It’s somewhat funny to me that all of the supposed royalists can’t actually say what they’re thinking in regular interviews or newspaper columns, they have to save it all for their Substacks. I’m shocked by Tom Sykes’ admissions in his Substack column, and Tina Brown’s Fresh Hell Substack seems to be breaking some news this week. Brown is the only one who will say what all of them know but can’t admit openly: that Prince Harry’s mini-tour of the UK completely overshadowed the work-shy Waleses and that King Charles likely met with Harry to send Prince William a message in particular. Some highlights from Fresh Hell:
Harry got it right: At last, Prince Harry has got it right, which is bad news for the Prince of Wales. After five years of exuding choler and wrath and spouting therapeutic gibberish, the ginger whinger finally realized that all the royals have to do to win public enthusiasm is zip around the UK and smile…As Harry’s buoyant photo ops dueled with Prince William and Kate’s engagements for press coverage this week, you had to ask: Who would you rather hang with? The Tigger-like Duke of Sussex or sober, appropriate William and infinitely perfect Kate, taking tea and cake with a cooing chapter of one of Queen Elizabeth’s most beloved but groaningly square charities, The Women’s Institute.
Harry’s donations: Harry’s own reset, a positivity campaign he hopes will endear him to his still estranged father and a negative British public (those cheers in Nottingham were a good start), came with a new unexpected gambit—a contribution from his own bank account of £1.1 million to the Children in Need project. It cannily unleashed for William the uneasy question of what exactly the 43-year-old Prince of Wales is doing with the £23 million a year he gets from the Duchy of Cornwall. Back when Charles was Prince of Wales, he was a powerhouse of philanthropy, starting at age 27, when he used his £7,400 severance pay from the Royal Navy to seed The Prince’s Trust, which has gone on to raise more than £100 million a year. Without wishing to be churlish, I can’t help pointing out that William’s annual Earthshot Prize of £1 million (covered by sponsors) to five promising innovators in the climate change space is a little underwhelming.
Charles is irritated with William’s lazy ass: While the British press obsesses over the question of a Harry/Charles reunion (getting warmer) or a Harry/William rapprochement (not gonna happen), the king is, I am told, currently less irritated with the prodigal Harry than he is with his elder son and heir. Somehow, William’s parenting dedication always seems couched as a tacit criticism of the king’s own paternal deficiencies. And after five confirmed family vacations in the past seven months, William’s first-week-back diary pulsated with two outings: a father-daughter excursion to a Women’s Rugby World Cup pool match and a stroll through the Natural History Museum’s new gardens. Charles, despite his battle with cancer, has carried out official engagements on 175 days during the past 12 months.
[From Tina Brown’s Fresh Hell]
That hit on Earthshot is gonna hurt. But she’s right: once you see how Earthshot is structured – prize winners don’t even get their £1 million all at once, but parceled out over five years – it’s extremely underwhelming. That’s William and Kate’s tagline too: “extremely underwhelming.” I don’t think William and Kate are focusing so much on their parenting duties as some kind of criticism of Charles though. I mean, maybe that’s part of it for William, but I think W&K simply use their kids as deflection from work entirely. They act like they’re simply incapable of working part-time because of the damn school run and their kids’ school holidays. They literally refuse to work whenever their kids have a school break. It’s insane. Anyway, Tina Brown always has a lot of sh-t to say about Harry and Meghan, but she’s like most well-connected royalists: she knows, deep down, that the Sussexit profoundly damaged the monarchy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- William, Prince of Wales and Catherine – Princess of Wales visit Natural History Museum, London, England, UK on Thursday 4 September, 2025 to view the Museum’s newly transformed gardens and meet children and young people taking part in learning programmes which see them connecting with nature and boosting biodiversity in urban areas.,Image: 1034075638, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate and Prince William listen as they visit the National Federation of Women’s Institute (WI) to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II in Sunningdale, England, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.,Image: 1035282569, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Alastair Grant/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate and Prince William are welcomed by members as they visit the National Federation of Women’s Institute (WI) to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II in Sunningdale, England, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.,Image: 1035282856, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Alastair Grant/Avalon
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- NMA ROTA The Prince of Wales visits l Skills, a youth organisation in Lambeth, who have received funding from the Homewards Fund to expand their services for young people in the local area. The Homewards Fund aims to support the delivery of work in the six Homewards flagship locations and offers up to £500,000 of flexible seed funding in each location. Spiral Skills was founded in 2015 and works with local schools, youth organisations, and authorities to provide early intervention, holistic support, employability skills, and access to employment and services for undeserved 14–25-year-olds. The organisation provides a range of services including career coaching, employment opportunities and workshops to help break the cycles of exclusion and unemployment for young people in the local community. The Prince met Fara Williams ex professional footballer,Image: 1035526492, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler/Avalon
