So often in life at the start of new year, there is this tendency to focus on what changes will be made in the upcoming year. So we create this list of what we will start to do and what we aren't going to do any more. This year is going to be so wonderful and better than the last one. Or so we plan (giggle - like we really have all that much control over external forces which grind forward like a glacier over our intentions?).
Apparently January 17th is known as Ditch your New Year's resolutions day. Oh well. Carry on.
Pivot away from the future:
So I was thinking about the past year in general and how crazy it was for myself, friends and family outside of Nutty life. Great drama. From that, I started thinking about what this year has been for the Royal Family.
The first Christmas without Prince Philip. The great Jubilee the likes of which we won't see again. The Queen passed. That was huge and emotional. And some interestingly phrased announcements, or some omissions(?), from the Palace. Plans are in motion for the coronation. People are moving on.
And then, there was the couple who live (should we say allegedly?) in Montecito. What changes in their lives? More people have come and gone. A few more pictures of the kids. Many, many photos of them out and about, some familiar and others are new. Lots of things have leaked out while others leapt out in Netflix. People are starting lists to track the lies - hardly a positive move to make one look good.
The Andrew Wallenstein's Variety article was a tad stunning in some ways. It came at a time of year when there is a focus on nice articles which are positive human interest, tug at heart strings and lovely photo ops of how public people are celebrating the holiday season and being doers of charitable deeds. Instead, he talked of how bored people will be with the pity party it's not my fault, I have awful family members (and, ours is a love story unlike any other was or will ever be). And that's a serious roadblock to explain away in any and all future pitches - whether they be Hollywood, tech, political aspirations or a direction we don't know about yet.
On the heels of that, the recent article by Joanna Weiss and then that Spiked piece. Notice how the sugars don't seem to have turned on Variety the way they have the Joanna piece (demanding an apology). That's interesting because the people who read Variety are people the couple appear to want and need to move up to the next levels or forward after all this. That won't be an easy to bury on the net.
We are seeing a distinct rip tide of public articles pulling them down and farther from the coastline of positive high end pr of picture perfect attire, sunsets in the background in a wonderful (controlled for public viewing) life. No longer is it just this or that British paper. No, the negative articles are seeping into the US markets now. And that, is trouble my friends. Right here in Montecito.
Comments
“Will February be relatively Harry-free?
Asking for a friend.”
Reply from another commenter:
“Depends how quickly the Taliban get organised.”
An interview with GBNews regarding Mole’s interview with Tom Bradby. He said he thought Tom was overall sympathetic. However, Richard Fitzwilliams take overall is extremely damning of Mole. 🥴
Harry and Meghan are 'unquestionably at 'war with the Monarchy' | Richard Fitzwilliams
https://youtu.be/CMQxKkvxO8M
Harry: 'I see a lack of scrutiny to my family towards a lot of things'
https://mol.im/a/11612741
Tom Holland @holland_tom Jan 5
If Shakespeare has taught me anything, it’s that royals talking to ghosts never ends well
------------------
The Independent @Independent Jan 5
Prince Harry says woman with ‘powers’ gave him message from his late mother Diana
https://independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/prince-harry-spare-diana-message-b2256765.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1672937588
All dressed up. I asked if she had been someplace before coming to the hospital.
She said no. She wanted to wear her best outfit to say goodbye to her sister.
Tears.
The below Tweeter watched Tom Bradby interview of Harry today and had this to say (and if Harry actually said it and believes it, he is even more delusional and grandiose than I preciously believed):
Royal News Network @RNN_RoyalNews
Harry just admitted!! He’s using legal retaliation to force the royal family to reconcile to Harry on HIS AND MEGHAN’s terms!! And HE BELIEVES that if the British royal family & Harry and Meghan reconcile it’ll have a worldwide impact. No Harry, it won’t.
2:09 PM · Jan 8, 2023
You have my deepest sympathy, good wishes, and a virtual hug.
Weather forecast for Harry and the Royal Family: Foggy and very icy with a strong chance of a s**t storm and little hope of any warming until the cause of the storm runs out of money.
@All Nutties - I am having a difficult time reading Harold’s complaints about the only people who have ever loved him. He can’t (or won’t) define what he wants his family to apologize for, or admit to. His demands are so vague that one gets the impression that no matter what the family says or does, it won’t be good enough. I have noticed that * seems hellbent on having the last word and convincing everyone that she is right. She has told varying versions of the same stories from the beginning. Now, Harold has changed the details of his life story to mirror her grievances and he is re-telling her complaints with his. This is just so pathological it is shocking, especially when one considers that it’s happening to a member of the British Royal Family! I firmly believe, as I mentioned earlier today, that this is all due to something form of Stockholm Syndrome.
I hope I made sense and it wasn’t just a paragraph of gibberish.
Transcript of the Anderson Cooper interview.
Hapless always has to have a villain to target - in this interview it is the media and Camilla.
He just does not make sense to me, but there are little bits of truth that slip out ... Charles was the only member of the family that seemed to like TBW when they first met. Huge red flag ignored! They have no idea what they coui6d possibly have done wrong. Pretty hopeless situation if they are that removed from reality.
