Relationships between Members of the British Royal Family


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Harry doing so many appearances with William and Kate was an unusual move for the BRF. Even married couples mostly do their work solo. Did people really think that kind of stuff was going to continue once Harry married? Honestly, it had already slowed down as the three of them leaned in more heavily to royal duties. I think a lot of those events that they did as a trio back in the day were trying to make up for their part-time status by delivering a little extra royal star power. They don’t need to do that anymore.

What we have never, ever seen either William or Harry do is give more than the tiniest glimpse of their personal lives. It’s a pipe dream to think a few rumors of the moment will trigger them into giving more of a view than usual into their relationship.
 
Harry doing so many appearances with William and Kate was an unusual move for the BRF. Even married couples mostly do their work solo. Did people really think that kind of stuff was going to continue once Harry married? Honestly, it had already slowed down as the three of them leaned in more heavily to royal duties. I think a lot of those events that they did as a trio back in the day were trying to make up for their part-time status by delivering a little extra royal star power. They don’t need to do that anymore.

What we have never, ever seen either William or Harry do is give more than the tiniest glimpse of their personal lives. It’s a pipe dream to think a few rumors of the moment will trigger them into giving more of a view than usual into their relationship.
but they had a Foundation, which was supposed to cover boht of them and their wives.. and now we're told that they are splitting up
 
but they had a Foundation, which was supposed to cover boht of them and their wives.. and now we're told that they are splitting up

When they shared a private office. Obviously that arrangement had to change as the Queen had to kick in funds since Duchy of Cornwall isn't expected to support PoW, wife, and two grown sons and spouses with more on their plate than years before. It was very clear from the announcement of Sussexes setting up their own household that money plays a big role.
 
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Entirely different situations. One is of husband and wife, a relationship that is expected to remain close between two adults, and the other is between siblings, a relationship that is not unusual to see less interaction as they grow into adults. All we know is that they are splitting their working relationship, which is not unusual for adults. People might have a short memory, but Andrew and Edward once even shared a Private Secretary. Those are not sustainable situations.

The relationships are different, perhaps, but the larger point remains: for outside observers, what is going on between members of the royal family--any royal family--is hard to discern, and overall patterns of behavior, recurrent stories in the press, an odd comment here and there from named or unnamed sources, etc. over a sustained period of time, can point to some of the things that are going on out of the public view. It's not the day to day tabloid headline that might be illuminating, it's the sustained trajectory of the stories that sometimes give us a peek into what is really going on. In the case of William and Harry, it remains to be seen if there is anything to the rumors, but it's worth keeping an eye on, and it might also be worthwhile for the brothers themselves to make an effort to re-direct the story if it is without basis.
 
The relationships are different, perhaps, but the larger point remains: for outside observers, what is going on between members of the royal family--any royal family--is hard to discern, and overall patterns of behavior, recurrent stories in the press, an odd comment here and there from named or unnamed sources, etc. over a sustained period of time, can point to some of the things that are going on out of the public view. It's not the day to day tabloid headline that might be illuminating, it's the sustained trajectory of the stories that sometimes give us a peek into what is really going on. In the case of William and Harry, it remains to be seen if there is anything to the rumors, but it's worth keeping an eye on, and it might also be worthwhile for the brothers themselves to make an effort to re-direct the story if it is without basis.

I always find it intriguing about "re-direct" the story. What do people expect member of the BRF to do? I certainly don't think what has been suggested by other posts above are necessary. The only thing to do is to support their own causes and make a difference. It's not so much of them to make an effort rather than just keep your head down and go about your business as usual.
 
I always find it intriguing about "re-direct" the story. What do people expect member of the BRF to do? I certainly don't think what has been suggested by other posts above are necessary. The only thing to do is to support their own causes and make a difference. It's not so much of them to make an effort rather than just keep your head down and go about your business as usual.

And keeping their heads down and going about their business is certainly a legitimate way to handle it; whether it's the most effective way remains to be seen--and we may not know that for years.
 
but they had a Foundation, which was supposed to cover boht of them and their wives.. and now we're told that they are splitting up

Which, again, was a thing created when it was just a pair of part-time royal brothers and quite unusual of a move. I don’t think it ever could have been sustainable for that yoking to continue indefinitely. The split was bound to happen sooner or later.
 
