I’ve lost count of the number of British articles and commentary pieces angrily discussing the Spencer family. As we saw, the Spencers came out for Prince Harry and Invictus on Wednesday, with the Earl Spencer, Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale (Harry’s uncle and aunts) coming out to the Invictus service. The Earl Spencer’s heir (Harry’s cousin) was also there, as were at least two other Spencer cousins. The British media had already gotten their prewritten narratives straight from Buckingham Palace: Solitary Harry, shunned and alone. They had to backtrack and admit that, actually, Diana’s side of the family came out for Diana’s youngest.
The Ephraim Hardcastle column in the Mail admitted that “Team Sussex” see the Invictus service as a win, because the lack of Windsors ensured that Harry carried the event on his own, and he did it well. The Windsors ended up emphasizing that Invictus is Harry’s baby, and the Windsors ended up looking spiteful, cold and petty. The Mail’s Jan Moir wrote an overwrought piece about it too, here’s the only important part:
Just when it looked like the Sussexes didn’t have a friend in London, just when it seemed as if Prince Harry would be shunned by his entire extended family every time he came to the UK — a one-man pestilence to be avoided like a contagion, sidestepped like a puddle, dodged like a bullet — something remarkable happened. Enter the Spencers.
And Prince Harry could not have been more delighted to see them. Inside the great cathedral, in almost biblical scenes of redemption, he hugged the Spencers, he kissed them, he fell upon their necks like the return of the prodigal son.
Indeed, we haven’t seen Harry looking so happy in public since he trundled down the waterslide at Thorpe Park, all those years ago. Yet underneath the bucolic bonhomie and the cheerful smiles, a thunder of advancing hooves could be detected, if you listened hard enough. For the Spencers were a cavalry galloping to the rescue.
One wonders what King Charles and Prince William might think about this high-profile intervention, which has the potential to cast them in a cold and unflattering light by comparison; the perennial bad cops to the Spencerian good cops.
Yet who is snubbing who in these endless, exhausting skirmishes of transatlantic royal snubs and non-speaks? The truth is that if his father and his brother won’t see him nor support his pet causes when he visits London, then Prince Harry has only himself to blame. Who could ever trust him again?
Charles and William look cold, petty and mean BUT IT’S HARRY’S FAULT. How dare the Spencers not spend years smearing and marginalizing the Sussexes, to the point where the Sussexes had to set the record straight? How dare the Spencers support Diana’s beloved son instead of attacking him and scapegoating him? Did the Spencers not get the memo that Harry was supposed to look SOLITARY in the UK? How dare the Spencers remind everyone that Harry still has deep family ties in the UK, Spencer ties which go back centuries.
The Telegraph also did a piece on the Spencers showing up – man, they are SO mad. This piece is just history and it’s really obvious stuff too, like “the Spencers love Harry” and “Harry has gotten a lot of quiet support from the Spencers for many years.”
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The Duke of Sussex leaves St Paul’s Cathedral in London after attending a service of thanksgiving to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Yui Mok/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
The commentary is unhinged. “Breaking news: Man happy to see his uncle and cousins!!! tune in for more at six”
Exactly this!
“Man who established a world wide organization that helps soldiers Ans their families in the battle to mental, emotional and physical recovering SHOCKINGLY SUPPORTED by his family who are proud and supportive of who he is and what he has achieved!”
But but but …. If you are proud of someone in your family for what they are doing, isn’t that just less love and pride that can be lavished on you???
🙄 dear lord. The windsors are just awful.
I really do wonder.
The Windsors are viewed as German usurpers basically by many of the landed gentry and aristocrats. Not that I want to praise such archaic ideas.
It does make you wonder – the Spencers are hooked UP in the aristocratic world. Does Harry have a lot of support in those quarters? He did marry a black woman, so that feels like a no.
But with the Spencer’s full backing – and the insular and powerful nature of the aristocracy and the very memorable and pubic shunning they received from C3 (….P0) regarding his coronation…. I wonder if the aristos will start backing Harry more and more. And if they have any heft with the media.
I was wondering the same thing. The Spencers aren’t nobodys.
