The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 1: September-December 2020

[Curryong]

If Harry had gone privately to memorial services in LA etc, after it was known that his wreath was refused at the Cenotaph, then social and other media would have created a narrative about Harry and his wife sulking at home and not doing anything to recognise Remembrance Day.

Harry is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't in a lot of these situations. If he tries to show that he has remembered the Fallen and proves it with a few photos then he is accused of copying the Royal family and being a publicity hog about it. If he doesn't appear then he has turned his back on dead comrades etc.

Harry spoke in that podcast to fellow vets on how much Remembrance Day meant to him and how honoured he was to wear the uniform on that day and other occasions. I don't believe he was insincere or visiting the cemetery for publicity of any kind.

 

[Alisa]

To let it be known that he did mark and observe the day.
If he did not do this as others mentioned he would have been heavily criticized.
Harry- who served in Afghanistan, is pro-Vet, who founded the Invictus games did not mark this day?!?
The horror!

A most appropriate choice for today.

I dont see why he couldn't have gone to a cemetery or memorial to lay a wreath or flowers.. and done it privately. Or if tehere were any veterans memorail events to just go to them as private citizens....What is the point of taking a photographer along?

 

[Hallo girl]

If Harry had gone privately to memorial services in LA etc, after it was known that his wreath was refused at the Cenotaph, then social and other media would have created a narrative about Harry and his wife sulking at home and not doing anything to recognise Remembrance Day.

Harry is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't in a lot of these situations. If he tries to show that he has remembered the Fallen and proves it with a few photos then he is accused of copying the Royal family and being a publicity hog about it. If he doesn't appear then he has turned his back on dead comrades etc.

Harry spoke in that podcast to fellow vets on how much Remembrance Day meant to him and how honoured he was to wear the uniform on that day and other occasions. I don't believe he was insincere or visiting the cemetery for publicity of any kind.

They could have announced that they had made a private act of remembrance.
He claims to hate cameras but he was happy for photographs to be taken.
Putting a wreath on the stand is IMO what visiting dignitaries do.
They are using PR , which degrades remembrance Sunday which is about honouring those who fell for our freedom.

 

[Durham]

I know first hand about veterans so I am not going to say anything was ruined. The more attention is paid to veterans is a good thing for me.

Remembrance Day for the British is about the cenotaph service. I'm sure our American friends can appreciate that. Or at least attempt to understand the sensitivities around this issue.

 

[Alisa]

I beg to differ on so many levels but I will just take one.

I actually respect the couple for releasing the photo hours AFTER the Queen and other members of the riyal family participated in Remembrance Sunday.

That way he cannot be accused of upstaging anyone. Not that he could have given that as a former serviceman he has a right to observe Rememberance Day and lay a wreath!

I had hoped to avoid this but I just can't believe that such a day has been sullied by this publicity seeking individual.

Can I just point out that the focus of Remembrance Day is the service at the cenotaph in the presence of the monarch.

The duke knew that this would be a distraction from that. He didn't have to be photographed doing this & he certainly didn't have to have it published on Remembrance Day.

Utterly contemptible. He really is too bloody much.

 

[Duchess_Watcher]

Good luck on trying to create a Royal Family here. Majority of Americans do not even follow the Royal Family and him being denied makes sense he is no longer a working Royal. Why do they need cameras for this photo op?

Those titles need to be shanked.

 

[Hallo girl]

I know first hand about veterans so I am not going to say anything was ruined. The more attention is paid to veterans is a good thing for me.

That said. The announcement of the Biden Win really put full attention on that all day yesterday and is headline news today. In the US Veterans day is on November 11.

We call it remembrance Sunday, but November 11th is remembrance day. We remember those who died in all conflicts for our freedom.

 

[Duchess_Watcher]

Really if they wanted to do this, they could have done this in private, they wanted all the PR to show it to the world1 this is an act, nothing more than that.

I don't even see how their supporters can defend this.

 

[Duchess_Watcher]

Also why not wait until November 11? Which is Veteran's day here in America, it just seems they want to upstage the Royals in England.

 

[Curryong]

Harry is not only an ex serviceman, a vet, but twice served in combat zones. He's probably sadly seen more dead and dying British service personnel with his own eyes than most of us will thankfully ever see.

 

[Madame Verseau]

Jerk move by House Windsor for not letting a wreath by Harry be lain. It would also have been a symbol that the family was still working things out. Harry served in a combat zone so he has the right to honor the fallen. I have no problem about the photographer there; the press would have twisted it that Harry didn't care and there is no photographic evidence. The Sussexes may be seen on US Veterans Day. Meghan's maternal grandfather apparently served in the US Coast Guard.

