As we now know, the emperor has no clothes. The supposed brain trust of advisors and seasoned professionals at Buckingham Palace is just a group of reactive, petty flunkies who are not even capable of talking the Queen out of her absolutely worst, most tone-deaf instincts. The Queen will be making a big speech on March 7th, the day before Commonwealth Day, as part of a royal extravaganza on the BBC. The royals insist that they had planned the event weeks before the news of the Sussexes’ Oprah interview came out, but I do not believe anything coming out of the Palace. As I said, they’re dumber than a box of Kate’s wiglets. They’re reacting to the Sussexes constantly. So, now that we know that the Queen wants March 7th to be about Commonwealth Day alone and not any pesky squeaky wheels in Montecito, surely the British broadcasters would support her desire and refuse to buy the rights to the Sussexes’ interview? Hahahaha.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s first major interview since splitting with the British Royal Family has sparked a hot bidding war in the U.K. for rights to air the highly coveted sit-down. Sources tell Variety that Comcast-backed pay-TV operator Sky and free-to-air player ITV are bidding for the CBS primetime special, hosted by Oprah Winfrey. It’s not believed that streaming giants Amazon or Netflix are in the running.
As of Tuesday evening, a BBC source has confirmed that the public broadcaster is not involved in the process. “The BBC is not involved in a bidding war on this.”
It’s understood that ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group, which will be selling the program overseas, is keen for the interview to land on a free-to-air broadcaster, which would ensure a significant profile in the U.K. ITV, in particular, has a proven track record hosting content featuring the British Royals, notably the annual “Royal Variety Performance,” which is attended by senior members of the Royal Family.
It’s also worth noting that Markle and Prince Harry gave one of their most high-profile interviews to date to ITV journalist Tom Bradby as part of the broadcaster’s 2019 documentary “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” during which Bradby famously asked Megan whether she was okay — a very human gesture that Markle even referenced in her recent op-ed in the New York Times.
The timing of the CBS special is key, and would have caused problems for the BBC from an optics perspective. The Queen’s annual Commonwealth broadcast is due to air on BBC One on Sunday, March 7, the same day as the CBS interview. Pre-recorded at Windsor Castle, the broadcast is part of the Anita Rani-hosted program “A Celebration For Commonwealth Day,” which will also feature the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Countess of Wessex.
I’m also curious about how CBS/Viacom will sell the broadcast rights to, say, Commonwealth countries. I’m sure many Commonwealth countries would rather hear from Meghan and Harry as opposed to a group of white, staid, boring old colonialists. As for the UK rights, it sounds like ITV will probably win out, which is what I expected. And I chuckled at the BBC not even attempting to get the rights, because the Beeb doesn’t want to piss off Liz. Speaking of, I enjoyed this aside in Katie Nicholl’s coverage of the dueling TV programs on March 7th:
Because of the time zone difference, there will be no actual clash between the two broadcasts; Harry and Meghan’s 90-minute sitdown with Oprah will air at 8 p.m. Eastern time, which is 1 a.m. in the United Kingdom; it won’t air in the UK until later in the day on Monday. But the interest in the interview, and what the couple reveals, is likely to dominate social media chatter. A source told Vanity Fair, “The palace is hoping the service will get plenty of media coverage because Commonwealth Day is incredibly important to the Queen, she won’t be happy if anything overshadows it.”
OMG, Liz just needs to take the L and go back to her palace. The only thing that’s going to happen on March 8th, Monday morning – Commonwealth Day!! – is that every single headline in the UK will be about Meghan and Harry’s interview. The Queen will be overshadowed. Commonwealth Day will be overshadowed. And the fact that Liz was so desperate to show off the remaining white family members won’t actually help matters either. That’s the only headline they might get on March 8th – “Dowdy White Royals Lecture Commonwealth Countries.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
BBC is owned by the Government so they won’t do anything to go against the monarch.
I am excited to see what they will be wearing and if Archie will make an appearance.
I don’t think it is actually- it’s publicly funded but the government has no editorial control when it comes to news coverage or content generally. Their mission statement is to be ‘inpartial, free and fair’.
However, there is lots of controversy about the future of the BBC and how it is funded.
I think, anyway- correct me if I’m wrong!
Is it the British version of PBS (public broadcasting system)?
It is funded by the public but everyone know they are “owned” by the government. So if Labour Party ruled, BBC will support them. Now that the Conservatives rules, they support them now.
BBC might claim to be fair and unbiased but that only counts for world news and not UK news.
The BBC is indirectly beholden to the government. They don’t want to antagonise the people who could refuse to renew their Charter. They favour the establishment and generally, the government of the day.
Also, the government has a role in appointing senior figures at the BBC. There are a lot of people in important roles who used to have political roles, which will affect their decisions for the organisation.
The thing with public companies is that the person who runs the company on a daily basis is appointed by the government, in the absence of an independent commission. If the head of the BBC is a government appointee then he will do what the government asks him to do and if the Queen’s people asked Boris’ government not to air that interview, they will do so. Qui pro quo. Next time she’ll prorogue parliament for him.