My theory (based purely on idle speculation) is that there is a balance they are trying to strike. On the one hand they sneer at the Windsors (nee Saxe-Coeburg-Gotha’s) but at the same time proximity to royalty is a big deal to them, even if you don’t think much of the people in the job at the moment.
The Spencer’s are family, seem legit proud of Harry and have a deep grievance with how the Windsors treated Diana but while the rest of the aristocracy may be on board with what Harry is doing and appreciate his success, I think they will largely be wary of being too open about it when the Windsors have clearly said ‘choose a side’.
@joyful liluri- I share your discomfort at praising any aspect of the values of the aristocracy, which feels ick. BUT. And I’m not even sure I can explain exactly what I mean, so I hope you understand, Harry carries himself in a more naturally aristocratic (royal?) manner than the rest of the Royal Family. Maybe that is the Spencer in him? I dunno. But, I can totally see the aristocracy actually liking Harry much more than William. Harry is naturally fun, he’s got that casual cool and confident demeanor. It’s like Harry radiates that there is something “royal” about him with no effort, whereas William seems so uncomfortable and awkward in his own skin.
🤣🤣🤣
What in the Beyoncé & Kendrick internet is this history themed fan fiction. I must give it to Jan , she did a good job of painting the scene of the Spencer clan riding under their flag & banner of victory up to St Paul’s.
Jan girl your talent is wasted at The DF. You should write Royal Fan Fiction, you may just write the genre version of Fifty Shades and get a Netflix franchise.
The National Enquirer is not this creative.
These people who write these unhinged articles need psychiatric therapy in a special hospital. The Spencers going to this event is just family supporting family something the Windsors and the press do not understand. Harry’s family was there for him the institution was glaringly absent.
Seriously! A one-man pestilence?!
I thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore but that line was amazing. These people are insane.
Yet when he’s not there it’s wall-to-wall columns stating, “Where’s Harry? Is he coming? He won’t fail us, will he? Is he snubbing us? Why would he do that, we’ve been so nice and restrained with him.”
But if the Spencer’s are proud of Harry and support him … And love him … doesn’t that mean that the Spencer’s themselves will have less pride, love and support coming to them from their other family members?
Love, pride and support are a finite resource after all! You can’t just go being proud of anyone other than yourself because it affects how much attention (aka love) you will get!
Everyone else must fail for you to succeed!!!!
God it’s so flipping sad. What a toxic bunch of stale and stagnant saltines.
Very happy that the Spencer’s are proud of their nephew’s accomplishments and hard work. It’s wonderful to see Harry being supported by family after whatever sort of feral eat your young cult he was raised in.
@Susan Collins, these people are so desperate for a job that they would just write about anything that is garbage. It’s pathetic that this gives them purpose to wake up every single morning 😂.
They’re just mad because they backed the wrong horse and it’s not 2016-2020 anymore, with having no more access to their cash cows. They’re also mad because Harry disrupted their narratives and it makes Charles look stupid because the Spencer’s showing up showed that Harry still has family support and that the Windsors are trash family members.
YES the Windsor are the BAD cops. The world will never be completely convinced that the British Royal Family did not have a fell hand in Diana’s “accidental” death. I loved that this ceremony celebrating the real heroes of Britain also reminded the world that Charles and Camilla abused Diana for years.
Yes and yes. SPENCERS=Trigger alert for the Windsors and their minions.
This line – “the potential to cast them in a cold and unflattering light by comparison; the perennial bad cops to the Spencerian good cops.”
That really tells you why there is such panic from the Windsors here. The spencers in one fell swoop made Charles look petty AF.
I think they were there to support Harry and IG, 100%. But you have to think that for all of them, they knew that their attendance would highlight the Windsors’ pettiness and I’m sure they aren’t sorry about that one bit, LOL.
