I still haven’t finished Finding Freedom but I’m most of the way through it. I am enjoying it and I’m enjoying the fact that I can read between the lines of what is not being said in particular situations. When we were recording the podcast yesterday, CB pointed out that Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand were happy enough to spend like three full pages on the wedding tiara issue because clearly, the courtiers were spreading lies and the Sussexes wanted to correct the record. And yet, when they don’t want to “correct the record” about an issue which might not put H&M in the most flattering light, Scobie and Durand just do a quick aside, crickets or a really obvious subject change.
I also get the feeling that there was A LOT of stuff left out about Prince William and, more specifically, the way the Kensington Palace offices were operating, especially in late 2018 and early 2019. William is like a ghost for a four-month period around then, and then oh by the way, they mention that Harry and William’s relationship is slowly being repaired around February/March 2019. Which… is interesting, because if that’s true, that means that Harry didn’t actually blame William (at the time) for the smear campaign which had been in effect since November 2018. FF also gives William credit for advocating for the Sussexes’ separate office to be fully funded by Charles and the Queen. This was reported at the time, and I wasn’t completely sure it was accurate, but FF says so:
Prince Charles wanted the split to be cost neutral. But according to aides, William fought to make sure that enough resources were allocated from the budget for the newly established Sussex household to have a proper working space and a suitable communications budget. The Duke of Cambridge knew that the Sussexes were important to the royal family and needed necessary support. And smaller roles for Harry and Meghan would have meant more work for the Cambridges. Over several weeks, William and his dedicated private secretary, Simon Case, attended meetings with senior Buckingham Palace aides to ensure that Harry and Meghan received the best deal possible.
[From Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan, and the Making of a Modern Royal Family]
“And smaller roles for Harry and Meghan would have meant more work for the Cambridges.” LMAO. Sure, William might have wanted something good for Harry and Meghan and he wanted them to have independence and a real staff, but ultimately William was just looking out for William and William doesn’t want to work.
Regarding the work of the Royal Foundation and untangling all of their projects (which basically took a year to process), a source also told FF: “There was an option for the four to keep going as they were, but the Cambridges were keen to get going on a clean break.” I believe that, and I believe the Sussexes were keen for a clean break as well. But I keep wondering WHY the Cambridges were so eager for the clean break at that moment? Did they honestly think that they would be able to outshine the Sussexes on their own? Or were Will and Kate, at that time, simply preparing for the post-Sussex royal family because they were already taking steps to exile them?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Someone pointed this out on the Zoom call this week and she said she believes the reasoning for not going all in on TQ, Charles, and William is that the authors are still royal reporters and still want to have access. They don’t want to burn too many bridges.
The book really excuses the queen a lot. Really pushes the grandma narrative so I believe it. I also think Harry isn’t ready to blame her.
I have heard Omid is leaving royal reporting after his contract is up. I think Carolyn is still going to be a RR.
In the interviews Omid is giving, you can tell he wants to say so much more.
I’m surprised at how pointed he is in the interviews, about how the monarchy failed them, the racism, etc.
Really? Him leaving makes sense. He hasn’t been promoting their work as of late, but is still talking bout H&M’s work!
Ooo I hope he goes to work for the Sussexes in their communications office or something!
@Ginger, I had no idea that Omid Scobie was leaving the royal beat. I feel really sad about that, because I have no doubt that a lot of it has to do with the racism that he himself as dealt with while covering the royals. This leaves much of the coverage to a lily white royal rota, unfortunately. -sigh- Too bad. I liked his perspective.
Yeah I think that might be true if someone asked him or there was an interview somewhere where he said his next work isn’t going to be Royal focused.
I noticed that many events were touched on and then dropped. I thought perhaps for legal reasons?
Harry and Meghan saved themselves And little Archie from this hellhole. You can tell the palace are stuck in the past because birthright does not mean popularity and it certainly won’t make him interesting. Harry and Meghan are out of the fold and people still don’t care about William and Kate. That’s the irony. If they kept them around and embrace them, they could’ve harnessed them and benefited but you bully and malign and they still get more coverage and attention.
