According to the New York Post, Duchess Meghan has booked her first post-royalty job.
The Duchess will make "sporadic appearances" on a Netflix reality show about second weddings called "I Do, Redo," which stars her good friend Jessica Mulroney.
No date has been set for Duchess Meghan's first appearance on the show, which is filmed in Canada and released in 30-minute episodes.
What do you think of Duchess Meghan's exciting career move?
The Duchess will make "sporadic appearances" on a Netflix reality show about second weddings called "I Do, Redo," which stars her good friend Jessica Mulroney.
No date has been set for Duchess Meghan's first appearance on the show, which is filmed in Canada and released in 30-minute episodes.
What do you think of Duchess Meghan's exciting career move?
Comments
The ironic thing is that there's definitely a niche market there that Meg could exploit. Lots of women marry for a second or third time, and I'm sure they're looking for ideas on how to make the ceremony special and different from their first time around.
In my opinion, Charles and Camilla did this right - small church, sophisticated dress and hat for Camilla - and Meg did it wrong, with her silly Disney Princess white gown at age 37. Nevertheless, Meg's the one doing the show.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/life-wallis-simpson-saw-pain-sacrifice-every-day/
It's akin to Rachel Ray letting Martha Stewart appear on her shows. Martha would just shove Rachel out of the way and take over.
It's in the DM too Nutty, if it's same/similar article as Telegraph?
Here it the story from page 6. I posted it about 1/2 hour ago but it did not appear:
It may not be Hollywood, but it’s a start.
Meghan Markle‘s first post-Royal TV gig — albeit part-time — will be a Canadian reality show about second weddings, The Post has learned.
Markle, 38, will make multiple appearances on “I Do, Redo,” joining her best friend, Toronto wedding stylist Jessica Mulroney, who is the star of the upcoming Netflix show, according to a source close to the production team.
Her guest spots will be “sporadic,” according to the source, who would not say if Markle will be paid.
Union scale for a guest role on Canadian TV is $588 a day, which could jump-start the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ newly announced effort to become “financially independent.”
The 10-part series “revisits first-time wedding disasters before re-making the wedding dreams of 10 devoted couples,” according to a press release.
Markle — once divorced, and now married to her own prince — certainly has the resume to help brides remarry their Prince Charmings in the weddings of their dreams.
It was only two years ago when the American princess celebrated her own version of “I Do, Redo” with a lavish celebrity-studded ceremony and series of parties in Britain, which cost more than $42 million. Her wedding dress was designed by Givenchy, and her custom-made engagement ring was made from a diamond sourced from Botswana and two smaller stones from Harry’s mother’s — Princess Diana’s — collection.
Mulroney, 39, shot to international celebrity as Markle’s matron of honor, posing for the world’s cameras in a snug, royal blue dress by Canadian designer Antoinette Di Carlo. Her three young children also participated in the royal wedding party.
After frequent appearances on “Good Morning America,” where she gives advice on how to dress on a budget, Mulroney was tapped to star in the reality show, which features couples in the US and Canada.
Markle, who has been living in a billionaire’s mansion in Vancouver with infant son Archie since her dramatic split from the British royals in January, is currently shopping for a Hollywood agent, according to reports last week. Prince Harry recently moved to Canada to join his wife and son.
Enlarge ImageMeghan Markle and Jessica Murloney
Meghan Markle and Jessica MurloneyWireImage
Last month, Markle signed a deal with Disney to do voice-over work on an unspecified project in exchange for a donation to an elephant charity she supports.
Few details have emerged about the wedding series, although Mulroney has posted some outtakes showing her traveling with a film crew, with stops in Florida and Connecticut as well as the Caribbean to her Instagram account.
“I am so blessed that I can show the world a side of myself that truly inspires me,” said Mulroney in a social media post after the show was announced last year. “A side of the wedding industry that has never been shown on television.“
Mulroney is married to the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and met Markle while the former actress was based in Toronto to film “Suits,” where she starred as Rachel Zane, a paralegal in a law firm.
Mulroney recently angered fans of Markle’s sister-in-law Kate Middleton when she appeared to dismiss photo portraits that Middleton had taken of British Holocaust survivors.
“Pretty pictures are pretty pictures,” wrote Mulroney on social media just as Middleton posted her photos for International Holocaust Remembrance Day last week. “Strive to use your platform for good and spread stories of incredible people striving to make this world a better place.”
The brutal backlash from Middleton fans on social media prompted Mulroney’s husband, Ben, to defend her online, saying that his wife’s post was linked to a campaign to help victims of flight 752, which was shot down in Iran last month.
Repeated calls and emails to the Toronto offices of Insight Productions and Matador Content in Manhattan, which are involved in the production of the series were not returned last week.
A Toronto-based publicist who is working on Mulroney’s show refused comment on Markle, but said that filming on “I Do, Redo” is still not complete, and that no date had been set for its premiere. The 30-minute episodes will be streamed internationally on Netflix.
Thanks for posting the full story, Animal Lover.
Personally, I think this is an inauspicious beginning. Perhaps I'm showing my age, but back in the day, my parents used to that one's "first job after university" was extremely important, as it set the tone for one's career going forward.
If this sets the tone for Meg's career going forward - ouch.
I would have waited a bit, if I were her.
Time will tell if she and H can come up with a good plan/brand.
This does not look promising for her at this time.
If her present acting is based on sex again it will look tacky, if it is something requiring talent she doesn't have it.
She may surprise us all and turn to be a second Sarah Bernard but something tells me the initial interest will die quickly. She is just not that interesting.
Another stupid show nobody will remember.
>>>Lots of women marry for a second or third time, and I'm sure they're looking for ideas on how to make the ceremony special<<
I agree, Nutty.
But in looking at different articles, it appears this series won't be about second or third *marriages* as one might logically assume. Rather, it's about redoing wedding *ceremonies* for ten "devoted couples" whose wedding ceremonies were a disaster for various reasons. Same couples. But new ceremonies. How strange (to me) I get renewing vows. I don't get the idea of wedding ceremony do-overs. How Hollywood-like. My Wedding---Take Two!
JM is repulsive IMO (& not only physically.) Maybe that will make MM look better?
And JM was not M's matron of honor as the article says, except in her dreams.
