The Daily Beast’s Royalist column has some interesting analysis of the Daily Mail’s unsuccessful appeal. Again, they were appealing the Duchess of Sussex’s summary judgment victory back in February. For the appeal, the Mail had “new evidence” in the form of selected emails and texts between Meghan and Jason Knauf. Knauf provided those communications to the Mail’s lawyers, and he did so with either the implicit or explicit approval of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Considering Knauf still had a job after he turned over the evidence, I think we can safely say that everything he did was approved of by the Cambridges. Knauf was even front and center during the Keenshot rollout months after he contacted the Mail’s lawyers. So, yeah. It is what it is. Curiously, the Royalist’s sources claim that with all of Meghan’s legal victories, suddenly William is more powerful? It’s a reach, your honor. Some highlights from this piece:
Meghan wasn’t conciliatory: It’s arguable whether ANL would be threatening to go on in their (probably) futile battle had Meghan’s statement been a little more conciliatory. But there was no, “I want to put this behind me and move on” for Meghan. Instead, Meghan called the Mail’s modus operandi a “daily fail,” the derogatory nickname used by the paper’s critics, and called out owner “Lord Jonathan Rothermere” by name.
Why the Mail published Meghan’s letter, even knowing they were wrong to do so: As a former senior figure at one of the Mail group newspapers told The Daily Beast, the paper decided to publish the letter anyway because it “unlocked” the “mystery” of why Meghan’s dad Thomas had missed the royal wedding. “Royalty and a mystery is a fascinating combination, and has been for hundreds of years. A royal bride whose father was not coming to the wedding? It was such an unlikely series of events. This was an amazing story, this document fell into their lap and what were they to do? Royals don’t usually sue, so they decided to take a chance.”
David Yelland, a former editor with Rupert Murdoch-owned outlets: “The relationship between Harry, Meghan and the press plays out on many different planes. On the legal plane of this three-dimensional chess game, there is no doubt this is a huge win for Meghan… technically they were right, they were always going to win, there is no public interest defense for the Mail. But being right and being wise aren’t always the same thing. Meghan’s victory statement was an example of an extremely unwise PR strategy. Personally namechecking Jonathan Rothermere, the proprietor, in that statement is hugely significant. It’s a deeply personal attack on him. So Harry and Meghan have won this battle, but the effect of that statement will be to intensify their war with the Mail group. These newspapers come out seven days a week, and their website updates every 10 seconds. The old PR axiom that it’s best not to fall out with anyone who owns an ink factory springs to mind.”
Another “British tabloid source” speaks: “The judges were ruling on a very narrow area of law and we didn’t expect them to overturn Warby’s original decision. Associated have always been indignantly convinced of their right on this matter, but the law was pretty clear… But this result won’t change the press’s attitude to Meghan. That changed hugely for the worst when she and Harry launched their broadside at the end of the royal tour to Southern Africa in 2019. I can see from a moral point of view why they cut off most of the British press, but from a strategic point of view it was the worst thing they could have done.”
The same unnamed British tabloid source: The source said that one unintended outcome of Meghan’s victory was that it “put all the power into William’s hands.” The source said: “Now no one can afford to write anything negative about the Cambridges, as then you’d have both the Sussexes and Cambridges cutting you off. Hence the hugely flattering press about the Cambridges… Look what has happened to the poor BBC who tried to get to the bottom of the story.”
David Yelland says Meghan should have invited Jonathan Rothermere round for tea. “Imagine that world for a moment. Where would they be? They would be 20 times better off. But they just seem unable to let go of this very binary approach that something’s either right or wrong. Life is subtler than that. Meghan is playing to an American audience, but her husband is a prince of the realm and will always have a British audience. He can leave this country physically, but he never leave this country in terms of media coverage. Because of who he is, he will always be a news story. For them to go around destroying relationships with the British press may not have much of an effect on her, but it will have a profound effect on him. He has an audience here and people care about him.”
The thing about “putting all the power into William’s hands” is so curious and it feels like such dumb, twisted logic. Either the British media is all-powerful and royals must bow down to the strength and authority of the British media OR Prince William is in a brilliant position because no paper will ever risk alienating him now that Harry and Meghan are so reviled by the British media. Make it make sense. That part sounds like a keen fantasy. As for the rest of it… the British media simply cannot handle the fact that they’re taking Ls constantly, that they lost access to their two golden geese, that Harry is still suing them and that the Sussexes are holding them to account constantly. That’s why “former tabloid editors” are whining about how Meghan and Harry should have simply invited them around for tea or given them access.
Photos courtesy of Instar, Avalon Red.
These people are delusional. That’s all I got.
They also admitted to bullying H&M because they cut off access…the silent contract isn’t so silent now.
I said the same thing down below. They really revealed what this is about. “Inviting Rothermere for tea” isn’t exactly subtle now is it?
Agreed. And it totally defeats the purpose of H&M stating that they were not going to glad hand the press for decent coverage, now does it?
I actually disagree. I think they know it’s over but they are too embarrassed to admit it. I just want to see how long Kate sticks with Willy after the monarchy is abolished.
“Personally namechecking Jonathan Rothermere, the proprietor, in that statement is hugely significant. It’s a deeply personal attack on him”
Uhmm… wasn’t what that titled twat did to Meghan, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY in his rag(s)? And SHE (being the “Little Lady”) should say, “Thank you, Sir, may I please have some more?”
“Delusional” doesn’t come close to describing these people. There needs to be a new term in the Psych world for these nut jobs.
I think they’re also saying to PWT: ‘we have your moose-knuckle in a vice. Play nice.’
Bingo. Their silence is a dead giveaway of their complicity and the tabs will come gunning for the Duke and Duchess of Collusion next.
