For the past week, I’ve been waiting for Prince Harry to call up Gayle King and tell her what’s really going on, just because the British media was just making sh-t up for days, weeks, months, years. But I forgot about Omid Scobie, who always has some good exclusives about the Sussexes. Obviously, someone in Camp Sussex decided to swat away some of the ridiculous storylines being promoted in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and the Sun regarding Harry’s trip to the UK for Philip’s funeral. So here we are:
Prince Harry has returned to his home in Montecito, California after attending the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip, BAZAAR.com confirms. The Duke of Sussex quietly arrived back on the West Coast on April 20, following nine days in the United Kingdom to join family as they honored the life of the late Duke of Edinburgh and supported the queen.
During his time in England, the prince was based at his Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor, where he was able to see a number of family members, including Princess Eugenie and her newborn son, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, after a five-day isolation period per current COVID-19 government guidelines.
Last Saturday’s funeral, which took place at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, was the first time Harry had come face-to-face with family since officially stepping back from his royal role in March 2020. But though conversations with his father, Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William, did take place following the April 17 service, sources tell BAZAAR.com that reports of peace talks and family summits have been wide off the mark.
“This trip was to honor the life of his grandfather and support his grandmother and relatives,” a source close to Harry explains. “It was very much a family-focused period of time. Saturday broke the ice for future conversations but outstanding issues have not been addressed at any great length. The family simply put their issues to one side to focus on what mattered.”
A tabloid report claiming that Harry wrote a “deeply personal” letter for his father before the funeral is also false, the source adds. Prince Charles has been staying at his Llwynywermod estate residence in Wales (over 185-miles away from Windsor) since Sunday.
BAZAAR understands that Harry met the queen, who turns 95 today, privately on at least two occasions during his time in the country. “The love and respect he has for his grandmother will always be unwavering,” a source previously said.
I’m glad Harry (or someone Harry-adjacent) did this, a lil’ fact-check for what was really happening, because I could not keep up with all of the dumb stories. Love the fact that Harry didn’t write Charles a letter. Love that Harry still wants people to know that “outstanding issues have not been addressed at any great length.” Meaning those trashy Windsors still haven’t figured out that Harry is still justifiably angry with the way they treated him and his wife.
Scobie also says “no plans have been officially confirmed yet” for Harry going back to the UK for the Diana-statue unveiling, but that Harry is “expected to return.” I guess the Sussex sources aren’t confirming anything right now about that trip, which is fine. We’ll see when Meghan gives birth and what the pandemic looks like in two months. My guess is that Harry will skip it, just because the funeral trip was a dry run and the Windsors made asses out of themselves.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
I prefer Omid giving clarifications on whats really going on. Gayle means well but she is too known and it makes people that dont know the Royals have reporters on speed dial think its only H & M spilling their guts.
I don’t mind the hybrid approach – using Gayle when they want to put their name behind a statement and using Omid (or Huffpost/Buzzfeed) when they want to use sources (friends or spokesperson), especially considering the type or source of the false stories.
I don’t mind either one confirming or denying stories. They both get bashed the same way by the British press.
Nothing should surprise us anymore with the British tabloids but the way they just shamelessly invented this letter thing…
I’m glad Harry stood his ground and just did what he came to do and left it at that.
The whole letter thing was kind of obviously a lie tho because he was talking about things that were agreed upon in sussexit in 2020. Like maintaining the values of the queen and stating the reasons for why they left. So dan wootton just took those things and made it i to a “letter”
He might have written something to Charles last year outlining the original half in/half out goals of Sussexit, and that’s what Dan Wooten was weirdly referring to and pretending it was something post-Oprah recent to make it sound like he had an exclusive.
I noticed the odd wording of the part excerpted here, in that it was a letter “prior to” this event. Yeah, a year ago is prior to.
Forgive the parsing, I’ve spent years parsing Trump comments and now am triggered by obfuscation.
They didn’t invent it.
Clarence House fed them the story.
It was all part of the contrite Harry and angry Windsor Family narrative.🙄🙄
Yes, I agree that Harry has no intention of confirming his plans to anyone. I still think the baby’s due date is far too close to the unveiling date for Harry to want to leave. But he might have been considering it depending on when the baby came and the status of the pandemic. But after the funeral and seeing how NOTHING has changed, I seriously doubt it.
I predict, the baby will arrive early to mid June. They will wait a few weeks to announce the birth, along with the girl’s name and it will be right before the statue unveiling. Harry will say that, sadly, he could not make it for the unveiling because he needs to be with his wife and children at this precious time. Then announce how he decided to honor Diana’s memory on his own. Like maybe something connected to one of Diana’s favorite charities or causes.
