Ham pr disasters 50! …will Thursday be the start of something big ? …or just another damp squib!

[jeffgoldblum]

It’s all happening! 3 charity visits coming up!

What I would say is , being a member of the WRF includes the balcony , the Cenotaph , Trooping of the Colour , Govt approved tours , inter alia. I think that was their idea of HIHO.
Which to paraphrase Henry Reed "In their case they have not got"

I would have thought visits to small charities in an unglamorous Midlands town is precisely the sort of royal event they did not want to do! Yet, here we are. And unlike 7 years ago, they won't have had the free housing, security, staff and royal prestige. And there is no chance of them doing any of the 'glamorous' royal events that you mention.

It's really hard to see what the plan is here. Of course, it's the Sussexes we're talking about, so there is no plan. But they won't have made any money from today and while they may have got a brief thrill out of all the attention, how does it improve their situation? They're still failures.

King Charles hasn't put a stop to this.

What do you think the King should do?

H&M are effectively celebrities. There will always be people who will follow them; some because they are interested in Harry for his family (some specifically for his mother), some because something in Meghan's story resonates with them.

On the other hand, some of us dislike their behaviour, because we dislike lies, bullying, racism and other unpleasant behaviour that we have seen in public. That is what we discuss here.

We live in a country with (at present) a free press. The King does not, and should not, have the power to affect what the press reports.

He does represent the country, and the government, and has been clear in his speech on accession and since that the Sussexes are no longer a part of that.

The HaM Nottingham story has lots of news value - a first outing for two notorious people since their return to the UK, children, charities, music, a fashion surprise, with the backdrop of a fraternal schism, a Windsor-Spencer stand-off and an ongoing security tussle. 'King opens Welsh Parliament on date known about for years' was never going to compete.

I'd be pretty cheesed if they dragged my kid out like that without my express permission! And there certainly wasn't enough time to call all those parents to get it.

They are getting a lot of press attention today but if they stay in this country I suspect that gradually they will get the coverage Beatrice and Eugenie do on charity visits, not very much.

A couple of thoughts though. Firstly these visits seemed very much in the old school mode of turning up and shaking hands without much engagement before or after. It's the model that a William is on record a saying he is moving away from in favour of a smaller number of charities that he is more informed on and involved with. It is interesting that Harry would rather do the fly in fly out model.

Secondly Meghan does a lovely job of smiling and shaking hands but looking at the photos I can't help thinking that she is doing this to support Harry rather than for herself. I believe the reports that she wants to focus on commercial stuff. Harry on the other hand clearly believes that by popping up to Nottingham for a day he is living a fulfilling life. He didn't seem to know who he is without hands to shake.

Thirdly I can't see what this actually achieves for them in the long term. Harry gets attention but this isn't a viable way to live without income, it's why we have the Sovereign Grant. I doubt he will be able to bounce his father into allowing him half in half out so you have to wonder where this is actually taking him. Will he still be turning up on heavily publicised visits to Community centres in good 50s? It seems rather pointless if he only represents himself.

@bluegreygreen

“King Charles hasn't put a stop to this.
What do you think the King should do?”

I know I sound like a broken record but he should remove their titles and definitely remove them from the Royal website .

I don't believe she's considering a return to acting. She spent years living down the road from Hollywood, with her own production company, and never expressed any interest in acting again. But she's going to do it now that she's in rural England? I doubt it. In any case, who would hire her? She's not a good actress and would bring a whole lot of drama to the set for no obvious gain

I'd say that's unarguable, @IcedPurple, but again they're probably having to take whatever they can get now that real high profilers aren't touching them

They'll probably go on doing this for a while in the hope that "better" invitations arrive, but if that doesn't happen I wouldn't expect their "concern" for these modest organisations to last long

Schools tend not to ask permission for local, walking-only, zero-cost outings. I fail to see why a walk in the Autumn sunshine is a problem.

A couple of thoughts though. Firstly these visits seemed very much in the old school mode of turning up and shaking hands without much engagement before or after. It's the model that a William is on record a saying he is moving away from in favour of a smaller number of charities that he is more informed on and involved with. It is interesting that Harry would rather do the fly in fly out model.

It's the same with the faux 'royal tours' they've done. It's a very dated model. More and more, when royals travel abroad there is a specific purpose to the trip, such as Kate's visit to Italy for her Early Years project. The old style of turning up at various 'cultural events' and different charities is being phased out.

Secondly Meghan does a lovely job of smiling and shaking hands but looking at the photos I can't help thinking that she is doing this to support Harry rather than for herself. I believe the reports that she wants to focus on commercial stuff.

But she's had several years to do this and all she's come up with is 'As Ever' which is a bit of a damp squib which she barely promotes. She's always seemed quite enthusiastic about their pseudo royal antics. Not to mention that I don't think she does anything for anyone other than herself. Including her husband.