Yeah, they just said the not-so-quiet part REALLY loud, didn’t they?
(but as an aside, I hate when the South Africa tour and their press statement is pinpointed as the time that the press turned against them. The press was against them for years before that….hence the statement.)
William’s power is Judas Iscariot power. Traitor!
It’s probably safer to climb into bed with Tibetan Pit Vipers than invite the press around the house for ‘Good press’.
Right? Look at what happened when Meghan eventually went along with Jason’s participation. She should have stuck to her guns. She was right the first time and so was Harry. There is no getting in bed with these people. They don’t know what boundary is. And the source is so wrong about William. He isn’t in control, he is in an even worse position than Charles.
Exactly this: Jason was undermining them from the very beginning. Fortunately, Meghan kept receipts.
@ML. Remember when we used to call him “poor Jason”? Such innocent times. Lil Ass is much more fitting as it turns out.
It’s not going to change anything for William.
The BBC made it clear that a lack of access means bad press and they need positive press to maintain their positions.
The press would just go all out for them.
At the same time, you’d think it would set a standard where private communications aren’t published but the letter from Charles and ensuing lawsuit didn’t change anything, so I’m not sure this will.
It hasn’t even changed a great deal for Meghan & Harry in terms of their press coverage. If anything they’ll be out for blood now. Only difference is that they don’t need the British press, whereas William & Kate do.
Oh, so its only deeply personal when the asshole profiting off this in the shadows gets namechecked? Got it.
As if his identity were a secret. What nonsense.
She didn’t even come at him like they’re trying to say. She correctly noted that he owns the paper.
THIS PART!!
Oh, it’s distressing to feel personally attacked in the press???? ORLY?????
Taste of his own medicine and I hope it’s bitter af.
I say name and shame. He needs a nickname too.
Haha I like “Lil Ass.” I also like “Knauf with his head” or “Knauf said.”
If these were the old days, his head would have been off for being unsuccessful fulfilling his liege’s commands.
Lyds, that snake has been named and shamed a long time now. It’s Lord Rothermere who was namechecked by Madame Duchess, and deserves an appropriate nickname.
@Royalblue Got it. Lord Rothermere née Jonathan HARMSWORTH…with that last name, the nicknames kind of write themselves?
Yeah, it’s not like it was personal when they racially stereotyping Meghan or printing awful racist things about her infant son.
I’m at a total loss at this point. They are spiraling down the drain with nonsense.
It’s breathtaking, isn’t it? Karma can be lovely.
It’s mortifying to even read. These people are just insane. Like, I can’t even wrap my brain around how demented they sound. I don’t know whether to laugh or be terrified of them.
When will these people realize that Meghan and Harry are alienating the British press because they simply don’t need them. Since leaving M&H have been embraced by legacy media companies and figures in the U.S who not only respect their privacy but also highlight their work. These people are so desperate for M’s attention they’re willing to throw their reputations away for it. Also, William is safe and ‘powerful’ until the DM realizes that they need to make back all the money they’ve lost and throw him and mumbles under the bus. Only a matter of time.
There has already been a bit of sniping in the C’s direction recently, with the opinion being that Bill Windsor is behind on his monthly rent payment to the tabloids in the form of leaks against his brother and wife. They don’t seem to realize that the access avenue is really and truly closed to them, and Bill doesn’t know any more than the tabs do. They will begin to apply the heat to recoup that settlement money, and the C’s aren’t going to be able to stop them. They have trotted out the littles to the point that no one cares anymore, and that’s all they have as ammunition. This idea that Bill is now in the driver’s seat is ludicrous.
Not only have the Cannots exhausted the public with official photos and outings of their kids but they’ve also gone overboard with the staged paparazzi shots. Their fans don’t even care about the Cambridge kids anymore. Now all they e er talk about is Archie & Lili. If H&M ever do decide to release a photo of their children, it’ll break the internet. And they won’t have to do it with the rest British tabloids like the local royals over there have to.
@ Babz, I agree. Baldimort is not in the position of power with the rota and their unhinged desire to keep getting private information. In fact, the rabid dogs are being starved for information and they will turn on Baldimort, it’s just a question of when.
Baldimort thinks that his deal with the devil is better than no deal at all. But he will be sorely mistaken as they will want their pound of flesh.
It’s not even the whole English press per se. The Daily Fail / Daily Heil is a trash tabloid, the gutter press, sensationalistic yellow journalism of the lowest kind. Meghan and Harry aren’t suing the London Times or the Guardian for existing as newspapers. They’re suing the English equivalent of like the National Enquirer, although of course it is not an *exact* equivalence, for an actual crime.
It is total trash though. The owner Jonathan Harmsworth, whose title, by the way, is a minor recent creation (not that *I* give one hoot about titles or family, but I’m sure he is very sensitive about that BS and very eager to claim and assert privilege), and his editors don’t care about the law or breaking the law.
By the way, Harmsworth’s great-grandfather, press baron and the 1st viscount? A major Nazi supporter. Gosh… what a surprise.
Reading between the lines they were assured that Meghan wouldn’t sue (by someone).
The press do like pushing back the date that their opinion of Meghan “changed”. Here they’re saying 2019. No. The tine they turned against her was in October 2016 when it was first rumoured that she was dating Harry.
And saying that she “launched her broadside” with the S. Africa doc? The one where she was so overwhelmed that she cried when someone asked if she was okay? And then simply said that she doesn’t get asked that a lot? That was her coming out of nowhere to viscously attack the press? By being vulnerable and open with a member of the press? The thing they’re saying she should’ve done all along if she wanted good coverage? But now it’s her starting a press war for honestly answering a question about how she was feeling, during a very busy tour, just months after giving birth?