The BBC was in the bidding war, but they pulled out due to optics and a call from Buck Palace.
To be honest I don’t think too many people in the Caribbean are going to watch the RF or Oprah’s interviews.
They depend on tourism and after the Christmas holidays, with tourist from Britain the COVID numbers are through the roof.
I think the royal house will block most commonwealth countries from showing Oprah’s interview.
Internet will be the place where most will watch it.
The BBC would probably get in trouble for spending big on a thing like this, because as has been said they are publicly funded. That’s why they lost the Great British Bakeoff to Channel 4 (part public, part commercial).
ITV has bigger funds at hand, and I also heard some speculation that there may be some talk of a quid pro quo as the Oprah docu requested the footage of the ITV Tom Bradby docu, and footage of the Markles being interviewed on This Morning, both owned by ITV.
@Sierra, WHAT? The BRF is gonna tell us commonweth countries what or not to watch? Are you just kidding or what? Your queenie/BRF has/have absolutely zero powers nor authority to order/lecture ANY commonwealth country to do nothing.
@Sierra, I don’t think the Royal House can block any other CW country from seeing the program. They certainly cannot stop it being shown in Canada for example.
@Sierra, I live in South Africa, a commonwealth country. We have a very powerful satellite company that broadcasts throughout Africa. Their exclusive rights to certain things even supercedes Netflix. There is no way, the British Royal Family will dictate anything to them.
The queen doesn’t have the kind of powers to sway what is aired in Commonwealth countries, not even in the Realm. Her powers are limited to the UK.
Queen CAN’T even block viewing in the UK. If she could we wouldn’t be having this discussion in this very threat. ITV is gonna air the interview, if not ITV then some other TV will. The only thing queenie can do (which was a very stupid decision they made if you ask me) is air her little CW speech and thus compete with the sixth in line for attention, LOL.🤣🤣🤣 Where are all the people that were whinging ad nauseum about how thirsty the Sussexes are? I can’t believe how Queen and all her minions are more thirsty than the Kardashians combined.😃😃
The Queen can’t block other countries from seeing this interview. Most Caribbean countries are on EST and have satellite/ cable and watch US broadcasts directly. They can watch it the same time Americans are. It will show up on YouTube or streaming as well. People who want to watch it will watch it. The UK overhyped and over reacted to it, and are freaking out too much. I heard some government minister was asking Spotify about Harry and Meghan’s podcast deal. Like, really? How does that concern the UK?
YoYo, you’re mistaken. The folks in the Caribbean would very much be interested in what Meghan has to say. The queen kicked out the only person of colour from serving the commonwealth. Are you kidding? Also, most of the tourism comes from Canada and the United States.
Sierra- the queen has no control over what’s shown in commonwealth countries. Imagine Liz telling us in Canada that we aren’t allowed to watch Harry and Meghan, and forbidding our broadcasters from airing it. Never going to happen.
Canada controls its own broadcasting and the Queen has no power here. Most Canadians have access to CBS anyway but those who don’t can watch the simulcast on Global.
I’m excited to see (maybe) Archie and a little of their beautiful house!
If we see Archie I’ll scream! I wanna see his hair!
BBC is not owned by government or that sort. But BBC has been and will always be part of the Establishment, well except the 90s when it was just free for all. That’s why they don’t run it.
BBC frequently steps over the line with pandering royal coverage, which is why RepublicUK keeps going after them.
Ain’t nobody gonna watch that Commonwealth Day crap. Oprah is gonna be must see TV across the UK, the Commonwealth and the world.
Last year’s CW video told me all I needed to know about that family. The mannequin in her stupid little hat, Baldilocks, and Sofiesta were simply vile to the only black member of the family and her husband. They weren’t even smart enough to pretend to be civil in front of the world press. We won’t forget those images in a hurry.
No we won’t. The utter fact that they had the nerve to behave in that manner in a church no less!! Not that I’m religious, but GFC, at least smile until the door hits you in the ass!!
I am really getting they don’t get a toss about Commonwealth anymore. Watch it, some of her realms will bound to go. The damages are just too big and the lingering goodwill has severely been curtailed.
I’m not sure that’s true. In the UK at least, there are older people who love the monarchy and will watch it. They’ll probably also watch the Harry & Meghan thing too. They’ll watch anything with the royals in. My grandmother and her siblings were all very much about that stuff. They’ll also have forgotten all about it in a few days time, while I’m sure the tabloids will make stories for weeks.
If Commonwealth Day (formerly Empire Day) has ever been broadcast or even mentioned anywhere in the Commonwealth since about 1955 it’s news to me. Never even knew it was a thing until a couple of years ago, and it isn’t in my Aus/NZ diary or calendar.
Agreed SNUFFLES. The BRF (even the younger ones) are basically irrelevant to us Canadians, except maybe seniors with ties to England. However, I think H&M are going to be very interesting to watch. They are more interesting now precisely *because* of their independence from the BRF.
