Last night, Prince Harry attended the True Patriot Love Foundation’s National Tribute Dinner in Canada. It was the culmination of a whirlwind 48-hour “tour” of Toronto, which saw Harry meeting veterans and active servicemen and women, checking out various military operations and generally being charismatic and cool. Harry was invited to the National Tribute Dinner and he was the de facto keynote speaker as well. True Patriot Love Foundation is a major partner of the Invictus Games, and that’s why they invited Harry and that’s why he came to their events. You can read more about the dinner here at Sussex.com.
Throughout Harry’s Toronto visit, there has been limited press availability (really just a couple of local outlets) and no paparazzi photos and no credentialed international media covering these events. The only reason we have any photos at all is because a photographer attached with True Patriot Love has been trailing Harry at his events, and the photos have been published on Sussex.com. That limited media availability has allowed Harry to keep a lighter footprint in Toronto and focus solely on what he came into town to do. Somewhat hilariously though, Harry has gotten a lot of attention during what was supposed to be his brother’s big week in Brazil. Well, now it’s time for the British media to run the same old play: Harry’s Toronto trip is a signal that he wants to be a working royal again! These people are dumb as a box of hair. From the Telegraph’s big article, written after the Other Brother made a big keen speech at COP30.
A backdoor half-in arrangement: When the Duke of Sussex left the UK to pursue an independent life abroad, he was told in no uncertain terms that he could not adopt the “half in, half out” approach to royal life he had demanded. There was no way that he and Meghan could promote their charitable endeavours on behalf of the institution while at the same time pursuing their own commercial interests, Buckingham Palace made clear. Almost six years on, it looks very much as if the couple are doing something very similar, albeit via the backdoor.
A statement of intent! The Duke’s two-day visit to Toronto has been described by some as something of a marker in the sand, a statement of intent. This was the “grown-up statesman-like Harry” pitching his stall, proving his value and demonstrating where his life was headed, one friend told The Telegraph. And having finally had enough of the tell-all interviews and intimate memoirs, that life looks not unlike the kind he might have been pursuing had he stayed in the UK. Is the visit, therefore, a subtle pitch to his father: “See how useful I could be?” Harry’s support for the military community has never been in doubt. But whether this was a trip based solely on his passion for the Canadian armed forces is a matter for debate. Could it be that it was also intended to act as a subtle nod to the personal support he wants to show Canada, a key Commonwealth country?
Harry & Meghan are pursuing different interests! When Harry and Meghan moved to the US, they made a virtue of being joined at the hip – who can forget the entwined palm trees, salt and pepper analogies? Now though, as Meghan pursues her dream of becoming a billionaire, her husband is reverting to a rather more familiar way of life. All he wants to do, those close to him insist, is to support his pet causes.
Harry will continue to work this way: He may have been banned from pursuing his charitable endeavours on behalf of the Royal family but Harry has seemingly decided that he will plough on regardless. Quasi-royal visits and trips like his visit to the UK in September, and Toronto this week, are likely to become much more common. Meanwhile, in an effort to burnish his philanthropic credentials, he continues to dish out money. When he was in the UK, the Duke announced a personal £1.1m donation to Children in Need to help tackle youth violence in Nottingham. This week, he is understood to have made a six-figure donation to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc across the Caribbean. As he looks to the future, Harry is also understood to be mulling over the possibility of launching his own not-for-profit social enterprise.
The left-behinds are looking sparse: Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, the number of working members of the Royal family has been further depleted with Andrew’s defenestration. Would the King ever bring Harry off the subs bench? Not a chance. And King William even less so. The Sussexes, though, look set to plough on undeterred with their own version of that “half in, half out” model.
First of all, this isn’t about Harry “pitching” a half-in solution to his father. These people said the same thing about the Sussexes’ trips to Nigeria and Colombia last year, alongside the palace-issued talking points of “why are the Sussexes doing charity work and traveling on behalf of their charities in the first place, if not to be royal?!?!” At some point, these royal reporters are going to need to sit down and have the conversation that “charity work” does not equal “royal work.” When the short-sighted Windsors rejected the “half-in” suggestion, they believed that they were banning Harry and Meghan from doing anything resembling charity work, which is frankly a stupid assumption but indicative of the rot within the monarchy. What the Sussexes are doing is altogether funnier and more interesting – they’re showing that they don’t need the stagnant royal establishment or the British media to do their own charity work AND commercial work.
