Harry & Meghan 9: Pretending to Be Relevant

[Coconut Flan]

17 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

Was it he rebelled against having to follow orders?  I read somewhere that he couldn’t pass some test, but surely he could have had tutoring and all sorts of support.

Sometimes with all the support in the world, a person may not have the capability or capacity to pass a given test on their own.  

[EmCatlyn]

9 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

Sometimes with all the support in the world, a person may not have the capability or capacity to pass a given test on their own.  

True, but it is rare with people of normal intelligence and no (known) learning disabilities.  Also, given he was who he was, I would think there might have been adjustments in any purely academic requirements for promotion.

In any case, do we know for a fact that he left the military because he couldn’t hack the “academic” side?  There are a lot of military people out there that don’t seem any smarter than Harry.

Even if he couldn’t get promoted, Harry could have stayed in the military (which he seemed to like) and found a place as some sort of representative.   I have heard that the RF were surprised that he quit the military.

I wonder if he just wanted a more “public” life or what.

[Coconut Flan]

10 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

rue, but it is rare with people of normal intelligence and no (known) learning disabilities.  Also, given he was who he was, I would think there might have been adjustments in any purely academic requirements for promotion.

Not really.  In the military and similar organizations, it's relatively common.  There are quite a lot of people who can't pass tests to rise in the ranks above a certain level.  The standards are set as gates and deliberately set to keep the percentage passing down to the level approximating the organizational needs.  

However, I've heard various rumors about why Harry left the military and we may never know for sure why he did.  There were also rumors of cheating to get him to acceptable levels earlier in his life. 

 

[EmCatlyn]

4 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

Not really.  In the military and similar organizations, it's relatively common.  There are quite a lot of people who can't pass tests to rise in the ranks above a certain level.  The standards are set as gates and deliberately set to keep the percentage passing down to the level approximating the organizational needs.  

However, I've heard various rumors about why Harry left the military and we may never know for sure why he did.  There were also rumors of cheating to get him to acceptable levels earlier in his life. 

 

You may be right.  I know nothing about UK military tests.  I was thinking of routine examinations for a lot of certificates and so forth that don’t require college.  

Are you saying that it is known (substantiated) that Harry quit the military because he couldn’t pass the tests for promotion?  (I know of the cheating rumors, but never heard they applied to his time in the military.)

In any case,  I suspect that some position could have been made for Harry in the military even if he didn’t qualify for the next promotion.

I just wonder why he quit, since he seems to have been happiest there.

[Coconut Flan]

9 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

Are you saying that it is known (substantiated) that Harry quit the military because he couldn’t pass the tests for promotion?

Absolutely not.  You're the one who originally brought that up as a rumor and said he should have been able to be coached to pass and that's what I was discussing.  In fact I went on to say that there were various rumors about why Harry left the military and we may never know the real reason.  

I wondered, too, why Harry left the military as it did seem good for him overall.  Doing a dead end job with little to no chance of promotion or a desk job is where he could have been headed and quite possibly would not have suited him well.  

[rosamundi]

10 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

This has been discussed before, but I am still not clear why Harry left the military.  Was it he rebelled against having to follow orders?  I read somewhere that he couldn’t pass some test, but surely he could have had tutoring and all sorts of support.

It was a combination of things, I think. While he was on active duty in Afghanistan some journalists leaked that he was there, and it became increasingly obvious that this painted a massive target not only on him but on the rest of his group, and so he was pulled out and taken home. His military career had reached a crossroads by this point as well, he had the choice to take more seniority but spending all his time behind a desk, or stay as a captain, but never see active duty again because of the risks.

[MamaJunebug]

Okay, I had an opportunity today that I passed up - wisely, I think, but oh boy if I had asked, I wonder what answer I’d gotten:

Remember when Amal and George Clooney showed up at the H&M wedding? It reportedly  turned out that they weren’t really close at all with the bridal couple, but they’d received the invitation to attend and  said, “Sure! Why not?”

