We’re still doing highlights from Robert Lacey’s new book, Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult. I’ll admit it, this book caught me off-guard – I wasn’t expecting what amounts to a Windsor-sanctioned “response” to Finding Freedom so suddenly. Even though Lacey insisted that Buckingham Palace wanted nothing to do with it, it’s clear that all of the Queen’s men and all of the Future Future King’s men ran to Lacey to spill the unhinged royal tea. In this episode, we learn about what happened in December 2019 and January 2020, including the Sussexit negotiations and how strained they were.
The Sussexes skipped Royal Christmas: As the Christmas holidays approached Harry and Meghan snubbed the Queen for a second time. They had not gone to stay at Balmoral with her in the summer, and they decided that they couldn’t join her at Sandringham for the New Year break either. That seemed to suit Charles and William just fine — and the same went for the Queen.
Harry informed his father of the Sussexit around the holidays: Harry emailed his father to say that he was looking forward to discussing the practicalities in detail when he and Meghan flew back to London early in the new year. Finally, it seemed, the Sussexes did have some plans for which they were willing to seek the permission of Her Majesty. When he had spoken to his father and grandmother on the phone over Christmas 2019, the Prince of Wales and the Queen had both seemed open to the prospect of talking further. Harry should come up to Sandringham when he and Meghan got home early in the new year, they agreed. But when the Prince phoned their offices from Vancouver to get a date in the diary, it seemed that he was not so welcome. Her Majesty would not be available for another month, he was told by her staff. How about 29 January?
Dropping the Sussexit news & website on January 9th. The media shock at this was nothing to the dismay and anger felt inside the palaces — to whom Harry had given just ten minutes’ notice of the news. Prince Charles was only just getting himself organised after returning from an official trip to the Middle East — and out at Sandringham both the Queen and Prince Philip were said to be ‘devastated’. Once again their grandson had acted unilaterally… Still, Harry had finally got his family to respond. Next day he kissed Meghan goodbye then settled down for a conference call with William, Charles and the Queen, who had all suddenly found time in their diaries to talk.
William disassociated: The Queen concluded that the four of them — Harry, William, Charles and herself — should sit down with their respective private secretaries at Sandringham the following Monday to hash things out, though William confided to a friend that he would much rather leave all the haggling to the staff. ‘I put my arm around my brother all our lives,’ he said, ‘and I can’t do it any more. We’re separate entities.’ The inference of this apparently kindly remark was that William could not deal with his brother as a separate entity — or did not choose to. The new Meghan-fired Harry clearly flummoxed him. William’s ‘arm around my brother’ — his lifelong care for Harry — had always seemed to have been based on some element of control, and that had now surely vanished.
William was incandescent with rage: William maintained his distance for the Sandringham summit. The Queen had suggested the family should gather for lunch before their big pow-wow in the library that afternoon, but he refused his grandmother’s invitation. He would obviously turn up at 2pm for the meeting, he said, but he only wanted to talk business. The Prince himself has not confirmed his friends’ speculation that he was so furious with his younger brother that he would not be able to endure the hypocrisy of smiling at him over lunch.
The negotiations: ‘It was like dealing with a hard-nosed Hollywood lawyer,’ says a senior palace source familiar with the negotiations. ‘The Sussexes wanted guarantees on every single point as if it were a contractual negotiation. They totally misplayed the negotiations, but then so did the palace.’
Charles let his private secretary Clive Alderton do a lot: Charles felt sympathetic to his younger son and gave Alderton the brief of trying to bring the two sides together. But over the years Harry had come to distrust the man who organised so much of his father’s life — and hence aspects of his own life, too.
The palace was desperate to look like they were punishing H&M: The fact that the Sussexes themselves had volunteered to forgo all access to the Sovereign Grant and public funds as their own proposed price for freedom — along with paying off the costs of Frogmore Cottage’s renovation — was presented as a punishment: ‘They will no longer receive public funds for royal duties.’
In the middle of this book excerpt, Lacey brings up Meghan’s Suits character Rachel Zane, as if Meghan and Rachel are the same person and Rachel was “the key negotiator and spiritual head of the whole team.” This is asinine. These people – Lacey, the old-man courtiers – are so out of touch, it’s genuinely infuriating. The palace was obviously quite taken aback with the fact that Harry came prepared and he intimately knew how double-dealing and untrustworthy all of them were, which is why he demanded everything in writing. That’s what was being billed as “the spiritual head of Rachel Zane.” HE knew if he didn’t get it in writing, they would lie and screw him over. The fact that the palaces are still sputtering about the “one year review” just shows you that Harry was right to get everything formalized.
