Prince William told Harry ‘don’t feel you need to rush this’ when he began dating Meg

Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge at the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Buckingham Palace, London, UK on Tuesday 10th July 2018

Again, we’ll have lots of coverage of the Finding Freedom excerpts and we’re doing this in pieces. If the first excerpts from the book are this juicy and break-the-internet-y, I can only imagine what will happen when the book finally comes out. The theme of the book seems to be that Harry wanted out and Meghan was simply tired of being attacked for breathing. We’re hearing that Harry was mad about the things being done to Meghan and how his family and the palace courtiers were talking sh-t about her. Harry was upset by how his family was leaving him out in the cold, unprotected and belittled. But of course there’s notable brother and sister-in-law drama too.

The relationship between Kate & Meghan: “The two duchesses’ relationship had struggled to move past the distant politeness of when they first met. Their cordial but distant rapport was apparent when the pair appeared alongside each other at the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day the previous summer…. While the doting mothers were photographed next to each other with their children, the two appeared to barely exchange a word.” But, importantly, the royal experts revealed that any distance between Kate and Meghan was indicative of a larger issue within the royal family, and not a feud between the two women. An excerpt from Finding Freedom continued, “The state of affairs between the two women was just an offshoot of the real issue at hand: the conflict between Harry and the institution.”

What happened on Commonwealth Day: “While Harry and Meghan both greeted William and Kate with smiles, the Cambridges showed little response. It was the first time the two couples had seen each other since January. ‘Harry,’ William nodded, ignoring Meghan. For the minutes before the Queen’s arrival, William and Kate sat with their backs to the couple, only turning around to chat with Prince Edward and Sophie, next to the Sussexes. Although Meghan tried to make eye contact with Kate, the duchess barely acknowledged her.”

William & Harry’s fight when Harry began falling for Meghan: A source told authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand that Harry bristled when William warned him: ‘Don’t feel you need to rush this. Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.’ After all, these are two brothers that have spent their whole lives with people trying to take advantage of them. They’ve both developed a radar to detect that type of person, but as William didn’t know a whole lot about Meghan, he wanted to make sure Harry wasn’t blindsided by lust.’ Another source claimed: ‘Harry was pissed off. Pissed off that his brother would ask such a thing. Harry told William he ‘could see through’ his words, thinking him judgemental and condescending and ultimately ‘being a snob’.

Other royals took issue with Meghan in the beginning: At least two other Royal Family members voiced concerns over the pace at which Harry and Meghan’s relationship had moved, referring to the actress as ‘Harry’s showgirl’ and ‘coming with a lot of baggage’. A high-ranking courtier was even overheard telling a colleague: ‘There’s just something about her I don’t trust’. A close friend of Harry’s claimed the duke was ‘aware of the talk’, adding. ‘He’s extremely protective of Meghan. He understands that a lot of people are against them, and he will do everything he can to keep her safe and away from getting hurt – even if that means distancing himself from those people.’

[From Harper’s Bazaar & the DM]

Re: the “Harry’s Showgirl” thing – this is what surprised me at the time, when we learned that Harry and Meghan were first dating. I just couldn’t believe that the palace had not shut it down, because (I believed) princes of the realm were not allowed to seriously date actresses or anyone in the entertainment industry. The palace didn’t shut it down – instead, the courtiers mocked her and William began to undermine their relationship from the start. In many ways, it’s like Harry and Meghan were being set up to fail. What’s funny is that instead of failing, H&M just GTFO. As for the statement of “There’s just something about her I don’t trust.” Is there anything whiter? Do these people not hear themselves?

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex,  host a reception to officially open the 2018 Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference at St James' Palace in London on October 10, 2018. - The 2018 Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference is the fourth such international conference bringing together heads of state, ministers and officials from nearly 80 countries, alongside NGOs, academics and businesses, to build on previous efforts to tackle this lucrative criminal trade. The conference is being hosted by the UK Government from 11th – 12th October 2018.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

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219 Responses to “Prince William told Harry ‘don’t feel you need to rush this’ when he began dating Meg”

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  1. Princess Peach says:

    Man, I don’t get Kate. Meghan is one of the few women she can be friends with that would never eff William. She seems hard pressed to find people like that!

    • Züri says:

      Kate Middleton strikes me as the type of woman who is threatened by and actively competitive with other women, regardless of who they are. It’s not uncommon for women lacking any real substance to behave in this manner.

      • Digital Unicorn says:

        This – she is also competitive with her own sister. Kate is not a woman who plays well with other women.

      • julieJ says:

        I love that you said this. I always hated women that see other women as competition. That is a sign of someone who is hanging onto her relationship by a tiny thread. And we all know how great of a husband Willy has been…

      • Meg says:

        ‘It’s not uncommon for women lacking any real substance to behave in this manner.’
        Why is that? Not disagreeing with u, just curious

      • Still_Sarah says:

        @ Zuri : When I read about Kate and Meghan, I get ticked off at the idea that sisters-in-law are supposed to be great friends and that there’s blame to be had if that’s not the case. If my husband’s brother marries someone, what does that have to do with me? She could be completely different and possibly someone that I don’t really like. It’s only circumstances that bring women together like that. Meghan was a professional woman who worked hard for 2 decades to build her career (actor, blogger, influencer) and Kate was basically working upper class McJobs for her parents’ company while waiting around to get married and have babies. No shame to either IMHO.

      • SpankFD says:

        Didn’t Kate get into Cambridge only to withdraw to go to that lamea$$ school Willie got into? So, we have a smart woman who redirected her significant talents towards the exclusive pursuit of wealth, privilege and status by association. She has cultivated no value, no worth of her own. She is literally a baby factory. She is who she is not because of her own efforts but because of how she sustains an entrenched, misogynistic, racist system.

        The poor misguided woman had a brain. She could have cultivated her own worth and status. But no, mummy had to show them all. Now here daughter has an eating disorder and has sacrificed her own facial features for what is incrementally more conventionally attractive.

        And it gets worse. Wills knows she is only an appendage and treats her as such.

        Would. Not. Trade. Places. With. Her. For. Anything. In. The. World.

      • Reece says:

        @Meg Basically it means women like that don’t have much, if anything else going in their life. And/or never did. They base their entire worth on whatever external thing they give power and credit to.
        In this case, Kate figuratively and literally chased William around until she got him and held on for years until he married her. Her whole life revolves around William then as it does today. People still tell the stories about how she and her sister bullied the York girls who were teenagers at the time. She got rid of all of her female friends. Her friends. To where all of her friends are also Williams friends and were his friends before they met. That mentality carried over to H&M. Suddenly Harry was in love and she was no longer the biggest female influence on him. (At least in her mind) That’s what they mean by little substance.

      • Züri says:

        @Meg and @Reece: thanks for handling the response @reece. It pretty nicely explains what I was trying to convey. That said, I’ll take it a step farther by saying that I also meant that Megan’s ebullience, intellectual substance, and work ethic likely raised insecurities in Kate, and a common reaction to someone engendering these types of feelings is enmity. That doesn’t even factor in the competitive aspect of KM, who I would suspect has a healthy ego from her position. Megan exudes a charisma and intelligence that, to my mind, Kate simply doesn’t. I don’t mean either wouldn’t be possible if KM applied herself a bit, I think she simply chooses the “comfort” of not exerting herself too assiduously. I also think MM is able to convey a humility that KM isn’t.

        This all makes me sound like a stan (I think that’s what the cool kids call it), but I’m not. I do find the intersections of the gender norms, power dynamics, optics, and personal relationships rather fascinating. And to be honest, Kate stands for so much of what I am against: she reinforces sexist tropes that each phase of the women’s movement has fought to dispel since the inception of bourgeois, gendered spheres in the 19th century. For me, MM very much embodies a modern woman who is engaged in the world around her.

      • Nic919 says:

        Hillary Mantel nailed it years ago when she called Kate a mannequin and nothing since 2011 has proven her wrong.

      • Züri says:

        @Nic919 I’m not familiar with the comment, but absolutely. Thanks for the reference, am going to check it out.

      • bettyrose says:

        Zuri –
        So well said. I am a Meghan stan (as the cool kids say) but objectively I think you nailed it.

      • Cari says:

        Kate was accepted by Edinburgh not Cambridge. She could never have got into Cambridge, they only take a* students. Numerous people who’ve met Kate have called her dim and not bright including Camilla and courtiers.

    • Belli says:

      Befriending Meghan would have made Kate look so good too. Experienced and stable Kate taking the new royal under her wing and showing her the ropes? Isn’t she generous? Isn’t she patient? Isn’t she kind? Look, she’s wearing Smart Set clothes, she’s such a supportive angelic sister in law. Saint Kate, PR gold!

      But no, the preferred strategy was to try and make Meghan look bad so that Kate could look better in comparison. Which says a lot about the Cambridges’ characters.

      • ThEHufflepuffLizLemon says:

        THIS. She could have looked amazing, AND helped Meghan feel welcome. Win win.

      • L84Tea says:

        I agree. It was a golden opportunity blown on their part. It makes you realize how utterly stupid they really are. Plain stupid.