All the while, insulting her by saying that her tears and angst were just the result of her being an actress, that she wasn’t sincere. There is no winning for her with these people, and she’s no longer trying. I’m reminded of the end of the movie War Games with Matthew Broderick, where Joshua the computer tells him that the best way to win is not to play the game. Harry said flat out that he will not play the game, and he meant it. The tabs refuse to believe him and are losing their damn minds 24/7 because they have no access. That’s not stopping them from their hysterical attacks, though. They are like jilted lovers or spoiled toddlers throwing a tantrum. Meanwhile, the Sussexes keep winning on every level, and I am here all day for that.
In other words: they’re going to be even worse to duchess meghan and have no plans of letting up. This piece is very much a threat.
They also (once again) let it slip what this is really about. I mean come on! Inviting Rothermere for tea? They can’t even be sublte.
The part about william having all the power also kind of proves the point the BBC was trying to make. But i doubt he actually has any power. They never expected her to sue and she did and won. The tabloids are going to want something in return.
So it’s safe to assume that Willy and Kate and lord what’s his face regularly have tea time together. Hence all the fluff pieces and no real journalism or any accountability when the f up which is every f——-ing week
I don’t think Lord Rothermere is the only one they’ve been having tea with. Camilla Tominey and Rebecca English have been gushing about meeting between them and the Cambridges multiple times. In fact, more royal rota hacks have claimed pleasant meetings between them and the Cambridges. (Not so) invisible contract right there.
It’s amazing that people will sell their integrity for a chance to eat some cookies with a goddamn royal.
@Lanne: If you decide to write for the Daily mail (or any UK tabloid for that matter) you already don’t have any integrity to begin with
@ Over it, that’s exactly how their “agreement” works. The Lambridges have agreed access to them, hence why they all claim how lovely they are, whereas Harry and Meghan won’t play by their rules, having access to them on a one-on-one basis. Yet, the Lambridges are utter fools to think that they will not turn of them in a second. Baldimort only maintains this “agreement” due to their dirt on him. Whereas Mummble McButtons gleefully will engage with the rota as they push her narrative, agenda and will cover her, as no one else wants to as she has nothing to offer. We can also include Ma Meddleton and Uncle Gary the King of Cocaine and delusions.
The mental gymnastics on this one…whew. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Lol, so William gets the equivalent of a participation trophy? They can talk from now until the end of time, it still won’t change the facts. The British Trumps are trash.
I like that — I think I will refer to them as “The British Trumps” from now on! So fitting.
This is why I love this site – the “British Trumps” and “L’il Assistance” (from yesterday’s thread). You Celebitches are brilliant and hilarious.
Harry has made it clear he hates the tabloid press. Absolutely despises them. So if they’re writing a billion stories of how terrible he is, he’s not going to be upset nor will it have an effect on him (unless they publish something sue worthy then Harry will care but only to slap a lawsuit in their faces). So Yellend can shut up.
As for power? Eh. If reporters want to continue to have access, then yeah I can see them not wanting to annoy the Cambridges and continue the sugary pieces. But it’s not like W&K have much of a choice? If the BM decide to flip and critique the Cambridges, what are W&K going to do? Ban all access to the press? Okay but then where do they go after that? Who are they going to invite to cover their engagements? If they cut off access to the press, who are they going to leak their press briefings to?
@sofia i kind of disagree
Point #1: i think we have all seen over these past years that the negative and slanderous stories have real life effects. Through their mental health but also more directly. They translate into real threats towards him, Meghan and their kids. So i’d say harry cares.
Point #2: there used to be a time where there was a co dependency between palace and press. But in the modern age of social media they don’t need that middle man (the press) to get their message across. They have a youtube channel. They can simply film their engagements and put it up there. They also have twitter and instagram accounts which allow for direct interaction with the public. The royal rota system is in fact dated.
If the press turns on them with negative and false stories they can simply get their lawyers involved.
The only reason william and kate would want to play along with the press if there was a story so damaging that it needs burying.
I will agree on your first point but disagree on your second.
Yes they’ve got social media but the average person isn’t following it and will only hear about whatever a royal did if it turns up on the news. for example, my parents didn’t know Charles had siblings until they watched The Crown and didn’t even know Charlotte was called Charlotte so the only time they hear anything royal related is if it’s on the news. I bet there are lots of others like that. And if they didn’t need the rota, W&K would not be striking deals with them or meeting with them. Plus the rota have his secrets and if they get angry and want to spill, they will – especially if W&K aren’t being beneficial.
The rota system IS outdated but only for royals who can capture attention without it aka H&M. The rest of them need it because it’s the rota who prop them up and cover their mediocrity. Without the rota, people will be able to see the royals for who they are – both the good and the bad.
Lol, well, yes. There are a few damaging stories.
The Cambriges need the rota more than the rota need them if they didn’t need them they woudn’t not have capitulated as they did as soon as Meghan entered the picture.
The Cambridges need the rota, so I don’t buy this idea that William now has all this power bc he will cut off the tabloid press. He can’t and he won’t. If the rota isn’t covering him, then quite frankly no one will, because he’s that boring, and he would hate that.
Also, what’s he going to do? Revoke their press passes? I would love to see the reaction to the future future king revoking press passes bc he doesn’t like some coverage.
Finally – Harry had to step back from royal duties and give up all sovereign grant money and public funding and move to the US to get away from the rota, and they STILL attack him on a daily basis. I don’t think William is going to escape that easily just because he doesn’t want to deal with the Fail.
It’s just an attempt to tone down the huge win that it is for Meghan. The press have all the power. The Cambriges used all their cards leaks, kids, seemilngly huge projects like earthshot or early years, Kate morphing into Meghan none of it worked the public is just isn’t there.
