One of the central themes of Prince Harry’s Spare is of neglect. Physical neglect, emotional neglect, financial neglect, all of it starting when he was just a child. He was always treated differently than his brother, and the entire royal institution reinforced it at every step of Harry’s life, that he was unworthy of care. That Harry had to be convinced that he was less than his brother so that William would feel more important. Why else would a 32-year-old prince be housed in a tiny little rundown cottage adjacent to Kensington Palace, where his brother had a 20-room mansion-within-a-palace? The point of how Harry was treated was always to reinforce his neglect, his fundamental spare-ness. And when Harry began dating then-Meghan Markle, Meghan noticed how he was treated differently. And yes, we’re still talking about all of this because of The Mail Remembers series, where they recycle through years-old stories in a failed attempt to explain why Meghan and Harry said sayonara five and a half years ago.
A royal insider has claimed that Meghan’s dislike for her living arrangements at Kensington Palace were the start of her troubles with royal life and set the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the path to ‘Megxit’. It’s Meghan’s 44th birthday on Monday and following the so-called ‘peace summit’ last month, it appears at long last that the animosities between the Sussexes and the other royals may soon be thawing. But years before ‘Megxit’ had entered the vocabulary it was already becoming clear that the Duchess of Sussex was unhappy with her life as a working royal.
Writing in his royal bestseller Yes Ma’am, Tom Quinn claimed that the first sign that all was not well with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex became apparent while they were living at Nottingham Cottage within the grounds of Kensington Palace. Quinn said: ‘Starting life as a member of the royal family in Nottingham Cottage was the beginning of all Meghan’s troubles – she felt it was so small that it must be a reflection on how the royal family were belittling her husband. She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.’
According to Quinn, Meghan not only believed the home was too small for her larger standards but she was ‘compounded by a vague feeling that the Kensington Palace staff tended to treat Harry as less important than his brother’.
At the time, Prince William and Kate Middleton lived in the much larger apartment 1A inside the palace itself. A member of the comms team who was particularly close to Meghan told Quinn: ‘Meghan spotted immediately that Harry wasn’t quite as central to things as his brother William. This was the start of the whole grievance thing about being the spare. I don’t think Harry had even thought much about the fact that he was a spare until well into his marriage. Meghan managed to give him more perspective because she could see the family from the outside.’
Something I’d like to remind everyone about is that Meghan was a 30-something woman who had built a life for herself, with her own home, in Toronto and she uprooted that life to move to England in 2017. Like, she had all of the possessions, wardrobe and accumulated STUFF that comes with being a woman in her 30s with a well-paid job. There simply wasn’t room for Meghan and her life in the tiny Nottingham Cottage. But even then, she was happy because she was with Harry. Still, I agree that Meghan clocked how the family treated Harry. They always blame Meghan for Harry’s self-actualization, like without Meghan, Harry would have been fine just staying in a rundown shack and being mistreated forever. They actually say that (in so many words) outloud, like HOW DARE MEGHAN!
Also: “She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.” Yeah, that’s why all of the other royals she met were living in grand mansions, palaces and castles??
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
Omg, too hilarious. I suppose William isn’t a real royal since he wants yet another lavish home.
Yes, I had to laugh out loud at that one too. Imagine the future king is not a “real royal”. The scandal! Didn’t we just read a few days ago that William and Keen have their eyes on yet another property? Finding new homes seems to occupy a great deal of their time as royals.
Yup. William the self proclaimed homeless advocate wants yet ANOTHER home but sure, royals don’t care about houses and material possessions. Suuuuure.
At least the Mail has now admitted that Harry was badly treated by his family.
I hate Not Cot and how they treated Harry. Any normal person would hate Not Cot and being treated like a second class citizen and black sheep in their own family. This article is dumb. It is the silly season in the UK.
Exactly my thoughts ! what a bunch of hypocrites!
I don’t think she minded Not Cott so much as the fact the she was pregnant super soon after the wedding. So she’s planning her baby’s life and creating a family, and so no, NC would not be feasible. Obviously they wanted to move somewhere they could raise a family. Frogmore Cottage is humble when compared to all the castles and lavish homes that real royals apparently don’t care about. Bullsh-t. That’s why we’re still talking about Fort Belvedere right?
