PR disasters thread 23

[BigWillyLittleTodger]

Let the games continue…….

Very appropriate misspelling in your first line @Tiddlywinks63!

Harry is really good at being the cheeky chappie larking around with athletes at Invictus or with children

This was a decent MO when he was 15-20 years younger, its giving middle aged creep now.

Then again Meghan seems stuck in her millenial 2000s pinterest era also.

Its like they think they are still a couple of cool, down with the kids couple, instead of a pair of grifting chancers.

I hope they don't get welcomed back to the UK. Surely people haven't forgotten the lies and downright nastiness towards the RF and the whole population being called racists. I haven't.

I think it's a good thing that Meghan hasn't been seen at all and neither have the children. Let's hope this is the shape of things to come. Discretion, keeping their mouths shut. It's a shame Harry isn't likely to shut up and keep his own counsel anytime soon.
Hopefully once they are back home we won't hear much from him until Invictus ramps up next year.

I think at the ‘bee, fly, wasp’ level (Lord Chamberlain, Private Secretary types) they will actually be the ones who are expected to bat away the annoying noise from the spare and rather over-ripe fruit of Charles’s loins.

Palace aide Theo Rycroft is a puzzle, though. What’s in it for him if there’s a Sussex ‘reconciliation’? What’s in it for him leaking comments designed to piss off William? One to watch 👀

(Let’s not forget the Theo Rycroft story in May about reuniting the princes was brought to us by Charlotte Griffiths when she was still part of the Sussex WhatsApp group. It was clearly a result of both Rycroft and Harry leaking like crazy to Griffiths. See link below.)

And what is the point of all this nonsense anyway? Nothing will stop William being the heir, being the king, being in control of one duchy now and the other later. Nothing will stop his eldest child George having the same path if he wants it, duchies and all.

It has to be about money for Harry. It has to be - there’s no point to any of this otherwise. Harry wants Charles to give him a shit tonne of money to ‘equalise’ him and William. Maybe a big whack like £500 million. Maybe Theo Rycroft has been reading too much Jane Austen and thinks this would be a good idea: a big entailed settlement to make Harry go away. Or maybe, as far as he’s concerned … whatever Charles wants, Charles gets.

Right now, I don’t trust any of them, least of all venal Harry and yes, Charles. I understand @Indianrollerbird’s cynicism, especially after all the leaks and asides from ‘sources’ over the weekend.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/royals/article-15804419/amp/King-aide-mission-heal-William-Harry-rift.html

Those heady days have gone. The enthusiasm for the engagement and the wedding, their popularity, the massive opportunities and the incredible support has all been squandered.
That can't ever be recreated.

I listen to official Buckingham Palace statements. I listen to things that are said directly, on camera, on the record, and read between lines. Everything else, particularly if it is from 'sources' which contradict yesterday's 'source' or article Itake with a massive pinch of salt.

We don't know as much as we think we do and we will never really know all that is going on behind the scenes. When one side adheres to never complain never explain and the other side is on record as saying their feelings are as true as actual fact, we will never get the full picture.

@AnAutumnCrow It's interesting to read that article closely in the light of Charlotte Graham's recent article where she spoke of the Sussexes leaking the Tobyn Andre/Meredith Maines meeting to her and then blaming it on the palace in a different publication.

There's a lot of 'one source' 'one insider' etc.

There's only one sentence that uses 'palace insiders' and it's fairly innocuous.

The only 'source close to Mr Rycroft' said: ‘Theo has never held or expressed the views as claimed’.

Harry wants Charles to give him a shit tonne of money to ‘equalise’ him and William..

Can well imagine Harry wants this, and that Meghan would encourage and may even have planted the seed of the idea, @AnAutumnCrow , but can't ever see it happening. More feasible in my view is Charles agreeing to funnel them money below the radar, but even then it won't be enough for them, and they're foolish enough to complain even when it makes things worse for them.

I too am puzzled by Rycroft and what his game is. Maybe it's about egotism and being able to arrange the reconciliation that no one else could manage (good luck with that but I don't see William being in a forgiving money for a good while yet if ever). He'd do well to learn from how things have turned out for Chris Ship and Tom Bradby.

Reconciliation can look like anything from being deeply reconnected and involved in each others lives again 24/7 - to just calling a truce and accepting to agree to disagree - water under the bridge mindset. It’s a bit like ‘forgiveness’ - you are actually doing for your own emotional health and it doesn’t mean you approve of what happened.

I think it would be in KC3, PW and the monarchy’s best interest for this to die down.

Having been through a very difficult and unwanted family estrangement myself I am more comfortable now that it’s ‘resolved’ - but resolved for me is the ability to be in a necessary public space (funeral, wedding etc) and expect a short civil and polite interaction before moving on. No deep conversations, no info sharing and absolutely no way stepping into each other’s homes etc. I treat my sibling like a receptionist directing a client or encountering a random neighbour - brief hello, keep walking.

Ryecroft might well be putting out the spin to show positive intent solely for the RF reputation benefit to be seen as the bigger person / warm family (nice distraction from their
AMW missteps) - but in reality H&M won’t be getting anything - they will
just be being managed / neutralised for RF benefit - KC3 and CC and W&C will not have any real relationship with them.

