Out of all of the “royal commentators” in the UK, Peter Hunt has emerged as one of my favorites? He’s very fair, he used to work for the BBC, and he’s not in the pocket – yet – of Big Keen. Hunt was and is one of the few people to be consistently correct in his assessments of how the Sussexit was bad for the royal family, actually, and that there are very significant problems with the way the institution of the monarchy handled the Duchess of Sussex. Another thing I like about Hunt is that I never get the sense that he’s paid by the word – he chooses his moments to comment, and he’s not blanketing the tabloids with bullsh-t on a daily or even weekly basis. Hunt did an interview recently with the outlet LBC, and he had some interesting comments/analysis:
The Royal Family could have handled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to step back from their royal roles differently, according to commentator Peter Hunt. The Duke of Sussex was reportedly cut off financially and Prince Charles stopped taking his son’s calls, Prince Harry claimed in his Oprah Winfrey interview. Mr Hunt argued Meghan and Harry’s departure created a “binary” split between supporters of the Sussexes and other members of the Royal Family.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Hunt said: “Either you are pro-Harry or pro-William and there doesn’t seem to be much room where you could navigate a path through whereby you can accept there may have been fault on both sides, where they could have reached different accommodation. And I do think history will judge that the institution could have done more not to jettison them in the way that they are now jettisoned.”
Host Eddie Mair asked: “Sometimes when regular families have a dispute between siblings, it’s been forced to a parent to heal the wounds or knocks heads together, whatever’s required, I wonder Prince Charles possible role?”
Mr Hunt replied: “I don’t think he has one at the moment. I think that’s part of the tragedy. As you rightly say, lots of family go through this, they just don’t have the misfortune of going through it discussed by people like you and I in detail and in many other places but I do think he does have a role and I think it’s clear he has a pretty bad split between him and his son Harry.”
While the current thinking is that Meghan and Harry will never, ever return to Isla de Saltines ever again, I would like to point out that back in January/March 2020, both Meghan and Harry seemed open to the idea of returning to the UK at some point. Their initial plan was half-in, remember? Their offer was declined, and everything that’s happened in the past two years cannot be undone – at this point, Meghan especially does not want any part of these people. And yes, the monarchy was incredibly short-sighted. Prince Charles, the Queen and Prince William went with pettiness and rage instead of warmth and nurturing. Ah, well. LOL.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.
Fucked around. Found out. A tale as old as time. They are never going back.
Thankfully the RF’s spiteful actions it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. They lost the best thing that ever happened to them.
Yes they did. The good will that they would have been able to ride on for years, possibly decades, is now a forethought that was driven away by jealousy, pettiness and anger.
Though, I would like to that Hunt for being one of the only two people on the Island of Saltines and Marmite!!
Isla de Saltines made me laugh! But yes the Fuc&ing around was for years, but now it appears the family is finally realizing the find out portion of things. He is never coming back and the entire world now knows what flaming racist a$$holes the British Royal family is and always has been.
Yes they could have but i’m kind of happy they didn’t. If william wouldn’t have gone full rage monster now, he would have done it when he became king. And then harry, meghan and their kids would have been dependent on william for money. Can you imagine the tragedy that would have been? Im happy they left when they did. They now are free to built a future for their kids.
Can you imagine that? William’s hatred and resentment would have grown and grown and he would not have stopped until he made the Sussexes lower than dirt and begging for crumbs like the Wessexes. Better to die standing as a free man than live as a slave on your knees.
@ElizabethRegina, Very well said. But M&H wouldn’t have stuck around for W’s abuse over time. They have far more savvy and resilience than the Wessexes.
@ Elizabeth Regina, yes!! Brava!!!
I am going to steal that, if you don’t mind!!
You are so right! I read that he is the one who said “Get out” to Prince Harry when the allegations of bullying were brought to his attention by Knauf. Hence the reason that H&M moved into Frogmore.
@Startup Spouse, ITA that M&H would not have continued putting up with abuse and gaslighting.
Meg’s suicidal ideation and the firm’s refusal to help her was a huge turning point for M&H. Plus, once Archie was born, that sealed the deal for M&H planning how to extricate themselves from all the toxicity. Harry has referred to Archie’s birth as ‘a miracle,’ after everything his wife suffered through on Salty Isle.
@Elsavita W, I’d take with a huge grain of salt the reports that Will told Harry to ‘Get Out.’ I believe that is after-the-fact embellished rewriting of what actually went down. It was Harry and Meghan who made efforts to gain leverage to get away from KP with Charles’ and the Queen’s approval. This is especially true due to all the leaking against the Sussexes by Knauf and Willileaks.
As well, TOB’s finagling with the profits from the Together cookbook was a huge factor in M&H pulling away from the Royal Foundation. Cain/ TOB has previously tried to spin it that it was him who wanted M&H out of the RF.
As Meg pointed out, they manage to do whatever it takes to protect other family members. Others also “work” as royals and have other income on the side. Anne seems to get to work without having to engage the RR. (Of course, there isn’t a high amount of interest in her.) The bottom line is they didn’t want to work with Meghan.
To quote Absolutely Fabulous comments on Princess Anne
Eddie:
Oh, I wouldn’t care if she was Mother bloody Teresa, darling! It doesn’t matter for our purposes! What we need is a Princess with a press following and a designer dress on her back!
Patsy:
Not someone who looks like she runs up her own.
Bubble:
Well, her people were a bit cagey about which designer she favoured.
Patsy:
The only label she wears is “Drip Dry”.
Ha!!!!! That’s so true about Anne, too! She’s unflavored oatmeal with a librarian hairdo and sensible shoes.
But Anne in her hey day was very jealous of Diana and made many many digs. The same toxicity just seems to repeat itself every generation.
All of Anne’s clothes are bespoke, and yes, she was incredibly haughty and nasty to both Diana and Fergie. Had multiple extramarital affairs and may be having one now with Camilla’s ex. She is one of the most stuck-up, entitled members of that family.
@ Snuffles, thank you, thank you and very well executed and on-point!!! 🤣
@equality said:
“The bottom line is they didn’t want to work with Meghan.”
^^ +1,000! Even though Peter Hunt is neutral and fair-minded, he’s still part of the British media. So, if you listen to his actual LBC conversation, part of which was posted on Twitter, the quotes @Kaiser provides above from the Express can be heard in context. Sadly, Hunt also said a couple of things that we all know are attempts to not deal with the blatant racism and the smear campaign against Meghan:
https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1475151100823101451
Hunt: “The rift [between the brothers] was [further] accelerated and ignited by Harry’s marriage to Meghan, and how she fit into the family and what she wanted out of the family, and the role she wanted that didn’t necessarily align with where the family saw her… She wanted a role that the family wasn’t prepared to give her… In 2021, royal coverage has become very binary — it’s either you’re pro Harry or you’re pro William… but actually there may have been fault on both sides…”
This is the typical, inaccurate over-rationalization that seeks to shift the bulk of blame from KP/William/rota ratchets/ and grey men of the palace, along with downplaying the passiveness of Betty and Chuck who advised M&H to quietly ‘take’ the abuse.