I’m sure she didn’t like the way Harry was treated by his family but she loved Harry and gave up quite a lot to be his wife and move to the UK. She knew Harry’s worth and wanted him to know it too. Harry has come a long way in the years since meeting Meg and good for him!! Harry deserve best and he found that with Meg.
I read Spare and so many things were just absolutely shocking. From the fact that Meg had to buy furniture to Harry shopping for all his clothes at discount stores (nothing wrong with that except that someone from such a rich family felt that’s the only way he could afford clothes) all the way back to his childhood when he was told he wasn’t even allowed the same amount of food as Will. It’s insane that they actually thought it was okay to treat someone like that and insane that it actually worked until he met Meg. She’s truly the best thing that ever happened to him-she made him realize his own worth and that he deserved to be treated as a real person and not some backup plan. Of course they hate her because she made him reject the notion that was beaten into him his whole life that he was lesser just because he was second born.
“…..and insane that it actually worked until he met Meg.”
And this is why they are so outraged at her and always will be. It WAS working, and Harry seemingly fell into line until she came along.
Now it is possible that the falling into line was due to his respect for QE2, and he may have been secretly working out a way to leave after she died anyway, but we will never know that.
But sure, BRF and BM, go ahead and soothe yourselves with the delusion that the mixed race American hussy was too “uppity” for Nottingham Cottage
I’m betting what they didn’t like about Nottingham was being close to W&K there. They had the choice to live in KP and turned it down. And give me a break with “real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions”. That’s why Charles had to keep using Highgrove with all his many other houses to choose from and has purchased other houses outside the royal ones and why Will is constantly putting about feelers to get someone else’s house? That’s why they are constantly accepting bags of cash and gifts, because they don’t care about such things?
It is a two bedroom home with very low ceilings. When Kate and William were pretending to live there, and George was born, the media pretty much said it was understandable that they went right to Bucklebury and Kate’s parents after 1 horrible night there waiting for the Queen to meet George. It was a heat wave and it has no AC. In fact evidence the Wales actually lived there during the time it was their “London abode” is scant. He lived at the house in Wales, she visited him, and she lived at her parents. Before and after the marriage. And of course the minute the ring went on her finger they were given many choices of London homes plus Anmer.
No AC!?!!? For cryin’ out loud. It’s amazing Harry stuck it out as long as he did…
To be fair no one has AC in Britain, it just isn’t something that really exists here. I know literal multi millionaires who don’t have AC. I personally have a private swimming pool but no AC.
I don’t doubt that their living conditions were awful but no AC is just standard.
I can promise you neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace have AC either.
No they didn’t have a choice to live in KC, someone was in that apartment.
One of the apartments in KP was offered to them before Frogmore, but Harry made it clear in Spare that he didn’t want to live that close to William.
I’m too lazy to look back at Spare but I think he also said, in addition to KP, that they were also offered a few grander options but that they liked FC.
From my understanding Harry asked for apartment 1b in Kensington Palace and was told it was not available. They don’t terminate a lease for the Spare, only for William (Amner Hall).
Then they were offered Frogmore Cottage, which was fine with Meghan and Harry.
Don’t forget, they worked in the same office, with the same staff as William and didn’t have a problem with the close proximity. It was William who didn’t want to share his staff any longer and gave them how many? Two? It was never Harry or Meghan complaining. All they asked for was a bigger apartment or house for them and the baby.
It was a powerplay, nothing more. The Spare and his wife should know their place.
As Becks said above, Harry tells in Spare that they were offered a place in KP. It was also reported at the time. As to working with W&K, they weren’t given options until things got even worse and they started talking of leaving.
The one thing that has always bothered me about H&M living at Notts Cottage is why Meghan had to buy furniture. The BRF must have warehouses of the stuff scattered all around the country yet, they didn’t say to H&M have a look around and see what takes your fancy. I’ll wager that W&K didn’t have to buy furniture when they lived there. The double standards were there for everyone to see but, they all just treated it as “normal.” So, much for “family values.”
I always imagined these big leather bound tomes with each page a description of the furniture, paintings, etc that Royals can pick from for use in their many homes. Like shopping from a catalog, only fancy. And without prices, of course…
I guess Harry and Meghan were never offered the chance to shop from Royal “Look At All The Things We Stole” dot com…
The Princess Diaries it was not.
