Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s Finding Freedom is out now, but this story came out just a few days before the book came out. The history: in March 2019, the smear campaign against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had already been in full-swing for months. The Sussexes and Cambridges had decided to split up their offices, and the Cambridges gave Harry and Meghan a going-away present: a particularly nasty “tell all” article in Tatler, in which Meghan was blamed entirely for the falling out between William and Harry. She was also blamed for being a “diva” at her wedding (because she wanted to wear a dress the Queen didn’t like) and for, as always, making Kate cry salty white tears.
In that Tatler piece, we also heard that Meghan had “banished” some of Harry’s oldest friends from his life. Meghan was blamed for freezing out several members of Harry’s old posse, including Tom “Skippy” Inskip. From the FF excerpts we’ve already seen, it doesn’t seem like Meghan was doing much of the banishments and freeze-outs, it was Harry. Harry was the one who fell in love hard and fast and he expected to be supported by his friends and family. What he got was a lot of racist, sexist bullsh-t from everyone and he acted accordingly.
One of Prince Harry’s oldest friends expressed his reservations about Meghan Markle but was ‘punished’ for giving his advice, a new book claims. Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip had been a close friend of the Duke after they met at Eton College, and were for a time inseparable. But according to the upcoming biography, Finding Freedom, Skippy had a falling out with Prince Harry after he shared his ‘doubts’ about the Duchess before they became engaged.
He is believed to have advised Harry and Meghan to live together before ‘doing anything more serious.’
A source close to Duke and Duchess of Sussex told the book’s authors that although his advice ‘came from a good place,’ Prince Harry ‘didn’t totally see it that way’, according to the Sunday Telegraph. ‘It really hurt him that someone he was so close to would not trust his judgment,’ added the source, who is believed to have spoken out with the permission of Harry and Meghan.
As a result, Mr Inskip and his wife Lara were reportedly ‘punished’ by being excluded from Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding party at Frogmore House. Instead, they had to watch as the Royal couple’s new friends such as Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney made their way to the event.
It is believed that Skippy, who lives in Washington DC and works at US tech giant Afiniti, have since reconciled after the death of his mother-in-law last year following severe mental health problems. Skippy was one of those in Las Vegas in 2012 when Harry was infamously caught playing naked billiards with showgirls in a hotel suite.
We knew it at the time, but it’s still interesting to see all of these “well, actually” takes on old stories where Meghan was always to blame for everything under the sun. Well, actually, Harry was severely disappointed by the lack of support from his brother and his friends. Well, actually, Harry heard all of the sh-t his friends said about Meghan behind his back. Well, actually, Harry is perfectly capable of making up his own mind about who he wants in his life. All Meghan did was exist and that apparently made all of these idiots show their asses and Harry acted.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
And as I recall-there were a ton of candid photos that came out of Skippy’s wedding in the Caribbean with Harry and Meghan. I remember there were pics of Harry sitting at a table looking glum while talking to Meghan (and she appears to be consoling him.) Maybe he was annoyed that pap photographers knew where to find them?
Not to minimize the racist element of it all, but a lot of this ‘freezing out’ storyline actually read very familiar to me – most people as they get into their ‘big’ relationship I’ve noticed end up re-evaluating their friendships from the perspective of their partner. It happened to me, my siblings, my friends etc. It’s a normal part of growing up and apart from people. Also, racism.
Agreed. This guy was clearly his party bro. How many of us still hang out with/care about that person when we grow up and get into serious relationships?
This.
Women are often blamed by friends of a guy for him not hanging out anymore, but often the guy rather sits at home watching telly with his lady than go out with them.
It’s the guy’s choice
I have to say I know opposite stories when a person fell hard and fast, didn’t listen to close friends and family, pushed them away and it turned out they were right. It happened to me, it happened to my father. It seems to me that all of these advises are also normal – to take things easy. Also, I am always surprised when you guys talk about racism. Maybe it’s because I’m from the middle east I never think of her mother and I see a white privileged woman. Just to give another perspective.
I have to say I know opposite stories when a person fell hard and fast, didn’t listen to close friends and family, pushed them away and it turned out they were right. It happened to me, it happened to my father. It seems to me that all of these advises are also normal – to take things easy. Also, I am always surprised when you guys talk about racism. Maybe it’s because I’m from the middle east I never think of her mother and I see a white privileged woman. Just to give another perspective.
