Harry & Meghan 11: She's a Scarab Beetle

[Seahorse Wrangler]

I'm sure the Daily Fail amongst others will be happy to harp on about their decision either way. They are going to be "damned if they do, damned if they don't".

[just_ordinary]

The Daily Fail and other outlets under the same agency will continue in their constant negativity against them. What started as the usual smack down is most definitely a personal vendetta after the law suits AND on the business side- it sells. People click and comment like crazy. Why would they write something else if they can easily write 7 articles about the same engagement, bashing them. That’s pretty efficient. I am not excusing them though! The intensity is disturbing and they are also a big reason why we still hear about them. If they would stop reporting on them at all (like no mention, no photos not even if they cover something they have attended) they would fade away in 6 months top. Whatever H&M do, their jobs/finances/businesses rely on people consuming stuff about them or by them.  The RF is in a much more comfortable position. 

[EmCatlyn]

Does anyone know who was in charge of the Sussex kids while M and H were away?  I had thought Doria would be, but apparently she was photographed going about her regular life in LA.  

I hope the kids have a good nanny (regardless of whether they call her a nanny or not) that provides consistent care and stability.  Three weeks is a long time even with Facetime.

Do we know if the Sussexes are back in California yet?  

[Giraffe]

6 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

Does anyone know who was in charge of the Sussex kids while M and H were away?  I had thought Doria would be, but apparently she was photographed going about her regular life in LA.  

I hope the kids have a good nanny (regardless of whether they call her a nanny or not) that provides consistent care and stability.  Three weeks is a long time even with Facetime.

Do we know if the Sussexes are back in California yet?  

I was wondering about this last night. They were stealth about getting to the hospital with Archie so I’m wondering if the kids were brought to them at some point and it just hasn’t been made public. 

[viii]

I'm assuming the children are with a nanny, but it is possible that the children could have been brought over sometime in the last two weeks. However, given Harry and Meghan's love to leak things to the press, I assume the media would have reported if Archie and Lilibet made the journey over to be with their parents. 

[Giraffe]

15 minutes ago, viii said:

I'm assuming the children are with a nanny, but it is possible that the children could have been brought over sometime in the last two weeks. However, given Harry and Meghan's love to leak things to the press, I assume the media would have reported if Archie and Lilibet made the journey over to be with their parents. 

Yeah, I’m assuming they’re still in the states, too. But dang that’s a long time to be away from such young kids!

(I know, I know, plenty of people have to do it because they don’t have another choice. I’m surprised people who have the resources to have their children with them appear not to for an extended period of time.)

Edited September 20, 2022 by Giraffe

[EmCatlyn]

I thought this opinion piece, The Prince Who Wanted Out but Could not Really Leave , in the Guardian was well-written and thoughtful. (All bolding is mine.)

Quote

Harry has given many reasons for his decision to leave Britain and move his family to California. One he hasn’t said, but would be more than understandable, is he looked at his uncle Andrew, who was apparently so bored in his life as a spare that hanging around with a convicted sex criminal seemed like a good idea, and he thought: “Nah – not for me.”

But like the mafia, you can never really leave the royals.

As he walked behind his dreaded uncle, the two of them in matching morning suits, Harry must have thought: “All I did was move to Montecito. Do I really need to be grouped with this …”

The article addresses how Harry’s call for the public to focus on his grandmother contrasts with his airing of “dirty linen” after moving to California.

Quote

It was reported over the weekend that he told a friend: “People need to stop talking about this stuff and focus on my grandmother.”  …  This Harry must be absolutely livid with the Harry who has given multiple interviews about his grievances with his family, including a wildly high-profile one with Oprah Winfrey, written a soon-to-be published memoir which presumably retreads that ground, and is working on a documentary for Netflix about his life since leaving the royal family.

The final point is especially poignant.  Earlier the article mentioned how Harry and William shared the sad walk behind their mother’s casket.

Quote

As he got up from his seat and moved to the aisle, he looked towards his brother and seemed to be seeking eye contact. He didn’t get it. A stern-faced William walked right in front of him, and Harry took a further step back to make room for William’s children.

Because that’s what he was born to do, and he can never escape it, even if he moves halfway across the world.

And then the brothers marched forth, behind another dead woman they loved, next to one another, and ignoring each other.

[viii]

I did feel bad for Harry when they were marching and everyone was in military garb except him and Andrew. What a slap in the face to compare anything Harry has done to the sins of Andrew. Absolutely disgusting. 

