I don’t watch much tv, so I’m quite unlikely to watch this series (despite my family’s Netflix subscription). And although I usually avoid much in the way of tabloids and articles written about people only because they’re famous, I’ve read more about the Harry & Meghan stuff than I usually would. I don’t know why, perhaps because it seems to be a slow-moving train wreck.
I think that when H&M became engaged, it seemed as though royals/upper class society were finally joining the 21st century, primarily as evidenced that a member of the royal family was marrying a person of color. I didn’t know who Meghan Markle was, except after the engagement I realized I had previously read one or two blog posts/articles of hers that had been recommended to me. Thus, I had no real thoughts about Meghan, but some somewhat positive feelings toward her.
I think that the negative reactions and press and everything else after the marriage was more dispiriting than anything else. Hopes (mine at least) were raised about what the modern monarchy was going to be like, and the lack of support from Buckingham Palace in terms of correcting any errors or blasting the inappropriateness of what was being said was pretty obvious, dashing those hopes.
I was fine with H&M stepping away from royal life. The repeated airing of their grievances, however, does not make me think favorably of them. Between the amounts of money they already have combined with their deals on Spotify and wherever else, they could continue to work on charitable causes (or anything else) and never need mention the royal family again.
I did not watch the Oprah interview, but from a quick internet search, the interview was held at the house of one of Oprah Winfrey’s friends.
I said nothing about that. Harry can love whoever the heck he wants regardless of celebrity status. One my many beefs about Meghan is that she acts like she is some big shot celebrity and that we should be impressed by her and she’s not “all that”.
I very much think she is an opportunist. Harry is the one who surprises me. This is his family after all, and this sure isn’t going to “teach” them anything. A good partner tries to make things easier for their partner in regards to family.
She was a b list cable tv actress who didn’t have star billing. The show was nearing the end of its run and she wasn’t finding much traction in other roles.
She didn’t even know many of the people she invited to her wedding. But didn’t invite many of the people she did know. Except for her recent co stars from her show.
I don’t think great things about Prince Harry either. He is throwing his family under the bus. He is damaged from his mother dying at the young age. Doesn’t excuse his behavior.
I just finished watching the first three episodes. My heart goes out to both of them. It seems evident that Harry is very scarred and shaped by his experience with the press (rightfully so IMO), and Meghan seemed very naive to how crazy the British press could be. As many have pointed out, she wasn’t that famous and her experience with the press, especially in Canada, was much more contained.
I don’t blame them for taking a step back, nor wanting to share their side of the story.
That’s how I felt right after I watched it. But the more I think about it, the more conflicted I become. For example, That bit of drama with the curtsying is inexcusable.
1), it was filmed before the Queen was dead.
2), it’s part of his heritage and culture
3) he loved his grandmother
4) I think she thought she was being funny, but it was still a bit passive-aggressive in nature
5) how thoughtless to do that at her age, being filmed.
When I think on it, I suppose my opinion of her is unchanged. I’m sure that’s one of the things they wanted cut, and is the only thing blowing up on the internet.
Since that was my comment, I look forward to watching and having my mind changed. I do think she gave up on royal life too quickly, but I acknowledge that the British press is brutal.
Actually I don’t mind that they want to live in USA, but I don’t like the broadcasting of dirty laundry in public, frankly I don’t care to hear it. I didn’t like when Princess Di did her BBC interview either. I think Prince William wasn’t too pleased when he heard about it, and it turns out she was tricked.
Why are you so quick to blame MM and label her a “bad marriage partner?” Maybe she is actually a good marriage partner who has helped Harry recognize and confront toxicity within his family. Sometimes, it takes an outsider.
I mean. She told Oprah that she didn’t Google Harry before their first blind date. O RLY? I Googled my husband before our first blind date, and he’s not, you know DIANA’S SON. So while I was inclined in her favor, apparently she thinks I’m stupid, and that doesn’t make me like her any better.
Airing your family’s dirty laundry on Netflix, Oprah, and anyone else that will listen is just yucky. You don’t like royal life? Ok, move to the US to raise your kids and continue your acting career and charitable pursuits. But don’t burn it all down on the way out and try to profit from trashing your relatives, it doesn’t do any good and it’s tacky.
The level of vitriol directed at MM starts to make a lot more sense when you recognize it as a profit making enterprise. The Bot Sentinel report estimates that the YouTube channels that focus predominately on disparaging MM (aka single purpose hate accounts) have earned an estimated $3.48 million. (See p. 33 of the report I linked to above.) And the British tabloids know that MM hate sells.
Just getting back to this thread, and it reminds me we had a thread around the time of the Oprah interview, right? I didn’t get the Meghan hate then and don’t get it now. I’ve never watched Suits and never listened to her podcast. In other words, I’m not a Meghan stan.
What I am is a minority woman who married into a family of a different culture and totally relate. Before we were married, dh drove me to his parents’ home to pick up his mother so we all could attend a wedding (his father refused to go). His father said, “When you get here, make sure you leave your trash out on the curb.” And they weren’t even royalty! lol So, yeah, I understand how important race is in some families, especially one that lives off the largesse of taxpayers and needs to stay in their good graces. I’ve always thought that the royal family missed an opportunity, as someone wrote above, to bring the monarchy into the 21st century. They aren’t interested in that.
Harry was always the spare and has never had to feel as constrained as William and his father. His mother’s death no doubt traumatized him and being the spare meant that he could do things such as be in the military for 10 years. And Meghan wasn’t 19yo Diana when she got engaged. She came to this marriage as a fully formed adult with a career and interests and ideas of her own. I don’t even see the falling out as anyone’s “fault,” really. I see each party as protecting its own interest, and, IMO, a husband protecting his family is more noble than the royal family maintaining appearances, especially when those appearances are so rooted in racism and colonization.
This! Given what he went through as a child, I think the decision to protect his family is admirable and perfectly justified. I think the only mistake Harry and Meghan have made is believing that the Oprah interview or the documentary would make a difference in what the world thought of them. It quite literally took her death to get the world to appreciate his mother.
As an American/dual UK citizen who married a Brit and raised children there when they were younger, I wholly believe what they have said. I loved living in the UK, but it is incredibly anti-immigrant and far behind the times in how they approach race. And on a personal level, having been newly married, given up my career for love, and been pregnant in a new country surrounded by my husband’s family and not my own, I felt nothing but empathy for Meghan. I can’t imagine being under so much scrutiny during that time.