Relationships between Members of the British Royal Family


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Many, many tabloid stories posted about the relationships between members of the British royal family rank right up there with the headlines of a "gin soaked Camilla plotting the demise of the Queen" type of stories.

I believe we could all use a bit more discretion on what we deem to be credible and what can be deemed as bird cage liners. ?

Osipi: I think you mean “Dying Queen Tells Gin-Soaked Camilla: ‘You’ll Never Be Queen.’” Looks better in the bottom of the bird cage.��
 
Listen...there is no perfect world and there are certainly no perfect people or families. To believe that these people have perfect relations is just as naive as believing that they are at each other's throats!

These are human beings....plain and simple! And they all have flawed characters!
 
No, nobody’s perfect. But there’s a pretty big range of behaviors that could be classified as getting along OK that lie between being the best of friends and the worst of enemies. It’s so silly that seeing anything shy of sticking to each other as constant partners is taken as William and Harry being in a fight or somehow distant. And silly that, if that happens, it simply must be their wives’ fault.
 
Like the rest of us, all members of the royal family have those "I love you but I really, really don't like you too much right now." moments. Even the husbands and wives. Its natural. Its human nature. Of course they will have disagreements and difference of opinion but it doesn't change the underlining relationship as a whole.

We only see things on the surface and perhaps some glimmers and inklings from the royals themselves but we never, ever get the full picture of this family in private. They rightfully deserve to keep their private lives private.
 
Well hasn't it yet been discussed here that Buckingham Palace (not KP) press office has put out a statement shooting down the ridiculous rumors of a feud between Kate & Meghan:
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celeb...e-middleton-feud-buckingham-palace-statement/

I haven't seen the original announcement, but apparently BP said "that never happened" about reports that Kate lashed out at Meghan for berating her staff.
 
I have not seen anything about a Buckingham Palace statement. Are we sure that this is even real?
 
Beats me. Not a clue here. Harpers Bazaar is an American fashion magazine and the two outlets mentioned in the article are The Sun and The Mirror. Its been picked up by some other sources but I don't see any really reliable sources reporting on it. Yet.

Its very possible that BP did issue a statement in a press release. Its an anomaly though, I believe.
 
If Buckingham Palace had issued a statement on such a topic it would have headlined every broadsheet and internet news outlet in the United Kingdom. It didn't.
 
If Buckingham Palace had issued a statement on such a topic it would have headlined every broadsheet and internet news outlet in the United Kingdom. It didn't.

I think so too. At least it would have appeared in the Telegraph, the Guardian or the Independent which I have heard are believed to be the most credible publications in the UK (politics aside).
 
If Buckingham Palace had issued a statement on such a topic it would have headlined every broadsheet and internet news outlet in the United Kingdom. It didn't.

Exactly. When I read about the BP statement I went looking everywhere for it, and I couldn't find it corroborated anywhere. Where is this stuff coming from?
 
Where is it coming from? Easy! Imagination! Stories about drama among the Fab Four gets clicks and attention to the website! It's all about the money! Welcome to the social media age!
 
My line of thought now is that if it has been reported that Buckingham Palace has issued a statement and Buckingham Palace didn't issue a statement, there are going to be heads rolling. I don't think BP would be overly amused if it is being reported with BP saying something they never said and accredited it to them as being "official".

The saga continues. Did BP or didn't BP issue a statement. Only the royal dogs know for sure and they ain't talking. :whistling:
 
The Mail continues to up the ante and the article below has already been copied by the Mirror.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...lace-mole-revealed-news-rift-Kate-Meghan.html

To believe this tripe one would have to swallow that there was a senior aide in residence at Anmer Hall last Xmas who observed a row between the couples. And that Kate has discussed her feelings about Harry and Meghan with 'pals' and staff at KP, among other things.

Someone in the BRF and/or KP is going to have to do something fairly soon or the Fail and other tabloids are going to continue to assert that there is a real rift between the Cambridges and Sussexes. And this media campaign is going to embroil the whole senior BRF eventually if it's not stopped.

The policy of silence and ignoring it all only works IMO against sporadic attacks in specific articles, not with a sustained campaign like this one has turned out to be. This started in early November and it's now a month later.
 
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Sometimes doesn't BP/KP etc talk to reporters directly telling them whatever without issuing a letter for print?



