Remember two weeks ago, when the biggest gossip stories were about Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall’s feud and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry? Simpler times. When we last checked in on Meghan and the ginger prince, they were totally engaged but not telling anyone, and they were being forced to spend time apart because Harry had work to do in London and Meghan is still filming Suits in Toronto. She will be done with Suits in the next month, probably, and after that she’ll be moving to London full-time. I don’t even want to say “allegedly” there. It’s happening. She’s moving to London and they’ll announce their engagement in the next few months.
So, what’s new? Not much. Us Weekly has an “exclusive” in the current issue about how Harry and Meghan are – DERP – already engaged and they’ll be making the announcement “soon,” but not while she’s still in Toronto because “it would be a security nightmare” for her. Sources say that the engagement will come with a “detailed media rollout” and once the announcement is made, Meghan and Harry will do a photocall at Kensington Palace, then “On the same day, they’ll do a TV interview that will be syndicated around the world.” I could have told you that.
Meanwhile, the Daily Star (via the Daily Mail) reports that of course Meghan is quitting Suits and “Meghan knows she can’t really act at the same time as being a princess and is happy to make this career sacrifice. She really enjoys her charity work with Unicef and will broaden out her charity commitments when she becomes a full-time royal.” The Mail also says that Harry is already house-hunting for a country pile for when he and Meg do get hitched – he’s apparently looking in Oxfordshire, and they are “particularly interested in high-end properties tucked away in the rolling Cotswold hills,” which would mean that they’re looking for a place close to Prince Charles’ country estate, Highgrove. That’s the most interesting piece of news in this reporting, because it reflects something that has been long whispered: Harry and Charles are close, and Harry would prefer to be closer to his dad than his brother.
What else? Dickie Arbiter, the Queen’s former press secretary, told Sky News that there is significant conflict between the various royal camps, but not among the royals themselves (I disagree). Arbiter claims that “There’s a tendency for people who join the royal households to get a bit of red carpet fever, feel a bit more important than they should do and don’t get on with the job properly. So there is a conflict of interest, a personality clash amongst each other, and that is not good.” He explained that some of the people working for the older royals are going to get their panties in a bunch when it comes time for Kate to take a bigger role (good luck with that!) and when Meghan joins the Firm. I tend to think Arbiter is saying that Charles is going to have a problem when he starts to get overshadowed by his daughters-in-law on a regular basis. Which could be, but I think the fractures within the royal family are a lot more significant than that.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.
Rumors, rumors, rumors.
Country estate in the Cotswolds? Yes, please.
IDK, reports about Harry shopping for a country estate have been circulating for awhile. I assume his father or grandmother will give him and Meghan a house (or permanent use of a house) as a wedding gift.
Yes, I also read that Charles has been buying up local property in case his sons needed one and so they could be close to Highgrove, they probably already have this one sorted, that’s how the 1% usually do it.
Still living the dream though. My dream, that is, after an amazing family vacay I once had in the Cotswolds. Guess I shoulda tried harder to marry a prince. :-p
I don’t think they can get away with gifting a private home to Harry these days. Too many complaints about the cost of securing a private residence, shades of Andrew and the Sunninghill Park/Swiss chalet fiasco.
The Duchy purchased a home in 2000, Harewood Park, likely intended for William and Future Bride. Charles got permission to build an additional house on that estate, but the original house and outbuildings have been fixed up and rented out. Like Highgrove, Harry could possibly live there, but couldn’t own it outright unless he purchased it from The Duchy for fair market value.
I think, when/if he marries, Harry will have a KP space + use (not ownership) of a house on the private Sandringham Estate (Wood Farm) or Frogmore/Belvedere at Windsor (if he purchases the lease like Andrew and Ogilvy).
I agree with notasugarhere. I don’t think they could get away with shopping for a new Estate, but maybe they can get away with a lease on something the Crown already owns.
Couldn’t Harry use his own money, the money he got from Diana, to buy his own estate?? Does William own Anmer Hall now, or are they just “borrowing” it?
Harry could use his own money, but the security would be provided by the taxpayers which would have people screaming. Over $1 million in taxpayer funds was used just on security upgrades for the rented Wales farm house when W&K played house there. Rumored $1+ million used on security upgrades for the Middleton’s private residence. Too many people watching for them to keep getting away with those things, especially for a private estate personally owned by Harry.
Anmer remains the private property of HM and part of the Sandringham Estate.
I Love them ….they are so cute.
I think the worried camps may be in KP Cambridge pr- team.
Harry and Meghan need to be a separate entity away from William and Kate. imo
I don’t want a foursome, like Harry now has to do threesome outings with William and Kate.
