For the past two years, the Prince and Princess of Wales’s social media team has done end-of-month “rewinds,” where they repost and highlight Prince William and Kate’s meager appearances and work events. The monthly rewinds never get any attention because they’re always just a rehash of already-seen photos and already-embiggened “work.” It’s been two years and their clownish team still hasn’t figured out that their monthly rewinds would get more attention if they provided new content in the form of never-before-seen photos.
So, all of that was well and good. Then, last Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex posted an Instagram carousel called “Summer Holiday,” full of her family’s summer-vacation photos from Montecito, Portugal and Althorp. I’ve referred to it in previous posts as The Instagram Carousel Which Brought Down a Nation. The British papers have been ranting and hysterically sobbing about it ever since. Well, look who posted an Instagram carousel called “The Summer Rewind.”
What’s crazy is that all of the Scooter King’s horses and all of the Scooter King’s men cannot figure out why Meghan’s Instagram account is so popular. All of those “gold-standard advisors” and no one will say “it’s because she gives everyone exclusive content and she controls her own messaging and imagery.” William and Kate have in-house photographers and videographers, and they clearly have archives full of never-before-seen photos and videos. Instead of posting any of that, they just continue to recycle the same old bulls–t. This is truly embarrassing for the copykeeners. Especially since even the royalist media is saying it plainly, that William and Kate were “inspired by Meghan” or that they’re outright copying Meghan.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images and Kensington Palace.
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- 17/06/2026, Ascot, UK. The Prince and Princess of Wales present the trophy to the winners of the Prince of Wales Stakes on Day Two of Royal Ascot.,Image: 1110823844, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image is free for use but may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever. All rights reserved., Model Release: no , Credit line: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace/Avalon
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM Members of The Royal Family attend Day Two of Royal Ascot, at Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Berkshire, UK. Pictured: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 17 JUNE 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM Members of The Royal Family attend Day Two of Royal Ascot, at Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Berkshire, UK. Pictured: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 17 JUNE 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM Princess Catherine of Wales makes a triumphant return to Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, Berkshire, England. Pictured: Princess Catherine of Wales BACKGRID USA 17 JUNE 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Regina Voronina / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM Catherine, Princess of Wales (Kate Middleton) and family, attended the final day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. Watching from the prestigious Royal Box at Centre Court on July 12, royalty was joined by a star-studded lineup of global celebrities and VIP guests, including Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and acclaimed actresses Nicole Kidman and Sienna Miller. Pictured: Catherine Middleton BACKGRID USA 12 JULY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- William, Prince of Wales arrives with Robert Irwin to take part in The Earthshot Prize Impact Assembly in London Featuring: Robert Irwin, William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 23 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- The Princess of Wales watches as the Prince of Wales takes part in the DMMI Royal Charity Polo Cup 2026 at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire. The funds raised by the match will be distributed across ten charities and causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, helping them to carry out the vital work that they do. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 10 Jul 2026 Credit: Yui Mok/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales kisses Prince William after he took part in the DMMI Royal Charity Polo Cup 2026 at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park. The funds raised by the match will be distributed across ten charities and causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, helping them to carry out the vital work that they do. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 10 Jul 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
What are the odds we’ll get a Wales Summer Vacation Carousel about their 2026 megayacht cruise or Caribbean island vacay? Zero?
They’re living their best solo summer.
This is so BAD. LOL. It looks like it was made with Microsoft Paint. And they had no candid posts of Won’t & Can’t because they despise each other and don’t actually live together. LMAO
I feel bad for Charlotte because her photo was stuck in the middle of the three, so you only saw half of it when clicking on the arrows. Also, the slo-mo videos? Why???
Yes, @BeanieBean, KP Absolutely needs to stop with those slow motion videos. It makes them look like fools.
And I love Mr. Earthshot scowling in the race car sponsored by Dow Chemical. Of course he’s too stupid to realize what a conflict of interest that is.
I did not realize there were slow-motion videos in there. When I looked the first time, I did not feel the urge to see any more than the pictures (such as they were). However, based on the comments, I went back to see the slow-mo and it is pretentious, to say the least. I must say that, between the pictures of the Wailes in their hats set inexplicably on a field of flowers, the children lying on grass, the slow-motion videos, they have really thrown together a gallimaufry of products. Damn, it’s bad!
LOL. Awesome comment. I don’t want to give their Insta or whatever clicks. Didn’t look. Yahoo page said something about the WanK’s giving a rare glimpse into their home life with this carousel. Uhmmm..is that even true?