LaRae
 
This is becoming increasingly bizarre.

Edited to add: I made myself read the entire MoS article, something I almost never do and really, "bizarre" sums it up perfectly. The writer(s) throw everything--and I do mean "everything"-- but the kitchen sink out there. They are alternately fawning, critical, and filled with faux concern. Harry's changed and it's clearly implied that it's Meghan's fault, although it started when William expressed brotherly concern on the speed of Meghan and Harry's relationship..Kate is called the "Steel Marshmallow"(?!). It's implied that there are leaks from the staff at Anmer, from within KP, and from Kate and William's friend group. Charles had to smooth things over, Meghan is consistently rude and pushy, especially to servants, and so on. Everything but the kitchen sink, and for any of this to be true, the MoS must have had microphones in every home that the royal family own.

My mind, it is boggled.
 
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I am not giving the tabloids credibility because they don't back up anything they say; nor do they put their sources on the record by naming them. The reporting is rampant and if a lie is repeated often enough it is taken as truth.

The purpose of not revealing their sources is quite simple. The source would be sacked and so they would lose their source.

The fact that there are so many reports either means that there are multiple sources, one source revealing stuff to multiple outlets or there is nothing in it but to simply refuse to accept that the tabloids may actually have real sources because they don't name them it to ignore the consequences for any such sources should they be revealed - lose of job - and the consequences for the outlet - loss of a source.

In addition, in the UK, journalists are expected to protect their sources by not revealing them unless the court rules it is in the public interest for such sources to be revealed.

Not naming a source doesn't mean there isn't a source but that the journalist is actually protecting their source as they are entitled to do by law - Contempt of Court Act 1981 (in the UK).

More on the rights to protect sources https://www.inbrief.co.uk/media-law/journalists-sources/

Thus anyone who simply ignores a story because of unnamed sources really is ignoring British law and the rights of British journalists.

This is becoming increasingly bizarre.

Edited to add: I made myself read the entire MoS article, something I almost never do and really, "bizarre" sums it up perfectly. The writer(s) throw everything--and I do mean "everything"-- but the kitchen sink out there. They are alternately fawning, critical, and filled with faux concern. Harry's changed and it's clearly implied that it's Meghan's fault, although it started when William expressed brotherly concern on the speed of Meghan and Harry's relationship..Kate is called the "Steel Marshmallow"(?!). It's implied that there are leaks from the staff at Anmer, from within KP, and from Kate and William's friend group. Charles had to smooth things over, Meghan is consistently rude and pushy, especially to servants, and so on. Everything but the kitchen sink, and for any of this to be true, the MoS must have had microphones in every home that the royal family own.

My mind, it is boggled.

They don't need microphones - just multiple sources.

Given the salary of the palace employees there are many who will supplement their wages by leaking what they hear around the palaces to the media - often mundane stuff but often very good and reliable scandals are leaked via this route.

We know from past history sometimes the leak is from a royal themselves (Diana and the Morton book), highly placed staff but mostly it is from the lower ranks within the household.

There are 100s of people working in the royal households so 100s of potential sources for the media - some are even told by the royals to leak stuff and then in the official leak will come something not authorised which sets up a media buzz to find out more and then more and more staff are approached until the media gets a story.

With the number of stories there is something going on - a leak and it could be from a staffer or it could be from a friend within their circle who has been hurt. It could even be from within the family for some reason.
 
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How would they do a mole hunt in the palace anyway? Are they going to check KP intranet to see who was dumb enough to spill tea that way? Will they go after non work email accounts? If they catch him or her and that person confesses it was all made up (face it tabloids don't bother to fact check) what happens to the broadsheets?
 
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IIRC several years ago W&H put out false info to find their leaks...perhaps something like that is being done or will be done again.


LaRae
 
The Mail continues to up the ante and the article below has already been copied by the Mirror.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...lace-mole-revealed-news-rift-Kate-Meghan.html

To believe this tripe one would have to swallow that there was a senior aide in residence at Anmer Hall last Xmas who observed a row between the couples. And that Kate has discussed her feelings about Harry and Meghan with 'pals' and staff at KP, among other things.