"Union scale for a guest role on Canadian TV is $588 a day, which could jump-start the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ newly announced effort to become “financially independent.”"
I smell snark!
From royalty to touching tits with Jessica on Netflix for $588. Megs is finally being her authentic self, you guys!
I don't know why she bothered to marry him. The most modern thing she could have done was just be Harry's girlfriend. Then she'd be free to do all the vanity projects she wanted!
If this story is true, Jessica is a loyal friend to allow appearances from Meghan on her new show, and I think it could be tricky. The series will be all abut Meghan and the couples and Jessica as a stylist will be downplayed.
As for the idea of a redo wedding for couples who had a disastrous first wedding ... well, it is rather elitist. It's the marriage that counts and why spend so much money on an unnecessary and self-indulgent show when there are so many people in need?
And how will appearances on such a show establish Meghan and Harry as global humanitarians with a billion-dollar foundation to change the world?
I would say it is a full circle. Her rise to the royal status started with an obscure show and her fall from the royal status ended with an obscure show.
A circle of Meg
When I hear that little Bl**der
and compare her with with Aida,
Nausea! Nausea! Nausea!
When I first read this, i thought it was a joke.
The Globe and Mail is Canada's "establishment" newspaper and you have to have a subscription in order to comment, so the comments tend to be articulate. They are also all pre-moderated., so that racist comments, etc never get through.
Today, I noticed on the most recent article that the comments had been scrubbed clean, with all negative comments from earlier today removed, and am wondering whether there have been some legal threats sent by the Smirkles.
"Let’s talk about TV Ratings
the-empress-7
Fox’s TMZ-produced Harry and Meghan: Royals in Crisis, airing at 8 p.m., and ABC News’ 10 p.m. special Royal Divide: Harry, Meghan and the Crown each earned a 0.5 among adults 18-49. ABC’s special had a slightly larger overall audience, drawing 3.44 million people to 3.31 million for the Fox hour.
WHAT IS A GOOD RATING?
The most popular ratings figures you’ll see discussed on this sub are the 18-49 overnight ratings. What does that mean? 18-49 in the age range which is most coveted by advertisers, as they are the group most likely to spend money, so it’s the most reported.
0.0 to 1.4 – For Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS, this is cancellation territory. Most shows with ratings under 1 won’t survive.
1.5 to 1.9 – Your show is at risk of getting cancelled, but could survive.
2.0 to 2.9 – For most broadcast dramas and sitcoms, getting ratings in this range is usually really good, and should guarantee renewal.
3.0 to 3.9 – Few dramas and sitcoms find themselves in this range anymore, but the top tier of reality TV will be here, like The Voice.
4.0 and higher – The very top scripted TV will be here. Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory
Let me repeat myself, Harry and Meghan’s specials have consistently underperformed both in the UK and the USA. Advertisers do not line up to spend their money on “brands” with a 0.5 rating on network TV."
Maybe they could be known as the Spastic Sporadic Sussex Duo and take their show on the road. You know, play all the honkeytonks and small town casinos. What a joke they have become. Boggles the mind.
Also typical, of both Meghan and her friend. I was brought up to believe it's the marriage that's important. Not the wedding ceremony.
Really, Rachel? This is the extent of your vision? You really are stupid if you think it’s a fantastic idea to remind people that your wedding to Harry what is your third. Being an expert at getting remarried is a niche to be sure...If you want to remind people just how much you passed yourself around before becoming the Disgruntled Discount Duchess. Being associated with you made Jessica a name, not that being named Mulroney hurt her either. But now the dirty stiletto is on the other foot, And you’re the one begging her for a job. We can read between the lines… Ellen, Oprah, Hillary, and George aren’t taking your calls. You have Markled yourself. The irony is delicious!
This is so tawdry that I’m almost suspicious that someone is making it very easy for Harry to return to the welcoming fold of the BRF, as he obviously couldn’t stay in the marriage and support this car crash and mess of a wife/life. Or, she’s going to become the face of SussexRoyal, if it ever gets off the ground, and Harry will be marketed as the strong, silent type getting things done behind the scenes.
This is the BAFTAs weekend, so no surprise the news came out today.
They won't be checking ID @Neutral O, so we can both slip in the over-21 category lol.
$5000 for these appearances won’t even keep her in bronzer and butt pads for a month. ROTFLMAO!
Rachel, if this was your lame padded ass attempt to take the wind out of the sails of their Royal patron and his lovely wife, I’ve got to tell you that like everything else you do, this was a gigantic FAIL.
Now I’m laughing even harder, and wondering if they’re going to roast Rachel at the BAFTAs. This whole poster her life is really not working out the way she imagined!
I do wonder what Harry is thinking about all this. Was he sincere about stepping away from the limelight or was it all part of the plan to stick it to the other royals. Is he complicit or to dimwitted to see what's going on?
Ladies, you have been warned!
She wouldn't be doing this is she had a regular show in Hollywood.
How is she supposed to be protected now, who is going to pay for it? And this, from a grifter who says she wants to save the world- one second wedding at a time? I am actually laughing out loud right now. Harry, you stupid, stupid man-boy! Such humanitarians these two are, but what did we expect with these lazy, grifting low-lifes?
The DM says she won't be on all of the episodes, just will pop in from time to time. I think this is a way for her, and maybe Harry, to fly in private jets around the world without people complaining. Now they can say they're flying for the show, as various episodes take place in different countries. So now they can do destination weddings and honeymoons to fly private and blame it on the show.
This also ties in with all of her merching ideas. Who is going to take care of Archie????
comments on the DM are skewering both Harry and her for this decision and calling for HMTQ to cut them loose completely.
Surely, if Harry is so suicidal, she would want to stay by his side to see to his wellness plan. Nope. Not MM.
How did she and Mulroney hustle their way into Netflix? I'd love to see the connections there, and what they had to do to get the job.
Of course, the $500+ from whatever episodes she will appear in will not make them financially independent, so are they still expecting the BRF to cover them financially?
Does anybody else see an almost too close connection to Jessica? Are they lovers?
The saga of the Half-Witted Prince and the showgirl continues... Is the show going to be called "Me-Again"?
Reality TV is the lowest form of TV entertainment, and I see now that she DOES want to be a Kardashian. That's her level, and shes sunk to it quickly.
s
"Meghan Markle will not be a part of an upcoming Netflix show about second weddings.
