Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Current Events 2: April-September 2020

[poppy7]

Harry did got found the Commenwealth Trust. It was part of the General organisations. She made them president and vice president. As it was expected that they, in contrast to William and Kate, would predominantly work within the Commenwealth.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Harry did got found the Commenwealth Trust. It was part of the General organisations. She made them president and vice president. As it was expected that they, in contrast to William and Kate, would predominantly work within the Commenwealth.

I’ve just looked it up and it wasn’t Prince Henry who founded the QCT, Harper’s Bazaar has an article about it which shows some tweets from TRF account at the time announcing The Queen has made him President.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/ce...role-the-queens-commonwealth-trust-president/

 

[poppy7]

I’ve just looked it up and it wasn’t Prince Henry who founded the QCT, Harper’s Bazaar has an article about it which shows some tweets from TRF account at the time announcing The Queen has made him President.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/ce...role-the-queens-commonwealth-trust-president/

Yes thank you. I dont know where these stories come from.

 

[Denville]

Yes thank you. I dont know where these stories come from.

he didn't found it, and as it is a charity that has potential for controversial discussions, it might be best if he and Meghan dropped it. They are living in the US now, and why not devote themselves to their American life?

 

[Lumutqueen]

The Duchess of Sussex is currently addressing the GirlUp Summit as their keynote speaker.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1283072963621814273

 

[ACO]

 

[Mbruno]

How odd to introduce her as "Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex".


Americans can be really creative when it comes to titles and styles.

 

[TLLK]

Great to see the Duchess participating today.

 

[Madame Verseau]

I thought the speech was great. It's funny some royal reporters and British Media deemed Harry and Meghan irrelevant but follow either one or both.

 

[Denville]

Trust me, it is not because they are relevant but because they are an obvious train wreck that you can’t help but to look at.

The papers follow them because they get stories.. and get people to read about them...

 

[Leopoldine]

The Telegraph headline is misleading.

On the website for Chopper’s Politics it states that he is on the podcast to explain:

“why he believes The Queen understood what Prince Harry meant in the Commonwealth history row”.

So it would seem that Howell doesn’t really know what The Queen thinks. He says "I would have thought she understood" so again he doesn't know. He’s an enthusiastic pro Commonwealth anti EU Conservative politician. He’s also made some rather questionable statements on other issues lately so I don’t know how credible a figure he is really.

It’s interesting that there’s a deafening silence from the rest of the Conservative Party & nothing at all from the Royal Commonwealth Society in support of Howell’s view about the duke. I'm not aware of any great groundswell of support for the duke's comments in Britain. Quite the reverse in fact.

This whole controversy feeds further into the politicisation of the duke. Speaking as Mr Mountbatten Windsor is one thing but speaking as the Duke of Sussex is quite another. Maybe a choice needs to be thought about.

The government might be waiting for another shoe to drop, perhaps from BP. Meanwhile, between possible increases on capital gains, To Mask or Not to Mask, and social distancing issues, the Government has a full plate without The Hollywood Harrys "compassion."


Meghan quoting the Dalai Lama today is a bit political, considering the UK's very current relations with China. And this right after the Commonwealth gaffe.

 

[poppy7]

The government might be waiting for another shoe to drop, perhaps from BP. Meanwhile, between possible increases on capital gains, To Mask or Not to Mask, and social distancing issues, the Government has a full plate without The Hollywood Harrys "compassion."


Meghan quoting the Dalai Lama today is a bit political, considering the UK's very current relations with China. And this right after the Commonwealth gaffe.

It was a nicely prepared speech. Seeing as she had to prepare it herself and that isn't her job and she is an amateur at that. She kept looking off to the side though and I wonder if it was because she was reading the speech behind her. Odd to do speech notes like that.

I'm not sure if it matters that she is political anymore. It is like that is what she wants now.

 

[muriel]

I do not think it is for BP or CH to try and suggest what H&M do or do not speak about. They are now free agents, and can do as they please, IMO.

 

[Denville]

I do not think it is for BP or CH to try and suggest what H&M do or do not speak about. They are now free agents, and can do as they please, IMO.

They can but if they want to come back to the RF it may well impignge on the RF if they've been overly political in the meantime.

 

[Pranter]

I think it very unlikely they want to or will actually ever come back to the BRF as full time Royals (quite frankly it isn't looking very attractive at this point). Further equality for women (or whomever) should not be a political issue. I've yet to see either of them really say anything political ...and no I don't count them talking about past wrongs (slavery etc) as any different really than talking about equality for women. Meghan is not out there campaigning for a political candidate and neither is Harry. So far we've seen them doing charity work, talking to charitable groups and going to an appointment.

LaRae

 

[Jacknch]

Several posts concerning the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been moved to the appropriate thread: https://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f23/questions-about-british-styles-and-titles-258.html
Lets stick to Current events only here.

 

[phss]

I agree with Pranter that it is unlikely they will ever return to public duty roles. I can't see either 'side' wanting that after all this.

[...]

 

[Jacknch]

Posts relating to the report to the Charity Commission have been moved over to the General News thread so we can stick to current events in this thread.

 

[Durham]

I've yet to see either of them really say anything political ...and no I don't count them talking about past wrongs (slavery etc) as any different really than talking about equality for women. Meghan is not out there campaigning for a political candidate and neither is Harry. So far we've seen them doing charity work, talking to charitable groups and going to an appointment.

LaRae

As mentioned earlier in the thread they have also been involved with:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...ott-online-hate-speech-campaign-a9590041.html

The British Labour Party (in opposition) supports the Facebook boycott.

The British Conservative Party (in government) does not support the Facebook boycott.

