The royal machinery and the British media supporting the royal machinery has been in overdrive since last week, more specifically just after Netflix dropped the Harry & Meghan teaser trailer on Thursday. I should note something somewhat curious, which is that the royals and the tabloids don’t really have anything on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at this point. They never really did, but in the days leading up to the Oprah interview’s air date, Kensington Palace coordinated an attack on Meghan, accusing her of “bullying” staffers and wearing jewelry given to her as a wedding gift from the Saudi royal family. So far, there has been no big lie, no big story that the royal courts can rally behind as the big smear. It’s just Panic! at the Palace, wailing and crying and general lies. Speaking of, the Sun published this over the weekend:
Gloating Harry boasted to a pal that the Royal Family would find his Oprah Winfrey interview “quite shocking”. He also piled into his homeland, telling the friend: “Those Brits need to learn a lesson.”
Last night senior sources told The Sun on Sunday that Harry’s pre-Oprah comments expose his continuing animosity against his family. Ahead of the March 2021 TV chat he told the friend: “This is going to be quite shocking. Those Brits need to learn a lesson.”
Harry then accused the royals of racism and claimed they ignored wife Meghan’s suicidal thoughts.
That… doesn’t sound like Harry, of course. I would buy that he said his FAMILY needed to learn some sh-t, but not the UK in general. Interestingly enough, this was the one claim the Sussexes’ spokesperson denied outright, via Carly Ledbetter at HuffPo:
“This is a baseless hit piece masquerading as journalism. This story is riddled with inaccuracies, not least of which is a quote erroneously attributed to Prince Harry. To accuse a man who spent 10 years serving his country of wanting to teach that same country a lesson is not only an attempted distraction but an unfortunate and predictable tabloid strategy. To pit him against his country is shameful and manipulative, especially when Prince Harry has never spoken ill of the British public.”
It’s true, Harry has never attacked the UK – his ire and contempt has always been for the British media, certain people in his family and the people who work in the royal system. I think that’s what we’ll see more of in the Netflix series too – he’s not going to say sh-t like “I hate Britain, they need a wakeup call,” he’s going to talk specifically about all of the sh-t his family did to him and the invisible contract with the media, etc.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.
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- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on day two of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II. The National Service marks The Queen’s 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth. Public service is at the heart of the event and over 400 recipients of Honours in the New Year or Birthday Honours lists have been invited in recognition of their contribution to public life. Drawn from all four nations of the United Kingdom, they include NHS and key workers, teaching staff, public servants, and representatives from the Armed Forces, charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups.,Image: 696633859, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty O’Connor / Avalon
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- 09-03-2020 Commonwealth Day Celebrations Westminster Abbey 2020
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- 09-03-2020 Commonwealth Day Celebrations Westminster Abbey 2020
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- The Duke and duchess of Sussex arrive at Westminster abbey for the commonwealth day ceremony.
Harry’s first and biggest target is the British tabloid media. Possibly his family as well (they might be implicated in the media take down though), but Harry’s main focus is on exposing the Daily Fail, the Times, Piss Moron, et al.
Definitely the media but his family has been doing the walk of shame with said media for a long damn time. They’re practically inseparable at this point.
I would sue the British Tabloids out of existence and any palace aides or family member aiding and abetting their lies. “William the Pegger” is most likely the royal behind this. As a Squaddie we have our receipts an know that Prince Harry has not ever uttered an indecent word against his Countrymen.
I can believe he said the British press, or the BRF. Not “Brits” (I know that term is commonly used in the US and would obviously be understood here in the UK, but I have never heard it used here – plus, Harry is himself a “Brit” after all).
This. No one in the UK *ever* uses ‘Brits’. It’s a total Americanism. I can’t imagine Harry ever using the word.
That’s on top of the fact I don’t think that’s a sentiment he either feels or would express to a random ‘friend’ if he did.
Agreed. We don’t tend to call ourselves ‘Brits’, and we don’t tend to refer to other British people as ‘Brits’. That’s really awkward. But it is the kind of abbreviation you find in tabloid headlines because they don’t want to use all the space typing ‘British people’.
I smell a lawsuit brewing. And they kill me with these anonymous “pals” of Harry’s that are so eager to run to the tabloids. Plus if he really said this we would have heard about it long ago, not nearly two years later.
It’s about time Harry speaks put specifically about how his family fed the british tabloids stories about him and Meghan. I hope he names and shames them, he really owes them nothing at this point.
It’s ALMOST funny how the British press are in such a twist over every single move. How anyone can take the whole damn media there seriously, I will never understand.