@Woke; like i said, im of the opinion that they only need the rota because they have damning stories (true stories lol). You are right about the public just not being there. Especially the generation that they are supposed to appeal to. Genuine question: do you think there will ever be a time that the press will turn on william? Because I highly doubt it.
@Chloe I’m not sure at this point if the press will ever turn on William. I think they could though.
I am starting to think that what they have on him is SO damaging that they won’t print it out bc it could bring down the monarchy. I can’t think of what that would be though.
@Chloe I don’t see the press ever turning on them like exposing their secrets what I can see is them being more scrutinized like back in 2014/2015 when they were being called lazy and work shy. Maybe at one point they will get exposed for their participation in the smear campaign.
@Becks1
I’ve long felt that whatever it is they have in William is far beyond just sleeping around on his wife. In 2021, no one’s going to be shocked about a male public figure cheating on his wife, let alone a royal prince,as they don’t exactly value fidelity. And no one cares about William and his marriage enough to be disappointed or angry with him if he did. I think what’s going on with him is that he’s done things that are criminal and the press are sitting on it in order to protect the monarchy and maybe even the British Establishment as a whole.
Well there was that dead woman on his property that we don’t hear anything about. Can you imagine if a dead woman was found near where harry lives? Its all we would hear about
@Woke said:
“The Cambridges used all their cards leaks, kids, seemingly huge projects like earthshot, early years, Kate morphing into Meghan none of it worked…”
I would also add: W&K’s faux attempts to copy M&H pda, plus YouTube channel fail, and what looks like a Ralph Lauren perfume ad, family style — LOL– in order to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary.
Even media outlets in the U.S. are recognizing and commenting on the internal disarray and crumbling catastrophe that is currently the British royal family. I saw this take by CBS Sunday Morning, which aired this summer, in advance of the July 1 Diana statue unveiling at KP sunken garden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg-IHNXc8lk
The interviews with British observers, as usual, don’t explicitly or completely accurately deal with the racism factor, which was and is the biggest problem against the royal firm and the conservative British society ever truly accepting Meghan.
How different from CBS Morning’s take immediately after the 2018 royal wedding of M&H:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gv4SW-CrQ0
So very much has happened since then. And it isn’t pretty.
@Woke – agreed. I think the most likely scenario is doing a bunch of nasty, insinuating stories little by little just to get enough clicks to pay the bills…just like the Christmas party story we got. If they really want to threaten William and get something big, he’ll probably feed Kate to them. And then if that happens, good luck to any woman dumb enough to get with William after that.
Yeah right, cause lying racist lord what’s his no balls wants to break bread with a woman of color. He thinks of Meghan and people with darker skin complexion like me as nothing more than the help. So if I were Meghan, I would do as mini did and bake him a special pie . Happy eating mother—- f
Hah!!! That’s brilliant! Minnie would definitely know how to handle this bunch! And you’re right – Lord Snootypants would no more care about having tea with Meghan than he would care about having tea with his lowest footman. Meghan calling him out by name in her statement was stellar, and put him and all that lot on notice that she and Harry will name names if they have to. And even if she had invited him around for tea, she still wouldn’t be able to trust him, or any of them, because they are, and will always be, untrustworthy.
Not sure how this puts anymore power in williams court. the cambridges can’t cut off the uk press a la the sussexes. their hands are too dirty and they have too much to hide. they need the press as much as the press needs them. that’s not the case with h&m anymore.
Exactly. The press now knows which buttons to press and they know how far away the can take things. The ones who need to keep “mystery” in order to get public interest are the royals, not the press. The Daily Mail knows its trash, they know they’re a rag and their readers know it too. Whatever guarantees a click on their sites, it’s acceptable for them. Now the Cambridges need to tiptoe around the press, knowing that it could be them at any given moment.
Yeah the power is with the press not William. Because of his position, the press will yank his chain when they want and he’ll just have to comply to their demands.
The press eviscerated Charles back in the Diana days and Charles still works with them today. William has been completely lulled into a dangerous sense of complacency with the press and he will slip up. Meghan’s suit has shown the tabs that they can go after a Royal and even lose and still make lots of money from the brouhaha. They have to know that William is less strategic and is tinfoil compared to Meghan’s tungsten. Kate is even weaker. There’s all sorts of mischief the press can print about those two. The power comes from having nothing to hide, and the Burger King has lots of skeletons in his closet that the Rota are keeping secret.
^^ Yeah, true. But the very interesting thing is gonna be whether or not the British tabloid media will go there all the way, right away on the Cambridges, which would likely contribute to and speed up the royal family’s unraveling. This, in the midst of Brexit and in the run-up to a younger generation who does not hold any deep reverence for the monarchy, particularly after QE-II’s last gasp.
Will the tabloids trade-off on going after Charles vs William, while waiting for the Cambridge kids to reach their teens and twenties? Or will it all fall apart well before then?
Plus, as this piece indicates, and as we already know for sure, the British tabs are completely unwilling to leave the Sussexes be. “Harry is a British royal,” and they still think they own him. So much for M&H’s irrelevancy, which the rat rota spouted about often before Sussexit, knowing the opposite was always the case.
Of course, M&H’s courage in fighting the vile tabloids will have those ratchets back on their heels a bit, or else paying the price in expensive reckonings. The Sussexes are not a ‘mess with and attack them relentlessly’ free zone.
If William really thinks he’s in control he’s more stupid than I thought. The only thing stopping the papers going after William is their personal hatred of H&M because they didn’t kiss their asses. They will always have acces to the BRF the idea that any of the royals expect the Queen is able to cut the press off is ridiculous.
So they’re saying you should play nice with your stalker and hope for the best?!?!
And they’re saying it would be terrible if William cut them off? Like, why?! If they were actually journalists they’d know their job is to report facts not fiction, so it wouldn’t matter if someone wasn’t giving them puffy fluffy full-of- shit to print. But as the saying goes: there’s no truth in advertising or the British press.