 

[MARG]

Might I say that there is no way you could possibly stretch, squeeze or distort the fact that the facebook boycott is in any way a party politcal act on the part of the Sussexes. When they join a political party let me know.

Life is political:

Clean water
Deforestation
Agriculture
Religion
Sustainability
Healthcare
Minimum wage vs living wage
Air pollution
Anti-hate campaigns

and the list just keeps on going.

 

[Durham]

Might I say that there is no way you could possibly stretch, squeeze or distort the fact that the facebook boycott is in any way a party politcal act on the part of the Sussexes. When they join a political party let me know.

Life is political:

Clean water
Deforestation
Agriculture
Religion
Sustainability
Healthcare
Minimum wage vs living wage
Air pollution
Anti-hate campaigns

and the list just keeps on going.

Might I say that the issue is a little more nuanced than the way you have characterised it. A read of the thread a few pages back would clarify that there has been no stretching, squeezing or distorting of facts.

Pointing out that the two major political parties in the UK have a different approach is not to insinuate that the couple are involved in party politics. That I would suggest really is a distortion of the point being made. Rather it demonstrates that the issues are complex & divisive & that the couple have chosen to take sides. No other members of the royal family have done so. We don’t know their opinion on this matter, which is just as it should be.

To borrow a phrase, when another member of the royal family brazenly agitates on such a partisan political issue let me know.

The royal family survives by being, for the most part, uncontroversial in what causes they choose to support. Much of these sorts of causes are in your list. There is however a whole world of difference between supporting something such as the provision of clean water & an issue over the policing & perceived censorship of social media. Up until now this has been understood by everyone in the royal family.

A politicised royal family is an ex royal family. They know this.

As I say much of this has already been covered earlier in this thread.

 

[Curryong]

We know plenty about the Prince of Wsles's views on several of the subjects listed as well as on architecture, alternative medicine etc, and we know that he consulted government ministers about them as well as pulled strings behind the scenes. There is nothing to suggest that Harry or Meghan have done anything similar.

Anne disagreed with Charles on sustainable farming techniques in her latest interview. And Prince Philip was also outspoken about many issues in his day, including the viability of the Royal Family itself.

 

[Durham]

We know plenty about the Prince of Wsles's views on several of the subjects listed as well as on architecture, alternative medicine etc, and we know that he consulted government ministers about them as well as pulled strings behind the scenes. There is nothing to suggest that Harry or Meghan have done anything similar.

Anne disagreed with Charles on sustainable farming techniques in her latest interview. And Prince Philip was also outspoken about many issues in his day, including the viability of the Royal Family itself.

This is all true. Whilst it makes sense for the heir to be kept informed I agree that his lobbying on issues is overstepping the mark. That said many (if not quite all) of the letters published in 2015 for instance showed pretty unremarkable stuff & were a bit of a damp squib. But yes he needs to be careful. Previous reports of him seeing his role as monarch as “different” raises alarm bells for me.

That said I don’t quite see the equivalence between his actions & this pushing for a boycott of Facebook. The organisation behind it wants among other things to remove the political exemption on postings & adverts & to appoint censors. That’s hugely controversial. The context here is a febrile political environment. It all feeds into a toxic atmosphere with disputes over alleged cancel culture, internet policing & social media regulation. There would be a huge stink if the Prince of Wales was involved in this boycott so the Sussexes are not being held to some double standards here.

It's not unreasonable to expect that the duke should understand all this.

 

[Denville]

This is all true. Whilst it makes sense for the heir to be kept informed I agree that his lobbying on issues is overstepping the mark. That said many (if not quite all) of the letters published in 2015 for instance showed pretty unremarkable stuff & were a bit of a damp squib. But yes he needs to be careful. Reports of him seeing his role as monarch as “different” raises alarm bells for me.

That said I don’t quite see the equivalence between his actions & this pushing for a boycott of Facebook. The organisation behind it wants among other things to remove the political exemption on postings & adverts & to appoint censors. That’s hugely controversial. The context here is a febrile political environment. It all feeds into a toxic atmosphere with disputes over alleged cancel culture, internet policing & social media regulation. There would be a huge stink if the Prince of Wales was involved in this boycott so the Sussexes are not being held to some double standards here.

It's not unreasonable to expect that the duke should understand all this.

I suppose H regards himself now as a "non Working royal" so he can say and do whatever he likes.. which is fine if he's willing to take the criticisms he will get and if he's not ever going to come back to Royal life.

 

[Jacknch]

A reminder that this thread is for Current Events only - i.e. official/none official engagements unrelated to general news. Recent posts that do not fall into this category have been removed.

 

[eya]

The Duke of Sussex has addressed a virtual global summit for his sustainable tourism project ‘Travalyst’ via video link from his home in Los Angeles.

In his speech, Prince Harry urged the travel industry to “build back better” after Covid-19.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1288821646032351238

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

And the preaching continues ... do as I say but not as I do. Sorry, but I don't see anything genuine about what Harry has to say. Why would somebody in the industry listen to a man who uses a private jet and has probably not paid for a ticket in his life?

 

[Denville]

I agree. I think he should take this time to work out what he really is going to be able to do. IMO he needs to earn his living, though that is going to be difficult and put the "charity prince" to one side because mostly its a case of Harry speaking out on issues he doesnt realy understand. and

 

[RandyDrx]

I agree. I think he should take this time to work out what he really is going to be able to do. IMO he needs to earn his living, though that is going to be difficult and put the "charity prince" to one side because mostly its a case of Harry speaking out on issues he doesnt realy understand. and

What kind of work that he could actually do though? I'm pretty sure you need some kind of a work permit or a special visa for foreigners to work in the US.

 

[Denville]

He will be able to get a Green Card by setting up a business....