Harry & Meghan - what does the future hold?

[Bluejumperdog]

I’m not really sure whether I can articulate this very well, but I’ll give it my best shot.

I think I support a route for Harry and Meghan to find a route back into the fold of the royal family, and find that odd and conflicting given everything that has happened.

I found the Oprah interview, the freedom flight, the Spare revelations awful. It felt really unpleasant the way Meghan came into the royal family, was active for so little time and then criticised it all so publicly and in a way that seemed a bit of a cultural miss (I’m not referring to the racism allegations here). I think that her American mindset perhaps did not fully understand the tacit consent nature of the royal family and the constitutional delicacies with which the titles are held. This is why it makes commercialisation and speaking at round tables about ‘power’, jarring.

However, despite ALL of this this, I see two human beings. One man who has grown up, without any consent, in a strange institution, in the glare of the spotless, completely traumatised by the death of his mother in horrendous circumstances when he was a young boy. A veteran too. Although not comparable to this, Meghan clearly has also had a dysfunctional childhood too. These latest revelations around her father mean that from the outside, none of us really know what’s going on.

I would like them all to just be happy. I feel like collectively it would be awesome as a nation if we could give the family the framework to sort it all out by just saying ‘look, H&M, you did some crazy shit, it was hugely damaging and cruel. But we understand that you guys have gone through crap too. Let’s look forward- try and sort it out’.

I’d honestly like to be done with the drama and for everyone to just get on. Does anyone else feel like this? I know it doesn’t really work like this in practice, I’m just trying to get across how I’m feeling.

Please also try and be a bit kind in your responses. I think this is coming from a place where everything just feels really negative/heavy in life at the moment and the need for some positivity,

And she could have chosen to ignore it. She doesn’t owe anyone an explanation or justification for her actions. She is perfectly entitled to ignore what people say, but she chooses not to. She’s reactive. She feels the need to control the narrative and clap back.

She didn’t have to involve herself in this at all. He is not her responsibility. She could have said nothing, or simply stuck to the first part of her statement, expressing concern for the children involved.

Instead, she’s shot herself in the foot by putting her own narrative out there, seemingly just to stick two fingers up at the press. Now, people are calling her out over lying and inconsistencies in her story. And she has brought that scrutiny upon herself by getting involved without fact checking her claims or ensuring they were consistent with her previous comments, all because she rushed to get her narrative out.

Had she simply stayed silent, people might have felt sorry for her, and she could have taken satisfaction in knowing she was right to cut him off. But apparently, that wasn’t enough. She wanted to gloat, get a dig in at the press and have the last word. Now it’s come back to bite her on the arse, and she’s been forced to backtrack and admit she was wrong about points she made in her original statement.

If you don’t give a flying fuck about dates, then you clearly don’t care enough about truth and accuracy. You cannot claim to be setting the record straight while simultaneously dismissing the importance of getting the facts right.

Or maybe they want their children to be educated in English schools - ones that we don't have student shootings in on a regular basis.

No, no, you are still here in the 21st century with the rest of us.

I am no monarchist but I'd rather have a monarchy than the alternative. It's not the curtsey per se that's the issue but the way in which Meghan's performative mocking of it, including the sideways look at Harry, reveals her character. A person with a moral framework respects the conventions of others to show respect for others. In Japan, people take their shoes off and put on shared slippers when they enter a house from the street. A traveller who chose to trample across the tatami mats in Doc Martens would be similarly disrespectful. 'By their fruits shall ye know them'.

I wonder if the cogs are ticking over in her brain….theres a book to be had here. ‘The life of a daughter of a Paedophile’ by Meghan Merkle. With a sad but beautifully made up face staring out at us from the cover. It could all work to her advantage with potentially very large earnings from book sales, and no doubt associated interviews.

Plenty of British people don’t or wouldn’t curtsy.

How is that relevant to the current argument?

Can’t think that that’s the sole reason for their return. An interview by Harry earlier this year indicated he couldn’t foresee a time when Meghan and the children would be returning to the UK. Presumably schooling would have been discussed from the day the children were born. Something happened since this years interview, clearly.

This has also crossed my mind. It reminds me of how she was putting out the feelers for a potential post divorce book should the worst ever happen.

You talked about Japan and showing respect for other’s conventions. I assume you were talking about Britain. If you weren’t then I’m not sure why you mentioned Japan.

Yes, I did mention Japan to enforcement the point about respect for the conventions of others and what disrespect can look like. But Meghan didn't choose not to curtsey. She did curtsey.

It was clear what you meant.

She could have chosen not to curtsey. That’s fine. She didn’t need to mock the convention though.

Ah I think your post was lovely OP and I totally see what you mean. They both seem a bit lost and rootless and I feel a bit sorry for them. Also think Harry (possibly Meghan too?) is quite damaged.

But ... I agree with others that they are a liability. They're not terrible people but they're self-involved, inward-looking and reactive, and they would never be able to stop themselves blabbing about everything and continually creating drama. Sadly.

I would like to see an end to the Royal Family full stop. It is an outdated, outmoded ananchronism that damages not only the people who inhabit its strange world but also those who obsess about it. Diana would more than likely still be alive if there was no RF and her children would have been spared the trauma of her terrible end. There is a whole crazy industry of "royal commentators" from the truly awful Lady Colin Campbell to those employed in the legacy media all giving their take on the latest soap opera-like goings-on. It's so unedifying and juvenile. Let them all become (very wealthy) private citizens leading peaceful lives on their lovely estates. Surely that's the most civilsed thing to do, set them free and let the UK grow up.

Id forgotten that last one. That must be so hard for the family to take. Awful. No wonder they can't stand H and M.

I mentioned Japan to provide a parallel example of what disrespect looks like. Meghan did curtsey, including at QEII's funeral. However, her disrespect came from choosing to perform a highly exaggerated curtsey knowing it would be seen by a global audience, linking the conventions of the Royal family with a US restaurant chain. In doing so, she stuck two fingers up at the institution which has given her international notoriety. She didn't have to do those things, but she did.

But we are all massive racists in this country? And Harry hated being brought up in the UK?

Well then, what’s the problem? She did curtsy. It’s a ridiculous convention and lots of people mock it. I can’t see the problem.

Yes I agree with this. It was culturally insensitive and mocked Harry's grandmother. Not nice to watch.

Have you actually seen the film clip of her doing the mock curtsy? It's highly disrespectful and she appears to have been doing it for comedic effect, in which case it massively backfired. As ever.

The majority would to Elizabeth II. Most people would have bowed or curtesied as its a cultural and good manners respectful thing. She represented our country and thats who you are being respectful to.

Yes this in spades. But not overpriced Highgrove monogrammed ones.

It was not culturally insensitive. Many Brits couldn’t give a flying fuck about the royals.

I have seen it before but I’ve just watched it again. She’s taking the piss out of herself.

Sorry, I've posted twice on the same reply.

Lots of conventions are ridiculous eg Black Rod knocking on the door of the House of Commons with what is essentially a pole. Looked at dispassionately, shaking hands is ridiculous.

The problem, and it's only really a problem for Meghan, is it shows her lack of judgement and poise, not what you want when you're busy positioning yourself and your prince husband as global humanitarins and philanthropists. The fun but vulgar baby momma dance was similarly lowering.