Which, again, was a thing created when it was just a pair of part-time royal brothers and quite unusual of a move. I don’t think it ever could have been sustainable for that yoking to continue indefinitely. The split was bound to happen sooner or later.
I don't see that it was necessary to split it up.. and the fact that it has taken a year after the Harry & M wedding seems to suggest to me that the PTB didn't intend it to split for a while and felt that the 2 couples could work under the same foundation for some more yaers. Indefinitely, no, but I'd have expected the split to happen a few years hence or when Charles becomes King..
 
I have to admit I have never bought into the story of any fighting between Catherine and Meghan and that it has caused falling out between the two families.

However, when the tabloids said Prince William was acting like he didn't want to be there I put it down to reading the tea leaves with a result that fit their current narrative. Now I find myself having to reevaluate the situation between William and Harry. I was watching an article on YouTube showing excerpts from the Polo Match and the prize-giving photos.

As they lined up with the woman in the centre, William, Harry and their respective teams behind her. Harry put his arm out around William and instead of reciprocating William shrugged him off and moved slightly further away from him. Harry persisted and put his arm around him anyway.

Whatever is going on, William is not a happy camper because at polo matches it is quite common for everyone to be happier and more relaxed and William looked rigid, like he didn't want to be anywhere near Harry.
 
:previous: Yes, I agree. I thought William's expression in the christening photo spoke volumes as well. It doesn't take much to grin and look cheerful at your nephew's christening, or to reciprocate a pat on the back at a sports event. Their wives didn't look particularly close at the polo either. They were both involved in their own families. Not much in the way of interaction there at all.
 
It happens sometimes as siblings get older and come into their own as adults with spouses and families. There may be some discord between brothers at this time which is not unusual to happen over the years and perhaps even some serious differences of opinions on how things should go and be. They're not required to be joined at the hip as best buddies any longer and their own spouses and children take over as being their primary focus. Its also not required that their spouses be best friends either. As long as none of them are spitting daggers at each other, physically pulling hair and clawing each other's eyes out, they'll resolve any issues in time. Or not. None of our business.

We can second guess the troubles until the cows come home but I don't ever see them making any tensions or disagreements public knowledge. This is their own personal relationships they'll deal with privately.
 
Well, that was what surprised me so much. It was such a childish thing to do. And, yes of
course siblings quarrel. Heavens, my four siblings an I squabbled loudly and frequently, but never in public. What's in the family stays in the family.

But, what William did was very, very public. It was not just the people around that could see but judging from the sound on the cameras, there were many cameras, both stll and film recording their every word.

You don't get much more public than that short of taking out a front page advert so I am guessing whatever has pissed William off is important.
 
I think if there's any problem it's not between Kate and Meghan but rather between William and Harry.
Probably Prince William was not happy with some of the decisions Harry and Meghan made.
 
William seems a little stiff indeed around his brother and sister-in-law. I hope the problem isn't William not being willing to 'play the media' - but doing the opposite isn't helpful either.

So far, I haven't seen Catherine being tense or whatever. She seems to be happily chatting with Harry at various events and looked lovingly at Archie. It would have been rather natural imo if she had held Archie for a little while, while Meghan could have played with Louis. It doesn't seem they have that many moments to enjoy each other's kids, so better use those opportunities. Hopefully, we'll see that in the future.
 
I have to admit I have never bought into the story of any fighting between Catherine and Meghan and that it has caused falling out between the two families.

However, when the tabloids said Prince William was acting like he didn't want to be there I put it down to reading the tea leaves with a result that fit their current narrative. Now I find myself having to reevaluate the situation between William and Harry. I was watching an article on YouTube showing excerpts from the Polo Match and the prize-giving photos.

As they lined up with the woman in the centre, William, Harry and their respective teams behind her. Harry put his arm out around William and instead of reciprocating William shrugged him off and moved slightly further away from him. Harry persisted and put his arm around him anyway.

Whatever is going on, William is not a happy camper because at polo matches it is quite common for everyone to be happier and more relaxed and William looked rigid, like he didn't want to be anywhere near Harry.

Which article on YouTube are you referencing? I've looked at several, but haven't seen the interchange between the brothers. I did notice that there didn't seem to be any interaction between Catherine and Meghan. They were near each other, but the camera didn't catch them talking or laughing together, or, as Somebody said, playing pass the baby. Not significant, but there's also no definitive interactions that show that everything is warm and friendly. I suppose time will tell, but from pretty much dismissing all the rumblings about discord between the brothers, I'm beginning to wonder if there is indeed something major going on.
 