And what’s so funny to me is that Meghan knew what she was doing when she taunted them. She’s daring them to take it further. She’s clearly holding cards these fools don’t know exist. Wild draw four, Mfers!
They haven’t learned yet that they are tangling with a couple playing three dimensional chess while they’re playing checkers. Meghan comes from Hollywood, another culture with a rabid press, and she knows very well how to keep receipts, even if it’s never necessary to use them. Harry is no slouch in that area, either. They take no steps, or utter no words, without being able to back them up. If Knauf and that lot hadn’t secretly set Meghan’s phone and computer to delete texts and messages after six months – and who does that crap if they’re on the up and up – she would still have kept them, and would have used them if she needed to. They were working against her, behind her back, from the very beginning. You have to wonder if this deleting of the texts/emails was standard practice across the RF, or just for her and Harry so they could be controlled. In the end, the Sussexes have outsmarted and outplayed them all along, and the British media are too stupid or to arrogant to realize it.
Even if Meghan and Harry had invited the British press to sleep in their spare bedroom they would have still printed all the negativity about them, because the spare can never overshadow the heir coupled with the racism rife in editorial offices as well as their contract with the palace. The Sussexes knew this and knew cutting off access was better than granting access and still getting bashed and that is why they moved. They are not expecting positive coverage ever from the British press and I think they have come to terms with that, as for William and Kate sure the press might be on your side now but time will come when they will ask for something you won’t be able to give and the Cambridges can’t even dream of cutting off access, the press will simply print all the backlog of secrets they’ve been hiding on them and start going after them for breathing like they do Meghan. Positive or Negative they will still sell their stories and make their money.
Also, it’s really hilarious and how the British press keeps trying to say Meghan lied in court and even getting their mates to shoehorn it into foreign publications and yet no one aside the deranged royalists and Piers Morgan cares
Yeah…William is in control and that is why there was that picture of him leaving a club last week.
William is not in control and the more I think about it Jason’s involvement in the case might be a sign that William has to do what he is told to do.
He is now trying to deny that he gave permission for Jason to get involved.
I disagree. All William would need to do was invite Lord Rothermore over for tea.
Oh, I think Lord Rothermere has been invited for tea several times. They were working teas, figuring out their strategy. If Bill was smart – hah! – he’d realize he needs to watch his back around Jason. Jason is a good little foot soldier now, but he’s proved that he can fight dirty, and what’s to keep him from turning on his boss if Bill does something he doesn’t like? He’s proved he’s capable of being slimy, and someone like him never changes fundamentally. They are inextricably linked now, and their similarities are a danger to the other. They struck a true devil’s bargain, and neither one can ever trust the other fully again. They are both too arrogant and stupid to realize it, though. Watch this space, as Rachel says on her show.
It is “William’s Power” that got the RF into this mess. It is his jealousy and hate that got the RF into this mess. William is like a child constantly throwing tantrums. He has a morbid obsession with Meghan/Harry. So all I can say is stay tune…the obsession is real
So weird, first Meghan wouldn’t invite Piers Morgan to her wedding, now she wouldn’t invite Lord Whatsits to tea. What is it with these guys?
As for William, whatever. He has as much power as any caged bird.
Lol
And Harry wouldn’t go drinking with the boys anymore, either. So laments poor, sniveling Arthur Edwards. God forbid, these people should do their journalistic/photographic jobs instead of whining that they aren’t being wined and dined. Oh, wait…🙄
Why exactly should M be conciliatory? The media isn’t going to willingly stop or apologize to her without being forced into it. Why didn’t Rothermere invite her to tea and apologize? They didn’t need to use Tom’s letter to show why he wasn’t at the wedding. They had him running his mouth constantly. This article reads like a threat. And they love Harry? That’s why they are letting him live his life privately and not attacking his family, right?
This is article is very confusing, there is multilevel chess being played out here, someone is covering for trying to stop the wedding, when that didint work, they then went on to drive a wedge so they would get divorced. i dont expect the negative press will stop, and things maay get harder for H&M where everything they do will be scrutinized, so they will have to be very careful and pass everything by their lawyers to check if they are liable
This is the twisted racist logic that POC are lucky and should feel grateful for being in any space occupied by yts. So we are supposed to bow and scrape and accept all bs bc we are not even supposed to be there.
Exactly this. Full stop.
This article is complete bullish-t. Though it’s remarkable that they can’t fathom that M&H refuse to play the game. To them, a lack of participation means losing, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The idea of the all-powerful British press is too strong to face reality. That or they’re trying yo discourage others from following M&H’s lead. So much power is derived from controlling the narrative, and Meghan has demonstrated that they’re losing that power.
Invite him over for tea? The fact that all of these commentators like to insist on being invited for tea is telling. They want to be courted by royals. The UK media has been abusive 24/7 to Meghan and has profited from Harry all his life by constantly portraying him as the ‘bad’ brother in comparison to William.
William has no power and the media foolishly drove out the 2 royals who make them money and for what? William is lazy and dumb and they have spent years by coddling him. He should have been the one visiting commonwealth countries. Instead, Harry was the one who was getting all the preparation to be king.
I will make this prediction. William and Kate will be the downfall of the monarchy. The sycophancy of the press worldwide can only go so far. They don’t work but they expect all the rewards. William has sealed the fate for his own children and destroyed any relationship with Harry. He sent his minion Jason Knauf to attack Meghan and a result of that is she suffered a miscarriage. What William and Kate did is unforgivable.
