Seriously. It was not.
Sudden trips, surprise awards, a cooking event, not much forward momentum in rebranding while elsewhere was profound loss, missed scheduled events and a few more warning shots over the bow about "truth" and be careful what you push for.
Perhaps, at least for a while, there will be some peaceful quiet before things ramp up for TOC.
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(Trooping the Colour idea according to Neil Sean)
But I do worry about the baroness's mental health. She was so suicidal when she last time represented the Royal Family. Maybe she has not thought this properly through.
Oh my, oh my these news...
The above chilling comment appeared on today’s Bookworm 2 YouTube channel; video in which Bookie mentions her uncomfortable suspicion that Charles intends to welcome Harry and Meghan back to the kingdom. For those who poo-poo that thought as preposterous, think again:
1. Charles instructed his team years ago to rehabilitate Camilla’s tarnished reputation as most hated woman in U.K. He would not be dissuaded. That effort was entirely successful and she is now his queen.
2. Meghan or her minions have thrown out the news that she is actively searching for a powerful P.R. company in U.K. to handle her. Why in heaven’s name would she leak this and intimate that she is willing to again travel to U.K.? Maybe this is to manage the people’s expectations in baby steps, getting them used to the thought that Harry and Meghan will return to the fold.
3. To that end, yes it is possible that Charles has instructed his team to turn their attentions to changing the public’s perceptions so as to welcome Harry and Meghan back. It worked with Camilla, and he may be so out of touch with the people’s attitude that he thinks his team can perform this same miracle for his dear boy and the tungsten wife. I don’t think it would work, but Charles might think it will.
4. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I find it odd that at same time Katherine is out for such an extended medical leave, William on just hours’ notice pulled out from attendance at his godfather’s memorial at which he was to speak, and then Camilla has had to take a few days off. I fear that perhaps Charles, feeling his own mortality, recently told his family that Harry and Meghan are needed as part of the top royal group representing the crown, and that the decision has been made so he will abide no talkback. To demonstrate their displeasure at being sloughed off, mayhaps Katherine won’t hurry her return to service, and William pulled out at last minute of his role at Constantine’s service, and Camilla decided to take it a bit easier and not do all her work uncomplainingly. I don’t know, but the chess moves are striking me as odd.
5. To cap it off, as we’ve read, a USA judge has ruled that Harry’s immigration papers must be handed over by Dept. of Homeland Security. The commenter on Bookworm 2 wrote that heart-stopping observation at top, which to me would make perfect sense... just make it look like the noisome twosome are forced to return to the fold. It is all theater.
“The judge has demanded to see Harry’s visa. What better way for them to save face than to have them have to leave the US…”
May good sense and the Prince of Wales prevail.
Best-selling author?
It is comical. She invites riducule with this nonsense.
This article seems well-researched:
https://archive.is/2024.03.07-232304/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/07/harry-megahn-duke-duchess-sussex-hire-uk-pr-mystery-project/
This about the PR hire in the UK:
The new member of the PR team will join ahead of the launch of a new commercial venture that the Duchess has been working on for many months.
The initiative, which had been billed as a lifestyle and wellness brand, had been expected to launch last autumn, but was delayed as it evolved and “took different shapes.”
Speculation is rife that it will be a version of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s multimillion-dollar lifestyle business, but aides insist that is not the case.
They say the venture is highly personal and “genuine to who she is”.
----------
She is trying to turn around her bad reputation inthe UK because she thinks it might hurt her commeecially.
Note how it evolved and took different shapes. Nightmare! Brilliant idea of the day, so let's all change direction, scope, everything. Staff are going to flee in their droves, once they wake up!
And, does she know who she really is?
@alianor
I read with dismay your post about H & * attending Tooling the Colour. When I looked it up, I found three videos all saying that the despicable duo will not be attending. In fact, they're not invited ('banned', allegedly).
Here are a couple of short YouTube videos.
Harry & Meghan Devastated As King Ordered Ministry Of Defence BAN Them From Trooping The Colour 2024
https://youtu.be/HBsjPk32ddU?feature=shared
King's Order Shocks Harry & Meghan: Banned from Trooping The Colour 2024 by Ministry of Defence
https://youtu.be/xBx8OruPFA8?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/l6UhNd1u6-I?feature=shared
This video says the Harkles were spotted fighting in the car after Charles ban them from Trooping the Colour 2024 (there's nothing in the video about a fight in the car but they're still not invited)
https://youtu.be/srLIkPrS1Ew?feature=shared
Apologies to all Nutties if you already knew about the above, I didn't.
https://youtu.be/srLIkPrS1Ew?feature=shared
What I thought amusing was the talk of how mothers need more "'true representation'" from Hollywood. Sure. In reality, a normal real mother is not going to stand out to make a good story for Hollywood to make money off of. And, the same could just as easily be said for fathers, single parents or singles. No, they sell escape from your reality not bring you more of it.
@BarkJack_
Multiple reports Harry, Duke of Sussex reportedly wishes we had 'Queen Diana' rather than Queen Camilla. One friend suggested his rage has reached a "boiling point"
&
The Royal Observer called him 'envious' of King Charles' 'happy marriage!
https://twitter.com/BarkJack_/status/1765816182165160069
Always complaining and 'raising awareness' but never actually doing anything.
Jodie Foster. Produces directs and acts. Her latest hit was a story about two women, and she took one of the lead roles (the part came to her, so this was not her project). Need I say more?
Yes, let me give some more names ... the unbelievably brilliant Viola Davis; the equally brilliant Angela Bassett; let us not forget Meryl Streep and Gillian Anderson. I could go on all day!
My complaint about the industry is it has been taken over by superheroes and movies/series with a lot of violence. Even the great Denzel Washington is doing violence nowadays.
Race TV % 2020 Census %
White 57.5 57.8
Black 23.8 12.1
Hispanic 9.2 18.7
So, black women are over represented and hispanic women are under represented on TV, if we are going to strictly stick to the numbers?
My comment was meant to be frosty sarcasm. I did not mean to shock anyone.
I doubt that the Family would dream of risking the fury of the Brits booing on The Mall in thousands, they know better.
Even if the King wanted to take his idiot son back he knows he can't command the mood of his people. And he hardly is trusting his daughter-in-law to stay away from Good Morning America after ANY event to sell her TRUTH for right amount of crispy dollars.
Once cruelly bitten, twice shy.
I also see zero conspiracy around Catherine requiring surgery and recovery time. Easter is at the end of the month, and we will see what happens then.
No photos, but they are in Austin Texas and were seen dining at Soho House.
Sorry, I probably wasn't wide awake when I read your post and couldn't remember reading about those two going to Trooping the Colour. Also I was out nearly all day yesterday so thought I might have missed something.
If, however,Charles, via the Ministry of Defence, has banned them from attending then this is serious. I suppose not only does he/the family not want to see them, he might be worried about them trying to get some info on his/Catherine's health. The last thing we need is those two on the balcony. It would certainly marr the occasion.
'Meghan has 'already hired new PR guru' ready for her UK relaunch - but industry experts label the job of relaunching the Sussexes in Britain amid rock bottom popularity 'a s*** sandwich not many are willing to eat'
... The Duchess of Sussex wants a stellar publicist to help her promote a new mystery business venture in 2024 that has reportedly been months in the making.' ...
Stellar? The very best in the business couldn't salvage *'s reputation. As for the 'mystery venture', I 'm sure it will be a flop before it has even started.
https://tinyurl.com/4uvd5w5c
The little I read of the article is the usual vomit inducing platitudes.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13174419/meghan-markle-speaks-sxsw-2024-austin-prince-harry.html
"Meghan Markle puts on a stunning display in a silky ensemble as she takes center stage at SXSW for star-studded International Women's Day panel - after cozy date night with Prince Harry"
DM is stirring the pot to create drama. She does not look stunning, and the usual word salad from her.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1b9vvcs/watch_party_meghan_markle_sxsw_x_archewell_panel/
She fancies herself as such a feminist and a supporter of women, yet she treated the Queen and Catherine abysmally. There is a dichotomy between her ideas and thinking and her behaviour and actions, which, it seems, she isn't even aware of, or else she just doesn't care. Her stance on feminism is just meaningless, banal and uninspiring.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/04/nightmare-how-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-burned-bridges-in-hollywood/
OUCH!
But one senior PR executive based in London told MailOnline today: 'This is a s**t sandwich that many senior PR people will not be willing to eat. Many will turn it down. Representing the couple in the UK is a tantalising thought but they don't have a reputation for listening to advice. What would be the point?'.
I can't stop laughing. That was truly hilarious. She is a gift that keeps on giving. She obviously has NO IDEA how utterly comic she looks in her beige sackcloth and her psychobabble and faked emotions. For a woman who does not follow the social media (according to her self) she knows everything anybody has ever written about her.
That is a woman that the British Royal Family needs as much as three big holes in their heads.
That was comedy gold and I can see how her branch gets breathtaking start into a true international fame and big bucks. Oh yes!!
'Meghan Markle puts on a stunning display in a silky ensemble'🤣. I obviously missed that little gem. I'm not sure 'stunning' is the right word to describe what * was wearing. It was three sizes too big for a start. Whoever wrote that description was surely taking the pee.
I noticed that there was a crowd of mostly young men with phones out to film her, crowded near the front.
She does not specify how she was getting these hateful messages. She did say messages. What the dumb woman means is she was scouring the Internet to read anything and everything about her, and making a big drama about anything said about her that was not profuse and false claims about how wonderful she is.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1ba02o3/the_dishwashing_letter_writing_story_on_video/
“There are two types of bodyguard – one that is extremely risk aware and capable of operating without ever being seen and one that is an enormous man mountain,” says one anonymous fixer to the uber-wealthy. “Generally speaking, the enormous man-mountain people have very little in the way of secondary skills – they’re just there because the principal [the person being guarded] is a chump and wants to look important. That’s why you don’t see the Royals surrounded by enormous people.”
Complete article at:
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/inside-world-elite-bodyguards-protect-185335138.html
'Inside the world of elite bodyguards: Who will protect the Duke of Sussex now?'
Lucy Denyer
Fri, 8 March 2024 at 6:53 pm GMT·9-min read
I sat down to watch Monty Don's `Spanish Gardens' (BBC2) but the set opened on BBC1 and there was That Effin' Woman (TEW) pontificating with her message of `How could you possibly criticise me for attacking another woman when I bring a message of love humanity and justice to all people but especially women?'
Is it the British PR company at work?
Thank Heaven for Monty Don.
Thanks for that Telegraph article. Her (their) bodyguards are very visible, not only in their presence, but also in their herding/intimidation of other people and the 'hands on' attitude to her. Even her female bodyguard (only one ever; when she was with the royal family) exhibit this behaviour. But we have also seen bodyguards actually put their hands on her. Sure we sometimes notice bodyguards for royals, who always seem to be standing still and scanning the crowds. But, yes, she has bodyguards as an ego boost.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1badml6/pathological_pity_play_bullying_others_the/
"If... you find yourself often pitying someone who consistently hurts you or other people, and who actively campaigns for your sympathy, the chances are close to 100 percent that you are dealing with a sociopath". Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door.
I am not a fan of Lauren Sanchez, who looks more like a plastic doll each month, but the woman has talent. She has written and is now publishing a children's book ... that children will actually want to read, and enjoy, and will relate to in our new Space Age, and which is original but yet draws on a long tradition of children's stories.
Compare this with the deranged emu who insists on calling herself a best-selling children's book author.
Lauren, if the duo ever try to cosy up to you and Jeff, to borrow a jet or a yacht, get in your helicopter and flee!
Theresa Longo Fans
@BarkJack_
Tea from a 1st hand account (producer). Backstage, a woman (not Katie or Meg) on the #SXSW panel was asked how they are all “related”. The woman laughed and raised an eyebrow.
She didn’t miss a beat saying “Cannot speak for others… but I don’t preach, I practice!”
https://x.com/BarkJack_/status/1766341445319901639?s=20
----------
A total of 21 questions were asked. Meghan had 6 while Katie, Brooke and Nancy had 5 each.
A very unofficial tally of time spent speaking is Katie 15.03 minutes Brooke and Meghan tied with 13.20 minutes Nancy 7.35
Even with an extra question and the dishwashing question thrown to her by Katie, Meghan wasn’t really monopolizing the conversation.
The next to the last question was the meat of the interview. How are you… What is the best way…. What is it about… I found the answers to this question really interesting.
Nancy took 1:58 minutes to really give some details on how to help women being harassed on SM.
Katie took 2:20 minutes to explain exactly how she was using her SM platform for good.
Brooke in 2:06 minutes, explaining what she was accomplishing and what her future goals were.
Meghan, well our Saint, blabbered on for 55 seconds about how she had a great husband right? And wants everyone to have a voice right? There wasn’t any solid plan of what she wanted to accomplish or how she was planning on doing it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1bakg8m/sxsw_by_the_numbers_and_the_day_after/
1) mrs should fire adele’s stylist. she still doesn’t look good. she had a few outings as a royal she looked ok. what happened?
2) uvalde criticism must have stung because she is doubling down visiting a relative of someone killed. and who happens to be a squad member and takes over the birthday celebrations. all posted on social media. probably drawing more attention. see look at the online hate and i just smile through it. using a tragedy as a photo op and doubling down on it is disgusting. but then politicians for it all the time. she will be in good company
3) harry is still an accessory
4) mom stuff. when will you be around for your kids if you have them?
tiresome two. we need prince louis pics and some sunshine and light again!!
