Months after the fuss about Finding Freedom died down, another royal book made some waves around here. The book was Battle of Brothers: William and Harry–The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, an old-guard royal historian who initially planned to write a book about Prince Andrew. His sources told him, pre-Sussexit, that Harry and William’s relationship was almost irretrievably broken, which is the basis for his book. Lacey wasn’t pro-Sussex or pro-Cambridge – he said some very shady things about both couples, and I feel like the new generation of royal watchers possibly needed the history lesson on the early days of William and Kate’s relationship especially, like the discussion of how Kate stalked William for years before they began dating, or how William dumped Kate over the phone in 2007. The Daily Mail was supposed to do extensive book excerpts and the Mail ended up burying many of those excerpts because Lacey was so critical of William in particular, like William’s anger issues, his screaming tantrums at his family, and how many times William threw Harry under the bus over the course of the lives.
While Lacey didn’t get everything right – far from it – I enjoyed the gossip he brought to the table and I read his new interview in Elle with interest. He hasn’t given an interview in a few months, and I was interested in hearing if he had any new insights about how the Windsors have been treating Harry. You can read the full Elle piece here. Some highlights:
Windsor chickens coming home to roost: “We have this expression in Britain that the chickens are coming home to roost–we thought the 1980s and the 1990s were behind us, and suddenly they’re not. There’s these two boys, William and Harry, who have taken different lessons from those years. The lesson that William took from the breakdown and the emotional chaos was at least he had this duty, this responsibility to be King, the future monarch, and he had to live up to that. This became a source of strength for him; for other kids, it could have been a source of conceit or arrogance, but on the whole, it gave him this driving sense of duty. Even when he falls in love, he more or less politely requests his lady love to wait nine years before she marries him; here [in the U.K.] she was called “Waity Katie.” She did her duty, and they are now emerging as a very attractive future King and Queen. They are much more attractive to most Britains than Charles and Camilla.
What Harry learned from his parents’ failed marriage: “There, on the one hand, you have duty, and on the other hand you have Harry emerging from the same emotional chaos. He takes a different lesson: His parents were locked into an arranged, loveless marriage, and he’s not going to make that mistake. He’s going to go for love, and that’s what he’s done with Meghan, unapologetically. The first thing he says is he fell in love the moment he saw her.
Love versus duty: This is a very appealing but also challenging human dichotomy: Love versus duty. In 1936, it was embodied in the person of one man, Edward VIII, and is now embodied by these two boys. Just as in 1936, it was duty that won, and love had to go abroad. I expect that is the long-term solution here: Duty in the form of William and Kate will take over the situation, and Harry and his love will enjoy the freedom of America and, I hope, obviously there will be some sort of reconciliation. I think there will be [a reconciliation]. There is texture and history between these brothers, but it’s never going to be the same. I would imagine the base for Harry and Meghan is going to remain in the United States for the foreseeable future.
William has never made a move to reconcile with Harry: “William has pretended it hasn’t happened, and he’s an old-style Royal in that sense. He’s taken lessons from his grandmother, and this is something of a patent in the Royal Family…William has been much more influenced by his grandmother than he ever has been by his father. That’s one of the things we’ve discovered–until recently, the rift in the family has brought father and son together; until then, there were quite severe arguments between William and Charles. William felt there were various ways where Charles wasn’t doing job properly as future king; he would argue with him and criticize him, and we know this because Camilla, when she came into the family, was absolutely shocked by the way William would talk to his father.
William’s qualms about Meghan: “You could certainly say William had a lot of justice on his side. We do not know the details of what he said to Harry, but if he pointed out that this woman that he [Harry] loved was a self-made Hollywood celebrity and a self-made millionairess who created her own celebrity, a self-sufficient woman like this who was ambitious and campaigning her belief in women’s rights and her wish to promote social change. These are radical initiatives, radical impulses; do they fit inside the rather safe and conservative British Royal Family? If those are the sort of objections and queries that William raised, well, events have proved them right, didn’t they? This was a woman who couldn’t fit inside the Royal Family so, as a result, she’s no longer royal.
Meghan is like Diana: “Meghan is curiously like Diana in her subversion of the Royal Family. The other person I compare [Meghan] to is Yoko Ono; a determined, original woman who came into a set of British folk heroes and stole one of Britain’s cherished folk heroes. She [Yoko] made John [Lennon] her own. The same is true for Harry and Meghan. Harry seems very happy to have been stolen away. The price of that is leaving the Royal Family.
For the love of God, Meghan isn’t Yoko!! And I think between Harry and Meghan, Harry is more like Diana. Meghan is something wholly original to the royal experience – someone organized, intelligent, focused, compassionate, a planner. And Meghan was torn apart in a way no one else has been. But Lacey’s argument that William was right to be concerned about Meghan glosses over the fact that William’s “concerns” were more like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of being happy for Harry and supporting his brother and sister-in-law, William set about destroying them and smearing them and otherizing them, only to then point to that hate campaign and say “see, she doesn’t fit in!”
Lacey also made some pointed comments, yet again, about William’s anger issues. Lacey starts out by saying that “William has a temper as well as Harry…Both are volatile and tend to fly off the handle.” Except that Lacey’s evidence is only for William, when William was too incandescent with rage to even sit down for lunch with Harry at the Sandringham Summit one year ago. And nobody does sh-t about it – they just let William rage and scream and bully everyone and no one has the balls to say “you need to be in therapy.”
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN, Avalon Red.
I agree with Yoko Ono commentary, but from the perspective of someone who really likes her so maybe I’m biased.
It’s a tale about an exceptional woman, who is in love with an exceptional man, and he finds in this relationship strength to find a new path, try something different because the old ways stopped working (even if they were successful in the past). What’s wrong with it?
The Yoko Ono hate is just hating the fact that the world is changing, that some people want to be constantly in the same place, in the same moment of time. Well, I guess this also describe Royal Family 😉
Never understood the Yoko hate but I must admit the Beatles were before my time as a member of the record buying public.
Same, I’m a huge fan of Yoko’s artistic career. I think she’s a genius.
Yoko’s been accused in several biographies of introducing John to heroin when they first met. Allegedly this was done for the purpose of controlling him, because opiates have been used by brothels in this way for centuries. In retrospect, I wonder now if it was just as simple as she was a junkie and he had money.
@Jane’s Wasted Talent: The Yoko-gave-John-heroin story is a racist and sexist trope from Albert Goldman, who also called her a monkey. Goldman is the less successful Harvey Levin, who paid or stole documents and smeared every celebrity who he wrote about as gay. Sadly, John Lennon had lifelong addiction issues: blaming a woman for this is ridiculous.
Thank you, numbers. One of them was by Goldman- I read it as a teenager and had no idea of his reputation. It was pretty cynical and negative as I recall. I don’t remember the monkey bit though- was that in the book?
Exactly, it’s the “evil woman” narrative that apparently is a common Brit theme? The other Beatles have supposedly acknowledged that they would have broken up even without Yoko coming along. I think that John and Paul both were wanting to do their own thing.
YES! Paul wanted to build a life (and career) with Linda Eastman on his own terms. Sound familiar?
And, since Yoko isn’t white, it went the way that we are seeing play out all these years later with Harry and Meghan. It is honestly astounding how much disdain the British media has with a strong woman who isn’t white.
I’ve never hated Yoko either. I think she took the blame for the breakup and maybe it was her “fault” in the same way Harry’s leaving was Meghan’s “fault” – both women gave the men the confidence and strength to leave and gave them something to leave FOR.
Dar Williams – a folk singer who I love – has a song called “I wont be your yoko ono” and the next line is “if you aren’t good enough for me” and that has always stuck with me.
Dar Williams is the best!
Yup, I think this is 100% it: Yoko/Meghan gave their respective men gave them the strength and motivation to do something they were probably contemplating on some level anyway.
I split from my toxic parents and they largely blame my husband and say our relationship was so great before my husband came along. Well, from their perspective it probably was: I put up with a lot of shit because I couldn’t quite convince myself that life with NO family was better than life with toxic family. I think especially when you are in a situation that is toxic but maybe doesn’t fit the “classic” picture of extreme abuse or that has its good moments, it’s very hard to trust that your unhappiness is reasonable or that the situation you are in is not respectful of you. Then you get into a relationship with someone who notices your family’s BS AND who is offering you an alternative family…it gets a lot easier to put you foot down about bad behaviors and if your original family can’t cope with that, it also gets a lot easier to eventually call it a day and sever ties with them.
So. How does M’s train trip with the queen fit in with this? I feel like that was the pivotal moment when the Cambridge’s lost their minds.
I mean…the Cambridges got to ride on the Royal Train, right? I think there was jealousy and anger that Meghan got to ride on the train before them.
I think that enraged the Cambridges but wasn’t the tipping point. I think after that trip, and all the constant reminders in the press that Kate hadn’t yet ridden on the royal train, and then the success of the cookbook (while Kate announced her sad Broken Britain initiative) – those things worried the Cambridges. The Cambridges realized that Meghan worked in a different way and she appealed to the public in a way that Kate and Will just didn’t/don’t.
but I think the final tipping point was the pregnancy and the Oceania tour combined.
I think William had ridden the train several times before from the research I did over the Royal Train. I thought too that there was jealousy over the fact Meghan got to ride the train before Kate and William. But when I looked it up I found several articles saying William had been on the train, but KATE had never been on the train. And I think that may have pissed off William royally (ha!) that Harry’s new wife got to ride the train before his wife did, given that Kate had been married to William for several years at that point. I don’t think it was the single factor that started the feud but it definitely heavily contributed I think.
There is an excellent You’re Wrong About podcast on John and Yoko and basically…. John was a troubled man before they met, he was not interested in being in the Beatles anymore, he was already addicted to drugs, and Yoko’s art world was one that he independently wanted to be part of. Did she let him get away with some terrible stuff? Yes. But he was an adult, and his decisions were his decisions.
wrong place.
It’s crazy because if everyone is honest Linda Eastman would be just as much to blame..
Besides I think is was more a Paul & John issue
The Brits hated Yoko Ono because she was a foreigner who they falsely believed caused the split of the beloved Beatles. Wallis Simpson was a foreigner who that blamed for taking their King away. The hatred for Meghan is not only racist but anti American.
