Nicky Haslam is a sort of British twentieth-century cultural icon. Haslam’s heyday was the 1970s through the 1990s, and he was definitely on the London scene and extremely well-connected. He was an interior designer and friends with many of the QEII-generation royals. Currently, he’s in his 80s and British people still have enormous affection for him as a cultural figure. Haslam does an annual list of what’s “common” and the list sometimes makes news. Well, Hello Magazine recently interviewed Haslam and he ended up paying the necessary Sussex Tax. Every British press outlet does this – everyone they interview is asked about Prince Harry and Meghan.
[Nowadays, Haslam] has discovered a more restful way of maintaining his cultural presence: his annual tea towel listing “things that Nicky Haslam finds common”. His selection for 2025 included clapping the chef after a meal, Dan Snow, Stephen Fry, nduja sausages and – thanks to a suggestion from his friend Rupert Everett – death threats. He is currently working on the eighth edition of his tea towel, sometimes sending texts to his assistant, Flora, at midnight if inspiration strikes while he is in bed.
“Stand-up comedians,” he exclaims when asked what’s in contention for the next towel. “I put it in yesterday. I think comedy’s rather common. They think anybody can be a stand-up comedian. There’s no innuendo, no subtlety in humour any more.”
What else? “Smoothies.” The fruity drinks or men in cravats and blazers? “Either.”
His distastes are hard to predict. Unlike some from his generation, he loves the Duchess of Sussex, albeit “for all the wrong reasons”.
“There’s something oddly touching about her. These programmes where she puts flowers on top of cakes: Kirstie Allsopp used to do that and nobody criticised her.”
“I rather like the fact that it’s all manufactured. I’ve got a sneaking love of fakes. They’re amusing. Non-fakes – serious people – are frightfully boring.”
He thinks that Meghan is “foolish” and “wayward” for kicking against the press, but admires her “guts”. She is making Prince Harry happy, he says.
“Wouldn’t I rather be living in a lovely house in Montecito with film stars and going to premieres? I would.”
Do I think that Meghan is “fake”? No, I don’t. I actually find her too earnest at times. I’ve talked about the “fake” accusations before, because it’s a consistent British talking point, that there’s something false or fake about Meghan. They’re telling on themselves – they can’t believe that a woman would be that nice, that intelligent, that charity-oriented without it being performative, or some kind of “royal persona.” That’s what they’re used to. But the other stuff Haslam says here is fine. It’s funny that they act like Meghan is still suing the British press – she hasn’t sued anyone in years. Harry is the one suing all of the tabloids.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.
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- Nicky Haslam at the V&A 2023 Summer Party at the V&A in South Kensington, London, United Kingdom on 21 June 2023.,Image: 784788810, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Cat Morley/Avalon
What??
“Nicky Haslam is a sort of British twentieth-century cultural icon.” HUH??? I lived in UK for 25+ years in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, and I’ve never heard of Nicky Haslam! Cultural Icon, my foot! Bah!
The Royal Rota Rats are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for content. Sad.
He did appear in Tatler and Dempster’s column a lot back in the long ago day and he did have a decorating business. These types just can’t imagine that an African-American woman could be this effortlessly cool, elegant and successful—in their minds she’s suppose to be the maid and glad of the job.
Kicking against the press= Not letting them dictate what I do or where I go.
I also think a lot of this is because they don’t want to go after Harry. They save all of their vitriol for Meghan even if she’s not the one that has said something, is doing something, or even seems concerned with something.
She is not actively suing the press, she is not spearheading the push to get security so that she can come to the UK, and she is not talking about having a relationship with the British royal family. All of that is Harry. But they don’t want to criticize to Harry too hard, because at the end of the day they just see him as someone misguided that they would gladly welcome back if he just left his wife and kids.