The stuff about his mother is sad, but it is not abnormal. (Real life is not like the movies and denial is a classic first stage of grief.) Unlike his brother, he chose drugs and alcohol, and, along with low intelligence and weak character, he was a mess. So much of his behaviour is that of an addict, and it seems as if his marriage has enabled him rather than saved him. The sniffing and dilated pupils in the interview are suspicious (not proof).
I like Catherine’s name as it is and I think they were probably kidding. We have two people in my family with the EXACT same name, but it is the subject of good-natured humor for our family. Nobody complains.
Maybe if we put our heads together, we can come up with a “C” name for Meghan so she won’t feel left out. I can think of at least one C name right now.
In the Bradby interview his dislike of and antagonism towards Camilla is very clear.
He cannot accept that William and Catherine simply do not like his wife and that has nothing to do with her being an actress or biracial or American or being jealous of her. In public they certainly acted friendly toward her and even hosted her in their home at Christmas, and they were always nice and civil with her at family gatherings, but in private they were never going to be friends.
Still, it looks as if Queen Victoria regarded ghillie John Brown as the reincarnation of her beloved Albert – though I can’t quite see why.
…….
The first item I caught on today’s 6am News (Classic FM?) was that H is now denying that he ever accused he RF of being racist. Takes one’s breath away, doesn’t it?
Narcs have very selective memories – I don’t know how they erase all trace of what they have said when it’s convenient to them, it’s a rare ability. In this case, perhaps it went like this:
Say whatever you like to slag someone off.
Get it reported in the Press.
Press the mental `Delete’ button to wipe own memory.
Read the papers & fail to recognise the words.
Assume they’ve invented it.
Scream like Hell.
Sergeant Troy did it (Thomas Hardy,1874)
John Stonehouse (1974)
Reggie Perrin (book 1975, TV 1976)
or disappear when canoeing (John Darwin, 2002)
Although it's not unknown for people to take the opportunity to disappear in the wake of, some other catastrophe, even if they weren't involved.
The petty grudges, nurtured year after year, are astounding. I can imagine a number of people laughing about these stories and getting everyone else to laugh, but hapless and his wife must always be aggrieved.
I bet that was *'s doing.
Transcript of the Bradby interview.
Harry´s Wife : He's Given Her Plenty of Ammo ( Meghan Markle)
https://youtu.be/UhgWE9L0Fb8
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11612883/Prince-Harry-royal-publicly-address-Prince-Andrews-links-Jeffrey-Epstein.html
Did H really say that? Unwittingly reveal that he and * have given us plenty to complain about?
Also allege that A committed a sex crime, which he hasn’t according to English law?
Prince Harry is catering to TWO audiences with racism claims says Kinsey...
https://youtu.be/FRXweUzb5vU
Robert Hardman writes an article about C&C getting married. He wrote about it for a BC documentary at the time and re-watched it.
... [H] writes of his mixed feelings watching his father remarry in 2005. He told ITV last night that he was ‘100 per cent’ happy that his father was happy but he describes it in a detached, wistful tone in the book. He also denies Press reports that he and his brother attached a ‘Just Married’ sign to the car.
Again, this jarred with my impressions of the day. I recall it well because the departure of the happy couple was captured in some detail for a BBC documentary called The Queen’s Castle and I happened to be the writer of the series.
My recollection is of an exuberant Harry in jubilant form, warmly kissing his stepmother, showering the happy couple in confetti and chasing the car through the Windsor Castle quadrangle shouting jokes through the car window. So I looked it up on the internet yesterday. Sure enough, that is exactly how it was. As it happens, the car was also decorated with the words ‘Just Married’. The film is there online for all to see. I leave it to readers to form their own opinions of Harry’s mood on that day.
Either H is deliberately lying, and doesn't seem to realise, or else it's a case of false memory syndrome, either due to a very unprofessional therapist or * (or both).
Apologies:
Sing a Song of Sixpence
A whore, a whore, my kingdom
for a whore!
Sing a song of pretence
a pottage full of lies
More than plenty stories
piping pies in skies
When the book was finished
by ghostly madam ming
They added in the banyan tree
mythcarriage babel sting
Meh was in the garden
hoeing with her toes
Haz locked in the basement
fully comatose
When both of them decided
to bury his grey clothes
Megyl Weep dug down deep
di-splayed the warrior pose
As Fallow Hal began to seep
they watered with their ‘hose’
@Mel
So sorry X
@HappyDays
How about Cnut 😉
Although I read the transcript, I did not watch the interview. The comments in the above thread are interesting because a few say they starting watching but could not continue (even the promotional snippets). Aggressive and unhinged and angry are words used ...
I am sure The Behaviour Panel will analyse the two interviews, and that will be interesting.
I’ve only seen one clip,
the racist comment.
Bradby looked uncomfortable,
bewildered? Serves him right.
Haz looked demented, full on
psychobabble,
unconscious bias etc…
He also had a go at
Princess Margaret,
“she could kill a houseplant
with one scowl”
She obviously saw what an
arsehole he was from an early age!