@Lady Esther says:
royallookatallthethingswestoleDOTcom
BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!
I LUV it!
Well, they do. We just read the other day about how Kate decorated their place (can’t remember which one, but it’s probably all of them) with the antiques & artworks from the royal collection.
huh. This is interesting. It’s not saying that Meghan was spoiled and demanded fancy things or anything – at least not in this excerpt. It says she gave him perspective because she could see things clearer, coming in from outside the Firm.
I mean don’t get me wrong, this is another hit piece – telling us Harry was perfectly happy until Meghan came along and Meghan didn’t understand “the hierarchy” etc. And the line about royals not caring about fancy houses is laughable, but even that includes the caveat that its because they’ve always had fancy houses and diamonds etc so they take material possessions for granted. I can see that. If you’ve never paid a bill in your life, or never thought “I hate this job but can’t leave because I need the paycheck,” or never gone house hunting and said “this house is great but out of our budget,” then your perspective on housing and the like is going to be a little skewed.
And I know people will say that W&K lived in Nott Cott – but they got Anmer very early on in their marriage, and were in Wales or Kate’s parents house for the majority of the time before they got 1A. And even 1A I think they were renovating while Kate was pregnant with George (I can’t remember the exact timeline.) So nott cott was always viewed as very temporary for them and it seemed Harry had to ask about a bigger house when Meghan was pregnant.
Anyway – so this is definitely saying that its all Meghan’s fault, but its also saying that Harry was treated as the spare and Meghan realized that. And the way Harry was treated WAS different from previous spares. Margaret had 1A, Andrew had gotten mansions, Anne was gifted a huge estate, Edward and Sophie have a long lease on a huge estate, etc. Harry was being neglected in that institution in more ways than one – financial, emotional, etc. And Meghan clued into that very quickly.
It’s fascinating how Harry was treated like a spare moreso than the Queen’s own kids or Margaret. Is it bc Charles barely parented and let the courtiers treat Harry as the spare? I also think about how popular Harry was. He was the second most popular royal after the queen and I wonder if they purposely didn’t want him to have much out of both jealousy and to keep him in his place. As in regardless of how beloved he was to the public, more beloved than both Charles and William, they wanted to make sure he knew his place in the hierarchy. In some ways, the way he was treated shows how threatened they were by him. He was kept on a very short leash.
Will has always been very jealous of Harry. The courtiers were probably mistreating Harry in order to keep Will happy.
I too wonder why Harry was treated so poorly compared to others in the family, not just William but others like Margaret. I wonder if it was because he was Diana’s favorite? Or because he had her charisma? None of that was Harry’s fault but it seems like that family was punishing him long before Meghan came along.
I think QEII having four kids kind of threw off the heir/spare dynamic a bit – Andrew was the spare but given the age gap, the fact that he was the queen’s favorite, etc – he wasn’t treated as “the spare” like Harry was. So maybe Charles wasn’t paying that much attention to the dynamic? And I feel like Charles emotionally neglected both his sons, so I imagine the Firm did a lot in raising up William while again neglecting Harry. Then factor in the death of Diana and how devastated Harry was (and William, but he was a bit older).
Harry was the more natural royal, he was the outgoing one, the cheeky one, the more charismatic one – and William could never cope with that. And then factor in William’s entitlement and jealousy – it wasn’t Charles who told Harry he couldn’t get married at Westminster Abbey for example, it was William – and it kind of ended up being this perfect storm.
Anne taking on a lot of the “bread and butter” charity appearances threw off the dynamic as well. Andrew was free to be “Randy Andy” (gross) with Anne picking up the slack. William probably expected Harry to be his “Anne” for the rest of his life, taking all the dull assignments and work off his plate.
But to be Anne, Harry would’ve needed to be treated better. It does seem like he didn’t realize until Meghan how bad it was and at the same time the idea of kids became tangible. Harry was willing to put up with things that he just wouldn’t for his wife and kids. And yeah I can see that the 4 kids v the 2 was probably another factor. Especially since Anne the one closest in age was never technically a spare so she may have been seen as safe.
The queen did not seem to play games with her kids in terms of housing. She set up Anne with Gatescombe and Andrew and edward both have lengthy leases that can’t be overturned on a whim.
Charles is a lot of the problem with Harry not being given a decent place. And there was no diana to speak up for harry either.