I was surprised by how bad it was. It is overly produced; a good carousel just needs a bunch of photos and background music. The staged, fake moments of humanity look way too forced.
One of the reason’s Meghan’s carousels are so good is because she picks good pictures – which I know sounds so obvious, lol – but she picks a mix of cute personal moments (her laughing at dinner with Harry), more action photos (Harry throwing Lili in the air), more aesthetic photos (the Portuguese shops) – so each picture is good on its own but together they’re visually interesting because they’re different. and together they end up telling a story.
Loved the picture of Meghan laughing and of course Lilibet flying through the air.
Meghan’s photos are interesting because we feel like we get a little window into their life. We have seen all of those Keen pictures and they provide nothing new.
And they are genuine. You can’t fake having a relaxed, happy, gorgeous family. The problem with the left-behinds is that every photo gives them away as stressed, unhappy, rigid, fake.
Don’t even give them hints as to how to improve. Just let them keep chasing the Sussexes (and failing).
Wow, now see this is cringe. Not Harry calling Meghan on MasterChef. They used to at least wait a couple of months before blatantly copying things that Harry and Meghan did, it hasn’t even been 2 weeks. And yeah it’s not interesting if we’ve literally just seen all these photos before. Is it because they are the couple “obsessed” with privacy, and don’t want to share anything that’s not explicitly created for “work”? Or is it these are the only photos they have because they don’t spend a ton of time together?
They don’t even care anymore that is obvious that they’re copying. They just want the attention good or bad. Whether its the press pretending this is innovative or Sussex fans making fun, the carousel still gets clicks. And it doesn’t make any sense, because they could just go out and do stuff.
You don’t have to take a two and a half month long vacation. Go and visit some of the places experiencing wildfires. Show up at a summer camp since nature is your thing. Unless this is the best that they can do because they’re already in the Southern Caribbean on an island.
It’s certainly not the best they *could* do.
But it’s absolutely the best they are *willing* to do.
Just pathetic.
Right. This is what they’re willing to do, this and no more. Seen the photos before? Not like this! In this order! 🙄. It’s them AND their lazy staff. They got the staff that mirrors its bosses. It would take some work to go through unreleased photos & nobody wants to do that.
I almost feel sorry for them, because the desperation is so obvious (I said “almost!” lol.)
First – its the end of July, so why a summer rewind? Kate, the Queen of the Seasons, should know that summer goes for another 6 weeks. Meghan’s summer thing made sense because they’ve been traveling and she hadn’t posted any personal photos in a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if she posts a “summer part II” in September.
Second – this carousel just highlights how boring the Wales are. There was nothing new in there – not even a new picture from Ascot or another family picture from that photo shoot, nothing. What about a behind the scenes picture from Wimbledon or something? It was just boring. The photos were boring, the events they were highlighting were boring, etc.
Just….dull.
For as much as the Sussexes get maligned for wanting privacy, it’s the Wales who guard it even more fiercely. Which is their choice. But man some cute bts or candid photos can’t be that hard to do. Or share every now and then.
There are fake a i pictures of the Wales children at an a i graveside for diana. In one Louis sings. Keen is there also.
I think the reason we don’t get any official candids from the Wales is Kate; remember their response to the frankenphoto at Mother’s Day? Kate just wants her kids to look their best, or something like that. It’s Kate & her perfectionism, the kind of perfectionism that makes you whittle your weight down to next to nothing, the kind that has you so concerned about screwing up you do nothing, the kind that has you fussing with your children’s clothes or hair in public, the kind that doesn’t let you release a photo until you have scrubbed every line, every wrinkle, and every hair is smoothed. Girl needs some help.
I don’t think there ARE candid photos of this family. Everything with them is posed and for PR.
I looked at the photos of W & K visiting Diana’s grave, it looked so solemn especially for the children who had never met her. I much preferred seeing Lilibet and Archie going there cheerfully. Celebrating their granny.
@BECKS1 You said it perfectly: DULL. The Wales are just so dull. There is no spark, no life, no love, no spontaneity in any of their photos. Everything is posed and stiff. There is no connection that shows between Will & Kate no matter how hard they try to fake it. This is why they fail so miserably when they try to copy the Sussexes because they can’t fake that connection.
Harry and Meghan are tied at the hip and the heart. You can see it in all their pictures but Will and Kate are so far apart, in terms of energy and physical distance, that you could drive a Mack truck between them. There’s one photo where Kate is leaning in at the hip towards William but he is not leaning in to her. He is facing straight ahead- not matching her energy at all.
