Harry & Meghan 11: She's a Scarab Beetle

[Coconut Flan]

Allegedly it was when they were in Australia - when her whole life was being paid for by Charles, the BRF, or taxpayers.  

[SoSoNosy]

13 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

When did Meghan allegedly think she should be paid for walk abouts and greeting people?  Was this when she was a “working royal” with security, housing, etc. provided by the government?

I honestly don't know, the picture that accompanied the headlines was more recent but I barely skimmed the article.  I don't even remember which tabloid printed it.

[EmCatlyn]

There’s rumor is that William invited the Sussexes on the walkabout because it was discovered that Meghan had planned to come out (presumably with Harry) before Will and Kate, to lay some flowers among the other tributes, for a photo op.  

To prevent this, William opted for a shared walkabout.  (They let her have her public moment, but in a way that the royals controlled. ) 

There was an incident, caught on film, where Meghan had taken some flowers from someone and one of the aides came to take it from her to place with the other flowers, but  Meghan argued she wanted to do it herself.  A second aide had to come around to persuade Meghan to turn over the flowers.  Apparently, she wanted a photo of herself placing flowers down.

This is disappointing, if true.  I wanted to believe that William had proposed the shared walkabout to emphasize that the brothers were united in their mourning of their grandmother. 

[tabitha2]

Maybe he did and would have under ordinary circumstances but he knows his SIL and her ways. It was not going to become the Meghan Markle show starring, directed and produced by Meghan Markle with Guest appearance By  the Royal  family! 

[Anna Bolinas]

Heaven forfend their carefully choreographed photo op got upstaged by her carefully choreographed photo op. 

[Manda]

It was the royal's week not Meghan's.  She tried hard enough for her attention grabs.

[EmCatlyn]

59 minutes ago, Anna Bolinas said:

Heaven forfend their carefully choreographed photo op got upstaged by her carefully choreographed photo op. 

The walkabout was more than a photo op. It was William and Kate doing their jobs. Their job is to come out and greet people, admire the floral tributes to the Queen, etc.  Getting their pictures taken while doing so is part of the job.

Getting her picture for her own publicity may be Meghan’s “job” but it’s not a job that the BRF has an obligation to support.  The whole mourning the Queen    period was supposed to be focused on family and national mourning.  Even Charles (the new king) kept the focus on the mourning and the importance to the people of being part of the mourning  That is his job.

I don’t know if the rumor that Meghan wanted her own photo op is true.  If it is, then I do think she was trying to step into a role that was not hers.

[SoSoNosy]

I went back and searched; the comment about getting paid was in 2018 when they did a big trip.  Was that when they had just announced her pregnancy?

And I did see her try to keep the flowers that somebody had handed her; she brushed the aide off rather rudely.  Then I guess they sent somebody over who wasn't going to be brushed off.

I just read on HelloMagazine or People.com that they have parted ways with their public relations people.

 

 

[DalmatianCat]

3 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

There was an incident, caught on film, where Meghan had taken some flowers from someone and one of the aides came to take it from her to place with the other flowers, but  Meghan argued she wanted to do it herself.  A second aide had to come around to persuade Meghan to turn over the flowers.  Apparently, she wanted a photo of herself placing flowers down.

I watched about 40 minutes of the walk about the day it was happening and I caught that moment and as it happened I felt like it was an example of different cultures, background, expectations, and understanding at play. William, Kate, and Harry are all aware that they’re handed way too many flowers to be able to able to place them all down themselves and knew they need the aides to help and no one in the crowd is offended when the flowers they’ve given to a royal are passed to an aide. Just handing them to the royal seems to be enough.

Meghan seemed to be taking the responsibility of being handed flowers literally…if she asked “Do you want me to put these down for you?” she seemed to think that it would be a lie or hurtful to not do it herself after she told someone she would. I also think she thought that they would walk back up to the gates at some point and she would be able to lay them down then (they never did…they left by car a ways from the gates). As the walkabout went on and they kept moving further from the gates, I think she realized that there was no quick way to walk back (in heels!) and she kept getting more flowers to hold (significantly less than what was passed to the others, but her arms were starting to fill). I think she finally gave them to the aide when she realized there was no practical way for her to easily fulfill what she thought she’d promised…not because an aide strong-armed her into giving them up.