M&H both tried to forge a life within the firm. Meghan came into the marriage deeply in love with Harry, wanting to support him, and to do good work. She did not demand a role. She tried her best to fit in, and as she said, she regrets believing the firm when they lied and told her she would be protected. All the while, there was deception and behind-the-scenes racist plots against her. How could anyone accept being told to be 50% of themselves!?
No one listened to Harry when he said in the engagement interview: “Our relationship comes first. Whatever we have to face, we’ll face it together.” M&H simply asked to be treated fairly, but neither the rota nor W&K and their palace operatives could stand the reality of who Meghan and Harry are together. So the stuck-in-the-mud racist incompetent Windsors and their Salty Isle ilk all deserve to endure their own karmic just desserts.
They are better off outside of that toxic cesspool
I agree. It’s more like a whirlpool though as each generation seems to recycle the same toxicity of jealousy, envy and throwing each other under the bus.
That family has been dysfunctional since the Middle Ages. It’s a toxic stew of mental illness, personality disorders, and rank stupidity. The only thing a sane, reasonably healthy person can do is leave.
^^ Exactly true. There’s a long line of toxicity in the BRF. Harry is lucky that he inherited his mother’s personality, and mainly Diana’s and Philip’s genes. Harry & Meghan got out in the nick of time.
I believe there is no true reconciliation possible at this point. Not after the bullshit of the past 2 years. It’s unforgivable what William and Charles have done and the Queen keeping her head in the sand over everything.
At BEST they might get to the point where William and Charles stop briefing against Harry and Meghan, mind their own business and agree to be civil towards each other. But, trust is irretrievably broken. William’s poison especially has made the UK dangerous for Meghan and her children. The damage cannot be undone.
This. They took it too far, to the point of no return.
I said the same thing @ L84Tea, sorry I didn’t read your statement!
William will never stop briefing against Harry. He is evil and wants to punish him for daring to not kiss William’s Royal bottom
I honestly think Harry could have gotten over William. I’m not saying it didn’t hurt but that he could have eventually said “yeah, f-it, he’s my bother and he’s an asshole.” Many of us have dealt with siblings using that same rationale. I’m not saying the relationship would have been mended or that their supposed closeness would have been restored. There is too much water under the bridge for that. I’m suggesting that there would have been no real forgiveness but simply the acceptance that you’ve got a toxic self-centered, self-serving asshole as a relative, with his wife being no better.
I think the real hurt and betrayal comes from Prince Charles’ refusal to take Harry’s calls and the pile on is Charles’ failure to either stand up for Harry or to stand in his corner. I think, when the chips were truly down and cards were laid on the table, that Harry expected better if not more from his father. I think that’s real hurt and pain. The real disillusionment. The real betrayal. How do you mend that? How can you mend that?
The only trouble was that william would become King and he already was acting like he was “in charge” when he started giving the unwanted “advice” to Harry. Harry also was scapegoated for years. And probably a lot of resentment was going on. Charles is not a good father, he lacks the protective instincts. A good father would not let the elder brother drive the younger one out.
If it were just Harry, he probably could’ve gotten over it. But William decided Meghan and Archie had to go and if they died in the process, that’s all the better. That’s unforgiveable and that’s why the relationship between the brothers will always be “space.” The relationship with Charles will always be at a respectful, but frosty, distance too because he aided and abetted William in his schemes to get rid of Meghan and Archie.
I disagree. Harry was willing to tolerate being a scapegoat himself, which he had done for years, but he was not going to tolerate Meghan being attacked, especially to cover for William’s cheating.
Charles should have controlled William more and he’s at fault for using both his kids as scapegoats which set the standard for William.
But ultimately it is William crossed a line by going after Meghan and Harry is never going to forgive that.
@ Nic919, I agree that Harry was willing to just allow the Bitter Brother atrocious behaviour while it was just him. But Lambridges had gone too far and that was it for Harry, with regards to his relationship with both of them.
The fact that Harry and Meghan were willing to be half in/out was extremely generous of them both, considering what Meghan had been subjected to all of those years, day after day.
Had Charles had put forth an ounce of the effort towards Harry, and Meghan, as he had with regards to Camilla, Charles would not be the vile, spineless and petty father he is being seen as.
I do agree that in regards to the Bitter Brother, but the entire family should have created strong and strict boundaries years ago. Charles, as well as The Monarchy, must now deal with the consequences of what the Bitter Brother has become, as well as his equally vicious and vile, equally lazy wife.
@Chelle said:
“I’m suggesting that there would have been no real forgiveness but simply the acceptance that you’ve got a toxic self-centered, self-serving asshole as a relative, with his wife being no better.”
As other posters have pointed out, what you are suggesting was not a workable stance once Harry met and married Meghan. Together their light shines too brightly for the dark, toxic, antiquated Windsors. I think you’re overlooking that this is not a normal family. William has the clout and status of being FFK. So coupled with Cain/ TOB also being a petty, racist, jealous a’hole, there’s no way the golden couple (the objects of Will’s irrational fury) could survive or thrive within the royal system.
No matter who Harry married, he would have faced headaches and heartaches within the royal firm because they wanted to continue using him and they expected him to ‘do his royal duty’ by propping William up, while continually being the fall guy, the comic relief, and the ideas man behind-the-scenes.
Harry’s the real leader, and even his mother knew that. This cockeyed notion of ‘duty’ that the Windsors obsessively adhere to is a pile of bs. Harry’s only duty is to himself and to his wife and children. End of.
@Chelle said:
“I think the real hurt and betrayal comes from Prince Charles’ refusal to take Harry’s calls and the pile on is Charles’ failure to either stand up for Harry or to stand in his corner.”
The real hurt and betrayal came from all sides. Yes, Harry feels jettisoned and betrayed by his own father. But the damage runs deep going all the way back to Harry’s childhood. Maybe Harry hoped that his father would step up to make things right for him and Meghan, but had Charles ever really previously fully stepped up on Harry’s behalf? At the end of the day, I don’t think we can separate the damage against the Sussexes done by both Charles and William.