“Categorically untrue,” says a palace source in response to a recent report from the New York Post, which claimed that the former Suits star, 38, would make appearances on the upcoming Canadian series I Do, Redo, which is hosted by her close friend Jessica Mulroney."
A palace source? Does that mean the toxic people in the palace killed this brilliant career move? How could they? LMAO
I thought they were totally split from the Palace?
Or at least kept the Palace out of any plans, discussions, negotiations????
Its like Archie's birth all over again!
I hope the palace quietly shut it down and that they will continue to do so with all her banana projects. I'm feeling more sorry for Harry every day. I'm still laughing, though.
The Royals need to step far away from this.
Oh I've just seen posts above that this isn't true. More likely it was but isn't any longer. I visualise the Queen on a little stool with a big hammer and Meghan is a cockroach scurrying all over the floor. Every time the Queen thinks she's hit her target she finds she hasn't.
Hahaha
I almost don't believe it, I can imagine Jessica Mulroney weaving this story, probably to get her own show in the first place.
But if it's true... how the mighty have fallen!
Exactly! I can’t imagine what adice sh could possibly give except ‘how to a bridezilla’ show
First wedding- convince your dad to spend 20K on wedding #1 (or # 2 if you believe there was another husband)
Second wedding- convince your future inlaws to spend 42 million on wedding #2. Make your future sis inlaw cry, yell at your niece. Demand a crown from your future granny-in law. Demand the historic church use air fresheners. Steal the edding date from your future cousin-inlaw. Announce your pregnancy at cousin-inlaws wedding. Im sure ive missed some other zilla moments.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/what-inspired-meghan-markle-bestie-jessica-mulroney-netflix-wedding-show.html/
Nelo, every major outlet is reporting on this. If it is untrue, it just shows what people think of MM, her acting abilities, her grifting, etc., because comments show that they do believe it, and they believe that she would stoop so low as to do a lowbrow Canadian TV reality show. This is not a good look for her.
How about Celebrity Female Wrestling? Would that be her level?
I'd certainly pay to see a bout with Meghan in the Red Corner against, well who do you suggest? - a large lady capable of ripping that hair off in one swipe and chucking her right across the Albert Hall. Remember that entrance? She's been practising already.
What do you think of Duchess Meghan's exciting career move?
This provides some kind of reentry to D-list Hollywood product but what does it pay? Somewhere between $100-$300? Megs needs to kidnap Jennifer Aniston in BC and force her to give Megs a major part in her next movie. And to give Hapless a voice over part in it.
Meg? Jess? Someone with a cruel sense of humor at the BRF to make Meg look bad right before tomorrow's BAFTAs?
You gotta know that Meg must have been planning something to distract from the Cambridges' appearance at the BAFTAs tomorrow, in particular if William is going to make some statement about diversity, which is supposed to be HER issue.
Maybe someone playing 4-D chess got this story out there so no matter what she tries to release, it will be overshadowed by snickering at her her return to the Z-list.
Could just be the Murdoch team. They really hate her, dating back to the way she made them look bad re: the events surrounding the "birth". Interesting that they first released it in the NY Post as opposed to The Sun - maybe figured that the UK was too busy with Brexit.
I visualise the Queen on a little stool with a big hammer and Meghan is a cockroach scurrying all over the floor. Every time the Queen thinks she's hit her target she finds she hasn't.
Well done. You have just invented a new game--Whack-a-Markle!
Wrestling?
How about Celebrity Female Wrestling? Would that be her level?
Sadly, she doesn't have the muscle for female sports. Let me rephrase that (grin), legitimate family friendly televised sports.
I think any real female athlete with actual muscle tissue would use her as a mop.
The stringy Yak wigs would make excellent mops!
If it isn't true, will she sue again?
@Nutty, It could be a trial balloon, but if it is, it does nothing for MM except to keep her name in the papers on a weekend with Brexit, the BAFTAs and the Super Bowl. What side sent this out is the interesting part. I just can't see the BRF doing that. This smells of a MM and Mulroney stunt.
If it isn't true, will she sue again?
It also generates publicity for JM and perhaps people will tune in to see if an ex-royal will show up in a 'surprise' appearance.
She's been putting out bait and switch stories since the beginning! Maybe she thinks it makes her interesting. I think she's absolutely clueless about how others might perceive her.
YankeeDoodle,
Speaking about the wedding, have you seen this? It's hilarious. I rewatch it every once in a while.
https://youtu.be/SKV6h_5XFbk
A wrestling match would be fun to watch. Megs deserves a good whack. So does Harry.
In my opinion, Charles and Camilla did this right - small church, sophisticated dress and hat for Camilla - and Meg did it wrong, with her silly Disney Princess white gown at age 37. Nevertheless, Meg's the one doing the show.
I agree. C & C got their wedding right. Rach & Harry's all wrong for all the reasons we have all discussed. I do not like how C &C treated Diana, but Camilla has done a great job of supporting Chas. and the BRF since then. That is admirable, IMO, even if her early behavior with Chas. was not. I cannot imagine Camilla stooping low enough to do a reality show. Not Royal behavior, Rach!
I have to say in all the pics of Megs and all her "A-list" friends in DM yesterday they looked like shallow, vacuous, trashy, cheap, tarts, JM included!
Nutty,
She has started her post-royal life with not a bang, but a whimper.
Where is Oprah? Where is Ellen? Where is George? Where is Michelle O, and Hillary?
Seems the best she can get are some scraps from JM's table.
Next stop, QV flogging jewellery.
And interestingly, for 'their' post royal life as a team thriving, not just surviving, only M gets a mention. What, is Harry out to lunch?
Not unusual for TP1 but pretty odd for DD. Makes me wonder.
I think Megs and JM really enjoy creating fake news via leaks and gaslight and get a high from the responses. After awhile nobody will believe a single thing they do or say and move on.
Not normal.
I'm dying at the Celebrity Female Wrestling, thanks Wild Boar.
I think most later-retracted press stories come from M. Some are trial balloons, some are to detract from other royals, some are just to be in the news (to M any publicity is good), some are in lieu of "papped" shots that Harry likely doesn't want her to do (look how often they were papped during 2 years of living in the UK...maybe 4-5? And the pub lunch pap shot was obviously phony), and some of this is to be able to claim "The tabs never leave us alone. We are victims."
