I don’t think anyone is trivializing anything. I think that everyone wishes that if someone is having serious depression issues, that first they confide in anyone that they can find. Their spouse, their physician, friends, colleagues.
I think the issue for me is that the family has made mental health awareness a central point for n their philanthropy. I think that it’s ok for us the public to wonder why Meghan claims that no one would listen to her. Harry did say that he wasn’t in tune with her feelings, I think that’s correct?
We all wished for anyone struggling to find the help they need. I’ve certainly wondered about the avenues that Meghan explored.
I don’t mean to trivialize depression; one of my close friends suffers from serious depression and another’s oldest son committed suicide. What I meant to say is that the OB should have served as a gateway for Meghan getting needed help. If Meghan and Harry didn’t raise the red flags needed for help vehemently enough to get help, I’d like to think a doctor’s serious intervention - warnings - would have started the ball rolling.
And it’s not that the public just sends gifts; they support a lavish lifestyle which Meghan and Harry leaned into wholeheartedly.
My recollection from the Netflix series was that Harry told Charles privately that they were prepared to give up their titles. He said it was immediately leaked to the press which was evidence to Harry that his father’s staff was leaking information to the tabloids. He also said that they made several proposals to continue to carry out royal duties away from London. And as for security, I think the complaint there was that it was discontinued in Canada on extremely short notice. I also recall they wanted security protection when they would come back to London due to the level of threats against them and against Meghan in particular. (See post #230 above.) I think saying they “want their cake and eat it too” is very oversimplified.
Hmm. How odd. As I recall even in the first pictures, they carefully revealed just the baby’s foot, then later a hand-I remember photographers complaining about it at the time. It was a while before they showed the child’s face. I really do not care what the kid looks like, but I thought the partial reveal was ludicrous. Surprised that an actress claims she couldnt figure out how to share a pic of her holding the baby with the press, but maybe its just further proof she was not right for the job. It really wasnt that hard to figure out.
If you buy into the whole “they want their cake and eat it too” then it’s possible that you’re basing it on the toxic output of the British tabloids (aided by the info fed to them by the offices of certain other royals). In fact, they never said they wanted “privacy” as so many keep repeating, ad nauseum. That would be absurd.
What they actually wanted was to be free of the mandatory royal rota requiring them to make nice with the publications responsible for the libelous stories written about them and the media outlets paying Meghan’s vile half sister to give them interviews featuring lies about her. They were perfectly willing to carry out duties supporting the institution if they could choose philanthropies tied to the all important Commonwealth. Harry said that at first he was told that they favored a half in/half out strategy they could have managed and then it was suddenly yanked away without explanation or discussion.
In the end their only choices seemed to be submit to continuing abuse which seemed to be supported by the family, or escape, leaving the royal duties behind. Harry’s big mistake was in thinking that his family actually cared about his and his growing family’s welfare.
There are probably musunderstandings on both sides and Harry wants an apology but doesn’t acknowledge his part in any of this. I hope they can work this out for the sake of the children and family relations, but the book coming out may very well further damage relationships.
Then they misunderstood the role. The job is to support those philanthropic efforts approved by the Crown, and to support the Crown no matter what. If that was not what they were willing to do, they were right to leave. No member of the royal family does direct battle with the press regardless of what is printed. If those general rules are insufferable, then yes by all means depart for everyone’s benefit. I hope they are happier.
In any event it seems to go well with the current plan to streamline the royal family to only immediate line of succession, which is more appropriate. eventually I would assume Charlotte and Louis will be spun off in their 20s or 30s as well. One doesnt need all these excessive fringe royals on the payroll anyway and there arent that many duties.
I assume at this point that any time Harry and/or Meghan talk to the press/media they are trying to drive traffic/sales/revenues to their podcast/Netflix programs/Harry’s new book…it all seems entirely self-serving, which is unappealing, at least to me.
It doesn’t seem their repeated interviews will help ‘repair’ relations with the estranged family, or result in an apology from the family…rather it seems what they are doing would make these things worse/less likely.