There were similar stories about Kate getting William to drop his friend. Friendships change when someone marries and sometimes the friends from the young party period don’t stick. However, it is ALWAYS the woman who is blamed when bros fall out or move in different directions.
Anyone offering unsolicited advice—which I’d bet it was—about a prospective marriage is asking for trouble. It’s a great way to lose a friend, you’re forcing them to choose and they won’t choose you. So butt out.
I think you are right. My husband’s best friend asked his advice if he should marry his girlfriend, but my husband actually hid his misgivings, thinking his buddy was going ahead with it no matter what. His buddy’s been married 30 years now; and his wife’s extremely domineering and savagely bitchy, but he wrote a beautiful tribute to her on Facebook, so go figure!! And he & my hubby are still best buds.
Right! Unless the future spouse has something really, horribly wrong with them (abusive, philandering, addiction, etc.), you should just keep it to yourself unless you’re ready to lose your friend.
Just to offer another perspective to this:
My friend met, dated and moved in with the love of her life, and faded out her friends because they couldn’t get along with her new man. They didn’t like him. I was one of those friends, but didn’t fade out eventhough I hate him. I particularly didn’t like how my, once strong and lively, friend changed because of him. I battled with the thoughts of her setting down and maybe she was happy this way for years. She changed so much and seemed to follow the rythm of his drums. And there was something off about him. They later had a kid.
And then, 8 years later, they split.
The reason: He was emotionally abusive, controlling and narcissistic.
She didn’t realise she was being manipulated until she finally, years later “woke up” (her words, and it happened after the baby) and realised how much of an a**hole he actually was. (She’s also been conditioned to believe their dynamics in the relationship was normal, as her mother was the same way).
Sometimes, people can’t see clearly even when they think they are. Sometimes they’re friends are right and should offer their opinions.
But as friends you stick it out, and if your friendship is good you can disagree and still respect one another, without it being the end of the relationship.
You sound like a great friend. Also, someone who’s with a less than stellar mate will NEED friends even more than someone with a great spouse.
I am in the reverse situation. My best friend from childhood is getting divorced. I’ve known her husband for nearly 14 years and he seems like a nice guy and a great dad. Privately, I thought they could give it another chance, for the kids. But I NEVER said anything to her about it. I only listened and tried to support her, as a friend. Divorce is an extremely painful thing to go through, I don’t think anyone goes through it unless they absolutely have to.
And they lived together for several years before they married. In the end, marriage is a decision between two people, and two people only. No one really knows or understands the inner dynamics of a relationship, which is why your opinion doesn’t really matter when it comes down to it.
I had a friend who tended to go through boyfriends quickly. She started dating someone who I thought was an a**hole. I thought about telling her but then decided to just wait it out and sure enough, he was gone a few months later when she broke up with him. Honestly I don’t think you can make someone see what they’re not ready to see.
I had Skippy’s wife’s dress in college. Gap, mid nineties. I know it looks more Banana Republic but I swear it was Gap.
I’m looking forward to reading the book, but so far every story is the same: Meghan was blamed but actually it was Harry’s decision/actually the press lied.
LOL! I would totally wear this dress…. if cost $50 and came from the GAP.
I don’t blame Harry – I doubt he was going around telling his friends their wives and girlfriends were not right for them. That’s something you figure out on your own. And yeah, why would Meghan want to hang with someone who didn’t like her?!
Exactly. If Harry was 21 at the time then yes I would understand why friends and family would give caution. But Harry was 31 when he started dating Meghan. He knew what he wanted and his friends and family telling him to slow down were overstepping their boundaries, especially if Harry didn’t ask for their advice. The ongoing narrative that Harry is someone who doesn’t know his own mind because he chooses not to deal with unsupportive friends and family is infuriating.
That’s what you do when people are disrespecting your partner. Maybe these people can’t understand it cause it involves being a love committed relationship and having respect for your partner. Harry never expected Meghan to have to put up with that. He set the precedent early on and never let up.
I um… don’t understand what was wrong with that piece of advice. I would say the same thing to any of my friends. Live with someone before marrying them. And thinking about it, most of my friends who didn’t do this are already divorced.
I dated someone for years, spent every day and night with them at their place or mine and we were talking marriage. We had never once had a fight in all of those years. After 3 months of living together we couldn’t stop fighting and broke up 6 months after moving in together. You never really know someone until you live with them full-time, all-in.