Wellll … I met George’s mom today. No kidding. She’s delightful, gorgeous, and I see where George got his ready, dry, self-deprecating wit. 
 

Before I realized who she was, though, I wondered aloud how a sophisticated, elegant gal like Amal fit in with George’s Kentucky relatives. When the lady called Amal “the best thing that ever happened to George,” I realized it was Mama Clooney. 
 

I wanted so badly to ask Mrs. Clooney, Sr., how the pair enjoyed the Royal wedding and how close they really were to H&M!!
 

But I didn’t because it was abundantly apparent that Mrs. Clooney is well versed in knowing what to say, and I’m sure she wouldn’t have said anything like, “Right? That Meghan, what a goober, huh?”

But oh boy, I would’ve so loved to get the skinny!  

Okay, I’m back to my lurk mode.  Y’all carry on, carrying on!  I love seeing holes poked in pomposity !!!!!

[EmCatlyn]

From interview in Time of Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor—the Truth and the Turmoil.

Quote

Your portrayal of Prince Harry has him utterly consumed by hatred of the press. Doesn’t that make his current foray into media all the more puzzling? 

I’m told that is most puzzling to the royal family themselves at the moment. Apparently, what they say about Harry is ‘we don’t recognize him.’ Essentially, this conflict between wanting no press to being someone who can’t seem to stop talking. And he’s now writing a book which invades not just his own privacy but also that of his family, when he’s always suffered so deeply from these tell-all books. I think Harry must be in his own mind completely confused about what he should and shouldn’t be doing.

 

[SoSoNosy]

I see that somebody else answered much better than  I could.

Edited April 26, 2022 by SoSoNosy
too little information.

[MamaJunebug]

Ok, I’m a little over-interested in the Clooneys  right now and for fun I researched the reports that they didn’t know H&M but gladly accepted a royal wedding invitation.  
 

Two things, the less interesting first:  The Clooneys appear to have been yanking the media’s chain, responding to a reporter’s question, “How do you know the happy couple?” with big grins and the response, “We don’t!”  Typical of George to play with the media.  In the same article, A&G are quoted saying H&M are lovely and will make great parents, bla-bla-bla. They were all acquainted.  ETA the link: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/meghan-harrys-true-bond-clooneys-23793277

Second and much better, IMHO:  This next link is to a news story announcing Ms. Alamuddin’s engagement.

Read to the end for the identity of her then groom-to-be:  https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/04/amal-alamuddin-london-lawyer-to-wed-actor.html

Love it because IMO, the work she does makes her a kind of true royalty in my eyes. Those who are Royal because of the happenstance of birth, eh: Let’s see what they do with it.   
 

Those like Amal’s fella, who are royalty of a sort because of their celebrity stemming from achievements and amassed wealth: Yeah, sure, that’s exciting. 
 

But the kind of law Amal practices?  That’s worthy of amazement & admiration.  IMHO, of course. And I still ain’t curtsying to anybody unless they’re returning the respect.   

Edited April 27, 2022 by MamaJunebug

[louisa05]

Pearl has been canceled by Netflix. This story spins it as just typical business. But you have to wonder if the Harkles slow production is a factor. 
 

https://deadline.com/2022/05/meghan-markle-animated-series-pearl-canceled-netflix-cutbacks-prince-harrs-archewell-productions-1235013893/

[LilaMae]

I don't think the slow production helped but netflix has been cancelling a lot of animation shows. Does animation cost more? 

Harry and Meghan's main problem now is that 2 years into their entertainment mogul career, they have nothing to show for it but a 30 minute spotify podcast, plus the upcoming Archetypes podcast and Invictus doc, although the last two have no release date as of yet. 

[kpmom]

On 4/23/2022 at 11:09 PM, Coconut Flan said:

 

I wondered, too, why Harry left the military as it did seem good for him overall.  Doing a dead end job with little to no chance of promotion or a desk job is where he could have been headed and quite possibly would not have suited him well.  