      • Grey says:

        Your comment about character is really interesting. I remember being 14 and watching the funeral and procession for Diana. That was the first time I really noticed William, and man, did I think he was cute. It seemed so strange to see how much he has changed over the years, but I think that what is inside eventually affects your outside. Maybe that is why Harry stayed so cute, he is a good guy who has a solid character.

      • FicklePickle says:

        Hell, they could have used Meghan for good PR WHILE running the smear campaign! It would have given them so much more plausible deniability. “Oh man, we tried soooo hard, look at everything Kate did for her! It just wasn’t meant to be…”

        But no, they went all in on ‘burn the witch’.

      • AGreatDane says:

        I get where people are going with the whole “it would have made Kate look great” angle, but Meghan deserves to be treated nicely for who she is, not what association with her has to offer. Everyone is always either talking about what an asset she was or how she used the BRF. No one but Harry seems to care that she is a person with feelings who might want to be handled as such. Black women are not just nifty tools for everyone to use.

      • WingMom Rae says:

        @grey, I absolutely agree with your assessment. My son’s father us a vile person who had it from the public well. He is not aging well at all (which makes me cackle with pettiness) and I think its because he’s such a horrible and miserable person its finally showing on the outside. He looks 10 years older than he actually is. Karma at it’s best.

      • L4frimaire says:

        @GreatDane excellent point. People seem to forget Meghan is a woman with actual complex feelings who went through this.You’re right that too many people just talk about how what she did or said affected the other Royals or they disparaged any sign of frustration of unhappiness with diva, tantrums, etc. They rarely speak about how impacted her directly, however, getting up every day and having people bitch about you behind your back and call you sexist names, but then think you have no right to be upset because you have a nice house and get be around royalty who think the worst of you, as if that erases all the humiliation and hostility. That’s why so many are upset about this book, because she is given somewhat more a voice and isn’t just cast as a villain with. O feelings. Of course, those who hate her don’t see any nuance and say there just moaning, but few of us could take theirs, also, when would it end. It seems the royals were the ones who didn’t understand why everyone was so interested in her and how it also benefited them and increased interest in them. All they saw was her taking their spotlight and not knowing her place, so they thought they’d crush her, with no regard to her or Harry.

    • Katie_44 says:

      But why do they have to be friends? That’s like saying every girl needs to be BFFs with their sister in laws, or I have to be BFFs with every woman I work with because “they’ll get me”. There are people I get along with at work and hang out with on my free time, and people I never want to see once I leave work. Neither of them should be felt to be a bad person if they didn’t want to be friends.

      The idea that Kate had to be her best friend I think is a little insulting to women (for lack of a better word), as well as the suggestion that she must be in competition with Meghan if she didn’t want to be her friend. I feel like that’s the kind of stereotype that gets perpetuated, especially by men – women have to be clawing each other down at all times in competition.

      • Bavarian says:

        exactly.

      • Queen Meghan's Hand says:

        I don’t see Kaiser or anyone arguing that Kate and Meghan should have been BFFs, but rather Kate should have been actually friendly and kind to Meghan. To winnow down the sustained anti-Meghan campaign pushed by Kate herself is erasure of what Meghan endured, most of which while pregnant with her first child.

        I mean, even in the Tatler article Kate and her friends told the lie that Meghan made Kate cry during the little bridesmaids fittings. Katy Cambridge and her team told that story for years only to now admit it was never true, didn’t even spend that much time together in the same room. (not trying threadjack, just using as an example)

        So, no we’re not saying Kate and Meghan should have been best friends, but that Kate being at the very least decent to Meghan would have benefited them both. But Kate is not a decent person.

      • notasugarhere says:

        They do not have to be best friends. Kate chose to be on a competitive, anti-Meghan, tear Meghan down path from the beginning. Enlisting her tacky mother in the process.

        No matter how hard her stans try, it is not anti-feminist to point out the truth. Kate is a bully meangirl who cannot get along with other women. Always has been, always will be.

      • Beach Dreams says:

        How did you make that leap to them having to be best friends? No one is saying that. They’re saying Kate could’ve stood to be a bit more pleasant and welcoming, especially to someone who could’ve been a potential ally in the complexity that is the Firm.

      • Sofia says:

        They don’t have to be besties. But a little friendship wouldn’t have hurt (it would have done wonders for both).

        After all, Meghan and Kate are in a very small circle of woman who know what it’s like to marry a prince (and the circle gets even smaller when you consider the number of high profile princes). They could relate to each other in a way no other woman really could.

        They didn’t need to be cosmo drinking, sleepover having besties. But a cordial and working relationship would have been good.

      • Becks1 says:

        They don’t have to be best friends. but at the VERY least, you would think Kate could be civil to her, at least in public, and we saw in March that she refused to even do that.

      • Lizzie says:

        Two woman in their 30’s who become in-laws should be cordial. HOWEVER when one of the women is new to the country with no close friends or family in that country most decent and well raised women would offer to show her around or take her out to lunch.
        Just think how things would have been different if Kate and Meghan had lunched at a restaurant at regular intervals. That would have made a big statement to the public and to Harry. Top CEO lost an opportunity to be seen as going against the tide to be mature and show kindness. Good qualities for a possible ffq. Instead she she went along and was petty.

      • Original Jenns says:

        They don’t need to be friends. i’m not friends with every woman I work with – but they darn well better not sabotage my work to make their’s look better, especially if they stroll in late and chat on the phone all day. Be cordial and work well together and for the team is the least to ask. And W&K couldn’t even do that.

      • Jaded says:

        Nobody’s saying they have to be closer than 2 coats of paint, however a modicum of politeness and respect would have gone a long way. Instead, Keen could barely contain her disdain. She acted like a spoiled teenager and blocked her at every opportunity. She’s a petty, jealous brat who can’t seem to grow up or grow out of her white privilege. Ironic considering she came from a middle-class family – it was only by dint of her mother’s social-climbing aspirations of grandeur that she managed to bag the big one.

      • Nic919 says:

        This is missing the point. I am sure many people here have sisters in law that they aren’t best friends with. The issue is Kate letting slanderous stories get to the media and not doing anything to stop them, when she has definitely corrected other stories of a more frivolous nature.

      • EM says:

        Don’t be best friends, don’t even be friends. But who is it benefitting to hate her and outwardly be rude to her? For anyone with a sister in law, but especially for Kate, who is a member of such an isolated and special family like the Royals, who work together, live together, will be raising children together, and will always be compared in the public eye?

        Not to mention the optics (if you don’t even care about the actual relationships behind them) of essentially shunning the first Black person in the royal family.

      • L4frimaire says:

        I don’t think anyone thinks they needed to be friends, but the bare minimum of courtesy, trying to find common ground and not brief the press against you isn’t too much to ask. I’m sure Kate didn’t like the pressure of the comparison either because it forced her out of her comfort zone, and she felt eclipsed, but she really gave the impression she did not care at all for Meghan,and felt threatened by her. Trying to say she made her cry, a grown woman the same age, is just ridiculous and they still won’t be honest about it. She couldn’t even fake it for the CW service, and she fakes it a lot of the time.

      • A says:

        She doesn’t need to be friends. But she doesn’t need to be rude to her either. If I acted the way Kate acted towards any of my sisters-in-law, or any relative that I had, my grandmother would have kicked my hiney back to the sea.

    • S808 says:

      She’s not a girls girl like Meg, it would’ve never happened even if it was strategic. Kate does not like other women lingering. Even if Meghan wouldn’t like William, it wouldn’t have stopped William from being attracted to her and that’s a possibility Kate Keen can’t afford.

    • Sara says:

      I said this in a thread from yesterday’s article but it applies here too. Has anyone ever heard of any female friends of Kate’s other than Pippa? It seems her whole late teens to adult life was to glare down any other woman in the room with her and William until they leave. Just like she’s never known work other than chasing William, it seems she’s never known healthy friendships with other females. Everything has always been about keeping William to herself and eventually it seems Harry too. What a sad, angry, lonely life that sounds like. Good thing she’s got her kids because who else does she have now other than her scheming mother, now that Pippa lives halfway across the world and is focused on her own family.
      Note to the other point brought up in this thread: No, women should not be expected to be best friends with every woman they know, but she doesn’t seem to have any female friends. And Meghan is family. I don’t like one of my SIL’s either but I’m kind to her when we interact.

      • Sofia says:

        She’s got some. The only ones who spring to mind is Sophie Carter, Emilie D’Erlanger and Hannah something (can’t remember her last name). I think her and Sophie are close but I don’t really know. Everybody else seem to have been William’s friends that she became friendly with after she became serious with him/married him.

        She was also friends with Rose but that friendship is most likely dead now.

      • one of the Marys says:

        @Sara is Pippa not in England?

      • Mary says:

        Sofia, none of those women were originally Kate’s friends. They were in William’s or Pippa’s circle. To my knowledge, none of Kate’s “friends” were ever just her friend.

      • Jaded says:

        @Sara – Pippa lives in London, not half-way around the world. I think you must be mistaking her for Meghan.