And omg, William comes across so nasty here. He was absolutely pissing mad that his brother wasn’t going to stick around and be abused anymore. That he couldn’t control Harry. That’s all it was about for William: control. And rage.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
“William confided in a friend”—so he’s friends with the former editor of the Times then? Funny how Lacey declined to mention who that “friend” was.
I noticed that. William leaking to the press about his brother while doing an engagement. Remember the fury at Harry for talking about William on camera? But here was William doing the same thing while initially keeping enough distance that people could speculate that maybe the quote was made up.
I came here to say the same thing! We now know that the friend was the Times guy…that’s been published pretty widely. How did this supposedly “real” historian and author miss this detail? Jebus, the RF has actually commissioned a book to try to further attempt to destroy a family member. They are utterly, utterly vile.
I can’t even imagine not being able to have a family meeting without having outsiders present and, basically, controlling things. I also can’t imagine having to make an appointment with my grandmother, and above that, being refused. Maybe William is resentful because he has to stay and be controlled by courtiers and Harry can escape.
I’m still working on the fact that William refused the Queen’s request to have a sit down lunch and the courtiers, not to mention his father, the Prince of Wales, let him get away with it without any repercussions. This sheds light on the whole “We don’t know why Harry is so upset. All William said is that Harry should go slow with this girl” nonsense. Whatever William really said was bad enough that Harry was moved to break all contact with his brother.
William really is a pi$sy, petulant man. Harry absolutely did the right thing to get his family out of that toxic, and future toxic (with William) situation. They’re his family, and I know he misses them, but … yeah. He and Meghan got a big enough house so his family can visit them, if they so choose.
It also highlights that neither HM nor Charles have any idea how to deal with William and his behavior, never have.
HM and Charles heavily protected William. Charles even had to apologize to William when WIlliam trespassed on a neighbor’s property, speeding through in his car.
Harry “snubbed “ while William “disassociated”. Love it.
Harry snubbed international travel because of a global pandemic and because the couriers were not giving a straight answer on when an approved meeting could take place.
William disassociated because he couldn’t deal with no longer controlling his brother. He started this mess. He made it worse. No matter the wording the media can’t hide William’s nature.
Perhaps PWT was afraid to face just the family knowing all the crapl he had pulled and thinking H would spill it
They brought this on themselves. Did they really think Harry and Meghan would spend the rest of their lives being bullied by the tabs?
I have a theory that the BRF was going to thoroughly hurt the Sussexes’ reputation and marketability and only then let them leave so they would seem like they were kicked out rather than desperately trying to get out. The lack of helpfulness in setting up appointments to meet was to antagonize the Sussexes and buy more time.
Isn’t Karma delicious? What they meant for evil turned out for good instead.
Yes, they really did. And that rigidity blew up in their faces
What is weird to me is that the exerts I have read of this book seem much more favorable to the Sussexes than anyone else involved.
I intend to buy this block when available after 15 October. If this book is the palaces (KP & BP) response to “Finding Freedom” then the people working at KP & BP are stupider than I could have ever imagined.
I fully agree with you BayTampaBay, the parts I’ve read are disastrous for the rest of the family.
I’m taking all of this with tons of salt, but Lacey is getting in a few surprising digs at William and the Windsors.
William’s desire to control Harry his entire life.
William’s rage at the whole thing and refusal to attend a lunch where details were discussed.
The Windsor’s desire to twist the narrative to make it look like Harry and Meghan voluntarily giving up funding was a punishment.
I hope the Suits production team sues for unauthorized use of their character in someone else’s book.
Yeah, he’s obviously painting Harry and Meghan in a negative light, but he’s getting in a LOT of digs at the Windsors. In the excerpts we’ve discussed today, William comes off as angry and petulant. I mean, Finding Freedom didn’t make him look this bad, lol.
The Sussexes come off much better than both William AND Charles IMPO.
But is he doing it on purpose? He may be a royalist and believe that William has the right to be angry. If you believe that others have a God-given right to rule over you, you might excuse their bad behavior.
I doubt he’s doing it on purpose. It is never a good look for someone with his track record to be publishing about what an awful human the heir-to-the-heir is. How he has a huge temper, is super controlling, etc.