“Dowdy White Royals Lecture Commonwealth Countries.” LOL, LOL, LOL. Thank you, Kaiser, as always for such pithy statements.
Ha!! The Commonwealth thing is curious to me. Australia has a lot of problems with racism, I know, but it’s not a stuffy country at all. They’re still salty with Churchill about Gallipoli (don’t blame them) and those who are descended from convicts who got exiled for stealing a pair of shoes are damned proud of it. It has to be weird for them to be part of the Commonwealth?
I went to camp with a lot of kids from Canada in Michigan one summer. They were showing me their money and saying “ours is prettier, it’s different colors” and I was like “Why is the Queen of England on your money? You’re an independent country like us right?” They didn’t have an answer.
The Queen is on less of the money as she was thirty years ago. With the elimination of the one and two dollar bill, she is only on the $20 right now. And her profile is in the back of coins.
I suspect that once she passes there will be a move to remove the monarch even more.
Petty Betty is the worst enemy of the Monarchy, and what it is beyond shocking is how she is ride or die for her favourite son: he is a rapist, but he hasn’t faced any consequence for his behaviour.
If Charles hadn’t stepped in, pedo Andy will still be in his place.
Tiny bit of tea direct from Buck Palace – when Charles ordered Andrew in to give him a carpeting and demand his withdrawal from public duties, Camilla was spotted listening at the keyhole to try and hear what was said.
What? How did you hear that? The image of Camilla listening at a keyhole is pretty funny.
It is, isn’t it? Apparently when staff spotted her, she wasn’t in the slightest bit abashed, just grinned and carried on listening.
I don’t blame her, I’d want to hear it too!
I’d like to hear what Camilla thinks about Sussexit. She seems like a pragmatic sort to me–and it’s been said that she’s surprised at how William talks to (screams at) his dad. I’ll bet she’s Team Sussex but can’t say it. I also think she’s exasperated with Charles’s weakness and narcissism. She does keep her own house after all.
I think Camilla doesn’t care a whit what happens to the Sussexes and very little what’s going on with the Cambridges either. I bet she’s 100% looking out for Camilla. And not in a bad way — I think she just only cares what’s going on with herself and her kids and got roped into marrying Charles and is fine with that, but also doesn’t give a s–t about what’s going on around her in the family business as long as it doesn’t directly affect *her*. (But of course she wanted to listen at the keyhole while Charles berated Andrew, who wouldn’t?!?! lol)
I would love to see that. And I don’t blame her either. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
Would two flies fit on that wall????
I dont know about Camilla being team Sussex. She has certainly dealt with her share of negative press, so I can imagine that there is a part of her that thinks “if I could get through it, why cant they?” but I also think she’s not obsessed with the idea of the royal family and probably thinks William is an ass, so she probably understands why Harry wants out.
(and to be clear I know that Camilla received negative press for very different reasons than Meghan, namely her own actions, but I imagine in her mind she doesnt see the difference that clearly, if at all.)
I think she probably cares the most about Sussexit in terms of how it will affect Charles’s reign and what it will mean for him.
@Lanne, me too, but I’m not sure what to make of Camilla and what she truly thinks of Sussexit. IIRC, when Harry and Meghan’s engagement was announced, she gave what seemed to be a genuinely positive response and even made a comment about America’s loss of Meghan being their gain.
But then she was asked about them on camera another time more recently — I can’t remember exactly when, I think around the time Sussexit was happening? — and she seemed pretty snarky about H&M when asked about them. Maybe she’s just one of those flighty people who changes their opinions frequently? She certainly doesn’t seem like a consistent ally to Harry and Meghan.
@ Becks1, I agree with you and to expand on your thought further, she is probably concerned about Charles and how this affects him. I am almost certain that Camilla cares for herself and her children, but also the troubles that may ail Charles, as any spouse would. As for PWT, I would imagine that Camilla looks down upon him for his antics and his behaviour, as abhorrent as it is and it must be maddening. I imagine her to be someone who wouldn’t take that kind of crap from anyone, given that she comes off a person with chutzpah to me.
I found it funny that it is mentioned that Commonwealth Day is important to the Queen but with no reference to the UK and the Commonwealth. Is Commonwealth Day really important to anyone else but the Queen?
Since it was called Empire Day before the rebranding, probably not. Thanks for educating me other celebitches!
For 2 insignificant celebrities/former royals the BM sure does go crazy to cover them.
wiglet, my parents said when they were children, they got a bun and a coca cola in school on empire day and lustily sang God save the King.
TBH it’s not really celebrated that much by normal people in the UK – there used to be a bit more around it when I was growing up but now, no one really cares and I think most people would rather see it dismantle. It serves no purpose other than a reminder of the UK’s imperial past.
No, it’s not.
I grew up in Canada and only learned that Commonwealth Day existed a year ago.
Same. It’s not a thing here.
So it’s just a day where Her Royal Pettiness gets to cosplay that she still has an Empire, but no one else gives a hoot? LMAO.