I totally agree. I am so so tired of seeing Harry tagging along with W&K, part of the reason why I can’t wait for Meghan to join the RF.
Harry, enough. We need this wedding to happen after what humanity has been suffering. Put on a huge glorious wedding and invite the Obamas and not 45. The headlines will drive him crazy. Much love, America.😘
We hear you from across the pond and we wish/pray/beg for the same thing! 😘
The chaos that is Brexit is unfolding here and it is going so badly that we NEED this wedding now!
Yes please! Can’t wait.
You are easily pleased. Perhaps you could take them off our payroll.
Of course Charles’ nose will get out of joint, the same way it did with Diana’s popularity. But he can’t complain and try and sideline them, not with his “streamlined” monarchy. Who else is going to be there to do anything? Unless his plan is to be The Last King of England (apologies to paraphrasing and stealing that movie title-The Last King of Scotland), they (the ladies, esp. Meghan, being so much more accomplished than Kate, and their kids, because kids always do) will go out and get the headlines. No one will really care if Grumpy King Charlie cuts a ribbon somewhere.
BTW: LOVE the Cotswolds! It is SO beautiful!!
I don’t read it as Charles getting his nose out of joint about his DILs. For 5+ years now, we’ve gotten stories about him wanting his line and only his line to be working royals. I suspect the Duke of Kent, D&D of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra to go quietly.
A few months before HM’s private secretary quit, there were stories about how that private secretary was pushing Edward and Sophie as transition royals, to help cover events after the other retired. That private secretary is now gone, which means no other gray men are around to push E&S as ongoing working royals.
I do not expect Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, or Edward and Sophie to go quietly. None of those four would take kindly to be put out to pasture (ie. removed from the royal role-and-dole).
I think Charles will love Meghan and be very protective of her.
According to biographies Harry has much better memories at Highgrove than Kensington. Why the constant need to manufacture beef between Harry and William? What good does it do?
I think it’s more that the press tries to manufacture a closer relationship between William and Harry than actually exists. His comments about “getting to know” Kate were telling in that regard. She had been hanging about William for about a decade, so Harry would have presumably known her if they significant interactions. I think William turned to Carole and the gang and ignored his side of the family for the most part. I don’t think Harry and William are fighting, but they don’t do that much together and haven’t for a while.
Will was clearly Team Diana and Harry was Team Charles.
That statement from Harry was years ago and not indicative of much. William and Kate did their own thing with their own friends and Harry did likewise. Harry knew Kate socially and that was about it so it was appropriate that he tell reporters that he looked forward to getting to know Kate. Between the wedding and the birth of George Kate and Harry seemed to enjoy a warm in-law relationship. It struck me as telling that Harry told a reporter he was excited to get back home and see Kate and William following his charity Antarctica trek with Alex Skaarsgard. It was on youtube a few years back. It also came out in an interview that Harry spends more tine with George than I think many of us would have imagined. Harry and Wilkuam/Kate are in differentbphases of their lives now and probably don’t see one another much but that’s quite normal.
It indicates that in a decade of his brother and Kate Middleton dating, he didn’t spend time with them in public or private. A decade of them being “together” and he barely knows her socially? That says a whole lot, along with him agreeing at calling her The Limpet.
Not much evidence for them spending a lot of time together now. We’ve seen one photo of Harry spending time with one of W&K’s kids on personal time (a polo match also with Charles). Another time there was a photo of both kids watching Harry’s helicopter at KP, but without them interacting with Harry or being anywhere near him. He admitted last month, when asked how it felt now that KM was expecting again, “I haven’t seen them for awhile but I think she’s OK.”
Nota
Kate and William used to cook meals together duringvthe dating years and Harry would make the drinks because it was jokingly observed that he wasn’t much good at anything else. Then they would watch television until late. On their wedding day Kate and Willuam went back to their hotel suite to rest between functions. They reportedly changed into robes and climbed into the huge bed to watch the wedding coverage. Who was with them? Harry. Very unusual and a testament to how comfortably close they all were. If you read full biographies and not just internet fodder you would see that most of what you just stated is untrue and quite easily debunked. I won’t hold my breath as you seem determined to portry Kate as someone who can’t even get her brother-in-law to lime her. I
All you’re repeating IS internet fodder, fan fiction, and biographies filled with internet fodder and speculation – including what they might have done on their wedding day. Unless royal staff leaked it (which I doubt), that remains fan fiction and tabloid fodder. I’ve seen no evidence that they have been in each other’s pockets for years.