By this point, the hurt goes beyond Charles’ betrayal and weakness. It extends to the fact of no one ‘calling off the dogs,’ and to the bullying claims, and to Knauf actively assisting the Fail against Meghan, etc. There’s no going back. The way is only forward full speed ahead for the Sussexes.
The Queen dug her head out of the sand to take charge of her favorite child Prince Andrew by shielding him and paying his large legal bill in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.
Oh no! Anyway… the Sussexes are here now and living their best lives. Harry always looks happy now. William… does not.
Wait until William turns on Charles. They will not be able to keep whitewashing Wills in the press, the RR is hungry and tabloids need feeding. For some reason his affair has been trending on Twitter again.
He already has. He may have leaked the cash for honours scandal to his favourite papers, complete with paper trail. However Charles for all his faults is an OG and has been playing this game longer than skullington and bonalilli.
Found it! Hmmm… verrrrrry interesting. Bringing up all the racism in the trending as well. Something’s UP!
Returned to add, after reading down it…WOWOW!!! Gloves are OFF!!!! #PrinceWilliamAffair
He’s been briefing against Charles for years, probably as a way to keep Charles from demanding more work out of him.
I thought William’s affair trending is a sussexsquad flex, is there more to it?
There is a tweet out there by stepford princess that does not state anything about an affair with a lawyer or banker, but with a Danish gymnast, a restaurant owner or daughter or a restaurant owner, as well as a British athlete.
Who knows what is accurate but these examples seem pretty specific.
Kinda wonder if Charlie “encouraged” the worst qualities of Little Billy from an early age, in order to have a means of control over him later? (Or to satisfy his own guilt from being a philanderer).
Camilla said that William has a terrible temper and often gets enraged at his father who remains silent when it happens.
OMG!!! I can’t believe this, but @ KAISER at CB is trending on TWITTER with regards to W’s wandering peen!!!!
https://twitter.com/isexton/status/1476266704430936067
I think it’s more of a fundamental system fault of the heir vs the spare, Harry should have been allowed to go off and do his own thing a long time ago rather than having him on a leash where they keep dragging him back in to deflect from. Williams failures. Even William should have gone out into the world to interact and mingle with normal people rather than being trained up by people who have no experience of the real world, the Bubble they live in has been the failing. What has been happening has shown they haven’t learned anything from Diana, it’s Cool jettisoning Harry, but the same thing will happen with George and his siblings, you only have to look at Charles and his siblings holding back dukedom s that were promised by his father. This family hasn’t learned anything. I just wish Meghan and Harry all the best and congratulate them on getting out. I keep my fingers Crossed that Harry continues to find his way.
I definitely think that they should have moved Harry’s office to BP once W&K got married. The “royal trio” was not a good idea in the longterm. IMO, W&K were coddled for too long. I understand the need for sensitivity after Diana died for William but it seems everyone let it go on for longer than it needed to, to the point nobody can say no to William. And that coddling is what prevented him from taking up a substantial role and creating a work ethic. They should have had William doing the things Harry was doing (creating charities, initiatives, going on tours, meeting people) instead of letting W&K play “The Real Housewives of Anglesey/Norfolk” for 5-6 years. Maybe if W&K were doing 300 engagements a year each and had a few projects under their belt by 2018, there wouldn’t be such a massive jealousy coming from KP and the rota would be ignoring H&M (beyond the “new bride” stuff) because W&K are constantly working/creating projects.
Yesterday they were pointing out that W and K have never done a tour in an African commonwealth country nor have they attended a Caribbean commonwealth country. But they have been to Australia and twice to Canada. It’s been a decade now and that’s a very bad look.
@Nic919 – that’s a very good point. And the only other possible tour we’ve heard about is the US – also not a good look.
Harry should have been under BP from the moment he turned 18.
“And that coddling is what prevented him from taking up a substantial role and creating a work ethic.”
@Sofia – agree. Neither William, nor Kate, understand work in the sense most of us know – putting in a serious effort, plus, the satisfaction of accomplishing something worthwhile. Don’t know about before Diana died, but since then, William was allowed to slide through everything – courses created for him he didn’t complete, training he failed to follow through, etc. His famous remark about not reading his briefing notes. Kate, the same. Benefited as William’s girlfriend, in college; before then, supposedly got through by copying from other people, and any “job” allowed her to drop everything for William. Suspect they’re truly mystified why doing the exact same things as Harry and Meghan, falls flat in their case. And it does, because the people they meet, outside the RF/BM bubble, know the difference between work and PR, and see them for what they are (or aren’t). With all the articles about her special greatness generated by Kate/KP/her family the last couple of years, Kate thinks the key to Meghan’s popularity is the right media strategy (and clothes). If they hadn’t caused so much damage, this might be sad, but instead, it’s pathetic. Remember when TQ took William back to Scotland for a very obvious redo of his previous visit?
Even prior to Harry hooking up with Meghan, they never planned to do basic bread and butter work like other royals – this is one way Kate was the right partner for Will – and certainly won’t now, unless Harry and Meghan suddenly take up ribbon cutting. Kate is lazy and mean, but it’s lazy, mean, angry, unhappy William whose playbook was upended by his brother, and at age 40, he doesn’t have the skills, or competent advisors/family, to enable him to figure out what to do other than act out.
@ windyriver, excellent points regarding W & K’s current and previous work attitude and current frame of mind. W is certainly off the rails with regards to his anger issues. In addition to not being able to complete the simplest of engagements, the fact that TQ had to take the Bitter Brother by the hand, at nearly 40 years old, is quite telling at his incompetence at the very basic of duty. I have had that bone in my mouth for months, on end, as to how incompetent both W & K are, even at the basic levels, which they should have been perfectly execute within the first 2-3 years of marriage. BB should have been engaging in royal duties during college and/or during his summer breaks, FFS!! BB could have taken the initiative to join TQ or his father!
K, I’m done with that. They all make me so angry 😡
I agree with you on the heir and spare. That entire ideology is dysfunctional. It reminds me of how a queen bee in the bee hive is protected at all costs.
Also, I view the BaRF as a company that is out of touch with changes going on in the world outside their gilded cage. They have no clue how to function and their privileged life (going back generations) does them no favors. Added to that is their belief that they are entitled to all they have. And those around them salivate over the crumbs from their table that they too are stuck in the archaic ways of the past;.
I think the way the BRF is managed (as a family and as an institution) is deeply flawed in a very systematic way, which is actually very dangerous for them. Firstly, as a family they a super dysfunctional (even as a royal family) and 2) they seem trapped in a time bubble (probably due to the longevity of both the QM and the Queen). They are also not venturing out of their bubble of extreme privilege in that they mainly associate with other aristocrats. Even William’s choice of uni was one that is popular with the aristocracy. Other European royal heirs have gone abroad for part of their education (and they generally didn’t stop at undergraduate level). I myself know how much a long foreign visit can influence you and broaden your horizon. The British royals are thus extremely insular – both internationally but also nationally. They really don’t seem to be able to adapt to the changes in the outside world, both in terms of social and technological issues.