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- NMA ROTA The Prince of Wales visits l Skills, a youth organisation in Lambeth, who have received funding from the Homewards Fund to expand their services for young people in the local area. The Homewards Fund aims to support the delivery of work in the six Homewards flagship locations and offers up to £500,000 of flexible seed funding in each location. Spiral Skills was founded in 2015 and works with local schools, youth organisations, and authorities to provide early intervention, holistic support, employability skills, and access to employment and services for undeserved 14–25-year-olds. The organisation provides a range of services including career coaching, employment opportunities and workshops to help break the cycles of exclusion and unemployment for young people in the local community. The Prince met Fara Williams ex professional footballer,Image: 1035526672, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler/Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales, Patron of the Natural History Museum, and The Prince of Wales visit the Museum’s newly transformed gardens and meet children and young people taking part in learning programmes which see them connecting with nature and boosting biodiversity in urban areas Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 04 Sep 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visit the Natural History Museum’s newly transformed gardens and meet children and young people taking part in learning programmes which see them connecting with nature and boosting biodiversity in urban areas. The gardens and National Education Nature Park programme are part of the Natural History Museum’s ambitious Urban Nature Movement, an initiative which aims to help people feel more connected to nature, more confident in their ability to protect it and more invested in a greener future. Featuring: William Prince of Wales, Catherine Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton Where: London, United Kingdom When: 04 Sep 2025 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visit the Natural History Museum’s newly transformed gardens and meet children and young people taking part in learning programmes which see them connecting with nature and boosting biodiversity in urban areas. The gardens and National Education Nature Park programme are part of the Natural History Museum’s ambitious Urban Nature Movement, an initiative which aims to help people feel more connected to nature, more confident in their ability to protect it and more invested in a greener future. Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton Where: London, United Kingdom When: 04 Sep 2025 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to the National Federation of Women’s Institute (WI) in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to mark the third anniversary Queen Elizabeth II’s death Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales Where: Sunningdale, United Kingdom When: 08 Sep 2025 Credit: Alastair Grant/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duke of Sussex speaks with Declan Bitmead (left), recipient of the Inspirational Young Person 15-18 award, at the annual WellChild Awards 2025, which celebrates the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 Sep 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex departs a visit to The Community Recording Studio in Nottingham, United Kingdom Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: Nottingham, United Kingdom When: 09 Sep 2025 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at London’s Imperial College to visit the Centre for Blast Injury Studies Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, David Henson Where: London, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2025 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
Media needs to continue to criticize keens
Yes and doing it by saying good things about Harry lol. So they finally figured out that Harry is and always was the one willing to put in the work. Since Harry has left salt isle the spotlight has been on the lazies and it’s showing just how lazy and boring and uninteresting they truly are lol.
“Infinitely perfect Kate”. Excuse me while I go barf.
More saint keen talk. Diana was the best but Tina trashed her.
And this arrogant woman lied about Diana being “her friend”, on the basis of one! “business-related lunch” (to win her over to give her an interview for her Tatler mag).
These royalist with their eagerness to be connected to the British RF, like to boast about their ‘closeness to these mediocre royals and people in their circles. Just like Piers Moron, who for years sold the lie that he and Meghan were friends, and that she ‘ghosted him’ after she met Prince Harry (a provable and debunked lie by the Squaddies. He was just one of her sociale media ‘friends’, many of whom she often send texts, gifts, etc, – as she always was; kind and friendly to people).
I think that was sarcasm.
Eh, I’d say the saint keen talk was a dig. Infinitely perfect is dull. And of course she’s not infinitely perfect but the BM pr has made her so, which both Kate and TB have participated in the perfect Kate narrative to purposely compare against Meghan.
What’s disturbing to me is that Kate is clearly far too thin, and comments like that are probably one reason why. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t *stand* her and I have nothing but criticism for pretty much everything she does, but I can’t imagine being scrutinized the way she is. Which is probably why there are so many weird lies and janky photoshops. If they truly aren’t in love, I don’t see how the trappings of all of it could actually make it worth it.
That was definitely a dig. She’s not perfect – and besides, perfection is boring. Remember what Meghan said in the first season of WLM – we’re not in the pursuit of perfection, we’re in the pursuit of joy.