"The series, which is set to premiere in 2020, will follow Mulroney as she helps 10 couples get a second chance to have their dream wedding. As confirmed to @PageSix yesterday, the Duchess of Sussex does not appear in upcoming @CTV series I Do, Redo".3 hours ago
people.com › Royals
They gave up a royal life to beg for work. It really does boggle the mind.
So the story was denied. Could it have been a trial balloon to see what the reaction would be?
@Trudy
She's been putting out bait and switch stories since the beginning! Maybe she thinks it makes her interesting.
My thoughts exactly. I wonder if this is an attempt to gauge interest in them or her?
I thought Zara's, presumably, genuine comment to H before Eugenie's service was pretty good `So much quieter, none of that screaming' was a good one. Poor H completely missed the point.
It was on YouTube but I can't remember who posted it; it was near footage of apparent discord between the Harkles.
This did not last as long as Pamela Anderson's latest marriage.
Ha, gotta love Zara.
Of course he missed the point, he's a sandwich short of a picnic.
@Elle
Maybe at Will and Kate's drinks party, Will can show everyone his new dance move The Scarf.
torontopaper
@torontopaper1
·
37m
Darling, your husband had to vacate as you couldn't afford the rent. Peasants don't live for free. He also got you a visa with conditions but you thought you were better than that. Welcome back to your life as jobless Z-List actress in Hollywood!
PS It's 22.56 GMT 01/02,2020 in UK as I type
This whole reality series, with M participating in second weddings, thirds - oh, yes, please make it true, make-over Weddings.. Maybe H could pick another bride this time?
I wonder why M put this reality show out there to begin with - maybe she and H are smirking that people fall for their junk, and announce that M has actually resuscitated the old but still cheesily unbelievable, American daily show “Queen For A Day” in which the “Queen” was picked solely by having the worst life of the day’s four pretty contestants? And got to wear a tiara, gown, and walk like Miss America?
Of course, M will say gotcha! Bill Gates is setting us up with our own production company, and we will follow every epidemic, pandemic, bubonic plague, Ebola outbreak in the world! Or Jeff Bezos wants to send us up into a rocket, into very outer space, and British citizens will be the only ones to vote on whether we return? In one piece or many? Of course, all A Hollywood want us to present the Oscar for Best Acting In Real Life, called “When M Never was Pregnant” tied with “H and his Drug Issues With...Elephants.”
For the month of February we are pleased to follow @globalpositivenews which focuses on the acts of kindness and uplifting stories of community across the globe. We hope you enjoy!"
I wish someone would teach the Harkles about kindness.
Lots of negative comments too. A few examples:-
*"Megs, visit your father, set a good example for young people everywhere to respect there parents, that would be an act of kindness."
*"Why are we still caring about 2 people who have completely deserted their country and the country one of the 2 fought for!!! Sorry, they have become completely irrelevant now. Britain has never liked deserters, it still doesn’t."
*"Meghan has one job now. Posting old photos and deleting some comments."
*"The virtue signaling is becoming so incredibly boring."
*"I guess you want ‘ privacy ‘ and privilege on your own terms, right guys?"
Thanks for the video :)
LOL! Then we can virtual teepee Frogmore and Russian mansion.
https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/lawyer-lays-out-legalities-for-photography-in-public-after-paparazzi-descend-on-north-saanich/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#
(Snipped)
“The law isn’t that well tested in Canada on those issues,” said Bruce Hallsor, a Victoria-based lawyer. Hallsor said three aspects come into the play: the provincial privacy act, which broadly prohibits unreasonable violations of personal privacy; common law (trespassing and privacy); and criminal law (harassment).
“…the rules are essentially these,” he said. “It is an invasion of privacy to photograph or surveil somebody in their home, which would include a fenced-in or private outdoor space.”
Examples of exceptions to this broad rule include inviting attention while standing in a yard or even a window, he said. In other words, private property comes with a presumption of privacy, with some exceptions.
(Snipped)
“North Saanich store declares itself media free zone to discourage paparazzi
Store owner Rosemary Scott says Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle deserve privacy”
You're welcome. I almost called myself Golden Unicycle on Blogger because of it.
Tatty said...
Torontopaper1 is so full of shit
Completely agree. Whoever is behind it is not well. Ditto DripDrop.
LOL Those videos are hilarious! So cleverly done.
I also agree about Torontopaper1 being a fake. There are so many of them on Twitter, (and a few on youtube) and it always surprises me that people fall for their BS.
From the comments - people aren't shocked at all. Most saw her as a fraud from the get-go.
https://conservativewoman.co.uk/meghan-the-daughter-in-law-from-hell/
LOL
(Thanks, Miggy!)
No problemo. It took me awhile to figure out we'd moved on! LOL
That's a funny article - loved it! :)
She's Markled herself, I'm not sure that offer will last long. She wouldn't have to be hunting for agents if anybody really wanted her - they would come begging to her instead and we would hear all about it via "sources".
CookieShark,
Journos have been visiting all the main anti-Meg Tumblr sites lately. That fraud clip is always resurfacing there. I'm hoping they are finally going for the kill aka the mysteries of her elephant pregnancy.
The DM is using the photos with the sweaty armpits in all her articles LOL.
The idea of this was a balloon to test interest:
She's not known for being good about sharing the spotlight so perhaps JM's team was the fall guy when this was looked at the cold light of day.
The only wedding vow replays I've heard of seem to be couples who are trying to convince someone that they still really love and want to be with their partner (and seem to divorce soon after). So if the play was my other marriage was a disaster and I want a redo, I read that as the flower girl did something, his sister had a fit when I wanted a certain bridesmaid dress style and color, I threw up as I walked down the aisle and my family did XYZ. At this point, I think the bride is more focused on optics of perfection instead of thinking of it as a this is how I learn to roll with learning to become one with my husband, my family and his.
But it sure does not display her as fearless woman confronting something against the world. It comes off as don't know what is happening and it shows. Not something to convince people to want to partner with M.
There's dislike and intelligent discussion (*cough cough* Nutty's blog), and there's true cold hate and mental cases who should not be allowed access to social media. The tone of TP1 is, well, frightening and that's why I don't believe their info. And yes, there are others like TP1.