These things are obvious even if people don’t break it down bit by bit. You can ‘feel’ that their energy is separate from one another.
True, except that only two on Meghan‘s carousel are of she and Harry together, and only one is them closely interacting. The other is her just watching from the beach. Several of the pictures though are of each parent individually interacting with the children. One would hope that even if they’re separated, Will and Kate do things individually with their kids, and there would be pictures. Part of the charm of the Sussex pictures is them showing small bits of their private life. Even if the truly privacy obsessed Wales don’t want to do that, there must be some pictures of them with the children at events that are slightly more casual than the obviously posed pictures usually in the press. That’s what generates interest, something new and a little different, that we haven’t already seen. Instead, the Wales hoard these types of shots, and as we’ve seen, will dole out shots that are obviously from one shoot, over the rest of the year. Whoever puts together compilations like this current one just doesn’t get it.
I believe California kids go back to school in August (at least my family who lives out there does) so this made sense to me on Meghan’s part . Both Archie and Lilly are school age and thier Summer vacation should be winding down.
Its likely that Lili is just starting K this year (depending on what CA uses as a start date). I have a lot of friends who live in CA and they go back at various times throughout August. It doesnt seem to be as early as NC or SC where it seems like they go back the first week or two!
Californian here 👋🏻
Public schools go back early August (the exact date depends on what district you’re in). Private schools generally go back end of August – my son’s school starts August 26th. So yeah – they could go back to school pretty much any time in August. See how helpful I was?
I think schools should start after Labor Day but I’m old.
Huh, I guess things changed since I was a kid! We started after Labor Day & went through the first week of June.
What’s interesting about royals is that they’re royal. They have castles and tiaras and gold carriages and they can make ordinary humans into Knights of the Realm. William hates all that, but that’s only thing special about him. It’s a weird combo of desperation to compete with H&M, reluctance to do the work and resentment that he would even have to try. So, they half-ass it and produce embarrassments like this.
What’s funny is that they said because of harry and meg now gone, they’d have to take over a lot more work. AHAHAHA what happened to that? They never worked so little. Which proves that they wanted them gone so they WOULDNT have to work as much. Such a gang of lazy bums
It’s time for that short “documentary” about Kate’s three peaks hike, so we forget the Waleses are on their two-month summer vacation.
I clicked through and it seems the only way to see the pic of Charlotte is as a transition between her two brothers. Not a fan of the overlapping images. Did someone get a new tool to play with?
Yeah, you have to hold the cursor down across the images to get the full Charlotte photo. She got robbed!
It’s a little scary how much they have stalked and copied every single thing Meghan has done.. it’s very creepy and concerning.
I was done when Keen stepped out in Meghan’s signature Aquazzura heels with the bow in the back. 😵💫😵💫🫨🫨
That yellow hat is the worst.
I was actually just thinking how much I liked it. Clearly it’s divisive bc a lot of people didn’t like it. But idk, I like the hat and that whole look was one of her better ones. For me anyways. It’s like a riot of bright yellow netting creating a sunny halo.
I was just thinking “this is the only thing she’s ever worn that I liked”! She doesn’t usually wear actual fashion, and this love it or hate it hat qualifies
The majority of what Kate wears to me is very meh. To the point that I barely even care enough to comment on it. But this one I liked. There’s a handful of times that it has happened.
Jillian, stop, I’m laughing so hard right now. The yellow hat looks like me trying to get the plastic net over my garden bed against the groundhog
It was one of her better looks. But the picture where the sun shines on the yellow hat, making it look like a halo? Really?
But it does😂. The yellow netting with the sun making it look blurry does give me halo vibes😂. Do I think the wearer deserves a halo? No, but my mind imagery goes there. I stand by it. But I’m ready to be laughed at, it’s alright.
Yesterday I said let’s see how long it takes for the Wales to do a summer insta carousel and well I wasn’t expecting it that day but here we are. I’m sorry. It’s so funny. At least even the BM is calling out how they were inspired by Meghan.
There is no doubt that this “summer rewind” was in reaction to Meghan’s post. It’s still the middle of summer. Kinda sad really.
they tried quicker than I thought they would’ve lmao yeah, a major reason they won’t ever be able to create the same magic is cause they will not ever get personal, not even a little bit. the sussexes look like a family and they show that without letting the public in too much. it can be done, the wales just choose not to. which is fine but then they need to stop claiming to be relatable.