I suppose narcissism Exists on a spectrum much like autism does, and it’s probably possible for someone to exhibit some narcissistic traits, chiefly self-absorption, without verging over into sociopathy. I think we’ve all known people who tend to monopolize every conversation or like to cast themselves as a victim or who can be cheap and conveniently forget their wallet every time they go out with others. People like this usually have enough better qualities to be worth tolerating despite their flaws. When the self-absorption curdles into obsessive jealousy of others‘ traits and success, leading to rage-fueled active hurting/plotting against others, We are no longer dealing with the cocktail party kind of narcissist but the malignant kind. I.e. a sociopath.
HG Tudor classifies Harry’s wife as a mid range Narcissist. He is pretty insistent that she has no self-awareness of being a narcissist and would reject that label. Her narcissism itself is protecting her ego from accepting that she could have a personality disorder. She has in essence bought her own self concept as absolute truth— She made her father tell her over and over that she was the most beautiful, most intelligent, most kind most talented most special little girl in the world ad nauseum and he obliged. Her wounded ego, damaged from maternal abandonment, demanded endless validation from her remaining parent. Thomas no doubt believed that he was helping his awkward child develop self-esteem and make up for the loss of her mother with guilty overindulgence of her. Unfortunately such hothouse attention coupled with a lack of boundaries in the form of discipline or the word No resulted in a completely overinflated sense of her own abilities or appearance. Rachel grew up swaddled in an echo chamber of magical thinking where she was the Princess entitled to have and be everything she desires, because she was born so special and amazing. This is where she tops over into sociopathy: lAnyone who doesn’t fall in with her own version of reality becomes an enemy who poses such a threat to her ego they must be discarded or destroyed. Somebody like Messica Baloney or Ninaki Priddy could just be discarded like fast food wrappers after she was done using them because in her mind they were just wannabes to whom she was superior. Someone like Catherine, however poses a potent and intolerable threat to her ego. Catherine is the living embodiment of how Harry’s wife believes herself to be and has all in life Harry’s wife believes herself entitled to. Confronted with such a paragon in the flesh at close range and worse—having to publicly defer to C. and be constantly reminded that she was second tier—she whose ego will not allow itself to acknowledge any superiors, not even the Queen of England—it was not to be borne. Such a colossal threat to the fragile Narc ego must be utterly destroyed for her AUDACITY in challenging the Kween of the Yachts.
But with the inferior grade Midrange Narcissist all of this exists at a subconscious level. She absolutely is aware when she takes revenge on people and delights in the pain and chaos she causes but that is only the external result. Her internal drivers are opaque to herself. She knows she hates Catherine and the Royal family and they need to be punished for not venerating her properly and acting as though they are better than she is. Her ego can never accept correction or any place less than the top. It would never be able to accept that anyone could be more accomplished, more beautiful or higher ranking than she is. Objectively, it’s ridiculous because never has there been another being with such a grandiose opinion of herself with so little cause. Deep deep under the monstrous arrogance is that homely socially awkward insecure motherless little girl whose mind broke from the trauma and to protect the wounded core of herself created, with the aiding and abetting of an easily manipulated father with access to show business, the persona of Sparkle Markle, Wonder of the Modern World. It’s like her alter personality but Sparkle Markle was so much stronger and more confident and more audacious than Little Motherless Rachel with the gap-toothed smile and the nappy hair that she gradually devoured the core personality altogether. Now there is no core self any more, just the manufactured facsimile of a person. She would never be able to articulate this though. The casualty of this metamorphosis was any capacity for self-reflection or deeper thought. Sparkle by definition has to remain on the surface to be seen and admired. Any threat to the Sparkle prompts a wholly instinctual and reactionary protective rage. Hence all the mask slips—poor self control—and her attacks so seemingly reactive and chaotic. There is no detailed long range plan. No ability to self-manage in either of the Dumbartons. Their “brand strategy” is like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks—A big splash creating a huge mess with no lasting results or ability to build on a foundation because there isn’t one.
HG also insists that Tom Markle Sr. is Narcissist too. I’m not sure about this as it seems like a narcissistic parent would not have lavished so much excessive praise on his little darling and showered her with everything she demanded. It seems like he would have devalued her at some stage and she wouldn’t be so full of herself now. If Tom is a narcissist, then Rachel’s parents relationship is basically the same relationship that Markle created with Harry. If we look at Doria’s pattern of moving in quickly on an unsuspecting man using her sexuality, and rushing a personal relationship within weeks, shacking up with him, alienating him from his existing family, i.e. his two older children… Her obsession with money and callous attitude toward others… Doria’s father Died under extremely mysterious circumstances involving strangulation with a dog leash and Doria wound up with his house despite it being willed equally to all of his children. Then there’s the cavalier and habitual substance use, the hazy education and employment history… The extremely short attention span and propensity for abandoning projects without finishing them… She met Thomas on the set of General Hospital where she was a make up trainee. In two months or less she had installed herself in his house and never finished that make up course. After a few years of playing house with Thomas, they had a baby but Doria was in the wind by the time M was 2. Two years or less seem to be the extent of the Douchess’ attention span too. She was a “royal” for a whole 18 months.
The
A truly top grade Ultra Narc knows exactly what they are and why they do what they do. They play human chess and can bide their time for years—decades—to make their ultimate moves. If Harry’s wife were of this class, not only would she still be a working Royal but she’d have convinced Catherine and William that she was their friend. She might have even insinuated herself into the slot of Charles’ favorite DIL all while outwardly being impeccable on engagements and indispensable to the Firm.
To see a female Ultra at work, watch Glenn Close as the Marquise de Mertuil in Dangerous Liaisons. She is a malignant sociopath for sure but she does it with such style. If Narkle were more intelligent, she’d have taken notes.
Hopefully this revelation about CR invoking thd Ministry of Defence to formally and very publicly ban the Sussexes from attending TOTC should allow everyone worried that any return by the duplicitous duo to any public role whatsoever in the Firm is imminent to take step back from the ledge. The Duckass can make noise all she wants about hiring a UK PR firm to rehabilitate her image—that isn’t going to happen. The people of the UK aren’t morons to be brainwashed. A turd wrapped up with a shiny bow is still a turd. And rumors to the contrary, I don’t believe CRIII is that blinkered even if he did get sentimental over get well cards. If he allows the Sussexes back into the fold, he might as well abdicate right now and handover the Crown to William.
CR is a fond father, perhaps overly fond, which has been a large contributor to the present situation, but I think that he has come to the realization that there cannot be any restoration of the Sussexes to their former roles. He may still hope for a private restoration with his son before his death, but I think he’s washed his hands entirely of Harry’s wife and cannot be blackmailed with threats of having grandchildren permanently withheld from him whose very existence is even questionable. I agree with the charge that he was very persistent over the course of two decades to have Camilla be accepted as his future now present Queen. He got the late Queen to issue her support of this which was crucial to his campaign and also constituted a 180° about face from the Queen’s earlier position. To be fair to Camilla though. she has qualities that Harold and the wife lack: 1. In her public role as Charles’ consort for the last nearly 20 years she has rolled up her sleeves and done an impeccable job as patron of numerous charities she’s actively involved with—literacy, the arts, disabled children, domestic violence. She is always well turned out and engaging with people she meets, just like her husband. She has never complained publicly about being abused in the press or having projectiles thrown at her in the course of her daily business. Despite having some health challenges herself, she embraced Royal service with a dedicated but non-flashy attitude, very similar to Princess Anne in that respect. I would like to know how those two ladies get on, but I would think that Camilla garners more respect as a team player than Diana got. Diana was not a team player, regardless of how she viewed herself.
Charles’ Best weapon in his campaign to rehabilitate Camilla’s reputation has been Camilla herself. Despite both of their efforts, she still walks a very shaky and tenuous line. While she has been embraced as queen consort by a large number of people more warmly than I ever would’ve anticipated, she has equal or more numbers of hostile detractors who still delight in labeling her “Cowmilla” “the sidepiece” and The gift from Diana that keeps on giving, “the Rottweiler”.
This is the penalty for what she and Charles did to Diana, and it’s something they both have to live with, Even though she has been Charles’ legal wife for 19 years. Charles and Diana were unofficially separated by 1985, just 4 years into their marriage
It was Diana’s misfortune to actually be the side piece in her own marriage despite being Charles’ legal wife because the heart wants what it wants. And his heart never belonged to Diana. Diana was the more empirical beauty in superficial terms and she made for a gorgeous PR representative… But Camilla has deeper qualities that made her the better partner for Charles.
Hopefully this revelation about CR invoking thd Ministry of Defence to formally and very publicly ban the Sussexes from attending TOTC should allow everyone worried that any return by the duplicitous duo to any public role whatsoever in the Firm is imminent to take step back from the ledge. The Duckass can make noise all she wants about hiring a UK PR firm to rehabilitate her image—that isn’t going to happen. The people of the UK aren’t morons to be brainwashed. A turd wrapped up with a shiny bow is still a turd. And rumors to the contrary, I don’t believe CRIII is that blinkered even if he did get sentimental over get well cards. If he allows the Sussexes back into the fold, he might as well abdicate right now and handover the Crown to William.
CR is a fond father, perhaps overly fond, which has been a large contributor to the present situation, but I think that he has come to the realization that there cannot be any restoration of the Sussexes to their former roles. He may still hope for a private restoration with his son before his death, but I think he’s washed his hands entirely of Harry’s wife and cannot be blackmailed with threats of having grandchildren permanently withheld from him whose very existence is even questionable. I agree with the charge that he was very persistent over the course of two decades to have Camilla be accepted as his future now present Queen. He got the late Queen to issue her support of this which was crucial to his campaign and also constituted a 180° about face from the Queen’s earlier position. To be fair to Camilla though. she has qualities that Harold and the wife lack: 1. In her public role as Charles’ consort for the last nearly 20 years she has rolled up her sleeves and done an impeccable job as patron of numerous charities she’s actively involved with—literacy, the arts, disabled children, domestic violence. She is always well turned out and engaging with people she meets, just like her husband. She has never complained publicly about being abused in the press or having projectiles thrown at her in the course of her daily business. Despite having some health challenges herself, she embraced Royal service with a dedicated but non-flashy attitude, very similar to Princess Anne in that respect. I would like to know how those two ladies get on, but I would think that Camilla garners more respect as a team player than Diana got. Diana was not a team player, regardless of how she viewed herself.
Charles’ Best weapon in his campaign to rehabilitate Camilla’s reputation has been Camilla herself. Despite both of their efforts, she still walks a very shaky and tenuous line. While she has been embraced as queen consort by a large number of people more warmly than I ever would’ve anticipated, she has equal or more numbers of hostile detractors who still delight in labeling her “Cowmilla” “the sidepiece” and The gift from Diana that keeps on giving, “the Rottweiler”.
This is the penalty for what she and Charles did to Diana, and it’s something they both have to live with, Even though she has been Charles’ legal wife for 19 years. Charles and Diana were unofficially separated by 1985, just 4 years into their marriage
It was Diana’s misfortune to actually be the side piece in her own marriage despite being Charles’ legal wife because the heart wants what it wants. And his heart never belonged to Diana. Diana was the more empirical beauty in superficial terms and she made for a gorgeous PR representative… But Camilla has deeper qualities that made her the better partner for Charles.
The Prince of Wales is also essential to the Crown and CR might find himself facing a coup and a Regency for mental incapacity ala George III if he presses the point. There appears to be a super majority of Britons who want to see William on the throne right now. The prospect of William becoming Prince Regent for an ailing and unpopular father would be welcomed as a means to that end.
In a précis, Herr are reasons I think CR has written off the ginger knob and the crazy emu although his father’s heart must ache over it:
“ You overseas kids enjoy yourselves. The prince of Wales and I will carry on here,”
Anne & Edward added as councilors of State
Bye bye FroggyCott
Royal protection denied
Royal accomodation denied
Twelve minutes for the fruit of his loins. This one’s wife: 0 mins 0 secs
Parliament debating the titles
Suxxits on Ministry of Deference watchlist as threats to the state—right up there with al Queda and Hamas
I’d say the King is not messing around
with any sloppy sentimentality over Hazmat. He reserves that for get well cards made by schoolchildren. Those are safe outlets for a sentimental man.
What indeed was the cause of William’s sudden withdrawal from the memorial for his godfather? Even if he has grievances against his father over the Sussex matter, missing such a personal event for the family doesn’t seem like the best engagement to miss to make a point. If Catherine’s surgery was the worst case scenario (two horrific words “a**s closure’ will suffice) things could be very bad at Adelaide Cottage just now. I will pray that Catherine just had a simple hysterectomy instead.
Is the death of Thomas Kingston somehow related to William’s absence or just a tragic coincidence? Camilla took some time off as well but I would expect her to after the increased slate she’s had since CR’s illness. She’s 76 and of somewhat delicate constitution herself. No sense in her becoming ill as well. I could see Charles being torn over his two sons, but if Camilla is his line in the sand, I can’t imagine him favoring Harry coming back after what has been said and published about Camilla. I really don’t see it.
The house of Windsor is definitely out of balance and there are strange portents we cannot comprehend. Maybe spring will bring some clarity, maybe not. So much drama since ER left us… Is it really only a year and a half? She may as well have left as her epitaph: “Apres moi, le deluge,”
https://www.youtube.com/live/NqBxspWN1_g?si=fY5W3Gk9jXr_i9nn
As a sort of PS to my thoughts about Camilla..