      • Cari says:

        Kate made friends with Emilia derlanger when they were at Marlborough – because Emilia was friends with William. She did it to get into williams circle and it worked.
        Sophie was the girlfriend of one of williams friend.

  2. Lena says:

    Not everyone is willing to wait around for a decade to secure the bag, Willy.

    • Lanie says:

      Exactly! I would never let a man string me along for 10 years, especially if we’re already in our thirties. That’s a whole lot of hesitation. Two years is not out of the ordinary for grown folks who already know who they are. 10 years is for that boyfriend you’ve had since freshman year of high school… because you are way too young to be married.

      • El says:

        Well, but that’s essentially the case of Will and Kate? They met as freshmen in college, didn’t they? That’s only a couple of years older than a freshman in high school, and most would agree that it’s still too young to marry. Most people I know who met in college wait until after they graduate to get married, and some even more – if both are planning to go into academia, it can be very hard to get accepted into the same program, which could put an end to the relationship.

      • Nic919 says:

        They met when they were 18 or 19 and while no one expected them to get married right after graduation, when they were 23, they didn’t get engaged until 29. Most women who want marriage would have wanted more of a commitment by 25. Plus Kate didn’t do anything with her life during that time but make sure she could answer William’s call. Had she pursued more education beyond an undergrad degree, then perhaps the delay could be explained a bit more, but Kate just did nothing. She didn’t even build a career, which most other women that she do. Even the york girls did more consistent work than her during that time period , albeit with plenty of holidays.

      • Tessa says:

        I honestly thought Kate and the Middletons expected the proposal right after William graduated from Sandhurst. They were mugging for the cameras and Kate mouthing that William was “sexy.” The media said Kate “dressed like a royal.” At the next appearance Kate also ‘dressed like a royal’ at a racetrack appearance with William and he looked very sullen. Soon after the breakup was announced. This was early in 2007.

      • Tealie says:

        @ El The difference is none of us sit on our couch living off our parents doing and trying to achieve nothing with no life plans for 10 years because we think we might be able to marry a rich man and are waiting for his every beck and call, she wasn’t just ‘dating him’ she was stalking him because her life depended on it. Can you IMAGINE what would have happend if he didn’t marry her. She would’ve been 29 with no job, no life, no income, no friends, no life experince, no talent, no prosepects, NOTHING. And i think she knew that too which is why the ultimatum eventually came into place.

  3. Feeshalori says:

    I originally wasn’t going to read this book since l always stay current with the information on this site. I felt l would just be reading a rehash of everything but I’ve since changed my mind. This book is coalescing all these stories together according to their appropriate timelines and this will be a goldmine to read.

    • BlueSky says:

      I wasn’t going to either at first. Then I started to read the excerpts from Vanity Fair and realized “wow, they are going in!” I’ve preordered the book and can’t wait to read it.

    • Becks1 says:

      Even for hardcore royal watchers, I think this book is going to be interesting. I don’t expect a lot of new information, but I think seeing it together all in place just drives home how horribly they were treated – we knew it, but reading these excerpts and seeing the Great Smear Campaign laid out again – it kind of breaks my heart, not to be too dramatic, lol.

      • Feeshalori says:

        Exactly, Becks1.

      • Nic919 says:

        I think this book with match Andrew Morton’s book in terms of interest as well as in terms of information disclosed that breaks open the murky machinations of the BRF.

  4. Priscila says:

    There is a lot to unpack there- the coded racism, the clear classicism, the toxic masculinity- so I will not .

    Instead, I will commend Kaiser once again for taking the time to choose these hilarious shots. I mean, William looks like he just farted and is pretending is not his- Catherine knows he just farted, but cannot comment on it, while Harry is trying his best to get cover and Meghan can barely hold it together, probably thinking the British Media would blame her- something about she feeding William with rotten avocados, setting the poor man up for such undignified behavior!

    • Suzanne Hurley says:

      Oh my goodness, Priscila. I laughed so hard at your comments about the photo. You are spot on. LOL.

      • Priscila says:

        Lol…I honestly do not know how Kaiser manages it, but it always makes me laugh!

    • Jegede says:

      There’s more to it than that. Harry is protecting William.

      Word is William tried to get other people and family members like Earl Spencer, to dissuade Harry from marrying Meghan.😑😑

      That’s why Harry doesn’t f0ck with his uncle anymore, and why Charles Spencer was absent form the christening pics.

      • Mumbles says:

        It doesn’t seem that the Sussexes are pulling punches here, why would Harry not spill this by now? It isn’t clear to me how close William and Harry are to Earl Spencer. None of the Spencers are in William’s children’s christening photos IIRC. And yes, while Harry had his Spencer aunts at the christening, there may be other reasons he didn’t have Earl Spencer. Every family has an uncle or aunt people don’t like.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Neither William nor Harry is close with their Spencer uncle. His behavior around Diana’s death, then profiting off Diana’s belongings for 20 years, etc.

      • Mary says:

        @jegede, yes and it had initially been reported that William told Harry that Meghan was not “suitable” to marry and went to the Queen with his concerns.

        Also, this alleged talk about “this girl” was made in August if 2017 when H & M were supposedly secretly engaged. If true, I could see why Harry was pissed off. Will and Kate stop Meghan from attending Diana’s memorial that month and Will refers to Meghan as “this girl” when she and Harry had already been going out for over A YEAR !!!???

      • Ella says:

        Protecting the Queen from seeing this unfold under her reign. After that….

        As ITV said in one of its reports:

        ‘We are spared the ugly details which underpin all those disagreements and we are unlikely to get those until a time when the Queen is no longer with us.‘

        The book seems to be a sanitised version of the truth. Its carefully hinting at alleged racial and sexual slurs from senior household members and staff. Read between the lines.

  5. Belli says:

    “Keep her hanging around for ten years. Break up a few times. Exhaust all your other options. Then and only then, give in and propose.”

    I can’t think why Harry didn’t model his relationship on William’s.

    • Priscila says:

      We should all aspire to be more like William. ( not)

      • notasugarhere says:

        Yes aspire to a #PigeonShrug marriage where the husband spends his free time visiting the neighboring Rose(s).

    • Nic919 says:

      Basically gaslight her until she caves and you can treat her like dirt throughout the marriage.

      William had already ditched his family to go to Jecca’s wedding over the Easter holiday by the time he was giving Harry this “advice” so maybe Harry didn’t care to listen to a man who treats his wife poorly.

      • Tealie says:

        wait long enough till she has no other life prospects or purpose if she doesn’t marry you, Then finally give her the ring after her mum blackmails after realisesing how FUCKED her daughter is if you don’t. Then make her beg, grovel and prostrate for you not to cheat on her with friends and deprive her of any female outlet and friends by confirming her insecurities so she can stay trapped at home with 500 nanies and the kids.

    • Lorri says:

      From all that I’ve read, William told Kate she was “the one” years before the engagement, and laid out his career plans and the timing. She knew it was going to be a long time before an official engagement, but he had assured her of her position. I don’t see Kate as the type not to ascertain his feeling and waste her life on nothing.

      • Nic919 says:

        Since they broke up in 2007 that certainly means he lied to her. She wasn’t sitting next to him at Diana’s memorial concert in 2007. Chelsy was next to Harry though. Was that part of the plan?

        And why didn’t Kate get an actual job this whole time? If she knew his plans, which is frankly the first I have ever heard of this, she still decided to sit on her ass and do nothing. Really makes her look lazy. At least if she didn’t know his plans She would have a better reason to not commit to any gainful employment.

      • Cari says:

        William repeatedly told his friends he did not consider Kate the one. And that was frequently printed in the papers. Charles told him to marry Kate or break up with her. He said he didn’t love her enough to marry her and broke up with her. He went to a nightclub, heLd his arms in the air and shouted “I’m free! I’m not getting married!” However all the girls he asked out after that, Turned him down. He made enquiries with a few girls he thought might be suitable marriage partners and they weren’t interested. Eventually he got back together with kate. His friends said they thought he only got back with her because he was too lazy to find someone else. Also because he was jealous of her flirting with other men at his favourite nightclubs, in front of his friends. One friend said “he knows he’ll look like a cad if he breaks up with her again, so that ties his hands somewhat” After they got back together Carol Middleton asked what his intentions were re her daughter and he assured her they would marry eventually. So yes there was an agreement for them to marry eventually, But Kate knew she wasn’t “the one“. She knew William was still in love with jecca and didn’t consider her the one.

      • Tessa says:

        I don’t think he did, judging by the cooling off periods and breakups by William. He was keeping his options open. Other women he pursued during the breakup did not want him. He also at a ski weekend bragged to his buddies he had “sex” waiting for him (meaning Kate). So it seems he did not have a respectful attitude to her and did not see her necessarily as a future wife. I think Kate thought it a “done deal” when she was preening and posing at the Sandhurst graduation. It wasn’t and soon after Will broke up with her.If it were a done deal Kate would not have invested all that time on the weekly appearances at clubs to show William “what he was missing.”