@Becks1 – I absolutely believe the Spencers knew exactly what they were doing and chose very purposefully this moment to make a show of support for Harry. This was a gangster move by the Spencers and my goodness did the pick exactly the right moment to have maximum impact! There were so many moments where there support was not hidden, but “quiet”. And I did wonder a bit about that. I thought Harry may have told them not to get involved to avoid getting hit in the RF crossfire. Now I think they were biding their time and waiting for the right moment. Damn did they find it
@LadyE — 100% agree with you! this support landed like a BOMB and all the articles already pre-written about H seeing without his birth family had to be trashed. Similarly the windsors still haven’t recovered from H’s statement when he arrived.
The trashy rf is made up either of stupid people or stupid handlers or both
This!
I knew that the aristocratic Spencer family ALWAYS supported Harry and Meghan. Gee, they aunts went to the baptism. Even if Princess Diana was not realy speaking to her family when she died, THAT IS FAMILY!! I would always support my nieces and nephews on my side of the family. I feel Harry stays with them or their aristocratic friends whenever he is in the UK, it is just not published. The last laugh is on the F Windsor family. In all the articles I read, it was noted that the Spencers have more money that the Windsors. The Windsors just happened to be in the monarchy, so what? It does not matter in 2024. It is like the US presidents are president for power, but there are plenty of millionares, billionaires who outshine them! The aristocrats outshine the Windors. We, in America, prefer millionaires, celebrities over politicians. Americans support our new brother Harry and his family. Lots of support with young people of all ethnicities and of course, the black Americans! The Royal family need to give Harry and family their RESPECT!! LOVE the Spencers and their support!!! The Windsors look revengeful, tacky, racist all over the GLOBAL world!! Good job Spencer family! I am glad the sane English folks support H & M.
More than anything else this is such a mean, petty waste of energy by these commentators. Really, there’s nothing else you could be covering? There’s such an appetite for this kind of insane vitriol? It’s a sad commentary on what sells, I guess.
The BM is more likely embarrassed because they got their marching orders to trash Harry and the Spencers deciding to ride at dawn to support Harry was doubly embarrassing.
That’s how see it as well @aquarius64. The number of articles that looked as if they were written well before the Spencers showed up, embarrassed them all. The RR have to blame KCIII, William and Camilla for this mess. If KCIII wasn’t so eager for the “putting Harry in his place” headlines he would have made time to meet his youngest son. By doing so he could have asked the pertinent questions about who was attending the ceremony and what his plans were while he was in the UK. The arrogance of the BRF resulted in their making fools of themselves and their client journalists to people all around the globe. They reaped what they sowed!
Spencers have very obviously closed ranks around Harry. They offered Meg the Spencer tiara, they were at Archie and Lili’s christening, now this and probably more visits we’ll probably never know about. The media and the palace is pissed cause A) the optics were supposed to be Harry ‘alone’ and ‘punished’ B) not only did family show, but DIANA’S family. Their presence reminded that Harry has his mother’s family too. None of them at the palace want to be reminded of Di. The last thing the media wants is anyone drawing parallels between Harry and Diana (or worse, meghan and diana).
And C) The Windors look petty, stupid and quite frankly, bad at their jobs for not sending ANYONE to attend. Their absence + the Spencer family presence inadvertently created them vs us optics and well….C&C are STILL rehabilitating their image from the last scrimmage.
While I don’t think H asked them to go to spite the Windors, it was a masterstroke anyway.
Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about the Spencer Tiara! They totally came through even then!
My favorite part of this story is just the delighted look on the Spencers’ faces as they got to the church and greeted Harry. They all knew it would piss off Charles, Camilla and William and they were there for it. There’s nothing the royal family can do to them. The Spencers really don’t get to stick the knife in enough in Diana’s honor and Earl Spencer is always ready to take a go at it.
and I absolutely love them, and especially Earl Spencer for doing so 😂😂😂😂😂😂
It’s glorious to watch the Spencers revel in being able to stick it to Chuck and Cams. I love that for them.
Amy, and everyone knows it. I rather enjoyed this:
“Yet underneath the bucolic bonhomie and the cheerful smiles, a thunder of advancing hooves could be detected, if you listened hard enough. For the Spencers were a cavalry galloping to the rescue.”
Yes, indeed!