I know that I have repeatedly stated that ancient institutions like the British monarchy (which has existed in one form or another for a 1000 years) are hard to abolish peacefully. However, it is also my anecdotal experience that the Brits generally aren’t as invested in the monarchy (beyond the Queen) as they are in my own country. The Queen’s longevity is also what holds the institution together because that also confers some (unearned) respect. However, I think that the BRF survives at present and very likely in the future BECAUSE a significant part of the political establishment wants it to – and because the general populace is pretty apathetic about them.
Diana sought to have her children raised as normally as possible. William went to St. Andrew’s in a deliberate attempt to interact with normal people and have a normal college experience. He then took a job as a helicopter pilot, which would have exposed him to a lot of reality too.
He’s lacking in empathy for other reasons.
Because his entire “small” world is under his control. Neither Kate nor the Middletons will ever truly contradict him. William can do as he likes in Norfolk–doesn’t give a damn who Kate wants to exclude from their circle. William can bedhop with the best of turnip toffs.
He has never truly ventured beyond his inner circle, except a few controlled instances. Frankly neither has Kate. Their little world is all they know.
William went to a uni that is a favorite among the aristocracy, He didn’t have to interact with ordinary people if he didn’t want to – and by all reports, he didn’t. It is a fiction that he did – beyond on a very general level (i.e. sharing courses with the “peasants”). The upper-classes creates their own social enclaves, even within places where ordinary people exist.
I don’t think Diana would have wanted William isolated at St. Andrew’s and cocooned. He did not meet “average” people but limited to proximity to privileged people or wealthy, and not befriend ones who actually had to work for a living. She probably would have wanted him to go to a British University (Cambridge?) and perhaps take a semester of work in the US. William wasted the years clubbing and vacationing. I think Diana wanted william to actually work on charities and learn about causes. As for the Air Ambulance, IMO it was something used by William to avoid getting into full time royal duties. HM had KP redesigned awaiting William and Kate so they (or at least Wiliam) could move up to full time duties). Then he up and said he wanted to do Ambulance work, and he slacked off there. Unlike people at the ambulance base, who actually had a career doing this work Will could only play at being a copter pilot, he was not put in danger (and had security with him). William needed his elders not to coddle him and let him slack off.
I’ve noticed (and I’m sure most of you have) that whenever Willnot has to *mix* with the peons he looks like he’s smelling farts and can’t get out of there fast enough. He does the least amount of prep and fumbles the ball every single time, as does Kannot, unless it’s a sports event with a royal box. So what does that say to his charities, his patronages, and the UK citizens who financially support him? That he really couldn’t give a fat rat’s clackers about them and is just going through performative motions. I live for the day when he’s revealed by the BM as the philandering, racist, vengeful, deceitful little prick he really is as his marriage finally crumbles.
St Andrews is a great uni but I wouldn’t say he met “normal people” there. It’s known as aristo party central. No offence to anyone who went there, I’m sure you had a great time and education.
Not sure why people think Diana would have had much influence over William. Even as a child he was a brat, and as he aged, with all the grey men whispering in his ear, do you really think he would have heeded Diana’s advice at all?
@Teecee – no, I don’t think he would have heeded Diana’s advice, in fact he likely would have grown up to be the same arrogant, tempermental rage-monster and philanderer he is now. He was born that way and no amount of TLC from his mother would have changed it.
Emma, agreed. I’m convinced that boy is borderline mentally ill and all this scrambling is to cover that up. When your own mom calls you “Billy the Basher,” something is badly wrong.
To sort of add to that I think that because they are in such a closed and insular bubble they underestimated how the world has changed simply because their world sees or knows very little change. For example, there is no reason they should have been blindsided by someone like Meghan in 2016/17/18 (?) or whenever she came on the scene. However, who in their orbit or social class is really self-made and perhaps even college educated? Kate is an anomaly but she was bred and socialized to aspire to the upper, upper middle class or lower tiered rich (gentry or merchant class). So, she’s not even self-made albeit college educated.
To go a bit more down the road, Meghan is the only one who has earned money and is a millionaire in her own right. Zara and Peter both directly benefited from their royal status (despite her being an equestrian). Sure, Eugenie and Beatrice have worked but my sense is that it was more of a one-off thing. However, to be fair to Eugenie, I guess she’s making a career out of it. Probably will move to private art and/or estate sales. The long-winded point is I agree. There is and was a lack of oxygen in their bubble.
Kate came from New Money and has an ambitious mother who wanted her children to marry up. Kate left her choice of University (Edinburgh) to go to St. Andrew’s when word was out that William would be attending. Kate did not have to really work to support herself, her parents gave her housing (they let her stay at one of their homes–in London) and supported her. William did not learn how “the other half lives” with Kate.
Carole and kate worked hard to act like aristos to fit into the circle so William never encountered a real person in kate or the Middletons. They are social climbers desperate to be part of the aristo crowd and they would never have questioned things, such as the Boxing Day hunt. Kate bent to fit William’s life and not the other way around.
Hence, Kate isn’t self-made.
Having read about Kate’s background which was NOT from the aristocracy I was quite surprised that the Queen even consented to a future King marrying her. They “Pretty up” Kate’s father side of the family but downplay or ignore Carol’s Goldsmith side who hailed from a generation of coal miners and was of Jewish ancestry; Carol was also raised in Council flat until she left home.
https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/kate-the-coal-miner-s-girl-7212369.html
@Sofia said:
“They should have had William doing the things Harry was doing (creating charities, initiatives, going on tours, meeting people)”
No one could make William do what he didn’t want to do, either then or now. These initiatives and activities, and the motivation to carry on his mother’s legacy are not part of William’s inner desires.
@Sofia said:
“And that coddling is what prevented him from taking up a substantial role and creating a work ethic.”
It’s much more complicated than that. At this point, William could work more if he wanted to do so! Sure, the coddling when he was in his teens and 20s didn’t help because it prevented William being able to learn from his mistakes. Palace p.r. constantly threw Harry to the wolves which ended up with Harry paying for both his own and William’s youthful transgressions. Charles was largely an absent father. Plus, Charles often used his sons for p.r. purposes. And we now know, according to Harry, that Charles expected his sons to ‘suffer’ because he had suffered.