I don’t think this book is designed for the serious royal watchers like people on this site. It’s designed for the average person who hasn’t and it’s just trying to dispel tabloids rumours. The average person isn’t going to read between the lines and say: “William’s just looking out for himself.” What they’ll get from the book is: “Oh William’s such a good brother trying to make sure his little brother gets a good deal from their dad and grandma! Good big brother!” And that’s it.
I think this fits with the whole idea/theory that the palace is setting Kate up to be the fall guy. William comes off as a concerned big brother who cared for the Sussexes in the eyes of the public and Kate is the cold and aloof duchess who never gave Meghan a second thought
I thought that at one point but are they building up Kate to be the tall guy though? Even with that Tatler article and the aftermath, people were still making her the victim. William and Kate get little to no criticism. It’s still blame Harry and Meghan for everything narrative.
It’ll be pretty easy for the BRF to get people to turn on Meghan. If they managed to do a smear campaign for Meghan, they can easily do one for Kate.
I think the Middletons were behind that article, not KP or TQ and Charles. Kate was built up in those articles, not necessarily William. It seemed more like a reminder to William of why he married Kate and got a mother-in-law where he could rest his tired head.
I don’t think the book is necessarily setting her up to take the fall. I think the book presented her as a cold and aloof duchess who never gave Meghan a second thought because Kate IS a cold and aloof duchess etc. But even in the paragraphs where the book talks about her – there is definitely a sense of “there is a lot more to say” that’s not being said.
To clarify though if things go south with the Cambridges, Kate 100% will be the fall guy. She’s expendable and always has been. I just don’t think this is an indication of that.
I don’t think the tide is turning on Kate but if it ever does and the BRF needs someone to take a hit for them, they can point to this book and say “Look at how cold and mean Kate was to Meghan. She clearly is responsible for William and Harry’s bad relationship.” even though she’s not but like I said above: if they can do a smear campaign for Meghan, they can do one for Kate.
I definitely agree with your last sentence. I feel like the Tatler article was a warning shot of sorts.
Oh yeah… I used to think she was quiet, but then I remembered her competitive nature as an athlete. Which is fine, but… I just won’t look at her as meek anymore
I don’t think Kate is being set up as the fall guy, exactly. I don’t think there will ever be a fall guy for what the Cambridges do, because so far, none of what they’ve done has been particularly scandalous. I hate to say it, but I don’t think the public really concerns itself with the fact that the Cambs are spreading rumours about their brother and SIL.
I think what William did, and what Kate did, are two separate factors when it came to the Sussexes leaving. I think William had a falling out with Harry that didn’t involve Kate. And I think Kate aided and contributed to the smear campaign against Meghan without really consulting William too much on the details. Whatever took place, it wasn’t a united, concerted effort shared between the two of them. There were two prongs to this approach, with William taking on more of the stuff to do with the Firm and its logistics, and Kate taking on the social approach with the leaking and the rumour mongering.
It’d be hard to make Kate take the fall for the fall out between brothers, so I can’t see how William would get away with what he did, unless whatever he did doesn’t become public knowledge.
I fully see Kate and Carole onboard with going after Meghan in any way possible. Go back and read Carole’s silly interviews, interviews no one understood why she was suddenly giving. And the games around Pippa’s wedding.
They merched the hell out of that, with every article having a tidbit about whether or not Meghan would be there. The Midds wanted Harry there for PR, but they didn’t want Meghan photographed there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they caused the article (Pippa vs. Meghan’s bums) that had Meghan deciding to stay home from the church event.
I felt like they told H&Ms story and didn’t want to stray from that narrative. Possibly to reserve content for another book.
Kate had no interest at all in being pleasant to Meghan. Being at AH when Harry brought Meghan to meet William for the first time was an insult to Meghan and Harry.
