone getting too close and sniffing out her agenda of this was a temporary brand building contract assignment - especially as the US PR, lawyers, agents, investors would have been on speed dial choreographing her even move which would sell better to a US / global lucrative market.

And that can be discussed sensitively within the incidents shared but to speculate on pregnancy loss / miscarriage at another time is totally unacceptable.

I agree.

I don't think the Queen could or should have stopped Harry from marrying Meghan. The big Windsor wedding was a PR win for the royals too. But they could definitely have been more cautious about allowing Meghan to represent the monarchy on not one but several overseas tours, and granting her prestigious royal patronages from day one. None of that was necessary. I think the 'worried about being accused of racism' argument is overstated too. The Queen definitely had options, but she chose to make Meghan one of the highest profile working royals right from the start, even though she knew almost nothing about Britain, let alone about the monarchy. This should have been obvious, and not just in hindsight. But then it's not as if the Queen's judgement was always perfect, to put it mildly.

I'm just catching up here.

I do agree with this. I think H doesn't quite realise that he had his "platform" simply because he is KC's son and was a member of the WRF. He had some agency to speak out on matters he cares about within the WRF but he didn't like the strictures. Which included him not saying anything stupid on taxpayer money, and taking advice.

He didn't want that , fair enough. I would say he has less of a platform now and more of a soap box.

Sure they were superficially popular.

He was Diana's little boy all grown up, finding love with a glamorous American actress. And now there was a baby on the way! What a cute story.

However, whether they did their 'duties' appropriately is another story. We now know about Meghan refusing to meet the women in Fiji, her alleged arguments with the High Commissioner's wife in Australia, her 'nobody asked if I'm OK' in South Africa, commenting about her approval of the outcome of the abortion referendum in Ireland and much else besides. Knowing what we now know of Meghan, it's unlikely that diplomatic training would have made much of a difference here. But it all just goes to show how unsuitable she was with the role, and should not have been entrusted with representing the monarchy overseas within mere weeks of her wedding.

Also have to remember that Harry and Meghan probably saw the second half of 2018 as the perfect time to establish their popularity while Kate was on maternity leave. I don't think Meghan was ever happy with the whole Fab4/joint appearances concept.

Meghan presented herself to Harry on their first date as a 'humanitarian' who had done heaps of global work, public speaking, UN representative etc
Time has shown that this was a very padded out cv but Harry was dazzled by it, especially in comparison with the posh English girls he had grown up with. He utterly believed that she was ready to outshine the real RF.

That’s very different to people speculating on someone being pregnant when getting married or suggesting they lied about being pregnant in order to get someone up the aisle.

I can recall at one stage during the ceremony H and Meghan looked at each other and within a minute some posted saying - oh she so is pregnant. She’d have to have been an elephant considering when Archie was born.

Anyway, I’m probably a product of my generation and the speculation about her pregnancies doesn’t sit well with me.

I didn’t mention miscarriage, I merely said what I have seen written in several places .

I’m more inclined to think that just because they’ve discussed pregnancy related things it doesn’t mean to say we should be like them.

It's easy in hindsight to think about how things could have been done differently, particularly now we see who Harry is without palace PR. But at the time the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were aging, as were the Queen's cousins. Charles was insisting on slimming down the monarchy to limit roles to Harry and William in the next generation. William and Catherine had just had their third child and probably hoped for some time with their young family whilst Harry took some of the headlines and overseas visits.

A popular new couple could have worked well in the transition period. Taken some attention, allowed some to quietly scale back duties and found their feet in the hierarchy. Harry and Meghan seem to have insisted this was what they wanted so of course they were found meaningful patronages and sent on tours. If they had stayed, if they had left quietly and lived privately, none of the decisions would be seen as wrong.

This is on Harry and Meghan not the palace

Seen in the light of Meghan never intending to make a life in the UK, the rush makes much more sense - why waste time when there was money waiting to be made back home? - but I do agree that the palace were foolish to hand her quite so much quite so soon

It's true Harry got his "everyone's being racist" story in very fast, and for some of limited mentality it will always be the instant go-to, but just what most other incomers got should have done the job without them giving her even more

I still maintain she's played a blinder though, using an easily manipulated prince to secure a lifestyle she could never have managed on her own, but I don't expect it to end well for Harry

Meghan presented herself to Harry on their first date as a 'humanitarian' who had done heaps of global work, public speaking, UN representative etc
Time has shown that this was a very padded out cv but Harry was dazzled by it

Edited to add this is the sort of thing I meant about Harry being easily manipulated, @StartupRepair. Even an idiot could have worked out it was flannel, but unfortunately he appeared beyond even that

I think it was because she saw Sophie , the lady in waiting and the equerry as beneath her . She would have been happy walking hand in hand with Catherine .

H was doomed to marry a clutching grifter. I believe he treated his previous two long term girlfriends badly. We have all seen his misogynistic behaviour. Any intelligent, genuine woman wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

If it wasn't a ruthlessly ambitious grifter like Meg, it would be a Fergie (shudder) type

Thank you @Thedom @Lunde and @MyAutumnCrow for those posts.

I know there have been some SM people ( Paula Froelich & is it Jackie the Pilot) who have been trying to get to the bottom of Invictus funding and spending. I'm surprised no-one more mainstream has picked this up.