Diana not being there to serve interference and possibly be able to help William navigate the grey men’s attempts to take him over for their own self interests, is one of the issues. But ultimately, William has a problematic personality altogether. Both William and Harry needed counseling after their mother’s death, which didn’t happen for either of them.
At least, Harry’s problems were out in the open, which helped him to at least learn something, and it also kept the rota from being able to have any leverage over him. All the stories about Harry’s wild youth have already been told. Harry sought mental counseling in his late 20s. Conversely, William has always been portrayed as being perfect, which is especially a bad situation for someone who already has an angry, sensitive, secretive personality. So, as I said, the issues are deep and complex.
The overall upshot is: Harry got help and William didn’t. Harry grew up and became a man. William is still a little boy mentally, with addictive vices from his 20s that he has never learned how to overcome. Still, William is an adult who shouldn’t be relying on excuses. He could change if he desired to do so. Apparently, he doesn’t. He appears to prefer being lazy and relying on pretentious p.r. and embiggening by the media and palace operatives.
He also said in that interview that Harry was very restless and had difficulty with his role long before Meghan came on the scene and that marrying her just accelerated things. Peter Hunt is not beholden to anyone and so he can speak rationally and truthfully about the situation. All the rest of commentators are sycophants and unhinged.
Yeah, it’s always been pretty obvious that Harry wanted out. I don’t understand why people think there was any way for them to live the way they wanted and still be working members of the family. It’s a hierarchy. Even without all the racism, the results would have been the same. Harry and Meghan have too much that they want to do that doesn’t fit with where they were in the Royal hierarchy. It’s as simple as that.
One of the complaints from that Shipman Times article was that Harry & Meghan wanted to do more. If hierarchy was the issue why is Anne allowed to top total number of engagements & praised for being the hardest working royal? Why hasn’t she ever been ‘put in place’?
The REAL problem was that there was much more public interest in Harry and Meghan than in the Cambridges. That was the big problem. It was the same problem that Charles had with Diana. Because the royals don’t understand that public interested doesn’t respect the hierarchy of rank within the British monarchy. The larger world doesn’t operate like that – and none of the British royals seem to understand that.
@Abritguest- She would have been put in her place had she ever gotten more attention than Charles. The RR barely cover her. Most don’t know about all she does. The Royal hierarchy is also more complex than you are thinking. Order of succession is how most people think of things, but Order of precedence is how the royals approach things. So, the Queen’s kids are more important than her grandkids. Both William and Harry are below her in importance.
That’s the situation now (and even now why is she allowed to be praised as the hardest working royal) but when Anne was younger and doing Vogue covers & interviews with Parkinson etc my guess is she WAS getting more attention than Charles – people are usually more interested in the female members of the family. She probably had thee spotlight until Diana came along. So again find it interesting that the issue of hierarchy seems to be selective.
Harry has been William’s whipping boy since the moment he was born. Of course he was restless to get out his entire life.
Well, yeah. His previous long-term girlfriend was from Zimbabwe. I think he was always looking for a way out and what better way than marrying a foreigner.
Good catch.
IIRC, when Harry was dating Chelsea, her family said they would help him if he wanted to leave the institution but Harry was concerned about security. Harry has always had one foot out the door. Meghan was his catalyst.
Agree with @Snuffles & @Izzy. Enough time has passed that the Sussexes have had a chance to really experience life outside the Windsor/KP/BP/CH family circle and figure out that it’s a better place to be. Had the FK and FFK’s households kept things open enough to maintain any kind of meaningful connection, that might not have happened. They did this to themselves and will reap the harvest for decades, maybe even generations….
Absolutely! I am also going to make a prediction. A couple of the Cambridge children may end up fleeing to Uncle Harry’s in America. They may decide that their freedom is not worth the transgenerational trauma. If Uncle Harry can set himself free, so can they.
So easy to be set free when you have the cash…if only us regular people could do the same…
So easy to be set free when you have the cash…if only us regular people could do the same…
I don’t know but whenever I see people saying that, in the years to come, one of the Cambridge kids may join H & M in America I just think to myself “Huh?” I don’t know where people get that. I’m no expert but the Camb. kids hardly seemed close to Prince Harry even before his marriage. I mean, Kate seemed “closer” to Harry than his nieces and nephews in pictures. Secondly, let’s not forget these kids will have been raised by William & Kate all these years. Think about what they will be hearing about Harry. Remember how Kate & the 2 older kids practically ignored Meghan at the brothers’ polo match in 2020? William (rank/tradition-obsessed William) couldn’t even be mature enough to walk beside his own brother at a FUNEREAL, for God’s sake! So… Lastly, Prince Harry’s relocation to America/California is largely due to his wife’s birthplace, so I don’t see the U.S. being a future “refuge” for any other royal unless their circumstances (and personalities) closely resemble Harry’s.
@Amy T, I agree and imagine, that during a pandemic H&M have been able to experience a life in their home surrounded by positivity and not by the toxicity of being in the gilded cages where they have no clue who to trust. Imagine the impact that will have on Harry.
@Deering24 said:
“When your own mom calls you ‘Billy the Basher,’ something is badly wrong.”
We all know William has a problematic personality, but let’s maintain perspective that Diana gave William this nickname when he was a toddler. The issue is that no one helped William to overcome his worst character flaws when he was still young enough to possibly be helped. Both Harry and William had difficult childhoods despite their privilege. Losing their mother and living in a fishbowl with a largely absent father after their mother’s death, harmed both of them. Harry’s more expansive personality and his spare status were blessings for him in the long run.
@Nic919 said:
“W and K have never done a tour in an African commonwealth country…”
What country were W&K visiting when they were being carried aloft by natives, while seated on wooden throne-like chairs?
That interview Peter Hunt did was annoying as he seemed to suggest it’s a both sides issue. I mean who are the pro Harry U.K. journalists? William as future king & the brother who isn’t suing them, has the media establishment on his side. Hunt also talked about Meghan wanting a role that the royal family wasn’t prepared to give. Ok so expand on the ‘role’ she wanted. Was it to be as protected as other royals have been & not to be a scapegoat? Because that seems reasonable. But Hunt didn’t say which is frustrating.
Oh, that one was simple. Meghan had a lot of big ideas that she wanted help executing. The Firm refused to help so she went around them and did it on her own with her own connections. The cookbook, SmartWorks, the Vogue cover, etc.
They knew she was outshining the Cambridges and would continue to soar, so they tried to crush her to put her in her place.
and there it is in a nutshell.
I can’t blame Hunt too much. The institutionalised conditioning is bigger than many non Brits can imagine. For Hunt to say this much is huge. He will be viewed as a traitor by the establishment and rota rats for not falling in line to help completely destroy the Sussexes.