Everyone has that person in their life who is just so perfect on the surface and they’re annoying, lol. Of course no one is perfect on all levels so to speak but the people who fake perfection are annoying…..and boring.
@Becks1, I have a cousin who is perfect, bubbly and smiley, drives me nuts! However, we recently had a mini family reunion and her and I were kinda forced together for a bit and she really opened up and I discovered that no, she’s not perfect and her life is far from it. It really helped me to understand that everyone has something going on in their lives, some cover over it with sarcasm and dark humor (raises hand), while others cover over it with some over-the-top sweetness. Anyhow, I really enjoyed her company for the rest of the reunion, first time in 50 years that I could say that.
@Harla exactly, no one is perfect and we all would do well to remember that we don’t see everyone’s daily struggles or inner turmoil. And that’s why the insistence from the derangers that Kate is perfect and living this perfect life is just tiresom and overdone because she’s not.
Kate would be much more interesting if we knew more of her flaws and I think that’s what Tina Brown is getting at here.
How can Kate be perfect when she is so dim witted?
Sober and appropriate are somewhat ironic too.
It seems to me that allll would be happier if Will and Kate abdicated in favor of a posh and duty-free existence on a distant manor, while Good King Harry and Queen Megan take over as heirs and do the good work it’s in their hearts to do. Will and Kate could even abdicate to some island they could nominally be King and Queen of. Everyone would be happier.
Hmm, I wouldn’t say everyone
I’m pretty certain the Sussexes would NOT find that an improvement on their current situation, at all.
They would not be happier locked back into the Firm with them and their children as permanent punching bags for the british media and institutional bigots who hated them on sight and despise their focus on service,and the very blood coursing through their veins.
I don’t think William would ever willfully abdicate but if the monarchy happened to be abolished, I don’t think he would be too upset.
Mariana, did you forget WanK’s kids? They’re the next in line to the throne.
The bigger story here is that Charles, in true narcissistic parent fashion, exerts power over his son’s by alternating which one he designates as the scapegoat. William, as heir, usually gets to be the golden child – but when he really screws up, Charles will make him pay by bringing Harry back into the fold. Unfortunately for Harry, this is just a temporary state and he’ll be cast out again soon enough.
I think Harry is aware of that. Harry is only thinking about his work and security for his family. I think the media and his firm want him back mainly due to Williams ineffectiveness.
Harry has a family now. He should stay with them and not go back to the uk unless his father and brother behave decently to Meghan and the children which is doubtful
Harry wants a successful Invictus games in 2027 and he will do everything he can to achieve that. I don’t think we need to worry about him.
The idea that “harry should not go back to the UK” is a weird one. harry has never said he’s not going back to the UK. Harry WANTS to go back to the UK. Harry is maximizing his time in the uk. He wants to bring his kids back (but can’t right now for obvious reasons.) he does not want to live in the UK or be any kind of working royal and the Sussex fans need to be okay with that (that his visits to the UK do not mean he is trying to get back as a working royal.)
Harry should be able to bring Meghan and the children To leave his wife and the mother of his children home while he shows his children the UK should be unacceptable. If only Charles had made Meghan non-negotiable and complained to the media about how she was treated, from the get go. And told William to back off, how very different things would be today. Charles is self sabotaging William more so.
no one is suggesting that he should leave Meghan at home and only take the kids either.
But its not our business what Harry “should” find unacceptable.
Some Sussex fans don’t think that Harry should ever talk to Charles again or ever go back to the UK again when he has made it very clear that he wants to be able to return to the UK and that he wants to talk to his father. People need to listen to what he actually says.
Charles really does play William like a fiddle and William plays Charles like a lute right back. I don’t believe that Harry is interested in playing any instrument but does watch the growing symphony from a distance, knowing that sooner of later they’ll all fall into the orchestra pit.
I’m sorry but it’s a little too late to be criticizing William and his laziness. The media and people like Tina have placed William and his wife on a pedestal and have pissed off their golden geese to the point of leaving and will not return to the fold. It’s like they want a reset over what has happened. They picked a side and have to live with it. They knew William has been lazy and you still made him to be untouchable. They created that monster and no matter amount of buyers remorse is going to change that fact.
The regret is real. I can only imagine that Harry’s trip has given them a reason to dig at William in hopes of snapping him into some kind of action. William is the one that needs a reset. But yeah, it all feels too little too late.
This is where I’m at. William’s laziness is nothing new. Duchess Dolittle avoiding work is not brand new information. This what they’ve always been. It was always known that Harry was more dutiful, hard working and charming. Harry was always the more stable, better royal but they’ve propped up the keens to the point where W&K are untouchable and they know it. They skipped VJ Day and have quiet quitting to 2 years now because they know the BM and Charles can’t do a damn thing about it.