Photos courtesy of Laura Proctor for True Patriot Love via Sussex.com.
I swear they do this just to yank the incandescent ones chains lol. It’s like let’s piss off the heir and get him to put out some absolutely unhinged stories about his brother. I think the BM has a field day trying to get the brothers to fight but only the incandescent with rage one takes the bait. Also HARRY IS NEVER COMING BACK!!!
They are yanking the chain and I’d be willing to give it a few yanks myself. Pissing William off is their new national pastime.
I do think it’s great fun for Harry to piss off William…and it’s so easy! William is such a ponce, but he thinks he’s the prince of the universe!
I also think that the BM knows that Harry is carrying out his work on his own terms and it’s effective, so they are trying to link this work to “royal life.” Kind of like, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Oh, I’ve just noticed for the first time that Harry is wearing his medals!! Brilliant move!!
Again, his manners are impeccable.
This is an attempt to link Harry’s trip to the House of Windsor. The Sussexes are independent. The House of Sussex is a separate unit. The House of Sussex does not invite the royal rota to cover any of its engagements yet they insert themselves and find angles to link the activities of the two separate units.
The Sussex brand has eclipsed the Windsor brand which continues to be mired in scandal generation after generation.
Just need to add that there never are complaints about the charitable engagements that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie do in the UK or internationally, or the fact that they still retain and used their titles and HRH styling while engaged in commercial enterprise and/or corporate jobs.
Both Beatrice and her husband have separate commercial enterprises. Eugenie has her own charity while her husband’s commercial links to the Portugal property development entity he is associated with are somewhat opaque. No one quite knows how they afford their lifestyle and there is never any probing by the British media to determine if there are conflicts with their endeavors and their use of the HRH.
They only have a problem with what the Sussexes do. 😠
I was going to type the same thing. Both Beatrice and Eugenie are patrons of several charities, and Eugenie has her own Anti-Slavery charity.
Because the York girls are not glamorous and popular. THAT was the Sussexes’ (especially Meghan’s) real crime — to be smarter, harder working, but especially *more popular* than the dull, lazy heir and his even duller and lazier wife. The tabloids and royal stans know it, and it’s why the royals will *never* forgive the Sussexes for it, because THAT (outshining them) will never go away.
I think it primarily is because the Yorks ‘play the game’ with the media and those in the establishment. Just think about how many decades the media buried stories, possibly traded stories with the Yorks for protection. Think about how many decades the establishment covered up for Andrew’s transgressions. Andrew’s Royal protection officers had to have known a lot about what Andrew was doing and who he was meeting with.
The Yorks are friends with those people- Piers Morgan, Jermey Clarkson, William Lewis. Theresa May is on the Board of Eugenie’s charity. Beatrice is on the Board of charities with people from within the establishment. The girls have had access to Andrew’s entire contact list. They are well protected like Andrew was for decades until the truth about his and Sarah’s emails came out in US Congressional hearings shortly before Virginia’s posthumous memoir was published, and the UK public became aware and expressed their disgust for Andrew’s lack of accountability as well as the establishment’s possible complicity. Had it not been for the confluence of those events, the entire York family most likely would have been fully insulated to this day. At the moment Beatrice and Eugenie are currently insulated while Sarah and Andrew faced the loss of use of titles. 🤷🏽♀️
I think Meghan was always going to receive worse treatment in the press than the Yorks because of her nationality and race, even if she’d been “acceptably” dull and uncharismatic.
The game is to leak and brief, trade stories about other royals for good press coverage and good relationships with the journalists and the publishers. The Sussexes did not and still do not ‘play the game’ with the British media.
The arrangement with the press and the establishment is toxic. It feeds off of a toxic dysfunctional ’mafia’ royal family/institution whose members stab each other in the back without remorse in order to survive the malignancy that eats away at their soul. 😠
Leaving was the wisest choice tge Sussexes made for their physical and mental wellbeing.
ridiculous to suggest harry would ever consider it, the same day angela levin tweets hateful lies about meghan (she said she was hated by ppl on suits etc etc) and when corrected by wendell pierce himself, her response was to retweet more hateful lies (that meghan only cozied up to him bc he was rich/could help her). this is a woman who is friends with camilla. why on earth would they ever go back there.