I love the Beatles and I think anybody who does knows now that Yoko Ono didn’t in any way break up the band! They were a sea of dysfunction before she came along and she gave John a way out filled with peace and love. I think Megan very much did that for Harry.
To Lacey and many others in the British press, Meghan is Yoko, a non-white foreigner who stole they’re white blue-eyed son. It’s based in racism but tell them that and they will deny it. I agree, and as he said last week, Harry’s his mother’s son, he’s the one that’s like Diana not Meghan.
Exactly this. Tangling kate on a string…is a noble? Lacey the royal historian is just another racist old a*hole seeing everything through the white lens. All he has are racist tropes to describe Meghan.
Exactly. I’ve said it before – this man is a racist. You can detect it from the way he talks about Meghan. Meghan didn’t steal anything from anyone and Harry isn’t theirs to keep. The Sussexes would have stayed had William not colluded with the media to bully his brother and his wife because of jealousy. These racist Brits will twist themselves into a pretzel trying to excuse William’s bad behaviour and paint a woman of colour as an ambitious jezebel. These people are not even original in their racism. We also have racists like that who views women of colour in just the same way.
Lacey only sees and describes Meghan in terms of her potential to the Windsors as their -biracial recruit. He never talks about her like she’s a person and can admit she was mistreated but has no empathy for her
Racist and sexist. He says that’s women’s rights is a “radical initiative, radical impulse.” That jumped out at me. The fact that she was self-made, had her own money, and thought women should have rights is all too radical for the royal family. Women’s rights is a RADICAL IMPULSE. Impulse as in poorly thought-out, knee-jerk, sudden want. So much racism but also so much sexism.
That is what I was struck by! How in the hell is that radical? And the way he paints her as a foreign Jezebel with dangerous ideas is a lot and revealing.
It’s funny because Meghan is actually….pretty vanilla? They act like she did the Black Power fist from the balcony during Trooping and set fire to all the royal women’s bras
@AmyToo that’s the part that made me want to scream. Equality for women is not a “radical” idea — what century is this guy living in?
Somewhat unrelated but a new book came out today that sounds interesting…I downloaded it but haven’t read it yet so can’t vouch for it, but it’s called The Last Queen by Clive Irving and this is the description:
“A timely and revelatory new biography of Queen Elizabeth (and her family) exploring how the Windsors have evolved and thrived, as the modern world has changed around them.
Clive Irving’s stunning new narrative biography The Last Queen probes the question of the British monarchy’s longevity. In 2021, the Queen Elizabeth II finally appears to be at ease in the modern world, helped by the new generation of Windsors. But through Irving’s unique insight there emerges a more fragile institution, whose extraordinarily dutiful matriarch has managed to persevere with dignity, yet in doing so made a Faustian pact with the media.
The Last Queen is not a conventional biography—and the book is therefore not limited by the traditions of that genre. Instead, it follows Elizabeth and her family’s struggle to survive in the face of unprecedented changes in our attitudes towards the royal family, with the critical eye of an investigative reporter who is present and involved on a highly personal level.“
Yes, equality is not radical and you are the problem if you are declaring it radical.
Yeah, first thing that I saw too. The radical initiative of belief in women’s rights- not even ‘women’s rights’ but ‘belief in women’s rights’ as though they’re unicorns or something that sensible people just know don’t exist – honestly? What garbage. Some people don’t deserve the compliment of rational opposition. And I’m tired of seeing Harry painted as love and William as duty. Harry would never have left the Army and stayed kicking his heels at the pleasure of the RF if he didn’t have a massive sense of duty to the Queen. I think he wanted out all along, and it was only his sense of duty which led him to opt for the half in/half out arrangement in the first place, so he didn’t just abandon Queen and country.
MA, your comment made me laugh so hard, tears happened.
Something is seriously wrong with the British psyche. They are so pretentious even as their little island is falling apart due to Brexit. This comparing Meghan to Yoko Ono is racist and sexist as both are women of color instead of looking at the whole British institution is based on white supremacy.
Will might be an “old fashioned royal” as in his grandmother but he totally lacks her work ethic. He’s lazy, not accomplished, egotistical, and possibly racist. He’s also FOREVER incandescent with rage and wants praise/attention for being a heir. None of these adjectives will work in the 21st century.
Sooner or later, William’s dirt will come out and it will be revealed he has the WORST qualities of his parents and grandparents. The U.K. is gonna regret him. Hopefully, Scotland will break away before its too late.
What has the queen DONE, *except* some bread and butter events? Waving from the balcony, and “overseeing” parades, laying a wreath… Yes, she has done “tours”, but what has HELPED her people? Honest question: has SHE ever initiated any big projects? Not just a titular head, but put in the work? Or is PwT just emulating her by latching on and waving? I know PP had some initiatives, but I honestly don’t remember Old Petty Betty Brenda coming up with anything.
Also, very funny about William being like her. Can you IMAGINE Mr. Incandescent himself trying to be diplomatic and not either losing his “cool” or making bad, tasteless jokes with other heads of state??? Honestly, thinking about him in various meetings with other world leaders…You KNOW he’ll be a buffoon.
The Monarch really doesn’t do big projects as the monarch cannot show any favoritism and QEII has been Monarch since she was 25.
The BIG projects done on her behalf were executed by Philip and to a lesser degree Charles. The real question is what big projects has Willie, Duke Double Dick and Katie, Konsort Kmart Keen executed to final fruition????
Thanks BTB, and yes… we KNOW that PwT and Top CEO bray a lot…but do jack shit. What they do is attach themselves to an almost finished project and try and take all the credit, and they really don’t give a damn how it “looks” (ie: that “stellar” 5 question questionnaire about early childhood).
They “work” (ha!!) less and less, when it should be more and more as the kids are in school. God knows they have an ARMY of help (NOTHING interferes with Kate’s workouts/hair appts. and PwT has to be free to tend all the gardens and Rose bushes he feels entitled to as FFK).
And yet… the beat goes on. Neither Petty Old Brenda or Charlie Tampon feel the need to *make* him change.
@Jan I’m with you. When it comes down to it, the Queen has done nothing but exist. She’s stable, she doesn’t say much, she has no actual power, she’s just…THERE.
@Bay I see what you’re saying about her not being able to show favoritism, but don’t understand how that should preclude her from taking on any big projects during her reign. There’s nothing controversial about helping the Grenfell victims be able to cook for their fellow survivors, or for focusing on the importance of the Early Years (in a substantial way — not Kate’s nonsense survey and busywork).
It seems like the only thing the Queen has cared about and put much energy toward are things that impact her directly, such as trying to keep the Britannia, insisting on an incredibly wasteful Royal train, putting the most effort into planning into events that celebrate herself, and other examples I can’t think of at the moment.
She has in no way been impactful, she’s just existed.
Disclaimer- To all of our UK friends reading this-
I appreciate how kind you’ve been when we’ve made unflattering comments and generalizations about British society- so I know you understand and this really isn’t necessary, but I do want to specifically say that this comment is directed towards certain subcultures, like the Tory ruling class, the Little Englanders, etc, rather than all of Britain.
SexyK- This was the question that had haunted me for months- what is happening in England? Something is terribly wrong, some kind of (sub)cultural disorder that encourages sadism and abuse. By accident, I think I might have found the answer. There’s a documentary series on Amazon called Very British Problems where UK entertainers discuss English culture and behaviors. It’s meant to be lighthearted and humorous, and for the most part it is, but watch season two, episodes two and three- At School and With Friends- and tell me this is not systemic child abuse.
There is this out of proportion objection to people rising up from where they start. Some there seemed totally condition to see people remain where they began and are triggered (I know the word is overused, but I can’t think of another at the moment,) by those who are not only upwardly mobile but exhibit even the mildest case of being proud of their achievement. There is this immediate need to cut such people down and act like they are being clever while doing so. It’s very puzzling, but I guess like racism classism is very ingrained. Not everyone in Britain is like this of course, but I have noticed it in many Brits. I especially see this behavior in British actors almost apologizing for whatever success they achieve. It’s not a matter of being humble, it’s almost chronic in some Brits determination to run themselves and others down. I’m so happy Harry and Meghan removed their family to North America. It certainly isn’t perfect here, far from it, but here Meghan won’t be a target for people thinking she’s climbed too far from her humble beginnings.
Such a pity that the weak Black British community has not been more vocal in support for Meghan because black communities in Britain definitely do not relate to the Cambridge’s, who are very aware that they need to be seen to be friendly with black people for PR.
@PrincessK I don’t know it’s fair the Black
British community has not been vocal
In their support. They have. BBC women’s hour had a number of Black women talking about their support for Megan. There was a Doctor- I can’t remember her name. An ABR specialist who went viral with her support and condemnation. Britain is a completely different society. Britain also has the most bi racial people in the world- and some of the most racist white People which is interesting. And the approach to advocacy is different for Black people.
William is an old-school royal now huh. What happened to him (and Kate) being such new and modern royals that they don’t even do bread and butter engagements because they want to do long-term projects?
And please can we stop with the Yoko/Meghan comparison. It’s unfair to BOTH of them.
The new and modern royals narrative was always a lie. Just like the narrative that Harry and William were close.
According to this Lacey interview, Will takes his advice from Betty, and Betty is still looking to the dead Queen Mother for how to do things. And, since the Queen Mother’s media-savvy is WWII-based, which means go out into the public and be photographed waving amongst the plebians in times of disaster, it now all makes sense as to why Will thought the Pandemic ChooChoo tour was the way to go.
The Queen was suitable for a 20th century monarch but if William thinks that is the model to use for the 21st century then he is very much mistaken. Charles has a much better grasp of what a 21st century monarch should be like.
William is too old-school to show up for the 2017 Commonwealth Service but he has angry notes for how Charles does the job.
William is a spoiled and entitled brat.
I’m also curious about what is going to happen with Earthshot seeing as Jack Ma is missing. How much of the prize money came from him?
Imagine mediocre William criticising an accomplished Charles for the way he does his work. Sure, criticise his parenting, but his work? The nerve of that lazy egghead. Not only does Charles have the most engagements out of all them, but he also has the biggest impact projects. What does William have to show in all of his 39 years?
William is ‘modern’ one minute then an ‘old style royal’ the next. Diana would have been horrified at the thought of William being an ‘old style royal’ she was determined for her sons to be grounded and have some normality and life outside the royal bubble.