Thank God our late Queen
isn’t here to witness his bile.
A piece of joking Elizabethan vulgarity for the groundlings:
`By my life, this is my lady’s hand! These be her very C’s, her U’s and her T’s and thus makes she her great P’s'.
– William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5. `Malvolio picks up the fake letter written by Maria and is convinced it is from his mistress Olivia'.
https://www.allgreatquotes.com/twelfth-night-quote-109/
So much I agree with, the visa waiver and other royal families.
Sadly, Maggot and Mole and their Woke sycophants have stocked the Empire fires, by rewriting our history. Tragically too many have bought into the narrative spewed , and so the duo’s grievances have been both weaponised and politicised. It’s also ammunition to be thrown at Blighty, believe me I’ve been absolutely mortified and angered by some of the nonsense spilled by some Woke Americans and their opinion of us now. 😏 I’m gobsmacked at how little they care for research and facts.
I also agree, there are individuals out there who marry in order to annoy their families. Mole was looking for a reason to leave, he didn’t have the balls to leave on his own. I hope Maggot and Mole’s self created Hell comes back to haunt them forever. You very much reap what you sow. 👺
A step too far
Blaming Camilla
for all that went wrong
His mother admitted
she was the first to ‘carry on’
That would make it impossible for politicians to enter. Seems a good policy, but not enforced, unfortunately.
haven’t watched any of the interviews. turned on 60minutes too late but there was a decent interview with Hans Zimmer the movie composer. much more enjoyable i’m positive of that. waiting for BLG and the Behavioral Panel for the insight
the mrs sure is quiet. so the book after netflix destroys his reputation she is a bit tarnished too but she has set up a narrative of a volatile man indulging in drugs with questionable therapy around him. vindictive petty. may have to be deported due to lying on visa forms probably loses Better Up(but that may have already been in the works) could lose invictus. he’s so busy spilling his truth he’s setting her up to leave. he blew it all (literally and figuratively)
Mel so sorry for what you are going through. hope your family can find peace
Where is the true and important, relevant hurt in the sunshine filled Chateau de Sussex?
Meghan (I use her name here on purpose) had a plan: Her royal highness the duchess of Sussex arrives in Hollywood. Every great film director is fighting to get her in his films. Every A-list actor and actress is fighting to get her to be THE best friend. She is the ONE in the Oscars, in the MET Gala, in every important A-list function all over the USA. She is invited as THE guest of honour to president Obama's birthday festivities and no social happening is truly a success without her.
What happened? Nothing. Whose fault it is? The British Royal Family's. Who is going to pay for all this? Well, we see the answer.
The narcissist rage is horrible, because she has been humiliated again and again and again. And that means someone has to pay and pay high.
Harry's destroyed life is just irrelevant collateral damage here.
And how this ends? One can understand King Charles' deep worries as a father.
It is quite another story to accuse a whole family of racism (there are 62 persons in the line of succession to the British throne who count as "family" for King Charles) by using dirty trick "I'm not going to tell you who it was, because it would hurt them."
Just saying.
Give me what I want- No- stomp my feet and sling mud at you- ignore them- stomp my feet and sling more mud at you- continu to ignore them- ......on and on until you give them what they want or they find a new target.
I'm curiousif H gets the government paid security he's suing for, if M would be entitled after a divorce? If H gets taxpayers funding in general, would M be entitled in a divorce? Even if H gets an allowance from King C or PW, would M be entitled to any portion of his "income" in a divorce? Let alone the burning question of whether or not an American divorcee would get to keep any royal title at all. Just feel like these issues are being floated in the media and pursued in court for that reason. M seems to think she's entitled to a $50M payout, security, Staffing, office funding, travel expenses, wardrobe, invites to royal events, family jewels, tiaras, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lerMfrcsfAI HGT Harry;the interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUV3dpF_40 The Miscarriage Burial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnWeTaTLI0s He resented being challenged
I feel a parody coming on - `Underneath the Spreading Banyan Tree', with actions of course.
I think of the original, `Underneath the spreading chestnut tree', as a silly song people sang to keep their spirits in WW2 but the only online videos show it as a kids' song.
Prince Harold to USA: The RF, the UK public, & UK press are all racist, classist & just down right mean! Especially to me & 'the love of my life!'
Prince Harold to both the UK & the USA: Nothing is my fault! Or the fault of 'the love of my life!'
Apologies if this has already been posted on the blog, a grown-up's view of the Maggot & Mole debacle:
https://nationalsecuritynews.com/2023/01/harry-and-meghan-who-shall-separate-us/
Hats off to British education, though. Harry can at least speak in simple, grammatically correct statements, even if nothing he says makes any sense.
Sorry to post this as a link ...