I looked at it as a case of Meghan not understanding, or no one having explained, what the correct protocol would be before they went out.

[louisa05]

2 hours ago, DalmatianCat said:

 

I looked at it as a case of Meghan not understanding, or no one having explained, what the correct protocol would be before they went out.

Three reasons I'm having a hard time buying this explanation

1. Common sense. 

2. She could see everyone else handing them off to the aides to place

3. She pulled her flower laying photo opp in Uvalde (complete with private jet and the oh, so generous donation of potato chips), so we know she's up for that. 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I dont know what to think about all these little things. Maybe she's doing it, maybe things are blown out of proportion. 

 

Either way, it makes me squirm because I know I'd be an absolute mess in every single scenario and get ripped to shreds by all the watchers. 

[LilaMae]

6 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I dont know what to think about all these little things. Maybe she's doing it, maybe things are blown out of proportion. 

 

Either way, it makes me squirm because I know I'd be an absolute mess in every single scenario and get ripped to shreds by all the watchers. 

Oh, God, me too. All the media would hate me because I would just stand there like a deer in head lights. That said, Meghan was part of the Royal Family and did a few official engagements. She knows why the aides are there, and when she realised that people were handing over flowers, it's a short logical jump to "Oh, yeah, I'll have to give these to someone to deal with because I can't do that and talk to people".

I saw that the royal correspondent, Valentine Low, who originally released the bullying claims, is going to be releasing a book called "Courtiers" which goes into the experiences of the palace staff, including Harry and Meghan's staff. So I don't think Harry and Meghan are going to be having a lot of fun with all that, especially with rumours that they have split with their PR agency.

 

 

[Four is Enough]

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[Loveday]

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Edited September 25, 2022 by Loveday

[AmazonGrace]

These people have all been photographed tons because the queen died. I am not really sure why one more picture of Meghan would have been  a problem.

[tabitha2]

Cause she would use to sell herself and profit in various ways and they aren’t here for that.The photos of her laying the flowers looking beautiful and beatific plastered all over People would overshadowing more meaningful things like the real heartbreak and mourning of the family. 

[AmazonGrace]

There are lots of pictures of her looking beautiful  plastered all over all the time, with or without flowers.  *shrug *

IDK I think some photos of Meghan laying flowers would have distracted from the mourning a lot less than a royal row about Meghan laying flowers.

They were all there to have their photos taken.

[louisa05]

18 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

There are lots of pictures of her looking beautiful  plastered all over all the time, with or without flowers.  *shrug *

IDK I think some photos of Meghan laying flowers would have distracted from the mourning a lot less than a royal row about Meghan laying flowers.

They were all there to have their photos taken.

The flowers weren’t from Meghan. The headlines would have become “grieving Meghan makes sweet floral tribute to Queen”. And I’m sure it would have been carefully posed like her photo opp in Uvalde. Totally unnecessary. 
 

And I’ve never seen a beautiful picture of the woman because she’s always a hot mess. 

[viii]

There was no winning for Meghan for the funeral. She was bound to be criticized no matter what she did. 

Just now, louisa05 said:

And I’ve never seen a beautiful picture of the woman because she’s always a hot mess. 

The rabid hating must be exhausting for you. I hope you get some rest this weekend and stop letting Meghan live rent free in your head. 

[tabitha2]

No. The British Royals were there to mourn a mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin. The foreign royals were there to mourn a woman who was not only a relative and good friend to most of them but a person they admired as an example of how a reigning monarch  should operate. 
 

The pomp and circumstances and ancient formalities are what’s expected and part of Royal duties. It’s the Job and So are the photos that come with every thing they do. 
 

I think many of those Royals present esp the older ones would just as well do without the dressing up, traveling and being filmed and grieve privately but it is what it is.

 

[AmazonGrace]

It is what it is for a large part because they make it so.

I doubt there is any law that states in great detail which photo ops and journeys they must take so a lot of the pomp and circumstance is because they planned it that way.

[just_ordinary]

I will defend M about the „I should get paid for this“ comment. Kind of. I can see it as something you mutter under your breath when it’s something really boring or annoying. So you don’t really expect others to pay you for it even though it’s a pita. Doesn’t make her look better one bit though. Better would be, she never said anything like it. 
 