Someone in the BRF and/or KP is going to have to do something fairly soon or the Fail and other tabloids are going to continue to assert that there is a real rift between the Cambridges and Sussexes. And this media campaign is going to embroil the whole senior BRF eventually if it's not stopped.

The policy of silence and ignoring it all only works IMO against sporadic attacks in specific articles, not with a sustained campaign like this one has turned out to be. This started in early November and it's now a month later.
It’s really annoying that the basis of assumption is that the Sussexes are moving out of KP and the Cambridges might not spend Christmas at Sandringham. The reality of it is those two things aren’t connected and certainly doesn’t suggest Cambridges and Sussexes hate each other or don’t get along. I’ve always found the narrative that they are besties to be quite irritating. These women have long established relationships in their lives and they’ve only met for less than 2 years. They are obviously connected by marrying two brothers, but they are also at different stages in life and often travel. I always doubted they’d sit around and braid each other’s hair while gossiping.

I also don’t take Charles as the type to meddle in familial relationships to the point of making the Cambridges invite Harry and Meghan if they didn’t want to. If they were upset with each other, they certainly hid it well last Christmas. And I have to laugh at the supposed teas for Kate to dish out advice. I don’t take her as the type to offer unsolicited advice and especially if it became clear to be unwanted.
 
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They don't need microphones - just multiple sources.

Given the salary of the palace employees there are many who will supplement their wages by leaking what they hear around the palaces to the media - often mundane stuff but often very good and reliable scandals are leaked via this route.

We know from past history sometimes the leak is from a royal themselves (Diana and the Morton book), highly placed staff but mostly it is from the lower ranks within the household.

I was being facetious about the microphones.

Multiple sources would be more expected, and some of the numerous details in the article actually sounded fairly mundane, the kind of thing that lower level staff might overhear. What I thought was striking about the article was the sheer number of those details, and how many leaks there must have been, if there were actually any leaks: as I said, friends of William and Kate's, staff at Anmer, staff at KP, staff at BP, possibly elsewhere, too. To me that's the alarming thing, and indicates something seriously amiss, to a startling level. If there is any kernel of truth in any of what is being published, who is doing the leaking? No surprise that the DM is putting the worst possible construction on everything, but where are they getting all this dirt, and how many sources are there? It makes it hard to take the most serious allegations (a rift between William and Harry, and Meghan and Kate)as having any validity, because it's so hard to believe that that many sources spoke up all at the same time. In the case of Diana, details tended to come out in bits and pieces, over a period of time. The cumulative effect was powerful in that case, but what's in the MoS is more like an info dump, which makes it less credible to me.
 
At least two things in that article are obviously twisted for the rift agenda.

It is not surprising that the Cambridge’s are planning to spend Christmas with the Middletons. They generally spend every other year in Bucklebury. And the Mail may think brother James said the family was getting together for Christmas days ago but I read it weeks ago. The Cambridges’ Christmas plans have nothing to do with the Sussexes.
And again the stupid story of moving to create distance between the families. I especially found the part about it being “rare for a member of the Royal family as important as Harry not to have a London base.” Umm, he’s only as important as Anne, Andrew and Edward-none of them have London bases.
I find the credibility of this to be highly questionable.
I do think it possible William had concerns about how quickly his brother got serious but I feel he is pragmatic enough that once it was a done deal he’d try to be supportive.
 
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If we recall ..William went out of his way to show public support to Meghan last year on more than one occasion.

The media need to sell papers/clicks. Happy getting along families are boring. The Sussexes/Cambridges are very good at not being caught in public, leading very private lives which of course hampers sales of pics and stories.

Even if there is some truth to some of it...most likely minor things have been blown up into big things. Better to reserve judgement and see how things fall into place.



LaRae
 
Btw, this isn’t the first Christmas Cambridges haven’t spent at Sandringham. So were they pissed at Harry in previous years too? :lol:
 
I can't remember but most likely it was a feud between them and Camilla/Charles etc. They just re-use the same stories and change the names around.


LaRae
 
At least two things in that article are obviously twisted for the rift agenda.