Obviously, in Harry and Meghan’s case it seems to have worked out and they seem blissfully in love; but they really couldn’t have known for sure having never lived together. Being loved up doesn’t make you immune to a bad living together match. They took a big leap of faith.
So I don’t think that advice is bad, unsupportive or racist. It’s stock standard, smart advice.
Now, were there other things said around that? Maybe? Was there a history of racist microaggressions from this mate? Possibly? But none of that is mentioned here. So, this comment, with no other context, seems like a weird thing to cut a friend out over. He didn’t say don’t marry her, he said live with her first. I don’t get it.
Edit to say: timing and context matters. If he said this after Harry said “I’ve bought a ring and I’m proposing!!”, then yeah, not cool. If it was said when talking about where the future of this relationship was going, then I don’t see the issue. “Man, she’s amazing, I think she might be the one, the one I marry”, “so happy for you dude! My advice, live together for a bit before you get married.” Totally different scenarios. Who knows which one it was? You shouldn’t interfere in friends’ relationships but in most contexts this comment is just general generic advice. Eh…
Um no. When your friend is over 30 and tells you they’re madly in love and want to marry, you say congratulations. You don’t say try that piece out on a rent-to-buy basis. Sorry, I strongly disagree. I would be so deflated if one of my friends said that to me.
Agree completely.
I believe it got back to Harry that his ‘friend’ was gossiping about Meghan. You can imagine what this entitled white guy ,SKIPPY, was saying.
It’s not uncommon as you mature to reevaluate friends that were ‘fun’ in when younger but who do not mature as everyone else in your age group. We have all dropped these people.
There could be more that isn’t known, perhaps Harry suspected Skippy of leaking to the tabloids.
Plus, when you’re probably already sensitive about the relationship, given the horrible family you have, you want your friends to be extra supportive. So, it probably hurt even more when they weren’t.
like William’s comment about Harry slowing down, they both seem very watered down versions of what was actually said. Harry knows these people and how they speak and what they *really* mean when they say things.
It’s obvious this book isn’t going to come out and say “this person made racist comments about Meghan”, but anyone who has been in an interracial relationship can catch the hint.
Not to mention, they’re a bunch of privileged, upper class, white men who hang out and marry people just like them. Would anyone really be surprised if Harry heard an insensitive comment from them? Skippy and his wife also complained to the tabloids, so his loyalty isn’t all that.
It’s just like with William “advising” him to take it slowly. It doesn’t sound bad on it own, but there’s probably a bunch of other things that were said with this piece of advice. Harry would know how how to differentiate.
I think that when it comes to marriage or partnership your compatibility matters much more than love. It’s such BS that love conquers all. Not when it comes to the mundane, everyday stuff that couples have to deal with regardless of how rich they are and all. You can only really live with those you are compatible with and yes, the only way to check whether or not you can manage to live together is to try it.
I met my husband in our early 30’s. Never lived with him. Told him I would never live with him. Told him straight up who I was, what mattered to me, and if he didn’t like it, go and not waste my time. Still married after all these years.
I am all for living together a couple of years but if you want to have kids and are in your mid 30’s that is a different situation.
Harry was aware they could live together was he not? He and Meghan chose marriage and that decision should be respected.
Living together does not guarantee a thing. One of the parties can up and leave and marry someone else right away.
I mean, Willnot and Katie Keen lived together before he finally decided to marry her. Hasn’t stopped him from… pruning another woman’s bush. So maybe living together isn’t always the best indicator.
Because when men of this class and ilk advised Harry to take it slowly, what they were really saying was: “Take a second and think about whether you *really* want to marry a black woman.”
Agree, I don’t see how it’s wrong too. I would give my friend the same advice if they told me they wanted to marry they don’t know for too long, let alone if that friend was a prince. I would trust their jugement I would simply tell them not to rush into things. I don’t think wasn’t supportive, I mean he did invite Meghan to his own wedding right ? I mean unless he made a racial derogatory against Meghan, I don’t think He meant any harm. I hope Meghan’s friends gave her the same advice
He invited Harry to his wedding and Meghan was Harry’s plus one.