Canadian here – frankly I’ve never watched the Commonwealth Day ceremonies and I can assure you only doddering old monarchists who emigrated to Canada from England will be watching it with their festering old dogs, their slippers and a cuppa.
I don’t even think CBC Newsworld even airs the service. I know the main network doesn’t.
Commonwealth Day is not a thing in Canada. The only royal type day here is Victoria Day or May 24 weekend which is the unofficial start of summer and cottage season.
What is cottage season?
@BayTampaBay – cottage season is when a diaspora of people go up to their summer cottages every weekend. In Ontario it’s generally the Muskoka area (tons of lakes), the Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton. It generally starts around the May 24 long weekend and ends on Canadian Thanksgiving.
Same is Saskatchewan and Manitoba – off to the cottage (or the campsite) for Victoria Day weekend. I am Canadian, and I have never seen the ceremony, ever.
I’ve lived in the UK for nearly 6 years now, and I can’t say that I remember any televised hoopla over Commonwealth Day during that time. No one cares, Betty.
Do we (now more than ever) really need a reminder of the Empire? Hard pass, won’t watch.
I’ve never been aware of Commonwealth Day as a Thing either. I work in a primary school too- if there is ever a theme day to be had, we would know about it!
Don’t really see the point and am not interested, just like 99.99999% of the country!
I’m in the UK too and the only thing most people pay any attention to around the Commonwealth is the Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth Day isn’t marked by the public at all.
Then they will be greatly disappointed cos more than half the population have sworn to not watch , according to their polls. Also why will people want to watch when they can watch queenie and the MAGA 7 commonwealth show ?
Meghan and harry are irrelevant according to the media so they shouldn’t waste their money trying to buy the rights to their interview
Except…they only polled 4200+ ppl for that shitty poll!🤭😂 So yeah, most of the Sussexes *haters* will definitely be watching the Oprah interview when it airs on Monday!!😏
They will ALL be watching with their Leslie Knope angry faces the second it drops.
😀
“Also why will people want to watch when they can watch queenie and the MAGA 7 commonwealth show ?
The only reason I would watch the BBC Commonwealth production of MAGA 7 is to see what vintage outfit Anne is wearing. I am sure BBC America will be running a repeat broadcast later in the week. I will probably watch it, with wine & cheese, as I think it may be fun for “shits & giggles”.
And yet, you know that the entire country will have something to say the day after about an interview that half of them allegedly didn’t see. SMH
It never stops being hilarious that they all scream about how irrelevant the Sussexes are while at the same time never shutting up about them
@ Lorelei, I know!! They are MAD for Harry and Meghan and will use any opportunity to see hear from them, but then twist every word and the smear campaign begins all over again.
Honestly, this queen is not the smartest.
From a Commonwealth country and never heard of C Day. It’s her day of being pompous and uppity.
I’ve lived in Britain most of my life and while I was vaguely aware of the day I couldn’t tell you when it is or remember any big hoo-ha around it in previous years. Funny that…
I grew up in a Commonwealth country and think it was on the calendar but don’t remember anything specific. Our big thing was Emancipation or Independence Day. We took the Queen off our money a while ago. Don’t think she’s on any of it now and we use US dollars a lot anyway. This is just for the UK public to make nice and pretend all is well after showing everyone their ugliness and racism. There’s no hope over there.
I’m in Canada and a grown-ass 50 year old woman and had no clue Commonwealth Day was a thing until this week. Before then it was just a thing on my phone’s calendar that took up space and couldn’t be deleted.
I think this is exactly the point — to ride on the coattails of M&H’s interview publicity to increase awareness of this event. It’s worked pretty well, I must say. Despite resenting H&M, they clearly recognize the value of being associated with them, ironically enough.
I’m American and around your age and I only know about it from watching The Crown. Which I did enjoy, I’ll admit. You really do see the origins of Liz’s pettiness on that show. That’s what happens when everything and everyone around you gets pulled into your gravitational royal force.
Edward is missing from the malignant seven in the prerecorded speech. I’ve got to hand it to the queen, there is nothing the average person loves mores than a speech from the most entitled people on Earth, lol. Too bad bots cannot drive up viewership ratings.
I noticed that. Poor Edward. Maybe he didn’t want to get involved in the circus.
More likely mummy’s still punishing him for that “Royal Knockout” business.
I actually do believe that the scheduling was unintentional. The RF find out about H&M’s dealings when the rest of the world do. They keep everything close to the chest so it’s not leaked.
Anywho, Sussexit or not, how much attention would the Queen actually get? She is boring as far as media goes.
Naaahhh, the interview was center stage throughout their Sussexit negotiations so, yeah they scheduled on same day in attempts to pull attention. Like someone above mentioned, the fools knew the obly way people would even notice was by somehow connecting their MAGA7 pitchapalace to the Sussex interview. I can’t believe a 94 year old head of state and her 74 year old heir-in waIting are engaging in this stupid childish game, my goodness!!
I am from a Commonwealth country and I am not interested in anything the BRF has to say.
My mother’s generation called England the “mother country” and she is not interested.
Also I thought the polls showed that people were not interested in watching the interview.