Exactly.
Huh, well that was boring. The music didn’t help.
The rota should do a carousel of pap shots of the separated Wails.
Yes, I let out shriek when I saw this yesterday. And how when Meghan did it she was vulgar, but when the Wales copy her it’s “sweet.”
Like clockwork.
Exactly, @Dee(2) …!!!! “it doesn’t make any sense, because they could just go out and do stuff.” UH HUH. Using a lot of caps lock today. You could just, you know, leave the palace, and shake a few hands and show up for people, like, IRL, as my son says.
Its laughable how they want all this attention for doing nothing, when they could very easily get a lot of attention for……doing something.
LOL. To quote Ms. Lauryn Hill, “It could all be so simple, but you’d rather make it hard”.
I am beginning to think that these two don’t suffer from embarrassment. Like how do you show your face in public when you continue to make such pathetic asses out of yourselves. If they did actual work, then they would have plenty of never before seen pictures to show people, but since o suspect it’s pose and dip out , that’s all there is unfortunately. And since I am petty and I have zero sympathy or like for Willy and kitty , I think there are getting exactly the kind of mocking that they both deserve.
I have a theory, @Over It, from my few years witnessing couples in crisis, from occasionally being in crisis myself, before things levelled out, and you can sight the horizon. It’s very difficult to find the mental and even physical energy to contribute to anything outside your comfort zone when you are wracked by existential torment about the state of your own home and your own relationship to your partner. It just takes too much bandwidth. Couples who come back to each other, happy, at the end of the day, don’t have trouble getting up and forging their way in the world. They know there is something to go home to, and that puts it all into perspective. But it can also be a chicken / egg thing: once you get out of your funk, and forge a way ahead, in the world, with other people, colleagues, teammates, friends, etc…. It gets a lot easier to go home.
So…the only picture of them together as a family is an old one? They had to use an old picture of the family together because……they haven’t been vacationing as a family? They don’t take pictures as a family? What? What?
The yellow hat looks like something the Queen Mother would wear and the jewellery doesn’t work, it is too cold.
That jewelry is for formal evening wear! Who wears heavy formal jewelry during the day, unless you’re prone to showing off your access to stolen jewels? This woman just lacks any sense of style or proportion when it comes to pretty much anything. For example, I was shocked when she wore her massive engagement ring when she went on that hike! You can tell she hasn’t bothered to learn anything since marrying in and no one is advising her, except maybe her grifting mother.
I think overdressing for Ascot is standard, though. I agree with you, but I think all the women do that. It’s a thing.
This is my gripe with all their social media and appearances: how they center themselves. Kate caressing a cancer survivor she will never see again is meaningless. William driving a racecar while a faceless instructor educates him has no power. Meanwhile, Meghan does not curate the best, most posed photos of herself; she barely even features. These are photos that mean something to her, that give a glimpse into their private life without context or even faces. It feels authentic. They could never capture that, they simply do not understand what it is. And part of that is the artifice of royal lives, and the other part of it is just being the sibling with no rizz. It’s not that big of a deal but the insistence is depressing.
I think this is the source of literally all their problems. They center themselves in everything, and it touches all aspects of their lives. Marriage, parenting, work, their comms, their speeches, when they “write” anything, it’s all completely self focused and centered. Kate is only centered as an extension of William, but that’s enough for her. If they were motivated by anything genuine, it would’ve come across without embiggening stories. They’re focused on themselves and their own navels and that’s also why it’s boring.
This is kind of off-topic, but in that black and white check dress picture of her sitting – she reminds me SO much of my Auntie Deb in that pic. That aunt, by the way, wore a wedding dress and tiara to her own daughter’s wedding.
Omg, that made me lol 😂 I hope her daughter’s ok, but wow.
Oh, that Auntie Deb!
The Wales’ summer carousel is GRIM … Posh people (not even fun ones, drinking Pimm’s or something) … hospital visits … photos that look like they were pulled from a company’s annual report …
Way to sell the English summer, Kate and Willy!!
Copy better FFS.
Splitting the photos of William with the Māori Queen is rude and disrespectful. Would they have split a photo of William meeting any other Royal?
She really is in danger of getting overexposed. When you are in the news everyday, but with no new developments, even the most ardent fans start to get annoyed.
Lame. The Wales are always a day late and a dollar short. I agree with @OverIt that these two have no embarrassment about their obvious copykeening. Their grasping imitation is just so cringe! Apparently even Bulletproof Sunshine has no influence.