It’s not like Harry proposed after 3 months. They were already a couple for at least a year before the proposal. Again, context matters and he sounds like a sour grapes guy to be honest. I think a lot said was glossed over. These people live very insular lives and have a very narrow worldview, despite their education mandate wealth.
edited-
I agree. They might have met while being fully formed adults but there was also a lot at stake by being such a visible couple and marrying into such an old instituation. One would think they would check their compatibility by living together which is pretty a normal thing to do and a true test oftentimes. Their relationship was long distance first and the a whirlwind of events and followed by a pregnancy. It must have been exciting but that doesn’t make them compatible. We will know in a few years. They remind me of Brangelina in this way but with a better ending hopefully.
@skf: I totally agree. I was madly in love with my now-husband when we moved in together, but those first few months of cohabitating nearly sank us. It was mostly me, TBH, and it was difficult precisely because I was older and knew my own mind. After being on my own for so long I found it hard to adjust to having someone else in my space and my business ALL THE TIME. We worked it out, and are now happily married for 10+ years. But I shudder to think what could have happened if those first few months had coincided with the first months of marriage. I’d give the same advice to any friend. Hell, I give that advice to random colleagues and acquaintances and strangers on the internet.
Now, I agree that timing and tone matter and I doubt that was all that Skippy said. People drift apart as they get older but usually there’s something more sinister than well-meaning but misplaced advice behind a friendship breakup.
I think with Harry and Meghan specifically, this advice could be problematic for a couple of reasons:
1) Harry was already asking a lot of Meghan: quit your job, quit your country, quit your politics, quit your financial independence, quit your privacy. Meghan was willing to do all those things to be his wife, meaning she obviously loved and was serious about him. To make her jump through additional hoops like coming to live with him for some undefined amount of years/time without the commitment/protection of marriage, basically being Kate during the dating years (putting up with all the press and paparazzi without any sign of commitment or official protection from the palace) just seems like pushing your luck and pushing your privilege. “Quit all your stuff and move countries, gets all the bad parts of being connected to me and the RF without any of the legal protections or perks,” isn’t nice. And it’s putting all the onus of “proving herself” on Meghan. “I feel like I need to test drive you for awhile before I make a decision. I’ll be making zero changes to my life in order to accommodate this test drive, but you’ll be making so many huge changes. I’m literally an entitled Prince and white guy while you’re a commoner and a biracial immigrant in this country.” I think he was trying to be especially sensitive to the power/racial dynamics and he really wanted to avoid any sense that he was lording it over her or using her.
2) The timing/their ages. She was still working on Suits for most of their courtship. In order to come live with him before marriage, she’d have to quit her job, and they’d have to wait for filming to be done. Then she’d have to move. Then they’d have to house hunt. Then they’d live together for a year or two, then they’d get engaged, then plan the wedding. But they were both already in their mid-thirties and wanted to have children. You just can’t follow the exact same timeline you would when you’re in your twenties when you’re in your mid thirties and having children is important to you. I would generally also say that people who get married shouldn’t necessarily have kids ASAP immediately. But if you’re older and having biological children is important to you, then you can’t necessarily wait for a couple of years.
3) He was sure about her and didn’t want her to get away. They have all (the RF) had trouble in the past with getting someone to actually want to marry them and take on this role. He found someone who was willing because she loved him and loved the idea of doing charity work forever. And now his friends are like “are you sure? You don’t want to keep looking? You don’t think you could do better? You wouldn’t like to stall a bit? You don’t want to keep your options open?” How frustrating would that be?
Can we stop with the “gotta get married right away if you want to have a chance to get pregnant in your 30s”? We’ve even discussed this in one of the previous posts – there is no solid proof of women having a harder time at getting pregnant because after 35!
Amy too, I absolutely agree with you.
I think they wanted to be parents right away (and did it). No pint on waiting.
In my country, my medical insurance won’t cover fertility treatments after 34 years old.
Damn girl@Amy too you hit the nail on the head with your comments exactly!
@Milly — actually there is solid statistical proof that fertility decreases after 35. However, it’s a relative reduction and it’s not immediate or the same for each woman.
90% of 40-year-old women are still fertile (able to get pregnant without medical intervention over a period of one year), as compared to @95% of women under 40 (I don’t remember the exact percentage). That said, between 40 and 45 fertility typically goes down rapidly as most women approach menopause. So, if the average 37-year-old wants more than one kid, or to be able to space out the children by more than a year or two, it’s to her statistical advantage to get a move on it.