This is how I see it going down as well. The RF failed this dry run test spectacularly.
Hmmmm i believe that harry didn’t actually write his father and im also pretty sure that there haven’t been any “peace talks” between the siblings and father.
That being said, i wonder if this an actual source close to harry or if this is omid using common sense and simply writing a piece based of that. Because meghan and harry do their communications officially. Either their spokes person confirms or denies OR they authorize a friend to get on record, with their names and all
Maybe there are a few sympathetic staffers who decided to clear the “white noise” out by releasing that through Omid. Either way it’s been nice to read a nicer tempered article that’s purpose was clarification.
So I do think Omid has sources close to H&M, but I also think he just has access to their press office, which the DM, Sun, Mirror (maybe one other that I cant remember) don’t have. So Omid can call and say “is this true that Harry wrote a letter to Charles?” and the press office says “no, that’s a false story.”
and to clarify when I say he has “sources” I don’t think people close to H&M are running to Omid all the time. But I do think that there are a few people who have been told by the Sussexes “if Omid calls you can say X anonymously, but don’t talk to Tominey or Palmer or Andrews or Wootton” (list goes on…)
This. I believe that, unlike the rest of the British tabloids, the Sussex’s PR team actually answers Omid’s emails.
@Snuffles and we know it drives the tabloids insane, considering the Sun has a headline about this calling Omid “Harry’s pal” LOLOL.
I agree with this. I think the Sussexes would be more inclined to use their spokesperson off-the-record for certain stories and to certain publications. No tabloid (including so-called broadsheets here) have access to sources close to the Sussexes.
@becks1 what you say sounds very plausible especially sinds h&m authorized friends to speak to him for finding freedom. And haparsbazaar hasn’t been black listed by the couple so that could be true too. But if he asked their press office, why not just say: “when reached for comment meghan and harry’s communication team denied the rumor of a letter send to the prince of wales…..”
I agree. And if Omid is asking if Harry will be there at the statue unveiling, they probably said “nothing is confirmed” because we don’t know Meghan’s due date and they won’t share that and we don’t know what the pandemic will look like then.Omid just had to write an article based on that.
Definitely this! He has sources close to the Sussexes that may speak to him and he definitely can call their press office to ask for a comment, which is what the royal roaches don’t currently have and why they are so pressed and bitter.
This makes sense that he can confirm with the Sussexes communications team, either on or off the record. They can respond, or not, but at least they won’t completely ignore him. The Sussexes won’t engage with the 4 British tabloids unless through their lawyers, but they didn’t list any other news organizations. There were so many articles out there and none of them made much sense.
So yeah they did talk, but nothing was resolved. I kind of guessed that the letter was false and that they were freely taking excerpts from the letter Harry wrote for Sussexit. I’m astonished at how much chaos there was regarding the meeting it happened, it didn’t, Kate was there, Camilla was there, the wives weren’t there. That’s why I said that I trusted DW to have some smidge of truth in his reporting that a meeting did happen, but that he still wasn’t aware of the info surrounding it because KP still didn’t what spin to put on it. Harry is much wiser to his family’s games now and he is taking precautions against them and that makes me so happy. I’m so sorry for him and Meghan that they trusted them that long. They should have put a stop to their shenanigans after the Pacific tour and spared themselves the pain that followed.
Off topic but am I the only one who thinks Omid Scoble looks 14? Is it because I’m old and EVERYONE looks young?
I am glad that Scoble and other Sussex Sources are pushing back and clearing up the noise. It amuses me no end to read stories about H&M from folk like KN and IS, etc…who clearly read a story, rewrite it and spit it out because that’s all they got. Meanwhile there’s Omid getting all the scoop.
The gnashing of teeth must be spectacular
The beauty of melanin!
I’m sure he has a stellar skin care routine because he’s on TV often. Then again, so are the others yet they still look like shit. Seriously, Roya, get a hot oil treatment and some hair extensions! Your hair looks FRIED!
Yes, he looks super young to me, and I think he’s my age-ish (just googled, he’s 38, so he’s a year older than my fake age of 37, lol.) Wonder if he is coming into his own or maturing rapidly?
Lol “maturing rapidly” is the worst phrase so he must be coming into his own. But omid’s skin does look good and thought he’d be younger.