That’s a flat out lie!! They will devour every moment to start with all of the hate that goes with it!
Speaking as a Brit, nobody here pays attention to Commonwealth Day or any of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it. Prior to last year and the furore around Harry and Meghan’s last round of official appearances, I hadn’t even heard of it and I can’t remember seeing it covered by mainstream media. It’s never got the attention that Trooping the Colour has, for example. So all of this scare-mongering about Harry and Meghan overshadowing it is true but not for the reasons being given.
Totally this.
The only reason I recall it from last year was because of Megan’s fabulous green outfit and The Snub. The news outlets were only covering because of Harry and Megan.
Oh was THAT commonwealth day?? Yeah I had not clocked that. Clearly it’s a big event in the calendar that every British citizen (hi!) has in the calendar and awaits eagerly.
It’s interesting, my brother-in-law is from a Commonwealth Country (India). He went to Cambridge, became a lawyer and a writer. I think he and his friends from there are quite proud of being part of it, proud of their English ties. When Biden picked Harris as his Veep, they were talking about her heritage and chose to focus on the fact that both of her parents were from Commonwealth countries, one being India.
QEII should invite Vice-President Harris to participate in Commonwealth Day. It would vastly improve the TV ratings and provide a week of non-Sussex fodder for The Daily Fail.
There’s no doubt that the BBC was made to move the Commonwealth Day programme to Sunday by Palace who fears being overshadowed by Harry and Meghan. I live in a Commonwealth country and no one pays attention to that day.
Manori R, an editor for Variety, said on Twitter that the BBC took itself out of the running because of “the optics of running the queen’s commonwealth message followed by the interview would have been problematic.” It seems the palace is also controlling what the BBC can air as well. Why people insist that the royals are some apolitical, non-meddling public servants is beyond me. They absolutely can control the press and whole ass TV networks if they feel like it.
The “optics” of dueling Royal appearances amidst a very public family feud? Because airing both is not just a brilliant business move, but an apolitical one as well? So, it was the “optics” that pushed the BBC to withdraw from the bidding war over the Sussex interview… sure Jan.
When I was growing up, the Commonwealth represented former British colonies, trade and sports, maybe education. Don’t re all much talk about the Queen, unless there was a royal visit, which I was never around for. My issue with this whole thing is that the Royals couldn’t see the forest for the trees. They thought they could bully and damage Meghan, but it ended up with them losing Harry and damaged themselves. Everything they do in the near future will have comparisons and there is a big part missing, no matter what they say. I don’t feel sorry for the institutions, especially those that deliberately set out to harm individuals.
I live in the UK and never even knew it was a thing. I never sat down and watched the commonwealth ceremony before ever, that was until last year when Meghan and harry were there for their farewell ‘coulda had a bad bitch” tour. That is the power of Meghan, literally people were live tweeting last year all because of her.
@AmyBee, I believe you, but it seems so illogical to me. Isn’t airing them on the same night only going to highlight the disparity in viewership and basically inviting ratings comparisons?
I guess I should have learned to stop expecting logic from these people by now. Every move they make is always the exact opposite of whatever would make sense.
wait, the green cape dress was last year’s commonwealth day, right? And their last official engagement as working Royals? This was definitely intentional. It’s the 1 year anniversary, not 3/31. And they know what the Queen thinks of the day. This is great.
LOL – the Queen wont be happy if anything overshadows the commonwealth program? I cant even.
First – to the extent that it was going to be talked about anyway, IMO, it would mostly be in regards to the service from last year – Harry and Meghan’s last appearance, Kate’s bitchiness, etc. (wonder if the queen was mad that Kate’s behavior overshadowed her?)
Second – if Harry and Meghan BREATHE it overshadows anything the other royals do. This oprah interview is going to be ALL that the British press cover – it wont be on the front pages of the Mail etc because of the timing (or maybe it will anyway) but its going to be on all the morning shows and twitter etc.
(I’m not saying that this interview is going to be the most important thing to “Everyone”, just that anyone who would cover the queen and the commonwealth program are instead going to be covering Harry and Meghan and Oprah.)
Third and finally – I’m not sure who decided “well we’ve kicked out the black duchess, lets parade the other white royals to show how inclusive and welcoming we are!” was a good idea.
“This oprah interview is going to be ALL that the British press cover – it wont be on the front pages of the Mail etc because of the timing (or maybe it will anyway) but its going to be on all the morning shows and twitter etc.”
H&M will still make the front page of the DM, but I’m sure it will be a split screen image with a giant “DUTY” over Betty and “WHINING” over H&M. They will devote pages to the interview too.
H&M living in their mind, rent free. Karma!
There will be many RRs watching it at 1 am UK time so that they can have stories reading to go in the morning. It will be a huge ratings grabber.
@Nic I was thinking the same. The people loudly shouting all week that “no one” is going to watch it will be the exact ones who, without a doubt, will stay up until 2:30am or whatever to watch it live. They’re so predictable.
One group of people not watching it in England will be the Windrush generation and their descendants, along with most of Britain.