I have a question for people who have read Spare : Is Harry talking about the Spencers much in it ? Like after Diana’s death are they mentioned as more supportive than the Windsors ?
They are mentioned within the context of Meghan. For example, when they offered tiara to Meghan or when Harry visited Diana’s grave with Meghan. I think, Harry left his relationship with them out of the book intentionally. The main point of the book was to clear the lifelong lies of british media about Harry’s life or his relationship with Meghan. The tabloids left Harry’s relationship with Spencers alone most of the time. So, I think he didn’t see the need to make it public.
From my memory, he doesn’t talk about them much. But when he does it’s with an ease and a gentleness that feels like family.
And he praised his uncle’s speech at his mother’s funeral.
But also remember. Harry had no autonomy. He was a small child.
I can’t imagine his father was “keen” on allowing the Spencer’s access to HIS children, if only because he wanted to erase them being Diana’s children from record. As well as Diana.
Furthermore – Harry did not believe his mother was dead. Seeing her grieving siblings would have been so confusing for him and something he would have rejected out of hand, just because the cognitive dissonance would have been too great.
I feel like he’s had the freedom to reconnect with them after he 1- accepted his mothers death 2- grew up and had slightly more autonomy although was still kept on a tight leash by his father – but 3 really and deeply, he would have been able to forge strong bonds with them after he left and he was questioning everything about his family and what he had been told his whole life about his mother.
It also sounds like Charles Spencer is on a similar journey of healing as Harry.
Diana’s will explicitly stated that her mother needed to approve all of the education decisions for her children while they were minors, so Charles had to include Frances Shand Kydd for a time, mainly in regards with Harry’s enrollment at Eton.
There are definitely instances in Harry’s book where the Spencers are mentioned. One instance is soon after Diana’s death when Harry mentions that his Spencer aunts came to see him to comfort and to give him gifts to remember his mother by, including a lock of hair clipped after she died. Harry grappled with this at the time because he had been trying to cope via convincing himself that his Mum was NOT actually dead.
Lau, Harry also named them as people he talked with for the book. You’ll find that at the end with all of the others he talked with.
It’s reassuring to know that not both side of his family are horrible people to him.
Harry’s current pr strategy is spotless. His new pr person in the uk is running circles around kp and bp. The delightful thing is that some deranger pages had been indicating that the Spencers had fallen out with Harry. Will-not must be incandescent his bots didn’t win the pr war.
This was a boss move by the Spencer’s 🤣🤣 the Windsors should be ashamed. PANIC IN THE PALACE 🤣🤣
Impotent rage. It feeds on itself. Also makes you physically sick. No way you repeatedly write this white-hot anger without an adverse cellular response.
Good. There should be adverse side effects from living with constant rage, jealousy and racist hatred.
The leftover stench is spreading… the world press and people outside their propaganda bubble are not impressed at all. Funny how the delusional chuck thinks he has support when he has to order the people he finances to show up at his event. What a joke the BRF have turned into.
So the “senior royals” are entitled to be mad at the Spencers for debunking the BRF’s PR strategy to make Harry look and feel lonely?
Is “exceptionally spiteful” the reputation the BRF is going for?
Endless and exhausting skirmishes? Umm, the tabloid press is not exhausted by any of it; it’s what they feed off.
This is all DELICIOUS.
But Moir’s narrative is disgusting. She completely erases Meghan as a source of Harry’s happiness : “Indeed, we haven’t seen Harry looking so happy in public since he trundled down the waterslide at Thorpe Park, all those years ago.” Really, Jan? You don’t remember his utter joy at his wedding? Because the rest of us do.
And to refer to Invictus as merely one of Harry’s “pet causes”? Way to broadcast to veterans what you think of their service and sacrifice.
Oh my god, I skimmed over that part.
Pet. Causes.
Harry founded Invictus. He forged and pulled and pushed and manifested Invictus into existence when he was deeply struggling with ptsd and could hardly leave his house.
He’s created something truly extraordinary and incredibly impactful for all invisibly or visibly injured military personnel, world wide.
Pet. Project. My. Ass.