I'm listening to the audio version of Tina Brown's book now, and she suggests this too.  She said the higher up in the military, the more you become a desk jockey, and that wouldn't have suited Harry at all.  She wrote that he enjoyed military life, and things maybe would have worked out better for him if he could have continued.

[just_ordinary]

The cancellation of Pearl is actually really sad. The initial idea sounded great. But with more and more info coming out that it would be modelled after Meghan‘s life it kind of raised eyebrows for me. Sorry Meghan, the story of your life is just not that inspiring. The initial idea sounded much more intriguing and I actually hope to see a similar project in the future. From an established production company so it actually sees the light of day.
 

I do think though that the slow or rather non production made the decision to cut it easier. Their whole production company honesty looks like such a joke. They had ample opportunities to start stuff. They just want the a-List names (instead of the unheard voices they claimed to support in the beginning), they want the big audience straight away, they want all the positive headlines and praise (instead of starting small and build up) and they completely forgot that you have to have an idea (and no, it doesn’t have to be the world saving, solving all global problems), a plan and do the work. 
W&K are often said to be workshy. And while I agree, they do the job. They turn up to the engagements they probably find boring or annoying, smile and act as if they are so happy to be there. That’s called professionalism. H might have thought that being a royal is a trap, but it seems he didn’t realise that holding a job means you have to do things and turn up even if you don’t feel like it in the morning.

With them not being able to get anything going but acting all high and mighty they deserve every ounce of Schadenfreude coming their way. 🍿🍿🍿

Edited May 2, 2022 by just_ordinary

[Melbelle]

5 hours ago, just_ordinary said:

The cancellation of Pearl is actually really sad. The initial idea sounded great. But with more and more info coming out that it would be modelled after Meghan‘s life it kind of raised eyebrows for me. Sorry Meghan, the story of your life is just not that inspiring. The initial idea sounded much more intriguing and I actually hope to see a similar project in the future. From an established production company so it actually sees the light of day.

The early descriptions I saw for the show, before it seems to have changed to be about Meghan's childhood, indicated that Pearl would be inspired by or perhaps even meeting important historical figures.  There's a great show on PBS called Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum that is very similar to this.  It features three kids that time travel to meet all kinds of important historical figures.  It's a very sweet and educational show.  My kid really enjoys it.  It might be something you would enjoy checking out.

[DalmatianCat]

9 hours ago, just_ordinary said:

I do think though that the slow or rather non production made the decision to cut it easier. Their whole production company honesty looks like such a joke. They had ample opportunities to start stuff. They just want the a-List names (instead of the unheard voices they claimed to support in the beginning), they want the big audience straight away, they want all the positive headlines and praise (instead of starting small and build up) and they completely forgot that you have to have an idea (and no, it doesn’t have to be the world saving, solving all global problems), a plan and do the work. 
W&K are often said to be workshy. And while I agree, they do the job. They turn up to the engagements they probably find boring or annoying, smile and act as if they are so happy to be there. That’s called professionalism. H might have thought that being a royal is a trap, but it seems he didn’t realise that holding a job means you have to do things and turn up even if you don’t feel like it in the morning.

I can see Harry being naive enough to not know how the film industry works and thinking it would be “easy” to break into because name recognition has gotten him pretty far in life thus far.
Meghan should have been more aware…she spent years as C-list actress on a popular-enough cable show. Her dad also worked in the industry. She no doubt met many bright, creative, imaginative writers, illustrators, actors, and wanna-be directors/producers with incredibly original ideas who couldn’t get their own projects off the ground.
“Pearl” didn’t sound all that revolutionary to me…girls finding their place in the world and being inspired by the women who came before is rather on-trend right now, but not terribly original.