Part 1
Life with Wallis Simpson: 'I saw her pain and sacrifice every day'
The Windsors' former private secretary, Johanna Schutz, shares her memories of working for the exiled couple for the first time
By
Anna Pasternak
1 February 2020 • 7:00am
Premium
Duke and Duchess Of Windsor
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex settle into their new life in Canada, comparisons with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, exiled in France after the 1936 abdication, are inevitable. The difference is that while Wallis Simpson was roundly reviled for her part in the crisis, she never wanted Edward VIII to renounce the throne – and desperately wanted him to stay in the Royal family – while Meghan appears to want Prince Harry out.
Probably the last person alive who knew the Windsors intimately was their private secretary for eight years, Johanna Schutz. When researching my biography of Wallis Simpson, I tried to contact Swiss Ms Schutz, to no avail. Deeply private, she has never given a press interview, keeping this iconic couple’s secrets close. You can imagine my delight, when, after reading my book, she contacted me because I had “captured the Duchess perfectly.” She wanted to give me some exclusive historical facts for my paperback.
Now in her late seventies, Schutz has the zeal of a woman decades younger. The minute I met her at Gibraltar airport – she has a holiday home in southern Spain – I liked her. Bright, kind and gloriously eccentric, she told me that the first time that she met the Windsors, as a 26 year-old in 1969, she went to Gallery Lafayette in Paris and bought a “black wig,” to hide her mane of brown hair. Why? “Because I knew that they were so stylish and thought that if I looked awful, they would not want to employ me.”
The couple had met Schutz’s sister, secretary to Bolivian tin king, Antenor Patino, who suggested Johanna as the Windsor’s secretary. Multilingual, well-bred and fun, the Schutz sisters brought pastel-coloured Courrège mini dresses and turned up to the Windsor’s Parisian mansion for tea. “Look, darling,” Wallis called out to Edward, “spring has come.”
It was Wallis who won a sceptical Schutz over. “She had this hypnotic charm. She wasn’t beautiful but she had the most mesmerising blue eyes. The Duke was polite and gracious but it was the Duchess who was brilliant. Everyone always said that the Duchess infatuated the Duke but why would he have stayed with her if she wasn’t exceptional?”
Schutz became the daughter the Windsors never had. After the Duke died in 1972, Johanna ate every meal with Wallis, regularly accompanying her by boat to America. “I couldn’t replace the Duke but I could support the Duchess, which was a pleasure,” she recalls. “The Duchess had the best chef in Paris, the best food and wine. She was the most perfect and interesting hostess. I had a wonderful time.”
Schutz observed a couple steadfastly united. “When I arrived, the Duke was 76. His hip was bad, so he always took the elevator downstairs. Every time the Duchess went out, I had to call his valet, Sydney, beforehand. He was always waiting for her when she descended the stairs. He walked her to the front door, to tell her how much he would miss her. When she returned, he would be waiting to say: ‘Darling, I’m so happy to have you back.’ His love for her really impressed me until his last breath.”
But wasn’t this choking adoration too much? “She never humiliated him in public or put him down at home as people said. But sometimes she pushed him away as she was suffocated by him. I could understand why she [had] not want[ed] to marry him. He trapped her, no question.”
Schutz witnessed Wallis’s sacrifice: “She kept her pain inside. She tried every day to appease the Duke, who was always negative about the Royal family. Until the Queen came.”
How would MM’s focus on “being nice” play then?
Also, with the reports that the Harkles would move to a America when we had a different President, how’s that play into the stories I see that they’ll be moving to California this summer?
They are so fake!
That she describes to the Windsors’ Bois de Boulogne home, ten days before the Duke died on 28th May, 1972, was fictionally portrayed in The Crown, with the Duke seen showing the Queen letters from Prince Charles about Camilla.
In fact, she says the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles came together, after a day racing at Longchamps, because they knew that the Duke was dying, and to thank him for recently establishing a Prince of Wales Foundation. No official records are believed to exist of a Prince of Wales Foundation that has any link to the Duke of Windsor, nor of the Queen’s meeting with her uncle in Paris shortly before his death.
“That visit was historic and healing,” she insists. “It was very important because the Duke always said that he loved the Queen.”
Indeed, Schutz, says the Duke had bequeathed everything, once the Duchess died, back to the Royal family. “I had a copy of the will. The Windsors wanted all their money, jewellery, paintings, artefacts to be returned to Britain.”
Had this loyal gesture taken place, might it have helped turn the negative press that the Windsors have endured for the last 40 years? It would certainly have been immensely restorative to the royals’ frosty relations with Wallis, once she was widowed.
Tragically, however, the Duke’s wishes were obliterated by the darkest force to enter the Duchess’s life. A year after he died, the Windsors’ Parisian lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum, whose husband had been their French lawyer since 1946 until his death in 1965, persuaded Wallis to let her take over all their legal affairs.
This Machiavellian woman fuelled Wallis’s worst fears of penury and had a despotic hold over the Duchess, “utterly grief-stricken” after the Duke’s death.
According to Schutz, Blum loathed the British and wanted everything in Wallis’s will to go to the French. “Blum really threatened the Duchess,” she recalls. “She told her that the French government would make her leave the house (where the Windsors lived rent- and tax-free) unless she bequeathed everything to the Louis Pasteur Institute. She was totally menacing.”
Schutz did her best to fulfil the Duke’s desires – “I had a huge box of diamond insignias from the Emperor of India, which we gave back to the royal household” – and it was thanks to her that the entire correspondence between Edward and Wallis was saved.
This haunting collection of love letters that documented the turbulent times they endured was presented to Schutz by the Windsors’ butler, George. “He came to me in 1976 with this large box filled with all their letters. He said that the Duchess wanted me to burn them. I said, ‘We can’t burn this. This is history.’ [But] Blum got hold of the letters and as soon as the Duchess was dead, had them published. The Duchess never wanted that.”
Despite her ostracisation from the Royal family, Wallis still “wanted all her jewellery to go back to Britain,” insists Schutz. Poignantly, Edward stated in his will that he never wanted any piece of jewellery that he had made for the Duchess to be sold or worn by another woman. “They were for her and her alone,” said Schutz. Many pieces had personal inscriptions such as “Hold Tight” or “We are ours now”, as in her engagement ring.