Yeah I’m not understanding how this week Harry is doing the same stuff he’s been doing for the past 5 years, but it means something different now. They’ve always done charity work, and they continue to do it together. Meghan just interviewed the founder of Altadena Girls. They were just at Kelly’s tennis benefit.
For the life of me I don’t understand why they act like needing to earn money is some dirty filthy thing. They don’t get taken care of by the government or his family, how exactly do they expect them to live? Apparently like Andrew and Fergie. Constantly begging and exhausting friendships until only the most despicable will give them attention.
And I said this before I don’t think that they believe that charity work equals Royal work, they believe that former working royals should not outshine current working royals. They have absolutely no problem doing stuff with David Beckham or Idris Elba or Cate Blanchett. The problem is Harry and Meghan are donating money they earned to charity and highlighting organizations, being impactful and doing it for free. And this isn’t some celeb, this is someone that was born into the exact same system that you were. So why can’t you do the same. They don’t want that question asked.
It’s the nature of any type of elite not to cede power to the larger numbered common masses, so in their view charity is theirs to bestow and for maintaining their status as bestower to subservient common masses. They certainly don’t want to empower anyone to do for themselves. No wonder they feel threatened by Harry and Meghan (Greenfell cookbook!) who happily share, inspire, listen to, and encourage others to go forward and change the world. They also seem to LIKE people, a big plus in my book.
And in politics, look at the billionaire and political elite freakout over the NYC mayoral race where a huge turnout of inspired common folk gave a huge effyou to the elite who would prefer that we fight amongst themselves instead of joining together and asking why a few billionaires have so much control over our daily lives.
He is just so charming & heartwarming both. He and Meghan both have done so much already with their lives.
I was in Windsor last weekend and found it interesting that the official visitors guide to the Castle has a large picture of H&M right at the beginning of the book, from the wedding. The king & Camilla’s pic is early on too, but not as prominent. The Keens is further back in the book and smaller.
So the royal household may not suffer them officially but they know what sells ..
Just to add some detail .. H&M’s pic is the first open page you see after the Contents page, and it fills half the page. (Them coming down the steps of St George’s chapel after wedding recessional.)
The pic of king & Camilla are on opposite page, like 30% of the page.
The Keens are on page 15 – half-page pic from a Garter carriage ride.
Just seemed very incongruous given the rhetoric of the last 5 years!
I lobe that detail, thanks for sharing
The carriage ride when she wore her Temu tiara? That thing still makes me laugh.
Okay, that’s funny. Thanks for this. Their wedding in Windsor really was beautiful despite all the drama. I remember when the Sussexes first left the uk, it was kind of bittersweet to think about that day. But now that time has gone on, it’s easier to look back and just say what a gorgeous day it was. Meghan naming one of her candles after her wedding date was actually a very sweet remembrance.
One of my favorite memories of their wedding – and as much as I liked Princess Diana, I never ever even watched any portion of a royal wedding until Meghan – anyway, I remember the huge crowd outside shouting and cheering during the actual vows and that caused Harry and Meghan to smile in acknowledgement. It was just so sweet, unexpected and human moment it made me smile as well.
“they believed that they were banning Harry and Meghan from doing anything resembling charity work“
Harry refuses to cooperate with the palace effort to banish him and shape his life. Previous generations of monarchy would have read between the lines and gone quietly.
They keep trying to own his work. Wasn’t his recent trip to Britain the line in sand, the statement of intent? my god the media cannot accept what is right in front of their eyes
Imagine thinking you “own” philanthropy! That is just certifiable. Giving of your time, expertise, and resources to make the world a better place is an option to all those who are willing and able.
Imagine being this out of touch.
Service is universal.
The royals will never understand that.
Every time the RR makes these claims that Harry and/or Meghan are doing de facto “royal work”, it just comes across as trying to coopt their efforts because the Left-Behinds aren’t pulling their own weight.
Just LOVE my country being referred to as the back door.
What else is called the backdoor again? Oh right.
These f***ing imperialists, I swear.