It is bad. The top photo shows the family from above, looking like wriggling worms. They really cannot compete, Everything is off, inauthentic, try-hard.
Meghan’s pictures are about a family holiday. So the Wales don’t have any pictures of THEIR family holiday? Perhaps they are not having a family holiday? But surely Kate must take pictures of her children? Where is there a single shot of the Wales children having fun? It would have been less obvious if KP had waited until nearly the end of August to post summer rewind, perhaps a week or two before all the children resume school, and George makes his Eton debut. Last summer before the Wales children are no longer all attending the same school, rather than featuring themselves and throwing in an old picture of their children?
The comments over there are HIGHLY entertaining.
And here I thought that the success of Meghan’s carousel might motivate the Wales to compete with their own attempts at “summer fun”. Nope! They’re like, “Let’s just throw out even more of the same, and better yet, directly on the heels of Meghan showing how it’s supposed to be done. Maybe this time we’ll get a different result!”
The Wales’ photos are…fine. They are very corporate, very official, very stuffy and deliberate (even the family portrait). They are, frankly, exactly what we expect from a royal account. It’s almost unfair to compare this to Meghan’s brand, which is all about sharing, engaging, and connecting with an audience. Yes, they use the same medium, but they really couldn’t be more different.
No, the Waleses’ photos aren’t right, because most of them don’t actually exist in reality. They are collages made from various other photos, plus Photoshop, plus AI.
That group photo on the grass was never actually taken; it’s a composite of different images enhanced by AI, with the same patch of grass pasted in as always. Kate’s hand resting on her teenage son’s crotch is a topic for a whole separate article.
Charlotte’s birthday photo—featuring lengthened and lightened hair—could have been taken anywhere, as both the trees and flowers were very clumsily pasted in, and the background behind Kate by the stone was digitally added.
That’s the case with 99% of their photos.
Ever since that AI-generated bench photo, the software has had her profile on file, and they use it increasingly often for photos from official engagements. The problem is that the AI version has been “improved”: slender fingers, fingers of varying lengths, a nicer nail shape (narrower and longer), a significantly larger backside, and a narrow waist—almost like Marilyn Monroe’s :)), and so on. And because they apply these alterations to some photos within the same article, the deception is visible to the naked eye.
Original
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/d1b88f1b-cb33-4702-a23e-755f077a0700.jpg?crop=0.795xw:1xh;0xw,0xh&resize=640:*
AI – alteration of the silhouette, fabric texture, and skirt style.
Both photos are from the same article.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/57a91107-dfa4-48c1-a4ba-34d65c3cd25a.jpeg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*
sorry, but why is Kate’s hand in her son’s crotch area? this is not making any real sense, just a lot of nonsense. these two are unhinged and they are going to be the next king and queen of England? Bloody ‘ell.
It’s disgusting that Kate would touch her son in that way.
And look where her other son’s foot is – between her legs! WTF?
Keen must practice regal looks in the mirror wearing the yellow hat. She seems to be channeling royalty from the early 1900s with those stern looks like a dowager grand duchess.
The gag is that their idea for their end of the month rewinds was stolen from a sussexsquad member. Archewellbaby on twitter has done Sussex monthly recaps for years and they’ve been well received.
They WANT the Sussex life! If they weren’t ENVIOUS, they wouldn’t try so hard to copy! Pathetic! Get your OWN life!
Top photo: Wriggling worms in semi-darkness. The Sussexes would NEVER! Nobody from Will’s team has an ounce of flair or style. Awful copying. They should be embarrassed, but I’m sure they think they’ve hit it out of the ballpark. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But they blew it.
Tamra, The Wales have their own lives, hundreds of millions of dollars, do no work and are getting freebies and multiple vacations constantly. Still not satisfied, they want people to respect and admire them (though they do not deserve it) and want to eliminate the Sussexes, who show what real work, charity, kindness, integrity, honesty and love mean. The Wales don’t want to be “overshadowed” by the Sussexes, so they want them out of the picture and out of this world. The Wales do want everything, their ill-gotten gains AND respect and admiration. The Sussexes are the real deal–with work ethics and charitable causes galore. Eliminate the Sussexes, and nobody will notice the shit job the Wales are doing! That is the logic (or illogic). It’s a real hatred and jealousy that will not be abated except by the extinction of all four Sussexes. The Wales are useless, greedy opportunists, the top derangers who lower derangers feed upon. It is a wicked, stupid one-sided war and it needs to STOP.
@jferber everything you say is so true!