I recall reading that renovations on Apt. 1A were not yet completed and Kate and William took up temporary residence at Nottingham Cottage to await the birth of George. Harry got the cottage after W and K moved into KP. One would assume that after marriage, he would get bigger accommodations.
And some of those renovations included redoing the kitchen more than once because Kate didn’t like the colour the first time
“They always blame Meghan for Harry’s self-actualization, like without Meghan, Harry would have been fine just staying in a rundown shack and being mistreated forever. ” That’s the rub isn’t it? To this day they don’t see any problem with the fact that William and Harry were treated differently, and not even slightly different mom and dad have a fave, but comically grossly different. One kid is living in a two room and asking his neighbors not to block his sunlight with the wheels of their tires, and the other has three homes around the country.
“She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.” Again, this isn’t a good mindset to have. Then having it and someone pointing out they suck because of it, isnt wrong. Of course she didn’t understand, because you shouldn’t understand that. Someone should have a problem with you seeing the world that way, and not acknowledging your immense and unearned privilege.
“….that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.”
That is why the royal family hoards as much they can protect it from paying any tax on their wealth and hide it away from the public eye.
“Meghan managed to give him more perspective because she could see the family from the outside.’” This is a good thing. The royal family exploited and used Harry all his life. It is a good thing that Meghan helped him to realise it
BTW Harry himself said that he thought about leaving royal life before he met Meghan. We was already on his journey, Meghan showed Harry a way out. The only people to blame for Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family are the left behind Windsors for the way they treated Harry.
When you read about other royals in other countries, even the 5 th cousin once removed has an apartment in the city or a country estate or a mega yacht. The fact that Harry, who was doing a lot of heavy lifting and positive pr for the crown, was living like that, in that run down flop house, with those clothes, and dependent on an allowance is seriously fucked up. He wasn’t even given an independent income for him to choose to buy:rent apartment or furniture like everyone else who works for the crown. There was something seriously wrong and controlling with that and you’d have to be comatose not to notice how weird that is.
My middleclass parents had a better house than an English prince. And their house was nothing out of the ordinary in their neighbourhood – and it was definitely better isolated! Britain isn’t exactly known for great architecture in the modern age both in terms of aesthetics and comfort.
I said this before his place looked like something college students would live in in the U.S. I’m quite sure Meghan recognized that. He was representing the crown and this is how he was treated. Every royal living better than him. He should have been given a home of his own before Meghan. They treated him like sh-t and they know it.
The house Meghan rented in Toronto was set up much better than Nott Cott and it wasn’t even a grandiose house. It was just a regular Toronto house that had things like ceilings for taller men and AC, a must have in North America.
Harry was representing the UK all over the world while living there. Can you imagine the Prince visiting world leaders is going back to that house?? I still can’t believe Harry accepted that for himself. If Diana was alive, she wouldn’t let them treat Harry like the literal Harry Potter living under the stairs while the others are enjoying multiple castles, palaces. He was the Cinderella of Princes with the evil step mother, non-caring father and all.
There is a photo of Hilary Clinton visiting Harry in Nott Cott – and you can see that she is just utterly speechless at seeing how he lived.
Wow would love a link or reference to publication with picture of Hillary Clinton gaping at Harry’s meager cottage.
@ArtHistorian, umm I don’t think that is a photo from Harry’s home. That photo has been around for a long time. It is a photo from her visit of public housing in USA.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/r7joil/hillary_visiting_a_working_class_familys_home_on/
My mistake then.
Though Nott Cott really looks like working class housing.
Okay, I’m kind of laughing at this. The lack of ac would be hard. I lived without ac for a few years in Brooklyn bc the landlord wouldn’t let me put in a window unit and I…yeah, never again if I can help it. The biggest point is that no one expected that to be where Prince Harry lived. No one. Talk about the surface not being what it seems. So many people would love to live in central London in a little NC cottage at a decent rent, ideally with ac. But Harry’s family lives in castles or mega estates while Harry was out here being the face of the family. No one expected that to be where he lived. Not Oprah not Hilary no one.
Obviously, very people are gifted a house when they get married. But at the same point just from watching their documentary that place kind of looked like a dump. And Frankly it looked like she had a nice little townhouse-apt in Toronto.