      • Tealie says:

        @ Cari I agree that it was because of the jealousy thing, (Kate knew which is why she played that card so well by going to nightclubs and flirting with his friends and I like every day) I don’t think William LOVES her, but rather wants ownership over her. He has that jock wants to own ‘the most popular girl in the school attitude’. And it’s very obvious from the way he behaves in their interviews and during her speeches that he doesn’t find her mentally stimulating.

    • A says:

      This sounds like the sort of advice Louis Mountbatten’s ghost would give lol.

  6. anonymous says:

    LMAO at William of all people giving relationship advice

    • Tessa says:

      William can’t even manage his own marriage, he would dart off for weekends like the “bachelor” weekend and hunting parties leaving the wife and children. Yet the Kate and Will stans ignore this.

  7. Edna says:

    What a clusterfuck. Both the BRF and Markles are toxic families. Can’t imagine being caught in the crosshairs like H&M were. Glad they left and put an ocean between them. The uproar from the courtiers, BRF, RRs and BM show their complicity. And their hollering and braying loudly cause their racism has been laid bared for the whole world to see. They can control their image in Britain, but they can’t control that image elsewhere. And boy do we see.

    • Brit says:

      Right!. They are literally proving everyone’s point and showing how obsessed they are with couple. They should’ve ignored this book if it was irrelevant and “full of lies” but they couldn’t help themselves because they know the others haven’t given them material and they need the Sussexes. I see desperation and hatred in all these headlines.

      • Ella says:

        Agree.

        The manic outrage is very telling and quite hilarious! Ironically giving the book credence and platform.

        The book will be read worldwide without filter.

    • A says:

      I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but every royal family that has ever existed, in history and now, is just trailer trash Duck Dynasty types, only with tiaras.

  8. Brit says:

    All of this over a book about an “irrelevant” couple that supposedly no one cares about. If I were the Sussexes in LA, I would be sitting and laughing all the way to the bank and all the Rota and media sycophants running around trying to clean up is only feeding the hysteria even more and giving the book more legs to stand on. Seriously, the RF is more deluded and out of touch then I imagined. They can’t possibly imagine that these courtiers, aides and media people actually value and respect them because it’s clear they don’t. Meghan and Harry got out of the circus. Being puppets and dancing to the tunes of others is not worth a crown and luxury.

  9. Love says:

    “‘Harry,’ William nodded, ignoring Meghan.”

    And she smiled throughout the whole thing because if she hadn’t, she would have been the angry black woman. Poor soul. Will black women ever know peace?

    Also… F Willz. And Kate. As an article on the guardian stated after this event, they will smile at dictators and all sorts of vile world leaders, but couldn’t even fake a hello and a smile for family for the world? No wonder their family is getting dragged. H&M are getting the blame, but their display on Commonwealth is an indication that the RF are the architects of their family’s Downfall.

    • Toot says:

      Exactly! W&K showed there true colors at that Commonwealth service.

    • Edna says:

      So true. She’d been labeled the uppity, don’t know her place, angry black woman if she’d misbehaved at the Commonwealth Service. The abuse hurled at Meghan is reminiscent of what so many black women live daily. The disrespect, the dehumanization, the demeaning. I don’t know how Meghan survived it playing out on the international stage.

    • Nic919 says:

      Kate does her hyena grins on every engagement but she couldn’t be bothered to fake a smile for her sister in law at a church service. What a petty sad bitch.

    • A says:

      William gets sent out on soft diplomacy trips to countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where the rulers treat the people, particularly the religious minorities, like they’re garbage. He’ll play nicely with them, but he won’t do it for his own brother’s wife, his sister-in-law. He’s nice to people who violently put down people protesting for civil rights, but can’t be nice to Meghan. All because she married Harry, which is clearly a crime that is far worse than being a despotic, dictatorial monarch of a petrostate.

  10. mina says:

    I somehow get why a brother/ sister, will say to take it easy when your sibling is dating someone. More if you have experienced trauma with your brother/ sister, you somehow grown to be overprotective.

    “Don’t rush things up” was something I told my older sister when she decided to marry her now ex- husband, after 20 years of an abusive and violent relationship. As a sibling you are afraid and scare they will get hurt. At least I was, and at the end I was right. Not saying this is the case at all with Meghan and Harry!!! I am just saying I get why as a sibling you can get overprotective.

    But, it might be as well that William’s tone was disrespectful ( I wasn’t there, so I cannot judge). I don’t think this was the main issue with the 2 of them, so I don’t get why people make it a big deal. I think the main issue is and was that William did not want to be overshadowed by his brother; and obviously racist treatment towards Meghan by the institution and press.

    • STRIPE says:

      I understand it even more if you are marrying into the BRF. Marrying into that family comes with a lot of exposure and baggage – Harry’s other girlfriends ran away from it. It’s possible they Will said it in way that Harry didn’t like, but in this case I don’t think that particular advice from Will was wrong.

      • notasugarhere says:

        As written above. William the constant cheater has no leg to stand on here when giving relationship advice. He’s spent almost two decades being used by the tacky Middleton family, while cheating left right and centre on Kate. William thinks he’s brilliant, but has no idea how lost he truly is. Harry is right to ignore any ‘advice’ from his abusive older brother.

      • Tessa says:

        William was VERY wrong to say this. Will had been putting Harry down for years, this is just par for the course.

    • Priscila says:

      You can say his tone was disrespectful because he called Megahn ” this girl”…and let´s not forget Harry knows his brother in and out, so if he took offense, I am inclined to believe he had good reason.

      • Harper says:

        There’s a way to touch on the subject lightly and with good humor and then drop it immediately. Harry would know the difference between genuine love/concern/goodwill and disdain. Men know how to good-naturedly approach each other on sensitive issues and move on and this obviously wasn’t that.

      • Lizzie says:

        And it’s disrespectful because this advice is appropriate for a 15 y/o and his fist crush.

      • The Quill says:

        Well I guess he could have said “this middle aged woman”.

      • Ella says:

        Switch ‘this girl’ for ‘boy’ – possibly code for racist language.

    • S808 says:

      The actions after this comment is what tells me William’s caution was not well intended. Even if he though they were moving too fast, he should’ve sucked it up and been nice to the woman his brother loves.

    • Tessa says:

      I think that is the role of parents not siblings. william is only 2 years older and had a very dysfunctional courtship of Kate. He had no business saying one word

    • Larry says:

      I have some thoughts on this but can’t really make them hang together – so bear with me.
      I doubt that all Willileaks said, as is usually being reported, was ‘take it slow’. I think that’s fair enough as a thing to say between siblings, especially when they have a close relationship. What is unusual is that saying something along those lines has the severe repercussions we are seeing in W&H’s case – if anyone will cut me some slack for the crap I come out with (including questioning whether she is moving too fast with a partner) and not hold grudges, it’s my sister. This makes me think that W must have voiced his concerns in a way that made it unacceptable to Harry – and if your brother, who you were allegedly close to, will not forgive you for it then it must have been BAD. As in, not “just” the implicitly misogynistic and racist sentiments of some of the language used in the retelling of the event but probably much much more explicitly so.

      • Mary says:

        @larry, as I indicated up thread, the story has changed somewhat regarding what William said to Harry. It was initially said that he said that Meghan was not “suitable.” This came out about the same time as Phil’s comment about actresses

        I think you are right and William said something far more offensive to Harry than simply “take it slow…”

      • The Quill says:

        Nope! Couldn’t possibly be Harry was being overly sensitive. Three months and he proposes? Considering the family he comes from this is just dumb. And thinking with little head. And she says yes after all of the warnings. I don’t feel any sympathy for these two. Victims of entitlement.

      • Tealie says:

        @The Quill they dated for a year and a half and are almost in their 40s, I’m sorry if the facts get in the way though

    • beccab says:

      Harry was in his 30’s-he is not a young man who has never been with women. He knew what he was looking for in a partner. His brother acted like Harry was an 18 year old, very condescending.

  11. greenmonster says:

    Saying that Meghan is “coming with a lot of baggage” is rich coming from ANYONE in or around this family. The British Royals have the biggest baggage claim to ever exist.

    • Elizabeth Regina says:

      AMEN!

    • S808 says:

      HELLO! Markles and the Windsors are the same shitty family but in different tax brackets.

      • Itsme says:

        Do the Windsor’s actually pay taxes? I thought they followed the Trump Tax Paradigm….move money assets around; over value or under value real and tangible assets. All done to cheat the state and federal tax men. What was it that Mrs. Helmsley said before they threw her ass in the slammer for tax evasion….”only the little people pay taxes”.

    • Tessa says:

      William has his own baggage. He’s not perfect and he’s pulled some nasty stunts in his time, like he PR commercial flight with the wife and kids.

    • Jaded says:

      Yup – more baggage than a 747.