I agree that it is Will’s fault. Harry was gracious and friendly to Kate when she joined the family. If he had any reservations about her, he never would lecture William about them. I think Harry is very disappointed in his brother and sister in law. And William’s behavior (e.g. the Flybe stunt) to me is just indefensible.
The Flybe confirmed what I suspected: that Baldimort and his assistant are treacherous and behind the smears and slurs against the Sussexes in the press. Imagine dragging your kids into such underhanded mess.
It think it was a “both sides” issue, but before Meghan. Harry wouldn’t have been itching to get out if he’d had a good relationship with William. Meghan just got caught in the middle.
But again, that is William’s fault not Harry’s. It isn’t Harry’s ‘fault’ his older brother has been an abusive little sh!t from the start. The fault is all on William.
Sure, William is at fault for a lot of things, but I think Harry wanted to get out of the RF for more reasons than just William – the way Diana was treated, the media, the way the monarchy works and its unwillingness to change, a future of confinement. We don’t see an escape from this as a fault, but it would be to someone who believes in the monarchy.
@Abritguest, I agree with you that some of Hunt’s comments are annoying because it isn’t true that Meghan demanded to play a role. She simply married Harry out of love, and expected to be able to do good work. M&H tried their best within the firm and it didn’t work. Perhaps fatefully, it wasn’t meant to work. Maybe everything that has happened was meant to happen. M&H are well out of the royal firm’s clutches, and that’s as it should be.
I agree with @Elizabeth Regina that Hunt is a British journalist/ commentator at the end of the day. While he’s fair-minded, he’s going to be neutral in how he frames issues. Plus, they all want to ignore the extent of the racism against Meghan. And even Hunt isn’t going to tell us any truths about W&K’s fcukery.
I also agree with @Snuffles’ comments. Meghan expected to have a bigger platform to be able to do good work giving back. But she also tried her best to fit in, within reason. No one should have asked her to dim her shine and to be lesser than. The British media and the firm can’t accept just how brilliant M&H are together. Certainly Meghan was unaware of the firm’s incompetence, and its antiquated snobbery and racism.
I discussed upthread Hunt’s additional comments, with a link to the Twitter video of his LBC interview.
To give warmth and nurturing, you have to be taught how to do it or, in the absence of that, have self awareness enough to learn it. The BRF is emotionally too stunted to have it, and too arrogant to learn. It’s not a good prognosis for survival.
Just here to say I love “Big Keen”
I think Harry and Meghan are committed to going forward. Why take a step back when you have a glorious future in front of you?
Well, more could have been done to accommodate the Sussexes, but I don’t believe the royal family is capable of it. If the Windsors were open to any sort of change, they wouldn’t be in this position in the first place, right?
The family’s whole existence and survival is about upholding a particular class and power structure that doesn’t include Meghan, and their whole selling point is that they are an institution that never changes. If they were to undermine that, they risk losing the remaining status they have, and they simply will not do that. Instead they’ll cling to what they have for as long as it lasts, perhaps knowing that this inflexibility spells long-term doom. It’s deeply tragicomic in a Shakespearean way, I suppose.
So I guess what I’m saying is that in theory, of course the best move long-term would have been to bring in the Sussexes and make them assets, but that’s also the one thing Harry’s family fundamentally could not do.
The idea that the monarchy can never change is a fiction. The monarchy has only survived for a millennia BECAUSE it was able to change. The monarchy was very different in the early medieval age than it was during Tudor times, the Victorian monarchy was very different from the Tudor and so on. The fact that Windsors seem unable to change/adapt the institution probably has a lot to do with the longevity of the Queen (and of her domineering mother). They still seem to operate as if they are in the mid-20th century rather than the early 21st century.
^^ Yeah, but it’s not just QE-II’s mother. I’m not sure I’d describe Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as ‘domineering.’ She seemed to be more old-fashioned, self-indulgent, entitled, and an upper-class snob more than anything else. The Queen Mother’s and George VI’s biggest mistakes were to overly spoil Margaret and to decide that neither of their daughters needed an academic education.
The toxicity and family dysfunction was passed down from Queen Victoria via the Hanovers. It extended through Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and in some aspects through George VI, QE-II and her progeny. The Queen Mother, in some respects, at least brought a sense of stability and fun-spiritedness to her marriage, which helped calm the high-strung, temperamental Bertie/ George VI. In general, the two were loving parents, but misguided due to their own circumscribed upbringings.
QE-II was overly indoctrinated (largely by stiff, repressed Queen Mary) toward obsessively adhering to duty always. That’s one of the most toxic failings of the Windsors, which has ended up destroying many lives, including the lives of Princess Margaret, Prince William of Gloucester, et al. Even the current Duke of Gloucester (Prince Richard) had to give up his desire to become an architect in order to serve the Queen (after his older brother died in 1972, in a light aircraft crash, likely triggered by suffering from a broken heart).
Lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas, Charles and William deserve every thing bad that comes their way. They help drive Meghan to suicidal thoughts all while she was pregnant and are also responsible for her miscarriage.so may them and the British media never know a moment’s peace.
Amen
This will all backfire on Charles IMO.. Charles is not forward thinking enough, he just wanted to side with the “heir.” I don’t know how or why Charles tolerates all the spin about the “greatness” of the Cambridges and how William will be a great King . Charles should have shut all of that down by backing Harry when he had the chance and putting William in his place.
Preach!
I like Hunt he does seem to want to approach the situation with some fairness but he misses the mark in two ways. First, the primary driving force of the Sussexes leaving was the abuse by the press, the smear campaign by the palace and the collusion between the two. The issue isn’t the departure itself how it was handled but everything that led to the departure. Secondly, the vast majority of Sussex supporters were never royalist. That is why they were able to see the BS. And even the ones who were royalist were more pro Harry and had seen the way he was scapegoated over the years. For years Harry was the most well liked/popular royal. Harry’s dislike of royal life was well known and he was viewed as almost a “non royal” royal. And I mean that in a completely positive way. The treacherous way the family handled things once the Sussexes decided to leave is consistent with their behavior before. The goal of the family was never a mutually beneficial peaceful split. The goal was to either force the Sussexes to capitulate or make things so toxic they split up and Harry stayed in the fold or undermine their life in California. None of that has happened. So their actions continue to reflect those goals. As for the Sussexes returning. Yes, they did offer a half in/half out model but were turned down. They were willing to compromise then IMO in the hope the family would show some compromise/support also. The family hasn’t and in fact had gone further down the path of destruction with the bullying allegations. IMO. There is no way they would accept any sort of half model now. Will they come back to the UK? Yes. They have made it clear that they will continue to do work in the UK and support UK organizations and causes. They have already done so. If not for the pandemic I think they would have already been back. Will they come back for things like trooping/jubilee events or this recently announced thanksgiving service. Yes IMO but they won’t bring the children or they will bring them but they won’t be trotted out for the rota. I think they will handle things like that the way Harry handled the funeral and the statue unveiling. He was only with his family when he absolutely had to be for the event itself. I don’t think they will ever do the public PR Balmoral summer visit or Sandringham Christmas. If they ever visit the Queen while she is in residence in either place it will be private but again I don’t think they will spend extended time around the extended family.