The Windrush generation are those from the Caribbean who were deported or denied citizenship after many years working there? I’m only vaguely familiar
Pretty much except the detail I would add was that these people (from British colonies) were INVITED to live and work in the UK by the British government to fill labour shortages experienced in post WWII Britain and under UK law they had something called, “rights of settlement” meaning if you were born in a British colony, you were a British subject. Anyone who arrived before 1973 was granted a permanent right to remain(so many of these countries became independent in the 50’s and 60’s)
The scandal was that long standing citizens from Commonwealth countries who had arrived prior to 1973, never bothered to get UK citizenship because they were supposed to be protected under the law. I bet you can guess about how well that went with the Tories in charge. In the 2010s the Tories started passing all these measures to reduce immigration numbers, creating a difficult environment for immigrants(particularly illegal immigrants) and basically members of this group who should have been protected under the law were subject to forced removal and having their rights denied.
Plus, it was made a bit more complicated by those who didn’t have the “right paperwork” because they’d come over as young kids with their parents before 1973.
It was a big old mess of racism, government maliciousness, covering up a scandal, etc.
“The Windrush scandal was a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries as members of the “Windrush generation” (so named after the Empire Windrush, the ship that brought one of the first groups of West Indian migrants to the UK in 1948).”
Theresa May when Home secretary, threw out all of the paperwork of the Windrush Generation arriving in the UK. Therefore, if you did not have a UK passport it was extremely difficult to prove citizenship or what I believe is called “Right to Remain”.
The queen should go kick rocks. SHE is the one that created this rivalry by being petty and vindictive instead of listening to her grandson and what he was offering. I HOPE it gets distributed to commonwealth countries. I think the market for royals there isn’t much but i do think they would rather watch meghan and harry
This is what it seems those in royal circles refuse to understand. This whole debacle started with the palace when they found out who Harry was dating. Instead of standing down once they got married, it escalated, and continued to escalate once they had a child. This is all the doing of the monarchy, using the press to carry out their campaign to drive this couple apart. Instead it drove them away. I think if the UK were a more authoritative country, similar to Putin’s Russia or Saudi, the Sussexes, specifically Meghan, would have been disappeared. I’m not kidding either.
I wonder how some of the 7 feel about this, like Sophie. Does she have enough self awareness to know deep down that they’re all making fools out of themselves trying to compete with H&M? This is SO cringey to me.
Wasn’t Sophie sidelined after her bribery scandal or whatever it is? How visible were her and Edward. Until the past 2 years, where were they? They seemed to be there when they were first married and only re-emerged in middle age. No idea because no one knows who they are outside UK.
I do think that Sophie doesnt really care about trying to outshine them – she and Edward dont seem to play that game about press coverage etc. She seems to like positive press coverage, dont get me wrong, but I dont think shes playing the “must steal spotlight” from H&M that the other royals seem to be playing. She’s not an ally by any means – we saw that last year – but I think she has enough self awareness to know that she cant compete with H&M.
I’m a 51 year old Australian
And I had never even heard of a commonwealth day until the church snub last year
I’m a 20 year old Brit and I hadn’t either so don’t you worry! 🤣🤣
I am so excited and looking forward to see the Harry and Meghan interview. Block the date.
I’m in my 40s in the UK and it’s certainly not celebrated here – like others I can only remember it being once in the news, and that was last year where W&K were so horribly rude to H&M.
Certainly nobody pays attention at all usually.
Same and same!
Folks are forgetting why Mar 8 is significant & why pettybetty moved the observance of C’wealth Day FOR. THE FIRST TIME!.
Mar 8 is Int’l Women’s Day so u can bet ur bottom dollar tht M will be spkng at an event.
THATS what betty doesnt want to be overshadowed by.
No one seems to be willing to tell the Queen that everything she holds dear has fallen out of favor and the old way of doing things just don’t work anymore. This is why she needs to take her iron death grip off of the throne and retire.
She should have retired a decade ago. The one queen who really did it right, in my opinion, is Beatrix of the Netherlands. She handed the throne over to her son and is now enjoying her free time with her granddaughters and actually is getting the opportunity to witness what her son is doing with the Dutch monarchy. Betty is going to croak with that orb and scepter firmly in her grasp and witness nothing. But then again, she probably prefers it that way…
Well, retire simply isn’t the done thing for the British and the Scandinavian monarchies, besides she made oath to God, so there is that. But I do think she should at least make Charles a Regent, but alas, she enjoys power too much.
Beatrix also abdicated because of her severe grief over the loss of her middle son. That hit her incredibly hard. Locals report she’s still seen visiting his grave several times a week.
Her cruel response to Diana’s death should have been the wakeup call she needed to step down. She was out of step with her own country and out of step with the entire world. She was already over 70 by then with over four decades on the throne. She should have taken a hard look at herself and handed the big red box over to Charles.
No one seems to tell her anything. She does as she likes and that may sound awesome but it’s not good leadership.