1) They were-and-are rarely if ever photographed together over the course of 15 years. For all the clubbing W&K did or the polo matches, you’d think Harry would have been all over those photos too. But he wasn’t, because he was in the Army and stationed elsewhere for 10 years. Just like W&K were elsewhere for years, both during Uni and when William was military-branch hopping.
2) Joint acquaintances admitted publicly that Harry called her The Limpet like the rest of them
3) The group honeymoon where they took a dozen friends did not include Harry. Funny if they’re so close to him they’d take those other dozen people and not him. He’s never been on the annual Middleton holidays, nor was he ever photographed with them all those years they were dating and taking 9-10 holidays a year. He has been photographed multiple times on skiing vacations with his York cousins.
4) From his own words he clearly hasn’t/doesn’t spend much time around them. He didn’t say, “I’m looking forward to getting to know her BETTER”, he said “I’m looking forward to getting to know her” as in he didn’t know her after 10 years of his brother dating her. Ditto “I haven’t seen them for awhile but I think she’s OK.” For the past three years, they’ve been living full time at Anmer while he has been full-time in London.
Not everyone is close to their siblings, especially as adults. William chose the Middletons years ago and has spent most of his time with them.
Because people like to pit people against one another. I think William and Harry are similar to a lot of sibling relationships as the siblings grow older and have separate lives.
I’m with you. Nothing to see here folks.
I don’t think it’s a beef. Not all siblings are extremely close, especially as adults. How much time do they spend together?
Let me know when he gives her the ring.
Yeah, wake me up when it happens.
At least we won’t have to wait almost a decade.
I read something interesting about Harry and Meghan and marrying into the BRF the other day
“If Harry wasn’t a prince, Meghan wouldn’t be with him and if he wasn’t a prince, Chelsy Davy would still be with him.”
Made me think about those who run away and what they know about the life that Meghan has no way of knowing as an American in a long distance inter- continent romance for a bit over a year.
@Maren
I’m not sure that makes much sense. Chelsy Davy knew he was a prince before they dated and they were together for several years.
If Harry weren’t a prince, he probably would have enlisted in the Army (he didn’t have the grades for non-princely officer). I doubt that Chelsy, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, would have seen Harry as long-term relationship material. Even if Harry not being a prince kept him out of Eton and in a school that recognized and overcome his dyslexia so that he became an officer — he’d be in a better professional position, but I still don’t see him as particularly attractive to a non-practicing lawyer/jewelry designer socialite. I don’t think he’d have much to offer Meghan in that case, either.
@Merritt, I would imagine (and of course, I don’t know) that dating a Prince and marrying a Prince are two vastly different propositions. I have read over the years Chelsy and Harry loved each other, but she didn’t want to join the BRF.
@graymatters, you are right!!! Plain Old Army Harry wouldn’t appeal to either Chelsy or Meghan – he probably wouldn’t have met either of them!
Willing to sacrifice her career? Look how happy it made Grace Kelly. Some women can do it and others may not, so why is it a prescription? I understand it is the culture in some countries. i don’t understand why you can’t be a royal and a doctor or an architect- why is it royals, who can get the best education, go into the military, their wives into charity…it’s the 21st century. It would frustrate me to no end and I’d run like Chelsea Davy.
I agree. Sophie was allowed to continue with her PR firm for a while. Why can’t Meghan get acting parts in London? She loves what she is doing, why give it up? She doesn’t have to do sex scenes but classics-type programs.
No it won’t work, the acting after marriage to a royal and still in the royal house just would not go down well with the Public.
If she decided maybe a job in something behind the scenes maybe that might work, but it can’t be controversial or political…. but she now already has charities she works with and UN role and already involved in some women and children’s causes, things besides acting that she can take on a lot of royal charities and other duties and possibly be fulfilled.
The problem with Kate was she never had a career , her career was going for the Mrs. Prince William role. William probably LOVED that, but I think it hurt her in one way, because she never developed a true work ethic.
Just like the rumor of Harry buying a house, this is also being recycled. Earlier this year there were reports on how she planned to leave Suits to become a humanitarian.
Why work if you don’t have to? If she marries him she’s set for life and can enjoy living in luxury. Working outside of royal duties is unlikely and not necessary to support herself. She’s not giving up an A list career like Kelly did, she’s on basic cable.
@Maria
Have you seen British television? The roles for WOC are few and far between.
Any comparison to Grace Kelly, an Oscar winner, to Meghan, who has a supporting role on a second rate cable show that’s wrapping up, is false equivalence. The DM is absurd.
I don’t think Dizzie was comparing their acting abilities. But, lifestyle and marriage considered, Grace Kelly was reportedly a lonely, unhappy woman.
Rainier shopped for a bride. That’s right, an arranged marriage. Harry, as far as we know, actually loves her.