He was going to send them to Africa. Honestly, I think Will’s biggest freak out about this isn’t that they’re gone, it’s that they didn’t go where he wanted them to.
He wanted to be in control of where they went, the narrative, the money, and still be able to call and have them brought into England for work trips when he got tired.
When it turned out they had their own plan they did on their own terms, that’s when he went scorched earth. He wanted to show he still could control them, and was shocked that Harry walked anyway.
He wanted them to behave like Edward, Sophie, and Eugenie; eager to run over over whenever he beckoned. Everyone in William’s life, including Kate, serves him. It’s the same dynamic Charles and the Queen have with people.
Edward and Sophie are not at William’s beck and call. They have their own work portfolios. Eugenie isn’t a working royal.
@Mac all of them would want to play nice because William will hold the purse strings, as King. They would want to play well for the future of their kids too. For example if any property they’re living in now are not under their names, that’s not gonna be good.
I don’t blame Harry for trying to get out early and try to have a stable legacy and separate wealth for his kids by the time William becomes King.
Charles was trying to get rid of Sophie and Edward, so Sophie started kissing up to W&K. Now look, Edward and Sophie are no longer being sidelined – because W&K see them as useful as deflectors?
Yep. They may or may not be working royals. But they all have the housing. The apartments at Kensington Palace and St. James Palace, they’re in London, so Assume they are pretty prime real estate. Similar for the huge country piles that Edward and Anne and their families live in. They pay extremely nominal “rent” that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual value of those places. They live there because the Monarch says they can, and they don’t want to jeopardize that for the future. William seems like the type to hold a Grudge, Once he became kinghe would kick out any of them that had crossed him in the past.
‘He was going to send them to Africa. Honestly, I think Will’s biggest freak out about this isn’t that they’re gone, it’s that they didn’t go where he wanted them to.’
I agree, Lucy. He wanted them under his control, and when they decided to leave? He wanted to control where they lived and what they did for the rest of their lives.
Hey Kaiser— thanks for your insight, great as always. I was wondering what stories people think FF glossed over (for H&M) because there were definitely some. The plane issue is one that comes to mind for me. On a different angle, it was interesting too that they didn’t mention W&K’s plane stunt.
I am still not sure about the wedding pregnancy announcement. I just don’t believe that they made any announcement although Meghan halfway buttoned her coat.
Mike Tindall already said the cousins have a WhatsApp group and H and M told them days before the wedding.
Honestly though. I don’t see what’s the big deal about the pregnancy announcement. A wedding isn’t a day where we worship the bride on the altar, though to hear some people speak, it seems like it. It is possible to share many happy family announcements at a happy family occasion, almost…normal?
I was wondering about this too. The private jet thing, the book does say H regretted staying back an extra and taking the private jet.
Maybe the stuff with the assistant, and the night nurse?
The bit about Harry regretting the plane thing, and the fact that he had been warned by Sara Latham not to take private jet and open himself up to criticism, was I think a nice touch. I believe for everyone’s sake that Harry and Meghan didn’t sit down and speak to the authors for the book. But Sara Latham sure as hell did. Not that I mind or think she did anything wrong, but good for her for still trying to look out for her boss’s PR, lol.
The assistant was hired as a temp to coordinate the wedding; she was never going to have a permanent role. When that didn’t change after the wedding, she pitched a fit and mouthed off on SM. Now she works as a night nanny, because she destroyed her own chances of being hired as a PA to another well-known person.
The fact that someone in the Duke of York’s staff leaked to the press that Meghan and Harry were dating.
There were obviously things that were removed from the book about William. Methinks these are the legal things that other reporters have shied away from as well. William is known to be sneaky and manipulative. I doubt that’s changed with age. He gaslights on the regular, which is probably why for so long Harry didn’t know it was William who was working in conjunction with the tabs. Something went down to sever their relationship. Maybe it’s too hurtful to put in the book.