Apart from the rude pun made during her processiona at the Coronation (“Camilla Vagina”) And her initially stiff and awkward demeanor during her crowning— Due to a back injury, I think she was in a lot of pain that day and that was exacerbated by the heavy hardware on her head— There were some very weird undercurrents in the family section of Westminster Abbey when the newly crowned Queen Consort passed by. Perhaps smiling or visible happiness Is not the done thing with the gravity of such an occasion, but the queen consort had a marked dearth of deferences compared to the King. Most were completely stony faced and immobile for Camilla, Most notably the Waleses in the front row. But even the deferences for the King appeared somewhat strained and or spotty. Lady Louise did not curtsy at all. While Beatrice curtsied so low for her uncle She disappeared from view, And might be suspected of taking the p*ss A tad since her curtsy was so much more extravagant than anyone else’s. Camilla did not rate anything. William has publicly come to terms with his father’s second wife, and publicly Camilla has been an impeccable addition to the Firm. At the time it was reported that there was bad blood among the family toward Camilla Because she had 20 family guests at the coronation festivities whereas Catherine was only permitted 4. Considering that Camilla has two adult children both of whom have spouses and children, plus her own siblings and I believe her mother is still alive, right there is a significant chunk of the alleged 20 spots. It was after all her Coronation. The sticking point appears to have been that Pippa and James had to leave their spouses at home. While it seems imminently doable to have alotted two more places, I suppose it was quite generous to include Catherine’s siblings considering that this was her father-in-law’s coronation, not Catherine’s own. Soon enough, she’ll be in charge of the guest list and can invite who she wants. This seems like a rather petty reason for the frosty atmosphere in the family seats. Maybe it wasn’t Camilla at all; Perhaps everyone was pissed at the inclusion of a certain ginger knob imported from California for the occasion And that accounted for everyone’s lack of enthusiasm?
It does make me wonder though about the dichotomy between the public perception of the family dynamics and public shows of unity versus what actually goes on behind closed doors. Any conjecture of ours might be way off base, trying to read body language cues and sift through competing rumors and gossip. Royal watching is an endlessly fascinating sport, even for those of us across the Pond. Hollywood celebrities are so boring and predictable in comparison.
But if Kensington Palace is at war with BP/Clarence House, that’s a bad omen for CR’s reign. Father and son looked cozy as sovereign and liege at the Coronation and William has publicly been carrying water ably for his father since. But the Prince of Wales’ abrupt cancellation at an important family remembrance with only cryptic explanation for pulling out with only 45 minutes notice seems really disrespectful to his Greek relatives and injurious to his own reputation unless he was infectious or too sick to leave his room. Surely any other personal reason might have waited for one hour. He doesn’t owe the public more explanation then he gave, but it would’ve quelled speculation if he had simply said he was down with the flu and didn’t want to risk exposing anyone else particularly anyone who might see the King. Even if it were only the Irish flu, this would’ve been a face saving cover. Being coy about “personal reasons” was guaranteed to make the speculation spread like wildfire.
We are living in challenging times. I hope everyone in the house of Windsor can get well and sort their problems out. The tabloids love dysfunction, but I would just to soon read about happy healthy royal family members.
Thank you for the beautifully explicated counterpoint to my expressed fears and suspicions about the Bumfartons weaseling their way back into the bosom of the Royal Family.
I feel relieved after reading your post. I’m just feeling at the end of my rope since any deserved beat-down by the Royal Family and UK government of the loathsome twosome is moving as slow as molasses in January. I don’t want slowly-slowly, I want Pow! action to leave them stunned into insensibility and supine on the canvas (metaphorically of course).
Were I your instructor, I would give your piece an A+, and when I read your final lines and stylish flourish of a finish, I actually laughed out loud and applauded you:
“So much drama since ER left us… Is it really only a year and a half? She may as well have left as her epitaph: “Apres moi, le deluge,”
Brava!
The very thought of the latest incarnation of Stalin's Poison Dwarf being allowed to set foot set foot here again makes me very apprehensive so your wise words are a very welcome antidote. I need to believe that HM is made of sterner stuff than popular opinion makes out.
BTW, I didn't know for certain that the Sussexes are actually on a watch list; if not, they damn' well ought to be.
Thank you for your excellent posts.
Re Camilla, let's not forget that she got an awful amount of flak, worse than our perpetual victim, *, ever got. She was really hated by some who couldn't understand how Charles could have preferred her to Diana. Camilla had the intelligence, fortitude, good breeding and grace to put up with it without ever complaining. She just carried on quietly, supporting Charles and never drawing attention to herself. Her wedding to Charles drew a lot of hostility, particularly from Diana's fans.
We could draw parallels with our lady of sorrows but I believe Camilla had it much worse, yet she rose above it.
They say the venture is highly personal and “genuine to who she is”.
Only Fans????
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13178107/Meghan-Markle-Prince-Harry-pay-surprise-visit-sister-teacher-killed-Uvalde-school-massacre-sing-happy-birthday-heartwarming-clip.html
I wish someone would lock up Andrew. He is such an embarrassment. He mugs for the camera almost as much as you know who.
King Charles has made it clear that his darling boy left the family biz. I can't imagine Queen Camilla or William would welcome them in family events - public or private. They can't trust them.
It is a shame. It must be very hurtful for Charles.
MM looked like a wrinkled paper bag then like an unmade bed. Has Adele's stylist quit already? Or is MM ignoring expert advice as usual?
Thinking about it that way, discussing it with extended family could open up possible more stuff they are not wanting to reveal publicly or worse, create all kinds of more incorrect stories.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68526972
All beaming happily and apparently brimming with health.
Don't get me started as to why today shouldn't be called `Mothers' Day'.
As part of the meal, the Duchess - who has spoken about her love of cooking on multiple occasions - joined in on making bolani, a traditional Afghan flat bread.'
My, my! There is no end to her talents (sarc). Of course, there was a cameraman/her PR in tow.
'According to Archewell: 'With a belief in the power of connection and a goal of uplifting communities, The Welcome Project supports the creation of programming for women who have recently resettled from Afghanistan.' Meaningless garbage. H's disclosure in his book sure had the power of connection and uplift.
His whip smart wife was totally unable to understand the difference between the American movie world and a European constitutional Monarchy so her possible dreams of return as the Greatest Star of the British Royal family are no help to Harry. That she does not get this does not change the facts.
Charles's great grandparents bore witness of destruction of three great imperial houses after the First World War and the survival of the House of Windsor was thanks to an adaptation to very changed world. I doubt he would be ready to destroy the British Monarchy to please a petulant, spoiled man-child even if he loves him.
nice pic from Prince Wm of Princess Catherine and the kids.
She looks great post -op. No glam, no fuss.
do you think she chose Afghan women to kind of stick it to harry about this time in afghanistan.
No, I don't think so. I don't think she'd have the intelligence to think of it. As long as she can put herself front and centre to show the world her philanthropy for five minutes, that's all she wants. Just like in London at the Hubb kitchen, the Community Kitchen Founded By Grenfell Tower Fire Survivors where she was cooking with women, * was cooking traditional Afghan food. Not sure what 'my love' was doing there as the visit was all about *.
I’m not convinced that this picture was taken just a few days ago, though. “The first official image released of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery” is a true statement regardless of whether it was snapped 3 days or 6 months ago. Kensington Palace has released a Mother’s Day photo of Catherine every year since George was born, so one would’ve been taken surgery or no surgery. The Royals’ Christmas cards are always snaps from earlier in the year, so I am pretty sure this sitting was done some ago and preselected as this year’s Mother’s Day photo before Catherine’s surgery. Based on the children’s clothing and the vibrant grass and fully leafed out tree in the background, I think early fall is more likely than the first week of March. Catherine debuted that haircut in the fall IIRC, and she’s wearing tight jeans in the picture which don’t seem like a choice that would be advised with an abdominal incision.
Louis lost his first tooth, a rite of passage for a young man who is going to be 6 next month. It’d be very early for him to have lost a tooth at only 51/2. Also Catherine is not wearing her rings, which would make sense if her hands had swollen. So it could have been taken a few days ago—although that would break Royal precedent for special occasion portraits. What does everyone think?
From BBC news, a kill order has been issued for the just-released photo of the Princess of Wales and her children due to ‘manipulation’. All the major agencies like Getty and Reuters advised their customers that the image is to be scrubbed from all platforms After a post publication review found that it failed to meet integrity standards.
What?! The last time this happened was for a Sussex creation… I forget which now, yet mysteriously the infamous christening photo and shot of the late Queen and Duke of Edinburgh “meeting Archie” were allowed to stand.
A rare public relations blunder from the Royal machine. Since the photo is officially released by Kensington Palace, I don’t think we can blame the overseas agitators for this one. even though such digital manipulation is their MO. The sugars certainly are gleeful.
In the interest of fairness, we have to give this development the same scrutiny as we apply to the Dumbartons’ Photo shopping projects. One of Charlotte’s hands does look a bit deformed, but no sane person could infer from that that it constitutes’proof’ that Catherine is no longer with us and is buried under the rosebushes at Adelaide Cottage.
In three weeks it will be Easter and when Catherine appears, the tin hat brigade will have to eat their words and choke on them.
https://youtu.be/mIQpQsK-dF0?si=9wyM4vvHURqSnWq7
'Kate, in a statement on social media, said: 'Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C''
(DM)
Wonder why she felt compelled to edit anything. Boredom from being housebound for 2 and a half months? Her children are very photogenic already and I’m sure a number of takes would have been done to get the best one.
Owning up to it immediately was the best course, but I’m just wondering why it happened at all, especially if the portrait was taken a few months ago. Given the wild speculation about how her recovery is going, releasing this picture with the wording that accompanied it could be interpreted as misleading the people into thinking that Catherine sat for this picture just last week. I don’t think that is the case. She’s probably feeling a lot better but maybe even sitting for a formal portrait is a bit much right now. The cute picture that was released had probably been chosen already. If it’s possible to release that photo minus the tweaks whatever they were, I hope they can do that. Meanwhile, I think it’s the best antidote to this is more transparency… If KP would release a few casual snaps of Catherine at home with the kids or without, that would mitigate the perception that there has been an attempt at dishonesty here. She will never be obligated to share details of her medical procedure, but people do just want to see how she’s getting on and that she’s recovering well. If she’s feeling so poorly that she doesn’t want any current photos of herself released , that’s a little concerning. I guess we’ll see what develops
I always thought the photo of Her Majesty and the then Duke of Ed at the lockdown wedding was photoshopped, so the palace has form in this respect.
I didn't click on it. She looks OK.
i have to say the level of social media craziness thing on Catherine is very scary. the frenzy of is she dead and they are hiding it, they are using body doubles. (they have kids in school like wouldn’t someone notice a change in their behavior) its just bizarre and again who is fueling the frenzy. did someone get some cash for a bot farm? is it anti monarchy trouble to make wm fed up with all of it? clarence house trying to put negative light on the Wales to deflect concerns about the king. i dont know but it is all unsavory and a bit chaotic. she is only the wife of the heir. it’s not like she is the sole monarch. she’s a ray of sunshine in the world but quite frankly she’s not the pope (who by the way is having issues yet again) or the head of a major country. people need to take a breath and go oute
After thinking about it and reading some more commentary, I have come to the conclusion that William and Catherine are playing an elegant game of one upmanship with the media horde who have been incredibly rude and intrusive with their endless and fearmongering speculations about both the Princess and the King’s health concerns. The only reason there’s been such hysteria and microscopic inspection of this photo is due to the reports of her surgery and extended absence from the public eye. The vultures have been starved of any Catherine fuel since Christmas and they are rushing to fill the void with the most outlandish “theories”.
C has issued an “apology” that sounds more matter of fact than sorry. I think that was all part of the game. William is having it on with the media jackals who have been hoist by their own petard. Here’s what I think went down, and despite what it looks like, this has been orchestrated by William himself.
These are my thoughts only and there might be other interpretations.
First let’s establish known facts:
1. The P&P of Wales have 3 undeniably genuine and photogenic children who are growing like weeds.
2. It is KP’s custom to release pictures of William and Catherine with their kids on Mother’s and Father’s Days every year since they have been parents.
3. Royal photos for special occasions are routinely selected from among many pictures taken throughout the preceding year and have not necessarily been commissioned for the occasion in the same week the occasions are happening.
4. William and Catherine both have studied photography at university and know their way round a digital camera. It may also be assumed as fact that they employ a number of young staffers also savvy about social media management, digital imagery and branding when it comes to selecting and disseminating the images they choose.
5. The photo was originally shared on the KP official SM account; from there it was picked up by other media agencies and that I believe is the KEY point here.
6. Content creators are within their rights to select and edit original material that appears on their own pages, and such editing is so common, it’s standard practice. That’s why digital editing software exists.
7. The caption accompanying the photo identifies it as “the first official image released of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery in January.” This is absolutely true. It is also true that:
8. Nowhere did KP specifically state that this photo of Catherine and the children was posed for and created last week. It’s a lovely tribute to motherhood regardless of when it was taken. Due to some rather shall we say opaque wording, the general assumption was made that Catherine has posed with the kids for this picture sometime in the last week and a half.
9. We know what happens when we assume.
1. It’s a very lovely picture.
2. William took the picture sometime in the latter half of 2023. Based on what everyone is wearing, I favor early fall, at the start of term time. That is a time when many families take family portraits. I think the Royals use previously taken photos because they prefer to work ahead for anything having to do with public messaging. When something like a health crisis pops up, of course they have to be more on the fly. But Mother’s Day occurs every year, just like Christmas and birthdays and the other occasions they release photographs. Better to have a selection ready to go then try to organize official pictures closer to the holiday when it is unknown where anyone might be or if they are sick etc. In my opinion they would’ve used this photo regardless of C’s procedure, and the only reason it’s under such scrutiny now is because of Catherine’s health crisis. Because of that everyone assumed that this picture was taken last week as a direct rebuttal to Where Is Kate?? Mania. I don’t think that was the original intention, but after the media’s behavior since the health announcements, I think William is pissed enough to have a little bit of fun at media expense.