The comparisons to Grace Kelly makes sense, It doesn’t matter if it’s cable or movies. She is a working woman, successful, she has a career. She is educated, she is articulate. Cable tv is huge these days and where the industry makes a steady income. Meghan also has made a lot of money. What on earth does being A List or C list have to do with her work. Any actress wants to work, you take the proper jobs which come and are offered. She works at a career she loves, she works for a large corporation which owns the show she’s on and knows how to handle herself professionally, something which will help her in her future role.
She knows how to handle a schedule, she knows how to meet a deadline, she knows how to honor her commitments to work.
What the Palace does NOT need is another Kate Middleton, someone who sat on her butt for years, living off of her parents, doing nothing except waiting, vacationing, shopping, partying at clubs in London for years and years and now can’t even keep a fast paced schedule or give a proper speech.
@Maren – +1,000. Really, people are going off the deep end here. Rainier was also heir to Monaco’s throne and he was looking for a classy brood mare who would lend glamor to his somewhat flailing little principality. Kelly was an Oscar winning actress who made classics of the film industry with directors like Hitchcock and stars like Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Ray Milland. She was also one of possibly the 10-15 most beautiful women of the 20th century. Comparing MM to her, a D-list actress in a second-rate cable show in which she doesn’t even have the primary female role, and who is pretty but hardly in Kelly’s class looks wise, is absurd.
And FWIW, despite all those attributes, Kelly’s marriage to Rainier turned out pretty badly and they were both routinely unfaithful. The fairy-tale royal marriage turned out to be a cage and Kelly never, I think, stopped regretting leaving her career behind when she did.
Royal cages can do that. MM should take note, the way Ma Middleton should have taken note – and, for that matter, as Diana should have taken note.
But people never do until it’s too late – they get them royal stars in their eyes and . . . wham!
And yet Sophie, Maxima, Letizia, Mathilde, Daniel etc. seem to be fine in their “royal cages”. It all depends on the individuals.
True it’s all up to the individual.
Grace Kelly’s son Prince Albert recently made a comparison between Meghan and his mother and in a article offered Meghan advice.
@Lavin – My opinion of Prince Albert of Monaco is only slightly higher than my opinion of Harvey Weinstein. So, he certainly oughta know about advice to MM, because every time I look at a photo of his beautiful blonde wife and see what looks to me like tragedy behind her eyes, I think to myself, lordy how history repeats itself in families. Because I doubt Albert treats his classy blonde brood mare any better than his father treated Kelly. And we’ve all heard the rumors about how Charlene tried to get out of it at the last moment.
@notasugar – yes, Mary, Maxima, Letizia, and Daniel seem to be doing all right- they are all, however, married to the first in line to or on the thrones already. Except for Sophie who is a very low-key type, not a former actress. Daniel, who looks like a very nice man, is careful to keep quietly in the background behind Victoria. By contrast, MM is an actress who has already been the focus of huge public scrutiny and agreed happily to magazine covers – and Harry is more high profile than Edward was. Maxima has I think a wonderful personality and was just a perfect fit for her husband and her new role. As I have said before, I was impressed at her fluency in Dutch in pre-wedding interviews and her outgoing warmth in pre-wedding tours of The Netherlands. of which I saw footage at the time – and that’s kind of my point about, MM – if she wants a high profile role in the BRF, it would be advisable to start making it look like she’s more interested in getting to know Britain than a luxury estate in the Cotsolds and the retail fleshpots of Bond and Regent Streets.
Maxima had almost three years to learn Dutch before their engagement, and she’s good at languages. While I like her personality, she did have to dial it back around the ascension because she was getting criticism for acting like she was the future monarch, not her husband.
MM isn’t going to have to learn a new language, she already has friends in London, and has spent time there. She would need to do some local bread-and-butter events in the Home Counties (just as W&K&H need to but refuse to), to get known. Much as Camilla did at the beginning, where people began to realize after meeting her that she is smart, engaging, and interested in the people around her. Then again, if Harry refuses to show up at the church fete, that won’t be on his wife’s list of duties either.
The issue is whether or not MM could adapt successfully to the role royal at any level. My answer is, “Yes, of course, looks like it to me.” With Harry being further down, I think she’d have more opportunity to start her own charity (like Sentebale, Invictus Games) and put a lot of time in to it.
I can also see her able to take on more controversial/international topics (as Camilla has started to do) by teaming up with Madeleine and Mabel who also live in London. Someone is going to have to take over Anne’s international role with Save the Children eventually, which would fit with MM’s interests.
Who are Madeline and Mabel?
Everything is speculation until there’s a formal announcement.