William seems cold and distant now. And he and Kate are opportunistic. pushing the children out in front of the cameras.
He’s pretending Sussexit hasn’t happened. Sure. That’s why he keeps running to the press nearly everyday to talk about it. And I’m sick of the dutiful William talk. Dutiful how? He’s done nothing but delay his royal duties for a decade, only taking up some semblance of full time work when Meghan came along. He’s accomplished nothing in his role. Even the RR have said he’s finally comfortable in his role as future king….at nearly 40. How can he be a global statesman if he can’t even behave in a church? Or have lunch with his brother? Will is the least prepared future king to come along in sometime. Enough with the duty schtick.
I really think William believes that Harry will come back and beg him for forgiveness. I also believe that both Charles & QEII KNOW that Harry is not coming back to BRF let alone will Harry beg for any forgiveness from William.
I don’t think he does NOW, now that H&M have made all of these high monied deals. PwT MAY’VE thought that, considering the way PC held the pursestrings over him and Harry before. PwT could’ve thought that needing BIG money to maintain a royal lifestyle would have Harry come begging at some point (like when his trust fund and inheritance was dwindling from “high living” or “maintaining his wife/life”, but now….
Harry doesn’t need a THING from them. (Frankly, if it wasn’t for real security reasons, I don’t think either one of them (H&M) would be going for a huge estate w/no one close/next to them).
If William actually believes that Harry will at ANY time come crawling back, begging for forgiveness (for what exactly, btw?), he’s more delusional than we thought and not fit to be a head of state. He’s just incapable of seeing things clearly, blinded by rage.
Campaigning for woman’s rights is radical?
Why yes it is, they only recently allowed Kate to hike her hem line above her ankles.
LOL but as you well know, Kate’s hemline has always been Kate’s choice. Her choice of miniskirts and constant flashing due to lack of hem weights has always been her choice too. She likes flashing or she’d do something to solve it.
@Nota – yes – but to her defense – she was recently allowed to be educated so math is particularly difficult for her – 2 inches above the ankle or is that 2 yards?? And since she recently learned to read – that makes reading off her note cards at public events a bit more challenging. I say congrats to Kate paving the way for woman’s rights.
Yep, that one popped out at me, too
Quite, one of the many points which made me raise my eyebrows.
Says it all, doesn’t it?
Being self-made is also radical.
Apparently being a millionaire is only good if you’re born to it? Also, how many times did he use “self” when describing Meghan? Very odd.
Sounds like Lacey is suggesting there won’t be a reconciliation until HARRY approaches William (or media/royalist fantasy- comes to his senses, breaks up with Meghan& comes grovelling to the royal family) if William is acting like there isn’t an issue.
Lol at Lacey ignoring a whole smear campaign to suggest William was right to caution Harry on Meghan. I’ve seen royals like Sophie talk about gender equality with no issue. In the queens speech she said we are all equal in God’s eyes& was applauding BBC woman’s hour for being advocates for women yesterday so seems she’s getting on the ‘woke’ train. But these things are a problem when Meghan says it.
The firm didn’t think Meghan was the right fit for ‘reasons‘ & did all they could to make her leave so they could say they were right. It‘s a common tactic for POC navigating certain spaces.
There’s a video from around the time of the wedding where a journalist predicted the media would make Meghan a Yoko Ono figure. And Lacey referring to Meghan ‘stealing Harry away’ like these experts didn’t refer to him as the reluctant prince for years and like he didn’t have a choice in the matter. It’s so disingenuous.
@abritguest, I had not heard of the Meghan/Yoko Ono comparison video around the time of the wedding. Do you remember the name of the journalist who made the comment? I’d love to see it.
Thank you, @abritguest. It says a lot about this journalists character that she resolved NOT to comment to the Sun about a situation she knew nothing about. That video led me to THIS video, which is the crossover I needed today.
https://twitter.com/MaameAgyeiwaa36/status/1346276597540777986?s=20
He’s right, William won’t reach out. He’s to used to having everything his way. So, if they reconcile, it really will have to be Harry. That’s how it has always been between them. They stopped being close after William left Eton. They got along a lot of the time simply because they didn’t spend too much time together.
I don’t think William was necessarily wrong about Meghan not being a good fit for the BRF. She’s too modern, too independent and has too much ambition (for the role not in general. It’s a good thing in general). What I think William didn’t understand was that Harry is also too modern with too much ambition for the role he was born into. Which is why he thought about leaving before he was even with Meghan. Like, neither one is actually a good fit for the institution. The Royals are supposed to represent stability and tradition. You can’t do that while fighting for change in the world. Charles is the exception not the rule. The Queen hasn’t always been pleased with his projects either. A working royal’s job is basically to show up at a british charity/business/event and highlight it. Then they leave and might not think about the charity/business/event for years. They ended up connected to thousands of organizations. It worked in the past, but it doesn’t really work now. However, it’s something that needs to be figured out from the top down. You need all the working royals to have the same general style because they all represent the Queen while on duty. Harry and Meghan have a clear view of what they want to do and how they want to do it. It’s too modern and progressive to be representative of the Queen.
How would William have known her working style would be too different from other royals at time Harry was looking to propose which was the point when he was allegedly warning Harry to slow down? Hasnt it been widely claimed that Will& Kate didn’t spend much time getting to
know her?
Noodle this is the video. Sorry it must have been when feud rumours started
https://twitter.com/islandgypsy68/status/1346233684018528257?s=21.
I think Will was straight up shocked at how fast Harry connected with Meghan, and very jealous his younger brother had such a pretty, smart wife, who he was truly in love with, when his own 15+ year arrangement with Kate seemed threadbare by comparison. Plus, the woman Harry wanted said yes, the ones Will, the heir, wanted said no. I think Will’s first problem with Meghan was plain jealousy.
I also don’t see Meghan’s interests and work style as such an outlier in the RF; she strikes me very much like Charles. Just because people before Charles may have done things differently, didn’t mean people after him couldn’t follow his example, which, actually, Harry’s been doing. What Will possibly sensed was, Meghan wasn’t going to be a good fit for him personally, for the way he envisioned his own reign, when it was just him and Harry – that is, doing much less than previous generations in general, and as little as possible himself. He’s been showing us for years what he intends. With Meghan in the picture, Harry’s primary allegiance was now to someone else. Will wasn’t going to be able to continue to control/use Harry (take credit for his work, use him as a shield), as he had in the past. You could hear in their engagement interview that Harry and Meghan were likely to be very active together, which would put pressure on Will and Kate and is, in fact, what started to happen fairly quickly.
I think Lacey is attempting to re-write history or at least some parts of his book. He indeed had some interesting facts in his books that weren’t complimentary to William and to the way Will and Royal Family treated Meghan. Now he offers interpretation that Will cautioned Harry because Meghan was too independent, self-made, modern – therefore too “radical” for Royal Family. This version is new and contradicts his (Lacey’s) own former hints that Will didn’t want American biracial actress in the family.
And all this bullsh-t about Will and Kate choosing duty. They never did and never will do.
Ridiculous interview but dangerous too, because he is smart enough to make fine “tweaking” to the narrative. The narrative of likeable and dutiful future King Willy who is close to the Queen (popular one) and criticizes Charles (unpopular one) and cares about his Kingdom. This snake (sorry) knows exactly what to say, as if he is payed to do it. Maybe not with money but with access. Sadly he is more believable at least for those who don’t follow the story closely. He isn’t Piers Morgan.
I think he’s kind of sneaky, though. He seems to make a point of saying that these are the views of the royal family and not necessarily of himself. He says all this great stuff about Meghan: she has a self-made reputation, she’s a self-made millionaire, she cares about women’s rights and social change, and then he says that’s “too radical” for the royal family.
I get the idea that he’s almost trolling the RF. Speaking in that subtle way, like the Tattler article about Kate, where every compliment about the RF could actually be an insult, where every “justification” he gives for why William or the RF acted in a certain way is meant to come off as slightly absurd. Like he’s speaking from their point of view when he calls her a Yoko Ono, but then from his point of view when he says Harry was very happy to be stolen away. It’s like he’s describing the motivations and thoughts of everyone but is trying very hard not to judge whether or not the values behind these actions are right or wrong.
He spend a lot of time talking about how William and Kate have a marriage of duty which is somehow opposite of Harry and Meghan’s marriage of love. The whole “duty” part is BRF propaganda, but juxtaposing the duty marriage vs love marriage is taking in an extra step—he could have just spoken about how William feels a duty to the crown that Harry doesn’t, but he brings in the marriages, he makes sure to explain that Harry marrying for love is somehow the opposite of William did.
He talks about William’s rages and bad temper, his bad relationship with his father, how he won’t apologize, how he’s acting like sussexit never happened. That’s not terribly flattering.
And then he talks about how Meghan is fascinating and he’d most like to have lunch with her and talk with her.
I think Lacey might just be very good at explaining what goes on in the heads of the BRF members, and contextualizing it, without actually saying he personally condones their behavior or actions. He doesn’t seem to see any of them as actual people. He seems like he’s talking about fictional characters and their fictional motivations. So he never actually talks about how any of these way of relating and behaving towards each other is harmful and has real-world, long lasting consequences to the mental health and well-being of real, live people. He doesn’t seem to think about Meghan as a real live biracial woman. He seems to think of her as a character that could be played by any actress and the fact that a biracial woman was “cast” in her role is of no consequence. He is very detached.
Cambridge stans have put up the Ono Comparison on Social Media. And I have seen it in the DM comments.
This is bullsh–.
Meghan is not “radical” just because she cares about woman’s rights, social justice, and has ambition. The fact that the BRF thinks this is just proof of how antiquated and Trumpian the BRF is.
They were set against Meg from the start. And it wasn’t her personality. It was never her personality. It was her skin. Period.
I will always believe, unless Meg or Harry say otherwise, that the BS against Meg started because the BRF couldn’t handle Harry having a kid with a biracial woman. Her pregnancy set them off- they were hoping they could get points for “allowing” her to marry Harry, but when they realized she’d be the mother of someone in line for the throne, they flipped out.
I stand by this theory, and truly believe the fallout between Harry and William is because Wills said something unforgivablely racist when he found out Meg was expecting. And once Harry and Wills fell out, Wills was committed to destroying Meg, as he sees her as the reason Harry was mad at his racist comment. Hence all the “oh no..Harry’s so woke” and “Meg bosses Harry around” smearing.