And at this point she’s 95 and easily has the potential for another 10 years. This is all just a mess. Charles should be regent.
‘Dumber than a box of Kate’s wiglets!’ Haha that’s gonna become my knee go to saying! 🤣
Who tf watches that commonwealth service shit anyway, I’m British and I hadn’t even heard of it untill Meghan arrived! 😭😭
Just curious how U.K. media personalities can watch this interview in real time. I have visions of U.K. journalists in the US live-streaming their TVs over Zoom to their colleagues abroad…
Um…..cableTV is a thing…..see also satellite TV.
I don’t get it. Does old Queenie air a Commonwealth tv special every year? If so, why are so many Brits and Commonwealth-ers saying they never heard of this day before? If Commonwealth Day is so important to the Queenie and nothing can overshadow it, then why did the Fture Fture King and Consort both skip it to party in the Alps and Dad dance in 2017? I thought the Queen hardly ever addressed her subjects except for Xmas and that’s why she was dragged to the mic to say something when Diana died and also why acknowledging the pandemic was a huge deal for her? Now it seems that old Queenie has to have her own tv show to compete. Is she hoping to bore her constituents to sleep before they can set their DVRs for the 1 am Harry & Meghan & Oprah show?
“Is she hoping to bore her constituents to sleep before they can set their DVRs for the 1 am Harry & Meghan & Oprah show?”
This gets my vote for Comment of the Week!
@Harper, I’ve the same question about this tv special. I’m starting to think a Commonwealth day celebration special is a stolen ideal from Harry and Meghan. Harry and Meghan probably talked about it before they were tortured out of the UK. I could see Harry and Meghan wanting to do a tv special as a way to bring awareness to the Commonwealth as their patronage.
@Petra: without knowing anything that went on behind the scenes, this actually makes so much sense and seems not only plausible but likely.
Considering they had a few commonwealth patronages up until just last week, they could have planned the entire thing and then Petty Betty stripped them of their patronages just days before the whole thing was set to film and air and will now be claiming the thing as 1) her own idea and 2) better and more dutiful than what Harry and Meghan will be doing on the same day and 3) some kind of punishment/competition for/with the Sussexes. The fact that I can actually imagine this being true, and possible if not likely, is pretty wild.
So half of people polled is not watching Oprah? The propaganda machine needs to quit.
Can’t wait for the Markle section. If their lies get debunked with proof it ends these losers and the tabloids may need to lawyer up.
Interesting that the Cambridges suddenly feel the importance of Commonwealth Day. Wasn’t it the 2017 Commonwealth Day that they skipped because Will was dad dancing in Switzerland? Combine this with their performance last year at the service and the Cambridges don’t come out looking too great. Because of course all the Cambridges “work” has to be counted for the CC they are going to be zooming with different groups around the Commonwealth talking about health care. Cue concerned faces. I think the Monarchy has lost its footing. I am only interested in the Oprah interview.
A Commonwealth of diverse population, represented by all white line up; who don’t even want to acknowlege that Black Luves Matter, that is so embarassing. After all the work H&M have done for QCT, Harry’s work with Lesoto, Botswana and Malawi, as far as Sentabale is concerned. The Halo Trust in Angola, against landmines and what have the others got to show for, to deserve the patronage of The Commonwealth? I am British, but I won’t be watching the queen
100000000% agree with you @AbenaAsantewaa, it’s ridiculous for those royal a–hats to be “celebrating the Commonwealth” when they can’t even say Black Lives Matter and condemn H&M for doing so. Absolutely absurd. And as you point out, it’s only Harry (plus Meghan) who ever did anything substantial with the Commonwealth countries.
If they’re sure that no one will be watching H&M, why is the queen so afraid of being overshadowed? Perhaps she is aware that her grip on the Commonwealth is weakening. Really, it’s like Wile E. Coyote declaring a “Yay, Desert Birds” day; nobody believes she has any interest beyond the taxes collected for her benefit.
@Merricat, lmao. According to most of the British media, the Sussexes are totally irrelevant, yet at the same time manage to threaten overshadowing the entire rest of the royal family by simply speaking. You can’t make this nonsense up.
Hah, the tabloid writers are going to have to stay up all night to watch the interview, write their hit pieces and make press.
Sounds like Betty is trying to drum up interest in her speech by having it the same day as Oprah’s blockbuster interview. Pathetic!
So the Commonwealth program will celebrate Britain’s colonization of their lands and the exploitation of their people and resources? How nice. I am not sure how Oprah, Harry and Meghan could compete with THAT.
Arise, people of the Commonwealth arise! The BRF has expelled the two members most willing and able to engage with you and promote your interests. What worthwhile benefits do you get from being a part of the Commonwealth? And what does it cost you? Do you pay taxes to Britain? Wow. Just wow.
My country hate the old british empire, as we learn from our history textbooks on how the british stole our wealth and colonisation.
I’m sure the queen’s speech will not be air in my country and unfortunately HM interview might not be broadcast also because of no interest as most of us didnt care about other royals than our own.
