Not much news on the Sussex front this week, except for a "remember when" post on @SussexRoyal Instagram. (Remember when Meg helped the women from Hubb Kitchen publicize their cookbook in 2018? @SussexRoyal does!)
I'd like to share an excellent post from another blogger, however - Robert Hazell, a professor at University College London, who offers us "Prince Andrew: Six Lessons for the Modern Monarchy".
While he doesn't mention the Sussexes by name, a couple of his "lessons" have relevance for them.
For example, Lesson Three, Be Wary About Fundraising...and Lesson Four, Keep Tight Control of Royal PR.
And, in particular, Lesson Five: Understand the plight of minor royals, and allow them a means of escape.
You can read Hazell's full blog post here.
Comments
'It's her job to be Harry's wife, not change the royal dynamic': Prince Charles' Hollywood polo pal Stefanie Powers, 77, unloads on Meghan and brands Andrew 'stupid' - but gushes about 'impeccable' Kate
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7786545/Prince-Charles-Hollywood-polo-pal-Stefanie-Powers-unloads-Meghan-Markle.html
“I find Glowworm's comment about scrolling past you and @Wizardwench comments a very civil way to express their view, unlike the sometimes rabid comments of a political nature or a very infamous poster (name rhymes with 'batty') who hurls insults and call names. Why shouldn't we applaud civility which lately seems in short supply? Was your assessment accurate that it was "rude"...no, and I dare say it wasn't even accurate. Just a comment to express what one poster intends to do (back away from being affected by other's comments). Seems honorable to me!”
Um, what? I talk politics of a rabid nature? When? Where?
I think people will and do add any topical reason to their list for not likening someone etc. All that said, I don’t do Twitter, respectfully too much fake news and nonsense for my liking. So I’d take what’s said on there with a mountain of salt. Never seen or LSA site, again...it’s gossip. ;o)
@cookieshark that sounds super scary what happened to you!
I also didn’t know people photoshopped crowns on people. Who knew?
Logically, it is extremely difficult for anyone who is not a murderer to be denied entry to Canada..... let alone an American who also happens to be the grand daughter in law of the Canadian monarch. Even ordinary Americans can easily drive across the border.
And anyway, she worked in Canada so obviously has had no problems entering Canada.
The labour reps actually signing the support letter was just such a demonstration of bad judgment in action. Why in the world, when they are coming up on an election, would they give so many people a reason to vote against them? Did they think she was some kind of youth representative (while pushing 40)? They must live in some sort of bubble where they believe Markel's (and their own) PR. She's a freakin' American *very* bad actress who is doing a *very* bad job at pretending to be a Duchess. WHY would they support her over the people that they are supposed to represent?
Could it be that they (Labour) were trying to curry favor from the electorate by supporting Markle and thereby giving the BRF the finger, so to speak?
Have a good evening, y'all. I imagine that this means y'all are for sure Brexiting. I'm not sure whether I should say congrats or so sorry so I'll just say best wishes and good luck for the future.
>>>Um, what? I talk politics of a rabid nature? When? Where?<<
I never said any such thing. I haven't mentioned you by name. Facts, hard cold facts!
However, You Committed Libel against me by your comment of today at 4:24pm identifying me. I ask for an immediate apology and that you delete the comment immediately. I won't go into why you should do so.
I don't care about your flu, as my brother who lives with me was taken to the Neuro ICU Level 1 Hospital in a comatose state 3 days age and suspected of having a major stroke, so I have been dealing with far more than some flu!
BTW the subject I wrote about was civility! Can you recall what many people have complained about you on this blog in particular?
You haven't deleted the comment so I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not on here now. However, when I see your name appear again I am going to immediately renew my request, for an apology and that you delete the LIBELOUS comment. You have smeared the wrong person this time!
Glowworm
Thank you very much!! He is a devout Christian now (more so than me *smirk) and we appreciate prayers big time. While next to his bedside I tell him his buddy The Holy Spirit will help him. I then have prayed to the Holy Spirit and told him "his good and faithful servant" needs his help now. But thankfully I trust that he will get better.
Stephanie Powers - quite the comet (excuse me) comment coming from left field. Doubt MM (and possible team SS) saw that one coming.
With the bling the other night, knowing that HMTQ is the master of understatement, hmm, that is a message sent. I grew up in a home with messages spoken and different messages sent.
They say things come in threes, so I'm waiting to see what comes next. (snicker).
Hope everyone who is ill and everyone who has family members who are ill, get well, go home and enjoy the rest of the year.
Knock it off with the Clinton bashing or Trump Love
This is a specific subject blog, and IDGAF what you’re sipping on or how pretty you write, leave the politics out of it
Oh wow. Trump Love, Yahoo!!!