Anderson said on CNN in a piece that did not air, hapless told him that there is still an offer on the table to work as a part-time royal. Deluded? (In another interview he said his father and brother are not talking to him and have not done so for a while.)
https://www.tumblr.com/anonymoushouseplantfan
In the GMA interview he said he could never go back because there is a third party who would make it unsurvivable. (I assume this is the Britush media, but who knows.) Makes no sense to me as the British tabloids publish articles about him anyway and the sensationalist tabloids in America make up stories every other week (but sometimes, bizarrely, they publish something that is actually reliable tea!).
And in the GMA interview he was actually quite nice about Camilla.
He is all over the place! I think there are two more interviews to go. Does he think it is a strategy to change attitude/focus for each interview? Is TBW there giving him feedback and instructions after every interview? Is he drugged up (I would guess probably cocaine)?
That is it! That is the distilled-to-one-perfect-word description I have struggled to come up with lo! these many months.
Pathological. Thank you.
He is however not using the term in reference to himself and his dangerous douchass, but rather is using it to poke and prod and accuse and torment the RF, saying that they must face accountability for what they've done.
But the pathologically deluded (thanks, @ObservantOne!) accuser never is specifying what exactly the Royal Family must be accountable for, or admit to. Never once, to my knowledge.
When, oh when, will Charles and Parliament reach peak exhaustion and exasperation and realize the sick and dangerous duo must be forever banned?
The Montecito twosome will never, ever quit until forcibly stopped.
@Mel - I am very sorry for the loss of your Mother. I’m glad you were there when it happened. Be kind and patient with yourself.
Harry is likely being “counseled” by Doria, the Social Worker. I don’t care how happy he insists he is, he is full of anger and resentment.
What Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey about race
In their 2021 interview, Oprah Winfrey probed Meghan about why she felt the royals had considered not giving Archie the title "prince" and asked: "Do you think it's because of his race?
Meghan replied: "In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time... so, we have in tandem the conversation of, 'He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."
Oprah's shock was audible, asking "what?" and "who is having that conversation with you?"
"Hold up, hold up, stop right now," Oprah continued before later asking: "Because they were concerned that if he were too brown, that that would be a problem? Are you saying that?"
Meghan said: "I wasn't able to follow up with why, but if that's the assumption you're making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?"
Asked whether she would reveal the identity of the royal in question, Meghan replied: "I think that would be very damaging to them."
Harry later said the question was: "What will the kids look like?" and declined to share further details.
Prince Harry appears to feel that he is disputing the British media's narrative but millions of people watched the interview when it was broadcast live, and it was shown in the United States before the United Kingdom.
If viewers felt that Meghan's account amounted to an allegation of racism then Harry may have unwittingly just told millions of Americans that they are wrong.
Not only that, but those people will all know that, whether right or wrong, their instant gut reaction was not a product of being brainwashed by the British media.
That's important because it threatens to undermine the key, central plank of a huge part of Harry's story, namely his tendency to blame the media for a lot of his problems.
Harry needs his audience to believe that he is acting in good faith and is a reliable narrator rather than someone who simply hates the media so much due to the death of his mother that he blames them for everything.
It is very difficult to marry Oprah's visible shock as she heard the words leave Meghan's mouth with Harry's account that the racism narrative came from the British media.
Harry's audience is not only the public but also American journalists who may find themselves writing and debating him more and more if his revelations continue and they too will know how the U.S. media interpreted Meghan's remarks.
He has at points blamed the press for the collapse of relations with his family and his decision to leave Britain but in this example, viewers can compare his assessment of the media's influence to their own direct experience of hearing Meghan's words for themselves.
Harry and Meghan also allowed the racism narrative to persist in Britain, the U.S. and other countries around the world for almost two years without correcting the record.
The duke is correct that neither he nor Meghan used the term "racist" but they did not use the term "unconscious bias" either, meaning at best they left their meaning ambiguous and then did nothing to correct the record once they had been misunderstood until this latest interview.
That is particularly striking given that another major plank of their complaint about Kensington Palace is the refusal to correct the story accusing Meghan of making Kate Middleton cry.
All this could have a significant impact on Harry and Meghan's approval rating on both sides of the Atlantic. They are far more unpopular in Britain now than at the time when they were working royals but they enjoy most support among 18-24 year olds.
It is very difficult to see how a politically idealistic younger generation is going to get behind the idea that it is unconscious bias rather than racism to express concern about whether an unborn child's skin might be "too brown."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/prince-harry-denying-royal-racism-claim-could-shatter-his-reputation/ar-AA16895x?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=95f9a3dfbba84b1080f77738f8eaada8
Nothing is their fault - they have "receipte"(a 25 page document). To lift the NDAs of the staff is to expose them to litigation if they go public. Will the Firm cover theri court costs?
The title - Harry is daring KCIII to remove them. Removal will give them the ammo to play victim for the remainder of their lives, no matter who does it.
We will come back on our terms - and there goes the reign of whoever gives in.
On the flip side -
all these companies - will they suffer image/ stock losses from H's image as a druggie, liar, whiner etc.
His visa - the government has bigger issues, but a small guy could make H's life h*ll for a while.
His image is toast - the uproar speaks for itself. H is a Fraud.
I was stunned to hear him claim that. Huh? What? He has no idea what he and wife have done wrong? Grant me strength.
