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
You are ridiculed and misrepresented if you so much as make friends with a paedophile or take his cash; you are offered, and must take, the jobs even celebs won’t do, such as promoting milk in China. What on earth possessed Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, to agree to the Jersey milk ads? Not his own talent: he almost screws up the one line he’s been paid to say. Watching the camera as it glides over a horrifying Chinese interpretation of everything it means to be British, you can’t help imagining that at least some of Peter’s present lies in Harry’s future.
Harry seems to think he deserves more than milk ads, even though any ordinary man with his intelligence and skills (he barely has two A-levels) would die of joy to be offered tens of thousands to say one sentence. Any commoner would die of joy to be called a “winner” by Prince Philip for the basic task of earning enough money outside the firm to feed their family, as Peter Phillips was.
How many Chinese milk ads would the permanently dissatisfied Prince Harry have to film if he’s to buy that £21m waterfront home in Vancouver that Meghan allegedly sniffed? How many Disney magnates will he have to schmooze to keep her in hot and cold- running publicists? Can he achieve this? The closest any of the royals has come to commercial competence is David Linley designing awesome bogs at Claridges.
What happens after the first interview, the first royal shoe “collab”? What happens once Meghan has shared her “pain and suffering”, a narrative her PR clearly believes is the most lucrative for her, because what else does she have to sell, beyond victimhood and totes? My guess is no second “pain and suffering” interview, nor a second Chinese milk ad.
In the Documentary Thomas Markle: My Story, he said he photographed Meghan almost everyday for years. Her Father is partly to blame here, it must have made her vain and egotistical. He had a lot of one on one time with her, she was spoilt and over indulged by him, you can spoil some children and it won’t affect them, with Meghan it ruined her. 😏
The ‘Meghan, trained by her mother to never give anything for nothing.’
I remember reading this ages and ages ago, and thought Meghan had warped values instilled in her by her mother.
I completely agree with your fuller comment, it’s how I felt when I watched the engagement video. All planned (or mostly), she set out for the shortest stay possible within the royal family, to achieve the fame and cream off the best bits and leave. She had a bad upbringing via both parents.
😂😂😂😂😂😂as delicious a piece of snark this was, Tatler author has completely obliterated what little patriotism I have left.
I do love Bali, but it's "Woke Central".
Also, what on earth is a "David Linley toilet"?🤣 I Googled it and the results included a very beautiful ashtray.
Have a good Sunday, everyone!~ 🍹💜
If they take them back after they called the paps in Canada, wouldn't that be... KABUKI?
Damn @Elle, your job sounds so cool! Kate really needs to get you in the fold to have her own Lord Geidt type, LOL.
About that Times piece. The Queen is worth a billion or more. I keep reading this. This billion+ is in land, properties, the Royal jewelry collection, financial investments etc. Sell off some of these and the BFD could afford a few private jets, for short hops and long hauls. The best and safest helicopters. She could give Hapless a few hundred million to live in style in California.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-gives-prince-william-new-title-after-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-lose-hrh-status-201402868.html
I didn't watch the Thomas Markle interview, did he really compare the RF to Scientology and Stepford Wives cults?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6072627/Thomas-Markle-likens-royals-secretive-Scientology-cult-attacks-wall-silence.html
Just wow.
Oh you guys are NOT going to believe this latest from the Sunday Times:
Royals make plans for return of ‘vulnerable’ Harry and Meghan
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Really?! I'm a bit behind the curve. Can anyone please inform?
Just saw that August 2018 article on Thomas. I do believe those are fair comparisons as far as the secrecy aspects and the "buying into it" go. (Scientology). And The Stepford Wives--that's about losing your identity and buying into an artificial, homogenous society. So yeah, I think "cult like" is justified.
A few here have mentioned yet another analogy--the wizard, the man behind the curtain. The royal family--royalty as a concept--is losing its mystique, behind which they hid and that enabled centuries of high-handed dealings.
I'm American, so royalty has only ever annoyed me, but if I were a "subject", I'd be thrilled that the curtain was being drawn back. Drawn back, you might say, like a coat over a store-bought belly bulge.
(Narc, I just clicked on your name accidentally--your photo is hilarious.)
I would go a step further and accuse the RF of supremacy, both blood and class. It's merely money and land that make them different from commoners, not a blood line. They're elitist, not "royal", that's baloney. However, as an American, it's none of my concern, and I adore the British folk, they have a way of looking at things that's so genuine.
Glad you liked the meme pic :)
I was raised by a malignant Narc and I recognized the behavior in the H&M engagement interview, so I've been completely interested in Meg's behavior and actions.