3. I have pored over the photo and the allegedly damning “manipulations” are invisible to me. Even respected longtime Royal photographer Arthur Edwards admitted that he didn’t see anything irregular about the picture. Frankly I trust Arthur Edwards more than do deranged sugars who think that this is proof that William is a domestic abuser and this doctored photo means Kate is Not Well, or worse.
4. I assume the family was photographed at Adelaide Cottage on a day that was warm enough for no coats with greenery in the garden, including leaves. I can’t know what the normal arrival of full spring is in Windsor but the first week of March seems too early for a fully leafed out tree. Here in Ohio we’ve had an unseasonably warm winter with some 60 and even 70° in February and so far this month. This seems to be confusing the birds and we’ve got some daffodils and early flowers but still not a single leaf. Admittedly Windsor is more mild that in the Midwest of America.
5. We cannot prove exactly what day this photo was taken and I think the press release is quite careful not to say that it was taken as recently as last week. Ordinarily I don’t think this would be questioned but given the extraordinary circumstances of Catherine’s extended absence and the public interest in her recovery, it would’ve been better in my opinion if KP had stipulated exactly when this photo was taken.
6. Whether this photo was taken 4,days ago or 6 months ago is irrelevant to the reasons it was withdrawn. The media has always helped itself to photos from the royal SM accounts before and Madly reproduced them all over the Internet and in various publications. I never before had cause to question How these photos were disseminated and I assumed… That word again… That royal social media pictures were disseminated with consent from the Royal household. We’ve never had this kind of speculative frenzy over an official royal photograph the way we always do with Twit and Twat. A kill order for a Royal photo is unprecedented.
https://youtu.be/wocwRIyLzOA?si=CBBD-Bhm3IwyZwHE
As to why Catherine would have to fall on the sword and admit fault when actually that’s not what happened, that’s a bit mystifying, but perhaps it’s just another facet of William putting the press on notice that if they want any future access to him and his family, that he and not they is going to control the terms and the flow of information. We no longer live in an age of integrity in the media if we ever did, and considering the current state of affairs and the pervasive hostility and downright lies the media spreads about the royal family, I can’t blame them for being paranoid and wanting to exert control. The media has taken what should’ve been a nice family picture and turned it into an international incident on a par with Chernobyl or genocide in a war zone. Don’t we have enough real problems in the world? I can’t recall a bigger tempest in a smaller tea pot like ever, all over a simple photograph. I don’t think that enough people have enough to do with themselves. It’s possible that William is allowing the media to save face by pretending the 'edits' were at fault— In point of fact Catherine is not at fault for editing a picture she owns copyright to on her own page. If the media outlets poach the photo then she never sold or gave them the picture with any intent to deceive. Evidently according to their own standards, photographs may not be altered even to the extent of having red eye removed only. Who among us private photographers would not use a program to remove redeye to improve the look of a family photo?
They were in such a rush to publish this picture that they didn’t even examine it according to their own standards. That’s entirely on them. Now they’ve had to eat crow and issue the kill order even though in retribution they are blaming it on KP. KP has not issued any further comment. The subtext here is William has put them on notice that he’d better get more respect for privacy in the future or he’s gonna kill every Royal photo op of his family from now on. The Royals can’t control pictures of them when they are out in the public domain, such as the Christmas walk, Easter service or other public engagements. But William and Catherine can see to it that the media never gets another birthday photo or Mother’s Day card or first day of school picture of their kids ever again, and I think William will see it done because he’s that mad.
50+ years ago, Hybrid Teas would have been obstinately dormant until about mid April, awaiting their annual prune. I can't recognise what sort of straggly shrub that is in the photo (upper-class gardens usually have more unusual plants in their gardens then the hoi polloi such as I.)
So I can find no conclusive horticultural evidence for the date of the photo.
Thank Goodness there has been a sighting of Princess Catherine.
Not now, when the future Queen has had surgery and is out for recovery for at least 3 months time, with no other information given,period. This is a feeding frenzy - they want a photo - a unaltered real time phot taken by their photographers with analysis of how she looks and nuance by body languages gurus.
I do no blame her for looking away from the cameras this morning while in the car.
Rumors of an eating disorder have been dogging Catherine since the beginning. We know former air hostess Carole schooled her daughters to be mindful of their figures, but they are also blessed with long bones and naturally ectomorphic frames. Such body types do not naturally retain weight easily, especially coupled with a lot of physical activity. I actually enjoyed seeing Catherine pregnant because being rounder softened her edges which can be very austere at times, especially when she’s under strain as she’s had cause to be quite a bit since Louis was born, and we all know why that is. But even as a very young girl, Kate was very thin and it was one of the reasons cited for changing schools—she was being bullied for it. I wouldn’t say it would be impossible for a 9 or 10 year old girl with a weight conscious mother to have developed a disordered relationship with food but I really do think that she is naturally thin. If we look at her during her early 20s, she had a lot more roundness of youth and she was always a standout athlete. When she and William were on one of their breaks, she spent months crewing to a professional level. All of that requires muscles and nutrients.
The muscular gym going Diana you remember had largely recovered from her bulimia by the mid-1990s. All through the 1980s, especially the earlier half of the decade, Diana was in the throes of it and looked very thin and frail. She passed out on the Australian tour in 1983..lack of eating and dehydration as much to blame as the heat. There was a red spaghetti strap dress I recall that made her look skeletal. She did not recover her healthy frame until she was separated from Charles.
I have seen speculation that C. may suffer from Crohn’s disease which interferes with the body’s ability to metabolize food and creates difficulties in eating certain foods or quantities. That might look like willful anorexia to casual onlookers. Severe cases require bowel surgery due to damage. I hope for Catherine’s sake that’s not what’s going on, because it sounds horrific. I’ve never seen anyone, not even on the haute couture runway with as tiny a waist as Catherine’s. I’m sure she’s careful about what she puts in her body but I can’t go as far as confirming an eating disorder based on some tweaks to a picture of her children. I refer you to my earlier post about the kill order. I’m actually not convinced that there *was* “manipulation”. For what conceivable reason would Charlotte’s hand been altered? The picture was not “released to” the photo agencies; they helped themselves to it from the KP page. Catherine violated no “standards” if she made minor edits to an image owned by her on her own page. If the outlets bootlegged it and rushed it to publication without scrutinizing it according to their alleged standards, whose fault is that? Kate’s apology was more of a non-apology really, but if the picture was published elsewhere without permission, She’s got nothing to apologize for because she’s not in the wrong to do whatever she wants with her own pictures on her own account. If you ask me, Catherine and William were deliberately Punk-ing the world media— Who deserve it, roundly considering how they’ve behaved since the health announcements in January—and these “amateur” edits were intentional. So the picture would HAVE to be pulled, do you see? KP has cost the vultures a lot of money—a lot—plus major embarrassment. And they are enraged, based on the howls of outrage. After Kate’s fairly bland apology—cue Catherine Tate as Lauren Cooper—“I’m not bovvered!”—KP hasn’t said anything further. They did allow one tantalizing glimpse of one side of Catherine’s face but hardly the money shot anyone wanted. They are tacitly putting the medians on notice that they will take any amount of heat but they will release pictures of themselves and their family on their terms or not at all.
Things just keep getting interestinger and interestinger. I guess I can’t really blame the future King and Queen of the United Kingdom for wanting to exert control over their own publicity. They can’t really afford to do anything casually without forethought, not on the stage they occupy. Everyone’s got an agenda.
I couldn't see anything wrong with the picture at all until watching this, and if the women are correct, there was considerable alteration done, but it is in no way comparable to what the Harkles have foisted on to the world!
However, I think it's hypocritical to act like it's no big deal, when you know we'd be ripping Nutmeg to shreds over it, or having her staff do it.
They show a clip of that pap shot of the POW in the car with her mother, and now I'm wondering if it was a botched face job. She looks rough. Her eyes swollen, which would have nothing to do with abdominal surgery. Maybe she took the opportunity to have a touch up whilst already under for the surgery, perhaps?
My money is on something like that, or maybe she's had to have an ostomy bag, hopefully temporarily, or a hysterectomy. Because do think the absolute silence over the matter is odd, unless it's something highly personal.
.
She is absolutely entitled to complete privacy, no dispute. We don't need to know anything. But it seems like if she'd gone in to have her gallbladder removed, or something routine, it would've been mentioned, especially given that her entire life is now funded by the British public, so I feel like something relatively routine could've been mentioned, whereas it would be understandable if one didn't want to mention one gyno business, or the need for an ostomy bag.
And to go through all the rigamorole of doctoring a picture taken months ago, if it was in fact done, seems crazy to me. Why not just release it as they normally do, when it's obvious it wasn't taken within the last few days? Very odd to me, and points towards a face-lift, or something aling those lines. I dont think she remotely needed a face lift, but a heavy duty peel, maybe? I can't believe they'd lie about what she went in for, so I think it would've been done post surgery since she's out of sight anyway.
At one extreme, there's the `it can't do anything that wasn't possible before'. At the other, `it's not a valid piece of work unless it's been manipulated'.
(I was almost disqualified from an informal photo competition at our local art group because I hadn't manipulated my cityscape image. My photo was rubbished on the grounds that I'd demonstrated no skill beyond cropping the image. No credit for seeing and recording what should be an iconic London view, under perfect conditions, that as far as I can make out nobody has spotted before.)
One cannot win.
Royal commentators have something to talk about, so they are making hay while the sun shines.
In an age of bots and convincing fake everything plus the worst crude propaganda I have ever seen as elites battle for exclusive access to wealth and power, it is relevant. We want the royal family to be authentic and real, connecting us to the past and a safe space to hold onto as we look into the future.
I do think that Catherine digitally manipulated the photo. It was a bit crudely done, and she is probably frustrated at being confined in her recovery and unable to get out there and meet with the public and get on with her work. That she owned up and apologized rather swiftly, without any word salad or claiming victimhood, should be an example to the duo in Montecito.
How many digitally manipulated photographs have the duo made public and have happily been distributed by news agencies? Unfortunately for the duo, and their favourite photographer, that is now being looked at rather closely. But they are gloating in triumph nevertheless:
----------
Sources close to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry waded into Kate Middleton’s bizarre photo-editing crisis Monday, saying, “This isn’t a mistake Meghan would ever make.”
“This isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make … she has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail.”
----------
https://archive.is/2024.03.12-004744/https://pagesix.com/2024/03/11/royal-family/sources-close-to-meghan-markle-mock-kate-middleton-photoshop-fail/
"Among the mistakes were Princess Charlotte, 8, having had part of her wrist removed, Middleton’s hand missing a wedding ring, and Prince Louis, 5, having strangely crossed fingers."
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Her name is Catherine, The Princess of Wales.
Louis is double jointed. No photoshopping there.
How is Catherine not wearing her rings digital manipulation of an image?
The article I reference in the previous post is oozing with spite and gloating. This could only have come from the duo in Montecito. They are not to be trusted, ever.
The anon suggested that perhaps why the wire services may have freaked out about the edits on KP's photo is because of terms and conditions prohibiting agencies from selling post-edited or post-modified images. So someone at the AP or whatever wire service saw the edits and assumed that the usual rules - no selling or purchasing edited photos - applied in this case and overcorrected by issuing the kill notice to rectify their mistake of purchasing an edited photo. And in that panic to correct their "error", no one realized that the photo was sourced from a personal social media account, thus is subject to different rules. More internet chaos and a KP apology later, the photo suddenly gets resurrected and some of the community notes are removed.
It's a good theory, and one that's very plausible. Probably the most plausible explanation of everything that happened.
As to why there was suddenly a resurrection, I'm thinking the lawyers got involved and if the lawyers finally did get pulled in, they probably said either "this is a personal photo accessed on social media, those rules don't apply" (and everyone went "shit-shit-shit") or they talked about the sudden liabilities they're now open to with this precedence of calling out edits that they now have a standard to uphold (and everyone went "shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit"). Again, this is just conjecture. The kneejerking back-and-forth that happened today does seem classically lawyerese to me, though.
A second piece to this, I'm reminded of how KP shares their photos. Which is that the actually aren't selling their photographs. It's an old story from back in 2013, but when KP published the baby George-Kate-William-Lupo photos taken by Michael Middleton, a blogger who wanted to buy the photos for her website contacted Michael or KP to enquire about purchase and usage, and Michael or Michael's people responded that there was no cost for using the photos as long as she properly credited him with the copyright and used them only for a news story. I imagine that's similar to KP's process; if a publication (such as the AP) wants to reproduce a photograph credited to Kate (or William) that has been published on social media, the entity makes a request to the office, and the communications office sends them the source file.
At no point in any of this is there actually any money exchanging hands. I'm pretty confident there's no money being exchanged for KP's personal photographs to be reused, in which case the "we don't buy edited photos" rule is null and void. Different standards apply here. (My confidence comes from the fact that this is part of the "press pact" that Meghan and Harry pushed back against; they wanted to charge copyright and usage fees for their personal photographs rather than make them freely available on request like the then-Cambridges did.)