In one of the early excerpts I read, Lacey says the Royals made mistakes. He still makes them come off as the protagonists, though.
I think this has the potential to be Tatler 2.0. KP was fine with the story until people started pointing out how bad it made Kate and her family look. Then it was “call the lawyers!”. I wonder if this will be the same thing because these excerpts are really making the family look incompetent, petty and racist.
My thoughts exactly, MSIAM. I think there’s a potential blowup brewing as a result of the family looking very mean, petty and spiteful. I’m sure they’ll be lawyering up since this is not the image they want to project. Another backfire!
There’s some MAJOR shade in the excerpts. The RF look unbelievably pathetic and petty…
Sadly self reflection and introspection was never a strong suit when it comes to the RF. It took huge crowds calling for the queen’s head before she responded to what the people wanted when Diana died. William thinks he’s coming across as strong and firm with H and M. The only people applauding him are racists while the rest of the world think he’s more like Cain.
William’s people thought he sounded strong & valiant with all those statements about his being INCANDESCENT with rage. Instead he comes across like a madman baby in a toga – keening while the House of Windsor crumbles.
“his lifelong care for Harry — had always seemed to have been based on some element of control, and that had now surely vanished.”
Well, that’s something at least. It’s not much considering how horrible Lacey is to Harry and Meghan. It’s pathetic how he tiptoes around William.
William sounds nuts.
Yes, and he may be an evil dictator when he is in charge. God knows how he will treat his brother and his family when he is king.
That why the Frogmore Cottage lease situation is a good thing. If there is a formal, pre-paid, legal lease checked over by the Crown Estate lawyers? William cannot kick the Sussex line out of that house. It provides them a safe place to stay, within royal protection (Windsor Castle grounds), whenever they are in the UK working. Either working with charities OR working on NetFlix deals, doesn’t matter, it is their place to live in in the UK for decades to come. And William cannot change that.
I worry about William’s children. Especially the spares. I hope they rebel and have their own lives.
Exactly. In every story that has come out in the last 9 months, William has been enraged. It must be exhausting to be SO angry ALL the time. He comes off as unhinged and unstable.
One *might* be tempted to ask: are his children safe with him?
Do you really think BP and KP collaborated on this? They all look SO BAD.
Everything KP colabs with or approves Backfired on them. So, yeah, I believe this.
Is there anything that Wililkeaks can control, except Keen? Wilileaks will not look very well in the coming years as he has proven himself to be petty, vindictive, racist and immoral. Wilileaks has always been jealous of his little brother, since Harry is so charismatic and is loved so much by everyone.
And since when did Wilileaks EVER put his arm around his brother? Maybe after their mother died, but it’s been decades since Wilileaks was a supportive and caring bigger brother. The only part of bigger Wilileaks is, is regards to being jealous and incandescent with rage over his own brothers star power that he never had or will ever have!
He doesn’t have control of Kate or the Middletons. The number of pro-Kate stories from Camp Middleton during the Year of the Affair made that clear. They play at letting him have control, but they run their own PR campaign on the side. Hedging their bets against when William throws Kate out.
Yikes. This excerpt doesn’t make William look good, at all. We knew that Harry and Meghan had released the Sussexit plans as a way to force the family’s hand, and this confirms that – “all suddenly found time in their diaries to talk.” And it seems to try to paint Charles as somewhat sympathetic – the bit about him feeling sympathetic to his younger son.
But William. Yikes. This basically comes out and says that William’s relationship with his brother was based on being able to control him, and he was ticked that he could no longer do that.
I also find it interesting that it seems William was the angriest one about Sussexit – to me that clearly indicates that he knows he’s not up for the role of king and was counting on Harry being around to take some of the work (and to serve as his whipping boy). Charles was probably disappointed but not angry because Charles doesn’t “need” Harry when he’s king. William does.
The delusion is strong in William. I think he believes he is entirely up to the task of being king.
Yeah, I don’t think he’s really that self-aware, but I wonder if on some deeper level he knows he’s going to need Harry, even if just so he can keep piggybacking on Harry’s projects and trying to take credit for them.
See, I think it’s the other way around. The Queen’s cousins will surely retire when she dies so I’m thinking all Charles will have is him, Camilla, maybe Anne and the Cambridges. The Cambridges numbers are abysmal, so really it’s only the 3 of them. William will have his children and their spouses so I don’t think he needs Harry. Idk, you may be onto something cause I don’t understand why Charles didn’t fight for the Sussexes to stay in any capacity.