As I said before, there’s a reason penis with teeth’s real name is Willie. He’s a double dick. Duke Double Dick, I christen him.
I think it was a max of the successful Oceana tour and the pregnancy that set Willileaks off. I recall reading somewhere that he wasn’t happy that they had a baby so soon after their wedding.
For William its ALL about control – he used to be able to control Harry and lost that control when he met Meghan. Same goes for Top CEO, she is another control freak – she wasn’t going to be able to control and manipulate Meghan in the same way William could with Harry.
I think Harry was the most hurt by how William reacted to Meghan. I’m sure they had their issues before but I think Harry expected his brother to be happy for him and supportive of Meghan but it was the complete opposite.
I think Charles and the Queen liked the idea that Meghan was bright, hardworking and willing to learn. But the moment she started outshining the heir, William went supernova with jealousy and the establishment took Williams side because that is what they have been conditioned to do.
I honestly think if William was accepting of Meghan, the establishment would have happily found a way to work with Meghan and use her as an asset. I think Harry thought the same. It must have been devastating to see that the brother he had pledged to support didn’t want to allow him any happiness.
@DU – yup, we’ve talked about this before, but I think it was a combo of the hugely successful Oceania tour and the pregnancy. I think they thought Meghan would hide away for most of her pregnancy like Kate did, especially in the beginning. Instead Meghan rocked a tour schedule that I couldn’t handle even when not pregnant (heck we have NEVER seen Kate do a tour like that), and everyone loved her for it. I’m not sure which was the bigger trigger ,but the combination of the two set off William in a major way.
I don’t know why they were surprised. Meghan was close to her late thirties and probably thought it was best to try for a baby sooner rather than later, because of the risk of complications etc. Or maybe they just really wanted a baby? So what, they are married and old enough to know what they want. But I suppose William is too clueless to even know that.
Ann, absolutely, it’s a no brainer, they married sooner than Will would have liked because of being mid-thirties and wanting a family. Which makes sense! What wouldn’t make sense is to wait 10 years LOL I also think Harry was really upset about Kate, because he really treated her like a sister and welcomed her into the family with open arms. That both Kate and Will wouldn’t support the woman he loves, AND the smears on top, I can’t imagine how he felt /still feels. I don’t think I would ever be ever to let go of such betrayal.
It is definitely about control. This family accepted Mike Tindall even after he cheated on Zara because William and Kate don’t care about controlling Mike or Zara.
Snuffles, agree. For some incomprehensible reason, the entire RF seems to be run from the bottom up by William. Why are they so afraid of him? Some might say it’s because he’s Diana’s son, and therefore the “golden boy” in the eyes of the people, or because he’s Diana’s son, he could talk and tattle on his father and the Queen about how poorly they treated her. But Harry is in the exact same position as a son of Diana and they don’t give a F about him. They aren’t scared of him. It must be something about William’s unique personality: he must be a combination of constant rage and entitlement and superiority and animosity that makes everyone believe he would burn it all down in order to get back at the Queen or his father if they don’t give him everything he wants. But…. if they’re worried about the monarchy imploding if William starts to talk… why are they not worried about the monarchy imploding due to the treatment of Harry and Meghan? Sussexit and the racism and sexism is a huge blow to the monarchy. Commonwealth countries are leaving or thinking about it. People who used to have a neutral opinion about the RF now actively despise them. And also, William very obviously wants to be king and have all that land, money, power, and prestige. So does William’s wife. So it’s a fairly safe bet that they won’t actually burn the monarchy down (on purpose) or leave the family. So what is it about William specifically that makes everyone give into his horrific temper and stupid ideas?
Is it more just that the Queen and Charles are incredibly weak? They don’t have the strength of personality to stand up to him and tell him to shut up and wait his turn?
I just don’t understand at all why William seems to be allowed to rage out on everyone and make all the decisions, even when those decisions are disastrous to the stability and reputation of the monarchy.
@Amy Too – I think part of why TQ and Charles are allowing William to behave like a tempermental brat is that he has them backed into a corner with the amount of tea he could spill on them – he is an accomplished leaker as we all know, and I’m sure stuff could be slipped to the BM surreptitiously without his fingerprints being all over it.
@Amy Because in this situation, the BRF had to chose between keeping the heir happy or not. And the institution will ALWAYS protect the heir no matter who they are or what they’re like. The establishment will not placate and do the the bare minimum for the 6th in line if the 2nd in line is getting pissed off if that happens.
I think they thought Harry was going through a phase and that he would eventually see the error of his ways. They always had intentions of driving her out of the family but Meghan getting pregnant soon after the wedding put their plans into overdrive. The aim of the smear campaign was to get her out of the family and for her to lose the baby.
Exactly
I also wonder why the Queen and Charles seem so scared of his wrath and basically let him call the shots.
Yes, I’m sure there’s some tea he could spill on them, but there is no DOUBT that they have just as much that they could leak about him. His kingship is still years away, and it’s perplexing to me why he seems to run the show with everyone cowering because he’s such a rage monster.
They’ve allowed it to go on so long that they might feel backed into a corner, but they’re not powerless here.
They both rank above him and they need to grow spines and deal with him before this gets even more out of control than it already is.
The Queen is infamous for being an ostrich when it comes to personal conflicts within her family – and I kinda get the feeling that Charles is a bit like that as well. Perhaps Will’s temper has been allowed to remain unchecked because the head of the family and his sole remaining parent just can’t be bothered with personal conflicts.
Yup, agree. They couldn’t be seen denying the marriage so they went the indirect, passive aggressive route. When she got pregnant they kicked into overdrive hoping to cause a miscarriage. They severely overplayed their hand and underestimated Harry.
I am not so sure they intended to cause a miscarriage. I mean, being bullied is stressful, which can contribute to one, but is quite unlikely to actually trigger it. But again, these people are clueless about stuff like that.
The bullying of pregnant Meghan by the press was off the scale and drove me to write three letters of complaint to the Daily Fail.
Tom Bradby also said that some horrible things were said right before the wedding. I always thought the body language between Harry and William on the wedding day was really stiff. Harry acted like he didn’t want William there beside him. He put off asking him till really close to the wedding. Since the wedding, when we see them they never interact.
He was required to have William as his best man for royal PR. If he had chosen someone he wanted, like Prince Seeiso, the press would have had even more of a field day.
Charlie Van Straubenzee (sp?) allegedly spoke at the wedding reception along with William. I think if Harry had the choice, William would not have been his best man Charlie would have been instead. Apparently Charlie was Doria’s escort into the church.
I agree. Remember the degree wife comments? Or Dickie telling everyone to relax and that Meghan was just a fling? I felt like the RF was happy about Meghan being Harry’s girlfriend. But their problem was that they never saw her as a forever girlfriend. Maybe a starter wife or an ex fiance.
Maybe that’s partly why they got angry at her popularity. They felt she was taking up too much space and had to make her the villain because a divorce might make the RF villains (like Diana).
Once it got obvious that Meghan might be permanent-big wedding, baby, lots of PDA and popularity, they freaked out imo.
I shudder to think what “old school royal” really means. Because, you know, the “old school royals” were the beacons of morals, ethics, humility and kindness. Let’s not try to sugar coat what “royalty” around the world has done throughout history.
This is the royals’ problem. Continuing to do things the old school way. The times are changing, Britain is changing, especially with Brexit clinging to the old way things are done will only make them more irrelevant. W&K aren’t ready to lead anybody with the way they are behaving and they can’t even work in the old school way. They’ve been preparing the public to except less work for their entire marriage. The RF still haven’t been able to pivot one year after H&M left; they’re regurgitating the same smears. They’re unable to move forward, to change when needed with brexit looming. They should be focusing on the positive right now, but it seems they’ll be smearing Harry and Meg for the next 25 years like Diana.
They all know Sussexit make them all look bad – RF and BM. The Cambridges in particular took damage to their ‘brand’ and rightly so – their behaviour was nasty to say the least.
You reap what you sow – one day The Cambridge dirty secrets will be revealed. Part of me thinks it’s potentially worse than Andrew.
Wow. That interview is bizarre. Lacey continues the narrative of William as a rage monster and calls Meghan a Yoko Ono type, then ends it saying he’d sit down with Meghan before any other royal, that she has amazing drive and energy, and that he thinks she gets up every morning thinking of how to make the world a better place for Archie. So he obviously understands Meghan’s goodness, states it plainly, and then still trashes her. Likewise, he references Willileak’s reluctance to marry Kate, his obvious arrogance and duty-dodging, and his trying to hijack the wedding by enlisting the Earl Spencer and twists these faults into admirable qualities. Bonkers.
I think he’s trying to toe the line there. He has a lot of respect for Meghan as an accomplished woman but doesn’t want to lose access to RF sources. So he gives her a compliment followed by an insult – but even the insults are weak compared to what the others in the Rota write. He still spouts a lot of BS, of course. But I think he’s genuinely unimpressed by William, and so is willing to write somewhat favorably about the Sussexes.
It’s a cognitive dissonance a lot of people who criticize Meghan face. They will acknowledge all her positive qualities, but must twist them into negatives (e.g. intelligent but calculating, driven but too ambitious, passionate but radical, highly capable but difficult, etc.) to justify why they simply don’t like her. And we know why. But there’s a thin line between love and hate, and a lot of detractors seem to actually admire her.
And the cognitive dissonance relative to Will and the RF is just straight up social conditioning. Despite being terrible people, the royals must be exceptional bc if not, the precious British social hierarchy is a farce.
I’m so happy Harry removed his family from that toxic bullsht. Because Sussexit was totally Harry. I really believe that Harry had been wanting to find a way to leave behind his family, meeting Meghan and making his own family with her gave him the push and valid reasons he needed.
Isn’t that a quality we all wish for in a leader? Pretending things that clearly happened and are influencing the institution/organization you’re supposed to be leading have not happened? Great management style! 🙄
Donald Trump seems to think so.
As do his cult members.
They keep saying William has a strong sense of “duty” but I’m not seeing it. In my mind, duty equals willing to do the work. No matter how dull or repetitive. When I think of royals doing their duty I think of the Queen, Philip, Charles and Anne. They’re not exciting but they steadily WORK.