    • Abena Asantewaa says:

      To claim that Meghan has a lot of baggage is the biggest lie and a joke. Meghan did not bring children into this relationship, she is scandal free, she is rich, she was a divorcee, so is Andrew, Charles, Camilla, Ann, The late Margaret, so I can only think of one reason; her colour tone. Harry detected objection in Williams tone, he is his brother, he will know. William added insult to i jury by regarding Meghan as a sex object to be used, not to marry, but Harry has taken his time to know Meghan deeper, and was offended by it. Rightly so. Subsequent events have informed us that, this is not the advice of a caring brother, full stop!

    • Lowrider says:

      If Meghan comes with a lot of baggage then what about Harry!?!?!

    • A says:

      Prince Philip’s sisters were f-cking Nazis!!! They got disinvited from his wedding because of that. The Queen’s own uncle, her father’s older brother, shook hands with Hitler. The Queen’s great-uncle, her grandfather’s cousin, was Kaiser Wilhelm II!!! How in the world are you going to look down your nose at a person like Meghan and say that SHE has too much baggage when you’re related to Kaiser f-cking Wilhelm II???!?!!?!

      • Tessa says:

        Also the QUeen’s grandfather did not allow the Tsar (his lookalike cousin) and his family have exile in England. The whole family was murdered in 1918, talk about baggage! And one of the Grand Duchesses was even considered as possible bride for the Prince of Wales and would have been George V’s daughter in law.

      • A says:

        @Tessa, omg, don’t even get me started on how they left the tsar and his family in the cold (quite literally). It’s amazing how quickly and easily both Wilhelm and George V gave way to political wrangling in that situation, and disregarded the fact that the tsar was their cousin. I read about how Wilhelm really didn’t feel all that bad or responsible for Nicholas II dying, even though it was his advisors who decided to put Lenin on a sealed train back to Moscow. When push came to shove, they really only cared about themselves beyond everything else. It’s all so chilling to think about.

  12. Faye says:

    William never gave Meghan a chance it seems. I understand completely why Harry was pissed when William gave his opinion without even meeting her first.

    Meghan was an actress, but she was never involved in mess.

    • Beach Dreams says:

      They never had a problem with Cressida being an actress…

      • Toot says:

        Exactly. That’s why Harry was like, WTF. He knew the warnings were based in bs.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Or with Cressida coming from a family with a whole pile of divorces, marriages, step-siblings, half-siblings, and a family suicide scandal.

      • Tessa says:

        William was interested in Cressida’s half sister who had the sense to turn him down. He probably would have had a “soft spot” for Cressida especially if her half sister spent time visiting her. Kate would have felt threatened by Cressida but she would not have made trouble because William liked Cress’ half sister.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Kate would have constantly made trouble for Cressida. Very Diana against Fergie passive-aggressive trouble. Kate would have taken her ongoing jealousy about Isabella C out on Cressida.

      • Mary says:

        I may be misremembering but I recall that the weekend Kate went all dramatic and was rushed to the hospital when pregnant with George (sorry, don’t believe it was HG) and William had been away with friends for the weekend ….. Cressida was there as well and William was meeting her for the first time…..

        I don’t think Kate would have been friendly to any woman Harry married.

      • Digital Unicorn says:

        @Mary – that hospital dash where she drove HERSELF to the hospital from her parents house and made sure the paps saw AND papped her. Yeah I can bet it was done to make William toe the line on something.

      • Tealie says:

        @notasugarhere it’s not even a ‘would have’ she DID, Harry and Cressida were considering getting back together in 2015 but Kate was whispering in his ear not to o (obviously because of Isabella), but year apparently Kate was very cold and nasty to her too, to the point they had a few ‘spats’.

    • reef says:

      Meghan’s family is and was a red flag. I do NOT blame William for not liking her by how her family acted. It is and was embarrassing. For a group of people that care so much about outward appearances and breeding, Meghan’s family’s shenanigans would put me off my brother’s gf too.
      HOWEVER, one thing I’ve always commended Harry on was his resoluteness when it came to Meghan. He was so SURE about her early on and has been pretty consistent and steadfast in his desire to protect her. That would’ve won ME over.

      • AMM says:

        Harry’s family is a giant red flag. The are covered in divorces, affairs, financial scandals, child predators, racism, etc. They are the Kardashians with titles.

      • Sofia says:

        And Harry’s isn’t? Remind me: which family has a pedo in their midst?

      • Feeshalori says:

        But didn’t Meghan’s family rear its ugly head after the engagement? Up till then, they were quiet during the dating years so if William was warning Harry about her it was for his own objectives.

      • GuestWho says:

        OMG – I can’t stop laughing at this comment. HER family was a red flag? The Windsors are the trashiest of wealthy, entitled white trash.

      • reef says:

        Are y’all really acting like there wasn’t more incentive for Megan to marry into The British Royal Family vs Harry marrying into her Redneck family. Truly?! We’re really gonna pretend like those two things are on the same level – Pedo uncle and all? lol ok.

      • Nic919 says:

        Meghan had a job, made decent money and had name recognition. Why would she have any more nefarious incentive to marry into the family than Kate, jobless woman with parents looking to merch the royal connection? Concerns about Meghan in this regard are a fraction of the social climbing that Kate and her family did here. William of all people couldn’t speak to that being one of the concerns considering his own in laws.

      • Sid says:

        Reef, I am not sure what you are saying. First you said that William was right to question Harry because of the kooky Markles. Then people pointed out that the Markles didn’t start acting up until after the engagement, which would have been long after the point in the relationship when William apparently questioned him. Now you’re saying that Meghan had more incentive to marry in, which I take you to mean William was right to question her because she could have been a golddigger. In that case, who is the brother that married into the social-climbing wannabe-upper class family with a sketchy party favor business that couldn’t possibly bring in anywhere near the money needed to fund their lifestyle? As Nic919 said above, William should have been the last person to call out that sort of thing.

      • Tessa says:

        Tom Markle did not act up until about a week before the wedding. To all intents and purposes he was scheduled to attend.

      • A says:

        Harry’s uncle, Andrew, is friends with a sex-trafficking child rapist, and Andrew himself has been credibly accused of raping a trafficked minor. This man literally sat in front of the BBC cameras and told the whole world that he doesn’t sweat, and genuinely thought it was a reasonable excuse for how he couldn’t have possibly raped a sex-trafficked minor. It’s likely that he will never be able to set foot in the US again, because of the ongoing legal issues with the Epstein case.

        But yeah, Meghan’s family is the one with the red flags. William is a gigantic disgusting hypocrite, just like the rest of the royals.

  13. Ryan says:

    Just because Will’s one comment could be arguably borne out of general brotherly concern it does not mean he’s excused from being shitty the rest of the time.

    I’ve given that advice to friends over the years, and received it, too. So what? One sound comment does not a decent person make.

    • Lizzie says:

      He also referred to an accomplished and successful bi-racial woman in her mid 30’s as ‘this girl’ while giving unasked for advice.
      Per Ann Landers, just MYOB. LOL-I am so old!

    • Tealie says:

      if Harry felt his tone was out of real brotherly concern I doubt he would’ve been upset, they’ve grown up together their whole lives, I’m sure Harry knew exactly what he meant and the context text of ‘this girl’.

  14. Sofia says:

    I said this in the other article so I’ll copy and paste here too:

    Nothing wrong with saying slow down and advising but if your brother is confident in the relationship, you should try and be supportive – even if you think the relationship will crash and burn.

    If this marriage is a mistake then it’s Harry and Meghan’s mistake and it’s theirs to make. Family members shouldn’t be butting in and passing judgment so freely, especially when the rest of the world is already doing it.

  15. Digital Unicorn says:

    This made me LOL so hard:

    “After all, these are two brothers that have spent their whole lives with people trying to take advantage of them. They’ve both developed a radar to detect that type of person,”

    The Middletons are the BIGGEST users, I guess Willileaks’ ‘radar’ was too distracted by all the cheese and toast it was getting on Carole’s lap.

    Also the Palace never shut down the Middletons, even with their brazen cashing in, leaking stories to the press and pap trolling.

    • Beach Dreams says:

      Right? If Will is so worried about people taking advantage of them, then he should’ve looked at who he married and the family he married into.

    • Priscila says:

      I have my theories on Beatrice and Edo, as I have my theory on William and Catherine, and both give them way more credit for their choices than our initial readings.

      I think both couples got exactly what they wanted.

      William might have seen the Middletons for what they were- sometime before the wedding and decided this suited him very well. He would gain his own minions for life, people whose good graces came from him and him alone. I think, after Diana died, and the shock passed, Harry and William diverged. Harry sought to find true meaning to his life, while William sought to control everything. The Middletons are people he can control- FFS. they actually embrace being Team Willy for life!

      As for Beatrice and Edo, I get the feeling they are indeed great friends. I see them being comfortable with each other, not terribly in love. Beatrice was raised in this family, has lost ten years on her life on afailed relationship and probably was tired with the whole ” old maid” label they were trying to place on her and there comes Edo, who for whatever reason did not want to marry his babymomma, but wanted to settle- They both did, and they both are obviously making the best out of it.

      • notasugarhere says:

        He cannot control the Middletons. We’ve seen for years how the Middletons use the press against William, when he wanders too far from home.