Which article on YouTube are you referencing? I've looked at several, but haven't seen the interchange between the brothers. I did notice that there didn't seem to be any interaction between Catherine and Meghan. They were near each other, but the camera didn't catch them talking or laughing together, or, as Somebody said, playing pass the baby. Not significant, but there's also no definitive interactions that show that everything is warm and friendly. I suppose time will tell, but from pretty much dismissing all the rumblings about discord between the brothers, I'm beginning to wonder if there is indeed something major going on.

I looked on YouTube but he only bit I saw didn't have the 2 brothers together at all...Possibly Will was hot and sweaty and irritated by Harry's putting his arm around him.. and slid away...
 
There was lots of banter during the polo. Meghan and Catherine are going to the women’s final at the tennis.

I don’t think things look too bad
 
Harry patted William on the back at one point, and William did not respond or reciprocate. That's not putting an arm around him.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/roya...-royal-rift-meghan-markle-kate-middleton-polo

Thanks for posting that.

Now I've seen it, if that is the whole interaction, I can't say that I think it seems very significant. I understand what Marg is saying, but I didn't think William looked more glum than he usually does, he was smiling at the appropriate points, and while he didn't respond noticeably to Harry's hand on his back, he also didn't, from what I could see, shrug it off or anything else.

So overall: meh.
 
There was lots of banter during the polo. Meghan and Catherine are going to the women’s final at the tennis.

I don’t think things look too bad

I have to wonder if that was arranged, for PR purposes.
Of course Meghan would attend to watch Serena, and Catherine would attend because she is patron.

But it sounds like deliberate togetherness? Maybe to quiet the rumors about a feud?
 
Thanks for posting that.

Now I've seen it, if that is the whole interaction, I can't say that I think it seems very significant. I understand what Marg is saying, but I didn't think William looked more glum than he usually does, he was smiling at the appropriate points, and while he didn't respond noticeably to Harry's hand on his back, he also didn't, from what I could see, shrug it off or anything else.

So overall: meh.

agree. I think he just didn't respond.. but did not pull away as such.
 
Family...the ties that bind and gag you (according to Erma Bombeck) ...of course the brothers don't always get along. They both have publically said so...that doesn't mean there is a major rift. This too shall pass.


LaRae
 
I have to wonder if that was arranged, for PR purposes.
Of course Meghan would attend to watch Serena, and Catherine would attend because she is patron.

But it sounds like deliberate togetherness? Maybe to quiet the rumors about a feud?

I definitely agree with this. I'm not sure who has had enough and decided it was time to do a little damage control but it definitely feels like that's happened several times this week. I'm not sure if it's at the direction of the Queen, the PoW, BP, CH, KP, or maybe a combination of all of them but the rumor mill has been even more out of control than ever over the last few weeks. I'm guessing that the polo event with the children, several family members seen sitting with swarms of people at Wimbledon, and now these latest announcements about this weekend's Wimbledon appearances are all a part of a very strong damage control strategy. That said, I feel like it's a somewhat inconsistent message in a lot of areas but it is what it is. I think the fact that the pictures from the polo really didn't show any interaction between Kate and Meghan other than when Louis tried to catch Meghan's attention or the fact that we didn't see either woman interacting with the other's child/children definitely indicated that they might not be terribly comfortable in each other's presence. If they really wanted to do some damage control they'd be sure to catch the interactions between aunts and children as well as between uncles and children and brothers and sister in laws. It was a good effort at getting them all out there together but there's been so many questions raised after that about lack of interaction and the appearance of discomfort that those kinds of pictures really could have gone a long way to dispel.

I'm a pretty firm believer in the idea that when it comes to the BRF, where there's smoke there's fire. Now that's not to say that there aren't some tidbits that are completely made up or that everything we hear is the gospel truth. It's not even to say that some or much of it might not be blown out of proportion. However, when the stories are as widespread and long term as these have been and there's not a clear message coming from the BRF that they're wrong through joint engagements, perfect photo ops, etc. it's a relatively clear indication that there's at least something to the rumors. I don't believe that everything's been hunky dory between these four over the last year or so and there could be any number of reasons for that. I don't believe that it's an issue between Harry and Kate because we've now seen a couple of instances of them behaving together just as they used to, in particular when they joined together for that service at the Abbey in late April or early May (I can't remember which at this point). That said, I'm not sure if it's between Will and Harry, Will and Meghan, Meghan and Kate...but I don't believe that all is well somewhere in that mix.
 