[SoSoNosy]

I saw more than one source that said it took 45 minutes of "negotiating" to get William to invite M&H over to view the flowers at the gates.  Again, who knows?  I also saw that Meghan has asked for a 1 on 1 with Charles, but C&C have flown to Scotland.  There are so many statements being flung around, but William seems to be pretty set on ignoring Harry.  Even if it isn't over what Meghan might have said about Kate, the Sussexes hurt their grandmother deeply at a fragile time in her life.  William seems to be totally focused on family.

 

[louisa05]

10 minutes ago, SoSoNosy said:

I saw more than one source that said it took 45 minutes of "negotiating" to get William to invite M&H over to view the flowers at the gates.  Again, who knows?  I also saw that Meghan has asked for a 1 on 1 with Charles, but C&C have flown to Scotland.  There are so many statements being flung around, but William seems to be pretty set on ignoring Harry.  Even if it isn't over what Meghan might have said about Kate, the Sussexes hurt their grandmother deeply at a fragile time in her life.  William seems to be totally focused on family.

 

The report in most of the media was that W invited them at the last minute which resulted in them being delayed for 45 minutes, presumably while the Sussexes got ready. 

[tabitha2]

Just carrying out an old family tradition… The Windsors freeze people out and don’t look back out no matter how close if they feel they have been betrayed. Because of 21st Century optics and media coverage they can’t do what they did to Edward and Wallis exactly but the point will be made. 

[EmCatlyn]

1 hour ago, viii said:

I did feel bad for Harry when they were marching and everyone was in military garb except him and Andrew. What a slap in the face to compare anything Harry has done to the sins of Andrew. Absolutely disgusting. 

They weren’t the only two. Wasn’t Peter Phillips there also?

I think the problem here is that the uniform is connected to whether or not they have honorary military commands. It has nothing to do with what “sins” were committed.  You are either active military or not, and if you no longer have the honorary commands, you aren’t active military.

I think the Queen took away Harry’s honorary military rank because she felt he could not be a “private citizen” and also wear a uniform that came from an appointment she had made.  

With Andrew, she took the rank away because there was protest.  The situations were very different.  Harry quit his job (which he had a perfect right to do).  Andrew was “fired” in some disgrace.

There were others in the procession who were wearing suits because they had never served in the military or were retired and had no honorary rank.

[SoSoNosy]

Yes, Peter Phillips was there.  Was Prince Michael of Kent in uniform?

[DalmatianCat]

3 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

I thought this opinion piece, The Prince Who Wanted Out but Could not Really Leave , in the Guardian was well-written and thoughtful. (All bolding is mine.)

The article addresses how Harry’s call for the public to focus on his grandmother contrasts with his airing of “dirty linen” after moving to California.

The final point is especially poignant.  Earlier the article mentioned how Harry and William shared the sad walk behind their mother’s casket.

In general that seems to be a well thought-out piece. The only part I would disagree with is Harry’s feelings on being lumped in with his Uncle Andrew…because while Harry and Meghan have made plenty of their thoughts about their family clear (thoughts that were only from their own perspective and their family has never responded with their side), he has never come out and denounced Andrew for anything. Andrew has numerous issues that the public universally condemns, but for whatever reason, Harry has never had anything to say on the subject and if there’s one thing he’s shown is he’s not shy about sharing issues with his family.

 

1 hour ago, SoSoNosy said:

I also saw that Meghan has asked for a 1 on 1 with Charles, but C&C have flown to Scotland.  There are so many statements being flung around, but William seems to be pretty set on ignoring Harry.  Even if it isn't over what Meghan might have said about Kate, the Sussexes hurt their grandmother deeply at a fragile time in her life.  William seems to be totally focused on family.

 

I saw that, too, and it made me think, “Read the room! Your FIL just lost his mother and became King. This probably isn’t the best time to bring up issues you had during the year and a half you were a working royal.”

It might not be true, though. Could just be tabloid fodder.

And as for William…who can blame him? I’m sure the family was walking on eggshells around her because anything they said might end up in her podcast.

Just a few weeks before the Queen died Meghan had complained that she had wanted to go check on Archie after a fire in his nursery and was told she couldn’t (by who hasn’t been made clear).

Now she’s been in England for two-ish weeks and I wonder if there was some concern that she’ll twist it into “They made me stay. I wanted to go back to my babies but they wouldn’t let me.”

I wonder if anyone at the palace tried to delicately ask her if she needed to go home to check on her children. Or if she’ll say later… “It was all so very overwhelming having to be there for the funeral and no one asked if I was ok.”

