Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's insistence that she is being hounded by paps in her Canadian hideaway looks a lot like her 2016 claim that she was being hounded by paps in Toronto.
In both cases, it seems likely that Meghan conspired with the photographers, both to obtain publicity and a percentage of the profits from selling the photographs to media outlets. (Meg's mother Doria, father Thomas, and ex-husband Trevor all appear to have done something similar.)
Now the Sussexes have issued a legal warning via their lawyers, Schillings, saying "this type of continual harassment...obviously raises serious safety and security concerns and is causing them considerable distress."
So what is Meg playing at? Does she think that the public can't figure out she's using the paps to boost her profile and merch her yoga pants, baby carrier, beanies, and dog leashes?
Or is she trying to create an incident in order to make the case that the British taxpayers should consider to pay her security expenses? If she is trying to create a "security incident", how far will she go?
Or is she trying to create an incident in order to make the case that the British taxpayers should consider to pay her security expenses? If she is trying to create a "security incident", how far will she go?
Making the wrong people angry
Meanwhile, what does making the pap photographers angry really mean for the Sussexes? Unlike the bad old days of Jackie O and Ron Galella, today's paps don't need LIFE magazine to publish their snaps.
It would be easy for an angry pap to publish unflattering images of the Sussexes - having a fight? holding a doll? co-ordinating a paid pap shot? - directly online without any major media involvement, and then simply direct people there with Twitter. There is no gatekeeper.
It's better to have paps as friends than enemies.
Jesal Parshotam, a young British photographer who was the first to report that Kate was at the hospital to give birth to Prince George, is known for his gallant refusal to take a photo of Kate in labor as she arrived at the Lindo Wing.
Today, Jesal has been tweeting about the Sussex pair. "'Lawyers say there have also been attempts to photograph inside their home using long-range lenses and they accuse the paparazzi of being camped outside the property.' This is a lie!," Jesal tweeted.
"These lawyers always fabricate and use emotive language to win over opinion," Jesal added. "They also syndicate these “private letters” to the press in order to gain media attention and spin the situation into their favour."
In response to another Twitter user's comment that Meg had perhaps arranged the pap shoot without telling Harry, Jesal tweeted "It wouldn’t be the first time a public figure has tipped of the press without members of their family or partners knowing."
What will making an enemy of the paps mean for the Sussexes in the short, medium, and long run?
Comments
HAMS will spread out to be open for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Instead of the game “Pepsi or Coke” they can start the HAMS game, with one side Mayo, the other side Cheese.
HAMS has a complete package, with their own private pap photographer thrown into the deal, too. For some extra bucks, the HAMS themselves will appear, to lecture everybody who were having fun that they all will die soon, if they fly commercial (private jets are great! No pollution) or if they take a honeymoon cruise with 3,000 other people (yachts are energy friendly! David Geffen told me!) or drive away in a tacky limo (real eco people drive big SUVs from Range Rover). And who gives presents to the wedding couple or Bar mitzvah boy anymore? HAMS will take all money and gifts, to be used for their personal checking account named Sussex HAM Slush Fund Charity.
A few thoughts: I think Harry married MM "so quickly" because he was head over heels in love, and ain't nobody gonna' tell him what to do when he's a grown azz man and knows true love when he sees it. They've both had serious relationships before, they both are getting older and want to start a family ASAP, we know we are right for each other, why are we waiting around?
Can't you hear that conversation happening?
I watched their wedding. I took the freaking DAY OFF OF WORK (at least I think I did) because I knew I'd be exhausted due to the early start and lack of sleep. I won't revise history. I think Harry was totally and completely overwhelmed with love for MM. I don't think for a second he was coerced into a "quickie wedding" because she hinted at being pregnant.
I do believe he was fully in the clutches of a narcissist, master manipulator, and possible pathological liar. Sadly, I was married to one of those and I promise you, the "victim" knows that things aren't right but can make excuses for all of them. There were more red flags in my marriage than fly at Everest base camp during peak climbing season. I learned the brain is simply amazing. I'm a smart cookie, and my brain simply did not let me believe the truth that everyone else saw. Part of it was because I truly didn't know that a person could lie about EVERYTHING--their family, their background, their work--none of it was true. But because I didn't know it was possible to lie about ALL of that, I didn't see that he did just that. And I was masterfully isolated from anyone who could/would challenge him, including his family.
Harry may well have been in the same boat. But, that's why private investigators exist. Had anyone in the BRF paid an investigator for even a day of work, things might have worked out very differently.
I'm also divided about wanting the Harkles out of the news. On the one hand, I am completely burnt out hearing about their merching and stupid, self-serving plans. But on the other hand, if they aren't being called out in public for each and every foible, I'm truly fearful of what they will get up to behind the scenes.
So I don't want to hear or see about them all the time, but I think it's best to stymie them if we do. Does that make sense?
Off to read more comments now!
HAMS will spread out to be open for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Instead of the game “Pepsi or Coke” they can start the HAMS game, with one side Mayo, the other side Cheese.
HAMS has a complete package, with their own private pap photographer thrown into the deal, too. For some extra bucks, the HAMS themselves will appear, to lecture everybody who were having fun that they all will die soon, if they fly commercial (private jets are great! No pollution) or if they take a honeymoon cruise with 3,000 other people (yachts are energy friendly! David Geffen told me!) or drive away in a tacky limo (real eco people drive big SUVs from Range Rover). And who gives presents to the wedding couple or Bar mitzvah boy anymore? HAMS will take all money and gifts, to be used for their personal checking account named Sussex HAM Slush Fund Charity.
Can't see Meghan being a serious political player. I guess never say never, but not on the big stage. Maybe a congressperson from California, some niche market. Can't see her being a senator or higher. She has nothing to offer.
Yes, I don't think Meg wants to tangle with the president. That almost certainly would be a mistake.
I feel a little bit sorry for Harry, but not much. I think he wants this, at least in part. If he wanted to stop this, he could. He has no brain, and absolutely no guts. As a man, I think he's a very sad specimen. He can change things, but only if he finds his spine and courage.
I think someone like AOC would chew Meg up and spit her out. AOC has real star power, energy. She is raw and emotional. Not so much word salad and platitudes like Meg.
I think, like Oprah, Meg is better off not really getting into politics. Lot of work, and many moments with little glamour.
I think I'm close to agreeing with you Mimi. Life and attitudes are suddenly changing so fast. Think how close the BRF got to the edge that 'death week' in 1997. The internet still in its infancy. Now things go viral in minutes.
I said earlier that my own views about life are changing and I wasn't aware of the change process going on until now. I have a weakness for old-style John Wayne masculinity despite being to the left politically and I was watching something this evening and found myself thinking "Ooohh he's being controlling!" when before I'd have seen it as macho. "Where did that come from?" I asked myself. "What's going on in my brain?"
Thing is, once it's started it's tough to go back. Same with hereditary monarchy. Harry would struggle to earn £20K p.a. on his own merits. I doubt he could buy his own house. Yet his wife blithely spends £90K on an outfit she can only wear when apparently pregnant (I'm still not over that beige caftan).
Everyone that knew us STILL can’t believe we got divorced because he was such a brilliantly charming man.
I have to interact with him on occasions because of our children and grandchildren but when I see him my stomach turns into knots and I feel like barfing. I can’t stand to be around him for more than 5 minutes.
I'm not saying AOC is my personal favorite, just that she has energy and magnetism. Real star power. Meg doesn't have real star power, she's just a sham sitting behind a pr smokescreen. AOC is more than that. I do agree they would be liberal besties. However, if one of them had to go through the other to be the Democratic nominee, I'd pick AOC to win that 10 out of 10 times.
@wizardwench
I agree. AOC would dismantle Meg, easily. She has "it", and Meg does not. And she knows how to work a crowd. She is a force. Meg is not.
Great point. The media could and would dig up all kinds of things on Meg if she ran for office. I think this is nonsense talk by her extended pr team. Just to get her more attention.
@Mimi
You got it. Harry actually thinks he's taking the courageous route. That's how duped he is. Truly pathetic to witness, a guy that bamboozled and fooled by his partner. I kind of feel bad for him, but again, as a man, I look down on him with some contempt because it's up to him to fix it. And he's not doing that. It's sad.
Of course HAMS may call themselves anything they want to, even if they are ridiculed for it - really, Meghan Duchess of Sussex? Using a title that only a British subject can use, with a straight face? I will love to hear Ellen call Meghan a Duchess, Princess, whatever, without laughing. “Yes, Princess Meghan or Harry, Duchess of Sussex, Countess if Dumbarton, May I please kneel in front of your , umm, legs/feet, as every American does to another American, especially if they get the only Gets first, by paying lotsa money into the Clinton Foundation - I mean the Royal sucks Foundation? May I have the honour of asking you the one simple question that the 5 percent of Americans who know your name want me to ask? Why did you and Harry give up the best jobs in the world? I mean, really, you are already on my show, willingly telling me about yourself, after suing your own father for privacy? Who is stupid enough to do this, other than Harry? Every single word you say is cat nip towards MOS, you know? You say one word against the royal family, and there goes Harry’s life and money? Who goes on my show to talk about privacy and your few months living like a billionaire? Frankly, if I hear another boring word about your wokeness and charity or Harry’s long dead mother, and audience, please clap if you lost a parent but did not have money to pay for therapy,?, I will hand you over to Oprah and Gayle if you do not tell me Great nasty stuff about the family you never had, the royal family. Tell me Harry, if you want to protect Neghan and I think your baby, that you would appear on talk shows, like mine?