I do believe he's convinced himself that he and wife are blameless in this whole prolonged mess, and have done nothing warranting an apology.
Well, why doesn't Harry ask me for feedback and guidance in what he has done wrong? I have plenty for him. Harry and Meghan have done innumerable things monumentally wrong, but the first that springs to mind is the July 2019 Deal Concert debacle, and it is UNFORGIVABLE.
As a reminder, Prince Harry as Captain General of Royal Marines canceled his expected attendance at the Royal Marines' 30th anniversary memorial event honoring the marines killed in Deal, Kent in an IRA bombing, in order to rub shoulders with Hollywood stars and crassly tout Meghan Markle to Disney CEO Bob Iger at Disney's Lion King premiere.
I am 99% certain that Kensington Palace lied for Harry when the spokesperson denied that Harry was ever invited to the memorial event so shouldn't be slagged off for attending Disney instead of Deal. That defies belief, in that the memorial concert is an annual July event headed by the ceremonial head of the Royal Marines who was Harry. These dates are penciled into the calendar from one year to the next, months in advance, for obvious reasons. I am contemptuous that Kensington Palace would claim Harry didn't have this important event marked in the 2019 calendar.
When the contretemps first happened, I read about the Deal organizers' disbelief that their ceremonial head Harry on almost zero notice tossed over this moving memorial event to dead Royal Marines in favor of glitzy Disney fun. The organizers specifically stated that the date had been set in stone long before, and by implication called out Kensington Palace's lie. I remember I was amazed that the Deal organizers were this close to explicit in their call-out, and thought them wonderfully ballsy.
That article and quote was wiped very quickly from the web, but I will never forget. That was exactly when I realized that Harry was protected, lied for, accommodated, cosseted, and never held to account for any of his loathsome shenanigans.
Harry has been and sadly still is protected, lied for, accommodated, cosseted, and not held to account.
I hope the tide really is turning. Certainly the public has had enough. When will Charles and Parliament have enough?
Sadly, I suspect nothing will substantively change until William is enthroned.
Thank you for Your kindness regarding my Big post-op Foot Crisis. ER doc said "no obvious infection..but get to Ortho Surgeon first thing" today for the gaping wound. Waiting for ride now.
@Mel
How touching your au'snt gesture was...and hope the situation improves for you and family members, as best can be.
"...visitors to the United States by air have to fill-in...a form before landing in which they state they are not guilty of moral turpitude. This caused me a lot of perplexity for when I have flown to the States surely I am just that (whatever it means) but I always lie and tick no."
Haha! That gave me a laugh, thank you.
@Mel
Be strong. Take care x
. . . . .
@CatEyes
Wishing you a speedy recovery
I think a lot of people figured this out, but this is an expert making the observation. And him and his family are not more at risk, but a whole lot of other people are. I would not want to carry that kind of karma!
I think he should apologize, for the sake of the people he has put at risk.
“Our lives were built on death, our brightest days shadowed by it. Looking back, I didn’t see spots of time, but dances with death . . . maybe we were a death cult.”
Harry also scribed how Windsor Castle — one of the Firm’s royal residences in England — is a “tomb, the walls filled with ancestors.”
The Tower of London, Harry explained, is “held together with the blood of animals.”
____
Huh??????
Her and Catherine are so different. The latter is 'keep calm and carry on', like the Queen. (And is also impeccable with the fit of clothing.) The former is a drama queen of high order (whose expensive designer dresses do not fit properly, even with four people and a box of pins trying to achieve that). And poor hapless thought they could be friends, immediately!
Her and Catherine are so different. The latter is 'keep calm and carry on', like the Queen. (And is also impeccable with the fit of clothing.) The former is a drama queen of high order (whose expensive designer dresses do not fit properly, even with four people and a box of pins trying to achieve that). And poor hapless thought they could be friends, immediately!
By the way, I would also collapse if I was told four days before my wedding that the flower girl dresses had to be remade. But that is what happens when you insist on being in control when you are way over your head.
If you haven’t already used this as inspiration for your singalongs, please do 🙂:
If I Only Had a Brain
I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers,
Consulting with the rain;
And my head I'd be a scratchin'
While my thoughts are busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.
I'd unravel ev'ry riddle for my
Individdle
In trouble or in pain
With the thoughts that you'll be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.
Oh, I, could tell you why
The oceans near the shore
I could think of things I'd never
Thunk before,
And then I'd sit down and think some more.
I would not be just a muffin',
My head all full of stuffin',
My heart all full of pain;
And perhaps I'd deserve you and be
Even worthy even you
If I only had a brain.
Surrogates, invisible children, IVF, of the body.
Shut that right down.
Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, begins with a literary quote from the celebrated American author William Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
It lends an air of literary respectability to the memoir, yet just a few pages later, the Duke admits that he found the famous line on the website BrainyQuote.com.
The Duke of Sussex was so taken by Faulkner’s turn of phrase, he writes, that he was “thunderstrick”. His first thought was “Who the fook is Faulkner? And how’s he related to us Windsors?”