[Coconut Flan]

Since I also picked fish out of water, I'll add this one:

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-ii-funeral-meghan-markle-fish-out-of-water-body-language-expert-analyzes-royal-ties

 

  

[EmCatlyn]

2 hours ago, DalmatianCat said:

In general that seems to be a well thought-out piece. The only part I would disagree with is Harry’s feelings on being lumped in with his Uncle Andrew…

The stuff about Harry’s thoughts about Andrew sounded tongue-in-cheek and reflected the writer’s own ideas. I agree that Harry seems to be ok with Andrew.

2 hours ago, DalmatianCat said:

[The report that Meghan wanted a 1 on 1 audience with Charles] made me think, “Read the room! Your FIL just lost his mother and became King. This probably isn’t the best time to bring up issues you had during the year and a half you were a working royal.”

It might not be true, though. Could just be tabloid fodder.

I hope it’s just tabloid stuff, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Meghan did ask for a meeting with Charles to discuss how he could be a better monarch and/or propose a revision of the deal she and Harry got with Megxit and/or to nag about making Archie and Lilibet’s princely titles official.  It probably would not cross her mind that this was not a good moment. After all, she was there, he was King, and what she had to say was important.

[EmCatlyn]

4 hours ago, louisa05 said:

The report in most of the media was that W invited them at the last minute which resulted in them being delayed for 45 minutes, presumably while the Sussexes got ready. 

That makes more sense than it taking someone 45 minutes (at the last minute) to persuade William to invite the Sussexes.  It’s not the sort of thing worth arguing about for 45 min.  In addition to needing time to get ready, maybe H & M took some time to decide if they wanted to do it when invited.

One version I saw claimed that William had invited Harry to go out without their wives, but then it was decided to have wives along also.  Since it appears that the guards at the gate were expecting William and Kate but not the others, it is possible that someone (maybe even Kate?) suggested that William ask Harry to take Kate’s place, but this was changed to, “Why don’t the four of us go?”  Such working out of details may have also contributed to a delay.

[noseybutt]

It doesn’t take an uncle like Andrew to grasp that the spare to the heir gig genuinely rots once the heir has a child.

Forever second, forever the baby of the family, no way to grow up and be taken seriously—or, at least not as seriously as big brother. 
 

 

[Lollipopgirl]

Peter Philips and The Earl of Snowden we’re not in uniform either so it wasn’t just Harry and Andrew. Personally I think he should have been allowed to wear uniform, no one would have been upset by it I don’t think. I do think that in all the talk of Harry and Andrew, Anne and Edward get forgotten. I think they have both made a great success of being further down the pecking order. Anne is really respected by the British people and both families seem to have successful lives on the periphery and seem so far to have raised balanced happy kids. Different personalities involved here I know but they prove it can be done.

[just_ordinary]

I really don’t get why people still think PH should have been allowed to wear uniform?? And why they compare him to PA. Completely different cases, completely different reasons why they couldn’t wear uniform. PA had to give up his honour titles because otherwise he would have been stripped of them. PH lost them because he stepped back and his then boss decided that he could only step back completely with his ideas of financial freedoms because this wouldn’t fit (he might have been able to negotiate a York sister like position but that would have meant no military honours and no police protection as well). And PH is an idiot to throw a fit like this. Most people can’t just walk up to their bosses and decide how they are going to their job, what benefits to keep and how much time to put into other jobs on the outside. Not even in family businesses. And no Harry, we can’t just quit our jobs like that for our mental health sake because we f*****g need the money. He also obviously didn’t want to follow the example of his cousins who have a job, more freedom and sometimes have a royal stunt but WAY less benefits. 

I really don’t get why people don’t understand that just because two things outwardly look the same, they can have completely different meaning. It’s not that complicated. I refuse to believe people are too simple minded to get their heads around that.
 

And H has NEVER shown any sign that he has a problem with his uncle? He and M even made a point in talking about Fergie and how she helped M with the curtsy thing- AFTER Fergie was still defending PA. I don’t say he isn’t as disgusted as the rest of the world. But he has not shown it in any way. To be fair, how could he without opening his mouth? The RF at least could urge him to step back to avoid a proper redundancy note. But there is no proof of him being not ok with PA. At least not more proof than we have for the RF. So I choose to believe they are all disappointed in him. The RF gave PH a special permit for the vigil- so they made sure PA didn’t get a better treatment because he lost his honours for a much more serious reason.