So what is William’s idea of duty? Because from what I’m seeing he is a lazy, entitled rage monster who throws a tantrum and his weight around whenever he is challenged. He has created nothing and can’t even claim to be busy doing those basic bread and butter engagements that you see the Queen and Anne doing.
And what work arguments were William and Charles having? I mean, besides Charles saying “Hey William get off your lazy ass and do some work like the rest of us.” And William screeching “You were mean to Mummy and married your whore!”
Exactly, his yearly numbers cannot even come close to the over 70 crowd. His lesson was that he is entitled to do exactly what pleases him and nothing more.
It is my personal belief that William realizes Charles is “Woke” and was “Woke before Woke” was cool”. William is the opposite of Woke.
My husband says that Charles is really a “old Hippy” who never got to be a “proper Hippy” when he was younger.
Charles is pretty darn woke for an aristocrat. I watched a documentary about him once and he’s always been an environmentalist, passionate about sustainability and into alternative religions and philosophies, into the arts. But he would never go full hippie because I think he also loves being an aristocrat.
I firmly believe that if Charles was the current King, he would have embraced Meghan fully and found a way to work with her because they seem to have a lot in common. They would have been working together on projects together constantly.
But, William went and ruined everything.
@Snuffles – Agree with you but being a ‘Hippy” and being and an “aristocrat” are not mutually exclusive. You do not have to wear sandals and love beads to be a “Hippy”. One can be a “Hippy” in a three-piece suit.
A lot of aristos are very bohemian, and the Marquis of Bath that just died last spring from the coronavirus was a real hippie-type, dressing like one and creating a commune type living arrangement with his multiple wifelets at Longleat House. Charles was also recently pictured wearing some very old, bohemian-looking coat at Highgrove, so he may go more hippie out of the public eye.
I am disappointed in Charles he is still above William in the hierarchy but did not rein him in. As a parent, he really did not step up and make sure Harry and Meghan and archie were not forced out by William.
Very true. I still believe that Charles prefers Harry but has to keep William happy so that the line of succession continues. Like the Queen, Charles has to put duty before family, he messed up with Diana and he cannot afford to mess up again and so he has to placate William.
Billy’s sense of duty is only the duty he feels others owe him. As in, Harry has a duty to be his shield and workhorse, and that Harry has a duty to William to sacrifice his wife and child(ren) for the crown. Billy is a dick.
as in Willie, Duke Double Dick????
Ultimately William doesn’t care how Charles treated Diana. If he did?
– He would never cheat on Kate
– He wouldn’t choose to live in the house where Charles and Camilla conducted their affair for years
All William cares about is William. Being as lazy as he wants, while getting all the attention and deference of a royal without doing any of the work. William is scared and jealous of what Charles and Harry have accomplished in their work lives, because he knows he will never achieve anything of note.
They need to stop with the duty bs because William never exhibited this. He was almost kicked out of the RAF for his screwing around and by the time he was expected to do full time royal work he went and found the part time chopper job which he used as an excuse for years to do so little. He was only told to stop that fake job once Phillip finally was able to retire in his mid 90s. Phillip had wanted to retire years before but William taking on the chopper job fucked him over.
And if you mean that William did his duty by acquiring a complacent broodmare and produced heirs then I guess he did that. But that’s about the only duty he has done. He doesn’t have projects like Harry and still does a fraction of the engagements that Charles has done for decades. He also just started to pretend to learn about the duchy of Cornwall last year. Maybe he eventually finished the bespoke farming course at Cambridge? Again no one knows what exactly William does. It sure ain’t work.
There remains zero reasons for William and Kate not to be doing 500 engagements per year right now as Charles is doing. Louis will be 3 soon and they can use zooms to boost their numbers.
Agree with all this. And, I think TQ has long known William is likely to be a subpar monarch in the long run, and of little help to Charles in the short run. I think she’s truly very angry with Harry for leaving, because she knows how weak Will and Kate are as the FFK and FFQC. Harry should have stayed, done HIS duty, and supported his brother, for the good of the monarchy, same as she had to step up as queen on the death of her father. They made it as difficult as possible for him to even discuss an alternative plan, and when he wouldn’t let it go, figured they’d toss him completely out, and wait for him to come crawling back.
Hadn’t occurred to me before, but now that Harry and Meghan have shown they can survive successfully on their own and aren’t likely to come back, I wonder if the pettiness, small-mindedness, and plain nastiness we’ve seen from TQ is in part she taking out on Harry her own anger at what she was called upon to do after her father’s death. She was only around 25; becoming queen can’t have been what she wanted at the point. Even though Harry isn’t the heir, she probably doesn’t understand why Harry can’t make a similar sacrifice, and do what is for the “greater” good.
“They keep saying William has a strong sense of “duty” but I’m not seeing it. In my mind, duty equals willing to do the work. No matter how dull or repetitive. When I think of royals doing their duty I think of the Queen, Philip, Charles and Anne. They’re not exciting but they steadily WORK.”
I’m so confused…..what is this WORK, exactly? Lets take Anne, as the 3rd best example of “royal work” – after vindictivebetty and tamponcharlie: she has been associated with Save the Children-UK since 1970 and became Patron, taking over from her mother, in 2017. Thru all these yrs, do u know what her “work” for the charity has been………she shows up for their events. Over her 50 years as President she travelled the world VISITING Save the Children (Int’l)’s locations and projects. Theres a major fundraising dinner given at BuckPalace annually…..and she shows up as the guest speaker. This has been how she’s “worked” for over 50 years.
Now consider the just-under-2 years of work Meghan did for charities in UK. I’m sure I dont need to spell out her HANDS-ON, strategic cross-branding/co-branding, collaborative-with-a-view-to-growth-and-longevity approach.
That is the principal reason M is resented/hated/wished to be eliminated by the BRF and their enabling sycophants in UKmedia: she pulls the curtain back from all this “DUTY” and “WORK” that the royals are credited with, and inadvertently reveals that IT’S ALL FOR SHOW.
Never forget: the idea of “ROYAL WORK” was conceptualized during vindictivebetty’s reign (it began with the ill-fated, first royal reality show circa 1960) when, in addition to the core royal family i:e betty & her descendants, she sought to justify keeping her near and far-flung relatives on the public dole. She also coined the phrase: “I have to be seen to be believed” hence the annual royal calendar of myriad activities – aka “royal work.”
On the other hand, you have M saying, long before she met H, that she doesnt want to just show up and wave and think she’s done something. Also, that she’s not gonna put her name to something unless she gives it her all and see that its done properly.
It was a clash of cultures. Fortunately, H & M are kindred spirits. If only the BRF and their enabling sycophants in UKmedia could, like M&H, accept the differences in their approach to life, and just move on.
@Carmen I meant to say I loved your comment. Completely agree.
I would also think “duty” would entail:
—Knowing not to publicly joke about a virus that’s killing hundreds of thousands of people
—Being upfront and announcing his own diagnosis of said virus immediately — not keeping it a secret for no discernible reason — along with a sincere apology for joking about it in the first place, undermining its seriousness
—Going forward by going above and beyond with every possible precaution available: masks at all times, no public events, only Zoom; children kept home and safe, and certainly no Pandemic Express tours and red carpet strolls as Covid continues to rage worldwide and has particularly high numbers in the UK.
A real leader with a sense of duty to his “subjects” would have acted very differently than William has this past year.
The fact that they think Harry can be “stolen away”…..they refuse to even consider that maybe, MAYBE Harry grab his wife and child and fucked off on his own volition. It literally doesn’t compute to them. It HAS to be the woc’s fault, like Harry wasn’t crying out for YEARS at being unhappy and openly talking about leaving royal life YEARS before Meghan was even a thought. They REFUSE to assign any responsibility of sussexit to him. Amazing.
It’s obvious William still has no regard or respect for his father whether or not they teamed up to get rid of H&M.
They know Harry fucked off on his own volition. The know this is his decision. They just don’t want people asking why a prince, born in the highest echelons of their society, would rather be in Afghanistan than with them. If people dig deep and pay attention to what Harry has been saying for years, if they truly investigate the bs they will see Harry was right. But the RF don’t want that, so they conveniently blame Meghan to distract.
The rumor (which I can’t confirm) was that when they got engaged Harry planned to live in Canada or America with Meghan, where her career was. For whatever reason they changed their minds, in part because she thought it would be good for girls of color to see a biracial woman in the royal family, and figured she could handle it. And she handled it beautifully, until they started going after her. But again I can’t confirm that. I remember hearing or reading it.
Sounds like something made up on tumblr, by haters who claim Meghan targeted Harry because she wanted to be a princess. Meghan would never have been allowed to continue her career as a tv actress while working for the Queen.
When they asked for half-in, half-out last January, it wasn’t for her to return to acting. It was for them to have the freedom to do the type of charity work they wanted on their personal time, while being free to earn money through production deals like NetFlix and Spotify to pay for that work.
Pretty sure that was a plot line in the made for TV movie.
Don’t believe it tbh. The plan was for Harry and his wife to be working royals. Harry has said in the past that he wanted someone who could handle it all. The plan was never for Meghan to never be a working royal. Agree with Nota that it sounds like something tinhats made up so they can say that Meghan’s ultimate goal was to be a Princess hence why she “stalked” Harry despite living 1000s of miles away from him.
I think that’s based on a made-up story in the Sun that I think came out after the Sussexes had already announced they were leaving, that the Queen offered to not give Meghan a title and let her continue acting instead. It’s a way of characterizing Meghan as being greedy for a title and royal clout.
But we can see in the Vanity Fair interview Meghan did that she was done with acting and was excited about the good she could do as a royal and she certainly showed that.
@Kalana the whole “Queen said Meghan didn’t need a title so she could continue acting” is such a lie and it doesn’t even make sense if you look at previous precedent. Sophie and Edward were never supposed to be working royals yet they got a HRH title too. The only reason Edward for an Earldom was because he requested it. They didn’t do it to because he was “lesser” or whatever. He’s going to end up with the Duke of Edinburgh title anyways so it worked out otherwise he would have been walking around with 2 Dukedoms.
Even if you make the case that Edward is the son of a monarch, Harry is the son of the future monarch. He was going to get a title no matter what.