I have to admit I have never bought into the story of any fighting between Catherine and Meghan and that it has caused falling out between the two families.

However, when the tabloids said Prince William was acting like he didn't want to be there I put it down to reading the tea leaves with a result that fit their current narrative. Now I find myself having to reevaluate the situation between William and Harry. I was watching an article on YouTube showing excerpts from the Polo Match and the prize-giving photos.

As they lined up with the woman in the centre, William, Harry and their respective teams behind her. Harry put his arm out around William and instead of reciprocating William shrugged him off and moved slightly further away from him. Harry persisted and put his arm around him anyway.

Whatever is going on, William is not a happy camper because at polo matches it is quite common for everyone to be happier and more relaxed and William looked rigid, like he didn't want to be anywhere near Harry.



Marg there is hope! :flowers:


 
I definitely agree with this. I'm not sure who has had enough and decided it was time to do a little damage control but it definitely feels like that's happened several times this week. I'm not sure if it's at the direction of the Queen, the PoW, BP, CH, KP, or maybe a combination of all of them but the rumor mill has been even more out of control than ever over the last few weeks. I'm guessing that the polo event with the children, several family members seen sitting with swarms of people at Wimbledon, and now these latest announcements about this weekend's Wimbledon appearances are all a part of a very strong damage control strategy. That said, I feel like it's a somewhat inconsistent message in a lot of areas but it is what it is. I think the fact that the pictures from the polo really didn't show any interaction between Kate and Meghan other than when Louis tried to catch Meghan's attention or the fact that we didn't see either woman interacting with the other's child/children definitely indicated that they might not be terribly comfortable in each other's presence. If they really wanted to do some damage control they'd be sure to catch the interactions between aunts and children as well as between uncles and children and brothers and sister in laws. It was a good effort at getting them all out there together but there's been so many questions raised after that about lack of interaction and the appearance of discomfort that those kinds of pictures really could have gone a long way to dispel.

I agree that there's something going on, seemingly between Harry and William, but I do not think this week's public events are the result of some strategy or campaign.

As you noted, the DoS and the DoC barely interacted with each other at the polo match. If the duchesses were sent out to put on a brave face, they really phoned it in.

As for the Wimbledon appearances tomorrow, the same thing happened last year. The DoC, as patron, likes to attend most of Wimbledon. The DoS attends when her friend Serena is playing. Serena's in the finals, so they'll watch together.
 
They were chatting throughout the match.

All the pics I saw were of them smiling etc ..no weird body language. I didn't see much video so nice to know they were chatting too!


LaRae
 
I have to wonder if that was arranged, for PR purposes.
Of course Meghan would attend to watch Serena, and Catherine would attend because she is patron.

But it sounds like deliberate togetherness? Maybe to quiet the rumors about a feud?
They attended last year together, perhaps this will become an annual tradition for the two duchesses.

Thanks for posting that.

Now I've seen it, if that is the whole interaction, I can't say that I think it seems very significant. I understand what Marg is saying, but I didn't think William looked more glum than he usually does, he was smiling at the appropriate points, and while he didn't respond noticeably to Harry's hand on his back, he also didn't, from what I could see, shrug it off or anything else.

So overall: meh.
Some people are touchy feely, some more stand offish. Harry has always seemed more naturally warm, impulsive, more likely to touch and to hug. Harry seems more of an extrovert. William as an adult has always seemed more reserved and less likely to touch or to hug. William seems more studied and more introverted. It’s a pattern between older/younger siblings with some of the Windsors. Elizabeth was reserved, Margaret was the outgoing one. Zara, seems more of a hugger/toucher, than her older brother Peter. We can already sense that Charlotte is quite the extrovert whereas George appears more of an introvert.
 
All the pics I saw were of them smiling etc ..no weird body language. I didn't see much video so nice to know they were chatting too!


LaRae

One of the spectators posted of a video of the ‘same old’ William and Harry. Banter, razzying each other etc.

Whatever is going on can’t be too serious.
 
I think its nice to see that Kate and Meghan will both be at the women's final of Wimbledon. It will be what it will be - there probably won't be that immensely "warm moment" that the media and royal watchers want to show they are really good friends but likewise I am sure there will be nothing that a level headed person would see as unfriendliness. The media and some watchers have bees in their bonnets over it so I am sure there will be plenty of people watching for any sign of anything - and finding plenty of signs that really do mean nothing!Personally I think they get on fine, but just that. They are quite different people IMO but its important they can get along well enough when together.
 
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