It is not surprising that the Cambridge’s are planning to spend Christmas with the Middletons. They generally spend every other year in Bucklebury. And the Mail may think brother James said the family was getting together for Christmas days ago but I read it weeks ago. The Cambridges’ Christmas plans have nothing to do with the Sussexes.
And again the stupid story of moving to create distance between the families. I especially found the part about it being “rare for a member of the Royal family as important as Harry not to have a London base.” Umm, he’s only as important as Anne, Andrew and Edward-none of them have London bases.
I find the credibility of this to be highly questionable.
I do think it possible William had concerns about how quickly his brother got serious but I feel he is pragmatic enough that once it was a done deal he’d try to be supportive.

Actually, Anne, Ed and Andrew all DO have London bases. Harry and Meghan may well keep NC as well for the time being. KP never said they were not.

And per ILuvBertie's point, it is absolutely standard practice to not name your sources. Many credible stories come from unnamed sources precisely to protect that source. That isn't what makes this smear campaign suspect. Its the publication of a certain version of a story, only for that story to be republished with details confused, conflated or contrived, often times by the same publication!

I think like literally every family, the Cambridges and the Sussexes have their moments. The BRF is a dysfunctional bunch which happens whenever you have that much power, prestige and ego involved. The siblings have all sold each other out of the Queen's kids and the Queen and Margaret had extraordinary amounts of drama when they were young too. Before them, the Queen's father and his brother. Unfortunately for the BRF, family issues that most families keep to themselves becomes the national drama for the masses to consume.

IF there is more enduring friction or trouble between the Cambridges and Sussexes, IMO it comes down to the brothers. They are the born royals, they are the bosses/leads in the hierarchy, they call the shots. Making Meghan the Yoko Ono is a cheap shot. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the brothers'. So if something is up at KP, they all need to get it together. And soon.
 
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As a long time royal watcher, I'll just have to say that I find KP's handling of this situation extremely shamefully. I am wondering if it is down to sheer incompetence or whether something else is at play....

I didn't give any of these stories credence but this has long passed the point where 'steady silence' pays off & now I am wondering whether there really is something to the rumour of splitting offices & that it may very well be for the better for the Sussexes. Whatever boundaries were established for the Cambridges, there seems to be none for the Sussexes.

It boggles my mind how ANYONE at KP could think that they are not mismanaging this situation.
 
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It’s also interesting to see how some of these things are now coming out about the wedding that was SIX MONTHS ago. If it was so dramatic where were they then? It’s also the way that it’s being twisted. All of sudden now Cambridges aren’t coming to Christmas because they’ve got beef with the Sussexes? News flash, but the Cambridges not coming to Sandringham for Christmas with the royal family is OLD news. It happened long before Meghan supposedly “changed” Harry. And it’s suspect that these supposedly tension only comes out AFTER the announcement of Frogmore Cottage.

As for the reports of William not warming up to Meghan, William actually stuck up for Meghan very early on. I remember Rebecca English tried to stir the pot and published an article about William having problem with the statement Harry issued and basically blaming the whole drama on Meghan while Harry was out of reach in Caribbean. Meghan, as a royal gf then, obviously would not have the luxury of defending herself. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that was just left unaddressed. However, William did go above and beyond and issued a statement saying he supports Harry and Harry’s need to support those closest to him and their privacy. I think that was another early indication to us how serious this relationship even though half of the royal commentators were still dismissing her as a fling.
 
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It’s also interesting to see how some of these things are now coming out about the wedding that was SIX MONTHS ago.

As for the reports of William not warming up to Meghan, William actually stuck up for Meghan very early on. I remember Rebecca English tried to stir the pot and published an article about William having problem with the statement Harry issued and basically blaming the whole drama on Meghan while Harry was out of reach in Caribbean. Meghan, as a royal gf then, obviously would not have the luxury of defending herself. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that was just left unaddressed. However, William did go above and beyond and issued a statement saying he supports Harry and Harry’s need to support those closest to him and their privacy. I think that was another early indication to us how serious this relationship even though half of the royal commentators were still dismissing her as a fling.

Apparently the family drama created by the unnamed estranged family was enough drama at the time. Or the tabloid writers hadn’t heard these new stories-tiara, air fresheners, bridesmaid fitting, last Christmas- yet. So where are they coming from? It is odd. It does seem like one writer writes something and it becomes truth without any real reason and is repeated over and over again by many publications without any verification.

Thanks for the reminder about William’s statement. I had forgotten that. So even IF he had private doubts about his brother’s whirlwind romance, in public he had Harry’s back.
 
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