I saw a lecture by Edward about his then company, and he was promoting his company’s documentary about the Thames history and an accompanying book. In the program for the lecture he used the HRH. Yet Harry and Meghan are “forbidden” to use the HRH.
Yeah, that was from the Lifetime movie. I have seen it a handful of times haha. It’s incredibly cheesy but I enjoyed it
I am aghast at the idea of William yelling at Charles because he didn’t think he was doing his job properly as future king. You can criticize Charles for a LOT, and I mean a LOT, but I think in regards to his job as future king, he’s doing a pretty good job. He takes it seriously, and I cant imagine anyone ever called him work-shy, at least not once he hit 30 or so (I don’t know that much about him in his 20s.) What, pray tell, was William’s criticism? That the Prince’s Trust made William look bad because he didn’t have anything similar?
As for the criticism of Meghan – not only is that a self-fulfilling prophecy – but as we’ve said before, it speaks to a greater problem with the royal family. Being an advocate for women’s rights, promoting social change – these were things that were considered too radical for the royal family??? I mean, how on earth does that make them look good? Maybe to the right wing white supremacists, but not to the Commonwealth and frankly not to the rest of the world.
Like someone was saying yesterday – when future historians look back at this and wonder “what did she do” and the answer is “well, she really wanted women to be equal to men across the globe”…..its not going hold up well for the royals.
William has a loong history of shouting at both parents – something they always allowed. His behaviour has been like this since he was a child and nothing was done to correct it – they are reaping what they sowed.
Charles has been far more involved in environmentalism than Will also. He has made the power for royal residences more sustainable. (You know, what Will bragged about in his documentary trying to take credit for). Charles built up the duchy of Cornwall to a billion dollar business which William should be grateful for.
500 engagements a year, The Duchy, Duchy Originals, Dumfries House, Prince’s Trust helping over 800,000 people. Right Willliam, Charles is doing it wrong.
Becks1, I see it as jealousy and fear. William will never accomplish what Charles has work-wise, but he wants the credit for the successes Charles has had.
The Sussexes would have been so perfect for the Princes Trust, Harry with his easy engagement with people and Meghan with her skills for successful projects ideas. What a team! Stupid royals!
I wonder how much of this anger directed at his dad is really focused on the issue that while Charles has ideas and works, he really wasn’t a good dad to the boys in a lot of those early years. I’m thinking to that video where the three of them at skiing and the press is trying to get a picture of the three of them, and Charles doesn’t know how to pose close to his sons, or Gasp! putting his arm around them. But Will can’t address that with his Dad, because that’s not “kingly” or what they talk about. He has so much fear and anxiety, which is manifested as anger and incandescence, because of those issues with his dad (I know he has issues with his Mom, too, but they seem to be different and not part of the discussion here).
I think he’s angry at a lot of people for a lot different things. He’s angry at Charles for not being there when he was younger, hurting Diana and causing issues in his childhood. He’s angry at Diana for doing the interview and embarrassing him but also at her dying. He’s angry at Harry for leaving and finding a woman who he really loves. He’s angry at Meghan for being that woman and being more charismatic than he is. He’s angry at Camilla for being the other woman and causing his mother pain. He’s probably angry at Kate too because she’s not Meghan aka charismatic. He’s probably angry at himself too because he can’t be a “regular” aristo and just do nothing all day and for having to “settle” for Kate.
But instead of talking to the people that he can (due to the institution raising him to suppress his feelings and his own lack of wanting to deal with it) and finding ways to deal with his anger, he just bottles it up and it’s seen in incandescent rages.
I also wonder how much of Williams criticism is essentially parroting what he’s gotten from his training with the Queen and Queen Mother. How irritating it must be to hear all of your supposed faults from both your mother and son. Once it became clear the opinions would never change I’d probably avoid the lot of them as much as possible (which then continues the trend of being a bad father).
Yes! I am far from being a Charles apologist, but the man works and has been preparing for his role as king literally all his life. In his 20s, he went to Cambridge and served in both the RAF and RN. He started the Prince’s Trust with his pension from the Navy and has since established and served as president of more than 15 charitable organizations. He established Duchy Originals and has written or contributed to 3 dozen books. He realized he had to do something while waiting to “fulfill his destiny” and he has. What has William accomplished in his nearly 40 years? Most Royals have at least one “signature project” that they are identified with and have consistently do engagement for. Where are W&K’s after nearly 10 years of marriage?
Isn’t it rich that the laziest heir criticizes how his father does fk duties?
Yeah I’m curious as to why Wills could allegedly be shouting at Charles about not doing work properly. Personal matters I get- I can understand Wills having a lot of resentment towards Charles. But can’t understand why they would clash about work unless it’s Charles trying to prod William to do more or William wanting more budget Etc.
And yes as said above the media nor the firm want to take any blame for Sussexes leaving royal duties and just blame it on Meghan. It’s just one reason it would be helpful to put forward their side one day
He probably thinks that his father works too much. That creates unpleasant expectations for himself. 😉
William has said publicly that he wants to do things different from Charles, whereas Harry thinks that his father has got things right and openly disagreed with William. Harry and William are very opposite, anyone who has kids will know that siblings can have very different personalities even when they have had the same upbringing and same opportunities. I have two girls who are polar opposites but the good thing is that despite their very sharp differences they love each other to bits.
@ArtHistorian I believe it’s exactly that. Charles has set such a high standard for the work of a POW and William has spent the past decade droning on about how “differently” he wants to do things and by that he means much less. I truly think he’s baffled as to why Charles would have done so much when he could have just coasted along, doing the bare minimum while he waited for his mother to die.
@Sofia also ITA with your comment that William seems to be angry with EVERYONE for some reason…his father, his brother— he blames all of his own issues with how his life turned out on other people, imo.
So much for the don’t complain, don’t explain part of old school regal yester year. Someone needs to hand William a throat losange because Boo has been spilling his one sided story for a whole year, practicing the truth for the trial in late autumn. Sounds like he still can’t decide which story makes him look more Kingly. I wish this flared nostril fool would be incandescent with silence. STFU already, like granny.
LOLOLOLOL!
So glad Harry and Meghan left that country and understand completely when they did come back they made sure not to bring Archie.
Those folks mindset is terrible. The way the have no problem with the way their press behaves says a lot about the country.
I will be shocked if they bring Archie back to the UK with them anytime soon. Not just because of the pandemic. The situation between the families is still too heated. The press too rabid.
My prediction is that if Charles wants to see Archie, he will have to come to California. I think he and Camila just might do that sometime this year.
the UK is not a safe place for any of the Sussexes right now. I think they will come and go to the UK in secret, with decoy cars, etc. They won’t tell the royals where they are staying, and they DEFINITELY won’t stay at Frogmore. We may only learn they were there after they leave.
I think Harry may have been in and out of America because of immigration issues?
The more Robert Lacey talks, the more I question his bonafides as a true historian.
Same here.
Ditto!
I just want some journalist to write the truth about what happened. They’ve seen that a book on the Sussexes side is a hell of a lot more successful than those books trashing them. Omid has probably made millions at this point, but he glossed over too much. The real story would make even more, but the only people who write something even close to the truth need access to the RF so we get this talking out of both sides bullshit. The money is with H&M not with everybody else.
Someone on here said they work in publishing and that apparently Lacey had a LOT more in his book and it was taken out and he was not very happy with the end result.
Someone on twitter said they wrote a fictional book about the Rose Hanbury affair – like fictional William was having an affair with fictional Rose and when the press found out about it, he threw fictional Meghan under the bus to distract – and she said she had a contract and the book was literally on the verge of being published and her publisher got a call from lawyers for the royal family and the book was pulled immediately and not published.
Now, neither of those things are verified, but there are enough other stories like that floating around (remember the tweet from…Niles coren? was that his name?) that got removed super fast about the affair?) that it makes me think the royal family has WAY too much influence over what is written about them and as a result I’m not sure we are ever going to get the truth.
Well they need a journalist who has the balls to go there, someone like a Ronan Farrow. Someone who will have the backing of The New Yorker or something similar. This family has gotten away with abuse for too long. I am of the firm belief that Harry has been emotionally abused his whole life, which is why he never left despite wanting to. It’s hard to break the cycle. I can believe the BM has the nerve to say that H&M censor the press when the royals won’t even allow a whisper of William’s peccadilloes to be written.
Ronan Farrow or Tina Brown would do nicely.
Oh yes, l just mentioned the word ‘injunction’ in a prominent British newspaper and my comment was deleted, probably for fear of the content of a discussion thread that would develop. The royals have very successfully managed to shut that story, very suspicious, and that walk to church with Rose Hanbury was terrible.
The real story can only come from Harry and Meghan. Those are books, especially Harry’s that should be written.
@amybee I think the BM knows the real story. It seems like an open secret with they way they are always hinting at it. I don’t think H&M are the only ones who know. I wish there was a whistleblower because the RF have been abusing their power.
@JT I see some secrets coming out once the Queen dies. The royal reporters are holding back because of her. They don’t seem to like or respect Charles that much so I can see them spilling some secrets. Let’s hope.
Charles isn’t Tory enough for them.
I hope Harry and Meghan never feel they need to tell their story, and are able to successfully communicate their side through intermediaries. As fascinating as Morton’s Diana biography was, it damaged her public image and gravitas terribly. I remember even from the American media so much judgment of her mental state and emotional ‘messiness’ even as they castigated the royals for their cruelty.
I don’t understand why someone hasn’t written this book. Yes, they would lose access to the RF, but they would make enough money from a true tell-all that they wouldn’t need access to the boring members who are left.
They could publish it in the US and not have to worry about so much being removed for “legal reasons” and they would be set for life financially.
I hope this happens during my lifetime!
William in love “politely requests” Kate wait for 9 years? Then he breaks up with her and parties with other women? Is that love?
“Could have been a sources of conceit and arrogance”? Not reaching out to Harry after offending him isn’t arrogance? He doesn’t see it as his “duty” to apologize for offensive things he does? Isn’t that conceit and arrogance? This writer contradicts himself.
And again with the Edward comparison? Of course, William is going to be king; he was first-born. How does anybody think they can sustain that comparison of H and Ed? William being king has nothing to do with how he feels about “duty”; it has to do with his birth order.
