Harry was not stripped of his earned awards and medals; he was stripped of his honorary military appointments. The fact that he cannot wear a uniform puts him at the same level as any other officer who resigns his commission.
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Perhaps her very good friend Oprah should have told her before she got married. No one is saying Oprah didn’t know the background of Diana or the royal family, didn’t see what Fergie went through as the spouse of a ‘lesser’ royal (getting knocked down a peg by William and then Harry).
It was interesting that she approached human resources as if they took care of the business side of the family but didn’t realize that it was only for paid employees.
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I really don’t think you can know what you’re getting into.
I don’t believe she knew nothing about them, or about the institution in general, but I do believe she had no idea what she was getting into. Simply because unless you’ve been born surrounded by etiquette, British class distinction, an instinctual understanding of what it means to be part of the European Courts, you can’t.
The worst is that if she did have a superficial understanding of some things, she probably thought -like most “inpatriates” who become “expats” - that she knew enough and would figure out the rest.
It’s like being a tourist in NYC for a week every other year, reading about Manhattan’s history and a bit of Jonathan Kozol then moving to a Queens tower block.
For instance, did she know the differences between the tabloid press in the US and in the UK, the laws governing them wrt libel in particular, did she understand their readership, expectations, behavior, etc? She probably figured she’d dealt with papparazzi before and that the Palace would shield her to a certain extent. Why wouldn’t she think paparazzi are paparazzi, tabloids are tabloids? Why would she have looked into a history of the press in the past 50 years or so? She just assumed or didn’t realize she didn’t know.
That is not being “dumb” (this is very insulting to the many expats who’ve been in that boat.)
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Thanks. I thought that he was first stripped of his honorary military appointments, which is 100% fair, but then also of his actual medals (which is what I thought petty). Good to know he wasn’t.
BTW, I’m not a “Royals” fan although I’ve had to pay attention for the past few years for other reasons. Hard to have to pay attention to Britain without having sufficient knowledge of the royal family.
My personal viewpoint is that both Harry and Meghan were a “bad fit” for the institution of the monarchy, so they dropped out to create their start up; but the institution itself is still figuring out how to “fit in” with the 21st century so this may be too bad, both could have benefited from a cultural exchange. Perhaps a 2-year engagement with a lot of transatlantic experiential learning both for established royals and the young couple would have been better, but I’m not sure both sides would have participated equally or could participate equally or could even be thought to be participating in something that assumes some form of equality between the different participants (which there isn’t.)
I mostly react to the reactions to the interview 
because a lot of things I read right now on the forum read “inpats v. expats” to me (why couldn’t she just do x, y, z).
I wonder what the spat was about the bridesmaid dresses. Maybe Kate said Charlotte could only wear natural fibers. Maybe Kate thought the fabric might get too wrinkled. I doubt they argued about slips, because I know from work that my 35-40 year old female colleagues don’t believe in them.
So very interesting to read the comments here as I had a very different take on it. The way the British media has treated Meghan compared to other royals is much worse. And I think it’s one thing to expect them to be able to deal with that but it’s a whole different thing when you know the media is being enabled by your own family. All the leaks for the bad press (Megan making Kate cry, Megan being a bully, etc) are originating from within the palace or Firm, from courtiers working for the other royals). If the Firm really cared about Harry and Megan, even if they didn’t feel they could directly respond to any of the media articles, they could have made an attempt to clean house and get rid of the people who were leaking to the press. So what’s the point of their doing this interview? By staying silent against an institution which is actively perpetuating lies against you, you are helping them achieve their goal of smearing you. Why would anyone want to do that?
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At the time of their births, their titles were as granted by the Letters Patent of 1917 which states, “the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names.” So Beatrice and Eugenie are Princesses, as are Edward’s kids, although they do not use them. George was a Prince at birth, but Charlotte and Louis would not have been had the Queen not issued her own Letters Patent ahead of Charlotte’s birth.
She could have extended it to Harry’s future children at the time, but obviously did not.
