Day 3 of Meg and Harry's South Africa Trip was an exciting one: we were introduced to the current incarnation of Archie, who was unveiled during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.
Meg was apparently saving up Archie's video debut in order to use the pun headline "Arch meets Archie" - as if it was the 87-year-old anti-apartheid campaigner's great honor to meet the untitled 7th in line to the British throne.
Unfortunately, she waited too long: few people in Meg's under-40 target group have any idea who Desmond Tutu is.
If she'd wanted their attention, she could have introduced Archie to Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, or maybe to UK rapper Stormzy.
Archie appeared healthy and happy in his H&M baby jumpsuit.
He spent most of his time during the meeting trying to wriggle away from Meg, who was positioning him to get the best possible photos.
Meanwhile, Archie took a special interest in Desmond Tutu's daughter Thandeka, a smiling middle-aged woman with a peaceful glow. Perhaps Thandeka resembles the Black woman thought to be Archie's nanny.
The baby had no particular interest in Harry or Meg.
He did not reach out to them or try to touch their faces, as we saw Prince Louis reach out to the Cambridges and Camilla during the Trooping of the Color ceremony this summer.
The babies never really looked at Lucy in the face, which is how scientists tell us children learn the various facial expressions we need to survive as humans.
Instead, they looked right off camera, where their real mother was waiting to take them back as soon as the director called "CUT!"
Archie was also looking into the middle distance for some adult who could be trusted to feed him, cuddle him, and make sure he was safe.
Meg was apparently saving up Archie's video debut in order to use the pun headline "Arch meets Archie" - as if it was the 87-year-old anti-apartheid campaigner's great honor to meet the untitled 7th in line to the British throne.
Unfortunately, she waited too long: few people in Meg's under-40 target group have any idea who Desmond Tutu is.
If she'd wanted their attention, she could have introduced Archie to Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, or maybe to UK rapper Stormzy.
Looking good for the meeting
At any rate, at least Meg's hair looked good for the meeting: perhaps her hairdresser finally got his glam kit through South African customs. Harry looked good too, with a clean, pressed blue suit.Archie appeared healthy and happy in his H&M baby jumpsuit.
He spent most of his time during the meeting trying to wriggle away from Meg, who was positioning him to get the best possible photos.
Meanwhile, Archie took a special interest in Desmond Tutu's daughter Thandeka, a smiling middle-aged woman with a peaceful glow. Perhaps Thandeka resembles the Black woman thought to be Archie's nanny.
The baby had no particular interest in Harry or Meg.
He did not reach out to them or try to touch their faces, as we saw Prince Louis reach out to the Cambridges and Camilla during the Trooping of the Color ceremony this summer.
Sitcom-style interaction
Meg's interaction with Archie reminded me of Lucille Ball's interaction with the sucession of babies brought on to "I Love Lucy" to play the character of Little Ricky.The babies never really looked at Lucy in the face, which is how scientists tell us children learn the various facial expressions we need to survive as humans.
Instead, they looked right off camera, where their real mother was waiting to take them back as soon as the director called "CUT!"
Archie was also looking into the middle distance for some adult who could be trusted to feed him, cuddle him, and make sure he was safe.
Visiting the kindergarden
Later in the day Meg visited a local child-care center, wearing an inexplicable outfit of a black jumpsuit, high-heeled pumps and huge, gong-style golden earrings.
This would have looked great for cocktails at the Ritz. It was totally bizarre for a collection of women and their babies - babies who might be tempted to take a sharp tug on huge, gong-style golden earrings.
Meg rubbed a few of the ladies the wrong way by insisting on sitting on the floor in her cocktail outfit. Everyone was seated on chairs when Meg suddenly slid to the carpet.
"C'mon, I can't be the only one sitting down here!" she said, and the African women reluctantly followed her to the floor.
The question of chairs
Guess what, Meg: you've grown up in a prosperous society where everyone has all the chairs they want, and sitting on the floor is a fun exercise.
South Africa is a highly unequal society, where some people have fine interior decor and others have very little of anything.
If a woman has grown up in a small home with a lack of furniture, she probably wants to sit on a nice chair when it is available.
The other odd thing about the day care visit was: where was Archie? Wouldn't hanging out with other babies be just his scene?
Perhaps he was not immunized, some of yesterday's commenters pointed out, or perhaps bringing him along would have made it even more clear that he is not 4 and a half months old as advertised.
His motor skills suggest a baby who is around 6 months old.