I’m reading between the lines in the book as well. I feel like it was written with a lot more detail, and then legal took a red pen to whole pages. It’s clear he dances around a lot of issues.
He’s not going to go scorched earth on the Queen and Charles, because he still needs some access, but I am surprised that he’s making some of those comments about Will and Kate, because he also needs access to them. The fact that the palaces were “relieved” that the book wasn’t as bad as they thought tells me that even with the shade he’s throwing in some interviews, he’s not worried about access because the family knows he could have said so much more.
I’m trying to read the book, but I’m not very far into it. The authors’ writing style makes me tense. It’s like they’ve never met a tangent they didn’t want to go into (even the tangents have tangents), so it has a kind of stream of consciousness feel to it that doesn’t work for me. (not saying it’s bad, I have no doubt that others enjoy it, it just doesn’t work for me).
Anyway, all that is to say that I’m glad it’s being covered here, because I’m not sure how much longer I’ll stick it out with actually reading the book.
For those that are deep into the book (or finished), do all the tangents continue? Or once does it lessen once they’re done giving background information?
I have about 80 pages to go, but the timelines are annoying me.
Like, “Harry and Meghan went to Botswana in 2017. Now let’s talk about that time 10 years ago when Harry did X for the next 10 pages, and then we’ll go back to Botswana.”
A few times wouldn’t bother me, but it seems to be the structure of pretty much every chapter.
Also – I said this on twitter – but it needed a better proofreader (is that a copy editor?) There are so many little mistakes that should have been picked up. Like saying “couple” instead of “the couple” etc
That’s exactly what’s been bugging me. I was hoping maybe it wouldn’t continue throughout, but I guess it does. Thanks. ☹
And I agree about needing a better proofreader, I’m not that far into the book and there have already been a few noticeable extra words – like they changed the sentence, but forgot to fully delete the old sentence (like I did in my post above where I didn’t delete the first “once”).
Yes, for a HarperCollins imprint, there were quite a lot of typos! Just another pair of eyes reading the manuscript should have been able to pick up the majority of the errors. Sloppy.
As a former proofreader, that’s going to bother me a lot when l get my copy. Since it’ll be a library loan, I’ll have to resist marking it up with my red pen!
I wonder if it didn’t get the copy editing that it needed because they really wanted to keep the contents of the book a secret and have as few eyes as possible reading it. I haven’t noticed too many noticeable typos yet, but I’ve noticed at least two and I’m about half way through the book.
Agreed. The timelines are so weird. It’s like there’s the main Harry and Meghan story that starts in 2016, and that’s interspersed with random, super long, backstory tangents that go back as far as 1997. And I get that they probably did that because if they started the book in 1997 and went chronologically we wouldn’t get to H and M until 3/4 of the way through and people would be bored. So I’m kind of okay with the “Here’s what happened in their individual lives before this” tangents. But there’s also a problem where they’ll be writing about something that’s happening in Harry and Meghan‘s relationship, like a vacation in August 2017, and then suddenly they’re talking about something that happened with Harry in Meghan in May of 2017, so even the Harry and Meghan relationship storyline doesn’t move chronologically, and that was confusing a lot of the time.
“But there’s also a problem where they’ll be writing about something that’s happening in Harry and Meghan‘s relationship, like a vacation in August 2017, and then suddenly they’re talking about something that happened with Harry in Meghan in May of 2017, so even the Harry and Meghan relationship storyline doesn’t move chronologically, and that was confusing a lot of the time.”
I haven’t gotten to tangents about Meghan and Harry yet. I’ve been telling myself basically what you wrote, that they wrote the book this way so that it wouldn’t be 3/4 of the book filled with background information before getting to the reason most people are interested in the book. But that they do it even with Meghan and Harry stuff… Oy.
Some of the backstory tangents are interesting to me – like I thought the look at his military career was interesting and relevant to the story, because you can see how even back then, he felt being a royal was holding him back and preventing him from living the life he wanted.
And I also really appreciated the discussion of Meghan’s life before she met Harry.