Agree with all of this.

I listen to things that are said directly, on camera, on the record, and read between lines.
The Sussexes themselves have been good providers of 'primary source' material over the last 6 years.

I started to look at some of the YouTube creators, but many are very biased and, unlike print media, have no restriction of a code of conduct. They live by engagement (interaction and likes), so anything which results in outrage is good.
There are now one or two I will look at, but rarely.

Print media has a similar desire for engagement, but has legal and code restrictions. I tend to look at the same story in several places.

So well put, MrsLF, and I'm also with you, @MyAutumnCrow, on having very little trust in any of them

As we've seen so often the Windsors do what they want to, and to hell with public opinion unless - despite the endless spinning - there's any chance of a threat to their own positions

At least though, by focusing on what they actually say and do, we stand more chance of getting the truth than with someone else's version

Yes and he's trying too hard to be like he was ten years ago, before all this trouble started, and before he met Meganarc. He needs to understand that it's too late, too much has been said and done by the pair of them, he'll never be as popular again.

100% agree. Don’t follow any grifters such as NS etc. Similarly MSM are not on anyone’s side but their own. They will flip-flop and agitate solely to get clicks - everything is speculation amplified and deliberately contentious to trigger a response.

Horses mouth - primary sources. Intelligent enough I hope to consider my own inferences from my own life experiences - but nothing is definite. I enjoy the soap opera find it highly entertaining - one side flailing around, escalating and making more and more noise and manoeuvres and the other being quiet, still and strategic - only ever landing the killer blow.

I agree that the same story in different places, excluding YouTube and tiktok, is a good place to start. It's also helpful to look at patterns, which news outlet is often accurate and gets what type of story and from whom. All of it is guess work but it's possible to make rough predictions.

Yes. The need to keep the monarchy going is the main reason I think it's premature to think there are moves afoot to bring Harry back into the fold and who I don't think Charles would brief against William or Catherine.

Of course he wouldn't. Plus, why on earth would they be brought back? They couldn't cope the first time.

It's very obvious to me that HAM want a royal role. They have absolutely nothing else going on. This is their very last chance of some gloss

Yes. I think this was H was a bit over the excited at his engagements this week. Meeting with his father makes him think he’s going to be back in the fold.

It's all just spin from Hazbeen's side; he wants back in, I doubt his wife does though.

It's been good to have established that the Sussexes definitely do have an active PR machine that leaks and plants stories in the media. That the Palace also does is not such a big revelation.

Stuff to watch for me: Harry is probably after a lot more money. Harry looks high on substances a lot of the time. Meghan is alleged to have 'reached out' to Charles to meet Harry because of H's mental health.

The ANL costs hearings will be fascinating. Will the claimants turn on each other? What else does the Mail have in the tank against Harry?

Theo Rycroft and the latest Lord Chamberlain Richard Benyon intrigue me - both distinguished men arrived at very roughly the same time in late 2024 / early 2025 about six months before the whole 'project thaw' shenanigans began, but that could of course be Sussex opportunistic mischief from Liam McGuire & HAM spotting these new appointments.

The Sentebale litigation will be very revealing, unless Harry and Mark Dyer settle early to kill the story. The Sentebale board has to do what's best for Sentebale, and the High Court civil protocols encourage early settlement, but I do hope Sentebale holds out for a real apology and mea culpa from the prince to help recover its reputational losses as well as the alleged financial hits.

And there's Harry's visa stuff in the US, and the Invictus financial situation. What a pain in the ass he is, and the amount of 'curating' he still needs for a middle aged man is insane. I can quite believe that Charles is underwriting him in money and resources, while William would prefer to put a stop to the endlessly negative 'holding pattern' and knows that there's only one way.

Where did you read about M 'reaching out' to Charles?
I bet W and K are fizzing with rage about all this but essentially Harry needs to be kept contained. He's a loose canon and money is the only way to control him. Much like Andrew.

KC will definitely fund HAM and hamlets and I definitely think he'll fund Ingruftus. No way H can generate enough cash for July 2027 and if that doesn't go ahead, he really has nothing else.

There's a lot worse coming down the line for H. If dr Sophie doesn't settle ? And h too stupid to offer a mea cupla as how dare a commoner like Dr S even consider challenging him. Bad optics for the RF to have this guy anywhere near them IMO

Why do you think Meg doesn't want back ? What else does she have ?

I believe H will press hard for a royal role. Perhaps their compromise will be that Meghan will not take up any charitable/royal role in the UK to due to the potential conflict with her commercial activities.

Where this leaves the kids is anyone's guess. I thought the comment about him wanting them to have a public presence over here conflicted with what he has said before about his own experiences. On the other hand, if they don't follow the lead of W&C, by the time they come of age they won't have any chance of taking up a royal role (if that would ever be on the cards).

Personally, I think the wisest course (in terms of giving H&M less grounds to kick up a fuss) is to let H have his trips over a couple of times a year for his charities' core events (as long as they still want them), keep any family meetings strictly private, and make it clear that the core working royals will be kept to a tight group and he will never be part of that.