I've been thinking a lot about Tom Sr., especially why he spoke out now instead of just holding his peace and letting all the negative stuff flow by, and why he chose TMZ as his vehicle. A lot of us on this forum have been blasting him for those choices, and I think he deserves a lot of blame for being indiscreet, and, to use FashionMaven's words, self-absorbed.
But, while it seems obvious to long-time royal watchers why he should have kept his lips zipped, and why what he did is so outrageous and unforgivable, if his first time exposure to the ins and outs of best practices for handling the press from a royal perspective is when his daughter becomes engaged to a member of the BRF, then I can (kind of, if I squint really hard)see how he made such a monumental mess of everything.
To be clear, I'm not excusing him. But there's the "Royal World" which those of us on these forums spend time on, and then there's the real world. I know from talking to friends and family members who do not share my interest in all things royal, that a lot of the ins and outs of why things are done a certain way by royal families, or why something is shocking or bad form, completely fly right by them. It's not just that they aren't interested, it's that it genuinely doesn't seem like a big deal to them.
So, from that perspective, it's possible that until he had already put his foot in it Tom Sr. didn't really grasp why he shouldn't have made a deal for staged shots, or exactly why talking to TMZ was such a dreadful idea. He's 73, not everyone of that age would have any idea that TMZ has such a terrible reputation--a 72 year old relative of mine certainly didn't, until I told her.
So again, not in any way excusing him, it's more that I'm trying to make sense of why he would suddenly make a series of such terrible decisions, and trying to balance that with the fact that we know that Meghan has considered him a loving dad.