How appropriate! Haha.
>>as of yet, her detractors have not been able to come up with dirt regarding her
If you ignore the investigations for campaign finance violations. It's an ongoing investigation.
Birds of a feather...
:)
with you. I'm sorry you still have to even be in the same room with him. We get together sparingly over the holidays and I just grey rock her. No one understands unless experienced first hand, imo.
AOC is huge user of Instagram. I hear she posts stuff like video of her cooking and talking politics at the same time.
This what she wants. This right here. She wants to be this weird amalgam of Angelina with the vacuous UN stunts, and likeable Jen with the beautiful homes and A-list decades-long friends.
She got her claws into the neighbourhood (Jen Meyer) but blew it before the after-party.
In the land of the pretentious, maladjusted phonies, she's been sussed. She may have HRH for a few more months, but that's it. Everyone else that she wants to hang with has earned their dosh. They don't need tedious and exhausting former HRHs couch-surfing for months on end.
They're hard work.
I very much agree. AOC is real, the total opposite of Meg.
AOC I can see as a viable potential presidential candidate one day. Not saying she would win the election or even get the party nomination, but she has the pizazz and chutzpah to do it.
Meg - no. Look how fast she caved on royal life. If the slightest thing goes wrong in her plan, she's gone. Zero staying power and zero 'it' factor you need to succeed in the political arena, in my opinion.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7926785/EDEN-CONFIDENTIAL-Meghan-Markle-wants-politically-engaged.html
Must confess I haven't read it yet. It's still only 6am here and I can't face it. Went straight to comments and there was a brilliant one straight off - that this is getting to be like a series of children's books:
Meghan Goes to the Palace
Meghan Goes to Canada
Meghan Goes to Washington
Meg - no. Look how fast she caved on royal life. If the slightest thing goes wrong in her plan, she's gone. Zero staying power and zero 'it' factor you need to succeed in the political arena, in my opinion.
@Vince: Meghan never intended to live in the UK after she snagged Harry. She didn’t make any effort to integrate herself into her allegedly newly-adopted country or show any genuine interest in royal duties beyond buying couture clothes and being photographed. As for the people of the UK, she was only interested in the famous ones. She could have made one or two-day trips around the UK to familiarize herself with the regions and regional cultures, historic sites, the art, architecture, natural beauty, the cities, towns, and villages, the local foods and most of all, the friendly people of this amazing nation, but she didn’t.
What did she do instead? She was back in Canada three months after the wedding, visited the Clooneys at their Italian villa, jetted to Monaco to hang with Elton, and spent time at a luxury enclave in Ibiza, a baby shower in NYC, popped in to Flushing Meadows to see Serena lose the US Open, had a £35,000 babymoon, etc.
Her only interest in Harry is the title, worldwide fame, status, privilege, and wealth she could never hope to attain on her own as an aging mediocre actress whose career was nearing its expiration date.
I never thought I'd say this, but it may be time for the Queen to think of a regency, but only if William would have a role to play also. We need some essential stiffening. Now.
Many of us have commented on reports that this goes back to the ousting of Lord Geidt by PC and PA (Geidt has a role now I understand but nothing like this previous influence). So I place this unending mess at PC's door. His fatal dithering. Dithering can be tremendously destructive over time.
An effective monarch must be able to be ruthless. In the past this was on the battlefield or traitor's block. Now it's in the arena of PR and brand management. PC seems unable to even do that.
" I think Harry married MM "so quickly" because he was head over heels in love, and ain't nobody gonna' tell him what to do ... "
I suppose it depends on whatever in love means..... I think he was in lust. They hadn't spent that much time together. I think they barely knew each other.
I do agree with second part of your sentence- he seems quite the stubborn character.
The main thing that I am interested in now is Archie. I didn't pay much mind before the late stages of the "pregnancy" but it was so odd and everything about Archie has been so odd it sort of beggars belief.
'A "notice of threatened opposition" was filed with the Intellectual Property Office, giving the complainant a month to lodge a formal objection.
That is now being rescinded, after an Australian doctor named in the filing said his details had been used without permission.
But since then, three more notices have been filed.'
Meanwhile, Fergie has entered the fray by using her duchess status (i.e. ties to the royal family) for commercial purposes. With Megsy it will be a lot worse - just take away all titles and fully fund them for a year, plus put out a notice to make it clear that they do not represent the royal family in any way. She will go rogue, break every agreement made, and do and say anything and everything to destroy Harry's family ... because that is how she operates.
By the way ... a foray into American politics? She will be eaten alive!
An interesting article from someone in the media who was there that day that Harry effectively 'left' the royal family.
My questions is what kind of love has these effects: miserable, angry, turning back on family, friends, country, allowing the previous mentioned to be brutally attacked and criticised in the media, verging on a nervous breakdown, becoming rude and morose ...? What kind of love is not concerned enough to seek professional help (while hypocritically supporting a mental health campaign), and I guess the first thing a mental health professional would say is make no life changing decisions until you are in a better state of mind?
Everyone can see that Meghan is the cause of all this unhappiness and stress, that the intoxication of his love for her is like a drug that is destroying him, that the more he unravels, the more she seems to thrive, that with her it is my way or the highway, on everything, despite the ill effects on him.
I know most people here are not interested in tarot or astrology. The latter predicts that things are going to get a lot worse for Harry while Meghan will do ok; the former predicts that Meghan will dump him and the marriage is energetically over and has been for a while (it is not happy and what you see is a smokescreen), but Harry, because of his family history, will not only hang on but do more and more desperate things to give her what she wants to fix the marriage.
Will combine "glamour with compassion" and include towels, soaps, teas, bed linens, jewellery, children's books, and ready-made meals from "Fergie's Farm".
Sussex Royal? Coincidence? I think not.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7926791/Fergie-unveils-latest-business-dream.html
Prince Charles produces and sells products from his Highgrove Estate, but I suppose the difference is that all profits are for charity projects:
'Highgrove House shops
In 1992, The Prince of Wales opened the Highgrove retail shops which sells products for home and gardens. The shops are located in Tetbury and in London where the products are available at Fortnum & Mason. A shop in Bath closed down in 2014. All profits from the sale of the products are paid to The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation. In 2014, the shops began selling products online.'
The BRF, going forward, should make sure that all children are trained for and get experience in a career that can financially support them. The old ways of relying on taxes from the peasants is really not relevant in the modern world.
https://www.highgrovegardens.com/collections/
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/the-day-harry-and-meghan-officially-checked-out-of-royal-family/news-story/9f397145221a9f6f83dcade2b166414c
Good link there, worth reading. The day H threw in the towel, happened during their South Africa tour. The day H checked out of the royal family. He wanted to leave, was not just Megs that wanted to leave.
A grand total of two Royal tours to Africa and Australia and this was more than they could handle, representing the UK and the BRF. Meanwhile Charles has been doing these foreign tour forever with good spirit and good demeanor. If he was tired of this Charles never let us know. He just soldiered on due to OBLIGATION and work ethic. But I think Charles likes going to real native (indigenous) places like the Solomon Islands. He puts on a show and the natives put on a fully costumed show for Charles and usually Camilla is with him.
The Dumped Duo want none of this. They just want some easy money they can make in America, which will fail after an initial burst of enthusiasm. Idiots! Clowns! Ingrates! Money grabbers! Millions in UK would gladly trade places with them. Royalness was wasted on these two ex-Royals.
"Fergie up to yet more merching. Straight after Peter Phillips and Kitty Spencer.
I never thought I'd say this, but it may be time for the Queen to think of a regency, but only if William would have a role to play also. We need some essential stiffening. Now."
Kitty Spencer is a model and not a member of the royal family at all, so she can merch to her heart's content. It's pretty much her job.
Fergie is also no longer a member of the royal family so they have very little leverage with her. Plus, I don't think anyone has thought of her as 'royal' for quite some time, so what she does doesn't really affect the family's reputaion.
Peter Philips is a bit more tacky because while it's true that he has no titles and doesn't receive public funds, there's no doubt he's getting these gigs because he's the queen's grandson and is even using the word 'Windsor' in the ads. So yes, someone should probably have a quiet word in his ear. Regarding the Harkles, I remain confident that they are under strict "no merching" orders, elegantly framed as 'pledging to uphold the values of Her Majesty" or else, no handouts from dad and maybe no more Duke and Duchess either. But I guess we'll see.
The profits they have made from any commercial activities has gone straight to charity or to the upkeep of royal residences and to pay for official royal activities.