Day 5 of the trip
On Day 5 of the trip, the Sussexes will carry out separate engagements. Harry will be visiting Botswana, and later the minefield in Angola where his mother Diana was famously photographed.
Meg has a "woman in public service" breakfast in Cape Town.
Let's hope for continued good hair and an appropriate outfit.
Let's hope for continued good hair and an appropriate outfit.
Comments
For the past several weeks, it started about 5 weeks or so ago, the person I WAS assuming to be Meg, referred to her boy as Bubbs...and yesterday I read an article which stated that the reporter overheard her saying, "Oh, bubba." And that's the first I've read about what she calls Archie since his birth. I still think that they did it by surrogacy, but that kid is definitely from the Moundbatten-Windsor gene-pool.
I went through all of her available tweets last night and starting in mid-August, she had taken to calling her child Bubbs when referring to him. Yesterday, and this is the first time I've read anything regarding whether or not MM has a nickname for Archie, I read a story in which the reporter stated that she called him Bubba.
I'm pretty sure that hasn't been out before and if ThisLittlePetal isn't really MM she'd have no way of knowing about it before that article.
However, any future parting of Harry and Meghan in a divorce will likely be nothing less than a steel cage death match like the UK has never witnessed. It will make the McCartney-Mills divorce look like a church supper. Narcissists like Meghan go nuclear in a breakup and play extremely dirty. The race card is sure to come out as well as anything else Meghan can scrape off the floor.
During summer 2018, I read a blind that I believe was by Enty on CDAN. It said Meghan has regularly been sending packages of notes across the Atlantic to a friend.
It’s obvious they’re not for Archie’s scrapbook. Meghan can publish a blockbuster tell-all making herself the heroic victim as she cheerily counts the money from a huge book advance and movie rights.
Kensington Palace
25th September, 2019
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex this morning called upon the Most Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa.
His Royal Highness this evening arrived in Kasane, Botswana.
The Duchess of Sussex this afternoon attended a discussion with female entrepreneurs at Work in Progress, Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town.
Her Royal Highness afterwards visited Mothers to Mothers in Cape Town.
Firstly I have to state that I think Archie is adorable and I sincerely hope he is loved unconditionally by his primary carer(s)... whoever they may be. That’s the very least he deserves.
In any case... I’m writing this from London and am a new mom myself so I’m enthralled by this bizarre saga. So are all my mom friends and we all talk about it. You’ll find there are only a few degrees of separation until someone works for BP or is a close friend of so-and-so from school days etc. So, word on the street is that MM (who is regarded as a “nightmare” by those in the know) was having fertility treatment during the engagement. London has some of the top clinics in the world, as well as world famous holistic practitioners. I don’t know what route she went down but it’s well known in those circles that she wasn’t wasting time.
Was H on board with this? Who knows. Maybe she said ‘let’s just have some eggs fertilised and stored for when we’re ready’... but secretly went down the surrogate route. My personal feeling is that she wasn’t pregnant - the shifting bump sizes and baby shower photos did that for me - but hey, what do I know?! ... only that there is no record of MM being a patient at the Portland. Allegedly the midwives who arrived into work following the news of the ‘royal arrival’ were upset that they missed it. Only to find there was no record of it on the system. Perhaps there was an iron-clad NDA.
Finally, one other thing I’d like to mention is mystery surrounding the pregnant woman standing outside the Commonwealth Service (wearing a brown dress). I think she works for the church/ Archbishop, because if you look at the video of Prince Louis’s christening when the Cambridge’s are arriving (with babe in arms), they are being greeted by the archbishop and another cleric and that same woman is standing with them. So I’m clearly putting two and two together and coming up with my own theory... but I really don’t think she was a plant.
Thank you all for such a great forum. There aren’t enough hours in the day to follow all of this...
First of all, I think Archie is adorable and has some strong Mountbatten-Windsor features. I still think she was never pregnant, but that baby has Harry's DNA, at the very least.
Second, I'm pretty convinced that ThisLittlePetal on Twitter is, IN FACT, Meghan.
I've been following TLP on Twitter since I found out about her account. I started to believe she has a baby with her in mid-August, which is when she started referring to "Bubbs." YESTERDAY, I read an article online (and I'm sorry, I don't remember the source but I think it was CNN) which claimed that the reporter heard MM calling him Bubba.
TLP had no way of knowing to call him Bubbs before that little tidbit came out yesterday. I think that she showed up a t the polo with a loaner baby but this baby is actually the surrogate baby and they really just got him in August...probably around the time of all the private jet bullshit.