Charles has the Wessexes too, don’t forget about the Ford Fiesta!
I think Charles is definitely disappointed because I think he did want to streamline the family to just him and William and Harry (not kicking anyone off the SG or anything, just not replacing working royals as they retire/pass away.) But I don’t think he seemed to take it personally, like William obviously did. And part of me thinks that Charles may have said to Harry – “if this doesn’t work out for you, you can come do the part-time royal thing when I’m king.”
Also, William is barely a FT royal even now at 38. Who knows what his kids will do?
Becks1, that’s how I see it. Charles wanted to get rid of all working royals except himself, Camilla, W&K, Harry and Spouse. Geidt was the one advocating to keep Sophie and Edward on, which is why Charles fired him.
If the kids take after their parents, they won’t start working until they are 40. If then. Harry has set up the expectation that only the Heir and heir-to-heir should be working royals. That may well mean Charlotte and Louis are out as working royals.
As W&K refuse to do bread and butter engagements, there will be few of those left to do by the time the kids are grown up anyway. He won’t take over any of Charles’s Prince of Wales projects, his own projects are failures. All W&K will have left are ceremonial duties and tours, which is still more work than W&K are willing to do.
Willliam’s children probably won’t have spouses for about another 25 years.
@nota – Do I have this correct: Charles wanted rid of Geidt because Charles wanted rid of the Wessexes and Andrew wanted rid if Geidt because Geidt did not want the York Princesses?
I think the Sussex plan was released hurriedly, in response to WiliLeaks selling them out to Wootten. William and the Windsors hadn’t planned on Harry and Meghan being so organized and pro-active. They wanted them on the backfoot, not with a mostly fleshed-out plan for freedom that could be published at a moment’s notice.
Oh I think that’s definitely true too – the Sussexit plan was released in response to Wootton – but I think there was also an element of “you can leak the plan but you cant be bothered to talk to us about the plan, bet you have time now!!!” to the whole thing.
See, that is the problem of omitting the role the press played in this debacle. Lacey writes as if Harry and Meghan simply released their plans to force the Queen’s hand – but their hand was forced by the press because their plans were leaked. That is a huge factor in this mess and leaving that out obscures the image – because then the reader would have to ask: who leaked the Sussexit plans to the press? I’m now of the opinion that Lacey is doing “propaganda” for the BRF (though they still look bad) because he’s not presenting the entire image (at least not in these excerpts). Leaving out the role of the press paints an incomplete image but I also think he does that to protect the BRF because otherwise it would put a spotlight in the fact that the palaces were leaky as sieves when it came to the Sussexes.
AH- I’ve been attempting to wrap my head around what exactly he is trying to accomplish with this book all morning. Thank you for your insight.
The press played suge a HUGE role as to why Sussexit even happened in the first place and it is weird that from what we see from this book so far is completely silent on it, which is very poor scholarship.
I don’t like that the book leaves out the Wooten article, which basically forced the Sussexes into confirming the exit. Someone (*cough* William *cough*) leaked to Dan; if that hadn’t happened, who knows whether H&M would have waited to announce their news.
Sussexit doesn’t happen of Wootton doesn’t threaten to publish Willieleaks. This entire mess can be traced to William. And if Charles and the Queen cannot see how much of a mess William currently is, then they have no one to blame but themselves when this whole house of cards collapses. Charles has a real chance of seeing this during his reign.
“William’s ‘arm around my brother’ — his lifelong care for Harry — had always seemed to have been based on some element of control, and that had now surely vanished”
10000% agree. That’s what he’s really enraged about. He’s always been jealous but he’s always been able to have some sort of control over Harry. It’s the real reason he hates Meghan. Probably why they all do (except Kate, she’s just bitter and jealous).
I can totally see William using private home dinners with H&M (and K) as a way to show off how much control he has over Harry – for example, ordering him around in front of Meghan. And her being obviously miffed by the message he’s trying to send.
I can also see him as the type of guy who feeds K’s insecurities just to manipulate her into agreeing with his horrible agendas.