Milly, of all of my examples for why they married rather than moving in and waiting awhile, I think the one about wanting to marry before they got older so they could more easily get pregnant wasn’t the most important one to them. But combined with all the other ones, it may have tipped the scales. And maybe they both wanted to have a child ASAP because they both really wanted a child at that point in their life and were just waiting to meet the right person. Maybe they want to have more than one child and want to be able to space them out quite a bit. Maybe they wanted to still be young enough to be super actively involved in their kids’ or grandkids’ lives when the kids/grandkids are adults. Maybe Harry wanted his children to know his grandparents and father. Maybe Meghan wanted her kids to have as much time as possible with Doria. Maybe Meghan didn’t want to have her first pregnancy and birth as an African American woman in a foreign country happen when she was much older. She was currently healthy and happy. If they were both healthy, happy, and wanted children, then now is as good a time as later. We don’t know what the future will bring.
@SKF: Not a single fight in years of being together? That would have been a red flag for me. Fighting (in a healthy way) is a very healthy aspect of any relationship. But im glad you got out.
Unsolicited advice from one adult to another….mm…sometimes it’s okay, depending on the circumstance and/or the friendship, but a truly wise friend uses discernment before doing so, and this man obviously did not know Harry as well as he thought he did. He should have at least been aware that Harry was already dealing with negativity from those who should have been supporting him, and possibly his friend’s pile-on was just too much to take.
My mother surprised me once by saying she thought it was a good thing for people to live together before they married. This was back in maybe the 1970s. She was a devout Catholic and the official Church teaching at the time was wait until marriage…. Mom said there are things you find out about the other person only once you are actually living with them.
My mother ended up marrying a guy she met while he was in basic training in the early 1940s. They got engaged while he was over in Europe in WWII parachuting down to places for a few years. His mother (The Bad Witch) bought the engagement ring. They got married after WWII ended, he was still wearing his uniform.
I asked her sister, after mom died, why in the world she ever married my loser sperm donor, er, father. He seemed so incompatible with her (or us kids…) on anything that mattered to her. My aunt said that after WWII, it was considered the only right thing to do for the guys who survived the war. So she married a guy she hardly knew. I wonder how many post-WWII marriages were like that.
Anyway, don’t know about Skippy, but mom was speaking from sad experience.
No matter what my private thoughts were, I would never answer a friend telling me they were going to marry with “dontcha think you should just live together first?”
These people are so crass. Royal my ass.
100%. It was not a secret that living together was an option. Harry proposed because he wanted to, not because that was the only thing he could do.
I always got bad vibes from Skippy. He didn’t seem like a good friend and to me seemed like an enabler. I think he misses “party boy” Harry. Good riddance.
Oh a lot of them miss their party boys. Even when they themselves marry. That’s how you know the marriage is bad and feel sorry for the wife. I have seen this many times. There isn’t a big enough UGH in the world for those kind.
Guy Pelly, friend of William & Harry, was one of those and Kate could not wait to show him the door.
Yes Ginger. I was the target of racist slurs when I got engaged to my white husband by a “friend” who was “concerned” about him marrying me. We had lived together for three years and a few of them still told him that he should reconsider marrying me because I was using him for his money. Code for “she is brown”. They wanted to keep partying and he was ready to settle down and that was all my fault. Needless to say we don’t see those people anymore. A few of them married and one in particular, the one who hated me the most, cheats regularly and openly.
Yea i was made out to be after my bajan boyfriends money when we dated. Im white. He would laugh at them and say ‘she makes more money than me, i highly doubt she cares about my money’
The person who said Meghan is a blacklight for racists was indeed correct.
His advice smacks of “keep her the mistress don’t make her the wife” which is probably why Harry was pissed. Meghan is far more accomplished and self sufficient than any of the women these guys married themselves (and aren’t some divorced already) so doling out advice like this seems a bit much. Add that to whatever family member, likely Phillip called her a showgirl and you have Harry being annoyed that everyone has diminished Meghan to a fling. (I see you Dickie arbiter and it’s obvious why you believed this)
Especially because in Harry’s position/class, there are different rules for wives vs. girlfriends, even long term or live in girlfriends. She may not have been invited to all the weddings, dinner parties, charity fundraisers, holidays, and social events because she wasn’t a wife. She may not have been able to accompany him to Christmas, Easter, Trooping, or other private or public RF events if she wasn’t a wife. She would be spending a lot of time alone, in a new country, away from her friends and family, away from all the places she likes to eat/shop/hang out, with no work to do bc she had to dump her career, with no real projects to do bc she wasn’t a married-in BRF member yet, while he’d be going to these events. And as the famous girlfriend of Prince Harry, it’s not like she’d be able to just take a walk in the park or go to the movies or the pub and hang out on her own while he was doing other stuff, because she would be followed and papped and harassed. They really do seem to live pretty insular, locked down lives, basically only going out for work or to spend weekends or holidays at other people’s estates, and going out for social events like weddings, christenings, birthday celebrations, and charity galas. And if she’s not allowed to go to any of those things because she’s “just a gf,” and she’s also not allowed to just go out and about and entertain herself, then she’d be spending a lot of time alone in their house waiting for him to get home.