How do they get away with such blatant false quotes? ‘A friend’ for all the celebitchy journalists is that really enough to attribute a quote to someone. No wonder they get away with so much, most people don’t have the resources to challenge the media.
That headline “Kiss Means War” is so shockingly transparent – like that’s the quiet part loud, right? Meghan and Harry being so in love reads like violence to these people. It’s unhinged.
That whole front page is cracking me up. Lordy the royals are really panicking now over this docuseries.
I definitely chuckled at how giant Kate is about to step on and squish Will’s shiny dome like a bug. LMAO
Purely based on the photo choices, if someone told me the Sun was trolling I’d buy it – H&M completely loved up and happy together in B&W vs. separate shots of full-length KKKhate in a dodgy outfit looking sly/smug almost standing on the insert of Bulliam just looking confused and unpleasant.
LOL! A sweet and loving kiss by Haz for Meg, and a joyful, bliss-filled, thankful hug by Meg for Haz in a fun, random photo booth moment. 🌟 These heart-filled pics of perfect love are such an obvious ‘declaration of war.’ 🤪
Uh yeah, sure Salty Isle BM nonces. No one with good sense and common decency is swallowing any of your bitter, vindictive, lying bile.
In a way, it does though. A man loving a woman more than he loves the patriarchy? Yep. War. In which Harry is on the correct side.
Didn’t Harry himself say in the Oprah interview “the British aren’t bigoted it’s the press”. Harry has no issues with the UK in general (he’s literally fighting the Home Office to let him pay for security when he visits the UK), the issue is the press and the institution. Not the public themselves.
@Pumpkin, You are correct. A person who reads the Sun and believes Prince Harry said what the Sun is alleging is in need of deprogramming or simply lying to themselves.
Isn’t the Sun equivalent to our trashy paper in the US, the National Enquirer?
He’s been real clear about this. He would never say the public. It’s always been the media. And I believe he blames the media for putting his family (Charles/William) in a hard place to feed his wife to the wolves. But he very much blames them for going along with it past the point it even made sense to continue to do so. I think that DM lawsuit was it for him after Jason the Knife fed altered/or redacted emails.
With a family like that who needs enemies. Horrible people.
The Sun’s article is trying to defame Prince Harry and turn the country against him.
Also trying to rile up the bigots even more to act against Harry and Meghan, one nutter acting on the tabloids fantasy stories means even more headlines for the tabloids.
If memory serves one hack journalist even said that “Meghan was their Diana”
“Panic! at the Palace”, I almost spit my coffee out.
Harry inherited the title of the People’s Prince, formerly held by his mother the People’s Princess. It’s highly doubtful he would ever say anything about the British public at large. This is an extremely desperate and completely obvious stunt.
Same!
This whole mess could be described by the title of Elton John’s old reality show, Tantrums and Tiaras, lol.
Second trailer dropped, he is taking on the family and the press.
It doesnt’ seem like something Harry would say and it also doesn’t make sense in this context. The interview was about his family and the press, this comment makes zero sense. I’m glad his spokesperson came out so strongly against it.
I really think the Sussex need to step up their PR game, because the Royals are creating narrative that is sticking to them. They need their own social media at this point. You never hear about all the work the Sussex are doing.
The Netflix series and Spare memoir will overshadow the tabloid narratives, especially if proof is put forward, which it seems like it will be.
I completely disagree, Felicia. The narrative is only sticking if you were inclined to believe it in the first place and don’t trust your own eyes. I’m only on Twitter for social media but there are way more people calling out the royal family’s behavior and amplifying the good works of Harry and Meghan than there used to be. It used to just be the SussexSquad but now it’s also casual observers or even people who start with “I’m no fan, but even I can see this is racist/it’s a lie/etc.”
And we literally just saw the video of Harry dressed up as Spider-Man for the Scotty’s Little Soldiers Christmas greeting, and the week before that was Meghan organizing the bag donation to SmartWorks, so their work is getting out there. It’s just being disseminated by the organizations that they’re helping and not in some ‘it’s really all about us’ way, like the Wailses do. E.g., how many posts on the KP site were about the Wailses in Boston vs the nominees and winners of the actual Earthshit award?
Nah, I think it’s the opposite. They’re getting a lot more defending than they used to.
@C – I totally agree. Twitter is a blood bath this afternoon. The likes of Eden, 4Takes, English, and Palmer are being mauled. The amount of receipts that are now appearing where the likes of 4takes and Morgan have originally tweeted that the RF would make H&Ms live hell, or that palace are/were planting stories is a joy to behold. There’s even an article where Tomiley is shown slating Kate.
