People were asking me why I was disbelieving in the idea that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would announce their engagement last week, during the American Thanksgiving holiday. My answer is not so simple. For one, Meghan is American and her team has been leaking to American media outlets for the better part of a year, so why would she “wrong-foot” the home media during a holiday? And despite what many British people think, the British royals pay attention to American newscycles and they want their comings and goings to be discussed in the American media, so why would Buckingham Palace wrong-foot the Americans on a holiday either?
All of which means that the moment to announce the engagement was right now, today, early enough that it would be the first thing Americans would see on their morning shows. That’s exactly what happened – Clarence House announced the engagement at 5 am EST, 10 am GMT. It will be the big headline all day and all week. Which brings me to an interesting question, I guess: how did the British media get this so wrong? They were freaking out all last week. Even in the weekend papers, they were still playing guessing games, suggesting that Prime Minister Theresa May even went so far as to “clear her diary” last Thursday because that’s when she expected the announcement, and the Express claimed that it was really supposed to happen last week but they were “spooked” by the intensity of the media interest. Which literally makes no sense – they WANT media interest, which is why they announced at the start of business on a Monday. Not only that, it’s CYBER MONDAY, when everyone in the Western world is online, shopping for Christmas presents (and reading royal gossip).
What can we expect now? The rest of this week should go according to royal protocols – today is for the photocall and interview, then early details about the wedding will start to filter out of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House. We’ll start talking about the wedding venue, the dress, the guest list. Harry is not the heir – he’s not going to be “required” to invite world leaders, but I’m sure some leaders will be invited. The most interesting thing (to me) is that Clarence House is already saying that FOR SURE it will be a Spring wedding. Meaning Harry and Meg are not planning their wedding around Kate’s third pregnancy, thank God.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
I know this is petty but I wish we had an engagement photo. Hopefully soon! Fingers crossed.
That’s not petty at all! I wanna see it! Hopefully they release today!
It’s coming later in the week.
They are usually released within a day or two of the announcement.
Photocall / conference has been announced for 2pm and tv interview later this evening.
I cant wait to see what type of chemistry they have or if it will be awkward.
I can’t wait to see the ring.
I’m surprised that they are doing such a traditional roll out, since they’ve been so private. But happy for us 🤗 I love happy wedding news!
Can the royals get some good old fashioned diamond ring or it has to be some ruby or saphire.
Anyone have any idea what she’ll wear to the interview? I hope it blows Kate’s Issa dress out of the water. Not but that would be difficult – even sleek Kate looked frumpy in that dress – I remember at the time thinking she must have borrowed the dress from her mother just because it matched Diana’s ring.
But oh, the ring! I keep hearing rumors it will be emerald, or sometimes ruby. Whatever it ends up being, Harry will make it unique. He’s that sort of considerate.
This is definitely going to be a fun day!
Just saw the ring! Beautiful!
+1000
Kaiser someone/s in a Palace set up fake media news…. hoping to spoil Prince Henry Couple day … They under estimate the Sparkling Prince Couple!
Oh man, I am so delighted by all of this stuff this morning. It’s so nice to wake up to GOOD news for once.
Also I really hope the Obamas are invited. I’d love to see a pic of Harry & Meghan + Barack and Michelle!
Yes yes yes!
Barack dancing with the Duchess of Sussex, Harry dancing with First Lady Michelle… I need that photo op. It would make up for the last year of photo ops of the Tantrum Yam out on his own golf courses.
Bonus points if Harry and Megs completely blank the Trumps and don’t invite them. It will leave Emperor Baby Fists *seething*!
President Obama had dinner last week with Harry! I love it! I hope they are invited!
I don’t think they want protesters outside the church…. Besides, with any luck, ex-President Tweeter will be in exile in the Dubai golf club by then and won’t want to come to the UK because they extradite. Or else he will be in prison. Harry is safe either way. Besides, as the spare he doesn’t have to invite heads of state.
W&K didn’t invite the Obamas, why should these two have to invite the drumpfs?
@NOTA,
Weren’t Harry and Mrs. Obama working together at the Invictus Games? My memory may be faulty- I’m not a big royal watcher.
