The luncheon was hosted at a restaurant by Ewan Venters the former head of Fortnum and Mason. It was not hosted at the Palace. I suspect Venters invited the guests. Camilla was among them. She did not host.
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I am not a close royal watcher, but also thought when they got married that it would help “modern” the monarchy. I understand Harry’s issues with/fear of the press…but he certainly doesn’t seem to be shying away from it since he left.
There was talk of Charles wanting to make the working royals (or whatever the term is) smaller and Harry he wanted out so it seemed like could have been a win-win. But (to me) he wanted to have his cake and eat it to.
And I don’t blame MM - he is an adult and can make his own choices.
I saw commercials for the Netflix series. Really? She didn’t know she would have to curtsey to the Queen - has she ever seen a movie or a news reel in her life??
Oh well, never mind then. I’m sure Camilla had no idea that Clarkson would be there or even who he was. Ditto for Piers Morgan. 
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Well, I was surprised to learn that immediate family members (like the queen’s children or grandchildren) also have to curtsy to the queen. Found that out from watching The Crown 
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I’ve lived in England for a few years, followed the royal family fairly closely and had no idea that bowing and curtsying were required in private, among family and friends.
As an American (and frankly, as an adult human being) I find that beyond absurd. Apparently, Diana had to curtsy to her mother in law who was helping to destroy her life.
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I don’t think Camilla can control what a party guest says. Why would she be able to? Clarkson made those vile comments AFTER the luncheon. You can still be friends with someone, even if you don’t share the same opinions about everything. Maybe she’ll keep her distance from him now. Who knows? It’s not like she told him to say those things.
Correct. Nor can she control on who hosts luncheons. Nor should she. She was an invited guest.
That said, there is no way in God’s green earth that she (directly or via staff) had no knowledge of the guest list. So probably not the best judgement call to have attended
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Yup, Camilla could have been the target of those vile comments when she was sleeping with Diana’s husband. Or maybe not, if Jeremy Clarkson and Piers Morgan were to protect the Firm then, they would have kept that affair quiet and thrown Diana under the bus instead.
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And how that turned out for them? One divorced, the other died while being chased by paparazzi. Where was the Firm?
Diana’s younger son believes that if he did not do anything, his wife may not have survived “being thrown to the wolf”.
If you believed that your husband’s family was willing to hang you out to dry, how many of you would tolerate it, for how long? Until you had mental breakdown?
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I’ve often wondered if one of the reasons Harry wanted to leave is so he’d never have to curtesy to Camilla.
Princess Diana didn’t have seat belt on when she died. As for Fergie, she got lonely and got into an affair with an American, that’s why they got a divorce.
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I hope William and Kate are paying attention as far as their second and third children go. It’s clearly not easy being the ‘spares’. I hope they encourage them to study something useful
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Just finished the series. Whooo boy.
I was pretty sympathetic after the first episode but not now. Let me say at the outset:
-The British tabloid press and folks on social media are racist. No question.
-I don’t think children who are born to celebrities should be followed/photographed if the parents request you to stop.
-The monarchy is a for-profit business sucking off the public teat for private gain. Charles and William have a vested interest in perpetuating the royal brand.
But on the other hand, since this is their story, I have some real criticisms of H. and Meg:
-She loves her dad, but he sold pictures of himself–so he got disinvited from the wedding and she refused to ever have a relationship with him for that one off? He wasn’t selling pictures or stories about her; he sold unflattering pics of himself. Like, omg, some of my family totally would have done that. And they totally would have still been my family after that. Was there any other issue about her dad that caused her to cut him out of her life? Cause all he did was sell pictures of himself. (Kind of like what H. and Meg are doing in this documentary, no?)
-The niece. Heart breaking. I noticed she also wasn’t at the baby shower in NYC. Glad she came back.
-The lawsuit. OMG, they won the battle but lost the war. That was tearing them up. Just drop it. What is the purpose in pursuing that? Nobody doubts it was a private letter and you’re just giving the rags what they want. Something about wrestling with pigs.
-Big inhale. So, I noticed in one of the early episodes, they were shooting Archie from behind. I’m like, oh good, they’re going to not include him. But then they did. For their purposes. To show how wronged they’ve been by the institution and how happy they are? To show that he shouldn’t be fodder for the media (but its ok to have him in a documentary)? I don’t know.
-They left Canada for L.A. to escape. To Tyler Perry’s house. A media giant. I know I’m stating the obvious, and i know they have to earn money and can’t go get a 9-5 job, but they didn’t move to a ranch in Montana or something. They picked to be in the middle of the entertainment world. They don’t want to be unknowns. They just don’t want any negative publicity. I think there are critical takes on them that aren’t racist, especially after watching this. They double down on publicity when there is no reason to engage.
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Well, it would be bow, and he did have to/will have to if he goes back to events, like he did to the funeral. I think it is so ingrained in him that he doesn’t think about it. Meghan will do the big, grand curtsy.
And it is not like they’d be taken to the Tower if they failed to do it. The Royals would just think “Oh it’s the Americans again. They just don’t get it.”
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Oops, a head bow of course!
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I think the issue was that the dad was being influenced/controlled by the crazy half-sister, and she is definitely looking to profit off negative stories. I’m guessing if he was willing to extricate himself from her, then he could have continued a relationship with Meghan. No doubt that his version of events is vastly different than Meghan’s.
The fact that the niece was not allowed to come to the wedding because it would look odd that her mom (the crazy half-sister) wasn’t invited, was weak to me. I think Meghan should have pushed for her to be invited. The explanation that she & Meghan had a close relationship despite the half-sister, was a reasonable one and certainly not the level of scandal that the British tabloids typically sink their claws into.
It seems odd to me when she claims to have been in the dark about so much of the royal protocol (the curtsey, what color to wear, etc.), I mean ask your husband, who by the way is a prince, or text Kate (when they were still friendly) or Google it! I don’t buy her “deer in the headlights” claim on those things.
If there was any chance for them to reconcile or find common ground, then this documentary was the wrong thing to do. Any future visits to the UK for weddings, funerals or the coronation will be extremely awkward and will no doubt distract from whatever event is taking place.
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Probably due to Princess Diana. We “Middle Agers, or actually seniors now” most likely weren’t interested in the Royal Family at all (I wasn’t), until that beautiful young lady hit the scene. It was like a fairy tale 40 years ago, as we were young like her too.
Then it just became a soap opera. Are we obsessed with other royal families around the world? Not really, I sure don’t know who they are at all, except Queen Letizia of Spain. Probably because she’s just another beautiful woman like Diana was.
I personally have no interest in Kate. I don’t think she’s that interesting. But the hoopla over Harry marrying Meghan made it watch worthy again for me.
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The vast majority of Americans have no idea who she is unless they read ¡Hola! Or that her father-in-law, the former king, fled Spain in disgrace, and now resides (without his wife) in the UAE. Or that her SIL, the king’s sister, was tried for corruption and, although acquitted, was stripped of her titles. The Brits aren’t the only ones with a dysfunctional royal family.
Other than the British royals, only the Monegasque family came close to American media zeal, though now there is almost zero interest in Princess Charlene.
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This begs the question. Why is there a continuing fascination with the British royals? Is it because of the dominance of the English-language media and the British royals’ advantages and deftness in dealing with those media?
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