Harry and Meghan: Tour of Southern Africa - September 23-October 2, 2019


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We don't know why they aren't doing arrival photos, there could be many reasons beyond personal choice, they certainly didn't mind doing them on both of the other tours they've done.

Unfortunately I suspect there will be a lot of whining in the press until we see Archie (since he'll get the most clicks etc).
 
I think this is one of the biggest downsides to them trying to draw a large circle of privacy around Archie. At this point, he's this Super Secret baby, so of course "will we see him?" is a huge question, and yes, runs the risk of overshadowing everything else the Sussexes are in SA to do. I agree that arrival photos would have been the quick and easy way to short-circuit that, but as we have discussed before, there may very well be good reasons for the private arrival and departure. It is unusual, though, so of course it is going to draw a lot of commentary.

Edited to add: And, since Meghan has shown she is not at all averse to being separated from him, it might have been wiser to have left Archie at home, and for Meghan to have flown home at the end of her published appearances on day 3 or 4.
 
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If it was me I would have published a new close-up photo of Archie this week with a statement ‘’due to his age there will be no photo opportunities with the baby during the tour’’. But, to my eternal sorrow, I’m not a royal:ROFLMAO:

Ista said:
Edited to add: And, since Meghan has shown she is not at all averse to being separated from him, it might have been wiser to have left Archie at home, and for Meghan to have flown home at the end of her published appearances on day 3 or 4.
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I agree, I think it would have been easier for everyone to have 3-4 days in SAR together and then Meghan going home and Harry continuing the solo part of the tour. When they announced the timetable I thought Meghan was breastfeeding and wrongly assumed she was unable or unwilling to leave Archie for a few days. But, this is her first baby and she probably had no idea how things would be once he was born.

I have to admit this split schedule has never made sense to me. If Archie is going wouldn’t it be better to do 4 days in SAR all together and then Meghan and Archie fly home and Harry does the rest of the tour alone. I assume they’re flying commercial for this so it makes no difference when Meghan goes home.
It wouldn’t be the first time, Camilla has gone home before Charles when on tour before.
 
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Correct me please if I'm wrong here but I think I remember it being said that the arrival would not be a public one due to security concerns and hence no pictures will be taken.

As for seeing Archie, to be honest, he is not the focus of this tour. If we do get to see him, it will be an added bonus. The entire tour has its specific itinerary and the engagements and appearances have all been planned out for s purpose. The main focus of the tour is what Harry and Meghan are there to do in their official capacity. Those we'll see a lot of picture of and I sincerely wish that the reports coming from this tour are mainly focused on why they're there in the first place.

As for leaving Archie or taking him with them, I trust Harry and Meghan, as his parents, to know what is best for the child and act accordingly. These are two very hands on parents and they are the ones that know Archie and his needs and his moods the best.
 
I think this is one of the biggest downsides to them trying to draw a large circle of privacy around Archie. At this point, he's this Super Secret baby, so of course "will we see him?" is a huge question, and yes, runs the risk of overshadowing everything else the Sussexes are in SA to do. I agree that arrival photos would have been the quick and easy way to short-circuit that, but as we have discussed before, there may very well be good reasons for the private arrival and departure. It is unusual, though, so of course it is going to draw a lot of commentary.

Edited to add: And, since Meghan has shown she is not at all averse to being separated from him, it might have been wiser to have left Archie at home, and for Meghan to have flown home at the end of her published appearances on day 3 or 4.
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Meghan is involved in 6 of the 10 days of the four. The first 4 and the last 2. She is simply not accompanying him to the middle section. If Archie wasnt with them, she could very well have accompanied Harry on all 10 days.

There is a big difference between going to a wedding for 48 hours on the same continent, and being away from the baby for 10 days on different continents. When she went to tennis Archie was home with his dad.
 
Osipi said:
Correct me please if I'm wrong here but I think I remember it being said that the arrival would not be a public one due to security concerns and hence no pictures will be taken.
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My recollection is that there was speculation on this board that there might be security concerns, but that was never confirmed. If that has changed, I would appreciate someone posting the link.
 
Well there is a lot going on in SA right now violence wise. Maybe having their arrival and departure public knowledge isn’t something they want? No idea but the non arrival images was told in advance.