And then finally, all photographers - amateur and professional alike - edit their images before publishing them or sending them anywhere. What Kate did is no different than what Misan Harriman or Chris Jackson or Samir Hussein do (and have admitted to! Check out those links for their "confessions."). And I suspect that KP's statement where Kate said she had done the editing herself before the photo was posted is what threw the monkey wrench that maybe brought the lawyers in - because if they retract KP's photo on the basis that someone edited it before it was first posted/submitted to the public, then they have to retract thousands and thousands of other photos on the same grounds that someone edited it before it was first posted/submitted to the public. Again, this is all speculation.
At the end of the day, it all seems to be boiling down to one thing: there was a mixup and a miscommunication somewhere. And for me, all the signs point to the cock-up happening on the media's side. The rules/terms and conditions they have in place to use only verified images are good ones to have, but the last 48 hours have made it abundantly clear that there are holes in the rules and gaps in how they vet and verify images they source and distribute.
https://www.tumblr.com/brf-rumortrackinganon/744701431522770944/i-saw-another-post-on-another-blog-that-had-a?source=share
But, of course, the media has created a tea cup size of the Pasific Ocean.
Bah!!
i sure hope the wales are playing the press because it was a crazy few days and there are people still pushing the dead princess and body double narrative. (hmm body double isn’t that what M was accused of a few times).
i am more interested in what is going on with Charles. he didn’t look well in the Commonwealth video and shouldn’t have. he’s a 70 something undergoing cancer treatment. it does worry me that he has to feel his presence needs to be everywhere. making up for lost time?
'Meanwhile former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole told MailOnline that the exiled British Royals will be enjoying Kate's woes, especially given their own recent popularity problems.
He said: 'They will be laughing up their sleeves, trying to keep a straight face in public', adding: ‘Their point man Omid Scobie has been out throwing mud pies for them'.' (DM). This shows their childish, petty attitude. I think they've really shown their true colours with these statements - not that we didn't have any doubt but this is strong evidence, although this does not appear to come from the duo themselves.
-----------
True. Kinda like a Harkle article refer to invisible children. Article is accompanied by a photo of 2 children.
It's not the Harkles fault if people assume that the 2 children in the photo are the invisa-kids.
They didn't say that the 2 kids in the photo were theirs, now did they.
I have a granddaughter who looks just like Catherine. No eating disorder. No disease. It's just how her body is. She eats plenty. Isn't particularly athletic.
She's taken crap all her life for how she looks.
Makes me *so* angry to see any person taking crap for how they look. Not like they can do anything about it.
It's the modern version of fat shaming.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13188117/Meghan-Markle-legal-victory-sister-Samantha-dismisses-defamation-lawsuit.html#comments
• The judge said that Meghan Markle's comments in her Netflix series with Prince Harry and in their interview with Oprah Winfrey were true
• The judge's decision spares the Duchess of Sussex, 42, from trial which was set to take place in November
...The judge said that Meghan Markle's comments in her Netflix series with Prince Harry and in their interview with Oprah Winfrey were true
The judge's decision spares the Duchess of Sussex, 42, from trial which was set to take place in November...
------
A disappointing judgement which will only reinforce*'s idea that she was the wronged one, the victim and might make her more arrogant.
https://tinyurl.com/3xvvznwv
First, I jumped to the wrong conclusion about the legwear: the fabric looks like a soft velour possibly with plenty of `give'. They could be denim-blue `jeggings'.
The avid critics have no idea about modern knitwear. The dark line on Louis' right shoulder is probably a thick machine-stitched seam, such are the poor production values of today. The bulk of the seam may well be lying to one side, hence it casts a shadow. His let shoulder is in full light, no shadow line but the ridge-&-furrow effect of the seam is clearly visibly in the profile. We seldom ease-in shoulders to armholes now.
I can't see any mismatch of the pattern where sleeves are joined to the body but the need to match patterns gets ignored today.
The other `folds' are gentle, they aren't creases but suggest that the garments are generously-sized to allow for the growth of the wearer. Again, this is something else we've lost sight of with so much stretchy fabric being used. When did UK Nutties last see an 11yr-old heading for a new school, swamped in a smart, new, and very expensive, flannel blazer which Mum hope will still be wearable when the child is 18?
And what the heck is `unnatural' about Charlotte's hair?
It's all been nit-picking and shit-stirring, doubtless with input from CA. For the avoidance of future carping, may I gently to suggest that set-in sleeves are avoided. Raglans, saddle-shoulders and yoked jumpers knitted in-the-round would be much safer choices as they sit very well on the body.
That’s what I think too which I had posted at length yesterday. I couldn’t understand why such amateur errors would have been made and posted that Way by Catherine, who certainly knows how to edit a photo. There is speculation in some quarters that her face in the picture was lifted directly from her 2016 Vogue cover. I don’t actually think that’s the case. Her smile is very similar in the two pictures, but most people do have a standard post photo smile don’t they? She was wearing a hat on the vogue cover and nobody had said that any of the editing complaints were about her hair. Also her face has aged suddenly in seven years as anyone’s would. I didn’t see most of the alleged 16 edits that were talked about but Charlotte’s sleeve Obviously has something wrong with it.
Piers Morgan and the rest of the media horde crowds that this is proof that the palace is falling apart in the absence of two of its most important members, getting sloppy blah blah blah. For myself I have come to the conclusion that this photo was purposely digitally messed with, Poorly so, on purpose. I’m sure Catherine could make a seamless edit if one was necessary but they didn’t. And why not? Because I think that William is intentionally screwing with the world media who have acted like a pack of slavering dogs since his wife has been laid up. They released this “subpar” photo knowing that the photo agencies could not make a single penny from selling the image on and because the edits were so egregiously clearing me bad. They would have to issue a kill order.
So yes, Piers, you hypocritical windbag— This picture was indeed altered “at source”. You and your fellow media jackals have just been given a double barreled Royal finger salute. I think KP had Catherine issue the apology as the known family photographer but also as the firm is most vulnerable member right now… Save the king of course. KP knew that the press would not dog pile quite so much on Catherine as they would William, although it’s bad enough. I think the Waleses were willing to take this reputational hit As a fair price of depriving the vultures from profiting and getting what they’ve been screaming for all these weeks. And they’re still demanding it… A current unretouched photo of Catherine during her recovery. They demand it dammit! William’s not playing. I think it’s sudden non attendance at the service tge other week was in a similar FU vein. Maybe.
What interesting media times we live in. I support the prince and princess of Wales and however they choose to handle this. The media should be ashamed of themselves but like Harry’s wife, they are unfamiliar with the emotion. Anything goes as a means to their end of making money for themselves.
If it's true, I just don't understand why that needed to be done. The Christmas photograph is almost never a recent one, so why the attempt to make this one appear to be? I suppose it could have been done to avoid exactly what's happening now, but what an ill-advised thing to do, especially if you aren't going to be meticulous about it.
FWIW, I didn't take the Harkle statement to mean that they don't photoshop, but that Nutmeg would never leave a portion of wrist out, or a big chunk of skirt doubled. ( which is what you can see with Princess Charlotte, albeit needing to be magnified to see it) A completely delusional statement to make, given the amount of insane photoshopping she does, with most most glaring examples being how high Catherine looked in the christening picture, the obvious attempt to make Archie's hair look redder and the possible insertion of a photograph of Her Majesty and Prince Philip from another event into a picture on the day of the christening.
And for the record, I am not trying to body shame the POW. We criticize Nutmeg's appearance constantly, and she cannot help that she is built like SpongeBob, and has ugly feet. She could certainly dress to compensate rather than accentuate those traits, but she cannot help her squared off shape. Earlier pictures of the Princess of Wales show a much softer, fuller and far less angular face. We are told she follows a very strict diet and works out 2 hours a day, which will certainly take care of any excess body fat, but 2 hours a day is in itself excessive, one could even say obsessive, and I was merely remarking that the need to photoshop every published photograph made me she definitely had personality traits consistent with the types often associated with eating disorder.
I would be happy to delete the comment if it came across as critical of her in a mean way, which was not my intent. I would like to think we can speculate on the Wales here as much as we do the Harkles, but perhaps we can't. I'm not a Wales sugar any more than I am a Harkle sycophant, but I don't want to offend anyone, either.
'How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle handled 'Photoshop' accusations - after Kate Middleton admitted she 'experimented with editing' on Kensington Palace's Mother's Day snap'
The article is about the duo's 2019 Christmas card. This is one example, but there are others. There was Megsy lying on the grass while expecting Lili - there was a tree added to the photo.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13188539/How-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle-handled-Photoshop-accusations-Kate-Middleton-admitted-experimented-editing-Kensington-Palaces-Mothers-Day-snap.html
Catherine has probably found what is ideal for her body type and lifestyle and can afford to eat an ideal diet for her. But genetics also plays a role, and both of her siblings are slim.
The wife in Montecito seems to have inherited her father's genes and thus struggles to not put on weight. I hope she is using the luxury of the property and her wealth to eat a healthy balanced diet, tailor made for her, and is making good use of the gym swimming pool and extensive grounds to get lots of exercise. Trying new fads like Oprah just ends up messing with the brain chemistry and metabolism. After a certain age it is difficult to reverse that damage.
Apologies if I have caused offence or come across as excessively disagreeable.
Check out photos of Diana when she was at the height of bulimia - her arms are the giveaway that she has an eating disorder. Neither Catherine nor TBW show signs like that in their arms or any of their body, so I do not think either woman has an eating disorder, but I guess that TBW puts on weight far more easily and struggles to shed it because she is much shorter, but mainly because of genetics.
I like your theory that Willuam deliberately made a bad edit in the photo so that it would be killed! The public can still view the image on the KP social media.
@WBBM
Thanks for the idea about jeggings. I love them because they are so comfy. Even so, of she is wearing jeggings she is recovering well from the operation, and that is good.
----------
That is sad news for Samantha, about the lawsuit being thrown out of court. The judge went a bit far in saying that everything she said in the Oprah interview was truthful. But I have not read the judgment so the reporting may leave out nuances that make it reasonable.
Perhaps these are the 'victories' that I saw in the tarot readings? Unfortunately, the duo are shooting thmselves in the foot with their petty and vindictive messages through a 'close source'. I saw that in the tarot readings as well.
If that's me you're talking about, I didn't mean anyone here. Sorry if it seemed it.
----------
I would have said that was an old photo, taken back in the fall, if someone hadn't found the exif data that showed it taken last week. It seemed odd that the kids all had the same outfits on as they had for the fall photos. And they were fall/winter type outfits, not springy ones, which one might expect.
However, the kids seemed older/bigger, especially Charlotte & Louis. Charlotte's hair looked longer.
I,too, find it puzzling that *any* photoshopping was done. Especially if it was a recent photo. The Wales's aren't known to have done that before?
Or maybe they did, but no one was looking at their photo so microscopically as they did this time. IMO, this has Mm fingerprints all over it. How likely is it that complaints about the photo being edited would appear at the same time in so many places? Reeks of an organized plan.
To me, this has Ngozi Fulani vibes written all over it.
The other thing is that the edits made....I can't see why Catherine or anyone would care about any of that. None of them seemed significant, so why bother? Especially when they haven't appeared to in the past.
It seems like somehow procedures weren't followed. Surely the comms staff would have known the intricacies of public postings. Almost sounds like the Wales took and posted the photo without running it by anyone. But why would they do that? Surely they know the risks of not following procedure.
A lot of things don't make sense. Which tells us that we're missing information and/or someone is lying.
https://www.itsalawyerslife.com/the-princess-and-the-photograph/
The Princess of Wales has been a very healthy woman and hopefully she stays that way after her recuperation.
Bless her and her family, I say!
I agree that the clothes the children are wearing don't look like spring clothes,for Charlotte anyway, with the red sweater and plaid skirt. Also agree that this has Nutmeg all over it, and what is disturbing is that there seems to have been a fair amount of coordination among the media.
Apparently most photos are edited these days because the digitized nature makes it easy. My nieces didn't think it was weird that the POW edited the photo, but were surprised it was such a sloppy job. My Luddite self didn't notice anything at all.
Please note, I don't mean that I personally think she was lax in her duties, just trying to narrow down the time frame. Of course I can't find it now. But I haven't ever read tabloids, it would've been a reputable publication. And of course it could still have been false, or merely speculative.
Nutmeg definitely doesn't have an eating disorder, butI feel she's on Ozempic or something similar. I only brought her up because we constantly make comments about her chicken legs, etc, with no pushback about body shaming, whereas my thinking Catherine is a bit too thin always seems to upset people. You'd think I would remember that, but I rush too much! And of course I know I shouldn't mention an eating disorder, but I get to rambling and don't pause to think about how it sounds.
No one here ever sounds rude or disagreeable, and I'm so sorry when I do, or when I'm offensive! My apologies!
But now when I went to research that all I could find, going back to 2020, were many, many articles saying that she exercises 1 hour/day. Older articles said she especially likes planking.
I don't know where you're based so please forgive me if I'm stating the obvious. Clothing in the UK no longer indicates the time of year. We've given up dressing according to the calendar, apart from wearing jokey jumpers for Christmas. We go by the weather. Spring bulbs may behave as if still in the Mediterranean but we've had very sharp frosts and biting winds from somewhere very cold. In the recent past, postmen may have been ordered to wear trousers rather than shorts in the snow but now heating bills are extortionate and we wear woollies rather than increase indoor heating.
As for colour, we seem to wear more black than anything, thanks to cheap(er) imports, but we're not quite as monochromatic as the Kiwis in NZ, where I got the impression it's almost national dress. The Royals are to be applauded for still being colourful. Am I right in thinking that in the US dressing used to be strictly according to the calendar? Is/was Labor Day then date for summer clothes to be packed away?