The first thing i thought of after “finally!” Was “omg please invite the Obamas, please invite the Obamas!” Lol
The royals always make announcement on Monday’s , particularly William and Kate do announcement on Mondays.
What a lovely couple. I hope they will be very happy
Yay, finally!
Not surprising. I’m guessing she really did want to be settled in her new home before taking on the press.
And isn’t kate due in April? They could have a late April or May wedding or even early March to avoid kate in labor.
I was never under the impression they were planning around the pregnancy (nor did I think Kate would expect it) except to avoid the critical weeks of her possibly going into labor.
Hooray!!!!!!!!!!
ETA: will need to call in “sick” the day of the wedding; not missing a minute of this!
Yassss! Such a positive thing to wake up to seeing on my BBC app. It had been pretty grim lately.
Also, pettily, I look forward to reading the royal dish columns. They will be SEETHING.
I called this the day he put out that statement last year through Kensington Palace asking people to leave her alone. What royal in the history of royalty has put out a state like that for someone they were just dating, let alone married to? I knew at that moment, he was serious about this one. I am not shocked AT ALL this engagement was announced. And a Spring wedding at that? They are NOT playing around LOL! Congrats to them both!!!
I suspected it would happen today or tomorrow. Lainey was supposed to post a follow-up article on Friday and never did…I have a feeling she got some intel and held off. Still, the media and gossips were very close to having major egg on their faces.
You were so right, Kaiser! I want to see a photo too! We have to wait for another couple hours until their photo call, but maybe they will release a photo in the meantime, who knows? I can’t wait until the interview. She will be an awesome addition to the BRF! They are lucky–extremely lucky. It will be interesting how she gets along with her sister in law…lol
I’m so happy for them. Like H@PPY, that statement was the signal for me that she was the one. We said November and we were right on the timing of the engagement announcement. She’s been engaged and working all this time. Can’t wait to see the ring and the official photo.
“Line two, Sir.”
The ginger-dappled Prince, his hard, yoga-hewn body easily encased in a fresh black t-shirt and jeans, stretched his long, granite-thighed legs out in front of the cottage fire. A smile played about his lips; a wonderful day already and now, this. Oh, how long had it been since the light on line two had glowed amber with promise?
His voice was a deep, sleep-shy growl, roughened with a tad too much plesure and happiness over the last forty-eight hours. “You,” he said simply.
“Me,” came the soft reply, its tinge of continental richness flowing through the line.
His voice was thick warm. “Well done, you. Well done indeed. I shall never be able to thank you enough. I shall never….”
There was a meaningful pause.
“Let us not to talk of such things, oh, Hairpins,” the voice said sweetly in its thick accent, a playful note of familiarity lacing thru a slight tinge of sorrow. “You save me from royal no-hairs flounder brother, and let me go to find my true life of what is to me most best, perfect work of things, in fresh air of Canada, like air of my mountain village, but, with Pilates. I can only hope I did as I Promise, oh red-loomed emperor of most holy kind love knot energies! Thanks to God my skill with needle make me television dresser for kind love angel Rachel Maggie, and give me idea to bring you together when I repair Invictus pants for lovely so strong wheelchair hero! Oh Hairpins, I too have found my love…. you can to see we could not be, I would not be the one to stand with Kitty without I should back-smack her in the style of my village mothers if she wear pink to memorial or some such action of the three-winged dragon of seven stupids. Is best this way, Sir, I live my way, and you, with the finest friend I make ever in Canada, who teach me your yoga, and with who I laugh and laugh over Kitty’s so funny faces of expression and play counts the buttons! She make you fine, fine wife! This is my truth, this I know!”
The big-hearted, newly matured tousle-bearded love god sighed. “I know you Are right, and I am more in love than I thought possible or the odds makers can grasp. I will never forget you….I hope you and Thaddeus can come to the wedding in April?”
“Oh, all the yeses, my kind savior!” There was a pause. “Our tale ends, a better begins, eh? And Sir?”
“Yes, Maria.”
“I did to sew microphone in curtains of the No Hair Clown of Badness’ office. My gift to you. May you reign well, yeses?”
“
And now I need a new tablet because I just spit tea all over this one. :cries laughing:
I love you so much.