There is no motivation for William to do better. Regardless of his actions, he is still the future king.
Deep down I’m sure Chuck is infinitely more proud of Harry for forging his own way instead of the lazy heir of Wales who can’t even learn some Welsh.
I would hope so but I’m skeptical. In Spare H made it seem like C was really proud of him learning to fly the Apache and went to visit him during his training. But then he pulled their security which literally put their lives in danger. I can’t reconcile that with love or pride from a parent.
Charles is not trustworthy. Harry needs to be cautious. And not let Charles welcome HIM and not his family
Charles doesn’t have a deep down.
my favourite Tina Brown moment? In her introduction to her sour, stale book about the Sussexes, she relates how the death of her husband — a heroic investigative journalist & editor, Harold Evans — and Covid combined to leave her at loose ends, so she went to live with friends in California with whom she made a bubble during quarantine, where she wrote her book about Meghan & Harry. And does she *gush* about California. My god. I mean. Begging the question — as an American here I can relate to the longing for sunshine even though I came from the East Coast, not the West — why on *earth* would Meghan trade a life that was fulfilled, busy, professionally connected and personally settled in a gorgeous state for one that was miserable, nitpicked and rainy? I mean. Their default assumption is always that you should see it as a privilege to be here. But you can do volunteer work & get serious traction with philanthropic activism & fundraising in the US, even more effectively. You can make more money, and donate more of it, with the added incentive that every charitable donation is tax-deductible. So. Why on earth would you stay in a place where you were miserable? If Tina could let us know, from her own long-term life in the US, between two coasts, I’d be ever so grateful…….. LOL.
My favorite part of Tina Brown being wrong is that in her book the “Royal expert” had the wrong day for Harry and Meghan’s engagement
Meghan also has family in the U.S. The kids have a grandma. Harry has in-laws who like him. Lovely to see.
I cannot stand Tina Brown. She is a convinced monarchist and her Substack’s reflect this. To me she is yet another white woman who dislikes Meghan because Prince Harry loves her and saves her most vile musings for Meghan.
I’ll sit over here with you.
Me too. She doesn’t get any passes just because she makes a couple of digs at WanK. She can keep digging, she’s got a long, long, long way to go.
“Well-connected” – Tina Brown? Not anytime in nearly two decades, as can be seen by her rehashing old royal gossip and spinning her opinion with a few vague “people tell me” thrown in to make her sound as if she’s got fingers in all the Royal family doings…I think not. She’s only one step up from Lady Colin Campbell at this stage.
I don’t know why she bothers – surely Harold Evans and she made enough from their literary careers? No one is looking to what Tina Brown thinks about anything anymore
Tina had one lunch with Diana and claimed to be Diana’s friend after she died. Then she wrote very iffy stories about Diana in her book. A lot of hearsay. Ingrid did the same.
If he is so proud of harry he should not have evicted him and Meghan. From their UK home. He should have apologized to Meghan.
Tina is a big fat liar. She knows Harry’s trip wasn’t all about smiling. And she knows Harry’s philanthropy and personal donations aren’t a reset and positivity campaign. As for Charles’ impatience with William – yeah, that’s been obvious to anyone with the internet.
The press are really running with this reset and positivity campaign. I feel like someone on Harry’s team said yeah Harry’s really excited bc it’s going to be such a positive visit and they just made it not a whole reset campaign.
She is deliberately assigning intent to Harry to continue the monarchists’ favorite narrative of Harry wanting to come back to them. And the therapy she belittles is the reason why Harry is able to continue to be a charitable selfless person.
I don’t like TB but I enjoyed the rest of her digs at the workshy couple.
OK, I can’t deny that “Tigger-like” is kind of a great way to describe Harry in his happy warrior mode. Tall, partially ginger, energetic and positive. Credit where credit is due.
As to the rest, eh. It’s funny to equate taking multiple lavish vacations with prioritizing one’s family. Like, they don’t have to be skiing on the continent or on a yacht in the Mediterranean to bond with their kids. They could do that right at home. Like on the school run!
Does the Kings Trust raise £100 million a year? I’m sceptical about that figure. I’m sure I read that it had raised 100 million since its inception which is very different!
Yes I think that was a mistake on her part. 100 million since its inception seems more likely.
The financial statements for the year ending March 2024 say that donations were 53.3 million pounds, which works out to about $75 million. But there’s also a King’s Trust USA which took in almost $9 million.
oh wow! so she wasn’t that far off. No idea it brought in that much.