I found this excellent opinion piece on X (Twitter). I hope the link works. If not, it’s totally worth typing it in to your browser.
https://www.itsalawyerslife.com/the-princess-and-the-photograph/
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That was an excellent read! The one issue I have is this mistaken notion that the photographed was taken and published to counter public speculation (actually a feeding frenzy). It is business as normal:
2023
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a43365274/royal-family-mothers-day-photos-2023/
2020
https://people.com/royals/the-fun-detail-you-may-have-missed-from-kate-middletons-new-mothers-day-photos/
The "source" went on, "William is beside himself over her decision. He's stunned his wife could ever consider such a move."
"They" added: "He made sure she knew what she was getting into when she married him and she's done a brilliant job. He's concerned she's become emotionally unstable, but she insists she's finally seeing clearly!"
"Another source" claimed that the decision comes after the drama the Royal Family has faced with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s exit and allegations of racism against her. At the same time, the Sussexes have created an example of escape from the Firm.
"The source" said: "Kate's disillusioned and frustrated by the ongoing drama surrounding her renegade brother-in-law, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan. But ironically, they've shown her there's an alternative to being trapped in The Firm."
" Kate's rumored decision has reportedly rocked her marriage to king-in-waiting Prince William and the monarchy, the report claimed. While Kate reportedly hasn't officially decided, the 42-year-old keeps pushing back the date when she'll return to public life. "
Kate's been painted the villain, a racist who questioned the skin color of Meghan's son, Archie, before he was born, who made Meghan cry before her wedding and who went out of her way not to be friendly. Those stories will never go away, which is one of the reasons Kate wants to retreat," concluded "the source."
This is being published by Radar OnLine, GeoTV, Lipstick Alley, multiple posts on X and many, many videos on Youtube and TT.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1bdhzde/a_senior_palace_source_says_that_kate_is_stepping/
Hugo Vickers (royal biographer) speaks about the history of royals manipulating photographs (photo agencies are going into meltdown!), but the kicker is at the end..
Montecheato! (He basically says we should stop talking about them and leave them to live in Montecheato and they should leave the royal family alone).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJfnLfzicFI
MEDIA WITCH HUNT! - Pitch Forks and Torches At The Ready
My neighbour's Japanese maple is almost in full leaf!
Youtuber T n T UK (time)31:23 - 35:31
The anguish on her face!
https://www.itsalawyerslife.com/the-princess-and-the-photograph/
- another first-rate piece of comment, together with some eminently sensible pieces, especially the one about the Waleses on their Caribbean tour. It hits the nail on the head when it says the Press is being `Orwellian', instructing us not to trust the evidence of our eyes and ears.
Saying I am `appalled and disgusted' at the Presses treatment of the Duchess of Cambridge is nothing like strong enough to summarise how I feel about the witch hunt. God willing, these merciless predators won't know what hits them when the Prince of Wales becomes king.
Dan Wootton has launched his new, independent platform. Please consider subscribing to Dan Wootton Uncensored to help support free speech in the UK. I have (and I’m American). Here is the link to his first commentary:
https://open.substack.com/pub/danwootton/p/dan-wootton-new-show?r=ff220&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
She's reminded us that she's a `mammal' so the best I can come up with is `Honey Badger' - thick-skinned, savage and seldom, if ever, backs down. Member of the weasel family - how fitting.
But for some reason, I just associate plaids with Fall and Christmas, and red, too, for that matter, which I know is ridiculous. Charlotte is the only one who looks rather Autumnal, to my eye, now that I look at the photo more intentionally, and hercoutfit made me think it was a picture taken in Autumn.
Plus, they all appear to be wearing the exact same clothing as they did on that charity visit, which took place in November. Part of the controversy is that Catherine and George's sweaters appear to have been darkened, presumably to disguise the fact that the photo was from that same day. Not sure why they would've needed to do that, though. It's a perfect picture for Mothering Sunday, because I think it was a children's charity they went to.
I don't doubt Catherine is feeling the sting of all that's gone on, particularly with the traitors in California, and I also don't doubt she's said to Hell with this, I'm taking an extra month off, but she is not quitting. If she's that upset, she needs to take the extra time. I feel for her, and hope she finds a way to relax.
All this makes me admire Camilla that much more. None will ever take the abuse she has dealt with, and you never get a reaction from her. Catherine occasionally let's it be seen that she's been upset ( witness how she went on a hugging spree after Nutmeg's snide comments) but you'd never know Camilla was ruffled by anything. I've really grown fond of her, and think she is quite fabulous!
have just been reading the Princes in the Tower and the lost king. good reminder while nasty it is child’s play on the scope of british monarchy history.
Giving us a glimpse of her now is really no different than letting the public see her after each of her babies were born, when she was feeling physically and emotionally delicate. By taking a picture at home she can better control the outcome. The Waleses have every reason to be mad, But they can’t afford to be seen to be pitching hissy fits publicly over media exposure. The editing errors in a photo that is obvious to everyone was taken last year were so amateur that I could only think it was done on purpose. Catherine has issued an apology for doing so but did she really? Would she have messed around so poorly with an existing picture and slapped it up on Twitter without informing her husband or the KP team? If the release of this photo was it intentional FU to the press vultures… multiple scenarios are possible: 1. Catherine did it alone, And both photo and apology emanated from her.
2. William did it alone and issued an apology in C’s name Or asked her to do it. 3. The couple agreed-upon and executed this whole thing together or 4. One or the other of them ordered a KP staffer to come up with something to post and failing any recent photos, This is what they came up with. 4a. This person was asked by one or both of the Royal couple to alter the picture and C. fell on the sword to protect this person or persons or 4b. William instructed his staff to alter this picture and do a really crap job because he does not give AF and refuses to serve up his convalescent wife for scrutin
I am a Libra so I have to examine all the possible sides even if it means inventing my own geometric figure with sides nobody asked for.
Of course the one we don’t want to consider or I should say to that we don’t want to consider:
Catherine is too ill to pose for a current photo, Possibly not even conscious although I am not entertaining any scenarios that she is no longer with us. But there may have been some complications necessitating heavy sedation.
There is trouble in the marriage and one or the other of the partners posted this cocked up photo to screw with the other. I don’t favor this because the whole episode makes both of them look bad frankly. Also I do not think either of them would stoop to these kinds of sick games Such as might have been played by their Wales predecessors back in the 80s. William and Catherine always come across as a united and well oiled team who genuinely love each other. I don’t think their demeanor over the last 12 years can be faked. William looked on good form solo at the Commonwealth Day service. He was smiling and chatting and greeting the people. He did not look like a man with marital woes, comatose wife, a secret mistress or An alcohol problem. Some commentator claimed that he was drunk at the service but I’ve watched the footage multiple times and that man was definitely not drunk or else he has such a superhuman tolerance for alcohol that he was as good as sober.
I hope that is smiling Catherine will appear at Easter looking fabulous and shut all the baying hounds up.
I would like to think that the Waleses will conceal all such info in future by the simple wheeze of printing a hard copy of each and every photo they issue, regardless of whether it was amended or not. This photo is then itself photographed and published, thereby carrying only the most recent, almost meaningless, metadata.
The critics can then swivel on a metaphor*cal m*ddle f*nger, incapable of analysing it, much beyond exactly when and where it was taken and on what kind of camera, plus details of the exposure. There will be no image manipulation there which could show up, even if the original had been adjusted.
Then have fun offering a mix of 2nd photos of simple snaps and amended ones and let them try to guess which is which. It'd be a bit of a chore but worth it to avoid a repeat of what we have just seen - something with horrible echoes of how the Press behaved when Diana died.
In a sense, yes.
She died almost 13 years ago, when she wore her white dress and became the Duchess of Cambridge.
White is deeply symbolic. Its original meaning / was that it signified Death not purity. It carries a sense of obliteration of what had gone before . (At one time, Inland Revenue treated a new bride as a different person from what she had been before - 2 different legal entities - and paid a tax rebate. In effect, one had 2 personal allowances in one year, not one).
It's the idea of death of an earlier way of life, with spiritual changes. It's the same idea as wearing white for Baptism and Confirmation.
Kate Middleton is dead! Long live Catherine, the Princess of Wales!
Pity her detractors can't, or rather won't, grasp this
Twitter is lit up with Team Wales peeps tagging AP, Reuters, etc, with especially egregious examples of Harkle photoshops, including one with Archie feeding the rescue chicken with his hand pasted on backwards!
Theresa Longo Fans
@BarkJack_
Not sure who needs to hear this but there is no truth to nefarious rumours floating around about the Wales Family.
Catherine is in good health and recuperated well but “eager to return to duty”.
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Re. Harriman
There was no need to insert himself in the dialogue. Doing so only further polarized sides & fuelled the “us” vs “them” narratives in the press. Him speaking on it did the defective duo no favors at all.
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Re. Various claims from reporters:
They seem desperate for engagement. To their credit, normally they are quite accurate so to call her “unwell” when she isn’t entirely unwell is quite shocking.
She is taking it easy at best. No athletics I was told.
His brother, who lives in California, will then make a virtual appearance by joining a video call with the winners. However, Prince Harry’s involvement will only take place once his brother has departed.
https://archive.vn/2024.03.13-214110/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-harry-william-reunite-diana-awards-event-lgsdgc0l9
I've just watched the video of a smiling * talking about being bullied while pregnant (Youtuber T n T UK). I feel really upset and angry, I was bullied at work a long time ago and some of it always stays with you. I was talking about it to a former colleague who had a bad time at work and believe me, I wasn't smiling. Just talking about it brought all sorts of emotions back. I was nearly shaking and close to tears. To see that charlatan smiling broadly and looking happy while talking about being supposedly bullied makes me sick. If you watched the video without the sound and the comments at the sides you'd think * was talking about a very pleasant experience. In her own words, she's such a fraud.
@WildBoar
Screwworm?
A fly little fokker who digs in deeper
when challenged
Parasite by the Cash Card Plight
Negativity
All stuff and nonsense
nothing occurred
The media frenzy
obtuse and absurd
Who gives a shoot
if the photo’s not right
I’m more concerned
that Catherine’s alright…
I do wonder whether the media and
its disgusting treatment of Kate is a precursor
to a mega takedown of meg?
Exactly. The wounds may heal but the scars stay forever.
The smile of that woman was one of her finest, classical "duper's delight" pleasure. And no doubt she is going to smile like that until the truth of "her" children comes out.
@Magatha at 11:46 A.M. I think you've hit on the Todger strategy. They're in line for some very bad news, and they're flooding the press with ridiculous and unbelievable stories, so that anything about them can also be labeled as 'fake news.' Might be wishful thinking on my part, but one can hope,
I just wish KCIII and the PW complete and speedy recoveries.
Thanks. I like what you said 'The wounds may heal but the scars stay forever.' This is so true.
If * was such a good actress, she would have played it differently. She was very good at faking grief at the Queen's funeral, including a strategically placed finger dabbing a tear. She disgusts me.
I wish your words are prescient when you said the 'disgusting treatment of Kate is a precursor to a mega takedown of meg'🙏. Didn't Lady C hint at some big revelation in the spring?
Intriguing. I hope some of the sugars haven't worked their way into the Palace.
Meghan Markle's new business American Riviera Orchard uses a royal crest and the Duchess's calligraphy to promote the Montecito-based brand
... As the Duchess of Sussex launches her new business American Riviera Orchard, she has released a glossy new clip on an Instagram story plus a few little hints of what the business may entail.
Meghan, 42, has announced American Riviera Orchard on Instagram - where comments appear to be disabled - and on a new website.
At the moment, the nature of the business is unclear, but as the Duchess picks plush white roses and mixes batter in a bowl in the clip, it is already capturing the attention of royal fans.
It is thought the launch of the brand comes alongside a new Netflix series in which she will be making and selling her own products.
The brand was launched with a nine-tile post on Instagram, which come together to show its logo - complete with a logo which resembles a royal crest. ...
... An insider told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s a lifestyle and cooking brand called American Riviera Orchard.
'The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix. Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams.
'And at some point there will be a book and blog etc.’
The brand will focus on home, garden, food and general lifestyle wares. ...
---------
It's all very vague and we're none the wiser. Notice that comments are disabled 'Comments have been disabled on the Instagram posts and the page links to a new website of the same name where people can enter their email address and 'join the waitlist'.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13198349/Meghan-Markles-new-business-American-Riviera-Orchard-uses-royal-crest-Duchesss-calligraphy-promote-Montecito-based-brand.html
Kind of odd, the DM makes a point of saying the arty photos of appears to be of her in her home.
Did not know Netflix was starting her off in a cooking show (making and selling her products). So ... this is the entering Martha et al's territory.
It will be interesting to see: what is offered, what the range of offerings are and where you can purchase them (meaning who or what kind of store locally instead of just mail order.
And, will her husband have anything to do with this? meaning, is a way for her to pull away from him (as her show, therefore somehow her money?).
Still wondering how they are doing on the taxes as I work on ours.
I will have to take a deeper dive tomorrow to try and make sense of this. In the meanwhile, you can watch her IG promo video without giving her views here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1betk8f/meghan_carparkle_america_riviera_orchard_first/
And she seems to have got the name from someone else in the area. Here is a deep dive into the history of americanriviera.com:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1betcr8/history_of_americanrivieracom_archive/
A timeline from a comment:
January 17, 2024: Catherine has abdominal surgery.
February 2, 2024: Trademark applied for ARO.