Nott Cott really looks like a dump, like the kinds of houses that students rent (together) when they go to university in the UK (if they do not live in the Uni’s student housing). Meghan’s home in Toronto was def nicer than Nott Cott.
H&M were NOT “gifted” Frogmore Cottage. They PAID for the internal works as well as, in the end, PAID for the external works, WHICH WAS THE MONARCH’S JOB TO TAKE CARE OF.
In addition, H&M PAID an annual lease which was set at market rates.
Well, what can you expect? After all, the Windsors are just poor, modest people. Why, Charles said they couldn’t even afford to support Meghan when she married Harry and I’m sure Charles wouldn’t lie.
If you’re told that being royal is a job, and you don’t get pay or benefits for doing it, why would you stay?
This is the exact dynamic Charles has rejected and the Queen understood. Even extended members of the family end up in the papers every time they are married or divorced or a business fails. The Queen understood that giving them something like a balcony appearance, Christmas party invite, was instrumental in quieting acknowledging the scrutiny they do face from the press, even when they have chosen to live private lives. She also understood the alternative to not taking care of the others is for them to seek shady dealings etc. Better to have them in the tent complaining out than outside the tent complaining in.
It’s all about relative deprivation. Nottingham Cottage would have been an acceptable gesture from a family of more modest means, of course. But we are talking about the British Royals, FFS. Harry is the son of the heir to the throne, who is now King. And he is one of only TWO children; it’s not like Charles had to spread the wealth among 10 kids or something. He could have and should have done far better than Not Cot. The Windsors have multiple huge castles, own tons of land and invaluable jewels, and are not hurting for cash. They are filthy rich. Why in the Hell was Harry being asked to live with so much less than everyone else?
Sure, William was the heir and therefore more central to the institution. Fine, so don’t give Harry as big a home as he has, or as much money. Whatever. But there is something deeply weird and even cruel about the way Harry was treated. I’ve been doing ancestral research and looking at some last wills and testaments left by my ancestors. These people had huge families, up to 14 children. They managed to leave something to everyone, and often divided the land pretty evenly among the sons with the daughters getting some money and/or possessions. The oldest son might get the family house (with the understanding that the widow could live there for the rest of her life) and the most central piece of land, but the others were not neglected.
My ancestors were basically just farmers, able to read and write but without any higher education. And they treated their children way better than the freaking King of England treats his.
Male primogeniture rules, though. Its purpose is to maintain and consolidate power and wealth. The Queen, as a mother understood that Charles would inherit everything, so she provided for her other three children .children. They each got a big homes. Anne got a huge estate with working farms so that that she would have a source of income to maintain it. Andrew also got a big house which he apparently sold for a fotune and bought the lease to Royal Lodge. Edward and Sophie got Bagshot Park, a huge estate part of which they rent out in order to maintain it. Who knows if the Queen set up trust funds as a way to bequeath inheritances. Her father did not have the foresight to take care of his other daughter Margaret so she was lucky her sister was a decent human being. Anne has taken care of her children by providing homes for each of them on her estate. Andrew and Sarah by all accounts have kept their daughters close and they look out for them as best as two incorrigible grifters and spendthrifts can. Edward and Sophie will probably take care of their two children as best as they can. Only Charles has been derelict (the mildest word I can think of) as a husband, father, and now as it turns out, as a son in the end. He is the only who through his actions has declared that he doesn’t care if his son dies by making sure he doesn’t have the security he needs. He has demonstrated a lack of care for any other except himself. He takes care of Camilla because she is vital to his well-being so he is again just taking care of himself. Even Trump, the vilest of human beings, provided for his children.
If this kind of revisionist history wasn’t straight propaganda it would almost be funny. Where the “lesser” royals are going to live and who is going to pay for it has been a preoccupation of the tabloid press since the early 90s. And Edward and Sophie and post divorce AND pre divorced Andrew all wanted and their mother provided them with palatial spreads – twice, in the case of Andrew, and really three times counting Fergie. Anne has provided homes for her children on her estate. Why hasn’t Charles?
Further proof that Charles will be remembered as a very poor parent. He didn’t protect his kids. William may have all the houses but he is a mess.
Because he is a dogshit father who does not care about anyone but himself. He is pathologially self-absorbed.
“She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.”
— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…
one of the telling details in Tina Brown’s book is the description of Charles… insofar as he is described as one of the few Royals who “actually is rich… and actually looks it.” He likes the finer things in life, so much so, he snaps at gardeners who don’t cut the grass with tweezers. He likes his suits just so. He has hand-stitched shoes. He famously has them repaired and people misread the point of that little detail, which is that only the finest luxury handmade shoes would be repaired, would be worth repairing. He lives in untold luxury, and I’m willing to bet some of William’s ardour for more, more, more, is down to his urge to compete with the only male left in the stable, his father. It’s a way to keep score. Harry — very much to his credit — appears to have been blissfully immune to this dynamic. His pre-Meghan life was a mashup of clothes shopping at TK Maxx and food shopping at Whole Foods. One is low-rent, one is sumptuous. For an economist, it’s the curious blend of Giffin good and Veblen good that adds up to a picture of a guy blissfully unaffected by the acquisitive impulse. Everyone makes out that Meghan was some kind of lifestyle fetishist or gold-digger but that’s clearly not true — she talked about working at Humphrey Frobart for god’s sake, she’s just someone who always had a summer job, or a campus job, or a pay-the-rent job, like everyone else. Her distinction is that she can see quality, and value, and when she was able to make more money, she was able to afford nicer things, and she values them so does not take them for granted. The royals are raised to take everything for granted. That’s the difference. It’s much harder to manipulate someone who’s been in the world and had to earn her own living and discovered that she was able to do exactly that. It’s a core component of personal autonomy. Their statement on leaving about becoming “financially independent” is about much more than a lifestyle. It’s about getting a life, a real, flesh and blood, earned, validated, life. There is a huge and crippling psychological handicap in never having earned your own money. That’s the real wrinkle with the royals they’re stuck with now.
@ParkRunMum
Beautifully stated!
You’ve described both H&M’s ethos to perfection.
I wish folks had greater memory retention and recall because they would understand H so much better, based on all the things he has revealed about himself over time.
It wasnt M, with her outsider perspective (even tho thats true) who made H “see” that he was neglected and treated poorly in that system. He saw it and felt it and we know he did because he talks about it in Spare. Some fools on SM often ridicule him for talking about getting 1 sausage at breakfast while Bully received 2 but as he mentioned, it wasnt because they were short of sausages or because he didnt want more, but they did it to reinforce the fact that he would never be treated as an equal human being as long as he stayed in that cult.
On the Dax Shepherd interview in May 2021 H mentioned how he was virtually at the end of his tether after leaving the army and staring at the life ahead of him and so, to come to terms with it, he figured he would focus on giving genuine service to others because it was in doing so, that one finds meaning and satisfaction in life.
And in Spare, he spoke about being in France in June 2016 (just before meeting M that July) where he and chucky, bully and kitty had gone in observation of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. And he said he read a poem which was written by a soldier who died in the war and the last line of the poem was: “Help me to die, O Lord.”
And H said he was startled to realize in that moment that he didnt want to die. “I wanted to live,” he said.
What he didnt say but which becomes obvious in Spare, is that H has had his moments of death ideation as a member of that cult, before he met M.
Just went down that rabbit hole of William Noel Hodgson, the poet who wrote that. He was also the youngest of four children (the spare), his father was a bishop and was pro-war.
It’s a beautiful poem and I agree, what a moment for Harry in Spare to realise he wanted to live. The poet knew his time was running out with that massive Somme offensive. What a heartbreaking moment of realisation and sacrifice for all those men over a useless war.
Harry lives, Meghan lives and after the hell they put them through, their life is so much more meaningful together.
https://allpoetry.com/William-Noel-Hodgson
@Blogger & @Kingston – thank you both for the info on the poem/poet that helped Harry come to terms with his second-class citizenry and cultural brutalization that seems so integral to UK society that they, the people, can’t imagine giving up an unaccountable monarchy for the good of all. Whatever stray bits of truthiness that are sprinkled in this Fail hit piece, they come nowhere close to matching Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries where Meghan says everybody wanted to blame “her” when Harry’s former relationships changed because they don’t want to admit their own part in degrading them, or that Harry was already on his own path.
According to Harry, he shopped at Waitrose. Meghan was the one who shopped at Whole Foods.
Meghan telling Harry, “It’s remarkable how badly they treat you” was the best thing she could have said to him. I think she was very much over the royals early on and she’s definitely over them now. She may have had some affection for the queen, but since she died, Meghan has never looked back.