And I think you’re spot on that it says more about them, that they can’t believe that someone could just be genuinely kind, that friends actually enjoy being with them and find them thoughtful without it being some ulterior motive. A lot of it is cultural, but a lot of it is also just their refusal to believe that this caricature of a person that they have created isn’t real. So she has to be fake, and they’ll prove it eventually.
It is the absolute reluctance in their world to believe that Meghan could be as she is. She must have an agenda. Again, we do not know half of what was said to Meghan when she was there. Can you imagine?
“…that they can’t believe that someone could just be genuinely kind, that friends actually enjoy being with them and find them thoughtful without it being some ulterior motive. A lot of it is cultural….”
My take on the toxic press’s & the “Firm’s” attitude to Meghan: 1 part hidebound racism + 1 part deep-seated misogyny + 1 part English class snobbery + 1 part emotional constipation!
So it’s hardly surprising that they’re triggered by Meghan’s personality!
It’s racism. That’s what it is. That’s why they cling fast to that caricature that they and/or others have created. They believe the lies about her because they were always predisposed to disliking “her kind”. As someone said above, she was supposed to be the maid, not marry a Prince. Hence she must be a wicked, terrible person, “you’ll see”, and NOTHING anyone says is going to change their minds. That’s what it is. Racism.
I think Princess Meghan is exactly who she presents as..an intelligent caring empathic warm and loving person. However this does not mean she’s a doormat and will let anyone/everyone walk all over her.
I think the “kicking against the press” goes back to the idea from the press from years ago that if she had just “played along” they would have been nicer to her.
but the truth is it didnt matter what she did.
“Wouldn’t I rather be living in a lovely house in Montecito with film stars and going to premieres? I would.” Perhaps you would, Nicky, but that’s exactly the kind of life Meghan seems to be not living.
Exactly.. Meghan is not hanging out with “movie stars” but from what she has shown she has many very wealthy business friends and a lot of friendships she has collected and kept throughout her life. I personally think Meghan enjoys her life behind a camera and prefers to stay off the red carpets unless it’s for a good cause.
So, let me get this straight: Comedy is “rather common” but serious people are “frightfully boring.” Got it! Makes perfect sense.
even of Meghan did play up to the cameras amd exaggerate her reactions, so what? It would be nothing in comparison to Kate and Will.
The cake toppers remind me of what Martha Stewart did when she started out, she did cake toppers as well.
Martha always seemed joyless in her efforts, kind of robotic and Meghan seems stilted. It’s just my opinion,
to me they aren’t graceful or natural about it in front of the cameras. I always wish Meghan would relax more
Is “common” British for “basic?”
@Cosmo, yes, exactly that. Additionally, because it’s Britain, the term is also tinged with a soupçon of class discrepancy.
I would call it working class, which is doing manual work, if you have to work to live but you push a pen that is slightly higher and if you are a professional, doctor, architect etc. that is further up and if you live on benefits you are at the bottom. Oops the royals live on benefits but that doesn’t count.
I was having dinner at the Ivy in London years ago when Nicky Haslam was having dinner with, wait for it, Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans, before they got married.
Wow @Elizabeth that’s a fun memory to have. I love celeb sightings.
I get the feeling there are quite a few famous Brits that like Harry & Meghan but they can’t say anything too nicely or they’ll incur the wrath of the bots & royalists. ((Peer pressure to be snarky!)) That’s why the Sussexes are better off in Montecito
I really don’t have an issue with his comments. he’s clearly not that tuned into her, he doesn’t know that she doesn’t go to movie premieres (besides the one in Jamaica). etc, that she’s not the one suing the press and so on, but overall his point is that she seems to be living a pretty good life, her husband is happy, she’s happy, and good for her.
Agree with Kaiser. I find Meghan to be refreshing. She is authentic, empathetic, a hard worker, charismatic, and very intelligent. Many refuse to accept a woman who looks like her, carries themself the way she does can possess all of these positive characteristics, with out it being fake.