So, I do not think they understand how to control the Sussexes. Despite all the hyperbole around Meghan, she does not have the talent nor experience to earn enough money to support a wealthy lifestyle, and certainly not the one she got used to in her short time with the BRF. Not only will Meghan, and Harry under her domination and control, cross the lines to make money because she dances to her own drum and has no respect or caring for anyone else, but they will have to simply to make money. Their increasingly desperate attempts to hold onto funding from the peasants is not working out how they expected.
Meghan is now desperately trying to sell herself as a global humanitarian and expert in women's issues and education; Harry keeps beating the drum of the environment. This is to bring in many millions for their foundation, most of which will be used to fund their millionaire lifestyle.
It really is a mess and the BRF should bite the bullet and cut them off. Harry has a huge inheritance so they will not starve.
I was thinking of this last week. That if I was someone like Princess Charlotte, I'd keep my head down, make the best of the excellent education I would be given and study for a solid profession that I could build a rewarding private life around. Just stay out of all this.
I think I'm right that the whole charity aspect of royal roles - I mean the activities they parlay into a job which is the royal version of employment and justification for support - only dates from George V. It's comparatively recent and should not be confused with more ancient things like bathing the feet of beggars, being touched to heal scrofula or distributing Maundy money.
You could argue that this charity model of the BRF no longer works given the modern media, modern temptations and the rise of 'me' over 'family'. What worked before is now turning on the BRF and threatening their survival, as it is being used to the wrong ends and is uncontrollable.
Maybe it's time to call it a day and cut back the 'working royals' to the minimum required for ceremonial and constitutional matters. If you still had the charity model in 15-20 years time, George would still need Charlotte as there wouldn't be enough royals otherwise to fill patronages. If the model is changed and George is intended only for bestowing honours, preparing for red boxes and receiving prime ministers and foreign heads of state, he doesn't need Charlotte. Or Louis. It's unfair to expect senior royal adolescents and younger adults to stay on a kind of retainer to fill patronages until the next generation senior to you is ready. It's like a potential inheritance ruining your work ethic (like Dickens' Bleak House).
The fly in the ointment would be someone like Harry who is intellectually limited. So if they had their time with him again they should have either made it impossible for him to loaf around for years after leaving the army, or cuffed him around the ear and make him stay and behave in the army, or made sure he had something like running a stables to do (with help). Basically make sure he understood, from earliest years, that he had to make his own life. Diana undermined all that by trying to treat them equally. Dying as she did so soon after her divorce settlement also made her sons far more financially independent than they should have been. The modern equivalent of Edward III making all his sons Dukes. The result of that was the Wars of the Roses.
Of course the new suggested model of honours and constitutional duties only would make George's future life even more stultifying, but the Sussexes have tested the current system to destruction. It was always tough to manage Fergie. It's impossible to manage H&M, even if they took everything away from them. They'd just get more desperate and more shameful. If the new suggested model is too cruel to first-borns, then call it a day for the monarchy. We become a republic.
"If the new suggested model is too cruel to first-borns, then call it a day for the monarchy."
I think in some ways your suggested model might actually be good for the heir/sovereign because it would reduce the 'circus' around the royal family.
Think of HM. She has behaved impeccably in the more than 70 years she has been on the throne. All of the scandals during her reign have been the fault of her royal relatives, not her (even if she might have handled them better). However, if the official royal family were to be whittled down to just the sovereign, the heir and (maybe) their spouses, and everyone else had to make their own way in the world, then George or whoever is the sovereign could effectively turn around and say "Yes this scandalous young man is my grandson (or cousin or nephew or whatever) but he doesn't work for me so his disgrace in no way reflects on me."
Just as we do not expect the head of govt to be responsible for the antics of his or her relatives, so too we wouldn't expect the same from the head of state. On the other hand, the monarchy is a system based entirely on birth and family, so it wouldn't be quite the same. But it would reduce the opportunties for the real royals to be disgraced or embarrased by their indiscreet relatives.
Um hmmm
https://www.saanichnews.com/trending-now/four-things-not-to-do-if-you-run-into-prince-harry-and-meghan-in-b-c/
I particularly like that while not necessary, they certainly would appreciate some bowing, curtseying and formal address.
Pair of entitled, hypocritical, lying jerks
There is a call for the Queen to step down and for the crown to be handed to William instead of Charles.
People are not thinking through the huge problems this would create ...
Charles has really turned the Prince of Wales role into a major one, including charities, properties and major enterprises such as the Duchy of Cornwall. To expect William to be king and take on the role of Prince of Wales is unrealistic. The Duchy of Cornwall is a major business and to simply 'hand it to the people' would cause chaos ... the dismantling and re-configuring would take a huge amount of work and time, and at the end many will not be better off under a political government.
William would not be able to take on the responsibilities of King, Prince of Wales and those he already has. All the work him and Kate have been doing would be lost because they simply would not have time for it any more (homelessness, early childhood development, hospice organisation for children ...) and because they do far more than just turn up for a photo op and a word salad speech.
Someone has to work for the people full-time, in an enduring way, no matter which political party has power. A royal family is well placed to do this. Selfish unsuitable members of the family, such as Andrew, Harry and Meghan, will come and go, but the life's work of those like Charles should not be underestimated nor harmfully dismissed in a reckless popular action.
Just my thoughts ...
I only see two parallel examples for Megs' future. Wallis Simpson & Madonna. Wallis is in the history books, & everyone has heard about her, but she's infamous & unloved, & she wasn't even a publicity hound like Megs is. Wallis just wanted wealth & prestige, she didn't care what the public thought about her. In those days she didn't need to.
I've never been a Madonna fan. I thought she had very little musical talent, but she was great at creating spectacle & drawing attention to herself in her heyday. Don't know what she's up to now. You Brits would know more than me, as she's apparently decamped to the UK. The DM ran some recent photos of her with some young dancer, & she just looked old, tired & embarrassing. Interestingly, I remember reading years ago in Vanity Fair that she landed one of her big roles, (Evita or Dick Tracey or something) after a 'meeting' with Harvey Weinstein. If Megs continues in her quest for constant media exposure, I can see that kind of future for her. If she's smart, (& I feel this about a lot of celebrities), she'll take whatever fortune she's accumulated, invest it wisely, & live a quiet, pleasant life. Fame whores (hat tip to Elle) just never do that, unfortunately. That's how rags like the DM are still in business while the NYTimes is struggling to stay afloat.
But Madonna - whatever one thinks of her talents, or lack thereof - was a huge star. Her records sold millions. Megs is simply the wife of the younger son of the future king. Her acting and wannabe influencing careers were mediocre at best. A better comparison for her would be the Kardashian. But the Kardashians were much younger than Megs and were a novelty at the time. I'm not sure a nearly 40 year old ex HRH can really play that game.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7vn2WRgHjK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
Spent a good deal of last night, and a few moments this morning, enjoying the comments on the "Meghan wants to be a political influencer" article in DM -- one comment had me laughing so hard the tears were literally running down my face -- "President Markle and Harry the First Lady."
Ridicule is the best and most potent weapon against the silly, and potentially dangerous, shenanigans by the Gruesome Twosome, thinks me.
So I'm thinking campaigning, fund-raising (of others' money, of course), benefits, etc.
She does have the cachet to get some publicity for a candidate; not saying she'd want to use Haz's own hoarded cache of wealth to contribute.
I would hate to be seen as even attempting to defend her, but she never said she was running for president, just that she'd "want to intervene" in the race, right? Or is "thinking" of it? (Not just in response to you, Uhura--I don't mean to be correcting you.)
--------------------------------
No offense at all taken :) Maybe it's others "interpreting" her to suggest she wants to run for president, but I find the whole idea so ridiculous that I can't help laughing! Also why I use the term "political influencer" as "influencing" seems to be Markle's modus operandi for everything.
And frankly, if I were a sane Democrat, I wouldn't touch her endorsement with a 10-foot pole!
frankly...it doesn't help that China dumps tons of immune suppressing toxic plastic and chemical waste into their water and air, then piles their underfed, sleep-deprived people up like caged animals in cities - only to lie about what is happening and arrest people who manage to get the truth out through social media blockades.
Personally, I do not know how Ellen is going to be able to sit there and listen to all that word salad and elaborations on the truth and not call out the BS! Plus, Megsy and Harry are very thin skinned so Ellen is not going to be able to play any pranks (practical and linguistically).
Realistically, the interview, if it happens, is going to be a disaster and of no other significance, but the media will analyse and talk about it as if it is the most important thing that ever happened, giving Megsy and Harry lots of free publicity. Job done!
@Ava
"still not over that beige caftan"
£98,945
That was the most inappropriate dress I think I have ever seen. Just horrible - even if you consider that she had really bought it for her planned crash of the Oscars that had been denied by RF...which was carefully detoured by the required trip to Morocco which she couldn't wiggle out of.
What if one of the reasons why Harry married her so quickly was that early on in their acquaintance he sobbed on her shoulder about how unhappy he was. How he longed to leave all that crap behind and commune with the elephants. And she gloomed on to that like white on rice and said to her narcky self, Oh boy, I have a plan. And she told him. “Two years, baby. We’ll stick it out for two years and then exit with all the perks but don’t have to do any of that crap. We can do whatever we want. We don’t have to shake hands with all those horrible old people again.” Of course, what she didn’t count on or didn’t understand is that the Queen sees the institution of the monarchy as more important than her family, and came down on their entitled, privileged asses like a ton of bricks. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the idea of Harry being able to do whatever he wanted with all those royal watchers trying to make him “appear” somewhat royal. The SA trip and the resulting documentary tells us all we need to know. I’m convinced this was the plan from the moment they said, “I do.”