I think that William is so used to controlling everything and everyone around him that it’s probably one of the reasons why his relationship with Harry was toxic. Rumor has it that Kate had a list of suitable brides for harry aka a list of women who be Kate clones and do what she’s told. Now that we’re hearing more of how awful William truly is, it’s not surprising that William only found out about the Sussex’s engagement two hours before the news broke. I believe that he called Meghan more that just “that girl” and the fact that he tried to get earl spencer to talk Harry out of being with Meghan. William needs to focus on the fact that his consort is an embarrassment who can barely string a sentence together and the only time she show’s any intellect is when she is smearing Meghan in the press. Also they can even smear Meghan correctly because we all now it’s coming from KP. Also William focus on the fact that none of your initiative have been successful, remember the kings cup? Yeah me neither.
Did she have a list or was the plan for him to forever be the third wheel after he rejected Pippa?
She had a list after Harry put out a letter saying that him and pippa weren’t not an item. Also they didn’t like cressy either due to the fact that cressys older sister was one of the women who William was after during one of his break ups with Kate, she went on to marry the son of the Virgin Mobile Billionaire.
FYI: Son of the Virgin Mobile Billionaire = Sam Branson
Cressida was smart to marry outside of the royal family. Kate would have leaked nasty stories about her.
There was always a knife in William’s hand when he had an arm around Harry.
COTW ^^
William needs to get into therapy. The guy gets too angry over things that doesn’t concern him. He shouldn’t have colluded with the media if he didn’t want Harry to break free.
I mean, if we are to believe that H&M had nothing to do with FF, are we to believe that BP had nothing to do with this book?
The FF writers have said repeatedly that Harry and Meghan were not part of that book. And that book is filled with fan fiction, fictionalized episodes, and inaccuracies. They’ll testify under oath to that effect eventually, but I’m sure that still won’t satisfy some of you.
Whereas Lacey is known to have inside Palace contacts, including royals themselves.
@nota – I thought EXACTLY the same thing. Finding Freedom is 90% poorly written fan fiction.
Lacey has inside contacts, as does Omid Scobie – as this site and others have established time and again.
Obviously Harry did collaborate with Lacey as how else did he know that Harry kissed Meghan before his conference call 😉
These people all need therapy is what I’m getting. Seems a toxic family & work environment. Arthur Edwards had another ‘come back and support William like you promised Harry’ article on the weekend but who would come back to this nastiness. Especially when it doesn’t seem to have been reigned in at all. What’s in it for Harry?
I wonder if Lacey mentions the leak to the Sun of the Canada plan which led to them issuing their website.
I’m also curious if Harry & William being young when Diana died, may have been given a positive spin by the family of their treatment of Diana & whether Harry has revisited this being older and seeing the Firm briefing against his own family…
Are there still people out there insisting that H&M had a hand in Finding Freedom? Even after they signed affidavits attesting to the fact they hadn’t? Even after the inaccuracies have been pointed out in the book? That’s weird.
Nobody’s even going to ask if the RF had a hand in this book – they’ll just gleefully use the information, accurate or not, as ammunition and click bait.
The rabid Meghan haters insist she wrote FF herself.
And these bots get angry on social media sites and blogs when people disagree.
They will carefully ignore all the parts of this book that refer to William being angry.
As an outsider looking on this mess, I still can not understand the incandescent rage of William. But my husband has a controlling older brother, too, and I’ve learned there’s no understanding this aspect of dominating toxic masculinity. It’s incredibly self absorbed and allows for no viewpoint but that of the big bro. I have to give credit where it is due and appreciate that my brother-in-law grew past all that. It looks utterly hopeless here, but I wish William would also find he’s got enough love for his little brother after all that he can someday make amends and appreciate how Harry made his own life beyond just being the spare. At some point this family has to have a reckoning on what their dysfunction caused the “spares”. They need to do better for Charlotte, Louis and George.
Very well said. William needs therapy ASAP. He needs a therapist who would push him to dig deep, get to the root of all the toxicity and then heal. Unfortunately he grew up in one of the wealthiest toxic families and endured one of the most horrible emotional circumstances under the gaze of the public eye. He the went on to marry the only woman left standing who was not his first, second or even third choice. He has also failed to find his life’s mission and this may explain the rages and controlling nature.
10000000% agree with both of these comments.
This must be my unforgiving nature that I’ve been trying to work on speaking, but I honestly don’t know how Harry would start to forgive William if even a fraction of what we think he did is true. Even if William finally grows up and ask for forgiveness someday. Meghan too would need to be extremely forgiving to forgive W/K and even Harry if he lets those two back in their lives after all they’ve done, if we are correct and for me personally, just their behavior at the CW service in view of the world would be enough to be cancelled forever. But as I said, I am working on being less unforgiving, I realize it’s my fatal flaw and I must conquer it.