“tousle-bearded love god” LOL
Hilarious!
Bravo!
Ah, Liberty. You did not disappoint. But who’s Thaddeus? 😀
First of all, I only heard that the announcement was planned to be specifically on Friday and not the whole of last week, and obviously they couldn’t do Friday because of Egypt, so only makes sense that they announced today. Also – glad they didn’t drag this out until next year, better be over with it, I hope Meghan is happy with this new life cause I shudder just thinking about how much more I personally prefer what she had going for herself but that’s just my personal preference. I’d probably move to London for a guy as well so who am I to judge. Although if my career was more like Meghan’s I’m not sure I would.
I agree Katherine. I suspect the announcement was planned for Friday, however, the atrocity in Egypt, then the incident just before 5pm GMT in London’s Oxford Street (at first looked like a major terrorist incident) forced them to postpone the announcement.
Anyhow, congratulations Harry and Meghan.
I don’t think they ever intended to drop it on a Friday. That’s where news stories go to die. You drop divorce news on Friday, not engagements.
I’m Australian and I’ve never heard of cyber Monday.
Christmas shopping mania in the US traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November) and is called Black Friday because that’s the day when merchants hope all the Black Friday sales will finally take their ledgers out of the red and into the black. With online shopping, they’ve felt compelled to have special deals later also. Hence Cyber Monday, another day of sales to try to entice people to spend spend spend.
It gets even weirder, with advance Black Friday sales and Cyber weeks etc.
People have even died getting trampled getting into stores for the start of Black Friday in realspace. Folks actually set up tents to wait in line overnight. I personally would never go near a store anywhere but online until sanity returns. My cats need me.
Cyber Monday is a made up online retail thing. Very popular in North America. My advice is to ignore it.
Speaking of inviting world leaders, I do wonder if they will have to invite Trump? I imagine so. If they are blessed, Trump will decline and send Ivanka or Melania as his surrogate.
Now you know Pigly Bigly ain’t going to no mixed race wedding.
I hope they just blank the Short-Fingered Vulgarian on the invites completely. Because if he shows up you KNOW he’s going to whine that he didn’t get to ride in the gilded carriage.
The Brits managed to avoid having the Queen meet Turnip all this past year. I say let that trend happily continue, and make sure she’s at Windsor and not Balmoral if he decides to play his Scottish golf course.
I think only if it’s an official state event right? Otherwise it’s a private wedding and they don’t have to invite anyone of note.
I checked the Wikipedia page for Prince Andrew and Fergie’s wedding, and Nancy Reagan attended. So if they follow that lead, it seems it wouldn’t be out of the question for someone in the first family to attend.
Maybe Andrew or Fergie actually knew Nancy Reagan and liked her. Nobody likes President Tweeter. Even Putin probably doesn’t actually like him.
W&K didn’t invite POTUS, no reason to expect these two would have to invite the drumpfs.
I’m thinking smaller wedding at St George’s too. 800 person capacity being “smaller” in some people’s worlds.
They might decide to have an informal wedding in Windsor like Prince Charles did.
No need to invite heads of state then.
In the UK here and hadn’t heard of cyber Monday either.
If it’s informal, does that mean we get Flying Elvi?
I’m so happy for them!!!!! Yay!!!
🙄
Kaiser, I woke up today and thought “today’s the day” and your post did not disappoint!
Woot woot! I’m here for allll of this. I really hope they take on a more mature role than William with the media, finessing it to the advantage of their patronages. Obviously this is playing up the “American princess” angle by being so acutely aware of the American press cycle. I can’t wait for the photo call and interview.
Well, it was reported that the engagement announcement was imminent — 4 days ago.
Today seems about right.
It certainly was no surprise, and I don’t know why, but my first reaction was “It’s not going to last.” I had a flashback to Charles and Diana’s announcement to the press where it seemed apparent that his heart wasn’t in it. That didn’t happen with William and Kate. I hope I’m wrong and that they live happily ever after.
I disagree. It seems like William finally gave in under duress. Still, they seem like an OK couple. I can’t understand why you would think that this one won’t last. My gut feeling is the exact opposite.