All the unsubstantiated theories around the Sussexes' path to marriage and parenthood and their intentions going forward with their roles as parents and as royals is the reason this community sprang up, I think. It's actually good to have Meghan supporters like Marie and yourself here, since it will help to balance out the points of view. You are in a minority for your belief that there is nothing untoward in the Sussexes' behavior viz. Archie that renders all speculation on their son's arrival either moot or too crackpotty to be entertained. I'd say we are all rational people here, who are increasingly frustrated by the obfuscation about anything regarding the Sussexes.
"He who has nothing to hide, hides nothing." I will leave that there.
They also say she has signs of Botox and fillers.
Pursuing discussion around the various conspiracy theories regarding Archie's birth is half the fun of coming here. :p
Now that the child is here, the circumstances surrounding his birth are far less important than the care and love he receives. Given the Sussexes' shambolic and chaotic approach to how they conduct themselves as royals and as parents, those of us that care about Archie as a human being, irregardless of any claim or not he has to be in the line of succession have far greater concerns than how exactly he arrived, or when or where. I feel profoundly uneasy if Meghan and Harry are the only parents this little boy is going to know, because I don't think they are fit, either one of them, to raise a child with love and care. To be a good parent means putting your child's needs ahead of your own, and I do not think either of them is capable of this. Both are profoundly selfish . . which makes them ill-suited to be devoted and functional partners to one another. I see Archie as caught in the crossfire. So for once I'd be happy to think that what we are not seeing behind the scenes (ie., that there is another, actual full-time caregiver of Archie who loves him) is to the child's benefit.
Up til now most of what we have not seen is for Meghan's benefit . . including the strenuous way the arrival of their son was handled. "(S)he who has nothing to hide, hides nothing." I'll leave it there.
It would be in keeping with Meg's NPD to have scads of ghost accounts, and I imagine during her maternity leave she was plenty bored. Doesn't seem like she's had time recently to keep up on that many SM accounts, unless she delegates them to an assistant.
"Bubbs" and "Bubba" aren't really the same, despite being one letter off. Never once have any of her accounts called Archie 'Bubba' . . so why would she suddenly start using Bubba in front of Bishop Tutu?
"Bubbs" sounds a bit more California/Midwestern . . I've used it myself in reference to little boys I know or work with at my library. "Bubba" on the other hand has Deep South connotations that doesn't sound like Meg . . those are not her roots. Actually, I am more likely to say 'Bubbie', come to think of it.
Under normal circumstances, I'm sure they would have waited. But Meg has no regard for protocols or courtesy & therefore has surrendered the right to have them shown her. I'm very sure that she violated every type of protocol (not to mention common decency) by hijacking Eugenie's wedding with her huge pregnancy coat . . . after the Yorks had been courteous enough to invite her and Harry. Talk about gauche. Announcing the engagement now while Megs was occupied was the only way to stop a similar shanghai'ing occurring again.
There's still time for Meghan to ruin Beatrice's wedding. There will be months ahead to plot and plan. Perhaps upping the ante by staging a fake water-breaking/labor in the middle of Bea's vows. Narcs must constantly escalate. A mere pregnancy announcement, even with 'twin girls' wouldn't be over the top enough for a second round.
That'd be a great theory and explain the odd distance between Archie and his parents yesterday . . except that this is the same baby as in the presentation and christening photos. His lips and nose and shape of his eyes are very distinctive. They look like Grandpa Markle . .and Meg had the same mouth shape as an infant. He was weirdly unmoving on that day, but I have never subscribed to the 'Darren' theory for him then--the aspect of the face was totally different on the doll.
Not sure about polo baby. Meg couldn't seem to hold onto him, and she was more comfortable with the Archie we saw. Polo Bubba looked awfully like a stiff doll . . and people around her were staring in horror. Clock the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Gilkes. They wouldn't look so horrified if Archie was demonstrably real or OK, I wouldn't have thought.
I am too stupid to live.
The top photo is a maid sitting on what look like expensive stone steps and the photo below is PH and MM.
I have not yet read it but I find it an interesting juxtaposition in the conversations about her behaviors like getting on the ground, giving used baby gift clothing and some of the others about his behaviors or not.
Also not a happy about my different interests bleeding into other areas. There is a reason we don't have any of that voice operated response machines (to make your life better or so they say) in our house and the cam is not ever plugged in unless it is in use.