Like Pippa’s wedding. She was stuck in a random Air B&B for the whole afternoon because her presence as a gf might’ve distracted at the ceremony, but also her fame as Harry’s gf wouldn’t have allowed her to go out and do something else that day, and because she wasn’t a wife yet, her attendance was still something to be negotiated and considered, even if it was Harry and Meghan themselves doing the consideration. As a wife, she would be accepted/expected to be there with him, her presence wouldn’t be something they’d have to weigh the pros and cons about. But as a gf, they still had to think about stuff like that.
That’s exactly what he meant, Nic! I had the parents of one of my good friends tell me he would marry me if I wasn’t black. I was good enough for friendship and dating (never got that far), but not to marry into their family. Harry knew what Skippy and William were saying and he reacted accordingly.
Also interesting that this article bring up Oprah and the Clooneys – kind of paints Harry as being too influenced by “Hollywood” and leaving behind his old friend (who does not seem like a loss).
I was about to say Skippy seems like a good person to list as a former friend.
Saying that isn’t wrong but how did he say it?
Yeah, we’re missing key information. Either he said it in a sh***y way (possibly due to being a sh***y person), or Harry just took it way too personally.
They’re Wallis & Edward (2.0, minus the throne)- I hope they have a long, happy, love-filled and fulfilling life together.
🖕🏻 the BRF.
They are NOT unless you think Meghan is a nazi sympathizer; this comparison is so inappropriate ………
No they’re not. Wallis and Edward did not even want to work.
And minus the Nazis. I really hate the comparisons between H&M and Edward and Wallis. They were in with with the Nazis. Theirs also was a one-sided “love story.” It’s a terrible comparison.
They are nothing like Wallis and Edward. Neither Harry nor Meghan were married when they started dating. Wallis was a married mistress.
Wallis & Edward were also famously child free.
Harry and Meghan have openly stated that having children was a key bond.
Wallis did not love Edward. She saw him as nothing more than a tool to provide her with the luxe lifestyle she craved. She wanted to bolt when he abdicated but had painted herself into a corner and realized she had to marry him or the British public would go after her with pitchforks.
I can see Harry’s social circle saw Meghan as maitresse en titre – Harry’s official mistress. Actresses or any woman in the entertainment industry should be nothing more than a side chick or a jump off, especially for a royal. I bet Harry heard racist gossip about Meghan from some of his “friends” and is justified in cutting them loose.
It is ironic that Harry’s ex Cressida also was an actress but she was never derided for being an actress like Meghan is.
Because it had nothing to do with Meghan being an actress. If Meghan has looked like Cressida and come from the same background/social class as Cressida and was British like Cressida, no one would have said anything about Meghan being an actress.
So yeah. We know why Cressida was never decried about being an actress but Meghan was.
Because Cressida is not a black woman. it was always about race.
*sarcasm* It’s okay, and actually encouraged, for aristocratic young women to dabble in the arts, but to do it for money or as a profession is so gauche! Acting, singing, dancing, painting, sculpting, drawing, sewing are all things one does to wile away one’s leisure hours and prove one’s sensitive and artistic temperament. But doing it for money is demeaning. Art for art’s sake only!
Hell, an actual royal who’s cousins of both Petty Betty and Philip did an actual realty show called Treasure Island, he name is Lord Ivar Mountbatten.
But a skilled actress, no! Can’t have that.
It’s hilarious how these aristos think an actress is beneath them when some of them are trying to “make it” themselves. Cressida is an actress. Cressida’s half sister Gabriella Wilde is an actress. Cara Delevigne is a an aristo and she’s an actress.