All those stories from the tabloids, esp, about a letter, seemed so contradictory and way off the mark. Also, after saying that putting any plans in writing would be leaked, o way is Harry sending anyone in that family written correspondence unless it is on letterhead from his lawyers.
Nice that Omid confirmed what cooler heads suspected: Harry quietly went to honour his grandfather and support his grandmother, with no other expectations or misconceptions about his family.
I’m disappointed with how many Sussex supporters were basically thrashing Harry all weekend because they swallowed all the b.s. about any reconciliation that didn’t include Meghan. I don’t see what else Harry has to do to prove he has fully put his family of origin aside to devote himself to her and their marriage. Of course he was going to pay respects to his grandfather and of course he was going to be cordial to everyone present. He’s a good guy and a gentleman.
Meanwhile, I’m SO impressed with how tight the Sussex camp is. Not a single leak the whole trip. Not a single instance of rising to the tabloid bait, like the uniform-gate garbage. Harry issued a beautiful statement, Meghan delivered a lovely wreath, and beyond that they knew nothing about his movements. He did the necessary, probaby had really nice visits with the more decent folks, and left without fuss or fanfare.
I know it’s practically cliche at this point, but he really did make his family and their mouthpieces look like complete and total ass-clowns. What a disrespectful send off for Phil on their parts.
ETA: I think the original info that he was staying at Nottingham Cottage was an early leak test that they failed. When the press/family realised they’d been hoodwinked by Harry they let loose with all the b.s. It was such a bombardment of utterly idiotic press that I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry feels vindicated and okay about cancelling the unveiling.
June-O I completely agree. The Sussex supporters talk about not believing tabloids but believed the ones regarding Harry and his family and then trashed him. Harry is a stand up guy and what he did at his grandpa’s funeral is what I expected of him and why I fully support him. He was a class act. I know the RF are cold and very uncaring but that’s not Harry.
@June-O
I found the outrage of some Sussex fans really disturbing. These people do not own Harry or Meghan and are teetering into crazy territory. My God they appreciate the support but come on, (we) fans do not get a say in their lives and decisions. They don’t answer to the fans, they don’t owe us explanations and justifications. I really did not like this
Stan culture is pretty toxic and this weekend, it was the worst of the Sussex stans. I think some of them actually expected Harry to throw blows at a funeral. The Sussex squad has done some great fundraising but some of the behavior is downright obsessive.
I dont know how anyone believed the crap coming from the RRs this weekend when they couldnt keep their stories straight from hour to hour. Re the letter: i bet it was the one that Harrg wrote in late 2019 and CH tried to repackage it is a new exclusive to feed hungry RRs who haven’t gotten what they thought they would this past week.
I think he’ll go to the Diana statue unveiling as long as it’s not right when Meghan has given birth. He obviously is positioning himself as the son carrying on her legacy and values so I think he’ll want to be there and not let William take center stage when it comes to Diana.
I’m not sure.
The absolute avalanche of BS narratives that swirled him from this one appearance might make him pause.
These numerous stories from ‘royal sources’ have DOMINATED our front pages. Crazy!
But imagine the crazy BS stories if he doesn’t come!!
I don’t know. Kate seemed pretty desperate to get her PR photo of them with Harry. If he was coming to the unveiling I don’t think she would have tried as hard. But… who knows what will happen.
Honestly, that’s what I’m dreading about the unveiling if Harry goes – how Kate will behave around him. We’ve seen over the past week that she is leaning in hard to two narratives – the funeral “made her a queen” or some BS like that, and she is “the great peacemaker” and facilitated a reconciliation between the brothers. Her presence at the unveiling will give her another excuse for Diana cosplay which will further the “she’s so regal” narrative and her being alone with William and Harry will further the “Kate alone can fix this” narrative.
And if Meghan goes along with the children to the statue unveiling, all Keen Kate’s plans will be for naught. It would be even better if no one knew the whole Sussex family was coming until they stepped out of the car. Baby princess Montecito might be about 5-6 weeks old then. I’d laugh so hard at her face when she saw the little family.
I think he will be there too, it is his mother. I find the hand wringing and making up all kinds of reasons why this side or that was right or wrong to be bizarre. It is like people forget that tabloid magazines make up pretty much EVERYTHING. Their sources are Liz from the water cooler or Ed in the third cubicle on the left.
I wonder which Royal court keeps planting stories about Jennifer Aniston’s twins?
But why should he risk traveling during a pandemic? It’s just a statue. It will be there for a long time. Yes, it is for his mother, but still it’s just a statue and a statue is not worth the hassle. He can stop by the next time he’s in England. His wife and new baby should be more important than a statue.