WHAT is so EFFING difficult about dressing up, keeping your legs together in public and showing up to shake hands and smile?
I would venture to say (could be wrong I guess but...) that the average person struggling to pay for every day things, send their kids to regular school in regular clothes and keep their relationships from going off the rails has a lot more exhausting and oppressive life.
Not a fecking thing!
I think she thought she would be leading a life of leisure with hot and cold running servants, instant fame, and, here's the big one, instant deference to her as some sort of expert/voice of authority. The reality doesn't resemble her fantasy. How gauche... they asked her to provide a service in exchange for the lifestyle.
There seems to be a common thread in a lot of the media reports that Ms. Markle just couldn’t cut it as a royal. I think, based on obviously circumstantial evidence, that, in fact, she NEVER had an intention of sticking with the royal gig. It wasn’t too onerous. She just didn’t want to do it.
------------------------------------
This X 1,000. I also completely agree with your observations on how the Harry/Markle chemistry began and evolved. Ditto Markle's complete misreading of the institution of the monarchy. I don't believe she spent 5 minutes researching the country she was going to "hit the ground running" in. Harry the "rebel" would have been no help there, either.
This business of keeping all the perks with none of the responsibility better not fly, is all I can add -- Her Majesty and Charles seem to have gone soft at exactly the wrong moment. I hope I'm wrong.
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
MeliticusBee said...
Maybe I just don't get it but
WHAT is so EFFING difficult about dressing up, keeping your legs together in public and showing up to shake hands and smile?
-------------------------------------
In theory, none, especially for an actress. They have lines to memorize, marks on set for where to stand and move, appropriate wardrobe for the part to wear and how to behave with a dignity they may or may not understand.
Markle is *not* a good actress. Her "Deal" and "Suits" roles required little of her own personal investment, not that there's ever been much of that in her life to begin with. She reached the pinnacle of her talent and ability in those roles, roles that bear little in common with being a member of the Royal family. And as wizardwench said, as her intention all along was to get the hell out of Dodge, she trampled all over convention, having her own willful way.
Catherine *gets it* and shows an obvious deep respect for the monarchy. Markle not only doesn't get it, she spits on it. To my mind, all the ridicule and disgust she is getting is mild compared to what she deserves.
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-51249439
"On Friday, the Belfast Telegraph reported that representatives of the duke and duchess were to take "action" over the advertising campaign."
Maybe she can compare M to Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezo's girlfriend who has been revealed as the culprit sending the dick pictures to her brother. He in turn sold them to the National Enquirer.
Both women may not be worth what Harry and Jeff had to sacrifice. Time will tell.
"The rules makes specific mention of the Royal Family, saying its members "should not normally be shown or mentioned in a marketing communication without their prior permission".
Thought they had left the Royal Family. These two become more tiresome by the day. #harklefatigue
https://www.businessinsider.com/spent-a-day-prince-harry-meghan-markle-hometown-windsor-2020-1#i-arrived-just-in-time-for-the-welsh-guard-procession-5
I think she thought she would be leading a life of leisure with hot and cold running servants, instant fame, and, here's the big one, instant deference to her as some sort of expert/voice of authority. The reality doesn't resemble her fantasy. How gauche... they asked her to provide a service in exchange for the lifestyle.
Agree! Accurate in my book. Megs doesn't like the British people and she doesn't like British people. She does not want to mingle with them. They make her nervous, because she figures they can see right though her. So why would she want to go around the UK like Charles and Princess Anne do, to go to various plebeian events. Such as inaugurating a new bridge that is vital to a few rural communities. Boring!
Just look how she treated the National Theater staff on one of her last days in the UK. As the Royal patron she laid out all kinds of plans she had to support them this year. Then two days later she left UK soil for good.
I see that even Mother Nature doesn't like Meghan - Vancouver Island has been hit by an Earthquake.
https://pagesix.com/2020/01/25/vancouver-island-where-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-are-staying-hit-by-earthquake/
I see also that internet searches confuse `royal sussex' with `sussex royal' - I wonder if the HAMS will get fed up with getting stuff that should go to the County Hospital, the Regiment or the Masonic Lodge? I can imagine the other august bodies being pretty p***ed off with it. There must also be a Royal Sussex Hotel somewhere, I'm sure.
Come the next 5th November, I shan't be at all surprised if HAMS appear as effigies for burning by at least one Sussex Bonfire Society. Bonfire Boys usually go for politicians because Guy Fawkes tried to blow up King James I & VI, so in theory they should support the RF.
Frankly, as a loyal subject of Her Majesty, I regard HAMS as treasonous, like GF, or as near as dammit. As many of us have observed, she had no intention of doing what she promised. Americans, like other `aliens' do not have immunity from the law on High Treason if they have committed the offence(s) on British soil. Treachery within any family is particularly nasty; here, it’s an even grosser version of what narcissists have done to many of us at a personal level.
Earthquakes
"On Friday a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck just off Vancouver Island and was felt in the mainland — reminding us all that Markle’s nirvana lies directly over the Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of the most potentially dangerous fault lines in the world which scientists say has the capability of a 9.0 or 10 magnitude earthquake.
So, good luck, Meghan and Harry!"
https://pagesix.com/2020/01/25/canada-isnt-as-great-as-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-think-heres-why/
Sadly, as guilty as Rach the grifting American is, we must conclude that the true traitor here is Harry, the born royal. Markle can claim she didn’t understand what she was getting into. But he cannot. She has been true to herself from Day One...the only person she can be loyal to is herself. Harry is the turncoat here...to his family, his Granny, his sovereign and his country and her people. Markle is the weapon which he loaded and has turned on his family. For a bloke who bleats about wanting to be a private figure, if their antics bring down the monarchy, he will be as notorious in history as Prince John.
In American history parlance, he is the Benedict Arnold. She is the Peggy Shippen. Ultimate failures; notorious for all time. Also the marriage dynamics very similar.
If you search for Harry and Meghan trinkets on the RF site, you get nothing. LOL:
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-souvenirs-have-been-scrubbed-from-the-royal-familys-website.html/
Headline:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Souvenirs Have Been Scrubbed From The Royal Family's Website
https://www.ft.com/content/bb7d5270-3871-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4
Meghan will basically spend the interview fielding softball questions from a fawning Ellen while putting on her best little mediocre actress face as she is whining and welling up with tears on cue to complain about how she’s been bullied by all the racists on the world. Poor meeeeeeeeeeee!
She has not apparently been aware that 99.999999% of the public don’t give a rip about her bi-racial ethnicity, but they DO give a rip about a massive grift being perpetrated on Harry and the RF. These days, character, or in Meghan’s case, a total lack of it, still counts for many people.
An Ellen interview will simply be part 2 of the Africa documentary on steroids.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/10819245/harry-and-meghan-are-not-doing-ellen-degeneres-interview-royal-source-says-after-sit-down-rumors-fly/
ON OFF ON OFF ON OFF.... and on it goes!
ON OFF ON OFF ON OFF.... and on it goes!
And yet another way to piss off the press by allowing them to be blindsided by the no.
I wouldn't be surprised if Buckingham Palace got in touch to fire a warning shot across their bows - if you want to hang onto your Dukedom, you don't give interviews!
"We believe Harry and Meghan are strong role models for all young people who are trying to find their own path in life and in recognition of this Hagan Homes is keen to make a donation of £10,000 to a charity of Harry and Meghan's choice."
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-51249439
---
I wonder which charity that will be...!
I know!! Talk about a good smoozing! For a start off, they are pushing towards 40, no longer "young". And as for role models, well. Speechless!
Which begs the question, are they or aren't they royals? Once again they want their cake and to eat it too. Also note that the word "should" appears, not must.
>>The rules makes specific mention of the Royal Family, saying its members " should not normally be shown or mentioned in a marketing communication without their prior permission".
This is so revolting. It's really a guideline that's a courtesy and the Harkles will push it, ever increasing the scope of what was originally intended.
I am late with comments on the baby carrier, Markle lost her chance on that. Between 4 to 6 months is the best time for baby carriers, as most babies are kind of placid. After 6 months, babies become active explorers, so baby carriers are quite restrictive mobility wise. So using that carrier at 8 to 9 months is laughable.
Also late on the comment about Markle living with her dad from age 11. Here are plenty of red flags. My 11 year old, in my absence, would have happily gone unwashed for days, watched and binged on TV, allowed boys to visit unchaperoned, worn flirtatiously unbecoming clothes and makeup, tried prohibited stuff, engaged in inappropriate behaviour, the list goes on. In my opinion , young girl from age 11 on, need their mother the most. No matter how rebellious, the mothers presence not absence is what determines that child's future.
Doria being absent from those years, means quite a lot.