Yet Blum defied the Duke’s wishes. A year after Wallis died in 1986, the entire collection was sold at Sotheby’s for £31 million; the proceeds going to the Pasteur Institute. If the Duchess’s precious jewels had returned to the royal fold, again, British antipathy might have softened.
Schutz, who had long witnessed the torment Blum inflicted on Wallis, did try to intervene. In 1975, she had planned to take Wallis to live in New York, in the Waldorf Towers. “We were all set to go, then the Duchess suffered a perforated ulcer because Blum had worried her so much. That’s when all her troubles started. After that, she was too ill to travel or impose her wish es.
Maître Blum imprisoned Wallis; her friends were banned from seeing her and her health swiftly deteriorated under her lawyer’s perverse control. “I informed Sir Martin Charteris and asked him to send a doctor and a lawyer to do a new will,” says Schutz. “The Queen’s lawyer came to Paris with a doctor and Blum wouldn’t let them through the door.”
The Duke stated in his will that he never wanted the Duchess's jewellery to be sold or worn by another woman
According to Schutz, the nurses hired by Blum started “drugging the Duchess.” Meanwhile, Blum stripped the Parisian mansion, selling off its beautiful treasures. “The Duchess would say, ‘Why don’t we go down and have dinner in the library?’ I had to say, ‘You are too frail. It’s not heated.’ Any excuse so she didn’t see the truth.’”
It was reported that Schutz was dismissed by Blum in 1978 on the grounds that she was "unstable"; in fact, she says, she was offered a new contract, which she refused to sign, as she would only work for the Duchess, not Blum. She finally left when Wallis, senile and emaciated, no longer recognised her. The Duchess died, pitiful and alone, eight years later.
“She suffered so much. It was heart-breaking for me,” says Schutz. “The only way I coped was to close that part of my life down.” She dismisses current comparisons between Meghan and Wallis: “Meghan doesn’t come close to the Duchess in terms of style or sophistication,” she sniffs.
Schutz, who, like Wallis, has no children, but an adoring life-long French partner called Jean, concludes: “It’s all a pity. If only the Royal family had known her. The Duchess was a wonderful woman.”
The American Duchess by Anna Pasternak is published by William Collins on Thursday 6 February.
There was a story about royal pilot quitting because Meghan treated him as a delivery boy when she had pregnancy cravings.
They really are a couple of shameless spoiled brats if all those stories are true.
Thanks for the article KCM1212, love your avatar!
Thank you so much for posting the article about Wallis. Fascinating!
I hope you are correct! They would be very foolish not to watch her activities carefully!
As a narc, she will try to circumvent following the rules as much as possible.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7957077/Kim-Kardashians-endorsement-company-claims-taking-offers-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle.html
A "spokesperson" for the Harkles has denied it's true, but the endorsement company posted it on their Instagram.
Interesting.
Ever since I (originally) went down Skippy's rabbit hole and really believed she was locked in a tower on the verge of being committed for treason...
Then (thankfully) I stepped back, branched out, and let broader voices prevail, finding my philosophical home here where we can agree to disagree while sharing and airing relevant pieces of info.
The one thing we can all agree on is the lack of baby. ha ha ha ha aha ha haaaaaahhaha hahhhhhaaaaha ha ha ha
PMK may be Satan's Homegirl but she knows how to hustle the strip.
My pleasure!
Poppycock that video was hilarious!!!
Thanks for the laugh!
For all you non-celeb-gossip people with decent lives and normal interests.
Not terribly excited.
I'd be more excited in a dark comedy version of "King Lear" (but with all the 'pure' characters like Cordelia ommitted). Just one megalomaniac king and a bunch of wonky-moral-compasses galore.
Oh and witchcraft. Lots of it. 😂😂 (Can't remember which one between Edgar & Edmund believed in astrology and which one was a skeptic, but that's subplot I would dig). 🍹💜
Who is PMK?
Never mind!
"The one thing we can all agree on is the lack of baby. ha ha ha ha aha ha haaaaaahhaha hahhhhhaaaaha ha ha ha"
Maybe I am naive....are you being sarcastic? If serious, how do explain the Queen mentioning Archie in Christmas speech about his birth? Thank you for your or anyone's answer on this issue.
PMK may be Satan's Homegirl but she knows how to hustle the strip.
Don't be like that. I've modelled the management my Himalayan cats' Instagram account after the way she manages her daughters' careers.
She's a role model to some. 💜
Cut to the Africa tour documentary and her teary eyes when she says "Not many people have asked if I'm okay".
I think her emotion was fake, fake, fake.
I still can't believe she walked away from the BRF, immense prestige, and genuine influence to consider becoming a Real Housewife, to do Disney voice over work, and to be represented by the same company that represents the Biebs and Selena Gomez? Really????
MM can never compete with the Kartrashians. To do so, she would need to bare her soul, her ass, and every secret she has, which is what they all do. I know they are fake, too, but you have to make a show of being open and vulnerable...okay and a bit trashy, too (sex tapes, making your toddler child look like a street walker, looking like a street walker yourself).
I'm gobsmacked MM needed to leave the BRF for "privacy" but now has to sell herself like crazy to land a gig. This is delusional behavior.
Heck if anyone could pull MM out of her swirlhole it would be the tight rein of PMK and her pimp-slapping bitch hand. Okay ha I'm a little dark.
In reply to LavenderToast regarding the baby - we have only seen a verifiable live action baby in her care and possession ONE TIME and none of them seemed to know each other, was an odd dynamic.
It is widely believed (though details are contested amongst us here on Nutty's blog) that while some baby was born to somebody somewhere, it is not necessarily (AT ALL) their baby nor in their care at this point. The baby's general provenance and current custody remain a hotly debated mystery.
Mark Cuban looks at what great ideas people can bring to his tank. He wants sharks, not minnows. I would love to see HAMS on his hit show, trying to sell - what? They are sell-outs, and billionaires do not take kindly to runners. The entrepreneurs on “Shark Tank” want a big percentage of what any and all people are trying to sell to them. What percentage would Cuban take of the minnow offerings, to make any money? Ninety percent, at least. And what do the HAMS bring to any table? Or fish tank.
The late great Dorothy Parker was asked to use "horticulture" in a sentence, and that was what she used.
“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.”