The royal reporting about the Sussexes is ALWAYS “wide off the mark.” If it wasn’t for Omid, all we would get (and have gotten) is collaborated Palace + tabloid propaganda.
So glad H+M left that toxic setting.
Has anyone else noticed how pale Andrew is, compared with his brothers, his nephews and his cousins, in these processional photos? At first I thought it was a trick of the light, or because his hair is white, but close inspection of the photos shows his face to be extremely pale. Also, his mouth is decidedly turned down at the corners, whereas the same brothers, nephews and cousins in the procession have mouths in a neutral, straight-across expression. Can it be that Andrew is white with rage? It’s an unusual but recognised manifestation of an emotional state beyond red/flushed with anger. Pompous Andrew had to forfeit his Vice-Admiral’s uniform [how ironical that Andrew has a title of VICE something!] and to appear in civvies with about as many medals on his chest as his brothers, even Edward. I imagine he’s fuming and fomenting over his lost promotion to full Admiral. Can one funeral really contain such animus when only thirty people are attending? In such a contentious group though, it’s Andrew who looks about to pop his cork, or a blood vessel.
He tried going to the beach to get a tan once, but he was just so jealous of all the people being able to sweat. Sweet, beautiful sweat.
You made me snort-laugh.
Coco. Love it!
It’s possible that he was very low on oxygen. Perhaps he had been wearing a tight body-corset”. That will take the breath out of you.
As far as Andy looking paler – I would guess that bill and family were probably somewhere sunny on vacation when they got the call about Philip passing, probably the same with peter, charles is bright red all the time anyway, and Harry lives in California. Andy is afraid to leave the country to vacation (so MANY countries would like to chat with him now – not just US) and so isn’t getting the tanning time he would like.
Guess Who. Maybe someone should offer to give him a good ‘tanning’ with a smacky stick. Seriously, even weedy Edward looks to have more colour to his face.
But don’t forget that Andrew got a $300,000 Bentley to make up for that!!
I think this was a test run for team Sussex’s to see how it’s going to be if Harry decides to show up for the Diana memorial. It’s clear for the moment Harry step foot onto the U.K. soil the Cambridge’s and the royal reporters choose to start the leaking lies about Harry it started with the whole Harry is Quarantine at near the Cambridge’s to set the stage for the whole Kate the great peace maker when that blow up in their faces . When Harry people announce he was at Frogmore so kate and her people decided to set the stage for the funeral to corner Harry and get the shot of the brothers. It’s clear That the royal reporters and the Cambridge’s didn’t get what they wanted for Harry so now their just making up lies .
I think this whole narrative of “Would Harry DARE to miss this statue unveiling?!” is so funny. Most families do not have protocol about statue unveilings. I’d go so far as to say that most families – most people- will never go to a statue unveiling in their lives. (I also keep imagining that this statue is going to be ridiculous in itself – like what if it looks more like Ronald McDonald than Princess Diana?)
If anything, I hope this week confirmed to Harry that he made the right choice by leaving. It’s all so toxic. What a mess.
I can’t wait until July, Harry leaves his wife, newborn daughter and Archie.Then people will give him excuses and defend him again “but she’s his mother and he wants to honor her blah blah” BS . He can honor his mother in so many ways without this useless statue.
You are strange.
Harry honored his mother by leaving the RF to protect his wife and child. He honors her with through Archwell and through his other work. He honors her by not leaking to the paps. If he wants to also honor her by going to the statue unveiling and if his wife supports him, I have no issue with it personally. It’s a high profile way to honor her, and I think he wants to be a part of it (at the very least not to allow the RF to own the narrative)…but I think his going will be a game-time decision based on Baby Sussex’s arrival.
Or, we let Harry decide how best to honor his mother.
Dear Oh, sorry, but I don’t understand this. I’ve read it twice.
Uh, this is Harry’s family, not yours, mine’s or anyone else’s. Remember? Let’s not get carried away with our “support”. Plus Harry has been in therapy for years, and I’m sure that one topic of discussion is how to deal with his toxic family. He’s probably been advised not to hold onto bitterness and anger because that can impact his marriage and relationship with his own kids. Negative energy has to go somewhere.
I see the trolls have arrived.
That close-up of all the male royals marching in formation behind Charles is powerful, but I wish we had a shot that included Princess Anne, too. She was standing to the right of Charles—”shoulder to shoulder”, no less—the only woman in the brigade.