        The first baby’s vacation to Mustique? William was nowhere to be seen. The Middletons allowed Mummy Kate to be photographed with the baby at a remote airport. Didn’t protest the publication of those photos when they protested others. Why? Because William was off hunting with Jecca. In response? Kate got a 10 day kid-free vacation with William.

        William caught partying with blonds in Switzerland? Kate gets the third baby William didn’t want.

        That ridiculous story about amazing yummy mummy Kate swimming in pearl earrings? That was the shot across the bow by Carole and Kate, in the face of the Rose info that dropped a few weeks later. Trying to get public sympathy for Kate as the SAHM done wrong by the cheating husband.

      • Priscila says:

        @notasugarhere Willaim has the ultimate power, no matter how Momma Middleton can spin the situation to their advantage. Kate already gave him heirs, she is literally nothing without him- she has no real qualifications other than an internship and a rich woman´university degree.
        If William wants them out, they would be out. He is even laying out the groundwork for the possibility, by being portrayed as poor William, without a mom, who seeks Carole´s comfort.

        So yes, Carole has the ilusion of Power, but William has it.

      • notasugarhere says:

        William, with backing of the Windsors, has ultimate power. That hasn’t stopped Kate and Carole from playing these PR games with him in public for years. Their ongoing connection to the MOS editors makes them think they have power. The recent Tatler exercise showed otherwise.

      • Tealie says:

        I agree with the Edo thing, that relationship seems completely borne out of the “near 30 baby panick” and Beatrice wanted to feel comforted by a familiar face after breaking up with her last boyfriend and the stress of thinking she’d wasted 10 years of her life on a man she thought she‘d marry.
        However, I completely disagree about the Middleton’s thing, if they need to they would crash and burn William to the ground if he ever dumped or did anything to Kate. Their love for him extends as far as their daughters connection to him and his wallet. No doubt would Carole go to the press to talk about Williams affair if she needed to to make Kate look good.

    • Gilda says:

      Don’t forget Uncle Gary. I’d say he’s as trashy as the Markles by any stretch.

  16. NoWords says:

    “I won’t even mention bi-racial.”

    You did mention it and it’s pretty clear what you’re implying. There is literally nothing wrong with any of the things you mentioned about Meghan that you deemed unsuitable. Maybe take some time to re-evaluate your values and how you view other people. Life is a lot better when you let go of hating everyone.

    Edit: well SharonK’s specific comment I was replying to is gone but my point still stands, sharonk.

  17. RoSco says:

    I kind of wonder if Will initially had a genuine big brother concern that Meghan could be pulling the wool over his eyes because of how quickly everything moved. (Harry went from zero to 100 REAL quick taking her to Botswana on their third date. And there are a ton of people who WOULD try to take advantage of a love struck prince.) Then Harry lashed out at Will’s well meaning advice and chose a virtual stranger, with the ill will between the two growing worse ever since. I’m not defending Will’s latter actions, just saying what if this started out with good intentions on both sides and now it’s turned into THIS mess? That would be even more tragic.

    • Shane says:

      It very could have been well intentioned initially, but why was it allowed to fester. He could have cautioned his brother and then welcomed Meg into the fold after he realised they were serious.

      And if we’re talking about choosing strangers, what about the conversations with strangers that Will had in pubs about putting his arm round his brother. I shudder at what else he has said.

      Basically, it just seems to me that William is incapable of putting his good intentions in sentences not construed as condescending and patronising.

      Maybe he means well, but he needs to work on his messaging. In other non Harry related examples, see: coronavirus comments.

    • Elizabeth Regina says:

      Interesting take. I think Harry having grown up with William all his life knows his brother well enough to know if the concern shown was genuine. He probably watched Willileaks shag around on K and felt he had no moral standing to give such unsought for advice. Harry is in his 30s. Even if choosing M is a mistake, he will find out soon enough. Not everyone wants to marry someone who waited around for 10 years and only got chosen because first ad second choice potential brides said no.

    • Lizzie says:

      If there were good intentions they would have been shown publicly. Not some super secret vegan dinner made up a few years later.

      • Tessa says:

        William had no good intentions IMO. It was a put down of his brother. I don’t think Harry liked the superior smarmy attitude of his brother who apparently sulked when Harry told him to get lost.

    • Shelley says:

      What do you mean real quick to Botswana?? According to those stolen text messages by the SUN tabloid, Harry had to BEG Meghan to go to Botswana with him. She was skeptical.

  18. JTrain says:

    I think it’s totally normal to worry and suggest they are moving too fast. It’s totally normal a big brother to suggest slowing down.

    However, if my older brother rolled out of the rose bushes, with some thorns still in his ass and then wanted to tell me relationship advice…I would shut it down too.

    Kate cold-shouldered Meghan due to her need to be accepted by the aristocracy. The joke was on her. They may not like Meghan, but they seem to respect her.

    Will and Kate have been living on credit for too long and standing next to a couple that pays their bills on time was not part of the plan.

    I have a feeling the book makes way more sense if you put in the line …..

    “Remember everyone knew Will was cheating on Kate and the both of them hate working”

    • Flamingo says:

      When has the aristocracy respected Meghan? I must have missed that. Harry supposedly cut off this old aristo friends, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they respect him or Meghan.

    • Sofia says:

      “They may not like Meghan, but they seem to respect her.”

      I don’t think the aristo’s respect Meghan at all. They don’t even like/respect white and british Kate (even in 2020 – at this point she’s been with William for almost 20 years) so I doubt they respect biracial and american Meghan.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Some aristos may have respect for Meghan because she doesn’t care about them, doesn’t care about fitting in with them, doesn’t see automatic value in them or their titles. While the Middletons have spent 30 years bowing and scraping to the aristocrats and are still disliked by them.

      • JTrain says:

        I think you said my intentions better. Maybe I should have said “tolerate” instead of “respect”.

        The aristocracy and Meghan seemed to be fine staying in their own lanes. Negative stories about Kate and Will seem to be on a larger scope from within the establishment outside of the palace. Meghan stories are avocado toast from inside the palace walls.

      • notasugarhere says:

        I don’t perceive that as ‘tolerate’ but more respecting her for thinking they don’t matter. It might be a grudging respect on their part.

    • Lizzie says:

      I imagine there is a lot Harry knew about both W&K but he was always supportive of Kate. He was right to expect the same courtesy.

  19. Lanie says:

    The whole Harry being bewitched/love struck by Meghan is based on a super racist trope, so people need to stop trotting it out in defense of a classist, racist future future king.

    • Priscila says:

      Yep! Meghan and Harry courtship is completely normal for a couple in their thirties and with failed relationships behind them. It is not two crazy guys out of college eloping!
      But William wants to demoralize them as to look the better one. Is completely normal for people out of college to wait years before settling down, but William wants to be lauded for it. Simply doing normal stuff wont do, and Harry must always be taken down a few pegs to make William look wiser.

    • A says:

      I was just thinking the same thing when reading that quote about Harry being ‘blindsided by lust’. What an absolutely unacceptable thing for the future King of GB&NI, as well as head of the Commonwealth, to say.

      • Tessa says:

        Harry should find that picture of William on the cover of the Sun with two women next to him, the day after the breakup with Kate. And Will looked ‘lustful’ about one of the women.

  20. Elizabeth Regina says:

    Oh the irony. M’s family’s dysfunction has nothing on the Windsors. Extramarital affairs, check, paedophilia, check, bullimia and eating disorders, check, toe sucking in public, check, butt cheeks baring whilst on public duties, check, charity embezzlement by said alleged paedophile, check, bad mouthing the queen, check, shagging the husband of the wife your brother destroyed his marriage for, check, hiding in the deepest closet in plain view, check, giving a TV interview admitting your unfaithfulness/friendship with a convicted paedophile, check. The list as you can imagine goes on and on and that’s only what we can see. Please take several royal seats.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      The BRF is such a ridiculous mess – and that’s why they are the soap opera of all the European royals, though the Spanish RF is just as messy and corrupt. I always find it hilarious when people try to argue that the BRF is better than the other European royal families – because the BRF has had way more public scandal than any of the others (excepting the Spanish) and they don’t seem to get along even as a family. Bottom line, the BRF is trash because they are by and large shitty people who don’t know how to treat each other (and especially the people who join their family) decently. I think it all comes down to the fact that they have valued the institution above the family for too long (and have let staff meddle in family matters) – and the last 30-40 years have shown that this has been a mistake, especially in a modern media landscape.

      • A says:

        Nahh, pretty much every royal family, both deposed and still existing, is a steaming hot mess of epic proportions. And they always have been, they always will be. The Spanish are just a peculiar sort, but the Dutch and the Danish royal families are just as shady and weird as well. Same with the Belgian. And let’s not even get into the Luxembourg grand ducal family either. The less said about them the better.

        And then there’s my personal favourite, Ernst August of Hanover, whose greatest hits include beating up a papparazzi while his wife/mistress Princess Caroline watched from the car, and that one time he got drunk and got dinged for public urination.