For any who might be interested, I’m Glowworm on Twitter...🐛
Personally, I see MM as an object to ridicule, a shocking attention seeker at a time in our history when we have so many other far more important things to worry about. My own perception of the RF is just something that ticks over in the background, quietly, which is what (I think) most people would expect from them. They exist to be seen, not heard, we don't care about their opinions in anything, & don't want to hear it. They are paid to understand that role & just get on with it quietly and with dignity. MM continually 'fails' to understand this. Similarly, these female MPs also failed to recognise that in signing that letter, they also stepped out of the role that they are paid to do, which is to represent the electorate. We're not interested in their personal opinions either.
The turn-out for this election was massive, despite being predicted to be at an all-time low because so many people have become disillusioned with all parties for various reasons. In the end, it was policies on Brexit which won the votes. My local MP (now an ex-MP) is in one of the parties who would push for at least one more referendum, so they lost votes because of that - again, they weren't listening to their electorate so failed to do their job properly. This is how Brits work - we don't say much, but we are very clear in what we do say, so it's important to listen or you're out on your a*se. MM should certainly take note. And yes, the female MP mentioned above lost her seat in Parliament last night - she didn't listen either. Oooops!!
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18095489.amp/
"THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition demanding that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are stripped of their titles.
The campaign also asks that Brighton and Hove City Council doesn’t use the term Duke and Duchess of Sussex or invite them to the city.
Since being launched in July, 3,696 people have signed the petition, which means it now goes before the full council for debate on Thursday, 19 December.
Its creator Charles Ross will put his case before councillors who then have the opportunity to discuss the proposals."
"‘I hear the MPs who came out in MMs defense may be getting Markled in today's election. Any British posters able to update us?"
I don't have time to find the complete list of MP's who signed the letter but these were some of the MP's mentioned in the press at the time.
Retained their seat-
*Holly Lynch
*Jess Phillips
*Yvette Cooper
*Diane Abbott
*Tulip Siddiq
*Tracey Crouch
*Gillian Keegan
*Wera Hobhouse
*Layla Moran
*Seema Malhotra
*Rosie Duffield
*Tracy Brabin
*Emma Hardy
*Louise Haigh
*Lucy Powell
*Stella Creasy
*Marsha de Cordova
*Lisa Nandy
*Ellie Reeves
*Yasmin Qureshi
*Rachel Reeves
*Karen Buck
*Cat McKinnell
*Valerie Vaz
Lost their seat -
*Angela Smith
*Antoinette Sandbach
*Anna Turley
You stated: ..." I just cannot understand their (Labour reps) dysfunctional thinking in backing Markle. It appears, with the Stephanie Powers' interview, that the Sussexes are in deep compost (note my nice words tonight) that they will probably not be able to extricate themselves from.
Could it be that they (Labour) were trying to curry favor from the electorate by supporting Markle and thereby giving the BRF the finger, so to speak?"
I think you're partly correct, and it's a colossal lack of judgement from a party that has lost contact with it's roots.
The most succinct analysis I have heard is that Labour, and especially these MM supporters, just saw the world in terms of Victims, Saviours or Villains. Add on to this idea that politics revolves around London and issues that are deemed to be important by the 'liberal' political and media classes that are dominant here.
But this moral posturing ignored most working people who don't care about these things and who don't live in the capital and are simply getting by. All of this stuff is totally irrelevant to them. To make it clear, this view r.e. victims and saviours, as well as all the pro MM stuff, is very London centric. It does not speak to most of the population who are a bit more stoic.
How can a successful and beautiful actress who jets over the world, gets listened to despite having no experience, and lives in unbelievable wealth be complaining about her life? And then having Labour MPs, who represent the working classes (well, apparently) actually agreeing with her? It shows the complete disconnect between normal people, the issues that they find important, and a London centric Labour obsessed with semantic issues of fairness, unfairness and vague social justice.
Modern Labour see themselves as the saviour, while MM sees herself as both. Neither hold much sway with the public at large. The public just want to get on with things, have jobs , not get too much taken away from them, have good services and a quiet life.
And as liverbird has said many times before, it's important to understand most people here don't care about MM/PH in the slightest.
I know people don't want to talk about the election on here but the repudiation of the London based, social justice following Labour party by it's traditional voter base goes a long way to explaining why MM either isn't popular or is just totally irrelevant here in the UK. Her expression of victimhood and being bullied and upset is seen as a joke by normal people (if they even actually care!).
The scale of the Labour losses show just how many people there are in this country that completely reject the self centred social justice style politics of the modern Labour movement. And this is what MM models herself on.