They think that their so “superior” due to their family that they don’t really want to take it all seriously. Acting to them is just keeping busy. Not a legitimate career for someone who doesn’t have a safety net of family connections and genuinely needs to make some money.
Skippy has been leaking like mad so I wonder if they have really reconciled. And interesting that according to Tom Bradby some of Harry’s friends were urging him to propose whereas some, I totally believe, some of those closest to Harry thought Meghan was just side piece rather than wife material.
In terms of living together for a while not sure that would have been allowed for Meghan’s UK visa? And what would she have done about her career? i doubt she could have carried on flying to and from Toronto on a long term basis and would be a lot to ask to give up Suits with no firm commitment. Plus maybe as they wanted kids and with her age they didn’t want to wait
Exactly, @ABRITGUEST. The whole living together is not a bad idea in a different situation, but in this case it would mean that Meghan would have to leave her entire life behind with no real commitment, would risk being excluded from events because she wasn’t his wife (like Pippa’s wedding and that Diana related event). Not to mention details like her visa.
Skippy just screams “bad news”. Seems to be the Guy Pelly to Harry’s William. Skippy should have been cut off when Harry decided to close the “party boy” chapter of his life. But I’m glad it’s been done now
Wallis & Edward were a racist Nazi supporting couple. Not really pairing that I think M&H are looking to emulate.
They are blazing their own path & I wish them all the best.
Wallis and Edward ended up in the last decade or two of their marriage, socialites and partiers. She hosted parties at their homes, they had a suite at the Waldorf, and “wintered” at Palm Beach. They sort of drifted with the “posh” set. Though both wrote autobiographies in the 50s.
And just like Sarah Ferguson, they were often paid to attend certain events.
Actually, I really enjoyed Wallis’ autobiography. It was fascinating to see her mind at work. I mean, we all tell ourselves stories about who we are, right?
Skippy is a White Mischief piece of work. Harry understood what he meant.
wrong spot
I honestly believe a lot of Harry inner circle we’re racist towards Meghan from the very beginning and a lot of them were cut off . I don’t like this whole other people budding into a grownup relationship between two adults it seem to me that a lot of Harry family and friends were questioning him as if he was child that what made him even more upset and plus the racist undertones.
Especially when every single other aspect of Harry’s life is governed by what other people want him to do/not do. What others allow him to do/not do. What others will provide the funds for him to do/not do. He had to get the firms approval for his choice of wife, one of the only things he had control over was deciding on how the courtship would progress (how long to date, living together or not). I can see how someone whose entire life and every choice has been micromanaged might not like having his friends and family try to shoehorn themselves into the very few things he has the freedom to make choices about for himself. He’s constantly being treated like he can’t be trusted to make his own decisions by his family/place of work, and now even his friends want to give unsolicited advice about how he should date his fiancée?
I don’t get the big deal with this honestly.. that’s the type of advice friends give friends all the time. And it is true that Meghan and Harry moved very fast. I don’t get why Harry got so defensive and immediately froze everyone out.
Because Harry would have recognized what was valid advice and what was BS. Besides, his piece of advice isn’t feasible to Harry’s situation and Skippy would know that.
My parents were engaged 6 months after meeting, so I think there is nothing wrong with Harry meeting Meghan and thinking this is the woman I want to be with. My Dad did the same.
I’d say it was more to do with Skippy not wanting to lose his drinking buddy. Plus, when he went out partying with Harry he’d know that he’d never have to pay as Harry and his friends were often comp-ed.
I do feel that William was a weasel for telling Harry to slow down “with this girl”. Ugh, what a way to talk about anyone!
That hairline alone precludes this man from having any authority to give “advice” on anything, let alone make fun of anyone.
The type of men that interfere in their bros’ relationship are usually closeted or have a quasi romantic attachment. It’s not unusual to see these types of male friendships evaporate when one of them gets married, since it’s impossible to maintain them and put your spouse first. The average guy doesn’t read that much into the situations of his friend’s romantic relationships. The flip side is also true. I had a female friend who constantly inferred negative traits about my boyfriend and was always competing for my attention. I pulled a slow fade on her and eventually dropped the friendship. If you force someone to choose, they will. I would hope you wouldn’t put friends above your partner, or worse, above the mother of your child. If they’ve made a commitment, put up or shut up.
Everyone wanted “party Harry” as a scapegoat. Another Royal gets in trouble? Well remember Harry in Vegas??? Remember Harry dressing as a Nazi??? How about when he wanted to fight a photographer???