They want to pretend they are so classy and deferential but they have proven they are nothing but vile, vicious trash. Gaslighting to the nth degree. “Gee, but if you’d only have had us over for a nice cuppa, you would’ve avoided all this nastiness. All you had to do was kiss our backsides, give us your blood and the rights to your firstborn.” F that noise. Since we know they read Celebitchy as they’ve proven by referring to the “daily fail” moniker given by that rag’s critics — GO TO HELL, ALL OF YOU.
I’m quite enjoying William’s public meltdown. Is anyone else? He’s lost everything and is completely destitute! The press have him by his little incandescent balls 🤣
Me too!! As team Sussex we should all be cheering his public meltdown now. He’s taking down the monarchy one word, one statement, one article at a time. I’m ecstatic
How does this give William more power? The man can’t scratch his nose in public or hang with his friends without the tabs jerking his chain to remind him they know ALL his secrets and will reveal them if he doesn’t play. That’s not power. That’s subjugation. The Cambridges are boring as hell. They are lazy, hence the need for Harry to come back to the fold. Hence the jealousy and resentment of Meghan because she did more with less support.
Who is writting all these rubbish headlines. William is a vile loser like the daily fail.
“I’m not losing, I’m winning! And if you think I am losing, it’s only because you can’t see that I’m actually winning!” I’m beginning to think that William got a transfusion of Charlie Sheen’s Tiger Blood.
They have crossed the rubicon so many times already…
But I will say this: William demands to be at the center of anything he thinks is positive and he demands the spin.
This guy here is just doing that. It is really like William wants this never to end, as if beating his sister in law with a series of small sticks will give him something akin to personality.
Will, you are crazy.
The mail article wasn’t written because of wanting to know about Meghan it was written because people magazine got access to the Sussex’s at the expense of the British media getting none. Just like the mails weird obsession with Omid Scobie. Its about access jealousy, plain and simple. With regards to William and Kate though I think there power is more limited than either party believes. Are people going to be interested in reading nothing but positive news on these two all the time for the foreseeable future? Maybe, but with Meghan and Harry gone, and your access to them more limited now, than before we shall see!
Yes, and meeting Piers Morgan for lunch that one time worked out so well for Meghan…sure Jan!
Meghan never went out to lunch with piers. They met at a press junket for suits. And the most piers likely got from meghan is a polite “Hi”.
Meghan did not meet Piers Morgan at a press junket for Suits. They met on Twitter, and corresponded there, strictly regarding Piers’ fandom for Suits. Other cast members tweeted with Piers too, purely for the purposes of promoting their show, as none of them knew then what a louse Piers is. Eventually, Piers was given advance copies of episodes, which got him so chuffed, he was practically giddy.
Fast forward to June 2016 when Meg flew to London for promotional work with Ralph Lauren and to see her best friend Serena play tennis at Wimbledon. Friends of Meghan and Harry also arranged for them to conveniently meet during Meg’s trip. The evening before Meg met Harry for the first time, she arranged to have drinks with Piers, keeping up their professional acquaintance. Piers got a big head over it. He later said nice things publicly about Meg when it was revealed she was dating Prince Harry.
Then, Piers got the notion he had sent Meg off in a cab later that evening to meet Harry at 5 Hertford Street (an upscale club). But no, Omid revealed in FF that Meg had a late dinner with a business associate after her brief meet-up with Piers. Meg & Harry actually met the following evening (apparently July 1, 2016) at a Soho House gathering. So, LOL, Piers had nothing to do with Meg meeting Harry, as he’s been fixated on fantasizing about.
Piers also couldn’t get the memory of meeting Meg in-person for the first time out of his mind. In a 2018 video interview, Piers talks about Meg’s charismatic presence and her ‘superstar’ good looks that had jaws dropping when she walked into the bar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ld0fzCnp84
Piers doesn’t know what he’s talking about, of course — see the explanation in FF of what really happened after Meg left Piers that evening…
The source of Piers’ endless beef with and relentless ire over Meg is the fact that she dropped him cold, then he didn’t get an invite to the royal wedding (as if), and worst of all — he was ultimately cut-off from receiving anymore advance copies of Suits episodes! 🤣
Are they SERIOUSLY whining about “derogatory nicknames”??? LMAO. What a pathetic joke. I don’t know where Ms. Karma is hiding, but she needs to wake up and come get her revenge.
Seriously, complaints about derogatory nicknames from the makers of “Megxit”, “Me-gain”, and “Duchess Difficult”, just to name a few I’ve heard.
Is no one going to mention the comment about how M&H are too binary with right and wrong?? That’s our society in a nutshell, always trying to claim “both sides” when there’s a clear right and wrong. And it’s not a bad thing to have a solid grasp of what’s right and what’s wrong!!! They know they’re in the wrong, M&H showed them they’re in the wrong, now they’re trying to say it’s too strict? What a circus.
The tabloids has had the RF by the ball for decades. If anything William has less power now than what he did when the Sussexes were still involved with the family. He could brief the press on them and go on trimming Rose bushes on his own time, now all he has left is old conversations that Meghan will laugh out of court if he tries that again.
Diana invited editors for tea, that only got her more harassment and bullying from the press. Since William is willing to work with the press, he should be meeting with them to help make him and his wife become more interesting to the public.
I don’t think it’s possible for any of them to help him and Kate be more “interesting” to the public. Even their trotting out the children is boring IMO. Kate and William need attitude adjustments but I think it’s too late for them, He’s not going to change and neither is Kate.
Whenever I read anything from sycophantic brits, I can only see it thru the prism of Alice in Wonderland. It was written by one of them, right? Lewis Carroll. Their worldview & their opinion of themselves and the convoluted arguments they use to convince others to see the world, as they do, is so twisted and downright hallucinogenic.
We have some nice Brit readers and commentators here. Please don’t paint them all with the same brush.