@Donna – the article itself is pure clickbait, the Star makes the Mail look like a Pulitzer Prize winning outlet, and they’re just doing their duty keeping the story alive.
I do hope they aren’t looking for a wonderful place in the Cotswolds before even announcing and getting married and Harry introducing MM to the Public, because it will look way too much like MM setting into privileges before demonstrating that she understands the service that goes with this level of royal privilege. As I’ve said (wearily) before, it’s more important that she encounter places like Rochdale than head over there and park herself in a luxurious estate in the most beautiful area of the UK. So I’m assuming Harry knows better than this, and she should be savvy enough to know that, too.
But all that said, Donna, I think while technically speculation, in practical terms, MM made the announcement with that one sentence in the VF article, “I’m sure a time will come when we have to present ourselves and tell our story . . .”
That was basically telling the world that Harry had proposed and they are engaged. For her to have made that statement without being engaged already would have been foolish, overreaching, and risky.
And she doesn’t strike me as any of those things. This is a done deal, or she would never have dropped that broad a hint in a major magazine cover article that was hyped up the you know what.
To me that statement meant showing up together in public and being together publicly, as they did at Invictus. It could merely have been her foreshadowing that she knew they were going to appear there together.
@notasugar – well, that’s possible, I suppose, but to me it struck a deeper, er, chime. “Present ourselves and tell our story” to me foreshadowed the Big Engagement Interview And The Photocall On The South Portico Of Buck House (or if the weather’s bad, inside Buck House as William and Kate did). Particularly the “tell our story” bit. That to me definitely chimed the ‘I’m looking forward to the big engagement interview . . .” bell.
I think it could be simply showing up at Invictus, talking with people, and during those chats being perceived as a couple. I don’t think the interview would have been done without Harry’s approval, but I don’t think it means an engagement is necessarily a done deal.
I can’t believe anyone whose says that the engagement is not necessarily a done deal. There is SO much evidence that they are planning to get married.
@notasugar – well, if you check today’s DM (they finally stopped that horrible rolling up to the top while you are trying to read – perhaps people complained) there is an extensive article that this week, Harry brought MM to tea with HM. The article, of course, is completely unattributed to any real source, but insists she was brought in in a car with blacked out windows, and the meeting was kept informal. If true, it also gives the lie to a similar article this summer insisting that MM went to Balmoral and met HM.
Most of the betting on this, I think, has ended, regardless of whether today’s DM article is based on fact or not. I still believe that that VF cover article WAS the announcement, through that little key phrase, and that MM would never have done it if Harry hadn’t already proposed.
So check out the DM and believe what you will. Me, I’m already framing my $10 check.
Harry is the only one who has been very quiet, the speculation guessing and rumours are rife, if he fails at the final hurdle it’s going to be very upsetting all round.
He’s nothing special. She’s going to regret it if she does marry the nazi sympathizer. He will be bald soon and uglier than William.
I don’t understand the interest in these two, but it’s funny to watch the stanning.
Harry is a sweet young man, and very loving. He and Meghan are very much in love.
The unattractive stick already hit William, so it’s too late for him to ever surpass Harry in the looks department.
Honestly, the thought of a life living in a country estate in the Cotswolds, with all the time and money I need to do charity work… it’s amazing. She won the prize, as far as I’m concerned.
More of these stories please! I don’t care if pure speculation- make something up to hold us over.
@Senaber Lol!!
You KNOW the Obamas will be there when they marry. I can’t wait. I’ll be watching from home, jealously.
+1
Don’t forget Prince Andrew will always be in there trying to make sure his daughters don’t get shoved off the money train. Adding a new, telegenic member to the family bumps everyone else but the Cambridges and the Waleses down one notch, and there will be much scrambling.
Beatrice and Eugenie aren’t on “the money train” and never will be.
Their parents were though, right? Edward and Sophie have a massive mansion for a home. The upkeep costs alone must be staggering, how do they afford it unless they are getting large handouts?
Their parents were, but they aren’t and never will be. Andrew can push all he wants, but they’ve never been on the money train so OP’s initial comment was flawed. I think Eugenie will stay at Ivy Cottage for years, Beatrice will move to Nott Cott when Harry gets a bigger space. And everyone will scream to make sure they are paying market rent.
Edward and Sophie don’t own Bagshot, “they” pay massive rent. That rent is likely subsidized by HM but will not be subsidized by Charles if they aren’t working royals anymore. That means they’d need to find themselves somewhere else to live (and pay for it) if they’re pushed off the royal train. I can see them being moved to a smaller place at KP for security reasons once their kids are 18, but having to pay for it themselves.