But, there’s just a bit too much. I think its because they are trying really hard to provide context and humanize the Sussexes, but its going a bit overboard.
Oh THANK YOU for saying this!! I’m in the process and the way the time-line jumps all over the place is truly frustrating and irritating, and the tangents are melodramatic and sometimes not even noteworthy…..
Knowing William advocated for them to split offices cause he didn’t want more working, it makes me SO happy that in the end he ended up with more work cause they’re gone. And they’re not in some lowkey location he wanted. This is one area where I thought they were incredibly short sighted. After they split offices and got distance from each other, the smear campaign should’ve calmed down considerably. I never thought forcing them out or even exiling them was in W&K’s best interest. H&M bring considerable press attention and money for the tabloids. 1.) the press WILL follow them wherever they go (as we’re seeing now) 2.) the press will want to maintain that level of cash flow, they’ll ask for more access, more activities which means more work for W&K.
I mean, this is classic Will, isn’t it. Can’t make up his mind one way or another as to what he wants. He figured that getting his brother set up in a private office might suffice as a compromise, but then his petty, jealous side won out his good sense for whatever reason and, welp, here we have it.
How much do you want to bet William pulled out the old, “I fought for you to get the best deal possible!” card when he and Harry had a fight about what was happening.
There is still a lot to be written about William and the role he actively played in the smear campaign and it will come out, probably once Charles ascends the throne.
And the roles Kate and Carole played, which will come out if William decides to divorce Kate.
Wow that picture after the story is just perfect
Frankly, I wouldn’t cross the street to see William & Kate but I would be keenly interested in attending any event with Harry & Megan. I am so impressed with both of them. Five years ago I was at least vaguely supportive of W&K but my interest has since totally dissolved. W&K really, really blew it.
As for Andrew and Fergie, I wouldn’t even agree to trade them for the orange Cheeto Trump. Those two are all yours U.K. Live with it.
In the 6th photo Willnot looks a lot like Putin.
“Over several weeks, William and his dedicated private secretary, Simon Case, attended meetings with senior Buckingham Palace aides to ensure that Harry and Meghan received the best deal possible.”
Ah yes, good old Dr. Case. Hired for the hit job of getting rid of the Sussexes and now he works for the Tories once more.
Ugh.
I have a mighty need to assemble an itemized list of every single staff member the royals have had, from Diana onwards, who have worked for the Tories either before or after working for the royals. I feel like that would go a long way towards figuring out who the f-ck has been leaking like a sieve from KP and other royal houses all this time.
oh i am sure it was their private secretaries. simon case was hired in 2018, the year the sussexes married, and he left this year after their departure,
William advocated for the Sussex’s to LEAVE!
Oh alot of you are giving KeenKueen kate too much power! Yes she was leaking via Carole but this women wouldn’t be risking her already fragile post without permission from Billy. The jealous idiot dug his own grave by chasing away the most popular royal. The attention the sussex are getting will only escalate once they are fully operational.
I mean can you imagine how lit their Instagram account will be now that they are free to converse and like+share fellow celebrities. I can imagine adele tagging harry in some post or them sharing concert attendance! Bill will lose it when he sees how loved harry is (after complaining about not being able to get celebrities to work on his MH campaign)
This maybe true as William and Kate are avid competitors . It was never from a neutral position since the Cambridges are about deference. Harry was more interested in his wife and her wellbeing as he should. That’s was too much for the future king.
What better way to remind the Sussexes of their lower status than beating them at the popularity game (teach them a lesson)?
Instead the Sussexes continued to excel in all their endeavors – social media as fair minded readers rejected the narrative from the BTM , the overseas tours, and Meghan’s charity initiatives were all wildly successful while the Cambridges copied the Sussexes but receiving less accolades than their “rivals “.
Then it got really ugly.
Let’s be real he never expected that Harry will chose his own family over him. The real awakening is that Harry became a functional adult with his principles and priorities intact.