What happened to the cameo role she - allegedly - filmed earlier this year ?

I think someone mentioned that the kids may have been going to a workshop anyway, but if so they certainly weren't engaged in any activity on the footage - at least not beyond hanging around waiting for someone and being used as props

There is no way Meghan will continue meeting and greeting the plebs on an industrial estate in a midlands town on a regular basis, it will have fed her massive ego for the next 24 hours but no way will she continue with this format at what she would perceive as a very low level unglamorous event, it’s been handy for an initial headline grab but that’s it, she wants to be at premieres, galas, catwalk shows, not cutting ribbons in a northern town, oh how the mighty have fallen.

That ended up on the cutting room floor

I don't know, Mylovelygreendress

If you mean the role in Gentlemen I believe that's said to have been withdrawn (and some doubt it existed in the first place) and as Starryfifty just mentioned a previous rumoured appearance never saw the light of day

IIRC Pearl was scrapped, Meet Me At The Lake and the Miss Havisham thing are supposed to be "in production" - which can mean anything - and there doesn't appear to be anything else on the horizon, so in other words it's a whole lot of nothing

That's not really related to what I was saying, though. The King's letter was for government departments, etc., but it was also for general consumption and had the effect of putting an end to any shenanigans H&M may have been planning.

The media cover H&M because they provide endless silly stories that the media can constantly regurgitate with very little effort.They are a kind of Temu royalty. The public knows the difference between the work of the royal family and the daft younger son. I suspect that in reality few care much about Harry. No one was bothered that he had left the UK and was living in California. Their trip to Nottingham today shows no one is really interested in them and they lack star power.

Just watched a clip on instagram and Meghan did not sound as expected. Or as she used to speak..

They'll probably go on doing this for a while in the hope that "better" invitations arrive, but if that doesn't happen I wouldn't expect their "concern" for these modest organisations to last long

I agree. There will be some more forays into 'the public' doing their 'engagements' but I think the crowds will dwindle and major/national press coverage will slowly fade away. Once there is only a handful of people and just 'Joe from the local paper' showing up they'll stop.

I don't know what they'll do when that happens because I can't really see either of them quietly 'retiring to the country' to live out the rest of their lives in obscurity. And the possibility that they'll have a sudden epiphany and change their ways and do 'quiet charity work' like many wealthy people do is practically nil.

(I just hope they don't move back here)

There were lots more than that for Peter Phillips' wedding which was a few miles away from me, so I went for a watch. But all the Royals were there, including a few distant ones whose existence I was previously unaware of. And it's fun looking at wedding fashion.

Well, are you going to elaborate?

A walk in the autumn sunshine is not. But a walk in the autumn sunshine with a stop to act as foils for and boost crowd numbers for a 'celebrity couple' isn't just a walk in the sunshine.

What more is there to be said? She didn't sound as she did when on OW or in the engagement interview. IMO.

Forgive me all , but Henry Reed "Naming of Parts " is a fond favourite of mine. DS knows all the words because he had to learn a poem by heart at school.

So here we go - apologies for derail and for for rubbish parody.

Today we have reclaiming of walks . Yesterday,
We had Netflix dreaming . And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after today. But to-day,
Today we have naming of us. Cameras
Glisten like eyeballs in all of the neighbouring pavement ,
And today we have naming of us.

This is the lower bent kneeling . And this
Is the upper beard tweaking , whose use you will see,
When you are given your flowers. And this is the Royal Visit ,
Which in our case we have not got. The Windsors
Hold in their visits their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.

Well, there's a lot more to be said! In what way did she sound different? Accent, intonation, confidence, rhotacism, what?

Horrendous as Harry's behaviour has been, it would be difficult to say that he deserves to lose the title of Prince, which is the one title he holds that the King is able to remove by letters patent.

From the King's letter via the Lord Chamberlain: Their styles as His and Her Royal Highness remain in abeyance and are not used. This was more formal than had previously been stated in public; all that was previously said was that HRH would not be used for commercial purposes.
I suspect there will be a more general statement regarding HRH titles for working royals only some time in the near future.

Regarding the website, I think the entire site should be fully overhauled - a lot of it needs to be updated.
I suspect the Sussexes remain on it only because Harry is the King's son. The only other family members there are working royals.

What is interesting is that they are at the bottom of the page below all the working royals. When you then click the link it is very clear that they are no longer working royals - the first sentence states: As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family.
The page then contains a summary of their work during their time as working royals, followed by links to the statements made in 2020 and 2021 regarding their leaving.

I think anyone reading their page on the Royal Family site would be in no doubt of their status.

Their position as nobody's will be reinforced next week when the glitz & glamour of the state banquet will be shown, Harry & Meghan aren't part of the royal family so haven't been invited.

Their position as nobody's was also highlighted when the failed to get an invitation to the Clooney's massive event in London last week. That would have been very embarrassing for H&M & proves the rumours they were ditched are true