I think the RRs bang on so much about the Duke of Windsor, skirting the issue, because they’re afraid to publish the facts head on. William is essentially the Duke of Windsor reborn, born 88 years and two days apart. Selfish, cheap, immature, hates duty but loves royal status, and destined to damage the monarchy. As the Duke of Windsor said once about himself (to Tommy Lascelles), the worst sort of person to be Prince of Wales.
I doubt William had any “plan.” Kate was available and she brought him to see the “family he never had” and Carole made him cheese toasts and they had talks. I am not sure he ever thought of marrying her until close to the proposal time. He seemed to be weighing his options. And when the aristos turned him down he settled for Kate. There is a story that creeps me out about their relationship. Kate who was then ‘just friends’ with him rushed across the room when she saw a woman coming on to Wiliam. She slipped in behind William and hugged him and claimed to be his “Girlfriend” the other woman left and William “thanked Kate” and the two giggled. It’s as if Kate had to constantly watch william to ensure he did not go with someone else and she played the ‘just friend” with her own self interest at heart. Some men would have been annoyed at the “just friend” interfering and tell her he did not need her “help.” Later on Willliam made a rather demeaning comment about Kate saying there was “sex (Kate)” waiting for him in the next room.
Ha! Earning your own money is radical! Like many of y’all, I’m sitting at work right now, thinking about how I need to pay the phone bill later. Never knew that was so radical!
Jesus what type of women do they interact with IRL? Does the UK still have any reasonable feminist, activist voices because you mostly hear from Tory types and retro woman shaming hags like Sarah Vine, or these Terf types like JK Rowland. This guy is so offensive. Seriously can’t stand him and his clunky book. Racist pr*ck.
How do we square William taking the lesson of his parents’ marriage being duty with the 15 years of reporting how much he did not want to be king and loathed everyone in the royal family but the Queen? That narrative began early -1998/99, was in Vanity Fair in 2002/2003, and his reluctance was the main feature of hiding away in Wales for years. Compare the treatment of William’s petulance to that of his father, who was never supported by his family and may very well be temperamentally unsuited for the monarchy but has gritted his teeth and grinded it out essentially since birth. Yet only one is roundly mocked in the press, and it goes far behind his cheating and the breakup of his marriage. The thing that Charles was most mocked for, and still comes up with the right wing, other than the talking to plants, was saying he wanted to be known as protector of all faiths and not merely protector of the faith. It was his maybe-awkward nod to living in a multi cultural, multi religious Britain. William would never.
I hope William never becomes king. #abolishthemonarchy
There’s a lovely photo of Kate and William on platform being carried by black and brown islanders that’s going viral on Twitter as we speak. Blue checks commenting on it and everything. People are pissed. LOL
William couldn’t even take off his damn sunglasses and Kate looks so smug. They should have turned this down. There are no pictures of Charles and Diana or Camilla doing this. At the very least, they should have wiped the smiles off their faces and at least bowed their heads respectfully.
The one in Tuvalu where they’re being carried on wooden thrones and it’s the most horrible colonialist crap ever? And it’s clear from the expressions on the faces of some of the carriers that they are not happy with it.
“William has pretended it hasn’t happened, and he’s an old-style Royal in that sense. He’s taken lessons from his grandmother, and this is something of a patent in the Royal Family.”
Yes, please tell me more about how many healthy, happy relationships those old-style Royals have produced. Lessons from his grandmother? The one with three out of four divorced children? Yeah, hard pass on following in any of those footsteps.
Lacey wrote of “visits” to his grandmother for tea and how Philip would leave the room so the Queen could have a heart to heart with him about his duty.
The more that’s written about Willie, the more it becomes clear he’s unstable. His flying into rages at the drop of a hat makes him seem mentally disturbed. People like this can be violent. Which would explain why Kate looks the way she does. I hope his kids are safe.
If Elizabeth’s the one responsible for Willie, something is wrong with her. If she felt justified in driving a wedge between Willie and Charles and if she believes he’s fit to run that family when she’s gone, I have questions regarding her mental state.
Charles is in danger y’all. He needs to keep ALL of his lines of communications with Harry opened.
If you go by The Crown, both Elizabeth and Philip think Charles is a disappointment on many levels. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the Queen groomed William in her image.
I would feel sorry for William because he probably had people lobbying to control and influence him from all directions from birth. People who had their own agendas. He never had an opportunity to explore or develop himself. But he’s turned into such a monster because his way of coping is clearly to rage, emotionally manipulate and control others.
What happened in William’s childhood was not fair or right but as an adult he has had 20 years to get help and work on his issues. He’s never even been to therapy. He’s awful to everyone and I don’t think he has any interest in getting better.
Elizabeth has had a problem with Charles since he was literally a baby. She neglected him and never intervened in Philip’s bullying, prioritized and protected Andrew and gave him too much importance, and now she has done the same with William.
All this is hand waved away as the Queen being uncomfortable with her heir replacing her one day but Elizabeth was in her early twenties when she had Charles. She even gave him a royally dubious name. It’s not a normal reaction.
This. She was a horrible, selfish mother who gave away her eldest children to her mother to raise. And it most certainly was not because she was working. It was because as always she could not conceive of performing duties differently than her father, born in 1895(!!!!!!!!) and because she believes inherently, like thatcher, that women are lesser and she must act like a man to have her place. And it was also to stick by her husband’s side to try to keep him from cheating.
She’s always been cold and unfeeling towards Charles. What kind of mother spends sixth months away from their toddler and then greets them like this? @ 02:50
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j3WHnMi3TJk
A peck on the head and then barely any interaction with the little boy at all. No hugs, no smothering with kisses, no holding him, no stooping down to his level and having a conversation, etc. He might as well be some random kid on a rope line coming to see “The Queen”. That’s weird as hell and it’s emotional neglect, imo.
I think this is why they can’t understand why Harry left. Harry deeply loves his wife and child. The royals marry for duty and have kids just for heirs. There is no love. This is why Harry decision just baffles them. They don’t know what love is. Thank God Harry does.
@Nyro That was sad. He acts like he doesn’t really recognize either parent and they barely pay attention to him.
The Queen was raised to put her duty as Queen above everything, including her children, and the results have been disastrous for them.
I don’t think it’s about duty. Her own parents did not treat her this way. Left to her own devices and without societal pressure, I wonder if the Queen would have chosen to have children.
‘it could have been a source of conceit or arrogance, but on the whole, it gave him this driving sense of duty’
What? I see zero duty and a nothing but conceit and arrogance. Is there a second secret William we never get to see?
Lacey’s comments have been all over the place. American Elle which can be quite snarky is not the space for comments about woman’s rights and being self-made being radical or trying to insult a woman by calling her Yoko Ono.
The comments about William’s temper and being critical of Charles will stick here in American media. But now William looks regressive and difficult rather than someone continuing his mother’s legacy.
Old-style royals used to make their courtiers compete for the honor of watching the royals defecate.
How are you radical by wanting equal rights for women and people of color?how in 2021 is this radical?old school royal will. Does that mean he will be sanctioning slavery and colonialism?. His father was lost. Yes willy . You the hard working duty giver has always been the answer to the monarchy. Taking lessons from your dear old granny . Granny inbreeding is why she is so fucked up and continues to make monumental shit ass mistakes . It always comes back to the same thing with these white Brits . Meghan the colored woman came in and stole their blue eye prince and then further contaminated the blood line by having a baby with color in him . They will never get over the fact that Meghan is not pure white. It’s the biggest breaking of protocol and the dirtiest stain on the British monarchy. Harry never come back please and never bring your sweet innocent son to that god forsaken racist plantation
Yesterday on Twitter, there was a clip of David Bowie from 1983 calmly calling out an MTV VJ over the lack of black artists on the channel. The VJ’s defense was Middle America would be scared to death of black artists. All that to say Camilla and Sophie are allowed to advocate for women’s rights because they are white women. When Meghan does it, Little England is scared to death and Prince William supports this.
Meghan isn’t Yoko! Yoko isn’t even Yoko! The image they constructed of Yoko, blaming her for everything is the same thing they’re doing to Meghan: misogyny and racism. John didn’t want to be in The Beatles anymore and Harry didn’t want to be a royal anymore. Who in their right mind sacrifices their freedom and happiness for a group of people who don’t love you and respect you? William you can keep your symbolic crown. Freedom feels better.
Folks called it, William was schooled by and takes after Betty. I’m sure he looks down on most aspects if his mother’s legacy and sees Charles as way to liberal in his thinking and ambitions. Of course, that doesn’t stop his lazy opportunistic ass from hopping onto Charles’ decades of environmental work and claiming it as his own.
Both he and Doormat are like something out of pre-WW2 Britain. They have zero appeal in a modern world. The fact that Kate is a favorite in the racist “tradwife” subculture speaks volumes. They have zero marketability and appeal outside of Brexit Britain and MAGA.
I’m late to watching The Crown but as I binge-watch the earlier episodes one thing struck me and that is William seems to have inherited more than a little bit of Prince Philip’s petulant, self-obsessed and frankly rude behaviour. He’s been sneaking off with other women basically from the start of his relationship with Kate, as Philip did with TQ, and seems to have a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder. At least Philip found his niche and didn’t shirk hard work, but because he wasn’t a child of privilege he learned early that work would be his way out of his predicament (and marrying into the BRF). William’s just a lazy, coddled, rich brat and will continue to be as will Keen who I’m sure he chose as his wife because he can keep her under his thumb.
And Philip was a broke bitch with a philandering dad, Nazi siblings, and an eccentric mother who had her own struggles. But he had that bloodline so none of that matters.
Lacey continues to being up in every interview how William married for duty and Harry “went the opposite way” and married for love. He seems to be making a concerted effort to tell everyone that William and Kate are not a love match in every interview he does.
He talks about William’s marriage of duty and then says:
“There, on the one hand, you have duty, and on the other hand you have Harry emerging from the same emotional chaos. He takes a different lesson: His parents were locked into an arranged, loveless marriage, and he’s not going to make that mistake. He’s going to go for love, and that’s what he’s done with Meghan, unapologetically.”
Their parents we locked into an arranged, loveless marriage so Harry chooses to marry for love, while William “on the other hand…” marries for duty.
“human dichotomy: Love versus duty.” Dichotomy, as in, in opposition to each other, as in two separate parts that do not overlap. Harry is love and William’s marriage is “versus” that, the other, opposite side of love.