Those figures smell like money laundering.
Okay but TB says that Harry “finally realized that all the royals have to do to win public enthusiasm is zip around the UK and smile…” If that were truly the case, then all William and Kate would have to do is zip around the Uk and smile. It shouldn’t matter if they got to the WI or wherever. But it’s not about just smiling. It’s about the person smiling. William can do his grimace/smile and Kate can do her jaw nearly breaking off it’s hinges smile all they want, but is it really going to win public enthusiasm? Yeah idk. But then they could at least be zipping around the uk. And they mostly don’t. Just an event here and there between the school runs. So if they lack charisma, it could make a difference if they’re at least seen to be working hard, and yet they aren’t seen doing that either.
And all that to say…Harry did more than just smile and bounce around, please.
Well Princess Anne is considered the hardest working royal and is respected and I don’t think anyone would say she’s “zipping around and smiling “. She comes off as rather dour to me. But I think people can tell she’s committed to her duties and that is what is missing with the Fails. Not showing up to your expected duties but never missing sporting events you care about does not give off committed or sincere about your job. And since no one can tell the Fails what to do, this is what the people get.
Even Anne was reportedly annoyed that William wasn’t doing that many investitures despite living in Windsor. So yeah a smile is nice but so is just showing up and working.
That’s why she’s such a liar. Even the press that hates Harry so much reports that he brings assistance and support along with the smiles.
It’s a lot of lying and misleading. Fitting in narratives about a smiley bopping around Tigger and soon we’ll hear about how Harry is the dim-witted one again right. Since Harry left the RF, he, Meghan and their team have independently coordinated successful trips to Colombia and Nigeria, Ukraine and now the UK. They don’t have duchy/SG paying their staff and yet they’re able to coordinate and plan these events on their own without the help of any royal courtiers. Tell me again how Harry is not bright.
Direct comparison between Will and Harry is just rubbing it in how badly the Firm and BM mishandled and misjudged both brothers. Will has had every advantage and mostly glowing press for his entire life. Both parties need FK to shine and show up so they can boast with pride that he is truly glorious to ensure the popularity and continuity of the monarchy. Instead he’s been in retreat since he became PoW and looks physically diminished, resentment oozing from every pore and reducing his role to attendance at sports events. Harry in stark contrast has been badly mangelled by the Firm and non stop hell from the press but he kept going and hasn’t been diminished by two powerful forces ranged against him and his wife. Harry operates from a secure and loving home created by a loving marriage with two beautiful children. He upholds his values and supports with every fibre of his being veterans and all his charities. He’s authentic and charismatic and been missed by anyone with real judgement in the UK. He’s happy and fulfilled and able to give of himself to others whereas his brother is not.
These people only tell a quarter of the truth. She’s correct that William is lazy and cheap, and that Charles is likely more irritated that the one that stayed behind is so obviously deficient. You don’t need any sources for that we’ve all been saying that for years.
They are still being dishonest about how the British public feels about Harry and most likely Meghan to. Those crowds that came to see Harry didn’t know how much money he had donated, they didn’t know he was going to go to Ukraine after this visit. All they knew was that Harry was going to be in the country for an extended period and they would get to see him. And they waited outside to do so and were happy to see him, not to boo and throw tomatoes like they keep saying everytime they don’t come back for some event.
That tells me that there’s a good amount of people that never have stopped liking Harry, and even if some were upset when they first left or after Spare, that the press treatment and family treatment over recent years have made them realize they were right to go.
These royalists don’t want to admit that even still. They act like Harry has to earn back the public’s trust, when they mean he needs to be nice to them and stop suing because he hurt their feelings. They created and enforced the monster that is the Wales’ and were incredibly racist to his wife, but they shouldn’t have left them and it was unfair. That’s all I hear when I read semi honest stuff from her and Sykes.
It’s a good point that they are acting like Harry has to earn back the public’s trust. Which is silly. He’s been pretty strait-forward and honest from the get-go, saying things with his whole chest. What the BM wants is more access. It makes me wonder if the reset idea is actually about the fact that Harry did include more of the BM on this visit than he has before. He still excluded the papers he sued but otherwise he has included more of the BM this time around. So now the media is calling it a reset, lol.