The author, a leading light of the so-called Southern Renaissance, was a noted apologist for slavery who once declared that he longed for the return of the “benevolent autocracy” of slavery, in which "Negroes would be better off because they’d have someone to look after them."
Faulkner also opposed the forced ending of segregation in the South, saying that if it came to it, he'd "fight for Mississippi against the United States even if it meant going out into the street and shooting Negroes."
The story is behind a paywall so I've copied & pasted it. It's written by a Max Colchester, whom I've never heard of. He's likely a WSJ reporter from the UK or in the UK.
LONDON—Prince Harry‘s popularity in the U.K. dropped to a low ahead of the publication of his highly anticipated memoir, which offers a rare first-person insight into life in the world’s most famous monarchy and has fueled a rolling media frenzy in Britain.
The book “Spare,” which accidentally appeared in Spanish bookstores last week and is scheduled to be published in English on Tuesday, has captivated royal watchers with many details about Prince Harry’s private life and how he became estranged from the House of Windsor.
The book claims among other things that he was pushed to the floor by his older brother Prince William during an argument, killed 25 people during his tours of military duty in Afghanistan, and experimented with cocaine as a teen. It also includes a passage detailing how the young prince lost his virginity in a field outside a pub to a horse-loving older woman, according to extracts and a Spanish version viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The welter of royal revelations has done little for either Prince Harry’s or the monarchy’s reputation in Britain. A YouGov poll conducted last week showed that 26% of people in Britain have a positive opinion of Prince Harry, down seven points from December and a record low. The book also appears to have damaged his elder brother and heir to the throne Prince William, who saw his popularity fall from 77% to 69% last week, according to YouGov. Overall a majority of Brits support the royal family but that backing has fallen to 54% from 68% in September last year, just after Queen Elizabeth II died.
Buckingham Palace continued to stay silent on the book, declining to comment Monday. But the book has elicited criticism from certain quarters. A Conservative Party lawmaker, Bob Seely, has said he would look to introduce a law to strip the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of their royal titles (the British government says it doesn’t support this motion). Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Taliban’s Haqqani network, tweeted that the 25 people Prince Harry says he killed while serving as part of an Apache attack helicopter crew in Afghanistan “were not chess pieces, they were humans.”
Prince Harry was once a widely popular figure in the U.K., especially during his military service, but his allegations have lately generated more hostility than sympathy among many Brits. Some newspaper columnists have criticized him and his wife, Meghan Markle, for making money from their story, as well as generating round-the-clock media attention despite complaining their privacy as royals had been violated by the media.
“How could Harry do this to Kate on her birthday?” wrote the Daily Mail newspaper, noting that Monday was the birthday of Prince William’s wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Prince Harry denied in several televised interviews that he was unfairly trying to make money out of his royal ties.
The memoir offers an unvarnished view of life as a British prince, painting the royal family as an ossified and dysfunctional institution that did little to protect Prince Harry and Ms. Markle from what he says was an overly intrusive tabloid press, according to the Spanish version of the book. It also lays bare the tense relations Prince Harry said existed with Prince William, and how Harry, now 38 years old, struggled for years after his mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in 1997. Prince Harry and his wife moved to the U.S. after quitting royal duties in 2020 and set up a media business. The couple have also made a Netflix series about their lives, which they say aims to put across their version of events.
The appearance of the book in Spanish last week sparked a media translation race. The British Broadcasting Corporation live blogged excerpts from “Spare” as soon as it translated them. Prince Harry conducted a number of televised interviews aired over Sunday and Monday in which he doubled down on claims in the book, including that his stepmother Camilla, the queen consort, “sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.” He told U.K. TV station ITV that he wanted to reconcile with his brother and his father, King Charles, and hoped it “will have a ripple effect across the entire world.”
Prince Harry told CBS in an interview aired Sunday that he had no choice but to go public with his story. “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife. You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain. But it’s just a motto. And it doesn’t really hold,” he said. The drip of extracts from his book have dominated headlines in the U.K. for five days.
The book also takes aim at queen consort Camilla, including allegations that Prince William and Prince Harry both asked their father not to marry her. It also alleges that she leaked personal conversations to the press to better improve her own media profile. In Sunday night’s interview with the U.K. TV station ITV, the duke attacked close members of the royal family for “getting into bed with the devil” in forging relationships with the tabloid press “to rehabilitate their image.”
However, there were also signs that the prince wanted to dial down the tension with his family. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 the couple said a member of the royal family asked how dark their unborn child’s skin would be. Prince Harry on Sunday denied that the royal family was racist but rather suffered from what he called “unconscious bias.” He also added that it was up to his brother and father if they wanted to reconcile.
Overall, Prince Harry said his aim was to ensure the record reflected what happened. “They were necessary, they were essential…for historical fact and significance. I don’t want my kids or other people of that age growing up thinking ‘Oh wow, this is what happens,’ like no that’s not what happened. This is what happened,” he told ITV.