I read somewhere that British police officers have no power in Canada. So how does that work? I have not thought of this. What are the bodyguards as such doing, are they ornamental? Are they supposed to protect the Markles from the press or the public?
She's also not at all acting like someone who wants privacy.
Word of the week: Sussex Royal
Andy Shaw 24 JANUARY 2020
Definition
The trademarked, collective name of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Revenue-generating adjective).
Derivation
Prince Harry and Princess Meghan resigned from the British Royal Family to turn themselves into a celebrity brand – the ‘Sussex RoyalTM’. The brand has been carefully crafted to encapsulate their deeply felt personal values of self-worth and privilege encased in something known as ‘social awareness’. It is understood that the couple will launch a range of charities with associated revenue-generating enterprises. Opportunities include: a private jet business to tackle climate change; an organic food range to raise awareness of world hunger and a clothing line to end the oppression of female actors. There is no truth in the rumour that plans include a Sussex RoyalTM potato to compliment the Jersey Royal and the ‘abdication spud’, officially known as the King Edward.
The Queen has insisted that the couple must not use the title ‘HRH’ within their product range and rumours that the couple tried to negotiate the use of a title once popular in the Royal household – The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-GlücksburgTM. – are entirely false. The Sussex Royal TM brand is estimated to be worth $400 million. This far exceeds the value realised by the brand coined for a previous power couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – ‘Brangelina’. It is hoped that the Sussex Royal brand survives for a great deal longer.
Use
“Fish and Sussex Royal chips please, wrapped and ready to go.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7929587/Doria-Ragland-played-vital-role-Megxit-say-friends.html
There's always time to laugh, so I thought I'd share a favorite weekly feature from the Powerline blog :)
(Bit of background -- it's a political blog normally, run by three Washington, D.C. lawyers (yes, there are some good ones, LOL) -- each week they collect some of the best memes on the topics of the day. A few I don't *get*, but most are *gettable* and hilarious!)
There are some awesome Harry/Markle ones, just scroll down a bit! And be sure to keep going until the funny headlines of the day! :)
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/01/the-week-in-pictures-groundhog-day-edition-4.php
Watch out Portia! 👀👀👀
Also, the letter from Princess Margaret referring to her change of heart re Peter Townsend, (dug out from the archives) was news to me too!’
I’ve seen so many series’s about the royals over the years so I was surprised to learn and find out new things. That photo showing Diana in a state of distress, I felt so sad for her, she was so young with no support, can you imagine the uproar if the photo had been shown at the time? 🙁
Another thing I learnt was Charles saying he’d marry with his head and not his heart (after the Edward abdication and leaving for love). In a weird but perverse way, I can understand both sides, love v practicalities.
The Margaret letter was intriguing. My grandmother always thought Margaret didn’t want to give up being a royal. Yet, here are letters from the then Prime Minister A Eden sanctioning it, but with Margaret having to remove herself from the line of succession, but she found herself not wanting to marry Townsend after all! Too bad Harry wasn’t told to wait a year.
Also, look at how they correctly measured public opinion then (the Queen’s wedding costs), everything was carefully considered with not wanting to cause upset with the British public. What a shame the royals these days don’t have the mindful courtiers they had back then. 🤔
"Indeed, Thomas, Doria and Meghan spent Thanksgiving 2016 together – after Meghan had started dating Prince Harry – in a house Harry rented in Beverly Hills.
There were no servants, just the family.Doria and Meghan cooked and Meghan even posted a picture to her now-defunct website The Tig of her mother and father's hands on a gravy bowl.
It was only in the run-up to the May 2018 wedding, when Thomas made the ill-fated decision to pose for paparazzi pictures, that the happy family unit fell apart."
___________________________________________________________________________
If this is true, then her falling out with Thomas over the staged pics is ridiculous!
Can you imagine the uproar if the photo had been shown at the time?
Oh god yes!! For that to happen so publicly shows how emotionally damaged she was at that point in time. I really felt for her. :(
Another thing I learnt was Charles saying he’d marry with his head and not his heart (after the Edward abdication and leaving for love). In a weird but perverse way, I can understand both sides, love v practicalities.
I guess that explains the "Whatever love is" comment he made.
Also, look at how they correctly measured public opinion then (the Queen’s wedding costs), everything was carefully considered with not wanting to cause upset with the British public. What a shame the royals these days don’t have the mindful courtiers they had back then.
Abso-bloody-lutely!!
I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next episode. :)
Also:
Doria is "like the Queen - she never complains and never explains."
We already got a version of this non-story a few days ago, but Megs maybe thinks that we didn't get the message the first time. Her mother is The Queen's equal. Except:
"She's laid-back, and people see her nose ring and dreadlocks which are cool – but make no mistake, she has a core of steel. Underestimate her at your peril.
Meghan has always trusted her completely but she has become a rock to Harry who, of course, lost his own mother so young."
Harry has found another mother you guys! And she doesn't talk to reporters! Unlike Meg's evil father! She's also black! And cool! And black!
We heard all this many times. The ongoing retelling of history must be a symptom of something serious. Desperation? Lack of direction? Plans unravelling?
I'm wondering if journalists are finally starting to dig into Doria's background!?
According to BBC news, tomorrow's Mail on Sunday has an exclusive entitled `How Doria's the Steely Secret Force Behind Megxit'
Nothing was said on the programme about tomorrow's papers - it was all about that virus & HS2 but they showed the MoS front page. It might be interesting - Harry Markle thought Doria & Markus Andersson were co-conspirators in the early days.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcnews
I should have added that the MoS image is at 22:32 if you have access to the actual programme; I don't think it's available outside the UK though. Just check out MoS online.
Article already in DM and posted above.
This sounds like a typical PR piece to me, not investigative journalism. Maybe it was released again simply to balance her father's presence in the papers over the last few days.
Neutral Observer,
Love the Spectator piece, thanks!
I agree about this particular article being PR... but I was wondering if it was a softener before they give us the nitty gritty.
Wishful thinking maybe! lol
"Today, on Australia Day 🇦🇺, we recognise the strength of spirit and generosity of the community Down Under. Sharing above a selection of stories of how you’ve come together in the face of such adversity. You are an inspiration to us all."
You're right -- Meg never really tried to be a royal. I did misstate things in saying she did. I think the extent of her "efforts" was when the Fab Four were in the same charity organization setup (fund or whatever). My guess is Will caught wind of how she wanted to cash out and cheapen things, and that was it for Meg. She realized Will would not go along with her crazy plans, and so she was all the way "out" then.
Team Meg is planting more stories. The one now about how Doria was supposedly key in Megxit. This goes with the stories of how Meg did Megxit to help Harry and Archie. Goal of the stories is to make it look like Megxit wasn't really Meg's idea (which it was) and take blame off her. Also, the piece hits Thomas Markle, to try to counter the documentary he just did which makes her look bad. Blame dad, not me.
What all these "going to talk to Oprah; not going to talk to Oprah" and "going to talk to Ellen; not going to talk to Ellen" stories appear to be are trial balloons. That is, stories floated to gauge public reaction. You see what people react to, how they react, and then you take your PR strategy from there. And this is why we have seen so many walkbacks on these stories.
Having the press' ear and having a strong social media presence are powerful tools. Look at the Kardashians, for example. Any time they want to get a story out, they just have their friends/PR reps call up an outlet and the story gets out. This is power that most normal people don't have, and can't imagine.
The problem is (for a credulous public) that much of what is told to these outlets is lies. Things said to make the concerned party look good (or bad, if something is said to settle a score). Also, with this great power comes a lot of burden. If you make a mistake, your image can be ruined for a long time or even permanently. Bridges can be burned.
Team Meg are amateurs at PR, that seems fairly clear. They have made some wise moves, but also a lot of poor moves as they try to shape her image. Think of all the disasters before the South Africa trip.
Now, Team Meg has no narrative rope left. The royal family isn't going to help them now, they're on their own. So if they blow it now, Meg's dreams could be finished before they start. Plenty of damage has been done.
This reality is why, I'm guessing, Team Meg is doing all these trial balloons and "here is a fact, no that's not true" statements and walkbacks. They're nervous. They don't trust their skill. They realize if they screw things up now, the duchess will be exposed as having no clothes, so to speak, which is a reality they desperately need to hide from the public.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7929735/Prince-Charles-flew-16-000-miles-just-11-days-proudly-posing-Greta-Thunberg-Davos.html
What a hypocrite!!
No.
You might be right! Look at this:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7929693/Meghan-Markle-started-making-secret-plans-foundation-eight-days-announcing-pregnancy.html
The same reporter who wrote the Doria story!
"The Duchess of Sussex began making secret plans for an American foundation just eight days after announcing she was pregnant, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Her long-time US business manager Andrew Meyer registered two websites – archefoundation.com and archefoundation.org – on October 23, 2018.
Five days later, an Instagram account called @archefoundation was created.
It has been inactive since and has only one follower, Janina Gavanker, an actress and close friend of Meghan who attended her wedding in Windsor.
Ms Gavanker, 39, also took the family photograph that appeared on the Sussex Christmas card last year.