Okay so as a threshold matter, Harry has always been doing this kind of work. They just try to make it seem like quasi royal work when he’s in the UK because of how these visits are set up, with the press outside and the greetings on the sidewalk etc. but Harry has never stopped doing philanthropy work. (also it looked different for a few years because of a global pandemic.) So he’s not doing anything “new” now, the press is just framing his work a little bit differently.
that said….of course Charles is less irritated with harry than William. My guess is that when Harry left there were assurances from William that he and Kate would finally step up and pull their weight and instead they’re lazier than ever. Its like at every point when we think they are going to start working more they instead work LESS. Like when they became prince/ss of wales people said they were going to be really working at that point and its laughable to see how few engagements they do. CHARLES outworked William in a year in which Charles was diagnosed with cancer – the same year Kate was allegedly – but for some reason Kate’s sickness rendered William unable to work even as much as his sick father.
Do I think the comments about the school run and such are criticisms of charles? in a way. I think William is aware that its pretty well known that Charles was a crap father who worked too much so he’s using that to his advantage to avoid work.
Anyway while Tina does get her digs in at Meghan (as to be expected from her), I’m learning to tune out those digs for the rest of it – the digs at Earthshot, the comment about where does the Duchy money go, about William’s 5 “confirmed” vacations (implying there are more) – she’s one of many who is not happy with William currently.
She’s stating some real obvious criticism of William, but for a royalist, it’s notable. It’s the type of criticism you would see in the comments here. When she said Harry’s donation “cannily unleashed for William the uneasy question of what exactly the 43-year-old Prince of Wales is doing with the £23 million a year he gets from the Duchy of Cornwall,” it’s like well yeah, what does he do with all that money? Pay the lease for Forest Lodge? Pay for some of his unconfirmed vacations, beyond the 5 confirmed?
Right?? Where does that money go? Technically he’s supposed to pay his official operating costs out of that but since he’s distinctly less transparent than Charles was (and Charles wasn’t super transparent) we don’t even know how much he’s claiming as official costs. And we know he’s not paying rent or a mortgage (although they say he is for FL, we’ll see), and he’s not paying for transportation costs (ie helicopters) or security. So their staff, the kids’ tuitions, and what else?
that’s a lot of money each year. It’s not like he gets 20 million and has to make it last. That’s EACH YEAR.
@Becks1 His official costs are actually supposed to come from the Sovereign Grant which funds the official offices. The description of how Duchy funds are spent always includes some official duties with no explanation of why the Sovereign Grant wasn’t enough to cover all official costs
Well, we know it does not go to donations. I cannot even fathom what all that money goes to. It’s not like the people working at KP are getting paid that well either so it’s not going to that.
@Lauren no he’s only partially funded by the SG. There are some things that the duchy is specifically supposed to cover, including his staff I think. Official travel and things like that are covered either by the SG or the government.
The issue with the duchy and official vs non official is that he’s only supposed to (voluntarily) pay taxes on the nonofficial money. So if the duchy income for him is 20 million in a year and 10 million was spent on official costs (a very high number to be sure) then he is only supposed to pay taxes on the other 10 million that’s “personal income.” But he doesn’t release his taxes the way Charles did so we don’t know what he’s claiming as official vs non-official.
Becks, not only do I agree with you that William made promises about stepping up in exchange for denying the Sussexes living in South Africa or being half in/half out, he appears to have been the *driver* of the options for Harry being no options. Geidt was quietly working on the side for the Queen to get the Sussexes out of Britain and KP leaked it to the press. It’s KP that clearly traded anti-Sussexes gossip to keep William’s credible affair out of the newspaper. In addition to his general jealously and desire for control, wouldn’t be surprised at all that what most drove William’s people was what the Sussexes being allowed to move or later, half in/half out was keeping Dan Wooten fed.
It heartens me to see this bit of criticism, but, outside of that, what good does it do? Everybody knows that W&K are worthless – Charles knows it, the UK government knows it, the BM know it. And if we go by the photos of empty streets wherever William has an engagement, the public know it, too. At this point, it seems the “royal experts” are trying to pocket as much cash as they can before the system shuts down.
This has always been one of the biggest problems with monarchy. The randomness of genetics. What can you do when the heir is a dud and the spare outshines and outlasts him in every way? It’s a centuries old question which is even more obvious in modern times.
I agree with Kaiser, I really didn’t care for her dig at Will saying that the reason he spends so much time with his family is that he’s trying to criticize Charles. First, I agree that for Will it’s just an excuse to get out of work, but more importantly, it’s typical of how the BM treats H&M’s every word and action as a “message” to the royal family. Meghan wore red? Harry expressed concern about his father’s health? Must be a covert insult to the RF! And thank goodness we have Tina Brown here to explain exactly what that insult is. It’s the worst kind of writing and conspiratorial thinking, inventing BS intentions for the pettiest things which it does no good to deny. No wonder this family can’t function normally.