      • Couch potato says:

        @A: There are rotten apples in all (royal) families, but the Windsors are pretty much a barrel full of rotten apples. The Norwegian royal family for instance is pretty close and not scheming against each other. They have Princess Martha Louise, who is weird AF, but she’s not mean spirited.

      • A says:

        @Couch potato, the Norwegians, surprisingly, are the only ones who are really somewhat decent. But the larger problem with most other royal families is not the few rotten apples. It’s the structural issues that allow and continue to enable those rotten apples to do what they do without any consequences. The set up itself does not lend itself well when it comes to raising people who are decent, well-adjusted and not just flat out batsh-t crazy, and that’s the problem.

      • Tealie says:

        I agree I need a little about the Spanish royal family with the whole money laundering thing, but I feel like they could be a competitor. However their inclined dysfunction has ended with King Felipe who has brought order, function and warmth back to the Spanish royal family something that we can DEFINITELY not say with William.

        The British Royal family is the only European royal family who is REFUSING to clean up their act and move out of the 1960s, going so far as to protect a paedophile, which makes their dysfunction incomparable.
        Even Felipe was able and willing and respected the Spanish public enought to petition for his father and sisters ‘abdication’, conviction and remova to establish a moral precedent. QEII is pretty much ready to destroy the entire institution (which i honestly don’t care about, the sooner the better 🤞🏽) bribe the courts, media and sacrifice her supposedly ‘favourite’ grandchild and family just to keep her favourite son by her side.

  21. Emily says:

    Family can give their opinion once. And if it’s advice given with good intentions, then with good intention, they will give your partner a fair shake.

  22. taylor says:

    Kate is little off tbh. Between the Diana cosplay, dressing her kids to match old photos, and color stalking Meghan I think she may have a few issues. I 100% think she felt threatened by Meghan, and her complicity in the British media boosting her up for the ultimate purpose of bringing Meghan down will always be a stain on her character. Will is a bully with issues too, but that’s less surprising given his upbringing.

    • Ella says:

      Definitely threatened and very insecure. Similar to the way she treated Letizia on one of the Royal pantomime days.

      She modernised her style when Meghan was on the scene then swiftly returned to granny chic once Meghan left. What a pity. She looks really nice when she dresses her age.

      • Nic919 says:

        Oh that was unbelievable. To ignore the Queen of Spain by the granddaughter in law of the Queen. Letizia was polite but you know that slight will be remembered. Very classless and showed a complete misunderstanding of royal etiquette. Letizia is the consort of a monarch and Kate is nothing right now.

  23. Becks1 says:

    I feel like the showgirl comment had to be Phillip, right? or maybe Andrew? I don’t think it was from a younger royal.

    Also, “something about her I don’t trust.” Gee, what could it be?!?!?!?!

    • Lizzie says:

      LOL, she is not the one the FBI want to interview.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      The “showgirl” comment reeks of Philip – only someone that ancient would call an actress thus.

      • Mumbles says:

        Certainly someone very old. Are there even showgirls these days? All I could think of was the movie “The Prince and the Showgirl” with Marilyn Monroe…from the 1950s.

    • Lizzie Bathory says:

      Yup. I also thought Philip. When you look at the big picture of how this family talked about the woman Harry fell so deeply in love with, it’s even more clear why he left. I mean “showgirl,” “degree wife,” “this girl,” “blindsided by lust,” etc, etc. Geez.

    • Lemons says:

      I honestly can’t believe they still would say those things after ALL the work and goodwill she brought the family. Some people just don’t want to succeed if it means working with and alongside those they feel should be working FOR them.

  24. Linda says:

    There’s nothing wrong with advising a sibling to take it slow in a relationship. I did the same thing with my Sister and I wish she had listened because her marriage turned out to be abusive. However if your sibling decides to go on with it, you should wish them all the best and be supportive of the person’s decision.

    • Tessa says:

      An abusive relationship is one thing and of course there should be warnings and intervention. No question. But there were no bad signs about Meghan even though some stories had been invented about her on some of the anti Meghan blogs. It really was none of Wiliam’s business. If Harry had decided to marry Pippa after less than a year’s courtship of course it would not be rushed and perfectly fine.

    • Tessa says:

      An abusive relationship is one thing and of course there should be warnings and intervention. No question. But there were no bad signs about Meghan even though some stories had been invented about her on some of the anti Meghan blogs. It really was none of Wiliam’s business. If Harry had decided to marry Pippa after less than a year’s courtship of course it would not be rushed and perfectly fine.

  25. S808 says:

    Harry knows his brother much better than the rest of us and (allegedly) said he can “see through” what William was saying about slowing down. Maybe the intention was good (doubt it) but he and, by extension, Kate didn’t seem to rectify it by welcoming Meghan. This shows that William didn’t want Meghan around from the start imo. This comment wouldn’t have been a big deal if Meghan had truly been welcoming into the fold.

  26. sara says:

    this is all – maybe william was projecting since this was happening around the same time (william being caught by tmz on that skiing trip dancing with a variety of women) https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/03/kate-middleton-prince-william-ski-trip

  27. Deanne says:

    There is nothing weird or sinister about telling someone that they don’t have to rush into things. Especially when it’s a family member or close friend and a relationship seems to be moving very quickly. The problem is that whenever someone I’ve known has done this, the reaction doesn’t tend to be good. People feel insulted and clearly Harry felt that way. The other thing is that Harry was a 32 year old man and Meghan was 35.They were grown ass adults who knew what they wanted. They were in love and wanted to start their lives together and that clearly included having children. The timeline was quick, but Harry didn’t have the luxury of meeting her at 18 and stringing her along for a decade until he decided that she’d paid her dues and he was ready to reward her patience. I can’t understand why Kate wouldn’t want to befriend Meghan. Having a real ally in that hornet’s nest of a family would be something that I’d think would be appealing to anyone.

    • Tessa says:

      Harry was not 18 about to elope. He was in his thirties and had one long term relationship and another serious one of a few years. William is not perfect himself not by a long shot and only two years older. HE also is not “in charge”. Though he think he might be. I don’t think William is a nice person and he could have been very patronizing in his talk to Harry. It is never a good idea to “caution” a person about a significant others. Some live to regret giving “advice” since it alienates the person being “cautioned”. It could cause a lifelong rift. Some future in laws can be cut off by the couple and never even see their grandchildren, nephews, nieces, et al. William should not have been pompous.

      • Deanne says:

        Did you not read my comment? I said that Harry was a grown ass adult and ready to begin his life with the woman he loved, not a teenager.

    • Tessa says:

      I just put in my own two cents and commented. Not a criticism of your post. In general I think Willliam is getting above himself. I even saw some posts on blogs implying that William would get his hands on Duchy money and cut off funding for his brother.

      • Deanne says:

        I honestly think that William is jealous of Harry and not the other way around as the Daily Mail loves to claim. Not that he wants Meghan for himself or anything like that, but Harry is getting to live the life he chooses, with the woman he loves and isn’t going to play second place and sidekick to his brother for the rest of his life. They’ve already robbed Harry of his military titles and patronages, you’d think that they couldn’t go lower, but I’m sure they’ll try.

      • Tealie says:

        @ Deanne oh I have no doubt about it that Williams is going to try his darnedest to rob of anything else to soothe his ego if he becomes King.

    • February-Pisces says:

      They had already been together 2 years when they got married, not 2 months. Now they have been together at least 4 years and still going strong with a baby. All this concern is bollocks now because Meghan has proven herself to be trustworthy and dedicated to harry and to this day after all the mud that was slung at her from that family, she never threw any back.

  28. TheOriginalMia says:

    I’ll admit that I, as a black woman, bristled at the talk of Kate taking Meghan under her wing to educate her. What could Kate, who never held a job, barely works the role she has, educate Meghan on? Sounded like a bunch of white savior nonsense that I wasn’t here for. I never expected them to be anything more than SILs/coworkers. Kate’s personality wouldn’t allow it. That much was clear from her treatment of Chelsea, Cressida and the York sisters. If you can’t help her, you’re a threat. I did not expect her to be so blatant in her disdain. The Commonwealth ceremony showed Kate for the petty mean-girl she is. Hard to put the genie back in the bottle once it’s out there for all to see.

    As for William, Harry knows his brother. I’m sure this isn’t the first time William has made comments about the women he and Harry have been involved with. Harry knows when William is being sincere and caring and when he’s being an unmitigated ass and snob. He knew what William was saying about Meghan and he didn’t like it.

    • Ennie says:

      Protocol is a new thing. I understand if it had been done. The Japanese empress is a very educated and accomplished woman and became sick upon finding the way the Japanese Royal family expectations. As for the British, Nothing that Meghan could not have learn, but it would have looked great.
      I don’t like how the future-futures have acted, but it would have been nice to see some empathy. Diana is not here, and even as she was an aristocrat, she suffered with the royal life, and even as she dis not have much of an education, she became a knowledgeable woman in what she was doing. I think she would have been shaking her head at FFQ.

