The Duke & Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 3: March - April 2021


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I'm not an immigration expert by any means, but from my own experiences, Harry is likely in the process of a Spousal Green Card and is therefore allowed to legally stay in the U.S. during the process. (It's been a long time, but my Dad's application took over a year to process and be issued, and my friend's husband's green card took closer to two years.)

He is legally married to a U.S. Citizen, so all he had to do was fill out the applications and appear for the interview when it is scheduled. Once he and Meghan turned in the application, Harry's initial 90-day visitor visa would have been extended under an adjustment of status.

(Harry could have technically gotten a 2-year special visa, but would have still had to exit and enter the U.S. every 90 days, I think. That may have been the initial plan, but between Covid-19 and buying a mansion, I'm pretty sure they likely started the process for a Spousal Green Card, or he applied for the "Einstein Visa" but that seems unnecessary, given his qualification via his wife.)

I'm more curious as to whether Harry applied for a work permit (which can take several months to arrive), or how the Netflix & Spotify deals were done without it. Of course, Meghan & Harry likely created a string of Corporations or LLCs for these business deals, but my understanding is that Harry could not work for any of these entities without a valid work visa. Again, not an expert, so maybe these things are ridiculously easy if you're rich enough to hire good immigration and tax lawyers
 
Just read where Gayle King said that H & M had an agreement with CBS and ITV that the interview would have been postponed if Prince Phillip died.

I mean are we seriously??? Gayle King really needs to stop being a mouthpiece and H & M really need to re-evaluate their life. This is getting ridiculous. They keep digging their hole deeper and deeper.


I agree. Maybe they need to keep the story going. King said that she would be watching to see how it turns out, or something to that effect. Give me strength.
 
Wow the comment abut "if Philip died". On the other hand I'm glad we're see other royals more often, it brought them closer. No complaining on their hand, just during their duties with good attitude.
Till the baby is born I don't see how Meghan expects to keep relevant. It's so clear H&M have not too much going on for them and it stings. Yet others are representing the monarchy with world leaders..
 
Interesting how their official spokeswoman Gayle King is now saying they had an agreement not to broadcast the interview if Philip died....I thought they insisted they had no control over when it was shown? Clearly they had some (though I suspect CBS wouldn't want to look bad broadcasting it after Philip's death) - does suggest though that both CBS and H&M knew it was going to be a huge drama - even though last time Gayle spoke she said they didn't understand the fuss or something didn't she?

It occurred to me today why I find this whole thing so uncomfortable and sad - because it shows H&M are consumed with trying to take down the RF and constantly engaging in battle with them. For whatever reason (and huge debate there as to why) they didn't want to stay within the RF as working royals so fine they have left, but what I don't understand is all this baggage and negativity. Isn't Meghan suppose to be all happy and zen about life? Didn't Harry proclaim in that documentary about the Queen watching old footage how he sees the Queen as his boss and say how he loved serving his country. I find it all so odd that having moved away to a different country they seem almost obsessed in keeping up a feud that only they are partaking in. It is also quite ironic that in doing so they give the one group of people they seem to hate more than the RF - the press - more and more stories to help sell newspapers and content.
Honestly at this point even if I hated the RF I'd be so bored of going on about them I'd be refusing to comment about them at all. I find this even more odd for someone who is so "independent". The whole leaking stories to your new best mate who happens to present on CBS morning news is tiring and clearly an attempt to keep up the focus and attention but really how long can this go on? Is it just me or is it starting to feel like they are actually trolling the RF now? I mean whatever you think of the Queen (who H&M adore and respect apparently) she is 94 and her 99 year old husband has been in hospital for a month. If you want to bitch and moan do it when then they are no longer around and either keep quiet now or just enjoy the time/opportunities you do have to speak to/see them now.

This could have all have been so different - H&M jet off to California, lived a quietish life doing the odd charity thing, loved by HM, Philip, Charles and William. TBH I do even think the RF would have allowed them to move to America for much of the year and do royal engagements in the UK at set times - it was the pushing back against the way the RF operates and the finances that caused issues for the Palace. I wonder if H&M are too naive to see why the decisions that have been taken were necessary.

It is so sad, could have been so much different and I think in a two, three, four years time H&M will regret ruining their last few years with HM and Philip and destroying any real family they will have had, apart from Doria. I do think they'll see their popularity wain over time, yes people feel strongly about it all now but in a year or two - maybe after the bulling probe, more stories have come out etc I think people will just see two very privileged people having a moan about how unfair their lives are.
 