The tough thing Meghan and Harry will be facing now is they were given some nice contracts rather quickly based off name recognition. By not being able to actually start, finish, and present a project that could stand-alone as interesting apart from themselves I think companies and producers are going to be much more slow to want to work with them going forward. At the end of the day, Harry and Meghan don’t have that many original, creative ideas. No one should have expected otherwise…neither of them majored in creative writing, film production, graphic design, etc. Meghan has a theatre degree, but up until marriage she seemed to prefer to be the one performing material, not creating it. 
At the end of the day, there are no end of original ideas floating around Hollywood (ask any dreamy-eyed teen or college student with a notebook full of sketches and story ideas), but having the ability to get them off the ground takes a lot hard work and talent.

I’m guessing Harry is already circling back to realizing that “working” as a royal was actually pretty easy compared to working on his own.

[EmCatlyn]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:56 PM, DalmatianCat said:

I can see Harry being naive enough to not know how the film industry works and thinking it would be “easy” to break into because name recognition has gotten him pretty far in life thus far.
Meghan should have been more aware…she spent years as C-list actress on a popular-enough cable show. Her dad also worked in the industry. She no doubt met many bright, creative, imaginative writers, illustrators, actors, and wanna-be directors/producers with incredibly original ideas who couldn’t get their own projects off the ground.
“Pearl” didn’t sound all that revolutionary to me…girls finding their place in the world and being inspired by the women who came before is rather on-trend right now, but not terribly original.

The tough thing Meghan and Harry will be facing now is they were given some nice contracts rather quickly based off name recognition. By not being able to actually start, finish, and present a project that could stand-alone as interesting apart from themselves I think companies and producers are going to be much more slow to want to work with them going forward. At the end of the day, Harry and Meghan don’t have that many original, creative ideas. No one should have expected otherwise…neither of them majored in creative writing, film production, graphic design, etc. Meghan has a theatre degree, but up until marriage she seemed to prefer to be the one performing material, not creating it. 
At the end of the day, there are no end of original ideas floating around Hollywood (ask any dreamy-eyed teen or college student with a notebook full of sketches and story ideas), but having the ability to get them off the ground takes a lot hard work and talent.

I’m guessing Harry is already circling back to realizing that “working” as a royal was actually pretty easy compared to working on his own.

Most of what I have read discussing this suggests that the Sussexes are going to use their “royal” experiences in order to generate material.

I almost feel sorry for them because they seem to want so much more than what they have, and yet they have so much more than most people.  I am not sure that Harry has realized yet that being “the royal rebel” is not going to keep him going indefinitely.  And although the novelty of a life where you pretty much decide what you are going to do every day doesn’t look like it will wear out soon, at some point he may miss his old life.  But maybe not.

[viii]

I wish they had gone to the Met Gala. I'm sure their clothing choices would have been fun to remark on. 

[DalmatianCat]

On 5/4/2022 at 11:00 AM, viii said:

I wish they had gone to the Met Gala. I'm sure their clothing choices would have been fun to remark on. 

Harry and Meghan seem to prefer events where they’re the biggest stars. Probably toomuch competition at the Met.

[rosamundi]

Harry, Meghan and Andrew will not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony during jubilee celebrations. This has been reserved for those royals carrying out royal duties, and their children.

[viii]

Yet apparently they're still going to attend. Interesting. 

[Giraffe]

11 minutes ago, viii said:

Yet apparently they're still going to attend. Interesting. 

Only if Harry feels like they’ve gotten the issue of security resolved. 🙄

[louisa05]

1 hour ago, viii said:

Yet apparently they're still going to attend. Interesting. 

I’m sure this will keep them away and security will be the excuse. 
 

As if security will be lax at events attended by the entire BRF and leaders of government. Just like it was lax at the memorial service for Prince Philip. Because security wouldn’t have been tight at all with the majority of the family plus almost all the monarchs of Europe. 

[viii]

36 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

I’m sure this will keep them away and security will be the excuse. 

They announced they were attending after it was announced they wouldn't be on the balcony. 

I won't believe it until I see it, though. 

[MomJeans]

I believe it. I think the Netflix deal is in serious trouble. So their team is telling them to ramp up their royal credentials.