“She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because having always had them they take them for granted.”
Quinn got this completely backward. The reality is that the “real royals,” having enjoyed lifetimes of lavish homes and luxurious material goods, are desperate to keep them … Far from taking them for granted, they remain grasping to the point of grifting (stealing from other countries, accepting bags of cash). Consider how Camilla hoards QEII’s jewels, and how the stupidly wealthy Charles said there wasn’t enough money to support Meghan, so she’d have to work. They aren’t above it all — they’re insanely selfish.
Harry’s happiest pre-Meghan years were in the military. Because he wasn’t treated like sh*t by his military family. His military accommodations were likely tight, but he was respected. It was the lack of respect accorded to Harry from his birth family that Meghan rightly zeroed in on.
I mean considering how much Harry was expected to work for the family and to be William’s support, the least the family could do was ensure he had proper housing especially after he got married and was expanding his family. Was Harry supposed to live in Nottingham Cottage for the rest of his life?
This, exactly! And if I’m supposed to be your liege man of life and limb you better not come at me at school saying we don’t know each other. Are you freakin’ kidding me??? F gentle parenting, William needed la chancla, bad.
Meghan’s concern for her husband was far deeper than their living in that cottage. The cottage was an eye opener for her to how Prince Harry was thought of and treated within his birth family. Prince Harry was the expendable work horse, sent where no one wanted to go while being worked endlessly while traveling the globe. Meghan knew his heart (complete empath} and his worth. As he indicated in Spare, he felt as though Meghan knew and understood him better than anyone before and he could talk with her about anything. The bond that exit between this couple is wonderful to see.
That plum dress is the BOMB and I would love to see her in that again.
That sad little photo of Harry eating outside with his dog looking up at him! So glad Meghan has made him a happy home in America. He’s now loved and cherished and has his own family with Meghan. His mother would have wanted him to be happily married to his best friend whom he loves, respects and is proud of. Happy Birthday Meghan!
That song chosen by M for H’s Fathers Day tribute on her IG says soooooo much about how she views him: “I Want You To Have It All.”
Meghan wasn’t “unhappy with her life as a working royal.” She loved the working royal stuff and was REALLY good at it. She was unhappy with all the stuff she was deprived of doing — driving, having lunch with friends, her passport taken away, and Nott Cott was a cramped dump. I’m sure there are storage facilities full of old crappy castoffs they could have used but that’s not Meghan’s style — fussy, moldy, dilapidated junk — her taste is clean, sleek, modern and subdued colours so she just ordered some furniture and paid for it herself. Then they both got to work painting, staining, clearing the weeded over gardens. Nott Cott was no more than a garden shed when they were magnanimously gifted it, but that was Harry’s life as a spare.
Why did they take her passport?
Something I’ve always wondered. I was taught to keep your passport close at all times.
It’s pretty normal and makes for ease of transport. IF the people in charge are non-evil and doing their jobs. I’ve worked with major celebs and none of them physically handle their own passports (passports don’t work the same way on private jet flights), they have staff organising their flights and visas so it just makes sense for the staff to physically have possession of the passport. Since the celeb isn’t lining up to go through security.
Royal passports are that times a thousand.
I’m sure it works fine for the rest of the royals, since their movements aren’t curtailed or controlled or spied on.
Harry wasn’t happy living that way which he talks about in Spare, if these idiots would bother to listen to what the man says, in his own words. 🙄
“Royals don’t care about houses?” Tell that to Andrew, who had a whole showdown over his huge ass house that his grandma left him. Also, don’t Anne, Edward, and Will all live in huge houses and/or have multiple homes? I guess the only one who was not allowed to care about houses was Harry. It must be killing them that his place in Montecito is huge and seemingly amazing. Of course it is, that’s why their media clowns keep bringing up the number of bedrooms and the cost of the house in every article.
While on a grander scale, H&M parallel the lives of so many of us and our families.
It’s largely been a joy to watch.
When denied existence due to color or sexuality, one notices even the tiniest similarities within the context of the usual media clichés. H&M bumped up that framing to widescreen, technicolor global fame that uplifted us while eclipsing an embittered, petard hoisted RF.
H&M mean service while the future of the monarchy demands a super yacht speedboat run for the Golden Arches.