....until on a non-Markle related site I read a rather different take on what he wrote and merely high-lighting his own words. You will recall that he and Markle are not unfamiliar with certain euphemistic expressions (Crocodile) and on the site I was reading the implied interpretation (see what you think of it) was that his partner may have had more than two legs.
Now, Harry denies that he and Meghan ever accused the RF of being racist. He is a fantasist, and has balls of steel to do a 180*, while knowing we all can prove him an unrepentant liar. We already know that Meghan is a proven liar. Now he joins her in that exclusive club.
Harry and Meghan are indescribably vile.
I think Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne should sue Harry and Meghan for the loss of face and income which can be tied directly to H&M's lies.
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Oh dear. Wouldn't that be something.
Worse than Mm putting the moves on KC.
Re Harry's quotes from the book, might that purple prose have been written by la pétasse, by any chance?
"Things are moving as fast as the rain right now! The Shelter in Place has now been canceled and an evacuation of the entire Montecito, Toro Canyon, Sycamore Canyon and Padaro Ln communities has been issued.
Monitor www.montecitofire.com and make sure to be enrolled in www.readysbc.org for the most up-to-date info and alerts."
I don't care enough about Harry and his douchass to check to see if their mansion is within the affected area. I don't believe they actually live at that address. But I do care about their children, if they exist, and any pets who live in the house and hope they, as well as all other residents and animals in the evacuation area will be safe.
It was exactly five years ago to this day that the terrible mudslides in Montecito claimed 23 lives, may the victims rest in peace.
Harry´s Wife : "I Suppose I Have To Say Yes" ( Meghan Markle)
https://youtu.be/BOoEE8HeW80
How will H and * spin this?
Entire area of Montecito - where Prince Harry and Meghan live - is ordered to evacuate and Santa Barbara residents are warned to shelter-in-place as powerful storm slams into California, killing 12
Where will they stay? Will their house be badly affected?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11615585/California-steels-storms-left-12-dead-137-000-without-power.html
How will H and * spin this?
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He'll put the blame on Charles or William.
Someone has to drop the bomb on them.
“I genuinely believe that if me and my family can reconcile ... but first there has to be compensation and accountability. And if that doesn't happen, then that's very sad. But I will focus on my life.”
The grammar is horrible, as is the meaning. Do Hazmat & hanger-on want reparations? And an apology? The grandioseness of their delusions is staggering. The quote if from a Telegraph article on the RF lawyers' request for transcripts of Hazmat's tv whinefests.
Part 1.
The Royal family’s lawyers asked a US broadcaster to hand over the Duke of Sussex’s latest interview, as he expressed concern for royal children and suggested that Queen Elizabeth II was powerless to help him.
A legal firm acting for Buckingham Palace contacted ABC while the Duke’s Good Morning America interview was on air, saying it needed to consider exactly what was said and “the context in which it appears” in order to have the opportunity to respond.
Royal sources insisted it was a standard “right of reply” letter, but it raised the prospect that they were concerned about something specific that the Duke may have said.
Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace has so far commented on any of the allegations made in the Duke’s memoir, Spare, despite their highly personal and potentially damaging nature.
However, the Queen Consort is widely reported to be the King’s “red line”.
In his ITV interview on Sunday evening, the Duke repeated a claim, also made in his book, that Camilla leaked a story about her first meeting with Prince William to the press.
He has also alleged that his own interests were “sacrificed on her PR altar” and referred to her as a “villain” who left “bodies in the street” as she strove to rehabilitate her image.
It is a matter of public record that the Queen Consort did not leak the story about meeting William. The details were leaked, inadvertently, by Camilla’s own private secretary, who was eventually sacked over the incident.
Palace lawyers asked both ABC and CBS, which also broadcast an interview with the Duke on Sunday evening, for a copy of the Duke’s interviews but the requests were declined.
The Duke has faced criticism for making a slew of intimate family revelations in his memoir.
But he insisted on Good Morning America that the book, which is officially published on Tuesday, could not make things any worse than they already were.
And despite it all, the Duke did not rule out a future role working for the monarchy, admitting that he and his wife want to support the Commonwealth and that was “of course on the table”.
The pre-recorded interview was the third to be broadcast within 24 hours as the Duke embarked on a media blitz to promote his book.
It will be followed on Tuesday with an interview in People magazine and a live appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York.
Family relationship was already at rock bottom
The Duke was challenged on the view that he had “sold his family out” with his book, but insisted that he felt it was the only way he could “protect” himself.
He added: “I thought about it long and hard, and as far as I see it the divide couldn't be greater before this book.
“I genuinely believe that if me and my family can reconcile ... but first there has to be compensation and accountability. And if that doesn't happen, then that's very sad. But I will focus on my life.”
Prince Harry has not spoken to the Queen Consort ‘for a long time’
The Duke adopted a more conciliatory tone towards his step-mother than in previous interviews, insisting that he had “a huge amount of compassion” for Camilla.
He said that any deals or trading of stories that happened many years ago had likely taken place because she was “led to believe” it was the best way to rehabilitate her reputation.
“We haven't spoken for a long time. I love every member of my family, despite the differences, so when I see her we're perfectly pleasant with each other,” he said.