As for Archie... I think people will complain either way. No way they were leaving him this early for almost 2 weeks. Also Meghan has her own engagements with some embargoed per the correspondents. Most are private to not take attention from Harry’s solo engagements.
 
Ista said:
My recollection is that there was speculation on this board that there might be security concerns, but that was never confirmed. If that has changed, I would appreciate someone posting the link.
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Its worth noting that they also didn't do an official welcome and plane photo op in Australia either, so I actually dont think it has anything to do with Archie and is maybe more of a logistics thing or timing thing. Idk.
 
Curryong said:
I don't think anyone is saying that they want Archie bouncing on Meghan's hip as she is greeting crowds or in a knapsack peeking over Harry's shoulder when he's making a speech.

However, I am old enough to remember the first Royal baby who was taken on tour with his parents, William in Australasia in 1983. A photo opportunity of parents and baby was provided, all of them sitting on a rug with a couple of toys for William. It didn't dominate that tour by any means, but it still attracted attention as a very sweet and pleasant occasion.
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I remember that too, it was on the lawn at Government House and it was a strictly controlled photocall. If H&M could arrange something along those lines it would be nice but it's not a dealbreaker. Since they have not announced where the Sussexes will be staying, I can only assume it is pro-active security.

The idea of an arrival photo would be fine with just H&M however the media circus that seems to follow the Sussexes is beyond crazy and to subject such a young baby to the full impact of the photographer's flashes would be harmful to his vision and the psychological impact would be a great unknown. What is known is that it would be a form of child abuse or endangerment.
 
Ista said:
I think this is one of the biggest downsides to them trying to draw a large circle of privacy around Archie. At this point, he's this Super Secret baby, so of course "will we see him?" is a huge question, and yes, runs the risk of overshadowing everything else the Sussexes are in SA to do. I agree that arrival photos would have been the quick and easy way to short-circuit that, but as we have discussed before, there may very well be good reasons for the private arrival and departure. It is unusual, though, so of course it is going to draw a lot of commentary.

Edited to add: And, since Meghan has shown she is not at all averse to being separated from him, it might have been wiser to have left Archie at home, and for Meghan to have flown home at the end of her published appearances on day 3 or 4.
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He's hardly a super secret baby...we've seen him or pics of him at least 5 times since he was born.



LaRae
 
Like a few others, I remember Charles and Diana doing the South Pacific tour with baby William. Now it seems everything's under wraps and full of controversy. What the...?

I'm sure we'll see a few snaps of the baby and family, or I hope so. :ermm:
 
Really it's just some ppl putting the most negative/dramatic spin on things they can. Almost everything you see said here is supposition by either the person themselves or based on a media story (often wrong) or something a reporter (depending on who not overly reliable). Unless it's an official statement from their press office, the Palace, their spokesperson or they themselves I take all of it with a grain of salt.


LaRae
 
Pranter said:
He's hardly a super secret baby...we've seen him or pics of him at least 5 times since he was born.



LaRae
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Yeah I dont get the criticism. We have seen him more then we saw Louis at this stage. Besides his birth photo/departure we saw his christening. The next time we saw him was in November when he was nearly 7 months old.
 
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Zaira said:
Its worth noting that they also didn't do an official welcome and plane photo op in Australia either, so I actually dont think it has anything to do with Archie and is maybe more of a logistics thing or timing thing. Idk.
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What time does the flight get in? If it's very early or very late, that could be part of it.
 
Countessmeout said:
Yeah I dont get the criticism. We have seen him more then we saw Louis at this stage. Besides his birth photo/departure we saw his christening. The next time we saw him was in November when he was nearly 7 months old.

Once again they seem held to different standards then others.
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Very true. We have seen quite a bit of Archie. I bet if one compares him to that of the Cambridge kids at his age it will be a real surprise how much we have seen of Archie.

Ista said:
What time does the flight get in? If it's very early or very late, that could be part of it.
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From what I gathered via the correspondents they are leaving tomorrow night which would put them in very early AM... likely before 6am. Then they will have a few hours to gather themselves before their first engagement,.
 
Frelinghighness said:
Whatever they do it is designed to attract attention
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Yeah because you know royals are supposed to be hidden under cover and covert. No one would ever expect a royal to draw attention to their causes. How unroyal like :whistling:
 
Countessmeout said:
Yeah I dont get the criticism. We have seen him more then we saw Louis at this stage. Besides his birth photo/departure we saw his christening. The next time we saw him was in November when he was nearly 7 months old.