Does the whole book just describe William’s rage events one after another? Seems like that’s it.
They certainly are demystifying themselves here. Where’s the “glamour” or the Royal Family now? Where’s the “fairy tale”? I compared the RF to the manufactured “TomKat” Scientology story in another post a while back. Katie Holmes leaving Tom Cruise really put a taint on Scientology. It lost whatever specter of “glamour” and “Hollywood” it had with Tom Cruise, and both he and the religion now look seedy. No one sees dating Tom Cruise as a “fantasy dream come true.” I think the same will soon be said of the royal family of the UK. Sussexit has pulled back the curtains on the RF and it looks really nasty over there. Even the jewels are tainted–all the talk now about colonialism and its aftereffects has damaged even the prestige of the bling. The next QC can’t wear the Ko-i-noor diamond without controversy, for example. (They should return it to India).
I look at these people and I’m so sad for Charlotte and Louis–we’re likely to see a rinse and repeat of everything going on now in twenty years’ time. I used to think that Kate would protect them, but now I doubt that very much. The woman has no power, especially in light of Will’s “incandescent rage.” And from what we’ve seen of her, she’s likely going to just stick her head in the sand anyway. If she were smart, she would be getting guarantees for the kids’ futures so they won’t be completely at the whim of their brother. She can’t just assume that because the kids are all friends now, it will always be that way. George will outrank the other kids, and he’ll be able to use that against them in any way he wishes in the future if they don’t fix this now.
I cannot believe that I am taking up for Kate as there really is a limited amount she can do. She does not appear to be close to QEII on Prince Charles.
Kate is an enabler. She should at least stop this favoring the child heir if she is a good parent, that she is spun to be.
Diana did way more for Harry and she had the same amount of power. Kate is just a useless doormat ready to sacrifice two of her kids because she can’t be seen to protect her non heir kids from an archaic system.
Lol!
This headline is great. And in a lot of families true, mine included.
Control freak Brothers..Yes, I have 2.
Only girl in the siblings and 2/3 of my brothers seem to think that even tho I am close to 60 y/o I am unable to wipe my own behind without their telling me how to do it. lol
And the really funny part? They BOTH come to me for money bailouts because I actually am financially responsible.
Gotten to the point where I don’t answer their calls. WTF needs that all day long?
Harry is turning out to be the smarter one. God, Wills is so f’ing petty.
I genuinely cannot get my head around the idea that this book was written with the BRF’s approval or involvement or to get their side of the story out there. They come across as relentlessly petty, insecure, vengeful, backward, and clueless. Who on earth would think any of these stories paint them in a positive light??
Lol. That’s how out of touch they are–they are bringing about their own end, and they don’t even realize it.
I think it was written when it was believed M/H had a hand in FF and that book was going to go scorch earth. Perhaps now they regret sanctioning it. In fact the Queen might be complimenting the press again because BP hope they will go out and write articles to soften the stories being shared so the BRF comes off looking less like the petty, vengeful, racist and backwards inbred losers they are.
Am I the only one who /doesn’t/ see this as a massive scathing book towards the Windsors? I mean that’s what it’s coming off as but I doubt this was Lacey’s intention.
Yes they come off as incredible petty, angry, racist and out of touch but it seems Lacey is trying to justify that behaviour by saying that the Sussexes brought that onto themselves by being annoying, not following “rules” and “traditions”, overhyped their own importance, being whiny and self-pittying.
Is it working? No. But like I said, he is trying to justify said behaviour. This just seems like the royals own version of “Finding Freedom” – “sure we were mean, racist and out of touch with the Sussexes but those big ol’ meanies forced us too! It’s all on them! Including our behaviour”
I don’t think making the Windsors look bad was the intention either. However, it makes them look, especially the incandescent Billy the basher, awful. What a wretched group of people. The inaccuracies and omissions of salient facts (like “someone” leaking H&Ms Sussexit plans forcing their hand in early January) that we can see just from the excerpts are certainly troubling coming from someone who apparently had a good reputation as an historian/author. Super sloppy – but I guess when the RF asks you to write a hatchet job, ethics go out the window.