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Wasn’t the spat about flower girl dresses? Whatever it was, probably last minute stress involved in many weddings, let alone a Royal wedding. How something like that becomes tabloid fodder or a reason to rehash it with Oprah is interesting.
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I believe the flower girl issue was tights/no tights with Kate favoring tights.
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Also, about the media being racist towards Meghan, that is on a totally different level. By doing nothing to combat that, they are tacitly condoning the behavior. I see a lot of parallels to what has been going on in the US lately - all the anti-Asian attacks and hate crimes were directly fueled by Trump and his racial slurs (Kung flu, China virus). What people say and what you hear matters. If your president or all your newspapers are saying/printing racist things, then it must be okay for others to act that way. I believe Harry alluded to that, even though he didn’t say it outright.
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Thanks for the clarification about the tights. I would have been pro tights myself for little girls but interesting it escalated to tears on either side. Weddings are stressful!
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It’s so interesting to read all the comments here. I have shelves of books on the royals and have followed since the early '80s. I watched closely last night and my conclusion is that this is like an iceberg - there is much more going on underwater than what we see on top. I think all families have squabbles (flower girl outfits) and some have significant rifts (baby’s skin tone), but I find it sad for all that these are being played out in public. The monarchy has really struggled over the last 50 years with finding the balance between keeping enough public interest to support and fund them and struggling with privacy. No winners right now in this family drama. I agree with Harry’s assessment that they are in a trap, but it seems like they have the power to modify that trap if desired.
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I thought Queen Victoria back in 1898 declared that the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales would carry the title Royal Highness?
Children of the eldest son of any Prince of Wales (May 28, 1898)
Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Whereas by virtue of Our Letters Patent dated the thirtieth of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty four wherein We declared Our Royal will and pleasure in that behalf the children of the sons of any Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland are entitled to the style of “Royal Highness” Know Ye that in the exercise of our Royal and undoubted prerogative and of Our especial grace We do hereby declare our further Royal will and pleasure that the children of the eldest son of any Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style title or attribute of “Royal Highness” in addition to such titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names or other titles of honour if any as they may otherwise possess Our will and pleasure further is that Our Earl Marshal of England or his deputy for the time being do cause these our Letters Patent or the enrolment thereof to be recorded in Our College of Arms to the end that Our officers of Arms and all others may take due notice thereof. In Witness whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent… Witness Ourself etc.
(from a copy in the National Archives, LCO 2/2028)
Crown Office, May 31, 1898
The Queen has been pleased by letters patent under the Great Seal, to declare that the children of the eldest son of any Prince of Wales shall have, and at all times hold and enjoy, the style, title, and attribute of “Royal Highness”.
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George V’s of 1917 superseded Victoria’s.
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The racist tabloid headlines really shocked me. I have not followed any of this, so I wasn’t aware of the vitriol against Meghan’s ethnicity. And how is it okay for someone who is not the parent to bring up how dark a child might be? I thought that the juxtaposition of headlines regarding Kate holding her belly vs. Meghan holding hers was telling. The tabloids definitely seemed to dislike Meghan. If it is true that the Firm has protected others in the family, I would think that they might also have protected Meghan. I could be off base with my thinking, but I feel like Harry was guided by anger over what happened to his mother. I think that the relationship with the Royal family was already broken to the point that Harry doesn’t care about hurting them … and may well have done so intentionally in an eye for an eye sort of thing (even if he wasn’t fully aware that was what he was doing). Bottom line for me is that I just hope they can all figure out how to move forward from here. I never wish anyone anything but happiness.
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Oh ok, and then the Queen gave it to all William’s kids in 2013?
2012, but yes.
The Queen has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 31 December 2012 to declare that all the children of the eldest son of The Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of Royal Highness with the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names or with such other titles of honour.
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Do you think this is about “the family” or his father? I get the feeling that he never forgave his father for how he treated his mother.
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If you’re interested in what’s being said in the UK (outside the tabloids :p)
The BBC’s take
This opinion column from one who didn’t want to watch the intw ended up being quite interesting
More reviews from the UK
The Guardian goes for the culture war angle:
The Times of London finds it all in bad taste
Provocative viewpoint
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