I completely agree with everything you said!
Agreed Catherine. Hunt says that Harry’s departure was not surprising as he was always restless to leave the firm, but as you say Hunt ignored the role that the media and the family played in that exit. That is significant to me, and I believe this omission is intentional, which is why I will not give him a pass as that reflects his bias.
@Catherine: I agree with everything you said except Harry and Meghan coming back for trooping and other public events. I don’t see them coming for any event that requires them to be in the British public eye except the Queen’s funeral. I don’t think Harry ever enjoyed those royal events where he had to be on public display and was eager to get away from those things.
I agree with everything you said!
Thank u for the additional info & greater context, @abritguest. I usually read Hunt’s tweets which are often cryptic yet illuminating but it seems tht this latest intvw was crap. I don’t know why these people love to make outlandish assumptions abt M, even seemingly intelligent commentators like Hunt.
As we saw in M’s response to the court in her rebuttal to jasonKnife’s/willieleak’s puerile attempt to subvert the course of justice, she said as a newly married in, she just wanted to please those fvckers and so was willing to do whatever they wanted. Fgs “Use me in whatever way u think wd help” is what M told Oprah she said to those fvckers.
She & H had no greater agenda than to do actual impactful projects tht helped to improve people’s lives. And from the service they offered & projects they initiated in their brief time as “working royals” everyone could see that was their ethos. Which, of course was the very reason they couldn’t be allowed to continue. Because thats NOT what the royals are abt.
Hunt and everyone of those RotaRats know this to be true so it’s very disalpointing tht a man like Hunt could now be spouting this nonsense. Pfffttt!
Yes, cryptic and illuminating is a good way to describe his tweets. Hunt also tweets sparingly. Don’t agree with everything he said in this interview but I remember he wrote something, maybe for the spectator, discussing how very controlling William was with his staff and press. It was really interesting.
Also, forgot how Meghan had said use me in whatever way you want. It’s so heartbreaking and cruel the way the family treated her. The level of cruelty is shocking really.
Hunt is 100% right here. Charles as the father and next King should have had a role here. He should have supported Harry when he and Meghan were clearly suffering in early 2019, especially as Meghan seemed so willing to be publicly supportive of him even wearing items from a line supporting the Prince’s Trust in public, but he didn’t. After he failed his son then and made such a strategic error that his son felt he had no other option but to leave he should’ve supported Harry through coming up with an exit plan that could’ve worked for both the Sussexes and the Firm but instead, the petulant little man he is, he refused to even talk to his son and forced Harry to put his plan in writing before talking to him, which was of course then leaked, and it’s been disaster after disaster since then.
All of the mess the Firm has had to deal with as fallout from Sussexit is because of Charles’ weakness as a father and a leader. He let the son who would have supported him get pushed out and let his incandescent with rage older son run rampant but now is crying because the son he threw under the bus got up, brushed himself, and has refused to go back under. You can’t abandon and repeatedly betray someone and expect them to never fight back. All of this is on Charles.
To quote my MIL, now deceased, “to keep your children close you need to let them go, with all your love and support”.
The heart of the problem is the refusal all along to reign in the worst of Will’s petulance and jealousy and force both he and his wife to either be productive, consistent full time royals or shut their mouths and let H&M do that work.
The UK press being racist was not unexpected. H&M knew what they were getting into with that. They did not, however, expect the other royals, certainly not Charles and William to feed the racism or undermine their work.
There has never been a courtier like Jason Knauf to openly provide information to a tabloid in litigation commenced by a royal as he has done. It is a massive betrayal that would be unthinkable in the past. Yes courtiers did leak information to the press, but it was always done undercover and never in relation to litigation. It really shows how far gone William is on his jealousy of his brother and sister in law. Knauf is still showing his face at events with both Cambridges so clearly they approved.
They definitely approved and encouraged all of it. I hope Schillings pushes an external non-UK-based audit to clear Meghan’s name, and W&K&Knauf’s underhanded dealings are outed. It would be hidden by a UK firm, but an outside firm might tell the truth.
This is a problem royalty has had ever since the system of oldest son inherits was invented around prehistoric campfires. What happens when a younger son is better suited to lead? It used to be wars, so honestly we are better off with this nonsense, as terrible as it is. But William is reminding everyone why primogeniture is a terrible idea.
Highly recommend The Tides of History podcast. Listened to it all at the beginning of the pandemic. The two episodes on The War of the Roses are great if you want to understand how building your government around eldest sons can lead to disaster. I love Shakespeare and English history, but I never really understood how the personalities involved drove the situation. William is very lucky. Learning how asshole kings and heirs died in the past might have been good for him to know.
Interestingly enough, before Elizabeth II, it was younger brothers who became Kings (her father and her grand-father) and it is generally acknowledged that they did much better than the heir. Edward VIII was a disaster and while George V’s older brother died as Prince of Wales it was well-known that he was a dud. It actually begs the question why the spares seem to be better suited for the top job than the heirs within the House of Windsor? Perhaps it has to do with the way that the heirs are given absolutely free reins and are continually protected from the consequences of their mistakes. That kind of nurture doesn’t create good character.
ArtHistorian it’s the difference between Dudley Dursley (given everything) and the boy that lived under the stairs (harry)
@ArtHistorian said:
“George V’s older brother died as Prince of Wales…”
George V’s older brother was not styled Prince of Wales. He was known as Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale. Their father (King Edward VII) held the Prince of Wales title for a long time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_Victor,_Duke_of_Clarence_and_Avondale
It’s just happenstance that quite a number of second sons became king. Even the famous Henry VIII was a second son who inherited the throne because his older brother Arthur died after taking ill.
In addition, the phenomenon of over-protecting the heir-to-the-throne with the spare as scapegoat is due mostly to our modern-day high profile media landscape.