It makes them look weak and at the mercy of Billy the Basher who has been the driving force against the Sussex’s. Its more than his dislike of Meghan, it’s about losing control over his younger brother. Harry has stepped out of his brothers shadow and become his own man and he is NOT prepared to put up with his brother’s BS any more. Esp when said brother supports the press attacking his wife and infant son.
I think between this book and FF, the truth is somewhere in the middle between them.
I agree and said similar on another thread. This is supposed to be pro Windsor yet every story has William in a rage. Dude, back out of your brother’s life. It’s none of your business.
“Am I the only one who /doesn’t/ see this as a massive scathing book towards the Windsors?”
@Sofia – NO! You are not alone. Based on the publish excerpts, everyone but Geidt and the Sussexes come out looking very bad, petty and unfit for purpose.
The Sussexes look pretty bad here, we’re just focusing on the other parts. According to Lacey, they have an inflated sense of importance, victim mentalities, oversensitive, they misplayed the negotiations, etc. Harry is described as “hapless,” the Sunshine Sacs references are not glowing, etc.
It just happens that it also makes William look really bad as well, which even FF didn’t do.
William should really see someone about his anger issues. He is not emotionally fit for the job he’s intended to take.
The RF were caught flat footed again. They though H&M were just pussyfooting around like they do. They didn’t think they Harry and Meg had a fully fleshed out plan ready to be executed, just like the Netflix, Harry Walker, and home deals. They were hoping that H&M were just bitching and going off on a half cocked plan. It proves that Harry and Meg were working on this for months while the RF ignored Harry.People criticized the way H&M announced sussexit and detailing how they wished to proceed with their royal duties, but it was the smartest thing they’ve done. That way nobody could spin the story that they were kicked out and now we know the RF wanted to spin it that way. Paying back Frogmore was smart because the royals were hoping to use that to damage them as well and it showed that H&M meant business and were cutting them off completely. Even they’re offer to work part time without then SG was brilliant, because they can truly say they tried to make it work, probably knowing the RF would turn it down anyway. Well done H&M. Now the royals are scrambling just like the press trying to control the story 6 months later. Morons.
My family is toxic AF and even I’m exhausted by this family’s shenanigans. Goes to show, no matter how much money or privilege you come from, emotional toxicity knows no bounds. Get some damn therapy in ya people.
There is very clearly a long history of issues and resentment between Harry and his family, particularly his relationship with his brother and father. It goes way back long before Meghan came onto the scene but she is the scapegoat.
William has a lot of power in that family and he is clearly not afraid to use and abuse it and those around him. TQ and Charles have a lot to answer for. William gets away with this bad behaviour because they let him.
Harry and Meghan are doing exactly what therapists advise when dealing with toxic family. Distance yourselves and don’t see them unless you want to. Be civil, but insist on civility and politeness or you are gone.
THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG this is easily the hardest part of growth is understanding boundaries and holding them, especially when you’re the youngest of the family like H is, since they generally are the people pleasers in the group.
The fact that he has zero support from his immediate family tells me 2 things:
1) H, by his own admission, has taken part in mental health resources (rightly so) and has found some tangible changes that need to be made to benefit HIM (the fact that it highly benefits his wife and child are a massive benefit).
2) this family has no interest in taking his mental health, their own mental health or the functionality of the their family as people seriously. They only see themselves in terms of the position they play in the world, and that’s about it. They have stopped being individuals of a family and more of someone playing dress up as a functioning family. It’s incredibly sad.
Word. There is no dealing with people like this—everything is about them and their endless need/drama/control issues.
That excerpt about Suits and Rachel Zane was utterly ridiculous and ignorant. Like seriously WTF? They basically think Meghan is the same as a fictional character she played. As for William, it’s been obvious for the past few years that he can’t stand to be around Meghan in any capacity. He can’t even say her name. You know this Netflix deal has utterly sent him over the edge and he will find any way he can to one up it. I think based on his behavior and jealousy, they will strip the Sussexes of everything they can, even the title if they can do it legally. The fact that the Sussexes still manage to dominate headlines over there, with the rest of the Royals the bit players, must keep fueling his rage cycle. At this point all they do is react and try to one- up and imitate the Sussexes. Even their most recent zoom call was like a creepy re-staging of M & H recent calls from her garden and living room. I think at this point, it is the Royals who have the destroy the vial age to save it mentality. The Sussexes ha w moved on, both by choice and necessity.
“they will strip the Sussexes of everything they can, even the title if they can do it legally.”