[Four is Enough]

16 hours ago, viii said:

I did feel bad for Harry when they were marching and everyone was in military garb except him and Andrew. What a slap in the face to compare anything Harry has done to the sins of Andrew. Absolutely disgusting. 

Harry, Like Andrew, is no longer a working royal. For that reason alone, no uniform.

13 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

I think the Queen took away Harry’s honorary military rank because she felt he could not be a “private citizen” and also wear a uniform that came from an appointment she had made.  

With Andrew, she took the rank away because there was protest.  The situations were very different.  Harry quit his job (which he had a perfect right to do).  Andrew was “fired” in some disgrace.

I think Andrew was given the opportunity to relinquish his honorary rank, but I have no doubt HM would have taken it in a heartbeat.

[EmCatlyn]

We should probably differentiate between being a “working royal” and “having honorary military rank.”  Sophie is a working royal but doesn’t have military rank, I believe.

Queen Elizabeth opted to take away Harry’s honorary military rank because he was going to be going to be engaging in commercial ventures.  If he had just wanted to semi-retire from being a full-time royal and live a more private life, he probably could have kept at least some of them and worn his uniform.

The issue with the uniforms is not so much the BRF being stuffy about who gets to wear a uniform as it is military  protocol. If you are not actively serving and wear a uniform, it’s a little like an atheist wearing a cross —it offends the public.

[Mama Mia]

13 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

That makes more sense than it taking someone 45 minutes (at the last minute) to persuade William to invite the Sussexes.  It’s not the sort of thing worth arguing about for 45 min.  In addition to needing time to get ready, maybe H & M took some time to decide if they wanted to do it when invited.

One version I saw claimed that William had invited Harry to go out without their wives, but then it was decided to have wives along also.  Since it appears that the guards at the gate were expecting William and Kate but not the others, it is possible that someone (maybe even Kate?) suggested that William ask Harry to take Kate’s place, but this was changed to, “Why don’t the four of us go?”  Such working out of details may have also contributed to a delay.

45 minutes seem like nothing — remember this was on the 10th, less than 48 hours from when the Queen passed.  While I’m sure the ones that live there have at least one mourning appropriate outfit ready — Meghan likely did not.  But both Kate and Meghan are out there in an absolutely identical level of black mourning afternoon dress. With the correct hose and shoes. And correctly styled hair and make-up. I dont care how rich and fit you are — nobody rolls out the door in 5 minutes looking like that. 
Really, nothing drives home how insanely rich all these people are more than that all the main Royal ladies had at least 4 impeccably tailored, elegant, fits like a glove, styled just for them, black fall-weight mourning appropriate  outfits, with hats and hair and stockings and all of that.  To me, the minor variations in style for the various events were interesting. But these women aren’t ordering next day off Amazon, or having a friend run to the nearest department store for a black dress that might do. They have people whose job is to plan out and execute all those details.  It’s the perfect example of how their family is their business and how incredibly entwined all that is. 

 

[Heidijoey]

45 minutes seem like nothing — remember this was on the 10th, less than 48 hours from when the Queen passed.  While I’m sure the ones that live there have at least one mourning appropriate outfit ready — Meghan likely did not.  But both Kate and Meghan are out there in an absolutely identical level of black mourning afternoon dress. With the correct hose and shoes. And correctly styled hair and make-up. I dont care how rich and fit you are — nobody rolls out the door in 5 minutes looking like that. 
Really, nothing drives home how insanely rich all these people are more than that all the main Royal ladies had at least 4 impeccably tailored, elegant, fits like a glove, styled just for them, black fall-weight mourning appropriate  outfits, with hats and hair and stockings and all of that.  To me, the minor variations in style for the various events were interesting. But these women aren’t ordering next day off Amazon, or having a friend run to the nearest department store for a black dress that might do. They have people whose job is to plan out and execute all those details.  It’s the perfect example of how their family is their business and how incredibly entwined all that is. 

 

I wouldn’t have been surprised if both Meghan and Harry had atleast 1-2 mourning outfits with them at all times. More so Meghan than Harry. The Queen was 96, and it could have happened at any time. I would assume that she would know that she needed to be prepared in the event the worst happened, especially while traveling.

[adidas]

I keep remembering that Queen Elizabeth asked them to visit h we while they were in the UK and they declined. I imagine they regret that now.

On another note … it seems rather … quiet … in here. Peaceful. Pleasant. I don’t want to say anything too obvious (Beetlejuice).