March 10, 2024: Catherine releases Mother's Day photo and is bullied relentlessly.
March 13, 2024: TW purchases domain for ARO.
March 14, 2024: ARO launched with only a landing page. Book and show supposedly on the horizon with no evidence of it.
March 31, 2024: Catherine expected to return to public life.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1betcr8/history_of_americanrivieracom_archive/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ghnSM1i68s
that guy is fast
I dunno, I feel like if I were going to flounce out of the most famous and illustrious family in the world to start my own empire, I would have had something more... glamorous? interesting? unique?...in the works.
Jam. Seriously?!
I can't even.
Sounds like something from the What Three Words location-identifying system? Could it be her `address'?
===
@Magatha - I was crediting her with being at least a vertebrate. You are right to remind ne that the invertebrate world contains some truly disgusting parasite. As for screw worms I see that the `sterile male technique' has been applied to control their numbers so your parallel is may be even more apposite. Thank you.
For some reason, the Cestode flatworm Echinococcus comes to mind for *. Something to do with their hydatid cysts with `hydra heads'
Pen pressure: Make no mistake this is a heavy-handed person who rules with an iron fist, so to speak if her handwriting is to be believed, but there are aspects that indicate that she wants to rule with an iron fist, but not be seen as a person who rules with an iron fist.
Letter sizing: This is a person who keeps tight control on her letter formations because she wants it, at a glance to look neat and perfect, but as far as actual readability is concerned, she does NOT want to be easily understood. Bottom line, which would surprise none of us, is that she is controlling of information, she squeezes the life out of everything, including the letters that she sends out to represents her.
Slant: Meghan slants to the right. This just means she’s an extrovert. This fits with Meghan’s need for constant socialization (while Harry doesn’t want it), it also fits with her need to stir up drama. She draws fuel from interactions with others.
Cont.
Letter spacing: Meghan’s inner word spacing is VERY close together. It’s another factor that almost—but not quite—makes her writing unreadable. She never gets to the point of being illegible, but she comes really close. In graphology, this means that Meghan wants to keep what’s going on on the inside private and under control. When we compare that with the way she controls her home life, it fits the graphological explanation of writing like hers to a “T.”
----------
Some of the comments are also very informative:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1bf3rr1/an_analysis_of_meghan_markles_handwriting_part/
But, no surprises. We know she is extremely controlling, pretentious, all show and very little action or actual talent, so obssessed with 'privacy' that she fuels the rumour mill but in contradiction wants to be seen and admired ...
So much in common with Sarah ... movie producer, children's books, lifestyle brand, endless interviews, and so on.
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a30661074/sarah-ferguson-set-to-launch-own-lifestyle-brand-duchess-inc/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10481457/Sarah-Fergusons-lifestyle-brand-262-000-debt-forced-cut-four-products.html
I can't find the website for Sarah's Ginger & Moss so perhaps it no longer operates? But it was pretty much in line with what TBW is doing.
IMO *** should have used her own name for the brand. Something like 'Simply Meghan'. or '@ Home With Meghan'. But, like Sarah, I think she will get a lot of attention but will not build an empire like GOOP. Bad start launching a lifestyle brand with nothing to sell and no actual cooking show or cookbook. She spent a lot of time on a video and website front page, but to make money selling products you actually have to have products to sell not a big marketing splash about things you are planning/hoping to produce and sell.
The sky is the limit.
https://www.thewi.org.uk/
Table of contents of one of their bimonthly magazines
https://online.fliphtml5.com/gphbd/cima/#p=4
The Sussexes raise eyebrows with two announcements that clash with William's Diana memorial speech... before Harry shares a late-night joke with the award winners (hours AFTER his brother left the venue)
... William arrived in the early evening and handed prizes to a group of winners, before leaving at around 8.15pm ahead of his brother's online appearance.
But just moments before he arrived at the event, Harry's wife Meghan Markle launched her new lifestyle brand with an online video.
A short time after, while William was still speaking at the legacy event, the Sussexes revealed the winner of the of their $100,000 NAACP – Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award.
The timing of the two announcements has been questioned by royal experts, with one telling MailOnline 'the Sussexes in my opinion do nothing by accident'. ...
They can't help themselves, can they? If this was deliberate then they're beyond despicable.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13199817/Prince-Harry-Diana-Legacy-Award-winners-video-appearance-California-four-hours-Prince-William-left.html
George Galloway claims ‘something rotten' inside palace amid Charles and Kate health issues
`The recently elected Workers Party of Britain MP for Rochdale used his Mother Of All Talk Shows programme on YouTube to claim “something rotten is going on inside Buckingham Palace, inside Windsor Castle, inside Sandringham". It was broadcast to his 390,000 subscribers on Wednesday and has been viewed 46,000 times'.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/george-galloway-charles-kate-health-youtube-180926146.html
The name is a bit confusing to me, as it sounds so hokey and provincial. It brought to mind the old nickname for the Florida panhandle, 'Redneck Riviera,' or 'Ozarks Riviera.' She has seemed so desperate to associate herself with high end brands like Dior, I thought she would go for something cooler & more hip. However, mass market brands are usually the most profitable, & the name doesn't have any royal associations. I think TW should at least be allowed to earn a living of some sort.
It will be interesting to see if TW's maliciousness will distract her from setting up a commercial empire. My impression is that Martha Stewart has been focused like a laser throughout her career, although she does seem to be quite the task master. Difficult bosses are tolerated if they're extremely successful. We've yet to see TW achieve real success at anything but name recognition.
American. Riviera. Orchard.
Wow! Oh wow!!
(As for Harry, you know the guy the baroness is married to, he was deeply wounded when his brother was in the center of people's interest and did the best he could and threw his dummy, his rattle and his cuddly toy out of his playpen: There William! I put you in your place!!!)
Now, they might have told her no, but didn't we hear rumors that they were offered a country estate, and didn't we actually speculate here what all they could've done with it?
She could've retained far more of the Royal mystique without having to do the part she didn't like, and had the most incredible life. She couldn't have gotten all the freebies, of course, but everything else would've probably been near to ideal. Hard work aside, but I suspect she'd have had access to far better help than she has now.
Instead, she's launched a company with a bizarre name and no product available.
The opportunities she has squandered beggar belief. All down to her ego and need for complete control.
American Riviera Orchard v Goop
Goop brand description: Clean beauty, timeless fashion, wellness and more
ARO brand description: Prince Harry’s wife
Goop number of followers on Instagram: 1.8 million
ARO number of followers on Instagram: 368,000, but it’s only been 24 hours
Goop Instagram intro: An indispensable resource for a beautiful, thoughtful life.
ARO Instagram intro: By Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex
Goop: This candle smells like my vagina
ARO: Dairy and vegetable-based spreads
Goop: Viva la Vulva Vibrator
ARO: Cutlery
What Gwyneth says (I): “Humour has always been a part of the Goop brand and marketing”l
What Meghan says (I): Not so much
What Gwyneth says (II): “We’ve always wanted to name our products things that were funny and appealing and also said really clearly what they did.”
What Meghan says (II): Marmalade by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
Gwyneth’s best joke: Launching a $120 12-pack of nappies lined with virgin alpaca wool and fastened with amber gemstones. It was a joke to draw attention to a US tax on nappies.
Meghan’s best joke: None yet recorded
Gwyneth Paltrow, husbands: two. Children: two
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, husbands: two. Children: two. With titles.
Goop: Goop Genes Luminous Cleansing Balm
ARO: Tablecloths
Things to read on Goop (I): “How an ob-gyn uses PRP therapy for vaginal rejuvenation”
Things to read on ARO (I): Nothing
Things to read on Goop (II): “The high-summer dinner party at Gwyneth’s: the sun came out for a glorious day between downpours in Amagansett last month …”
Things to read on ARO (II): TBC, but “When I was a little girl, I changed the world via a washing-up liquid advert …”
Goop: G Label by Goop oversized striped cashmere crewneck, $595
ARO: My husband is a prince
Goop: Gwyneth’s Picks: emerald pyramid ring, $10,200
ARO: My son is a prince
Goop: Spring outfits that balance sweet and tough! Discover more
ARO: My daughter is a princess
Goop: A pre-made golden turmeric tahini sauce and Gwyneth’s dinner recipe to go with it
ARO: Try to roast a chicken
Goop launch date: 2008
ARO launch date: 2024
Goop brand worth: $250 million
ARO brand worth: Prince Harry
https://archive.ph/2024.03.15-145249/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/meghan-markle-gwyneth-american-riviera-orchard-v-goop-lifestyle-brand-tbmt8cdf5
Theresa Longo Fans
@BarkJack_
There are also plans for an entire retail chain/store re: MM's new Orchard endeavor.
https://twitter.com/BarkJack_/status/1768452423876538614
The RF seems to be extremely careful about only associating its imprimatur and its prestige with companies which are seen as beneficial to Britain and which won't be found guilty of embarrassing practices, like flouting child labor laws or polluting the environment. A lot of big brands, even some very prestigious ones, are involved in dubious behavior. If TW gets the least bit sleazy, the RF won't want to be tarred with the same brush because of any association with her. It would probably better for both the RF and TW, if she operated any business under her maiden name only.She's famous now, I don't see why she can't just go by her own name.
The timing to compete with William is to be expected and reconfirms they know that William will yank it all The obviousness and the british papers pointing out the timing was to undermine William and his work, Charles has to know this. So perhaps they know charles wont budge either - that would be nice
curious about the launch - no sussex royal, no H &M scrolling monogram on the top, refers to herself as the duchass but that was one line easily edited out
Only 300,000 followers - how many are bots?
how will she sustain the content?
roll out feels forced and not the slick type of pr that would come out of WME and affiliates which has me thinking they are not on retainer anymore
Mrs should stick to her real brand - Real Housewives, OnlyFans, Mean Girls the Sequel She seriously could make some real mony this way
... 'But despite the lack of clarity, other Instagram users have been quick to replicate variations of Meghan's new Instagram handle, which could pose people at risk of scams once American Riviera Orchard is up and running.
In under 24 hours, at least 15 users have created an account under the title of American Riviera Orchard - with some already having over 1,000 followers, indicating that they might believe it to be Meghan's.
A majority of the accounts using the name American Riviera Orchard also use Meghan's logo.
... While it is unclear what the nature of Meghan's new business is, if it sells products in the future, consumers could be at risk of purchasing from faulty accounts.
... Royal watchers have branded the brand 'word salad' and said it's 'not the snappiest name'.
... People took to X to express their confusion. One said: 'ABC News: Meghan Markle launches American Riviera Orchard. What kind of word salad name is that?'
A second added: 'I don't understand the name American Riviera Orchard?'
'Wishing Meghan all the luck but American Riviera Orchard sounds like a dog's name at Crufts,' said a third.
A fourth chimed in and wrote: 'American Riviera Orchard. Not the world's snappiest brand name, is it?'
Another questioned: 'She called it American Riviera Orchard? What on earth does that mean? Is she selling apples now?''
Not what our Dookass expected, I guess. This just shows her pretentiousness. And the queen of fake is getting poetic justice - outfaked by the fakers. If there are several fake sites, no one will want to have anything with her site just incase (I don't know how you can tell her own website from fake ones).
https://tinyurl.com/3y9wy9j4
When this endeavor fails, after all the lawyers’ fees are settled and the money pot is nonexistent, what is left for the overseas duo. Just predicting the inevitable …
Headline:wtte `Has Meghan's latest wheeze pushed her luck too far...?
Most of us probably know people we’d rather not be in the same room with, but it takes a special sort of fraternal antipathy where you can’t bear to be in the same room when your brother is on a television screen.
Yet that seems to be the case with Princes William and Harry, a mutual alienation rare in public life. Not even the fact that the pair were supposed to be “together” at the Diana Awards in honour of their late mother was enough to ease the transatlantic tensions. By the time Harry appeared via video link from California, his brother was out the door. No reconciliation on the cards, then.
In that context, the launch of a new commercial venture by Meghan Markle, which threatened to overshadow the awards event, could hardly have made matters much worse. The duchess (an increasingly incongruous title given her egalitarianism) has been off social media since 2020, but she chose to take an inopportune moment to take to Instagram to tell the world about something called American Riviera Orchard.
As it happens, the launch video turned up on my Twitter/X feed and such is the soft focus, grainy texture of the images that I could barely make out what it was all about. It looked like an advert for shampoo. It certainly didn’t “connect” with my own lifestyle, detached as it is from the wealthier neighbourhoods of, well, the American Riviera.
Funnily enough, there was once an orchard behind my place, but it’s been built on. That’s as near, I fear, as I will ever get to emulating the Harry and Meghan way of life. Apparently, Meghan will be marketing cookbooks, tableware, linens, a range of spreads and preserves including jellies, jams and Harry’s nut butter – a savoury treat which sounds quite intriguing.
(cont...)
yahoo news
Also on sale, in due course, will be some tasteful place card holders, solemnly stated to be “not of precious metal”. I can’t help observing that the whole enterprise is “not of precious metal”. Perhaps because they didn’t wish to “exploit” their residual royal status, there is only a gilded logo and crest to adorn the product range – and it looks more mock-heraldic than aristocratic (let alone royal); with some elaborate calligraphy by Meghan herself.
It’s basically the sort of corporate style thing you might see featured in a, well, American Riviera hotel. It’s not vulgar, exactly – just a bit inauthentic and odd, seeing as they have a properly impressive set of proper arms, deployed in good taste on their other official website, sussex.com.