The inspiration for the word 'arche' is unclear.
The couple's son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, was born on May 6, 2019, so it is unlikely that Harry and Meghan would have known the sex of their unborn child in late October 2018.
Parents are usually only able to find out the gender of their baby after 16 weeks of pregnancy."
The `Dukedom of Windsor' was already tainted, that of Sussex has gone the same way. If, as we believe, Meghan is a true narcissist, through and through, she has no Authentic Self, as the psychologists say. She has a constructed Self, made up of bits and pieces of others whom she has imitated, chiefly Diana. I think I’m trying to say she hasn’t got a self to be loyal to!
For a long time, she gave an excellent performance as someone who had entrapped Harry - we may find there are elements of that if the suspicions of blackmail prove to be well-founded. Wasn't she supposed to be taking notes of this and that for future use and sending them to USA or Canada for safe keeping lest something untoward happen to her? A kind of `insurance policy'? Harry Markle expressed the view that she already had `something' on the RF that that would not wish to be made public.
Then we started to see how Harry might be enabling her narcissism/using her, as you say, as his own V-for-Vengeance weapon, having had his mind poisoned by his mother. On the other hand, I recall a report about the time of the engagement that he refused to give her up because he thought he could `save' her.
Small wonder we cudgelled our brains trying to work out what was going on - and still ended up perplexed!
Of course, were there ever to be treason trials, I daresay both would be held for psychiatric reports, then deemed unfit to plead and kept in discreet comfort somewhere like Ravensview, for the rest of their days.
Thanks!
Loved your post about the hypocritical Prince Charles (link), as well!
Last September, he renewed the trademark for The Tig, her lifestyle blog that was shut down in 2017 after she began dating Prince Harry. Four months earlier, he registered two website names – americanfriendsofsussexroyal.com and theamericanfriendsof sussexroyal.com."
There's more. It's all been lifted from various Tumblr accounts. LOL The "racist haters" are suddenly credible.
Ooh - nice find! :)
Loved your post about the hypocritical Prince Charles (link), as well!
Arthritis in my fingers makes typing difficult for me, so I tap those keys as little as possible and mostly post links, one-liners and the odd snarky comment. lol
There are far more intelligent & eloquent commentators on here, so I leave it to them to keep me amused, (and interested) with their witty & pithy prose. :)
https://www.larche.org/welcome
L'Arche could not be further from the kind of `humanitarianism’ practised by Meghan but my suspicious mind wonders if her lackeys used `Arche’ in the hope, at the very least, that some of its respectability, humility and humanity might rub off onto her squalid activities. Worse, that it might be an attempt at confusion and deception thereby.
L’Arche’s origins do have Canadian connections after all.
Sorry to hear about the arthritis in your fingers. Glad you can still contribute here!
Brevity is the sole of wit, as the saying goes. Thanks for your contributions :)
Thanks.
I hope to be here for as long as Nutty allows it - or boredom finally sets in! :)
There are stories about how Margaret, when she was not allowed to do whatever was not permitted back fifty years ago,in the old days, constantly threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of windows. The Queen supposedly said Margaret, I would take your threats more seriously if you did not make them whilst on the ground floor.
I was at the hair dresser today. People magazine sends dozens of their mags to every hair salon in certain markets, such as L.A., New York, and Washington,D.C., gratis. US magazine, and other rags also give their stuff away for free to “appropriate” venues. Most of the issues ar are thrown away every week, unread. Women are on their I phones and I pads, usually doing work for their jobs, instead of reading about Megs and Harry, or even the Cambridges. Tick tock, time is running out for HAMS. Politically, what can they say or do that will not embarrass themselves? Although Privvy Prince Charles is filling in nicely with his incredibly stupid remarks, asking for more taxes from the taxpayers who fund every thing he owns and wears, plus police and jets when the rabble get too near to him. All the Queen’s horses, and all the Queen’s men, can never stop the royals from keeping their hubris getting the best of them.
"How Doria's the steely force behind Megxit: Meghan Markle's mother emerges as silent influence behind her daughter and Harry deciding to seek financial independence in North America."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7929587/Doria-Ragland-played-vital-role-Megxit-say-friends.html
I read half and skimmed half. Pure product placement in the DM from Megs or her publicity team of the month. Saint Doria the righteous, in contrast to those stale, pale meanies of the BRF family, who were so mean to Megs that she had to flee the UK in the middle of the night. And so mean to Hapless that he now relies on Doria for advice.
The DM was happy to publish this due to the lawsuit. DM has to publish puff pieces from Megan to provide some balance to the awful news reports H$M's rank behavior generates.
Good news- The Australian doctor backtracked and pooped out on contesting H$M's Sussex Royale copyrights. However three new people have picked up on this and are now contesting.
The trial balloons make for excellent distraction, however, and if you have to obscure the REAL issue, which is when was Archie born? What was her due date? You will never get a straight answer, just shrieks of PRIVACY! or the newest, TOXIC!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7929797/TALK-TOWN-Did-Meghan-leave-Harry-face-music-alone.html
"Their friends and supporters are always keen to stress that Harry and Meghan work in harmony as a close and loving team.
But I’m hearing whispers that rather than stand shoulder to shoulder with her beleaguered husband at his ‘farewell’ speech, the Duchess of Sussex left him at the last minute to face the world’s cameras alone.
I’m told that when Harry spoke at a Sentebale charity dinner just hours after details of the Megxit agreement were released, Meghan was expected to be with him.
Tickets were so popular that they oversold and, perhaps hoping that they were going to get a ‘double Sussex’ appearance, the organisers knocked down a fountain in the middle of the venue, Richard Caring’s Ivy Chelsea Garden restaurant, to make room for more tables.
And not only was Meghan expected to have been in London to attend, it was anticipated that she might also give a speech.
My source says that organisers had signed non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, to prevent details of the event leaking out, suggesting that it was to be very special night indeed."
LMAO Harry was Markled and still the fool dutifully read out his script about their love.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7929799/TALK-TOWN-Prince-Charles-fury-Meghan.html
The Prince must have been particularly frustrated because he’d tried to take steps behind the scenes to prevent such a clash.
A source tells me: ‘The Palace wanted someone from their side involved in the co-ordination of diaries and press activities last week, but the request was rejected by the Sussexes. The couple’s rejection of any simple co-ordination hasn’t gone down too well with Charles.’
I think that many of us have been giving the RF too much credit. They're completely incompetent.
Great post. I thought you summed up Meg perfectly. Particularly liked these gems:
"They are living their lives as one gigantic PR campaign"
(Exactly correct, in my opinion)
"no matter what Ms. Markle tries to do, she comes across as a raging narcissist. When you make a 5-minute speech and 4 and 1/2 of those minutes are all about her, and that’s the blueprint for every speech she makes, then it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she’s so egotistical that she put the “E” in egotistical. The very fame that she seeks is undermining her"
(Precisely. Meg is so clearly calculated and fake and also egotistical. This is why she always failed when at an event with others, say Kate. Because Kate is genuine and Meg is SO fake and camera-seeking that the comparison always made Meg look awful)
Simply put, to me, Meg is not ready for prime time, as the saying goes. She never was, and she never will be. I'm not saying Will and Kate are perfect people, but when you watch them interact with people it's 180 degrees different from watching Meg do the same, and not in a good way for Meg. Meg always seems like a fraud, there's no way around it.
@CookieShark
The trial ballons are exhausting, I agree. And over time, people stop believing any of them. If you say 100 things then take them all back, pretty soon no one will believe the 101st thing you say. Team Meg seems to be heading down that road.
As if we don't have enough confusing messages from the media
Tonight at Whole Foods was a magazine with the cover of
Kate & Meghan: the story of Britain's best-loved duchesses
Lots of other royal stuff it looks like.
I think that many of us have been giving the RF too much credit. They're completely incompetent.
Or maybe the BRF are really working the "here's how ungrateful and impossible this woman is" angle, so that when the worst comes out, they can say they tried, they really, really tried. I'm not sure I believe that this is the angle. IDK WTH they're doing any more, but just a possibility. Either way, maybe it's time that Chas decides not to cut the check for their living allowance. This piece of trash woman who was no one three years ago is now flouncing about claiming she'll always be royal and treating the BRF like they owe her. I hope they blow her up, but if they're going to do that, then they must have looked downtrodden and trying hard all along, so no fingerprints...
@Wizard Wench & Vince, agree completely: Meg always seems like a fraud, there's no way around it. Not one of her "loving" or "concerned" or "laughing" looks are ever sincere. The faux facial expression doesn't match the eyes or mouth or rest of body... something is always off. The only sincere expressions I've seen from her are smugness, anger, and delight at her own pompous self.
This is incorrect. There is a non-invasive prenatal test that can be performed at 10 weeks which can also reveal the gender of the foetus. This test would be recommended for geriatric pregnancies (ie where mother is over 35).
https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/non-invasive-prenatal-testing-nipt
In 2009, Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, but best known as “Stump” ” was a male Sussex Spaniel who won “Best in Show” at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. One of the highest honors a Sussex has ever achieved. The Sussex dog had overcome many challenges, including near death from infections, but did he ever give up? Did Stump Sussex think, wow, I am the best Sussex dog in the world, but maybe my owners expect me to keep on trying, as they never gave up on me, the best Sussex in the world, so I will try to achieve and somehow repay and make everybody who loved me, took care of me, cheered me on, and are proud of me, no matter if I lost and was never top dog, just second place? Yes, Stump was a Sussex that never gave up.