Also I too wondered about Birmingham after the council election results. One thing I don't understand ( amongst many 😊) is , is the £26m pledged by the govt for the '27 games , awarded to Birmingham , meant to cover all costs so that the council will not be out of pocket and not required to give any additional council funds? So , first dibs on spending goes to Birmingham council for building works , security , policing etc and that should cover it & then additional costs for attendees , concerts, filming , food , transport etc is picked up by Invictus sponsors. From googling (which may I know not be accurate ) there are 11 sponsors and pledges thus far are £4m. This may very well be wrong - this is me googling. More than happy to be contradicted on that. But if Vancouver cost $63m (whether it should or not have done to one side for the moment) , £26m still needs a lot to be covered. & if the shortfall comes out of Birmingham's council budget , as a councillor I'd be voting for a reduction in the scope and budget of the games , or sadly , just not hosting them without clear cut nailed in sponsorship. That's without even having a clue as to what is paid out of Invictus funds for M&H's expenses for the trip.

On the face of it Invictus financing does need some proper forensic investigation.

I know there have been some SM people ( Paula Froelich & is it Jackie the Pilot) who have been trying to get to the bottom of Invictus funding and spending. I'm surprised no-one more mainstream has picked this up

They may not consider it important enough, @BasiliskStare, though when it all comes crashing down Harry's involvement will probably be enough to get it onto the front pages

Reading earlier posts I can't believe they got someone so hopeless to "invite" questions, and ask yet again who's running this thing on a day to day basis

I firmly agree.

IMHO, Invictus is ground zero for red flags.

Moreover, I believe that ALL governments have an absolute moral duty to protect troops who were injured while serving their country from exploitation by "charities".

As Head of State KC3 has considerable heft. There is no reason why KC3 can't throw his weight around behind the scenes as he has done for the environment for one. A word to the PM during the weekly chats, a word to intelligence during their periodic chats, a word to the privy council during their periodic chats.

For me, it is absolutely unforgivable that KC3 has put his worthless second son over his loyal veterans. KC3 must live up to his oath of office, or he should abdicate. And to live up to his oath of office, his loyal veterans are more important than a disloyal Duke, even if said Duke is his second son.

Very good points, @IcedPurple.

They misunderstood their popularity - it was a combination of good wishes for the young child people had seen grow up in the glare of publicity and respect for the institution, rather than personal liking.

Also agree with your points about their behaviour on tour.

Agree @MrsLeonFarrell.

If I recall correctly, William and Catherine were living at Anmer and William was following an agriculture management course at the time.

He left this and they moved to KP and became full-time working royals when Prince Philip retired.

@BasiliskStare, we were originally told the the £26 million would be a government grant and no money was to come from Birmingham City Council. The difference would be covered by sponsorships.

Knowing a bit about local government finance, I was always very sceptical about this claim. There are statutory responsibilities that ONLY the local authority (aka the council) can pick up, such as the staffing costs for the licensing and planning functions, stadium safety, and carrying out its fucntion as a waste disposal authority. Yeah - getting the bins emptied. Such fun. How much is Invictus planning to pay for waste disposal, and to whom, exactly?

Then there's policing and security. Invictus and the IDF may well bring their own security, but (for example) Israel's Shin Bet cannot just rock up without having had prior approval from the UK Government, and they must liase with the Police and the local authority. (See: Eurovision.) All this is very costly in terms of staff time. We're not talking about junior officer level or even senior officer level here - more like Executive decision stuff. As the new Executive (the senior councillors who form the council's 'cabinet') have yet to be appointed, who knows what's going to happen? I don't think we know who the new Leader of the Council is at this point in time.

The Games themselves will probably require the Police to be on expensive overtime. The protests might be significant. I'm still not sure who's actually going to be paying for policing. The Birmingham MPs seem quiet.

Then there's road signage, road safety, permits, closures, traffic monitoring, congestion management, emergency planning, evacuation rehearsals, risk assessment & contingency readiness, environmental health inspections (food safety) - the list just goes on and on and on in respect of Council functions.

If Invictus has insufficient staff itself, it's going to be very messy.

My thoughts on the too much too soon situation is that the RF may have - initially - breathed a sigh of relief when M arrived on the scene. Harry was essentially an adult who, despite his privilege and opportunities, hadn’t properly fledged. He was probably an absolute pain in the royal backside, especially to his family and the MIGS who tried to manage him.

I can imagine they could have welcomed a strong opinionated woman and let her crack on with him. Problem solved.

Obviously not, as we now know, and could have predicted. But, I can see why they might have been only too happy to let someone else take Harry on for a while.

Thank you so much @MyAutumnCrow . Honestly , if I were a councillor in Birmingham at the moment , and had a say , I would be tempted to say "too hard" and pull out. It sounds like there is plenty of scope for going over budget and the sponsorship doesn't seem to going brilliantly. If the costs for the local authority's costs could be guaranteed ( by central govt grant + a ring fenced amount from IG funding - you can tell I'm making this up here ) so that the absolute cost to Birmingham was £0 and they benefitted from the visitors' spending etc then I could see the attraction. At the moment it looks like the council ( for their responsibilities ) might have signed up for something they have no real idea of what it might actually cost them. It would be sad for the competitors , but it does increasingly look like the IG are not what the "vision" once was , and as other countries - notably Germany have proven , a similar thing can be done a whole lot less expensively.

It must really sting for Harry, despite his desperation to claim the limelight on Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, that the great and good were out in force with the man himself last night, including his brother doing a speech and celebrating in the box with him, and Harry didn’t get a look in.