I think both things can be true – yes, both Wails have made excuses for their low engagement numbers throughout their adult lives, and their children are just the latest. However, I also think that the narratives about learning from the Middletons’ middle class example to “put family first” and those all-important school runs are both deliberate and pointed. There’s simply no need to mention it otherwise, especially since some of the harshest criticism of W and K I’ve seen comes from royalists who are working parents themselves. Turns out that you can work a few hours every day and still find time to tuck your children into bed if you really want to, imagine that! That’s why I think that the audience for a lot of this, consciously or not, is Charles, not the general public.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is not a normal family: Charles is a narcissist and a workaholic who has always pitted his sons against each other, and William is a petulant, lazy, and resentful man. They both use the press to hurt one another and both know exactly how to press one another’s buttons. Goodness knows they could find more productive and helpful ways to try and work through their toxic dynamic, but that might involve what Brown refers to here as “spouting therapeutic gibberish” so we probably shouldn’t hold our breath.
As I said yesterday, Charles willingness to see Harry now is because he and William are not getting on.
I agree Charles is a narcissist workaholic and neglectful father whom Will probably resents. I don’t think Will is intentionally pushing that particular message to the media with his “family first” excuse, because none of the monarchs have been doting parents—certainly not QEII—and the most glaring example of a royal who prioritized his family over royal duty is Harry, which Will eviscerates him for regularly. Also, while we all speculate that Will and Charles don’t like each other or even talk much, it serves both to show a common front against Sussexit, which is why the BM typically paints Will’s anger at Harry as a measure of W’s loyalty to Charles and to his sense of royal duty as the heir. Now sure, it’s entirely possible that W *could* be invoking Charles’s bad parenting when he says “family first”—we don’t expect W has to be logical or consistent—but I don’t think there’s enough to go on for a supposed journalist like Tina to make that statement in the conspiratorial way she did. My bigger complaint here is the very shitty writing practices of the royalist writers who habitually create entire “stories” by surmising, musing, imagining, inventing, and grasping at straws. I think it’s worse than merely criticizing everything a royal does, so long as the royal is actually seen to be doing it. But criticizing someone for something you only imagine they did, or that they possibly might have done, or that they may have done “unconsciously” is a very nasty, heads-I-win-tails-you-lose game that feeds into the conspiracy-minded bent of the dregs of social media.
Just a bit off topic here, but can anyone explain why William looks 20yrs older while Harry is looking 10yrs younger? Hmmm?
I guess it’s all that pent up jealous, incandescent rage.
Inner peace and happiness look good on Harry.
Nothing Tina Brown is saying is groundbreaking. She’s still racist trash & jealous of Meghan.
Even when Harry was partying he has always been the one to do the work.
Tina’s eyebrows are horrible.
This! She’s still awful and racist, and hasn’t exactly said anything new. This is already pretty obvious.
The parable of the three servants left with talents by their master while he goes away can be applied here. This parable is often interpreted as a lesson about the importance of wisely using one’s God-given talents and resources and not squandering them out of fear or complacency. It emphasizes the idea that those who are faithful and responsible in using what they’ve been given will be rewarded, while those who are negligent or fearful will face consequences. It is better to use your gifts positively and generously rather than be lazy and unproductive. Parable is also about hard work and being active. Who hasn’t felt proud of themselves, uplifted and grateful for the opportunity to work hard and get a project off the ground?
Oh I need to read that!
I would say, the Sussexes profoundly exposed what a bunch of mediocre, lazy, unskilled, scamming, grifting and racist lot the British royal family, and the once working for the institution of the monarchy are.
Still hate Tina Brown and her plodding prose. She still has no clue when it comes to Harry’s life, she just finally couldn’t deny what he accomplished this week. She’s always known Will is lazy and unmotivated, so pointing out the obvious isn’t a big revelation. Everyone on this page knows Will and Kate’s game of suddenly remembering to work whenever the Sussexes do anything. Whatever Tina.
Her opening line is eye-rolling. At last, Prince Harry has got it right. Please, he’s gotten a lot right. It’s just that now they want to use Harry to pick at William. And they want him back.
If other monarchists read her, Tina Brown’s criticisms of the work-shy William are helpful.
This narrative may not be new to us, but it’s probably new (or at least newish) to people who only read the fawning rota reports of the Waleses.