In 2009, Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, but best known as “Stump” ” was a male Sussex Spaniel who won “Best in Show” at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. One of the highest honors a Sussex has ever achieved. The Sussex dog had overcome many challenges, including near death from infections, but did he ever give up? Did Stump Sussex think, wow, I am the best Sussex dog in the world, but maybe my owners expect me to keep on trying, as they never gave up on me, the best Sussex in the world, so I will try to achieve and somehow repay and make everybody who loved me, took care of me, cheered me on, and are proud of me, no matter if I lost and was never top dog, just second place? Yes, Stump was a Sussex that never gave up.
LOL :) OMG!! Thank you for the laughs :)
The Duchess of Sussex began making secret plans for an American foundation just eight days after announcing she was pregnant, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Her long-time US business manager Andrew Meyer registered two websites – archefoundation.com and archefoundation.org – on October 23, 2018.
Five days later, an Instagram account called @archefoundation was created.
Whatever the truth, it seems pretty obvious at this point that Rach ran the long con on the BRF.
Very much agree. "off" is a great description of it.
It does make sense then that she may have had IVF, then miscarried, and then, instead of dealing with it, went with Plan B, and found a baby. It would explain the secrecy, the outrage from William, etc. It might even explain the joke about "is it mine?". I still find that interesting because most of the time when we joke, there is some truth in the joke - truth of some sort. And now that these first stories are starting to drop--this one illustrating her con in immediate action--I think there will be a steadier stream.
Rach & H are a sinkhole of emotions, and it is easy enough to get so caught up in figuring out their life that I've not paid attention to my own enough. If that's the case for me (and I'd guess others, too, at times), then think how draining that must be for W&K and the rest of the BRF? Rach really is a black hole of mean and greed, and H is space debris that got sucked in.
There's one photo in particular, and I wish I had the link, where she is staring dreamily at H while Chas chats to him. It would look like teenager in love stuff except 1) 38 and 2) out of the very corner of her eye, she's checking for the camera. She also can't act worth crap. Great actors draw on real emotion from somewhere and bring that to their character; Rach has no real emotion to bring, so she is always faking it, and it's her microexpressions that are off. It is difficult to fake those, and for those paying attention, they're obvious.
This past week I had to take training on security issues, and intuition was stressed in noticing what was just "off". For those of us who are sensitive to the indicators, Rach is a full-on, 24/7 red alert.
Hope you're right. To me they seem more dazed and confused the harder I look at them. I don't think they expected Meghan to be so brazen. Trashy and greedy, yes, but they underestimated her hunger for power and her cold heart.
I've never seen a public figure find and look directly at the camera as much as Meghan does. She not only seeks the camera lens but also seems to be excessively conscious of "striking a pose". When she appears in public her weird affectations make her seem as if she moves from one photographic position to the next. This camera seeking, odd phony posing and positioning, as well as the fixed smug expression on her face were the first issues I had with her.
I firmly believe surrogate pregnancy and they knew the gender of the embryos transferred. I believe she attempted IVF herself when she went away for Archie’s birth and that’s why she came back looking oddly swollen. Her swelling looked typical of IVF hormones to me when she returned from “maternity leave”.
To be specific, I do believe that Archie is probably related to Harry for sure. I think he’s probably also from Meghans egg as well as I also believe she froze eggs when she was in Toronto. There was a prominent REI who wrote an article alluding to Meghan attending her egg freezing information parties for Toronto celebrities.
When she appears in public her weird affectations make her seem as if she moves from one photographic position to the next.
That's the best description of Megs in public.
(LOL at your avatar! From flowers to Chucky in a few days 😳)
I believe Meghan intended to give the impression she got pregnant shortly after giving birth to portray herself as some young, fertile Goddess who also skates through pregnancy still squatting in her third trimester. Obviously the IVF failed and she hasn’t achieved a natural conception since that time.
"Personally, I do not know how Ellen is going to be able to sit there and listen to all that word salad and elaborations on the truth and not call out the BS! Plus, Megsy and Harry are very thin skinned so Ellen is not going to be able to play any pranks (practical and linguistically)."
I wonder about Ellen calling them out on any untruths. After all she did announce that she met and fed baby Archie, and that he had "tufts of red hair". Yet the baby we saw in SA was basically bald. Ellen's travel schedule at the time made it doubtful she was able to visit MM, and Portia announced that she did not meet the baby. Regardless, Ellen made these odd statements about Archie on her show.
Meghan - never give away the milk for free.
@Natalier:
Meghan gets that from Doria, who told her when she was young to Never do something for someone without getting something in return.
Harry will hopefully one day learn that all the bjs and other bedroom escapades he’s had with Meghan aren’t free. Even if they eventually get a divorce, because she is so profoundly narcissistic, she will hound and harass him for the rest of his life.
Okay, the doll avi is freaky lol. Please bring back the flowers :)
It's a shame that with all of that early training, her father couldn't have helped her be a better actress and a decent person. IDGI. That engagement photo where she's posed like a drill team dancer about to strut onto the field was appalling. I look at her and see an average pretty female, rather dumpy now, with a hard look about her, fried hair, obviously fake teeth, and a pretentious / smug attitude. And she looks at herself and sees someone who will always be royal and who has legs that go for a mile. Talk about the Mirror of Erised.
@Royal Fan So, that would make sense then, right? I don't know how the timing works, or how any of it works really lol, but you're saying that the surrogate got implanted with a Rach & H embryo, and then Rach made the pregnancy announcement. Then, Rach tried IVF after Archie's birth? But then that one didn't work? At what point would the BRF have been onto her?
@Poppycock, I'm not convinced I'm "right" at all. I'm just devil's advocating at this point. How the hell could the BRF have been conned so quickly, so thoroughly, so publicly, and so devastatingly? We all saw this coming, so HTH did they not? I hope Kate has plenty of Contemptini mixings because we're sure going to need them for this major dish session.
I've never seen a public figure find and look directly at the camera as much as Meghan does. She not only seeks the camera lens but also seems to be excessively conscious of "striking a pose". When she appears in public her weird affectations make her seem as if she moves from one photographic position to the next. This camera seeking, odd phony posing and positioning, as well as the fixed smug expression on her face were the first issues I had with her.I
EXactly!! I had the same feeling of "she ain't right". I finally realized it was that bizarre staring into the camera
that was causing my skin to crawl. She does it Every Single Time. Especially creepy are the photos of Harry staring adoringly at her, while she states into the camera.
I bet she does the same thing with mirrors. Can't look away.
"Personally, I do not know how Ellen is going to be able to sit there and listen to all that word salad and elaborations on the truth and not call out the BS!
I used to always say that a salesman's best customer was another salesman. There seems to be an unspoken code of "I'll believe your BS if you'll believe mine".
Ellen and MM are two people each selling....something.
Hey, at least your Chucky fits the description of the babe fed by Ellen. I genuinely thought she was being sarcastic when she spoke about her visit and that she was making fun of them. She seemed to exaggerate for effect more than usual. But now I know they're in cahoots, she might have been hiding her inner cringe at the terrible script from the PR team.
As for Markle getting an IVF after Archie's "birth", being swollen and gaining weight, I supposed she was drinking heavily and/or was medicated. Unless Harry promised to steal the Vladimir tiara for her, I don't see her wanting to get pregnant when she already got Archie the easy way.
@Elle @lizzie @TLT It’s so many H&M controversies ago but I remember reading that in the lead-up to the wedding the reason for the articles of them wanting to start a family immediately had to do with Meg being knocked up before the wedding. In fact, the press was fed it from sources and that they would be announcing her pregnancy after the wedding hoopla. However, for whatever reason they backtracked and it infuriated the press.
If that was true, that can explain why Archie looks older. I doubt Meg wanted the narrative that Harry only married her because he knocked her up. Hence the backtracking. I think it was always a surrogate, more control that way. The puffy look she had presenting Archie could have been medical shots of (I forgot the name). Maybe another Nuttier knows the name.
I posted the article some months ago but can attempt to find it again. REI is a short for reproductive endocrinologist and infertility. It’s the specialty that treats infertility here in the US so I am used to the term. Not sure what they’re called in Canada but I believe it’s the same up there. There has been speculation about Archie’s parentage but I personally don’t think the Queen would openly acknowledge him without pretty good evidence he’s Harry’s. I might buy the bombshell being that he’s not actually related to her though. I don’t think the Queen would mourn him not sharing her DNA but sadly I do believe he is the product of both Harry and Meghan’s DNA.
Interesting ...
Is the press finally starting to release the Archie stories? Small steps? Starting with the obvious horrible pap photos?