It’s just astonishing to me that the queen would treat Harry in the EXACT SAME PUNITIVE, SCORCHED EARTH manner that she did his mother, Diana. Astonishing and inexcusable. If she could have done a Henry the VIII “off with their heads,” I bet she’d have done it. Nasty piece of goods. Major fail at making England look good to the world. Horrendous people.
I hope that the countries still under commonwealth to this vicious bunch of parasites will soon be free. the commonwealth is nothing but imperialism.
as someone from a now independent nation i promise we have better things to do than listen to either the sussexes or elizabeth.
not me…i meant generally speaking lool. i will listen to the oprah interview but i love gossip so that’s why
Let’s have a commonwealth day special and only feature the white people who can’t even accept their biracial sister / daughter in law! Great optics!
It’s hilariously that just two days the royal reporters were screaming for the rooftops that the Sussex’s were Irrelevant to the British public No one likes them in Great Britain . But these stations are fighting over themselves to get the rights to be the very first to air this interview with the irrelevant former royal couple so they can turn around on Tuesday to trash the couple by using their so called expects to claim that Harry is a hostage.
Btw, where will Commonwealth Day be broadcast, a cathedral or a palace? Brenda will give her speech and then what? The Magnificent Seven will appear and how will they take part in the day?
So March 8th we’re going to get reports that mean Meghan made the queen cry because she overshadowed , and Williy is throwing a tantrum?
The only surprise here would be if they weren’t “blindsided” for once.
I will be watching Meghan and Harry’s interview in the US and my family and friends will be watching in Barbados.
No one gives a fig about what the RF will be doing!
I really hope all this brouhaha over the Oprah/Commonwealth specials, Meghan’s legal win against the Daily Mail, and all the other stuff is parodied on the show The Windsors. The BRF has given them SO much material to work with. (Meghan is played by the same actress who played the dressmaker on Bridgerton btw).
@Kaiser, the first photo after your commentary is *perfection*, particularly for this story. The Queen blurry in the background compared to Meghan. I love it and it really tells the whole story!
“Strike me down, and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
I’ve used that quote recently to refer to Stacey Abrams (aka America’s savior) but it clearly applies to H & M as well. It’s honestly not that complicated from a literary/pop culture perspective. Most messiah journeys are founded in Judeo-Christian tradition. If someone seems like they have the moral high ground – and you yourself are guarding massive secrets to cover up a hugely oppressive history – maybe work with them and not against them?
Haven’t read the comments yet, but surely the bitter press and hayers will be the first giving them headlines and clicks to the (supposedly) irrelevant Sussexes.
They really created this. They would happily ok working in the Uk trying to dim their light, but now they are away and since they don’t share an agenda to coordinate with queenie, too bad for the firm.
Not that they were very coordinated before. They are a mess.
The press has upgraded, now the hurt one is no katie-keen crying for hems, now it is THE QUEEN herself who has to suffer what this two runaways inflict on her.
All of it becaus they did not want the royal money and bow down to the rota.
I think the BRF is very concerned about their perception in America and commonwealth countries. Commonwealth day is something that never gets any attention in the US and many commonwealth countries pay no attention except for the last two years that Meghan attended. By scheduling the TV special on Sunday I think they are hoping to piggyback on the Monday coverage the Sussexes interview will get. All of the tabloid stories about this has made it about the Sussexes. So they are hoping for a look at the “royals” coverage by networks. No doubt the U.K. media will take that approach in order to disparage the Sussexes. We’ve seen this piggybacking of the Sussexes before. For all the talk about them improperly overshadowing the rest. They have used the Sussexes popularity to gain attention for themselves.
I have a favourite meme, that really fits this situation – I like to imagine Meghan sipping tea at her window and saying it, as the UK media fall all over themselves to cover the Oprah interview:
“If you hate me and yet watch everything I do, B*ITCH, YOU ARE A FAN”
I also have a conspiracy theory that it won’t air immediately in the U.K. I thing the BRF is so afraid of this interview that they are going to pull every string they can to delay broadcast. We know that the BRF colludes with the media. We give you access; you give us PR. Right now during the pandemic access is already limited so any threat of further limitations short term or long term will put fear into media executives. Remember the BRF managed to get ABC to drop their expose of Andrew by threatening no access to the Cambridge’s on their trip to NY. An AMERICAN network caves to the BRF because of WILL AND KATE. So I don’t doubt U.K. networks might agree to a delay. Also, can we talk about the hypocrisy here. Harry was criticized for going on Strictly come dancing ( a BBC show) to show support for a friend and former Invictus athlete. Now the Queen and her self appointed magnificent seven are doing a whole special for the BBC. Make it make sense.
I saw someone point out that the Queen only speaks once a year for Christmas. So….. she’s coming out of the woodwork for this? Did anyone explain why? Thy could’ve just zoomed in the actual Monday and called it a day
Oh how I wish Netflix was in the bidding war. Can you imagine the meltdown if the H&M interview was on the service with The Crown?
The RF should thank the Sussexes because commonwealth Day, which no one really cares about, is getting free publicity.