@L4frimaire – That may happen and if it does occur it could be the best thing that ever happened to the Sussexes as it will gain them a ton of positive PR in the USA and will make Brits wonder why Andrew has not been stripped of his title too. If the Sussexes lose their titles, it will not hurt them one iota in the worldwide long game but it will definitely hurt the BRF.
It would take acts of parliament to remove their titles right? Which means hearings on Parliament floor, and lots of questions. Plus attention from the outside world. They would have to basically commit slander to justify removing their titles, which of course, will come back to bite them hard as all the titled hangers-on will be caled into question. I agree @L4frimaire–the “we have to destroy the village to save it” will end up with the RF in tatters.
They also risk pushing the Sussexes into a corner where they have to come out and tell their own story a la Diana.
@Ianne
I think if they try to take their titles, the best response from H&M would be the suggestion that “great, nothing holding us back from that tell all now.”
But taking their titles is a gigantic risk – it will bring a LOT into the public that is best left in the dusty closets of BP. And you’re right, they would have to resort to making up a lot of stuff to meet the threshold they’d need to.
I thought the Rachel Zane part was a joke when I first saw it. I mean what serious royal historian pretends that Meghan consults her fictional tv lawyer dad for legal advice? It is insanely stupid to write stuff like this and expect to be taken seriously.
‘I put my arm around my brother all our lives,’ he said, ‘and I can’t do it any more. We’re separate entities.’ This remark makes it sound like William never understood until then that Harry was always a separate entity! It seriously sounds like William have always seen Harry as an extension of himself and if that is the case, the William is seriously fucked up psychologically. Harry was always a separate entity because he’s a fucking individual!!!!! Sounds like there have always been serious boundary issues between the brothers (in William’s favour) and that is just so unhealthy. I say that speaking as someone who has a parent who has great difficulties not treating me as an extension of herself. It is super hard to set and enforce boundaries with such a person, especially if the former status quo has been said person walking all over your personal boundaries.
I think Will is raging because he did see himself and Harry as twins basically, except Will gets all the good stuff and Harry is happy with leftovers. I think the two did commiserate over their gilded cage and their locked-in fates and dreamed together of being non-royal and what they would do if given the chance. Despite probably being upfront with each other about the pain of being a royal, Will never expected Harry to do anything about it. Now, Will doesn’t have the courage to bounce like Harry did, and Harry is being very unsympathetic about the fact that Will is cowardly and stuck where he is. Hence, his rage. But where is the public outcry from Piers and the Wooten about Will disrespecting the Queen’s invitation for lunch?
It is always about control with narcs. Royal family and RR are packed full of narcs.
“William’s ‘arm around my brother’ — his lifelong care for Harry — had always seemed to have been based on some element of control, and that had now surely vanished.”
God, I know _exactly_ how he feels. My sibling pulled very much this same mess with me and my mother—making a big show of caring, but the only thing he really cared about was running our lives and nailing down his share of the inheritance. Out of self-defense, my motto with him is “Never engage, explain, or forget.”
Man I feel bad for the cambridge kids. They’ll grow up needing years of therapy because of their controlling father and insecure mother. Imagine feeling so jealous of your own only brother and actively sabotaging his happiness. I pray karma catches up to this bully and he gets his comeuppance.
Lacy is clearly being fed by the palace but I think like tatler they are regretting this. Remember the damage control by the palace after the initial FF articles. They thought it’d be like Diana’s Panorama interview and immediately went to their tabloids contacts to trash Meghan as manipulative women whilst also publicly saying that they wont comment. We also heard that lacy was writing this then. Now after seeing how harmless FF was I bet they are regretting this which actually painted them as a outdated iinstitution filled with unhappy manipulative people
The Finding Freedom book is nothing compare to this Lacey book. The FF book just regurgitated stale articles published in the tabloids. The Lacey book has a lot of new and eyebrow-raising inside information. This is the Royal Family’s revenge book. Hmmm.
The Lacey book only vindicates the Sussexes. It reveals how awfully treated they were by RF and the courtiers with the complicit British media. This book works against the RF. It is bad for them and only reinforces their already horrible image.
I hate to even admit it, but I will buy this book. It’s Tatler 2.0 and brimming with digs and shade at TQ, Charles and William. Is the RF self-sabotaging?
This book spares no one including the Sussex’s it’s as conclusive as you’d get.