 

[Durham]

If Harry had gone privately to memorial services in LA etc, after it was known that his wreath was refused at the Cenotaph, then social and other media would have created a narrative about Harry and his wife sulking at home and not doing anything to recognise Remembrance Day.

Harry is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't in a lot of these situations. If he tries to show that he has remembered the Fallen and proves it with a few photos then he is accused of copying the Royal family and being a publicity hog about it. If he doesn't appear then he has turned his back on dead comrades etc.

Harry spoke in that podcast to fellow vets on how much Remembrance Day meant to him and how honoured he was to wear the uniform on that day and other occasions. I don't believe he was insincere or visiting the cemetery for publicity of any kind.

I admire your loyalty Curryong but I do feel that this has been very badly handled. Remembrance Day is not about the duke.

 

[HighGoalHighDreams]

Harry finally got the exact situation he has hinted that for years he desired. A chance to mark the most private moments in life without the glare of the camera following him.

Frankly, I didn't believe The Times story about him requesting to have a wreath laid because he should know that he is no more entitled to that than any other retired service member. I couldn't imagine in what world he would have made such a request. Until he showed up and had his own private wreath-laying, complete with personal publicity photos.

I'm not sure where people get the idea he "would have been criticized" for not marking this day publicly. This is not a day marked publicly in the United States where this man is a resident. That is like saying he would have been criticized for not publicly marking Trooping the Colour... there is nothing to publicly mark. Only the most self-egrandized of persons could possibly think to create a public ceremony of something that is not a public event here. There's also the fact that... he wasn't criticized for it. The day's media was over in the UK. He had only been criticized for his laughable request as Harry Citizen to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

 

[akina21]

Now this is just pathetic .

 

[Durham]

Harry is not only an ex serviceman, a vet, but twice served in combat zones. He's probably sadly seen more dead and dying British service personnel with his own eyes than most of us will thankfully ever see.

Of course & why would anyone dispute that. With respect that's not the issue though.

 

[Curryong]

No, it isn't about any individual members of the BRF. It is about the Fallen in two World Wars and more recent conflicts. Which Harry, as an ex service man, who served in combat, has every right to observe and honour. Have any of the courtiers who knocked back his request for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph ever seen a shot fired in anger?

 

[TLLK]

I think that this was a very kind and respectable gesture, and I have no issues with them paying their respects. I also recognize that they're in between a rock and a hard place; if they HADN'T done anything to mark the day they would have been criticized for ignoring veterans and the fallen, which would be a really bad look seeing as how important veterans' issues are and always have been to Harry.

But I also get the criticism for again bringing along a photographer so they can publicize it. I also think that the rock and the hard place they find themselves between is their own doing. If they had faded into the background so they could live the private life they claim they so desperately wanted, I don't think it would be an issue. But they seem to be grasping for every opportunity to stay in the public eye, and I think are still doing their best to create their own version of the half-in, half-out scenario.

Yes I do agree with the last sentence and that the couple do want to be in a "half-in/half out" mode.
To be honest since the couple made it clear they were stepping back from senior royal duties, I don't believe that Prince Harry would have been criticized for not making a public gesture regarding Remembrance Sunday. I find this to be especially true during a pandemic year when so many of these types of events were scaled back. He's made private visits in the past when he was volunteering with veterans in the UK, so he could have opted to keep their visit to the Los Angeles National Cemetery completely private.

 

[HighGoalHighDreams]

No, it isn't about any individual members of the BRF. It is about the Fallen in two World Wars and more recent conflicts. Which Harry, as an ex service man, who served in combat, has every right to observe and honour. Have any of the courtiers who knocked back his request for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph ever seen a shot fired in anger?

This is why it was so utterly distasteful to have a photoshoot at a cemetery on Remembrance Sunday.

 

[Duchess_Watcher]

And it's not even Remembrance Sunday in America. Harry could have laid his own wreath, but he chose to no longer be a Working Royal.

 

[Denville]

We call it remembrance Sunday, but November 11th is remembrance day. We remember those who died in all conflicts for our freedom.

True the actual date for Remembrance day is the 11th and many observe a 2 minute silence then. But in order to have a public rememBbrance servce with the RF and the veterans in attendance, it is held on the Sunday nearest to 11th, which falls on the 8th this year.