I do wonder why H&M went to this grieve walkabout. It’s not part of their job anymore? Does anyone really think they are actually interested in yet another Queen and Paddington doodle? The only important thing is the amount of stuff because that says something about how the public feels. It must be painful to grieve for her and have to comfort others about it as well. All while being perfectly nice. This part of the job just sucks. If I were H&M I hadn’t done it. If they are really that desperate for a photo why not get one set up in the evening with less people around? I mean you do you but it just seems so strange after they felt so exploited by the institution. Whatever though. 

It will be interesting to see what happens to the P/P titles. Of course the children are eligible now, BUT if you really want to streamline the monarchy it’s maybe time to cut it. I don’t remember if it was here when someone compared it to the P/P vs HRH set up in Sweden. While I agree it could be similar in the UK it’s not as if there isn’t MASSIVE criticism around those titles for the siblings and their children. And at least CP&S were full time working royals before they got cut. Madeleine had more of part time royal stint since she left Sweden and this was criticised a lot as well. So it’s not as if this rule book is actually a well accepted compromise. I think only the direct line should get P/P (which includes H through Charles, and includes the Cambridgelings through Wiliam) but not more. So that’s a now for Archie, Lili and any future children of Charlotte and Louis. I wonder if the monarchy will prioritise the culling or if they are more concerned if people make it about the skin colour (or rather race because let’s face it they are all white passing- even whiter than some white people) of M,A&L. In the end at this point the P/P titles are nothing but a way to make money as they won’t ever hold a job as a royal in the institution. They might appear on balconies and such but as many other family members they don’t need a title for this. I can’t even imagine how f****d up it is that handing out or taking away titles is that important. Those tangled up dynamics are toxic. They try to outsource this into the realm of “THE FIRM” but in the end it still gets back to them on a personal level. They are in a non compete situation at work because they can’t get certain “promotions” and it kind of doesn’t matter how good you do your job (completely understand why someone would turn their back on this) but it also bleeds into the home. Daddy taking your older siblings to certain things because they will get it. Your children getting less attention because they have no part in the business. I think it’s true for many families businesses, there are enough nasty, dysfunctional and sad examples, but it is definitely amplified with royals. I think the RF deluded themselves and thought they could soften the reality, when in fact - you can’t. Cutting them out from the royal sphere might actually be the best way to find each other again on a completely private level. I hope H&M find their footing with their own projects and at one point can say it was shitty and hurt but they don’t care about the royal stuff anymore. If they reach this point, I am sure reconciliation will be possible. 
(And non of this “Granny can talk to me about stuff she can’t talk to anyone else. I make sure she is surrounded by people she can trust. Only love and respect for her. But we still won’t/can’t visit her under her terms when we are over. H will have to life with the fact that his paternal grandparents died and he didn’t made time to see them when he was in the country. I am not saying he had to jet over for monthly catch ups but when you are there anyway……).

Edited September 25, 2022 by just_ordinary

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I also think if Meghan said that about getting paid it was probably an off the cuff comment under her breath sort of thing....

 

Actresses don't get paid to walk red carpets, do auditions/test screens, or sign autographs outside a restaurant or whatever- She knows that and knows that it's all a part of your brand/name recognition etc.

I can't believe a career actress wouldn't understand that concept so doesn't seem like a real/serious sentiment she would have had.

 

 

I will continue to have no respect for her gift and trying to use her "royalty" for profit in hollywood.

 

[tabitha2]

No matter . She will have her moment to shine at the coronation next year when she will have all  precedence due a Royal Duchess and there is nothing William or anyone else can do stop that. She will walk only behind Camilla and Kate and if that’s still not enough attention for her to damn bad. 

[SoSoNosy]

Oh, I hadn't thought about that.  Honestly, I will be very interested (nosey).  Charles has said the coronation will be slimmed down, but not how far.

Now I am reading that their staff has published a book about their life with the Sussexes.  And in it, they say that the tiara that caused such an uproar possibly had a sketchy Russian history and Elizabeth didn't want Meghan to have to deal with any uproar over it being seen.

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by SoSoNosy