I find it fascinating that he keeps bringing this up. That he always mentions that Harry and Meghan are a love match which is somehow the opposite of Will and Kate. Will’s marriage with Kate doesn’t even really need to be brought up when you’re talking about William’s duty to the crown, or his relationship with his brother, or even Harry’s love for his wife, and yet, Lacey always mentions it. He spends quite a bit of time talking about it.
I agree Amy. That is the one thing he has been consistent about, which is interesting.
Yeah, if I were Kate (or Will) I would not find this comparison flattering. I’m nobody’s duty, damnit!
I’ve always tried to imagine how I would react if my sister or a friend was like “I really want to marry this guy, but he says I need to wait for a decade or so while he considers whether I’m worth it or not. Then, if I’ve passed the test and been patient enough, he might choose me because he feels obliged to marry someone!” I mean…🚩🚩🚩
This is rather contradictory with the Cambridge stans who are on social media going on about how it is clear how much in love the Cambridges are.
I just had a thought reading these recent columns. I wonder if William ever went off on Meghan, yelling and tantruming? I’d hate to think he did and actually even as I write this I’m sure we would have heard something being leaked about it hmmmm
This is so sexist and offensive on so many levels. Yoko Ono!? Even she was unfairly blamed, the Asian woman, for the issues of 2 grown white men. Agree with Kaiser on the self fulfilling prophecy. William basically said she doesn’t fit in, I’m going to make sure she doesn’t t fit in, drive her out, then pretend I’m doing my duty. POS. All this talk of duty is BS too. If William was doing his duty from the start, he would have worked harder and not been overshadowed by his brother and SIL. And the arrogance to tell Charles he’s not doing his job properly. This dude is another Franz Joseph, total reactionary. None of Meghan’s initiatives and causes pre-Harry would be considered radical. It’s not like she was out there saying defund the police or advocating universal basic income and land redistribution. Advocating for girls education, destigmatizing menstruation and access to sanitary products, volunteering at food banks, and clean water access is not radical social change. What they found most threatening was her visibility, her connections and her ability to articulate a speech. The fact that she even has her own money and a nice lifestyle before, they tried to erase with gold digger BS, as if she had nothing, because to the ratchet royal family, a self made woman of color( previously married, oh no!) is nothing.This book really seems lacking and ignorant on so many levels. Now I’m mad 😡 and want to cuss this dude out. Seriously he can go f*ck himself and glad his book went nowhere. Ugh.
Just here to say that I’m a huge fan of Yoko Ono. She is an amazing artist. Its incredibly tragic that its only now like 60 years later that people are finally recognizing that. The Beatles absolutely ruined her career. Their stupid squabbles had nothing to do with her and everything to do with john and paul. She gave up everything for john. And IMO i hear alot of YOKO in his most famous song Imagine. Would he have written that song if he hadn’t met her?
Their son Sean has a lot of common sense and I like him, so nothing wrong with John and Ono as far as I’m concerned.
Saw an exhibit of her art at SFMOMA and really like her work. It’s ridiculous that to this day how they vilify her because of a bunch of people’s teenage dreams grew up when they weren’t ready for change. Still wanna throat punch this Robert Lacey guy for disrespecting both Ono and Meghan.
Being an old style royal isn’t really a positive quality. They have to stay relevant in order to survive in modern times. William is jealous that he doesn’t have the charisma that Harry seems to have. He and Kate will never have Diana-level support, yet H & M always inspire comparisons to Diana, thanks to their empathy and ability to connect to us common folk. I’m so sick of these narratives. Will and Kate are duds. Better luck next time.
If William really were an old school royal, he’d change the family name back to Saxe Coburg Gotha or Battenberg-Saxe Coburg Gotha. None of this artsy-fartsy WWI modernity of Windsor or Mountbatten-Windsor.
Would it be rather Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg?
Elizabeth Saxe Coburg Gotha (who became Elizabeth Windsor) married Phillip Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (who became Phillip Mountbatten, his mother’s surname).
That’s alot of name changes.
Exactly. I said this in my comment too. The world has no room for a monarch like the Queen, who couldn’t even muster up the tears for dead children in Aberfan. If that’s the person from whom William is taking lessons, then heaven help us all for what’s in store.
The other worrying thing is that William is not the Queen. The Queen, while she had no sympathy to offer anyone, at least knew when to shut up. William, all things considered, strikes me as a boor who’s going to shoot his mouth off at some point in the future.
1. Harry and his brother are no longer boys – they’re grown men. All this infantilising of Harry is a way of ignoring the fact that he made a choice to leave the RF. He’d been talking about his desire to leave long before he met Meghan.
2. Whenever a woman of colour marries an iconic or sought-after white man, the press hatred goes into overdrive. You could switch up any of the terms used for Yoko Ono, Meghan, Amal Clooney, Priyanka Chopra and the narrative is the same. She’s devious, trapped him, after his money etc ad nauseum.
It’s racism pure and simple. If you’ve been taught to believe that people of colour are inferior, and a “prized” white man chooses to marry and have children with a WOC, then it destroys that sense of superiority. And self. So the only way for it to make sense is that the woman tricked him, or bewitched him (vajajay rice anyone? 🤣)
I love your point #2 because it is so true and it goes from the very top of society down. White women who are racists absolutely hate when one of ‘their’ men chooses a WOC over them. I’ve seen it and experienced it. The entitlement is crazy.
This is so true. I remember when Priyanka Chopra married the Jonas guy, some woman wrote in NY Mag that she was a scammer taking advantage of him and his white innocence. Her? This massive global Bollywood star. The article was eventually taken down because it was so offensive. What sucks is it was written by another woman of color. But yeah, the same playbook that the woman must have tricked the guy because they aren’t supposed to marry those types of women, only have flings with them.
Yup Rosa. Every single time. And it happens in fiction/fandoms too. The Flash fans are still super pissed that the tv show cast Iris West as a black woman. Don’t even get me started on Dr. Who/Martha Jones.
It is pretty clear that William and the RF cannot stand that Harry and Meghan don’t acknowledge them or pander to them, apologize to them or even argue with them. William is. It used to being ignored. It has set him off into and endless incandescence. God I hope they stay away from this mess. Yoko ? Sweet Lord.
Robert Lacey is doing that thing that so many royal commentators wind up doing these days. They offer what they think is an explanation of the royal family that only winds up making them look that much worse.
For example, when he says this about Meghan’s beliefs: “These are radical initiatives, radical impulses; do they fit inside the rather safe and conservative British Royal Family? If those are the sort of objections and queries that William raised, well, events have proved them right, didn’t they? This was a woman who couldn’t fit inside the Royal Family so, as a result, she’s no longer royal.”
What he is saying is that there is no room in the royal family for self-made individuals, who create their own celebrity through their own work and don’t derive it from their accident of birth, let alone ambitious, self-made women who care about women’s rights and social equality. The royal family has no space for progressive values. In fact, they are firmly against progressive values of any type. They outright oppose equality of all people. They are a racist, reactionary, white supremacist institution, and not only that, they think it is their duty to be this way, and that this is, in fact, the right way to be.
Remember when all these people started screaming about Harry sitting in on his wife’s video to promote voting rights in America? My takeaway then, from all the screaming, was that the British royal family, given their vocal opposition to campaigning for voting rights, is against the right to vote. When the Queen prorogued parliament for BoJo, my takeaway was that she does not care about democracy. When the institution decided that it would continue to hide and shelter Prince Andrew from answering for his behaviour, my takeaway was that she doesn’t care about the rule of law, let alone justice for the most vulnerable people in the population.
The royal family is showing their truth, continuously. They are a danger to a free, just and moral society, one where all people are treated equally. William is a reactionary, and while he might not intend to do this, he is signalling a worrying level of affinity with certain elements of British society that are actively dangerous. They are doing so in a world that, increasingly, will have no more room or use for them.
Excellent analysis
The BRf are starting to really give out vibes that they don’t feel that they should be accountable to anyone at all and that they are not beholden to the British public. They just do whatever they want, even when it contravenes governmental advice like the stupid Pandemic Express Tour. Like someone elsewhere wrote: this kind of arrogant behaviour is usually strike one when it comes to Abolished Monarchies.
I don’t think that the BRF will be abolished anytime in this century but it is worrisome that the leader and future leaders of the institution acts in this arrogant and entitled way – and it is frustrating that they get away with it and aren’t held accountable by the press.
I loathe Yoko as a person and admire her as an artist. Comparing Meghan to her does not sit right with me at all. Harry and Meghan are one kind of couple and John and Yoko was another. Meghan is one kind of person and Yoko is most definitely another kind. Lots of people (including Yoko) would love to sell the John-and-Yoko-were-a-perfect-match love story, but that story just isn’t true. (Yoko definitely wasn’t the only or primary reason the Beatles broke up, however. John didn’t do anything he didn’t want to do.)
I really hope no one takes Robert Lacey’s story as the version history will take because this is such revisionist BS. Where was William’s strong sense of duty three years ago when he skipped out on going to the Commonwealth service to go party with ski bunnies without his wife present? It is insane to me how they’ve rewritten history the last two years. The idea that William has always been dutiful in a way that Harry doesn’t get is ridiculous. Harry gave up his military career that he loved to work for the firm full time to help pick up the slack from the Doolittles and all he asked for was support when his pregnant wife was being relentlessly abused but his family refused.
I’m sick of the reason for his exit being muddied: he asked the palace what he needed to do to get the rota that was abusing his wife aeay from his family and was told he needed to be financially independent as all of the abuse was justified with “taxpayer money” so he did it. They didnt think he had it in him but that’s their fault for underestimating him. Thats not his problem.
The 1936 abdication was about a lot more than Edward VIII marrying Wallis Simpson so don’t raise your hopes up it was about Britain against a poor old American citizen.
Edward was a national security risk who shirked/didn’t do his duties and made promises to the common man which he could not keep. He was head of the Church and in 1936 he just could not marry a divorced woman.
The main reason he was not wanted as king though was because he was a Nazi sympathiser. The fact that Wallis Simpson was American was irrelevant. What was important was that she seemed heartless and tactless. Edward cancelled an engagement at an Aberdeen hospital to meet her from the station. She – married to another man – tried acting as hostess at Balmoral in the presence of the 2nd lady of the land.