 

[Durham]

No, it isn't about any individual members of the BRF. It is about the Fallen in two World Wars and more recent conflicts. Which Harry, as an ex service man, who served in combat, has every right to observe and honour. Have any of the courtiers who knocked back his request for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph ever seen a shot fired in anger?

I have no issue with any of that. Like any ex-serviceman he can mark the day as he wishes. And he has done so. Exactly as he wishes. And let the world know. Presumably because he felt the need to. The reality is that he didn't have to but this is par for the course.

 

[AC21091968]

Jerk move by House Windsor for not letting a wreath by Harry be lain. It would also have been a symbol that the family was still working things out. Harry served in a combat zone so he has the right to honor the fallen. I have no problem about the photographer there; the press would have twisted it that Harry didn't care and there is no photographic evidence. The Sussexes may be seen on US Veterans Day. Meghan's maternal grandfather apparently served in the US Coast Guard.

I disagree, I think Buckingham Palace did the right thing. Harry and Meghan walked away from royal duties. With their recent potential "interference" in US politics and almost using the argument of "being US residents" or US citizen (in Meghan's case), they cannot be expected to be fully representing the UK. The act of laying a wreath at the Cenotaph is representing UK, not himself nor royal family. By having Harry laying a wreath by proxy, it would create "a half-in, half-out" narrative, which I think would not go well, especially with the recent YouGov poll.

Some poster have mentioned about Prince Michael of Kent laying a wreath in 2018, despite not being a working royal. Prince Michael himself served in the British Army and has represented the Queen in foreign countries. He didn't "walk out" like Harry and Meghan did throughout this year.

 

[Durham]

True the actual date for Remembrance day is the 11th and many observe a 2 minute silence then. But in order to have a public rememBbrance servce with the RF and the veterans in attendance, it is held on the Sunday nearest to 11th, which falls on the 8th this year.

Yes Remembrance Day is the 11th. Today is Remembrance Sunday strictly speaking. The 11th is Armistice Day as well of course.

 

[Denville]

Yes Remembrance Day is the 11th. Today is Remembrance Sunday strictly speaking. The 11th is Armistice Day as well.

Sadly there have been less poppies for sale this year, due to Covid. I htink its the first year since I moved to the UK that I haven't had one...

 

[Sandy345]

It is about veterans and I think any attention to them should be welcome. And if some really constructive help will be given veterans in need it is a real plus. Some have trouble getting medical care and there have been delays in their even getting medicine.

 

[Denville]

It is about veterans and I think any attention to them should be welcome. And if some really constructive help will be given veterans in need it is a real plus. Some have trouble getting medical care and there have been delays in their even getting medicine.

i dont quite see what Harry having himself photographed at a miltiary cemetery will do for veterans....

 

[TLLK]

Sadly there have been less poppies for sale this year, due to Covid. I htink its the first year since I moved to the UK that I haven't had one...

That is a sad loss for this year as the poppy sales do benefit the veterans.

 

[Sandy345]

Just my take on it. The veterans are honored living and deceased and the deceased's next of kin would IMO appreciate it and veterans alive today would appreciate their deceased "mates" being honored.

 

[Durham]

It is about veterans and I think any attention to them should be welcome. And if some really constructive help will be given veterans in need it is a real plus. Some have trouble getting medical care and there have been delays in their even getting medicine.

Well actually it's not just not about veterans. The poppy appeal raise funds for ex servicemen & women but Remembrance Sunday is the national act of remembering the dead. Cenotaph means empty tomb & it became a place for the bereaved to mourn since a decision had been made to leave the war dead in Flanders & France. It literally represents the absent dead.

This is understood in Britain. I don't want to come across as rude but maybe some attempt to understand the context here might be useful.

 

[TLLK]

i dont quite see what Harry having himself photographed at a miltiary cemetery will do for veterans....

In the U.S. our day to remember our war dead is Memorial Day (last Monday in May) and that is when you typically see cemeteries being decorated and large ceremonies to honor the deceased. My children participated in flag planting events at the National Cemetery in Los Angeles when they were in Scouting.



Veteran's Day which is celebrated on November 11 every year, honors all Veterans living and deceased. There are events, but IMHO Memorial Day is closer to the UK's Remembrance Sunday. There is a large Veteran's Administration hospital in Los Angeles very close to the cemetery, so if Prince Harry wishes to become involved as a volunteer, it's something that could be beneficial to veterans. At this point in time it might have to be done via Skype/Zoom, but it could be worthwhile for him and them.