I think Meghan, although ruthless and caring only for her self and those who can serve her ambitions, kind of makes it up as she goes along. One thing she could not have factored into her plans was Harry and the effect that her manipulation of him might have. There they are, isolated in Canada ... him lashing out at the media in a quest for privacy and her desperately needing the exposure (her IG presence is bizarre and desperate); him reeling from the complete separation from his family, friends and country and her set free to go completely rogue and concoct the wildest plans. Poor Harry is in captivity with a wife who is spinning wildly!
When I first started following this soap opera (of the most trashy kind), I found the speculation wild and improbable and beyond reason. Yet, the most bizarre theories and accusations have turned out to have more than a bit of truth to them. It really is as crazy as some people thought it was, so the speculation about Archie ...
Will Meghan discard Harry and when? Has it become a co-dependent toxic relationship that will endure?
@Trudy Blue what if Rach didn't announce until the surrogates were further along so that they could be sure of a baby, then she announced her "pregnancy" and obv had to be newly pregnant, but the surrogate had Archie sooner. That could explain the older baby, right? I'm just making it all up at this point - it's such a cluster.
@Ozmanda are you & your family safe still?
So I may have remembered the article slightly incorrectly but it still seems to imply Meghan froze eggs after her divorce with the Egg Whisperer. Interesting also that this lady has not been asked to take this article down all this time either. She’s an American doctor so that explains some of it but I don’t know it really seems like this doc is hinting that she came to her egg freezing party in San Francisco. I thought it was Toronto but I was incorrect.
https://draimee.org/did-meghan-markle-do-fertility-treatment
Yes regarding the timing of the surrogacy and Rach’s IVF. BRF were likely onto her with the fake bumps. Maybe the surrogate didn’t have Harry’s baby so that was the entire reason for the emergency IVF while on maternity leave? There’s a lot of possibilities there because the Queen didn’t exactly say Archie was HER grandson either.
@Royal Fan I also think that 'welcoming the eighth great grandchild" is acknowledging that the child is alive and welcome, but not making any particular claims. It was the right and gracious thing to do. Can you imagine the backlash if she'd not done that? "Racist Queen doesn't mention her one-quarter-black grandchild but she mentioned all the white ones" seriously would have been the battle cry from some, so she had to do it. But I still think that the BRF have plausible deniability re the whole situation. They just can't sit on that too long, and I do think that these hints are starting to come out -- how little the BRF have seen Archie, the fights, the questions surrounding his birth, etc.
@Magatha Problem with it coming out slowly is that the BRF loses deniability if it goes too slowly, I think. I'll have to give this some thought, though. Great point re Doria, however. I thought it was just Rach's response to the Middletons loving William and providing them with a strong connection, but you may be right. They may be slowly outing her. I was never in the Doria fan club, and I think there is much more to come out on that front!
Either they did the emergency IVF during her “maternity leave” because of the bump speculation and “of the body” issue or because the child was not of Harry’s DNA. Now with Archie they atleast had a child to hold the BRF hostage with in any negotiations because to the public it was a legitimate royal child. Because the BRF had been silent for some time, it would be difficult for BRF to come forward and also very cruel to the child. Also easy for Meghan to cry racism etc
Can someone from the UK clarify but I have read the primogeniture still applies to the inheritance of dukedoms?
Royals make plans for return of ‘vulnerable’ Harry and Meghan
Tim Shipman, Political Editor
January 26 2020, 12:01am,
The Sunday Times
Senior royals are drawing up contingency plans to provide the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with a haven in the UK, amid fears that the intrusion of photographers in North America could force them to move back across the Atlantic.
Sources close to the royal household say Prince Charles and Prince William have been “reaching out” to Harry and Meghan to say that if they wanted to return to the UK full-time they could do so without having to resume their official royal duties.
Courtiers fear the pressure of media scrutiny on Vancouver Island, where the Sussexes are staying, will take a heavy toll on the couple.
A historic “divorce” deal was thrashed out by Buckingham Palace last weekend that will see Harry and Meghan move to North America, stop using their HRH titles and surrender state funding in exchange for the freedom to seek commercial deals in areas where they can promote their charitable values.
But royal sources say the pair are under severe strain and that family members and staff are concerned about the effect the breakaway is having on them.
Prince Harry broke cover last week to express his disappointment that he had been asked to give up his military titles as part of the agreement, including his role as captain-general of the Royal Marines.
At the same time, Meghan was ambushed by photographers while out walking with the couple’s infant son, Archie.
“The palace are very worried about the Sussexes, because they are vulnerable outside the embrace of the family,” a source said.
“They are making contingency plans in case the Sussexes suddenly turn round and say: ‘Can we come back under your wing?’”
Under the terms of the deal, the Sussexes will keep Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate as their British base, but will repay the £2.4m of taxpayers’ money used to renovate the property and will pay for its upkeep in future. It is a place where royal officials think it will be easier to protect them from media scrutiny.
“You could bring them back to Frogmore to look after them. They wouldn’t return to royal duties, but they could have a period of rehabilitation and recuperation,” a source said.
“You see the way it has disintegrated over there in the last few days. What is happening is that they are being told that there is love and affection on standby.”
Courtiers are also looking into other boltholes for the couple. “They could spend a month at Sandringham. There is also the Prince of Wales’s house in Wales.
“This is a looking ahead thing. There’s no timeline here. But everybody agrees that this is a fragile couple. Nobody is going to say, no they can’t come back.”
Others think that while Harry might want to return, Meghan is committed to a life away from what she has told friends is a “soul-crushing” existence in the royal household.
Some details of the deal are still being worked out, including the couple’s use of the “Sussex Royal” name.
In the meantime, the focus is on reaching out to Harry. “They are trying to rebuild the relationship between Charles and Harry and indeed between William and Harry,” a source said.
“They are phoning him and trying to talk to him and extending a friendly hand.”
Hot on Harry’s heels: Brits plot their move to Canada
Harry and Meghan are doing wonders for Canada’s profile, writes Hugh Graham.
The country, long mocked for being dull and cold, was the focus of a 70% jump in property searches on the Rightmove website in the seven days after it emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would spend more time in North America.
There were 15,075 searches for homes in Canada from January 8 to January 14, up from 8,867 the previous week. The top five locations were Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary and Montreal.
There are stories about how Margaret, when she was not allowed to do whatever was not permitted back fifty years ago,in the old days, constantly threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of windows. The Queen supposedly said Margaret, I would take your threats more seriously if you did not make them whilst on the ground floor. ‘
Where did you read about these stories about Margaret etc? I’ve never heard nor read anything like it here in Britain. 🤔
Part 1
Harry’s princely earnings won’t be enough to buy Meghan the celebrity lifestyle she wants
camilla long
january 26 2020
Back when I was a baby journalist on Tatler, we’d regularly hold features meetings about how rich everyone was. One question that seemed to torment us was: how much was really enough? What was the basic amount you needed in order to bankroll a proper jet-set lifestyle? By which I mean your bog-standard, no-frills, skeleton service of three houses, a jet and a boat (never “yacht”), plus butlers, housekeepers, publicists, lawyers, florists, log painters — it was around the time when socialites were having their fireplaces “art directed” by people who would individually paint and lay the twigs.
One afternoon we came to the conclusion: 50 mil. This was the bare minimum you’d need to secure the fifth spread in Tatler’s Bystander section or get Taki to diss you in his column. I probably don’t need to tell you that Prince Harry doesn’t even come close to having this amount, especially not after he has subtracted the costs of the endless legal letters and the £2.4m he’s paying back for the Balinese open-air waterfall sex shower or whatever plinking wellness nonsense he’s set up in the side garden at Frogmore Cottage.
I don’t think even Prince Charles has this amount at his disposal — the duchy of Cornwall brings him a measly £21m a year, putting him firmly in the embarrassing “for sale” bracket of celebs, with Kate Moss and Robbie Williams, who offer their star power in exchange for free flights on private jets, as, indeed, Charles has just done, jetting in on a £15,000 aircraft to this year’s Davos.
Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, is the public face of a TV campaign selling Jersey milk to consumers in China
Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, is the public face of a TV campaign selling Jersey milk to consumers in China
In fact, so much is laid on for royals in terms of palaces and staff, it is almost as if it’s designed to brainwash them into not leaving. Prince Laurent of Belgium, younger brother of the king and the royal family’s mouton noir, has been trying to leave his family for decades, moaning about how they have “sabotaged” his life and monitored him “like the Stasi” so much he once sought “exile” in Libya. How did this 56-year-old gilded mollusc manage to choose the only country in the world that’s worse than Belgium? Money, of course: he thought licking Colonel Muammar Gadaffi’s feet was preferable to being an “object”, the “property of his family or government”, as he put it last week. What a dazzling example he has set for Harry.
We are reaching a period in history when for the first time celebrities have better lives than royals do, and for royals, this is a worrisome and dangerous turn of events. As a celebrity, you have maximum freedom to earn money and spend it however you please. As a royal you have too little money and almost no freedom and you are constantly “stigmatised” and “crushed”, as Belgium’s answer to Prince Andrew puts it, in your attempts to drive fast cars and shag unlimited gorgeous women, or lose millions on doomed charitable projects as he did in Libya.