Once again they seem held to different standards then others.
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I don't think that's actually true. We've seen exactly two decent pictures of Archie, from his christening. All of the other pictures we've seen have either had him turned away from the camera (the picture with the Queen), wrapped up so that you couldn't see most of his face (the presentation pictures), or with his face half-hidden by Harry's arm.

The number and quality of pictures from outside the Lindo wing for Louis is much better than the number and quality of the Windsor presentation pictures.
The number and quality of pictures from the christening of Louis is much better.

And you're forgetting entirely the pictures released when Louis was 3 weeks old, which were very good, close up shots.

I think suggesting that we've seen more of Archie is just plain incorrect. I say that without judgement of Meghan and Harry's decision; it's their baby and they get to choose to release or not release whatever they want.
 
Ista said:
I think this is one of the biggest downsides to them trying to draw a large circle of privacy around Archie. At this point, he's this Super Secret baby, so of course "will we see him?" is a huge question, and yes, runs the risk of overshadowing everything else the Sussexes are in SA to do. I agree that arrival photos would have been the quick and easy way to short-circuit that, but as we have discussed before, there may very well be good reasons for the private arrival and departure. It is unusual, though, so of course it is going to draw a lot of commentary.

Edited to add: And, since Meghan has shown she is not at all averse to being separated from him, it might have been wiser to have left Archie at home, and for Meghan to have flown home at the end of her published appearances on day 3 or 4.
Click to expand...

Except Archie isn't a "Super Secret Baby". He's been seen plenty for his four months of age. He was seen first with Harry and Meghan a few days after he was born, his christening pictures were published, he was seen with Meghan watch Harry play polo. Then the added little pictures on Sussexes' Instagram account. How much more is he supposed to be seen or shown?

And Meghan has engagements throughout the whole 10 day tour, longer with flights. Are people REALLY suggesting Harry and Meghan should've left Archie home for nearly two weeks, without neither parent there, based on a false "secret baby" narrative? Why on earth is this negative false narrative built around this tour already, even before the tour has began?
 
hel said:
I don't think that's actually true. We've seen exactly two decent pictures of Archie, from his christening. All of the other pictures we've seen have either had him turned away from the camera (the picture with the Queen), wrapped up so that you couldn't see most of his face (the presentation pictures), or with his face half-hidden by Harry's arm.

The number and quality of pictures from outside the Lindo wing for Louis is much better than the number and quality of the Windsor presentation pictures.
The number and quality of pictures from the christening of Louis is much better.

And you're forgetting entirely the pictures released when Louis was 3 weeks old, which were very good, close up shots.

I think suggesting that we've seen more of Archie is just plain incorrect. I say that without judgement of Meghan and Harry's decision; it's their baby and they get to choose to release or not release whatever they want.
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Incorrect:

Louis:
-bit of his face at Lindo
-photo with Charlotte (what I called his birth photo)
-his christening


Archie:
-his introduction video (so not at the hospital, still saw as much as we did of Louis)
-his birth photo with the queen, Philip and Doria
-his christening
-photo for father's day
-polo match
-a new photo from the christening released for Harry's birthday

Simple math: 6 to 3 in favor of Archie (not counting the foot photo for mother's day or the airplane shot which really dont count).

So I stand by my statement, we have seen him more.
 
Frelinghighness said:
Whatever they do it is designed to attract attention
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Whatever the Sussex's do draws attention full stop. There are better ways of drawing attention to yourself than it being announced there will be no arrival photos. ;)
 
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I'm not seeing any times released yet from any official source nor any royal reporter.



LaRae
 
Off-topic and baiting posts have been removed.

Shockingly, this thread is not about Prince Andrew or Sophie Wessex. Keep it to the Sussexes.
 
Court Circular 22nd September:
Buckingham Palace

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex this evening departed from Heathrow Airport, London, for South Africa.
Ms Samantha Cohen and Ms Sara Latham are in attendance.


---
Google says there is only one direct flight Heathrow → Cape Town:

9:40 pm → 10:10 am+1
British Airways 59
11h 30m duration
 
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Because of the uptick of violence on this visit there will be tight security for this visit. They are not going to release much. Safe travel for all.
 
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