This is the reason why I say. H&m won’t attend the memorial service for Phillip. Maybe Harry only but definitely not Meg. Everyone knows that this is a setup for them to come back to the UK. The jubilee also. Its the Cambridges way to put them in there place if they agree to go. After the bullying accusations and Charles nor the queen trying to stop Jason from participating. And with Karen Kate showing the media what she really thinks of California. Why would h&m even put themselves in a situation to show up for the memorial service or the jubilee. When everyone knows the spotlight will be on them and noone else. Sophie showed her disdain at the last service when only her husband spoke to h&m and it was reported that Sophie should Harry where he could go when he went to the funeral. Why put yourself through that when you don’t have to. Harry will go to the memorial service by himself but neither would go to the jubilee
I would like Meghan to go with Harry to a memorial service (if COVID does not prevent it). It would be difficult for Kate and Will to glare at them during a memorial service for one thing. Meghan and Harry then could fly out after the service. I don’t think either of them should go to the Jubilee.
^^ It doesn’t matter what any of us would like to have happen. We will just have to wait and see how the Sussexes decide to handle things, in any case.
I don’t think it’s difficult for either of W&K to indulge in ‘glaring’ at M&H. Surely, a memorial service isn’t going to temper W&K’s belligerence. In March 2020, the Commonwealth Service didn’t contain W&K’s behavior or their expressions.
everyone in this saga is an adult and, therefore, responsible for their own actions, but there should definitely be more focus on charles – as a father *and* future head of this crusty institution, where is he in all this? he should be the one leading the “peacemaking” and at least actually trying to patch things up with harry esp.
i don’t know if these people (and their supporters) don’t at all realise just how bad and arrogant this makes them all look, or maybe they’re hoping it’ll all blow over, or maybe they just don’t care, but sheesh they are all really friggin bad at this.
sigh…
anyone with a functioning brain *knows* the firm blew it with the sussexes (and they continue to mishandle everything, still) – even the royalists know it, though they’ll never admit it. the constant frantic desperate attempts to make fetch happen with the cambridges just confirms they all know they’re screwed.
My guess is the RF are in pure survival mode and they have been almost since Diana left. Charles has made one public plan for the future and that is STREAMLINING…and that was a defensive move to accommodate some of the public negativity about their expense.
And here is a list of other things that the RF will have to endure and overcome at home
1. The loss of HM.
2. Andrew’s connections w/pedophiles and the fact that HM coddled him.
3. Charles wants to make his mistress/wife Queen-consort. And Charles general unpopularity.
4. The loss of Princess Anne and her help with so many public engagements.
5. Dealing with William and Kate not doing very many engagements.
6. Andrew and Charles dodgy money issues and scandals.
7. Placating the media and keeping them quiet about all they know.
8. Losing Princess Alexandra and Duke of Kent. Not a huge deal but it leaves Charles and his streamlined team down to 4?……I think? Charles, William, Kate, Camilla. They can add Sophie and Edward but it’s an acknowledgment that they screwed up.
9. Dealing with fallout from H/M split from US and other areas.
10. All of the unknown stuff. William’s secret life. Kate’s misery and being a doormat, etc… The lies…
@Scout said:
“Losing Princess Alexandra and Duke of Kent…”
It’s interesting that you mention the Kents and not the Gloucesters who are above the Kents in precedence. George, Duke of Kent was the fourth son of George V, behind his brother, Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Henry’s youngest son Richard, is the current Duke of Gloucester. Richard and his wife, Birgitte, are younger than the Kents, and they still do some work as senior royals.
I suppose the Kents are better known and more popular. I think both Edward, Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra have been particular favorites of the Queen. That’s in part because their mother, Princess Marina, as QE-II’s aunt, was well-liked and had a high profile with the British public. In addition, Marina was a first cousin of Prince Philip.
Sophie showed Harry where he could go at the funeral- sorry about that
Sophie realises that she and Edward should have taken that leap into financial independence long ago. Waiting for handouts must be getting old and likely to get worse after the Queen passes. Great deal of jealousy there and knowing that the independence train has left the station. Harry and Meghan stand for everything that could have, should have been them. Regret and bitterness showed at the funeral
@Julia K – Sophie and Edward attempted to cultivate financial independence at the start of their marriage. That ended in Edward’s production company hemorrhaging money and Sophie being exposed for exploiting her royal connections and talking trash about the family by a fake sheikh/journalist. They have never had any choice but to be working royals. They could never survive on their own merits.
This is part of the issue. Meghan and Harry achieved what Edward and Sophie wanted to but couldn’t. It just exposes the mediocracy of them all.
Hmm. Not so sure Meghan and Harry are disappointed that the half in half out plan plan fell part. Also feel like that they are happy that they have a legitimate excuse (Covid) to travel to England as little as possible. Agree about Peter Hunt. He seems like one of the few reasonable British Journalist out there.
When H & M initially floated the idea of a 1/2 in 1/2 out proposal I was so disappointed HM, Charles, William ( my read was it was primarily Willam) refused. Now, however I’m joyous at their freedom. During a pandemic, no less, they’ve shown what they can accomplish given free reign. H & M have truly been the only bright light in an otherwise bleak, depressing last few years. My wish for them is that other than the few obligatory obligations Harry has to attend they stay far, far away from that toxic, treacherous family and continue to bless us with their unrelenting drive to give back.
Sometimes being the “spare” of an heir, combined with bearing witness to the hypocrisy surrounding your mom’s death, can make you enough of an “outsider” in your own life that you gain intense perspective and resilience.
so this has been a pretty textbook case of narcissists run amok and scapegoat gets therapy, sets boundaries and the family goes apeshit.
I’m loving the example it provides for anyone out there whose family is rife with dysfunction who finally says, “enough!”
I escaped my own version of a cult in my family of origin and this story has captivated me, given me hope, and also has me cheering on harry and Meghan and their kids for being so incredibly strong and committed on a world stage.
I wish they didn’t have to do this. I wish these crazy people would change. I wish they didn’t bully Meghan using the press and the courts to gain leverage.
but goddamn harry and Meghan are inspirational.
What’s with all this ‘both sides’ crap and they could have BOTH done things differently and they were BOTH at fault. This still says H and M DID SOMETHING WRONG or briefed against W which neither of them have ever done!!! I hate that this person gets a pass because he isn’t as bad as the rest! WTF. We have such low standards now.
+1,000,000! Periodt.
THANK YOU!!
Absolute bear minimum could have toned down the baby shower outrage. They knew Meghan had just been actively suicidal that night she mentioned at the Royal Albert hall. Barely a month later friends & family put together a trip for her to New York for a baby shower and she was ripped to shreds by the British press at William and Kates behest. They were acting like it was a fully tax paid lavish retreat when they know baby showers are a normal American tradition where friends and friend go all out for new mothers and their babies.