H&M do not need their own page because the pushback from their supporters has been tremendous.
They have PR? They only really comment when they need to. I wouldn’t be commenting at every terrible article out there, but this one I would have, cause it’s crap and it’s not true and it’s painting Harry as someone who hates the British. I would have responded to.
Harry and Meghan commenting on the Netflix crap is dumb. They don’t control when trailers are released. And they have no say when that documentary dropped I am sure outside of the month. William and Kate could have moved their stupid self indulgent ceremony to themselves to another month.
Your comment exactly @ChillinginDC. Didn’t the P&PofW have the “awards” show that week in order to detract from H&M’s ripple of hope award? I may be mistaken, but that’s what it seemed like to me.
I think this is a case of supporters being frustrated than anything legitimate. It’s the same with the docuseries. I think some supporters are so invested in defending the Sussexes that they think that everyone is as focused on every silly article, and maligning tweet and most people aren’t. The Sussexes can’t spend every moment negating everything bad about them and having someone dedicated to it is a time waster as well. Focus on your good deeds and let those that are inclined to listen be your focus. If someone believes something negative about you with little proof, you saying all the time no that’s not true doesn’t mean it’ll change their minds. It’s like people complaining about political messaging, if someone won’t pay attention to a 30 second ad, they aren’t going to listen to a 20 second one.
@Felicia: I don’t get this cry for social media. So do you want Harry and Meghan spending all their time rebutting planted stories on Instagram? I don’t think that would stop the papers from smearing them.
Firstly the Sun are clearly trolling Peggy as he’s only a tiny image at the bottom – the main people on the front page are the Sussex’s and Muttons. They are poking the bear, goading him into doing something stupid that means he will shoot himself in the head.
Sadly a lot of Brits are lapping this up – its the usual suspects who can’t be bothered to read beyond what they are being spoon fed by the media. If the tabloids print it, it therefore must be true.
I could definitely see Harry saying that about his family, particularly William and Kate. But about the British public at large? No way, they had nothing to do with making Meghan feel unwelcome.
Although it might anger some of their readers it might not be the case on the global stage of social media. I received lots of tweets in my time-line of Harry saying quite clearly in an out-take of the Oprah interview that it’s the media who are “bigoted” and not the people of the UK. The Sun is quite clearly trying to cover it’s arse here but, once the documentary drops there will be nowhere to hide.
Oh and yes I re-tweeted all of them. 😉
People with some common sense know this was a made-up story. I’m actually shocked that Prince Harry gave a reply to the bullcrap article.
I’m glad he did and very quickly too. He had to nip this one in the bud, they’re trying to turn the British nation against him now. I hope he sues for defamation for everything they’ve got.
The headline made me laugh my ass off. “Those Brits need to learn a lesson! Yeah! Brits…like me!!” So dumb.
Suggestion, can we please have a Panic! at the Palace weekly newsletter pulling together stories on the latest thing they are freaking out about?
Outstanding word choice as ever, it works on so many levels (even a subtle not to Pervert Andy and his Pitch @ Palace nonsense/graft). Bravo.
“Kiss Means War” – add kissing to the list of things Meghan can’t do, along with breathing, crossing her legs, wearing black…
Or simply, Harry will not drop the lawsuit against the Sun.
He is one of five litigants remaining of which Rebecca, the Murdoch’s editor, seemed unable to bully into compliance.
The lawsuit will put into the record all the amoral and unprincipled practices of tthat Murdoch media corp.
Yes!!!!
I agree with everyone saying that Harry had to push back this kind of article…apart from the response at the article itself, I believe it sets the pace for everything that would be published from now on on the tabloids… be prepared… the next month will be full of this type of defamatory article in the effort of both the royals and the tabloids to diminish the docs impact… and Meghan’s and harry’s character… their immediate response shows that they are well prepared for this and ready to refute any rumors.
Is it mere projection on the Sun’s part since it never recovered financially after Wootoon’s attack on Caroline drove her to sucicide?
And/or
A blatant lie to motivate the pitchfork brigade in Britain or elsewhere?
It is well known that every country has one….
The fact that they’ve gone back to pre-Oprah interview for their oppo dump means there’s not much information to leak to the press. As Kaiser said it doesn’t even sound like anything that Harry would say. What the press is doing now attempting to discredit the documentary by complaining about the use of stock images. It’s getting very desperate. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Royal Family did brief against Harry and Meghan but I think the trailer that came out today has probably put a stop to any plans and they will wait until the first volume comes out on Thursday. It’s interesting to see members of the royal rota now disavow that they were received information from royal sources.