Yeah, what I was thinking. That line was stupid. His wedding, announcing pregnancies, the birth of his children, attending IG, playing polo with Nacho….
Epic fail by Charles as King, should have been there to support wounded service people and as both a father and grandfather. Loved the Spencer’s solid show of support for Diana’s son. They love and respect each other and why not demonstrate that to the world? Shunning his own son publicly is such a poor look for Charles : he is the head of CE which is founded on empathy, kindness and inclusivity.
The Royal Family’s absence served to highlight the presence of the Spencers.
What a horrible being she is.
This is hilarious. BM really pushed the narrative of a lonely, shunned and ostracised Harry in the UK nobody likes him, nobody wants him Here comes Harry takes a needle and burst their balloon. BM: crying, wanting their balloon back.
The Spensers…aristocratic, proud, loving support. The Windsors…cold, out of touch, jealous and manipulative. It’s certainly easy to see which side Harry takes after. That’s Diana’s son!
This here 👆🏼
The papers are mead because the palaces are telling them to be mad. My question is, at what point do these papers realize that everyone loves Harry and Meghan and they need to do a 180 and completely change course? These hate rags and channels are failing so at the very least, it makes good business sense to switch up from their “We love Charles and Will” discourse and give a more balanced view of H&M. Their hate campaign isn’t even working so move the hell on.
I remember reading somewhere that the Daily Fail’s circulation is down something like 30%. Hate isn’t selling like it used to, particularly in the face of such lovely folks as H&M. Time for a new schtick.
They were selling hate since H&M met and now british people are watching them living their life in USA, rich and happy while their economy goes to sh*t thanks to Brexit, which the tabloids supported. So, those hate articles wouldn’t hit the same as before.
I love it when the reality regarding Harry and Meghan demolishes the narrative pushed by the UK media and palace spin.
It reminds me of all the pieces speculating on the state of their marriage, Harry supposedly spending nights in a hotel in LA and then the videos and pictures of Harry and Meghan dancing and hugging at Beyoncé’s concert. Absolutely fantastic.
Am I the only one who noted that the Spencers were seated in the second row BEHIND Harry? Pictures of Harry would include them. Oh, my, oh, my. That was so well done–and it speaks, IMO, of the importance of the Spencers in his life.
The Windsors did it to themselves. They undid the “kindly grandpa, brave cancer patient” narrative. It would have been better for them if they just ignored the whole Invictus thing and not commented at all.
I didnt read the Hardcastle article because i dont want to give the fail clicks but it seems he’s pointing out something important that most are missing; by going out of tbeir way to show that they don’t support Harry or his work they’re making it almost impossible for them to take credit for his successes. Even worse though is that it makes Charles look weak because if everyone knows that he doesnt support Harry and that Harry doesn’t represent him yet you have high ranking NATO Officials, and Nigerian military leaders and governors openly embracing Harry what does that say about how they view Charles? They sure as Hell don’t fear him and they seem to value Harry’s work a lot more than keeping Charles happy. The monarchy’s influence is dwindling before their very eyes and they are too arrogant and stupid to realize it and do anything about it.
Yup. Saw the latest pictures from Nigeria and thought, a bunch of people in the UK are going to have a very bad weekend. This was a week of stunningly bad choices by the Windsors, and it’s not over yet. The ceremony planned for Monday, (announced solely to compete with Harry’s presence in the UK), where Charles finally passes on to Will his former position as titular head of Harry’s old regiment, and Will gets to play with an Apache helicopter, will go over like a lead balloon in many quarters, even without the contrast of Harry’s impressive reception in Nigeria.
I love that it also distances PH from whatever BS the RF is up to, including whatever is going on with Kate.
Didn’t his Aunts go their daughter’s christening in Montecito? Why would they assume they would not turn up for him, Charles Spencer is NOT a RF fan. I love when stupid people make themselves look stupid.
Here’s the thing, at least to my knowledge. I really didn’t read anything about King Charles not respecting or honoring his deceased mother, Queen Elizabeth, wishes for Camilla to be Queen Consort. She shared this with the world. Once his mother the Queen was buried…well you know the rest. And Harry can’t be trusted?