    • Alexandria says:

      Awesome point. Kate can’t even handle skirts or talking with her normal voice. Meghan accomplished so much for herself without the BRF help. All these talk about Kate being a white saviour doesn’t even have any leg to stand on. She wants to champion mental health and well-being of children and has not issued even ONE statement of support for her sister in law or her nephew.

  29. Chelsea says:

    Did y’all see this part of Omid’s interview with the Times?

    “”A member of staff at BP once said that he was “surprised” to hear Scobie, who went to a public school, speak with received pronunciation. “I can understand how difficult it must be for a mixed-race American woman to step into that household & be treated as an equal”

    Is it any wonder that courtiers had trouble dealing with an intelligent biracial woman who had a voice of her own? It’s so frustrating to read quotes like this and the ones above where the courtiers say there was just “something” about her they didnt trust right from the start. Their minds were all ready made up, there was nothing she could do to change their minds. They took every word or action from her as an opportunity to reinforce their biases against her and worse they used the press to reinforce the same biases to the masses.

    I have no idea how Meghan put up with that crap for so long. She’s a much stronger and classier woman than me.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      Racism is the HUGE elephant in the room in all of this – and it looks like FF is dancing around this issue.

      • blue36 says:

        The book does go over some racist incidents like Harry’s friend leaving comments such as the n word and mulatto on Meghan’s instagram account, so anyone reading it will definitely catch the hint. Unsurprisingly this isn’t a topic of tabloid or talkshow conversation. Apparently the actual truth isn’t even in the book and is a lot worse according to an insider. I don’t know why someone would say that to a publication, it just provides ammunition for someone to go digging for the “real” story. I understand there are legal implications for why it can’t be published, but at some point someone is going to spill if they are enticed enough by the tabs or other journalists.

      • Ella says:

        Agree. Likely from a future King….

    • Nic919 says:

      I saw that comment. And let’s not forget OfMichael and her racist broach at the Xmas dinner. She didn’t get kicked out for wearing that and she should have.

  30. Andrew’s Nemesis says:

    @Calibration I’m completely in the despise-Kate camp, but this is a step too far. I was full-blown anorexic in my teens, borderline anorexic in my twenties and am fighting it now, every day, every time I lift a forkful of food to my mouth. Reading this hurt. Just think about that, would you?

    • Jaded says:

      Thank you Andrew’s Nemesis – EDs are an illness and those suffering shouldn’t be blamed for it. It’s like blaming someone who gets MS or type 1 diabetes, it’s not a choice one makes. Having had a sister who died from EDs, my sympathy goes out to each and every person who is struggling and I wish you well.

  31. BL says:

    I loathe my SIL (now ex SIL) but I was always very “pleasant and chatty” at family events. Kate didn’t even pretend to throw Megs a bone.

  32. Moo says:

    Kate looks deeply unhappy in photos.

    • Tealie says:

      That’s what happens to you when you have no purpose in life but to be at the beck and call of your cheating for philandering husband, and only find self-worth in your titles and feeling like you’re above people that you really are not.

      not only feel threatened by Megan as a female, but also because Megan didn’t find validation in her titles or believe Kate worth what was held in hers

  33. Snappyfish says:

    This isn’t a defense of anyone just a comment. When my sister got out of a rather long relationship she quickly rebounded to a guy she had just met. The old BF was getting married & we were all fearful she would jump into something. I sat her down & told her to take things slow & gentle. No reason to rush w/the new guy. Who was perfectly lovely.

    She got mad at me but knew I was worried about her. They did slow it down (lovely man was at the helm of that) & now 9 years later they have a lovely 2 year old named Matilda.

    • February-Pisces says:

      There is nothing wrong with telling a loved one to ‘slow down’, it’s perfectly reasonable that’s why I don’t entirely believe this story as it’s told. I think there’s a lot more to it and I think Willie threw in a load of ‘she’s not suitable’ type of jibes at him. Also by the time of the wedding they have already been together for atleast 2 years so I think they knew each other pretty well by then.

      • Feeshalori says:

        And who knows what kind of offensive language William may have used about Meghan in his “she’s not suitable” lecture? Especially if Harry was resistant, William might have gotten pretty raw and blunt in terminology to get his point across. That would have been understandably very upsetting for Harry if it went down that way.

      • BOYD says:

        “slow down” they are in their 30’s.. yeah let’s wait another 5 years honey you’ll be 41. They dated for 2 years.

  34. Ella says:

    Watch Kate and Meghan’s entrance on the balcony for the RAF flypast in July 2018. Brrrrr! Ice Queen!

    Her mask really slipped on the Commonwealth Day service. Shameful mean girl behaviour.

    Both events caught on livestream so the edited defence is void.

    If this was in public, imagine what went on behind closed doors.

    • Nic919 says:

      That was when Kate decided to stand in the centre of the balcony with all the spouses and basically pushed Camilla out of centre position.

      • Ella says:

        YouTube clip straight from their fave newspaper, the DM:
        ‘Royal family watch spectacular RAF flypast to mark its centenary’

        ‘Move along’… ‘Move further’…’Mooove!’ Her face! The so-called body language experts would have a field day.

      • February-Pisces says:

        Every trooping the colour since Meghan, Kate pushes herself to the front. Meghan literally hangs in the back. But of course poor Kate is just a shy woman who doesn’t like attention. I think in 2018 she’s literally stood right in front of her, blocking meghans view. Kate didn’t turn around to include Meghan, it was a straight up body block.

      • Tessa says:

        Kate always knew the cameras were around and mugged outrageously for them.

  35. Berry says:

    Meghan was always going to have major problems integrating herself into the BRF. She isn’t British. She’s not from the upper classes or have upper class connections and she’s bi-racial. That’s already already three strikes against her in an institution that prides itself on tradition and continuity.

    Meghan also has a very dynamic personality. She wanted to get involved in lots of projects right away. I could see how that amount of energy and initiative might be threatening to people used working at a slower pace

  36. A says:

    There are so many things to say about what William said to Harry, regarding the relationship with Meghan. I think that anyone who says that he only meant well, or that he was coming from a good place, is ignorant of several things at play, specifically the fact that it was William who said this. Coming from anyone else, it would have been well meaning advice. Coming from William, it’s hard to see it as anything other than an attempt at sabotage.

    First, Harry knows William better than most of the rest of us. He has grown up with him, is used to him, and while they might not be close, he knows the way his moods are and what he means when he says certain things. And I think that, when Harry says that William was being snobby, he’s right. William, behind closed doors, is not rumoured to be a nice person. There are plenty of rumours that he’s a haughty, upright, self-centered prick, who’s more than a little right wing in his views. I absolutely believe that he looks down his nose at certain types of people, and he has a less than charitable view of entertainers for the most part. So I don’t think that Harry is being touchy or sensitive about this at all.

    Second, it’s not the advice itself that’s the problem here, it’s the William of it all that’s the sticking point. The advice you get matters greatly depending on who is giving it to you. The intent is different, the view point is different, etc. All of this goes without saying. When you know the sort of person William is, how controlling and selfish he can be, who petty and lacking in an open mind and intellectual curiosity he is, well, this advice takes on a whole different shade, doesn’t it?

    And as I said, Harry knows his brother well. Which makes the layer of faux concern even more sinister, in a way. It’s very Marie Barone in its methods. “I’m not angry with you, I’m just CONCERNED for you,” is the standard operating procedure for every manipulative jerkwad who slowly feels someone slipping away from their bonds of control.

    Third, imagine for a moment, that you’re Harry. You’re maybe 33 years old, you want to settle down and feel frustrated that you haven’t found the right person to do that with yet. You want a family, a wife, and the domesticity of it all, but you’re terrified that you will have to choose between that, and continuing to work for the dysfunctional family on such a huge world stage. You don’t know if you’ll ever meet the person who can take that on, who would still be a person you love etc.

    And then you meet Meghan. And she’s everything you want and more. And you know it. You’ve spent a decade + waiting for this, and wanting this, and it’s all you’ve imagined.

    And your shrew-y, small-minded, pursed lip brother comes along, a man who has never given you a lick of worthwhile relationship advice in his life, a man who KNOWS how much you want this, have always wanted this, a man who has never taken an interest in anyone you’ve dated, ever–who takes THIS opportunity, right when you’ve met the woman of your dreams, at a time when you feel more and more as if you’re on the shelf, about to hit your mid thirties, not sure if you’ll ever meet the right person–and he tells you to SLOW DOWN? Slow down?! Take your time? On starting a family? On getting on with living the life you want and dreamed about? Slow down on THAT? Right at the moment when you’re finally, after decades, after so many trials, to get exactly what you want and have worked so hard for?

    Yeah. It’s easy to see why he saw and understood this in the way he did.

  37. BOYD says:

    william is the hot headed dope in the family. Harry is the punching bag.. They blame Harry for everything because he’ll never be King, it gives the appearance of william and kate looking perfect. I’m done with the RF forever. back into the crypt they go.

  38. BOYD says:

    William & Harry’s fight when Harry began falling for Meghan: .
    When did this happen, 3 years ago?
    That is a long time to be angry, clearly not a minor innocent thing the RF reporters claim. 3 YEARS