As such, this political event will most certainly impact on MM/PH because it demonstrates little patience with the issues that their royal highnesses feel to be important. Let alone their complaints about how awful life is for them. If they were on thin ice already then this result not only confirms it but ramps up the pressure on them quite a bit.
I concur. :)
@grumpy-lass, totally agree and great comments.
These two rascals, Boris and Trump, will get along just fine as we enter the new decade. The same for the UK-USA relationship with some new trade deals coming up. One proposed trade deal is us giving you back James Corden for Megsy.
My, but she looks great at 77 years of age, doesn't she? I had no idea that she was acquainted with Prince Charles, or was a polo player. I guess I wasn't even aware that girls played polo, to be honest . . kind of like rugby, though I suppose there must be all-female rugby teams.
I think Ms. Powers echoes what we are all mostly thinking . . she is, if anything, too kind about Andrew, merely calling him 'stupid', and she could have been even more brutal on Megs. But as for the criticisms she does offer . . spot on. Markle is continually referred to as still being an actress, in this piece and others, like all the gossip blinds. Is being an actress like being an ex-President in that you get to call yourself by that title forever, regardless of how long it's been since you were part of the profession? Meg hasn't done any proper acting for going on three years now at least--when was she released from 'Suits'? Not that what she ever did could be called 'proper acting' . . and now, for the last 2-plus years, we've been treated to this global pantomime act called 'Keeping Up with the 'Duchess''.
I'm glad to see that Charles has some friends willing to speak up for him. After I got some perspective on the whole Diana situation, I have always felt that Chas is basically treated like a goat who can't do anything right. He lacks the charisma of his mother, which is to his detriment, but dang, she'd be an impossible act to follow for anyone. Behind his often awkward public presentation, Charles seems to have a much better reputation among people who actually know him.
@Fairy Crocodile Yes, normally I would agree with the voting patterns of all the northern lefties, but Thelma Walker's constituency is bang in the middle of it, & something clearly went very wrong for her since she has now lost it & it's a screaming blue blob dividing the wall into two separate parts. Oooops!
Looking at @miggy's list of women who retained their seats, it's pretty clear that MM wasn't a deciding factor. Despite living in the Red Wall area, I couldn't vote Labour because of their refusal to deal with the accusations of anti-semitism which has plagued them for a long time now. So the fact that my MP had signed the MM letter as well was simply an additional bonus. I suspect everyone else's voting decisions were equally bitty & a bit desperate too. I quite like the irony of it all - Labour MPs voicing support for MM as a WoC whilst screaming 'discrimination!' within a party that has continually failed to deal with anti-semitic allegations. Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up...
MM is only important in her own mind, she really isn't important here, just very annoying, & most people simply don't care about her or if she is mentioned she is used as a punchbag for criticism over her outrageous spending in the midst of several years (& many more to come) of austerity, surges in homelessness, dependence on food banks, & the highest statistics ever of child poverty. MM & Hapless need to grow up, or do everyone a favour by staying out of sight & shutting-the-fu*k up.
I agree 100%.
I second all your thoughts about the Princess Royal, whose industry and unflinching devotion to the Firm is an example to them all. If it rankles that she was born behind Charles and wouldn't have been considered for the Crown 69 years ago in any case, she never shows it. She's making the utmost of her role in support to her mother and her brother, the current and future sovereigns, and has managed to raise two well-balanced and well-liked kids to adulthood as basically private citizens while clamoring for no titles for them or seeking to aggrandize herself, which as the Queen's only daughter and her father's favorite, she could have, and turned out as a right little madam, too. Philip's (humorous) summation of his daughter: "If it doesn't eat grass and fart she's not interested in it" hardly does her justice--Anne is interested in a plethora of things and does everything she does to a very high level as far as I can tell. Regular Britons seem to hold respect for the Princess Royal even if they are not particular fans of the monarchy because she exemplifies so many good solid unflashy, substantial British virtues. The way she conducts herself could and should be a lesson to the Sussexes . . one does not have to be the direct heir or his wife to make a valuable contribution. Anne is tireless, with more official engagements a year than 3 or 4 others of the senior royals put together.
I'd dispute that Megs is in fact 'fashionable' but I know what you meant--she is a fashion legend in her own mind. Anne can't be bothered with such fripperies. I particularly enjoy seeing her in uniform mounted on a horse as an officer of the Household Guard, like her bothers and nephew. It's where she belongs. She would have made a fine Queen in imitation of her mother, but things being what they are, Charles is very lucky to have her. Let's hope he relies on her counsel when he is King. The two have always been quite close, being so close in age.
I love your comments on the Princess Royal! Bravo!
And I agree--as an aspiring (or inspiring) fashionista MM is a total fail! Somehow she cannot manage to look well put together even with all the money and help!