Ham pr disasters 39! The Uganda divide…diplomatic necessity vs needless pandering.

[jeffgoldblum]

Continuing the discussion, still interested, still not bored!

@Usernameinabeyance love the idea of Security Steve. ' nah mate' i can also imagine Steve escaping to the pub for a moan ' stuck in the car, pissing everyone off with a bleedin convoy. Its an school run in the cotswolds, mate. My gran could do it'

H&M have bugger all to do all day, and cant even be arsed to take their own kids to school on the first day in strange country with strangers- driving them or pick them up.

Did the nannies have to travel with them? I dont know how much money you would have to pay me to call Meghan 'duchess' or curtsey.

Giving them security is the thin end of the wedge. If pc wants to privately pay for it, thats his lookout. But not public money. Who paid for their US security?

Dai Davies opinion piece in the Daily Mail.

Side note:- why does Lillibet’s hair always look unkempt?

I am not a security professional, or a high profile public figure. If I were, there is no way I would use my own private number to join a school WhatsApp group, or allow my principal to do so. Assuming Meghan’s security team are remotely competent (and knowing this is not their first rodeo - Archie was at school in Montecito) then it’s very unlikely this was her actual personal phone number.

And yes to the parental discretion. One of my children was for a few years in the same class as the child of a celebrity couple, both of whom were on tv and one of whom was a genuine household name. The mother was part of the class WhatsApp group. Everyone completely respected their privacy.

And say what you like about Piers Morgan in general but he certainly had M’s character correctly identified right from the start and was brave enough to say so.

Oh I wish a proper journalist would organise a sit down interview with them.

I'd like Emily Maitlis ideally. Remember "unbecoming? He was a convicted sex offender!" ?

Can you imagine?

"Threat? Do you mean the Oxford streets are a bit busy?"

But they won't ever agree to that, obviously. I am increasingly pissed off at their drama and I'd be furious if I was King Charles or William or Kate but they're doing the right thing, keeping their heads down and getting on with it.

If HaM ever read anything about themselves surely they realise how disliked they are? There has been very little positive said about them in the past few weeks. Absolute fucking grifters and I wish they'd fuck off back to Monteshitsshow.

Also, those poor, poor children, what a horrible way to grow up. I bet William is dying to say "I am going to check my niece and nephew have the right people around them" but is holding back.

I am not sure I believe the quote in the DM article saying that the parents at the school thought it a real coup to have them there. I would think it would be the opposite. I also doubt it was leaked by any parent at the school ( unless it was so they could get them to leave). There are probably much more 'coupworthy' ( not a word!) parents who send their children there.

Oddly, a few MPs are putting an awful lot of effort into supporting full security for a non-working royal. We should be looking at who and asking why.

On this point, one of the MPs currently agitating on X for security is Mike Tapp (MP for Dover & Deal) who is also allegedly a personal friend of Liam MacGuire, the Sussexes’ head of PR. They apparently went to school together, and someone called Liam MacGuire donated to Mike Tapp’s crowd funder for his electoral campaign. Interesting!

Beesandhoney123

H&M have bugger all to do all day, and cant even be arsed to take their own kids to school on the first day in strange country with strangers- driving them or pick them up.

It is actually really sad, isn't it?
It was my DGC's first day at school last week and it was such a big (and happy, thankfully) event for them.

They'd been so excited trying on the uniform, talking about the friends they'd made during the little prepatory story sessions they'd had, looking forward to trying their packed lunch...
DGC would have been devastated to have been pulled out after two days.

And they've been in a stable atmosphere leading up to it, not suddenly thrust into a different country a couple of weeks before the start of school.

However, no doubt Archie and Lily will look back fondly at this time and think how good their security convoy was...

Goodness, you're right - at the time I was kind of on her side and thought he was being awful, but he's been proven right.

Absolutely, there are other royals at school in the UK, (including foreign ones) and children of the very famous and very high net worth people. The Sussex children aren't in the same league, it's just that their parents are notorious.

Anyway, MPs can make a noise, they can't make decisions about it. RAVEC don't heed politics, it's risk.

It reminds me of Trump saying he needs to bulldoze a historic building (which does not belong to him) to build a gaudy gold ballroom for events then suddenly there is a shooting at the Shite House correspondents dinner to illustrate his point.
All rather convenient.

They're desperate for that IPP status. Once they've got it, Meghan will be back to Montecito so fast it'll make your head spin.

IPP status is not in RAVEC’s gift. It is determined by international UN treaty. In order to extend it to HAM the government would need to raise it at intergovernmental level and open it up for complete renegotiation which they clearly would never do. There is absolutely no way any government would agree to extending IPP status to someone five places removed from Head of State, let alone his wife and children. Protecting heads of state, heads of government and their official representatives is necessary and done to allow governments to work with one another. Harry is completely irrelevant on that score and Meghan and the children even more so.

Thank you. Harry has been trying to get this status for years, and it's not going to happen. He's can't cope with not being a senior royal and he obviously resents paying for security.
He'll never give it up.

He thought he had it ! Remember the 2020 statement ? Hastily removed !

Exactly.
I'd never heard of the concept before that statement.
Presumably he also told Meghan they qualified for it.

Yeah, there will be actual spares being educated in British schools, other than George, Charlotte and Louis - not spares 7 times removed. Harry just can't seem to grasp that he is a complete has-been in royal terms. Get over it man.

If he ever undertook a trip on behalf of the Queen as her official representative then he might have had it for the length of that trip. Not sure he ever did this? But if he did the IPP status would only have been for that trip.

Oh what a tangled web.

You're right, Harry has never had IPP status. He tried to get it when he moved to America in 2020 so that he and Meghan wouldn't have to pay for security. They are never going to be granted that status.

If one has IPP status, is it difficult to prosecute them ? Just wondering if rumblings about H are true ?

I just find that so hard to believe. Before all the drama of the last few days I was thinking what a nightmare it would be for the school and the other parents in so many ways, with all the silly arrangements and restrictions HAM would want. Plus birthday parties- you can imagine them commanding that no photos must be taken and all sorts of things…security heavies going on play dates etc. Awful impositions. If I were paying smart prep school fees and the school agreed to this madness I’d be organising a rebellion!

Im very surprised another school agreed to take them in view of the drama.

It is right that RAVEC review their security status now they are living here. They may get some measure of security, not IPP of course, but something depending on the threat level and that is right. I'm betting though that Harry will assume it's permanent and then throw a tantrum when he goes abroad and security doesn't follow him.

I think they are making a big PR mistake with all this school run/whats app nonsense. It may have worked when they were in the US but here we have an easy comparison with the Wales family, who are actually politically significant and seem to be able to manage security and school relationships without fuss or press releases. I don't believe it's because they have IPP security but rather because they try at all times to fit in and give their children as near to normal an upbringing as they can.

And ultimately who cares if Meghan's number is leaked? It doesn't affect her, just keep that phone for school. Interesting though that no one has leaked Catherine's number in the years she has been at school events, meeting other parents at the pub and hosting coffee mornings. I wonder who actually leaked Meghan's number.

I don't believe so. It doesn't confer diplomatic immunity.

No, it's not the same as Diplomatic Immunity. Harry won't get either.