I stand corrected.
They probably should give it up, though it has never belonged to them. I believe it belongs to the Crown Estate. 
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/11/opinions/prince-harry-meghan-markle-blame-drexler/index.html
And why is this being referred to as “a crisis”?
@“Youdon’tsay” , the article you linked is really striking. The disparity is just so blatant.
It can done well, I guess but it could also be tacky, too opportunistic for a royal’s taste. Besides, wouldn’t giving up royalty mean not leveraging royalty?
There were rumors Harry wanted to resign his title after Chelsey Davis dumped him because she couldn’t take how she was treated by the tabloids. Don’t blame all this on Meghan.
It’s unfair to compare Meghan to Kate. As @katliamom said, Kate expects to be Queen. She married the heir to the throne. Her son George is expected to be King.She and William have defined roles; Harry and Meghan don’t. But putting all that aside…
Kate & Meghan are very different people. Kate never had a career. The only job outside helping with her parents’ mail order party business she’s held was for less than a year and was part time–during a time when she wasn’t dating William. She started dating William when she was a teenager and essentially devoted 10 years to becoming his wife. During most of that time, she lived in London in a million pound+ apartment owned by her parents and held no job. If it weren’t William she was hanging around waiting for, many of us would have described her during those years as a “failure to launch.”
Meghan had a career goal-acting–and pursued it. She made $57,500 per episode for Suits. She also had a lifestyle blog, which was fairly widely read and supposedly made money. She had a clothing line which was successful. IOW, she supported herself and had a net worth in the millions before her marriage. She had a previous marriage and she didn’t stop working during it. She was in her mid-30s, an adult, when she met Harry. I think it is much harder for her to turn into a “civil servant with a tiara” as one blogger described it than for Kate.
I get a chuckle out of how everyone pretends the Royals are this perfect family. Lets see…
Edward gave up Wallis to become king. Within a year, he abdicated. He & Wallis are believed to have been Fascists. The rumors about why he was attracted to Wallis are unsavory.
His brother took over as King George. He & his wife were successful and popular, but he had a stutter and was shy and retiring.His daughters reportedly blamed his early death on his brother for abdicating.
Princess Margaret, a hot mess. Brought up to be a decorative wife with little effort made to educate her–a fact she resented later in life & for which she blamed her mother.Got involved with a married man 17 years her senior (Peter Townsend) who divorced his wife to marry her. She refused but accepted a society photographer’s proposal the day after Townsend told her he was marrying a young Belgian woman. Her marriage ended in divorce. After that, she is rumored to have affairs with many men–a number of whom were married. Longest affair was with Roddy Llewelyn, who was 17 years younger than she. Is rumored to be an alcoholic at the end of her life. Documentary after death alleged she also used drugs.
Prince Charles was in love with Camilla. Broke it off to marry Diana because his father insisted. Within a year, he resumed his affair. Diana was expected to keep quiet about it. Unhappy, she too had at least one affair. They divorced. She was hounded by the press and, lets not forget, the Queen’s behavior towards her was fully that of an angry ex-mother in law. I suspect that IF–I don’t know-- Harry isn’t fond of his grandmother, he may have picked up some of his mother’s attitude towards her. It isn’t just the tabloid press which made his mother miserable; the Firm did too. Even if Harry loves his grandmother, he must be aware that she didn’t protect Diana; I doubt he thinks she’ll protect Meghan.
Anne’s first marriage ended in divorce and she remarried a few months later. Most people think she was carrying on with her 2d husband while married to her first. But then, her first H fathered a child with his mistress during their marriage so the marriage may have been over as a practical matter before she began her own affair. She & her first H had two children. Daughter Zara is a bona fide Olympic equestrian. She married former rugby star Mike Tindall. Obviously, the Tindalls have achieved something in their own right, but neither is well educated. Zara herself is known in the UK for arrests for speeding & for hawking baby strollers in TV commercials. Mike Tindall has 2 convictions for driving under the influence. He is a “brand ambassador” for a UK online trading company. Arguably, the Tindalls might have gotten similar gigs due to their own accomplishments.
Zara’s brother Peter finished the U of Exeter & married a Canadian.Wife was forced to convert from Catholicism so they could marry. Shortly before their marriage, they were interviewed by Hello! magazine and reportedly were paid 500,000 pounds for the interview. Do you really think this had nothing to do with being the Queen’s grandson?!!
Andrew. Another hot mess. IMO, Andrew most definitely cashed in on his status. He is a very wealthy man independently and made most of his money while he was some sort of trade ambassador for the UK. Obviously spent a lot of his time mooching on wealthy friends, including Epstein. Not all that dissimilar to the Edward & Wallis in that regard. Divorced from Fergie who was tabloid fodder for years.
His daughters don’t get money from the sovereign trust, but do get money from daddy & the Queen. They have jobs. So possible role models for Meghan & Harry to some extent.
Eugenie’s husband is a “brand ambassador” for George Clooney’s tequila company.The security for their wedding was footed by the British public. The couple resides in Ivy Cottage on Kensington Palace grounds. (Before that Eugenie lived with her sister in St. James Palace.) I didn’t hear any screams from the British press about that.Why is Frogmore cottage so different?