✨ GOOD LUCK WITH THAT MEGHAN 😘😭
@Hunter: now the woman in THAT☝🏼 video is what I'd call "Satan's Homegirl" 😂😂 (she like literally conned her Fiancé into believing "child support" doesn't exist in Indonesia so he would financially-abandon his children, which is a complete lie because we're not savages and Indonesian law does protect the welfare of minors).
Javanese Day of Silence starts (not supposed to post anything & will be meditating for the next 16 hours or so).
Sorry in advance if I don't respond to anybody's mentions.
Have a good weekend all. 🍹💜
The idea was a poor one. Shame that Meg didn't follow through on it.
Neutral Observer's post on the glum ratings of the two Harkles specials in the USA really tells the tale. I thought that young people were enthralled with the Harkles? Pro tip -- no one is enthralled with them.
People talking about Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban is a big mouth attention seeker. Said he was going to run for president. Nope. The guy owns a basketball team here in the USA and I think he goes to all the games, including on the road. He's rich, and he has the Shark Tank show, but he's nothing and nobody. In fact, I believe I recall that he used to go to bars with guys on his team. He's a wealthy lightweight, in my estimation.
As we continue to get further away from Megxit, the Harkles' irrelevance will grow, I think. As Nutty said in the last post, the Kardashians are kind of "glam girls" and something many young women want to aspire to be like. Who wants to be a Harkle? The dream is to be IN the royal family, not out of it.
Going to be tough for Meg when every single trial balloon she puts out is deemed "negative" by the public. She is truly stuck. "Megxit" was a global phenomenon, and finally gave Meg a chance to 'break the internet' as she wanted so badly to do. But...there is no follow up to it. Everything else is downhill from here, whatever happens next is going to diminish the luster (either by a lot or by a little, given the decision). Then it will get diminished more, and a bit more, and so forth.
The only source for a royal's relevance is being a royal, being a part of the family. The further you get from that, the less you matter.
It happened to Diana, and it's already starting to happen to Meg. Enjoy Harkles!
“ “I am so blessed that I can show the world a side of myself that truly inspires me,” said Mulroney in a social media post after the show was announced last year.”
In just one single sentence, this shallow, self-centered woman manages to mention herself no less than FOUR times.
Meghan and Jessica’s depth of character can be measured in millimeters.
Diana was the most famous woman in the world. She had something that no one had before, or after. Spark. The British tabloids started going after her, but with little success. In America, she was a Princess, Golden Girl, Trend Setter, and beyond Glamorous. Today, she would be known as less saintly, but she would still be the World’s ‘It Girl.’ Diana grew more beautiful as she aged. There was something about Diana that weirdly transcended everyone, every situation, and in the end, her own self. My own thoughts is that she and Charles, who had mended most of their deep rifts at the time of her death, would be great friends, and together they would be the “Great Team” for their sons. I wonder if William would have felt the need to be with the Middleton family, and thus not have married Kate, and definitely Diana would never have let a predator near Harry, like the Markle Zero.
Meghan is a Nothing. I write this will all due disrespect.
AND NOW, it has posted on Twitter that The Harkles have received a $2 Million offer from a client in Dubai for a mall appearance and a meet and greet. It's worth looking at their Instagram. You'll see lots of famous faces that tie into The Harkles, including Ellen doing a giveaway on her show for a trip to Dubai.
Sheeraz Hasan
@sheerazhasan
·
1h
$2Million cash offer from Dubai client for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Mall Appearance and Meet and Greet. http://famebysheeraz.com
Hasan works out of Los Angeles and Dubai, and here's his bio, with a photo of him wearing a Dubai Polo Club shirt.
And it gets even better! Here's a story about Lindsay Lohan and Hasan, who worked on getting her "jobs" in the Middle East after she got out of rehab in 2013:
"I am meeting with her to organize trips to Brazil and Dubai for business opportunities," Sheeraz Hasan, who owns Millions of Milkshakes and works with the royal families of Qatar and Bahrain tells E! News. "She will meet with royal families and make endorsements and appearances. She already has offers from retail outlets."
"Hasan—who works to bring talent together by negotiating deals with the royal families of Bahrain and Qatar—and his wife met Lindsay five years ago at the Four Seasons, and the couple has a "very close relationship" with the star.
"I'm always looking out for her best interest to bring her opportunities for financial freedom," he said."
https://www.eonline.com/news/398830/lindsay-lohan-s-post-rehab-plans-endorsements-helping-kids-and-overseas-travel
Oh, what a tangled web we weave...
Mail on Sunday is running the "I'm a fraud" union-cheating video just as Meg is trying to get a ticket to the Oscars (or a presenter role.) Their timing is flawless, 8 days before the ceremony when the roster is just being finalized.
Hollywood takes their unions seriously - they have to, given the odd hours of location shooting. They will not like this.
I'm guessing Meg can still wear her gown to Elton John's Oscar party - she hasn't Markled him yet - but that any role in the actual ceremony is probably out.
https://www.thekerplunk.com/2020/01/31/sheeraz-hasan-ceo-of-sheeraz-inc-dominates-hollywood/
Hasan owned Millions of Milkshakes. Look up what Enty has to say about Hasan.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10872683/meghan-harry-security-guards-skivvies/
Michael HamiltonJames Beal
1 Feb 2020, 23:43Updated: 1 Feb 2020, 23:44
SCOTLAND Yard officers protecting Prince Harry and Meghan in Canada have voiced concern about running errands including picking up groceries and coffees
Their rota means they work for two weeks at a time - boosting their pay packets with overtime as they are on duty around the clock.
Former head of Royal Protection Dai Davies said: “I would consider outside the remit of the close protection officers to be running errands and going shopping.
"Their priority is close protection and as such have to stick to them like glue.
"But you build up a relationship with the employer and use a common sense approach in these situations.”
The team are running up huge bills on flights, cars, wages and overtime as they mount a round the clock watch on the couple who have stepped down as frontline royals.
One Royal Protection officer was seen buying food from an organic delicatessen - a favourite of Meghan’s close to her and Harry’s £10 million.
A team of up to 15 highly-trained close protection experts – including some Canadian ‘Mounties’ – are on duty around the couple and nine-month old son Archie.