@Julia K, no offence, but a lot of readers here are POC, many of whom are from former British colonies, who have an upfront and personal experience with the racism from British society. For a lot of us, saying “don’t paint all Brits with the same brush” is like saying “#notallwhitepeople”. If the criticism doesn’t apply to an individual, that’s fine for them, but the larger read of British society as a whole, for a lot of us, is that British society is not honest with itself, about itself. I know that there are plenty of British people who, as individuals, are nice, but the larger society they inhabit is not great, at least in part bc of the lies it tells itself about itself.
Is the press not embarrassed?? Wait… they have no soul, so of course they cannot be embarrassed, but good lord, the depth of this ridiculousness is staggering. Just leave the woman alone.
“The old PR axiom that it’s best not to fall out with anyone who has an ink factory springs to mind.”
It’s also best not to fall out with anyone who has access to an internationally known media figure (or more than one) with the potential to broadcast in markets all over the world. The “royal racist” story is still boomeranging back on the royal family, and that’s without anyone actually naming names (except for who it wasn’t).
Also possibly best not to fall out with a total insider who has a (multi-book?) confirmed publishing deal, and who at this point is undoubtedly way past giving any ishts about anyone other than one senior family member.
As well, social media has completely changed the game here. The BM are not the only ones with ink factories. 😈🤣😈😎
Let me just say what this article’s sources are trying desperately to avoid: Britain has become largely culturally irrelevant on the global scene. All the nostalgia-worthy “british” content is also being produced by American, Canadian, Australian, South African media corporations at the same or better quality. The media economy is VERY one-sided between the UK and the US, the US exports far more than they import, and that isn’t going to change. The EU is also looking away from the UK, both in terms of media content as well as culturally, post-Brexit. The “third world” (Africa, Asia, Caribbean) is looking away too, partly because of disgust with colonialism but also because indigenous content in these places is really taking off in a big, sometimes global way. Wizkid just sold out the O2 arena in London, and I’m not sure Tony Blair, Prince Charles and all the looted tiaras in QEII’s home have that kind of cultural pull right now. Meghan, her defiance and then transendence of them, is just a metaphor for some large-scale changes going on: the UK is diminishing from its position as a second tier world power, shedding all its soft power and cultural relevance, and is rapidly accelerating towards a reality much closer to modern Greece, leached of historical wealth, abandoned by its former colonies and territories, plagued by underdevelopment, infrastructural decay and systemic debt, and hosting a cultural industry that is barely a shadow of its former glory.
@WhoElse So insightful. The dying embers of a once powerful empire.
This ⬆️
@Whoelse. Thanks for these brilliant insights.
@WhoElse – *chef’s kiss* to this comment! Insightful, factual, and cogent! Would that the British media conducted their reporting in such a manner.
Wow, you sure have a way with words. The problem with Britain is they don’t relieve they don’t play on the world stage anymore. When the Queen is gone, that stage is going to get even smaller.
So, just to recap: The Mail was in the wrong, they were always in the wrong, and will continue to waste Meghan’s and the high court’s time.
Yet somehow it’s up to Meghan to be “nice” to them and soothe their egos.
I think every woman who has ever turned down a creep and then been advised to “give him a chance, don’t be such a frigid b*tch” can identify with the factors at play here.
Has there ever been a time when sleeping with the enemy had a good outcome? No tea parties, just no.
These are threatening and intimidating remarks. The British media have absolutely gone mental.
So, the daily fail trashed Meghan none stop from 2016 onwards and she has to be conciliatory?!?!?
Boggles the mind, does it not???
I don’t think they mean that it gives him power over the Sussexes. I think they mean that it gives him more power over the press. Which in some ways it does in the same way that it gives anyone in the public eye more control.
“Personally namechecking Jonathan Rothermere, the proprietor, in that statement is hugely significant. It’s a deeply personal attack on him.”
The Fail has deeply and personally attacked Meghan since 2016. And from the sounds of it will continue their attack.
This is just so sinister. Bullies saying you need to sit down with us. My gawd…
It seems to me, Baldy and Keen are just more pathetic now. Powerful my ass.
How did we get here?
Jealousy.
William’s jealousy towards the Sussexes activated the media smear campaign, the online coordinated hate accounts, the press being silenced.
William should apologise to the Sussexes, come clean about his misdemeanours, and free himself from the hold the media has on him.
Then he should get off his backside and do some work.
The article from the Daily Beast reads like a conversation in a gaslighting pit of snakes, licking their self-inflicted wounds after this devastating verdict.
The hissing rightwing British press systematically denies responsibility for the mess they created by demonizing and monetizing H&M on a daily basis since 2016.
It’s time for the DF-owner Lord Rot to take full responsibility for the HARM he and his pressbaron-buddies are causing daily to British society with their toxic tabloids, causing pain in the lives of so many on a daily basis.
It’s his birthday today and hopefully this historical verdict by the judges is his wakeup-call that his privileges nor his billions will protect his reputation. He can’t simply hide behind his company, his editors or reporters to do his dirty work and shield him off. He is 100% accountable. Like Faust (see Goethe) a pact with the devil will not bring him the lasting power he yearns for. The bucket stops with him and he was served JUSTICE by the court yesterday!!!
Lord Rot (epic name, BTW!) could not care less about what the minions are saying. His birth and standing in the aristocracy prevent him from that kind of soul searching and self awareness. It simply wouldn’t occur to him that he and his business are at fault. He’s about the money, otherwise he and his rag of a tabloid would have conducted themselves much differently. He looks down on Meghan, doesn’t see the need to change that, and therefore, nothing will change in his business model. Unfortunately, I see a massive ramp-up in attacks against the Sussexes following this defeat, because it’s the only way he has of retaliating. He’s too arrogant to realize that he’s inviting more legal action. So much hubris…
Billy Basher is in the hot seat and he knows it.