I was thinking about this very thing this morning — there’s a real trend toward dismissing values-oriented people as “fake,” particularly aimed by men at vocal women. Maybe it’s part of the broader anti-“woke” campaign, where empathy, generosity, and sincerity are automatically framed as performative. But it feels like something narrower, too.
It’s as though making a sincere effort to connect with others, expressing enthusiasm without irony, or openly embracing the goofy things that bring you joy MUST be a profit-minded artifice. Authenticity apparently means being cynical, selfish, and vaguely hostile at all times.
This guy always gives me stress flashbacks to my first British mother-in-law, who was OBSESSED with class. Naturally, she was born ‘common’ and married up, so she became the rabid gatekeeper for everyone else’s class. Their big insult for me was that I was ‘middle class’, which never landed like they hoped it would. Yes, I am middle class. And?
Do not miss her or her son.
Have never heard anyone say before that Meghan is sometimes a little too earnest. Which is something I have thought myself. In my mind, it is a very human reaction to being burned and scorched and hounded for YEARS. I find sometimes that she wants to be liked too much or tries too hard to be nice. She cares, and it shows. She is sometimes a little too grateful for a favorable welcome. I thought that when she was at fashion week looking beautiful, and was a little too gushy to Anna Wintour. I wish I could tell her that she doesn’t have to be grateful. And I wish I could tell her not to care so much or to show that she cares. But how can you tell someone that. For how much the hate campaign caused damage, and how much it must have hurt, there has to have been damage, and a reaction. But I always think she is genuine, and genuinely a nice person. I think she is genuinely a sweet person.
I think if I was maligned by the press every day of my life by several outlets and “royal insiders”, my natural reaction in public would be to be extra nice, so people wouldn’t just say: “see, she’s a b*tch, we knew it!”. If I looked standoffish I’d be called conceited. A narcissist. Actually, I never understood why the hell the William bots love to call her a narcissist. She has no traits of a narcissist. We have the ultimate narcissist as the leader of the USA.
“and was a little too gushy to Anna Wintour…”
It’s funny, because I watched the same thing, and I thought that Anna was being gushy TO Meghan, not the other way around 🙂 . That seems to have been the general consensus at the time.
I agree with you that she is a genuinely sweet person. And that is what every single one of her friends, new and old, has said.
Like Meghan, I’m a fellow Catholic School girl and I recognise her mannerisms and way of speaking in the way we girls interacted with each other and with our teachers (trying to focus on the positive, being optimistic, helpful, generally upbeat and funny). It’s natural. It’s also learned behaviour (in my case since I was a toddler). We were expected to be VERY lady like and also extra cerebral. The ladylike bit is learning how to receive and respond to compliments. And if you’re a California girl like Meghan (I’m not) and have been in a sorority at university then this will add an extra layer of earnestness to the vibe. I also recognise the way others react to her and it reveals so much about those people. I am at the stage where I actively avoid some people. I am really reserved and generally shy as a rule, but people do seem to gravitate to and talk to me, so I talk to them, we have a good laugh, we get along. They think I am “funny” and especially this: “bubbly” (which always cracks me up, because my family would disagree). But there is a whole host of people who think that I am (direct quotes here) “precious”, “extra”, “stuck up”, “anti-social” simply because I pack nice napkins and real cutlery in my lunch bags and don’t generally eat sandwiches for lunch! Especially when I am in the UK. The negativity can wear you down, so I follow my English cousin’s advice and just “avoid negative people”.
I think Meghan is like that. Without that attitude and core upbringing from which to draw strength and people in her corner who recognise her true qualities (many of which they themselves must share), I don’t think she would have been able to weather these many years of abuse.
I remember this guy being in Hello! magazine a lot in the early 90s, when I lived in London, but this kind of classism is exactly what I loathed about Little England.
His condescension is gross.
And yeah, he’s in his 80s, so I don’t expect him to be working much, but texting his assistant at midnight about inspiration for his tea towels??? I thought the British upper classes didn’t like it when people communicated before elevenses and after afternoon tea.
Wow what a really eugly face