Whenever I see these photos, I always imagine Baldemort is absolutely incandescent that he doesn’t have the cool necklace-medal thing that Harry has.
This. I find it odd that they’ve cropped Anne out of the shot. And while I have no opinion (one way or another) of her in general, I think it’s cool that she processed behind her father’s casket in what is traditionally a male-only space.
Guess Katherine keen wasn’t invited for these chats nor did Harry spend quality time with her.lolololol.
It’s just occurred to me that the Windsors don’t know what genuine dignity is. They have always relied on ritual and their attire – uniforms and morning suits etc. – to clothe them with a suitable demeanour of status and prestige. But these external attributes of status and prestige are not dignity, which is innate – it comes from within, like a virtue. Prince Harry has dignity. It shines from him as it does from his wife Meghan Duchess of Sussex. Diana had dignity. She could appear in a swimsuit on a beach with her children and still exude an inner grace and dignity. Charles has spent a lifetime trying to acquire it, though it cannot be bought – and perhaps in his latter years he is gradually showing touches of dignity. Kate – frequently caught gurning and guffawing – has tried to acquire dignity but despite a fortune spent on coats of every colour of the rainbow, has missed it by a country mile. As for William, the concept seems to have alluded him. He has made withdrawal stand in for it – his walled-off expression, his constantly lowered eyes shutting out the world, appear to be all he can muster to mimic that illusive quality. As for Edward, Andrew, Fergie, Sophy,’ et al., I imagine it is a quality they’ve never given a thought to. So, when Harry and Meghan appears at a function with a natural grace and dignified manner, the other royals fail to recognise its value. Their loss, but Harry and Meghan makes them all look, by comparison, like yokels in fancy dress.
I agree with this. Harry and Meghan at the Commonwealth Day Service was another example.
Wow, this was beautifully said. It really does sum up the whole situations and all the characters in it perfectly.
But I think the BRF recognizes that Harry and Meghan do have everything they want and try to achieve but it burns them that they are a hot trashy mess that no rank or prestige can deny>
I’m reminded of a poster on here that said the word “prestige” comes from an old French word meaning deceitful. It’s all fool’s gold and the appearances of power, class, grace, dignity, and humanity instead of actually being all those things.
It must be a sad life to be so jealous of others who bring decent things to the table instead of improving yourself. They have wasted so much of their time and are destroying their own selves in the process. And I am here for all of it.
If willie to the one responsible for the revealing statue, i’m sure it will be a shit show.
HM just need to send a statement that Archewell had donated to 10 diana’s charities for the reveiling.
Dont give them good ideas. They dont have any
When I see Andrew in this procession I’m reminded of the line s in T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral ‘swollen with greed and swollen with pride’. He looks so pompous!
Agreed Becks. I’m not going to tell a grown man how to honor his mother.
As many of us have been saying, no talks took place just after funeral small talk and Harry was there for the funeral only. It wasn’t mentioned by I think it’s safe to assume that the Summit at Frogmore didn’t take place either. Regarding July, it is good that it wasn’t confirmed either way if Harry was going to be there. Best to leave the British press living in hope. But I think he won’t be there just because the baby would be born or soon to be born around the same time.
Wow his family is a hot mess. All of those stories and 1/10!of it was true. It isn’t just the RR, we know they work with the family, so all of this was authorized just like the terror campaign. So gross to do this at a funeral.
Phillip was an afterthought to the press at his own funeral. Lets hope someone has some measure of circumspect to not let this happen again in the future. With as many elderly family members as they have, someone with common sense should realize that this nonsense made the family look terrible, regardless of how many bagpipes and trumpets and what not were there.
Harry Wales has come a long way. I almost can see how he never had a chance from the beginning thanks to that awful family of his, to develop into some sort of nice human being, but against all odds he managed to do it.
He has a lot of class. He just needs to keep on doing what he needs to do for him and his beautiful family.
I am glad they can push back on some of these rumours because it’s just ridiculous at this point.
I think we are going to get a late May baby personally. I think Meghan is a lot further along than they are saying. But whether the baby comes in May or June, I really hope that Harry has the presence of mind to stay away from that toxic as family. Once was enough.
I think a late May early June baby girl will arrive-She is very heavily pregnant-I wish she was having twin girls-Then Harry becomes a full blown girl dad-That would keep them both up nights-God please keep your guiding hands on the Sussex family-Harry has shown incredible strength and courage during his grandpa’s funeral-Keep up the good work Harry and Meghan,