“I don't look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything that she can to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake.”
Hopes to be ‘joined at the hip’ with Prince William again
The Duke admitted that he harboured hopes of one day being “joined at the hip” with his brother again, but alleged that the prospect would “terrify” the press.
He also repeated his claim that the family would not find peace “until the truth is out there”.
He added: “There's a lot that I can forgive, but there needs to be a conversation in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability.
"I just hope that there's a way that we can have a conversation that is trusted within that conversation that isn't then spilled to the British press. That's where I am."
Royals’ behaviour towards Meghan based on media reports
The Duke blamed the press for driving a wedge between Meghan and the Princess of Wales, suggesting that media coverage influenced how the royals behaved more than their own personal experiences.
He alleged that William was “jealous” of his position as the spare, saying: "But I have more freedom than he does, right?
“So his life is planned out for him. I have more flexibility to be able to choose the life that I wanted."
Therapy
The Duke admitted that he wished he had been given the opportunity to do some form of therapy in the wake of his mother’s death, so he could have spoken about her and celebrated her life.
He said he probably would have partied less and taken fewer drugs in order to “find a feeling or numb a feeling”.
Is the RF finally going to lower the kibosh on these two?
I feel so much of Harry's babble has been spoon-fed to him by his endlessly malicious & resentful other half. He's like some brainwashed prisoner of war.
Thanks, @WBBM for the HG Tudor YouTube links. They made me feel that Hazmat, for all of his faults, is in an abusive relationship. He seems completely isolated, without friends or family, other than her. That's a classic sign of emotional abuse.
Montecito was just issued with a mandatory evacuation order. Not just some of the zones. The whole city. Due to exceptional flash flood risk. Almost 12 inches of rain have fallen in the last 24 hours on the fore-range behind the city and there is another 6 to 8 inches to come. At least. There was a shelter in place a few hours ago in all the very high risk creek areas. With the boundary of one of the shelter in place areas just a few houses down from guess who.
So we might get an answer to the question if they actually live in the house off Hot Springs or if it just a very expensive life-style prop. The 101 freeway is currently shut in several places east of Santa Barbara so if one or both are in LA today they wont be able to get back to Montecito any time soon. 101 North, 154 and 192 are all closed. This all happened very fast. The storm was originally supposed to track further North. Big Sur or Bay Area. The shift south of the storm track happened very quickly.
I'm out of the country at the moment and know what these natural disasters are like so I'm not going to bug any of my friends to find out what is going on. They will have more than enough on their mind at the moment. Its even the 5 year anniversary today of the mud-flows that killed 23 people. Which will make it far worse for everyone. There were a bunch of memorials planned for the anniversary. Very worried about one friend as it seems Coast Village Rd is already under serious amounts of water. Which really did not happen in 2018. Fingers crossed. But the current weather radar for the Central Coast looks pretty grim.
Anyway. Its an ill-wind and all that.
Maneki Neko said…
H's problems are not over.
Entire area of Montecito - where Prince Harry and Meghan live - is ordered to evacuate and Santa Barbara residents are warned to shelter-in-place as powerful storm slams into California, killing 12
Where will they stay? Will their house be badly affected?
@Maneki Neko: I recall when the Sussexes bought that house that it was known that the devastating mudslides that hit Montecito several years ago, which took the lives of some area residents and did heavy damage to the area, one of the massive mudslides came within just a few hundred feet of the estate they now own.
If they suffer any damage, will they blame Harry’s family by saying if they had more money from Charles, they could have afforded a home in an area not prone to mudslides?
I can imaging Meghan telling her staff to save her computer that probably has her book she's writing on it -- and her collection of hair extensions, and oh yeah, get the kids.
Megyn Kelly doesn’t mince words on what H &* should apologize for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7M-xEKP9po
Dr. David Starkey lends a historian’s viewpoint ( really good):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlB_YUwaDk
Megyn Kelly doesn’t mince words on what H &* should apologize for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7M-xEKP9po
Dr. David Starkey lends a historian’s viewpoint ( really good):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlB_YUwaDk
I cannot keep up with the revisionist history.
And the bridesmaids dress debuacle has now taken a life of its own with text message screen shots?
it raised the prospect that they were concerned about something specific that the Duke may have said.
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I think the something specific that the Duke might have said was the word compensation.
That's new. He has not used that language before.
Certainly makes it sound like hes planning on suing the Royal family doesn't it.
Wonder if his backers or MM has put it into his head that he needs reparations.
This is all about getting money. And only about getting money.
Thanks for these weather updates. Thoughts and prayers for those in the area.
Thoughts and prayers for you too CatEyes. And anyone else who is in need of support.
On a different note, new post up (with the book release might as well start with some fresh space).
Agreed. I’m also fairly confident that, if Mudslide Manor sustains damage, they will want the BRF to pay to have them relocated to the UK for their half in / half out Royal gig. Of course, Windsor Castle will be the only abode that will soothe their trauma.
@Teasmade
I hope the rescue chickens are ok.