Of course, Meghan’s first return to the lifestyle lark since she closed The Tig on her engagement to Harry does beg some other questions. Does it indicate that they’re getting a bit hard up? What is the market for California plum jam vaguely associated with the King’s second son, not hitherto known for his prowess with preserves?
Are they going to bother with marmalades? Tartare sauce? Lemon curd? At least they haven’t been really cheeky and called the merch “Duchy Originals”. And, most pressingly, does it mean the pair are in trouble with the palace for breaching the Sandringham Agreement reached during “Megxit” in 2020?
Well, I’ve had a flick though this document, and the short answer is that it doesn’t. You may think it all tawdry, but it is not in breach.
Unusually, for something that touches on their private lives, the text of the Sandringham Agreement is in the public domain, and it doesn’t say much about commercial activities. It recognises that the Sussexes of necessity would “become privately funded members of the royal family with permission to earn their own income”, which is exactly what they are doing.
If they’d called it Royal American Riviera Orchard they’d be in the organic gravy; but they’re not that stupid. The fact is that Meghan, through her marriage to Harry, cannot ever fully divest herself of an implicit royal connection – and that would be the case even if she divorced him (cf Sarah, Duchess of York or the late Lord Snowdon).
Even if, as is sometimes demanded, the Sussexes renounced their titles and changed their names to Mr and Mrs Smith, the royal link, if not aura, would cling to them. They’d continue to be famous celebrities and some people would want to buy their branded gear because of that, like Lloyd Grossman’s pasta sauces or Victoria Beckham’s lipsticks.
Is it significant that the whole article is this side of a paywall?
'An insider told the Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden: ‘Meghan is starting to film her Netflix show in a few weeks’ time. It will tie in with the American Riviera Orchard brand.’
Another source added: 'It's a lifestyle and cooking brand called American Riviera Orchard.
'The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix. Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams. And at some point there will be a book and blog etc.''
Branded T-shirts
Branded baseball caps
Branded tote bags
Branded lotion/soap
Different logos seem to be used. Odd! If what you are selling is your lifestyle, should you not keep branding consistent?
Not kidding! Messy Megsy. Have a look:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintMeghanMarkle/comments/1bfm9qv/aro_merch_such_as_it_is/
Also, if she does not have approval for the trademark, was it not foolish to launch without it and thus avoid this mess?
TW really has no clue. Does she think it's easy to succeed in the crowded lifestyle consumer sector? I was rooting around in my basement today, and came across some of my packed up Christmas decorations. For some reason this made me want to find some little copper Scandinavian style Christmas ornaments I had seen online in the run up to last Christmas. I didn't find them, but I landed on Martha Stewart's2023 ideas for Christmas trees. They are stunning. I have no idea how they were produced. They could all be AI or computer generated, but the photos look as though Martha got some of her favorite designers and craftspersons to design and then assemble a series of trees decorated in wildly varying styles accompanied by carefully chosen and arranged props, which were then lovingly photographed. Then the photos were assembled on a webpage with just the right amount of spacing and and with text in just the right size fonts in just the right style. This was just one page of Martha Stewart's Christmas website. An enormous amount of work (and expense) went into producing just this one feature, not to mention the taste that it took to discern which designs were the most appealing.
TWs branding efforts, from the Sussex Royal website to her most recent effort, look like something homemade that she patched together on an old IPad. Martha has been churning out content everywhere for decades. She knows what she's doing, & she works very hard at it, (and makes everyone around her do the same).She knows how to appreciate the talent and work of others. TW doesn't have the work ethic or the talent to build a brand. She would have been much better off if she had behaved herself, kept her mouth shut and let the men in grey suits create a reasonably palatable royal image for her. Who on earth is the hapless investor/s who is/are funding TW's latest project?
Martha Stewart's Christmas tree ideas:
https://www.marthastewart.com/275166/christmas-tree-decorating-ideas
The ballgown shot and flowers makes me wonder if she hasn't been more inspired by American designer Carolyn Roehm than Martha Stewart? I mention it because Ms. Roehm appears on the covers of most of her books in similar fancy dress. She, at least, has the excuse of being one who designs such gowns. She isn't known for cooking, however, so maybe not Nutmeg's Muse.
She seems to have a bit of an obsession with A R names. Archewell. Archie. ARO. Is she trying to tie everything together? I still can't get over what a weird name she's chosen for this new endeavor, but the name "Archie" for a Blood Prince of the United Kingdom is insanely bad.
Do you think there will ever be a collaboration with Soho House? There always seems to be a whiff of it in the air around her... and it seems to be the type of thing she would aspire to.
I watched the end part and found it fun. The Sidley Twins read the transcript of the Oprah interview as a drinking game, taking a sip every time someone lied. Yep, they got drunk!
They use to hang out in Hollywood and at the end of the video tell some stories about the side of Hollywood celebrities that the media does not tell us! Hmmm!
The transcript they got hold of had the full interview, and TBW used the word 'racist' a number of times. I was also struck with how incomprehensible their word salad is... and it has got worse since then. When the transcript is read, the word salad and how it does not actually make sense really struck me.
Yep, it was even more insane then that ... they had to go back to their hotel for the video link with hapless:
----------
Yusuf, 23, told how the winners ended up being congratulated by the estranged brothers some four hours apart and had to travel across London to do so.
While the Prince of Wales handed out awards during the glittering ceremony at the Science Museum in Kensington, the winners had to return to their hotel nearly five miles away for the video call with Prince Harry.
It was after midnight before the call took place with winners sat around a video screen set up in a conference room at the Hilton Hotel near London's Waterloo Station.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13202227/Diana-Legacy-Award-winner-23-reveals-surreal-ceremony-dragged-SEVEN-HOURS.html
ARO-*gant
Old Megartha discovered
In the bowels of her cupboard
A jar of sour grape jam
She’s hoping to profit
From a lemonada posset
and a range of luxury spam…
*Yawn
Shades of Fanny Cradock and Johnny!
QVC-Quid Via Con
Tepid tones of beige
Enveloped in greige
Her signature Hermegs
cashme throw
As for the candles
don’t go there
I’ve heard it’s a mixture
his ‘n’ hers ordure
Avoid the jam
conserve yourself from sugar flow
Let’s jell together
and laugh at her poor show…
@Neutral @Maneki
We can but hope
aided by madam herself🤞
@WildBoar
Parasitically correct 😉
brilliant as usual.
As a Yank who isn't emotionally invested monarchies of any kind, but who admired the late Queen, & doesn't mind the rest of the RF, I don't care if TW makes money hawking various wares, as long as she doesn't harm the RF reputationally in any way. I just don't think you should bite the hand that once fed you.
The Todgers have inflicted a lot of damage on themselves, but there are some structural things, economically, which make things difficult for them. I made a comment earlier about Carolyne Roehm, who was a Conde Nast darling back in the day, & who leveraged her fashion career and her high profile marriages into a fairly creditable career, although I have no idea how much money she has actually made on her own. Both of her husbands were very wealthy, and she likely had good divorce lawyers.
The world has changed a lot since the 90s and early aughts. Conde Nast is no longer the power house it once was, and has been shedding workers, as have almost all of the big media and entertainment companies, including Netflix, Paramount and Disney. Companies are no longer throwing huge sums at startups and untested commercial ventures. More importantly, I don't think Gen-Z youngsters are running up credit card debt for designer handbags, sneakers and other fads. Taylor Swift seems to get young women to fork over for her concerts, but a lot of young people are worrying about establishing careers and they don't seem to be splashing around their discretionary incomes as carelessly as older generations did in their 20s and 30s.
Covid and the dicey world economy have been ok for a small minority globally, but many people are struggling financially. So, not only are people spending less, there are fewer platforms on which to build a brand. All of these factors are hindering the Todgers' empire formation. They didn't help themselves by developing a reputation for maliciousness and being difficult to work with. They can't do anything about the economy, but they can control their own behavior. Can they come back from this debacle? Who knows?
https://www.esquire.com/uk/style/a33348660/the-moodboard-why-is-beige-the-colour-of-money/
True, * thinks beige and greige are the colour of money. And yet, she berated the RF, saying she was limited to wearing beige and wasn't allowed to wear colours. "However, while claiming that she was not allowed to wear colour as a working member of the Royal Family, Meghan, 42, has continued to opt for a predominantly neutral wardrobe, despite having no imposed restrictions." (DM). She can't even remember her own lies.
Your observations about economic realities in a post Covid world are the truth.
I’m sure in Harry’s wife’s mind, The global pandemic that killed millions of people and left devastated grieving families behind hit at the precise time it did just screw with her plans for her big return to Hollywood. I think that the pandemic actually benefited them
Because they could have a built-in excuse for they and their children never being seen and not having to appear and make positive impressions in person. She could play dress up on her hired set and make a lot of noise on the Internet about all her grandiose plans to build a better world starring Meghan Sparkle Princess. Harry is and always has been an afterthought add on to her idea of empire even though it’s his name and that if his family’s that make her current lifestyle possible. Covid allowed the grifting duo to string their corporate partners along for another two years more than they would have for failing to produce anything.
The biggest hindrance to their establishing a successful post Megxit brand is simply that neither Of them has any intrinsic skills or talent or experience in running a business to build a brand around. They both grew up allergic to hard work and have no idea what that means. They want all of the substance flash and appearance of a successful celebrity lifestyle but they are unwilling and in capable to really work for it. Neither will they submit to being guided by experienced creative people who could help them bridge their lack of practical experience or real skills. If you’re not good at anything and are completely derivative and too unimaginative to come up with your own ideas, at the very least you should be or project a likable persona that people want to work with. The holocaust fail on all counts. They just want to be famous and showered with money and attention because they exist. There is no thought process in their mind about how hard and how many years is someone like Martha Stewart has worked to build her empire. Martha has been hustling toward her single minded goal since before either of them was born. They want everything she’s got like now without having to do anything for it except pose for pictures and get a crowd at elation at manufactured award ceremonies.
This new “brand” has already failed because she doesn’t have anything to sell. Simply putting up a website doesn’t make a successful business. As someone else observed, Rachel’s got it all backwards. She slept some thing up on the Internet and makes a big announcement about a new product launch… But she hasn’t built the business yet. The website and brand messaging come last after you’re ready to launch your product into the public domain. She’s only playing around… Internet start up Barbie. She gets the ego fuel from the initial rush of Internet attention these announcements generate, but she doesn’t have anything to put behind them. It’s all for show. I think she sits around wherever she’s living getting drunk and high, reading obsessively about her self and dreaming up names for domains to register. That’s as far as she ever gets.
She’s trying to convince Netflix to give her another season with this Hook by they’d be beyond stupid if they think she’s actually ready to launch a cooking empire.
Your observations about economic realities in a post Covid world are the truth.
I’m sure in Harry’s wife’s mind, The global pandemic that killed millions of people and left devastated grieving families behind hit at the precise time it did just screw with her plans for her big return to Hollywood. I think that the pandemic actually benefited them
Because they could have a built-in excuse for they and their children never being seen and not having to appear and make positive impressions in person. She could play dress up on her hired set and make a lot of noise on the Internet about all her grandiose plans to build a better world starring Meghan Sparkle Princess. Harry is and always has been an afterthought add on to her idea of empire even though it’s his name and that if his family’s that make her current lifestyle possible. Covid allowed the grifting duo to string their corporate partners along for another two years more than they would have for failing to produce anything.
The biggest hindrance to their establishing a successful post Megxit brand is simply that neither Of them has any intrinsic skills or talent or experience in running a business to build a brand around. They both grew up allergic to hard work and have no idea what that means. They want all of the substance flash and appearance of a successful celebrity lifestyle but they are unwilling and in capable to really work for it. Neither will they submit to being guided by experienced creative people who could help them bridge their lack of practical experience or real skills. If you’re not good at anything and are completely derivative and too unimaginative to come up with your own ideas, at the very least you should be or project a likable persona that people want to work with. The holocaust fail on all counts. They just want to be famous and showered with money and attention because they exist. There is no thought process in their mind about how hard and how many years is someone like Martha Stewart has worked to build her empire. Martha has been hustling toward her single minded goal since before either of them was born. They want everything she’s got like now without having to do anything for it except pose for pictures and get a crowd at elation at manufactured award ceremonies.
This new “brand” has already failed because she doesn’t have anything to sell. Simply putting up a website doesn’t make a successful business. As someone else observed, Rachel’s got it all backwards. She slept some thing up on the Internet and makes a big announcement about a new product launch… But she hasn’t built the business yet. The website and brand messaging come last after you’re ready to launch your product into the public domain. She’s only playing around… Internet start up Barbie. She gets the ego fuel from the initial rush of Internet attention these announcements generate, but she doesn’t have anything to put behind them. It’s all for show. I think she sits around wherever she’s living getting drunk and high, reading obsessively about her self and dreaming up names for domains to register. That’s as far as she ever gets.
She’s trying to convince Netflix to give her another season with this Hook by they’d be beyond stupid if they think she’s actually ready to launch a cooking empire.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/a-lake-district-farm-shop )
In your dreams, Markle.
She’s trying to convince Netflix to give her another season with this Hook by they’d be beyond stupid if they think she’s actually ready to launch a cooking empire.
I really wonder if Netflix will release anything from the Harkles after being blindsided by the release of Harry’s Invictus interview/special on competing Hulu. After donating $$$ to Invictus Games, providing producers for Harry’s documentary, paying him, and then distributing it, Netflix reasonably expected some loyalty.
I don’t think it’s a given her cooking show will be released on Netflix at least. Plus, she can’t possibly compete with Stanley Tucci’s : Searching for Italy.