@QuiteContrary 💯 helpful for people to be aware with actual evidence eg KC with chemo treatment works three times as hard as the heir and cite the data. I often meet at conferences an historian who specialises in the Tudor period so she’s familiar with propaganda and the monarchy. . Henry the she 8th was always chopping and changing his wives. She looked astonished when I mentioned Will ‘s workshy reputation and his coolness towards his wife. She responded but he’s always in the papers at various events and in the photos he is smiling at his wife. Yet she’s trained to question resources and bias when investigating records in her profession. Isn’t the mantra never take anything at face value but consider the source and the narrative being promoted?
Prince Diana: ” I believe Charles isn’t fit for the top job.”
Where she still around, I thing she might have said the same about her ex-husbands’ heir.
*Where = were
Consistently we see that people feel better after seeing Harry. They enjoy seeing Kate’s clothes and hair gimmicks (today it was a miraculous bun). Nobody is cheered up by William.
Keen does not cheer me up. She has bad traits and treated Meghan badly.
To me Brown is overcomplicating things and she’s doing that because she doesn’t want to accept the following: (a) by default, people prefer Harry to William and (b) William and Harry have a lot more in common than people usually want to accept.
I don’t think that Charles is really bothered by William not pulling his weight (though I believe that Anne would be) because that relies on the generous assumption that the British royals, especially Charles, are not only selflessly devoted to service but *cannot* even bear it when others are not.
I think Charles has probably always got on better with Harry and now things are just reverting to type. Added to that, the way things are set up make it very easy for there to be tension between monarch and heir, with the heir chomping at the bit to finally get to do things the way they want and with the ageing monarch knowing that in some ways, their eldest’ s life can’t begin until *they* are gone (a reason why I think Elizabeth II should have created a retirement mechanism like some other monarchs).
Also,with Harry increasingly untangled from royal nonsense the horrible dynamic that Charles pioneered of throwing family members under the bus in the papers to boost and deflect means that he and William were always going to have to turn on each other eventually, to feed the beast. I don’t think that Charles really cares about VJ day but he probably doesn’t like not being deferred to and probably hasn’t got used to the fact that William is now financially independant of *him* and can run a more independant operation.
I think William has exactly the same gripes as Harry regarding his father, his upbringing, his father’s treatment of his mother, his stepmother and the intrusiveness of the British media. In addition, I don’t think he believes in the monarchy just as he appears to not believe in God/The Church.
I don’t think the way he is bringing up his kids is a pointed dig at his father, I think it’s just how he wants to bring up his kids which is different from how he was brought up? Same as Harry. Charles also tried to bring up his children differently (at least by sending them to Eton instead of Gordonstoun) and I think he accepts he wasn’t a great Dad but I am sure that, like his mother, he rationalises that by thinking that it’s because he had a greater calling to be the ‘father of the nation’ or some other megalomaniacal guff. Camilla also jealously guards her family life by having her own home and holidays and she protects her grandkids and their privacy as William and Harry try to their childrem. She is undoubtedly a better parent and a better grandparent than Charles – it would be almost impossible not to be. Nobody ever seems to suggest this is a veiled criticism.
Believing that William’s ‘parental dedication ‘ registers, so precisely, as a ‘tacit criticism’ of his father rather than what it is more obviously is, namely laziness, selfishness, hedonism and arrested development (what kind of example is he setting his two children who will probably have to work for a living?), is also buying into another extremely generous assumption.
I think the implied criticism of Charles that might bother him are really more likely to be William briefing about how he will be a monarch with a small ‘m’,him briefing that he wants Andrew punished properly, him saying he’ll do charitable work in a more ‘impactful’ way etc.
I agree with you. Brown and other “royal experts” complicate things because they would have nothing to write about otherwise. How many ways can they say Charles is old and William is lazy? I guess the question is, what happens when the central figures of a vast industry are no longer interested in that industry? There are thousands and thousands of people who rely on some connection with the monarchy to make their money.
The only thing I’d add is that while William may want to protect his kids, and I believe he does in his own way, he has shown that he is willing to use them as needs be to get good press. It’s a slippery slope.
The fundamental misconception is that members of the royal family just have to walk around and smile.
The world has changed and demands performance and substance. If this is done in a friendly manner and with a visible love of substantial, visibly successful work, then respect and dignity are created. Just as credibility only arises when no fakes and malicious rumours and malice are written, but truth and objectivity.
These people forget that you can see all over the world today that fewer and fewer people are being taken for fools.
I think Charles made a huge mistake making William & Kate (sorry, Catherine) Prince & Princess of Wales immediately upon his accession. The titles (not to mention the Duchy & all its $$$$) would have been a great motivator to get those two off their lazy asses & do something other than go on vacation after vacation to earn their keep.