I haven’t been paying attention to how the couple tests in the UK or US on likability dimensions, or Q score and the like, but I do see the Netflix show trending so what they are doing must be working from their perspective.
Their desire to build a U.S. presence reminds me of when the Beckhams moved to Los Angeles 15 or so years ago with seemingly similar aspirations, and that didn’t go as well as hoped.
Fwiw, the series has a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So people may be talking about it, but not in a good way. But as Oscar Wilde said, “There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
In Britain the institution trumps familial concerns so far as I can see. I fully agree that the monarchy needs to be streamed way, way down. Not sure why every child, aunt, uncle etc needs to have some formal role. How many ribbon cuttings, charity events etc. really need a royal presence? Most other modern monarchies (an oxymoron, really) are much more streamlined with royals outside of the direct succession having normal jobs and lives.
Exactly! A fitting quote for this couple and their aspirations. That’s why I referenced the Q score, which measures both familiarity and popularity, and is important when pitching new shows/books/podcasts/etc. to advertisers and other money peeps.
The Q Score (popularly known as Q-Rating) is a measurement of the familiarity and appeal of a brand, celebrity, company, or entertainment product (e.g., television show) used in the United States. The higher the Q Score, the more highly regarded the item or person is, among those who are aware of the subject. Q Scores and other variants are primarily used by the advertising, marketing, media, and public relations industries.
Anderson Cooper is interviewing Harry on 60 Minutes next week, and at least part is on how H&M have been wronged by the Firm feeding stories to the press. What could the family possibly be feeding to the press after 2 years? H&M don’t seem to understand that the purpose of the rota, the press pool, is for the press to share coverage so that there aren’t 20 reporters following them around. The palace can’t control the paparazzi, but at least using the rota cuts down on number of media following them.
I searched for times when the press had called their children the N word (according to Meghan). Nothing came up except Meghan claiming that happened. The closest was when one paper (Mail) said Meghan was ‘Straight outta Compton’ but they weren’t even married then, and didn’t have children.
I would not like the paparazzi following me or bothering my friends either, but it seems to have died down and their moving to California worked to get them the level of public/private they wanted. Until they stir it up again. I did not know about their trip to Germany and the Invictus games until the Queen died and they had to travel to the UK for the funeral. They aren’t going to avoid that coverage unless they entirely stay away from the UK and royal events.
If they attend the coronation, they are going to get press coverage again and some of it is going to be negative - they were in the wrong row at an event, they weren’t invited onto the balcony, Meghan wore the wrong color lipstick…if they don’t want to play with the press, the press is going to be negative. That’s how it works for royals and movie stars and musicians and politicians. The press makes money stirring up controversy. Including Oprah.
I’m pretty sure that it’s a standard requirement from a book publisher that the author agrees to do lots of interviews to promote the book and drive sales. Whether you’re Bob Woodward or John Bolton or Jenette McCurdy, part of your contractual obligation (and self-interest) is to make the rounds of talk shows, podcasts, etc being interviewed about your book. I’ll bet Harry would be in breach of his contractual obligations if he suddenly declined to do interviews about his book at this stage.
Based on that reasoning, Diana should never have made a point of supporting victims of the AIDS epidemic. The queen actually asked her why she couldn’t have chosen a “nicer” issue. Meghan got blowback for mentioning the Metoo movement when in a forum discussing the various issues they were interested in supporting, something I find truly baffling.
The Royal family only supports things to support their own image and interests. Actually helping people who are suffering is never a priority.
Actually I agree and thought that was obvious-the Crown is interested in sustaining the Crown, that is both the top and only priority. Was there anyone who did not realize that, particularly after Diana? Did anyone really confuse royalty, with the private jets and ostentatious palaces, with some nonprofit do-good agency interested in promoting public welfare? Really? They have never been that in all of history.
I have never felt that Kate was cold and didn’t want to be where she was. Neither got the sense that Kate and William didn’t like each other- they don’t do PDA but that doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. M&H on the other hand seemed like they did a lot of PDA to go against Royal protocol but seemed more for show than real affection.