I just find it ironic that the same people complaining about the impact of Meghan’s court victory on the ‘free’ press readily admit that they write positive articles about K&W to ensure access to them. What happened to scrutiny, reporting without fear or favour? They are full of it.
And I think lots of the nasty press about Meghan after she first married in was the press’ way to try force her to meet them & then to do the palace’s bidding after the ocean tour. But I think the press saw the lawsuits after the southern African tour as general confirmation that H&M wouldn’t play the access game (some do still seem to hope) so believe that’s why they see this as the turning point in the relationship.
Honestly the press have gone so hard on Meghan already: claimed she was a porn star, a heartless daughter who abandoned her sick dad, a ruthless social climber, accused her of almost killing Charlotte with her wedding flowers, funding terrorism with the cookbook, making Kate cry, causing drought & murder with her avocado toast, being responsible for Philip’s death, lying on Oprah, manipulating Harry& breaking up the royal family, being a bully who drives staff to PSTD, ruining childhoods with a fun free book and trashing all her projects, that it’s hard to see how much further they can go. They really did too much too soon.
The most “out there comments” included people talking about how much better it was for Harry with Kate and William “taking care of him.” LOL. And the worst is how the behavior of her father is “defended.”
If W&K were so into “taking care” of H, why didn’t they protect him or defend him? Why would you have to stop defending him in the media just because he got married?
@Tessa. ITA. The RF and the rota rats are really weird and have a convoluted sense of self.
I’m not a fan of MM and maybe that’s why the obsession with her is crazy to me, I get she sells papers but these British media types act like she’s personally dumped them.
I think it weakens the royal family because they allowed their own staff to participate so opens the door in the future staff will be more likely to do it again and as MM is not active royalty the target will be one of them. Plus after allowing it DM still lost. So they would have been better off staying above the fray.
I’m not a fan of a lot of celebs but I don’t actively seek out negative info about them or lie about them on SM. Even before M the RF obviously didn’t stay above much.
David Yelland is unbelievable. He is unironically explaining that if you fight back against a bully and win, the bully is just going to keep bullying you. He even thinks that it’s a good strategy to befriend abusers to keep them happy. He doesn’t seem to realize that those strategies don’t work.
I find this whole thing to be a bit of a reach. One thing that’s missing from all this is that Meghan has every right to sue them, and whether or not they thought she would is not her problem. How the press approached William over there is something they need to figure out without referencing the Sussexes since they actively partnered with him to drive them out. The British press is all William has to prop him and his future despotic reign up. The fact that they think they can’t criticize him and can only add a polished sheen to his dullness is all on them. Like they said, this was a pretty straightforward case, but the press decided to take it as an affront to their entire abusive institution ( ok, it is). The Sussexes owe them nothing, and are more then wise to the UK media’s sleazy tactics. They never hid them from them so I don’t know why they still pretend they have damns left to give about them. That relationship is long dead in the water. I just get so sick of their faux innocence in the profound damage these people have caused, to Meghan, Harry, family relationships, even the Royal institution ( not that I care, they started it) and even after all that, they’re still pining for Harry, their “Prince of the realm”. They can seriously f*ck all the way off.
The Viscounts of Rothermere have consistently demonstrated open support for fascism and Nazi ideology, starting with the 1st Viscount of Rothermere, who began the Fail as a paper all those years ago. Since then, they have consistently done nothing but stoke white supremacist aggression, hatred, and xenophobia in its pages. In doing that, the Daily Mail consistently shows itself to be the absolute worst of what the UK has to offer. This is the UK that people of colour the world over consistently deride and make fun of, especially people from the former British colonies. The UK that is represented in the pages of the Fail, the UK that the Fail consistently attempts to promote and create with what it prints, is one where white British people are encouraged to fan their anger, fear, and loathing of anyone to whom they don’t want to extend a shred of humanity.
THIS is the paper that Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, owns. This is the paper at the helm of which he recently reinstated Paul Dacre, a notoriously abusive tabloid bully. This is the legacy of this man, this family, and this paper–racism and hatred of anyone who is not white and British.
This is the man with whom Meghan should have sat down and had tea with, the one who she should have played nice with, in exchange for positive coverage.
I know that the aristocracy have different views on what they believe are the actions of a good, moral and decent person. They’re the sort of people who can excuse the most rampant infidelity, but the moment you start disinviting your cheating husband’s affair partner from weekend shoots and dinners, that’s when you cross the line. You’re expected to play nice with otherwise vile people, bc for them, the most egregious sin you can commit as a human being is to be rude to those who consistently dehumanize you and don’t give a sh-t about you.
So you can see why, for this lot, the fact that Meghan refused even the veneer of sociability with a vile, atrocious, evil man, who puts profits over the lives and well-being of ordinary people, who promotes fascism and racism and xenophobia with his paper because it makes him a sh-tton of money, is deeply offended at being called out, called for the daily fail that his paper is, and at the fact that Meghan won’t sit down and drink tea with him.
There’s a word that people use for the act of playing nice with fascists and their promoters–it’s called appeasement. British people are likely familiar with the term, although I imagine it doesn’t mean much for someone like Viscount Rothermere, whose family has always supported that policy. But taking a look at history would show you what results from that policy in the long run.
And if you’re the type of person who can excuse racism, but draw the line at rudeness–well, you’re a c u next tuesday, simple as that.
So funny: his last name is actually Harmsworth.
So she named checked him, so what. Called out the owner of the syndicate by name. His name is Jonathan Harmsworth – paradoxically his surname – aka Lord Rothermere. What the hay? Is he the equivalent to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, his name was Tom Riddle. To name and classify a thing is to demystify said thing. To take away its perceived power.