I just love those photos. Did they expect Meghan to sit back & do nothing, like Kate? Meghan is a trail blazer. She shone too brightly for the Royal family, eclipsing all of them. So it’s ok for Kate & William to have money but not for Meghan? If Meghan becomes a billionaire thru hard work & initiative, and Will is a billionaire because of money via the crown, why is her $$$ deemed lesser? Why is Meghan “scorned” for living in a mansion, but Kate fawned over for her new stately home, that she did absolutely nothing for.
Kate has put up with William for all this time and even managed to have three of his children, she must deserve a medal for that.
Kate is not a nice person considering how she treated Meghan. I have no sympathy. She spent ten years trying to get the proposal and then she wanted royal children. She should have ditched Scooter when he cheated on her during the dating years. She was so nervous he would ask someone else out if she were not available she could not work, except for few months with flexible hours.
Is the visit, therefore, a subtle pitch to his father: “See how useful I could be?”
The petty part of me thinks it’s a “look what you could have had”, but I doubt Harry cares anymore about what his family thinks.
I agree. A lot of time has passed and the family keeps trying to hurt them. I think he’s trying to salvage something with his father (not the king) before he passes otherwise he is looking forward
When Wilbur is King he’ll only travel abroad for Earth shot and foreign holidays so only OAP royals will do Royal tours. Harry and Meghan are free to visit any country that invited them. Hard cheese for Wilbur! BM can see the difference between Harry and Meg’s reception and 2022 disaster tour. Now they are stuck with the PoW who rarely works and doesn’t do royal tours anymore: too bad for backing the lazy one!
Harry’s work with veterans is never going to end. He’s a veteran. All of this, the IG, all of it, is independent of the royals. It is what it is.
This is how ignorant the British media are about Canada. First Harry was invited to attend by these organizations due to his extensive work with veterans through Invictus. Second the national media covered his events with that CTV interview getting national network coverage.
Finally, the other royals who did attend Toronto in the last year, like Sophie, only got a fraction of coverage.
The Left-Behinds are DESPERATE to ride Harry’s coattails. If only Scooter looked as good, had such charisma, and had as much presence and personality as Prince Harry.
I’d settle for competence, but we aren’t even going to get that.
Reducing Harry’s work to “pet causes” is insulting.
That’s a very common English/British thing to do – lob snubs and insults to put down a person or their achievements. Most other places look at results to evaluate a person’s impact. They rely on the ‘establishment’ to approve a person’s worth or impact. That’s why the establishment gives out titles and medals. It supposed to signify worthiness. It’s also why Charles was exposed in a cash for honor scheme. People buy them with cash or favors – quid pro quo – instead of demonstrating impact from results worthy of honors.
Harry and Meghan are building their life and doing impactful work outside of that toxic dysfunctional Royal ‘mafia’ family/institution. I tip my hat 🎩 to the Sussexes. They are figuring out their path despite the establishment sabotage and regular efforts to malign them in the media.
This was an excellent visit for Prince Harry. I particularly liked that he spent time at Sunnybrook with the elderly veterans. He is his mother’s son. It was also properly covered by Canadian national and local media. The Telegraph doesn’t understand Canada at all. I find he really shines with all of his work with veterans.
The RF should be proud of Harry wanting to carry on doing the work of Invictus, looking after Veterans.
It feels like the Montecito Court has so many more working members of the RF than the Windsor Court.
One could dredge up Charles Spencer’s eulogy of Diana and remind them that “she ( or Harry) needed no royal title for her particular brand of magic.
if William wants to take away Harry’s “prince” he will see that it changes nothing for Harry, he will still be a successful philanthropist, father, husband and public figure. As will Meghan.
Either they’re dumber than a box of hair, or they think their readership is.
“Meanwhile, in an effort to burnish his philanthropic credentials, he continues to dish out money.”
— LOL. That’s one way of looking at it…
They are bigly mad because they know that NO ONE likes peg, EVERYONE loves Harry, and that is just the way it is. Shoot, let the people vote on who THEY want as King. This hereditary inheriting thing keeps the rest of the people in a stranglehold while oppressors get all the good stuff, and anyone else only gets the crumbs they deign to give out. It is a gross system designed to suppress anyone from changing things, and needs to be put in the past.
When they said Harry’s trip was “overseas” I stopped thinking there was anything real in the article at all. Cause, y’know Canada and the USA share the North American Continent with Mexico. We are all North Americans. ‘Over-land’ would be more accurate! LOL!