He’s the one they bring out to deflect from their own scandals. So if he settled down, of course they can’t do that anymore.
Exactly! In several corners, there seemed to be deep need to keep Harry as the perpetual party prince, swinging bachelor, Will and Kate’s eternal third wheel. Whether it’s Skippy missing his party bro and the good old days or Will wanting to use Harry to deflect AND take partial credit for all the projects HARRY put the hard work into.
Harry was carrying a lot of the royal family on his back like an albatross.
Let’s not pretend this is a simple case of a friend advising caution with a new relationship. This was a case of bigotry towards Meghan and Harry knew it and cut off the offenders to set the tone on how he meant to go forward. I know from personal experience that people know their friends and relatives and because they know them, are fully aware when advise is well meant and when it’s not. I don’t know why anyone would attribute good intentions to these people.
even after all we see from certain humans repeatedly, some are still willing to take them at face value. What happened to Meghan is what happens to anyone of color in those environs and people need to quit giving people like William and Skippy the benefit of the doubt, they’ve NOT earned it.
In reading the book So far, in regard to both William and this guy, the excuse for this advice was that they didn’t really know Meghan that much. However, they had already met her several times and in different social settings. I didn’t know any of my in-laws that much before they married into my family, Of course we met and hung out, but how well can you really know them unless you’re constantly butting into their lives. They’re separate independent people. Also, while they may not have known Meghan much, they certainly knew Harry, and didn’t trust his judgement and couldn’t handle him having a partner with a life and interests outside their narrow circle. And this is without all the rest of the sexism, racism, classism thrown it. They couldn’t let this grown man be an adult.
“Punished”??!! This is similar to Meghan’s “ghosting” narrative (which is actually clarified in the book which states that Meghan contacted piers for an interview and they only met once at a bar days before she went on a date with harry).
These people feel so entitled as if they are owed something! I cant imagine how heartbroken harry was to be so happy but not get any well wishes from those he trusted and wish well for
William and skippy are so unhappy with their own marriage that they wanted harry to be miserable like them and stay party boy so they can probably go join his parties
“He is believed to have advised Harry and Meghan to live together before ‘doing anything more serious.’”
Um… just what is racist or sexist about this? Sounds perfectly sensible to me. This anecdote makes Harry seem thin-skinned in the extreme.
Yes, it’s being reinterpreted by the Daily Mail, so there’s a strong possibility that they’re intentionally leaving out detail that the book includes.
But it really depends on what tone and language he used, and whether he was being a hypocrite (like, if he got married just as quickly himself, or supported other friends who did). Because frankly, raising an eyebrow at the sixth-in-line to the throne getting Super Serious Super Fast about a long-distance relationship (even a super promising one!) doesn’t seem like much of a betrayal to me.
I find it particularly hilarious that the Daily Mail is ran with this tidbit from the book, considering all the articles they published about Prince Harry needing to drop Inskip. He was there in Vegas, but also in Croatia when there was video of Harry dancing fully clothed in a fountain. He was also drunk.
They ran those articles for years.
I take it with a grain of salt. I think the two have mended the friendship and I read somewhere that Skip apologized to Meghan, saying he misjudged her.
It is possible that this worked out because he was invited to Meghan and Harry’s wedding anyway, so maybe things have improved.
As the about opinion from Thinker states that the friendship has endured. Harry is to admired in establishing boundaries for a healthy friendship.
My boyfriend insisted in introduced me his best friend/almost brother, so we met for dinner. He was telling me the whole time how great I was, and how lucky his friend was in having me. The next day, my bf told me this guy asked him to leave me and go back to his ex.
For that and some other rude behavior, I knew since then, we would never be friends and that he would lost his best friend to me.
Meghan seems to be the scapegoat blamed for Harry doing what Harry obviously always wanted to do: escape from Royalty. He always seemed uncomfortable with his inherited role. It was an obstacle to too many things of importance to him.
I’m sure they discussed all the possibilities before marriage. When the royal life turned out worse than they expected and they had a child to worry about getting sucked into the same abyss, Plan B was implemented.
There were racial undertones from the press from the start, but is it at all possible a small element of this was that Skippy (ugh that name) maybe just asked harry to take it slower, and harry freaked. I don’t exactly advocate for my female friends to get intense and talk marriage after 3 months. Usual friend counsel is to be happy but take time getting to know someone.