The number is higher than previously reported – and the couple’s security detail appear to be using three other houses as well as the duke and duchess’s £10.5 million five-bedroom bolthole.
https://2paragraphs.com/2019/04/lindsay-lohan-32-seeing-talent-activator-sheeraz-hasan/
M is a Zero. Her husband was a Prince, Duke, and was given military titles and much more. He should be ashamed of himself, schilling for his wife. By the way, where is H?
And fries.
Millions of Milkshakes.
Sheeraz Hasan Retweeted
Disney
@Disney
·
Oct 11, 2018
Watch the new teaser-trailer for
@DisneyAladdin
. In theaters May 24, 2019. #Aladdin
"It became very clear that unless it was a book she’d ‘written’, current affairs she’d taken part in – such as selling exclusive coverage of her wedding for £1 million – or a television show that she’s starred in, Price had absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. Her world consisted entirely of herself [...] and the constant semi-circle of paps minutely photographing this ongoing narrative of solipsism. No wonder her eyes were so blank – she had nothing to think about apart from herself. She’s like the ouroborus – the mythical serpent, forever eating her own tail.
"Perhaps because of this lucrative self-obsession, throughout our time together, she was never less than a charmless, basilisk-eyed tyrant, bossing her then-husband Peter Andre around as if he were a piddling puppy, squatting on her best shoes, and infusing every engagement with a world-weary contemptuousness [...] I stood and marvelled at the idea that someone whose sole career consisted of ‘being herself’ was doing it so unappealingly and gracelessly."
So many similarities! And yet Katie Price is from a world you would never associate with the BRF. The part that really resonates for me is the final line. "I stood and marvelled at the idea that someone whose sole career consisted of 'being herself' was doing it so unappealingly and gracelessly."
I definitely agree, Diana had "it" and Meg does not. Still, as much as I liked Di, when she got to the Dodi phase of things, I felt bad for her. Just not the same shine and pizazz there as with Charles (not that I'm a big fan of Charles).
Meg is of course trying to cash out and climb the fame ladder now. But how do you 'step up' the ladder from the royal family? You don't. And every money grab instance will only further diminish the Harkles brand to a greater degree. I'm looking forward to that.
The only somewhat lateral move that the Harkles can do now, to try to keep some semblance of meaningfulness (I guess) would be to hang out with Justin Trudeau (via his wife, Meg's buddy). On the other hand, Trudeau's brand isn't what it used to be after his blackface issues. And, well, Canada is just a piece of the Commonwealth. Not the most glam destination (sorry to Canadian readers; I actually like Canada a lot, personally). UK royals matter most in the UK, and possibly in the USA to some extent. And we know that Meg isn't going to be spending any time with the current USA president.
I would love to see the Harkles do the Dubai cash out. By all means, please go for that. You want to talk about an immediate brand devaluation, it couldn't get a lot better than that.
Who has married a senior Royal and ever got a free ride, at least in recent history?
Visa? As I understand it, if she's got the same UK visa as any citizen of another country wishing to marry a UK subject, the visa will have stipulated that she married within 6 months of visa being granted. That fits with November engagement & May wedding.
It would be valid for 3 years, due to expire Nov. 2020. Under normal circumstances, it may be renewed etc, but renewal is not automatic and may be withheld...
We were promised she'd be subject to the same rules as anyone else, no special treatment.
Thank you. That is the best & truest description of Meg, that’s who she is. Her & Katie bloody Price, both charmless, basilisk eyed tyrants, ouroborus twins, hahaha.
Meg & Jessica are the solipsism sisters.
Ah, but Meg has no intention of darkening British doorsteps again, Hallelujah, so the visa issue is null & void, much like herself.
Thought of a remake for her, Kind hearts & Coronets. Female lead this time, playing all nine characters, not the ones in her head.
Main one bumping off the other eight to get the Queendom!
Kind Hearts & Coronets? Perfect!
Dear Alec Guiness- what other early roles of his might work whilst we're playing George Smiley?
The Man in the White Suit thought he'd solved a lot of the World's problems (`- but what about my washing?') yet he got his come-uppance in the end.
I often try to think of what animals those I detest remind me of. Husband no 2, for instance, was the human equivalent of a tapeworm - got his hooks in and wouldn't let go, just lay there, undulating gently; less said about his sexual activity in this context the better but it was remarkably similar to that of said platyhelminth.
MM is surely a Black Widow spider, or has ambitions in that direction - near spherical body, long ungainly legs, fangs that pop out and a habit of tempting mates with sex then spitting them out, it not totally consuming them, when she's sucked them dry.
I had to google platyhelminth, sounds like a toothpaste. A parasitic flat worm, hahaha, painful, needs purging, or a little blue pill?
Black Widow spider, perfect description, or a Stonefish?
I'm trying to think of a way to explain how, as well as everything about Harry, she's also managed to change ordinary, normally sensible, people I know into hysterically ranting nutcases in her favour.
Here's few I thought sounded rather apt just from one article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20150316-ten-parasites-that-control-minds
Zombie ant?
"When the fungus is ready to complete its life cycle, it manipulates the worker to plod blindly away from safety, like a zombie."
Castrator barnacle?
"It then sets up home, leeching off the crab's nutrients and turning it into the vehicle that will allow it to reproduce. [...] But if the crab is male, it will be feminised in order to do the same thing. Not only is it rendered infertile, it grows a larger abdomen to carry the barnacle's young, its gonads shrink, and it stops developing its fighting claws."
Emerald cockroach wasp?
"After a quick suck of recharging roach blood, the wasp chews off the roach's antennae and leads it to its nest like a dog on a lead. [...] But the hapless roach doesn't even try to escape, even though it physically could. It just sits there submissively, as the wasp larva eats it alive."
Is this another flyer?
I would think this would enrage UK taxpayers.
"A team of up to 15 highly-trained close protection experts – including some Canadian ‘Mounties’ – are on duty around the couple and nine-month old son Archie."
"The team are running up huge bills on flights, cars, wages and overtime" while getting Meg's groceries and coffee. "One Royal Protection officer was seen buying food from an organic delicatessen" the Sun reports.
The Royals really need to cut the Sussexes off from taxpayer-funded security sooner, rather than later.
Let the Queen or Charles pay from their personal accounts if security is required. They can call back some cash from one of their offshore havens, or sell some art.
Making the UK public pay for Harry and Meg to live outside the UK and do no Royal duties is just stupid.