At least before she became engaged, Beatrice had a full time job and split her time between London & New York. Beatrice’s fiance is a property manager. He was “engaged” to an American architect until shortly before he started dating Beatrice & has a son from that relationship. When in England she lives in St. James Palace.
Prince Edward reportedly wanted to be an actor, but that was vetoed by the Queen. He became a producer, but wasn’t successful financially. At the time, some said this was in part because of restrictions placed on him as to what sort of productions he could produce. The press criticized him for “cashing in” on his royal connections, so eventually he shut down his company. His wife Sophie had a real job before she married Edward. She was co-owner of a public relations firm. She continued to work after her marriage, but was criticized because some thought her business was profiting from her status. Eventually, she gave up her job and became a full time working royal.
Oh as for “cashing in” what about Kate’s siblings? Everyone knew who Pippa was after the Kate/William wedding. She almost immediately took a cash advance of 400,000 pounds for a book about party planning which was published in the fall of 2012. If she weren’t Kate’s sister, do you think Penguin would have forked out that advance? (The book bombed, BTW and Penguin didn’t earn back the advance.) James started a cake baking business and got a photo shoot for it from Hello! magazine. In April 2011, the month his sister married William, he registered 3 more luxury goods companies. He was unsuccessful financially.
So…to recap:
Harry showed some unhappiness with his role before meeting Meghan
Other members of the royal family have pursued careers and business interests. They do not get taxpayer money but they do get money from the Queen. They are allowed to live in royal properties.
Other members of the royal family and in-laws have been accused of cashing in on their royal connection.
The royal family has been involved in many REAL scandals.
Good luck to Harry & Meghan.
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@jonri -excellent recap! As I said at the very beginning of this long thread, I wish H&M all the best.
Jonei— you could even a Pulitzer. ( no pun intended).
@jonri could probably go on all day about the Royals, because that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
WOW, Jonri. Amazing details. Other’s cashing in on royal connection has nothing to do with Harry and Megan. They didn’t denounce royalty as H&M are doing. I guess they can still leverage royalty after denouncing it but it is a bit of contradiction.
About Kate and William, I guess they are better off than Harry and Megan but it doesn’t look like it’s all rainbow, either, according to what Charles said in The Crown, His life is just waiting for the Queen to pass so he can do the job he was raised to do. His life is in limbo. If his life is in limbo, you can imagine what William and Kate’s life is like, limbo squared.
The Crown is FICTION.
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Yeah, the crown is not like Downton Abbey, that was REAL history.
I imagine there are bits of truth in the drama. Whether Charles said that or not in real life, it is a reasonable perspective of the royal life. Any way, again, other people cashing in on the royal connection, we are used to. They didn’t denounce the royalty. If anything, they probably would like to get as close as possible. If H&M are declaring indolence from the royal and yet relying on using the royalty as leverage to make living, to me it looks like they haven’t thought things through. It reminds of me when I was 16. I declared I was going to be independent but insisted my weekly laundry should be done b y the service we had at home at that time. I liked to feel independent but detested chores that come with it.
Not sure the couple needs any royal titles to monetize their fame. Their fame is based on their history and story; I suspect even if they only went by Harry and Meghan from here on out, people would still be interested in watching them, reading about them, seeing what they’re doing and wearing, etc.
Could be. I am not a royal fan. It didn’t interest me when they were in the palace. I just got caught up in this. Isn’t monetizing “royal” thought to be tacky by the palace standard, not something the royals like to be associated with? They can still be celebrities but unless they can find a graceful way to monetize it, it probably is not welcome. They can still do it welcome or not but it certainly goes against their declaration of independence.
I’ve thought the Royals have monetized for hundreds of years. It’s not just coincidence that the word royalties contains the word royal. There is also a reason why the British Royal family is referred to as “the firm”.
@alh Yes, of course, for good causes not for your living. He wasn’t doing it to support gourmet meal for himself and Camelia. That is the crux of it. The Queen opened up the Palace to tourists to help with the budget, to lighten the tax burden on people. That kind of monetizing is accepted. I doubt it will be equally accepted if for your own personal gain.
“Isn’t monetizing “royal” thought to be tacky by the palace standard, not something the royals like to be associated with?”
@Iglooo “Monetizing” apparently, isn’t too tacky for Kate and William to have done the same, lol.
In fact, here’s an interesting comparison to the different take tabloids have had on Kate and Meghan… any double standards here?
If I understand correctly, the income from the Duchy of Cornwall is where the money is coming from that Prince Charles has been giving Harry. Some seems to come from rents, etc.
Some income goes to the charity. Some income funds the family. There is a discussion about this on another message board I read.
They are joking H & M can sell tea towels, because … precedent
adding:
Is it possible to set up a charity and pay yourself a salary to administer it?
I don’t see how this young couple disentangle themselves (since I understand nothing about it) but wish them all possible luck.
Is that what Charles foundation is? Aren’t their livelihoods supposed to be funded by taxpayers?