It occurred to me today why I find this whole thing so uncomfortable and sad - because it shows H&M are consumed with trying to take down the RF and constantly engaging in battle with them. For whatever reason (and huge debate there as to why) they didn't want to stay within the RF as working royals so fine they have left, but what I don't understand is all this baggage and negativity. Isn't Meghan suppose to be all happy and zen about life? Didn't Harry proclaim in that documentary about the Queen watching old footage how he sees the Queen as his boss and say how he loved serving his country. I find it all so odd that having moved away to a different country they seem almost obsessed in keeping up a feud that only they are partaking in. It is also quite ironic that in doing so they give the one group of people they seem to hate more than the RF - the press - more and more stories to help sell newspapers and content.

It's blatantly obvious that the time spent in the UK as working royals made them unhappy and miserable enough to want to move far, far away from it all. The fact that after being "out" and away for a year, it's still stuck in their throat tells me one thing. They're still unhappy.

"Wherever you go, there you are". ;)

Wow the comment abut "if Philip died". On the other hand I'm glad we're see other royals more often, it brought them closer. No complaining on their hand, just during their duties with good attitude.
Till the baby is born I don't see how Meghan expects to keep relevant. It's so clear H&M have not too much going on for them and it stings. Yet others are representing the monarchy with world leaders..

Maybe this was inserted to insinuate that it would have been *their* choice not to air it in the event of Philip's death. My thinking is that if Philip did pass away, CBS would cancel showing the interview to run specials during that time slot honoring the Duke of Edinburgh. It's a far bigger story than Harry and Meghan will ever be. Almost to the point of the announcement "we preempt this programming to bring you the following.... ". With the Queen and the Duke being near iconic figures in the world today, when either one or both of them die, it's going to be major news coverage world wide. At last that's what I think. ?
 
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H&M are consumed with trying to take down the RF and constantly engaging in battle with them. Isn't Meghan suppose to be all happy and zen about life? Didn't Harry proclaim in that documentary about the Queen watching old footage how he sees the Queen as his boss and say how he loved serving his country. I find it all so odd that having moved away to a different country they seem almost obsessed in keeping up a feud that only they are partaking in.
Precisely this, you've worded it perfectly. My guess is that only a psychiatrist would be able to analyse this properly because their behaviour is totally against "finding freedom". Actually I feel sad because they seem to be struggling and are toxic to each other. Meghan didn't make Harry truly happy. Nor did Harry Meghan. Despite Archie and everything.. Maybe they based their relationship on trips and fairy-tale like VF cover not the reality of life. That's my take.
 
Just read where Gayle King said that H & M had an agreement with CBS and ITV that the interview would have been postponed if Prince Phillip died.

I mean are we seriously??? Gayle King really needs to stop being a mouthpiece and H & M really need to re-evaluate their life. This is getting ridiculous. They keep digging their hole deeper and deeper.

Ok...wait. Have the Sussexes appointed Gayle King as their official spokesperson??:sad:

Yes I agree. I wish she would sit down somewhere and stay out of this.
 
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I've never heard anything so silly as Harry and Meghan claiming that they didn't want to use Dumbarton - the name of a perfectly harmless Scottish town - because it starts with "Dumb" (if they actually said that). If kids were going to make fun of anything, it'd be Sussex, which contains a much "ruder" word than Dumb, even if it does come from Saxon and not from, er, anything else. They didn't object to that


Rules on non-residents completing tax returns vary based on individual circumstances, but, assuming Harry gets UK income from investments and other sources, he probably still needs to complete one.
 
Isn't Dumbarton a courtesy title anyway?
So if Harry was concerned about it, why did he choose the Dukedom of Sussex?
There were other possibilities.
 
I do not recall anything even being suggested about the Dumbarton title being a problem for the Sussexes. As far as I know, that was only idle chatter here... and was likely thrown out as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke.
 
They had enough reason to be annoyed about the press!

But I can imagine as well that this was a reason behind their decision to keep most things about Archie private. I can still not understand their anger against the fact that Archie would only get his princely title when Charles became king. For more than 100 years that's the law. Similar to Diana who had to wait for her grandfather to die before she became "Lady" Diana and the family moved to Althorp. What did they think about how old the queen would become? Surely they didn't want a nurse or other staff to call Archie "Your Royal Highness"?


What I personally think they, especially Meghan, want to achieve now is getting Harry's inheritance before the queen and then his father dies. Harry because he wants the money and Meghan because she wants her husband to have money. At the moment the queen is the richest of the RF and she could take part of her investments (or even some stones from her vaults) and give it to Harry with noone the wiser. So IMHO these attacks are against the queen mostly and she reacted already. We'll see if at one point the talks stop from Meghan and Harry because the queen bought their silence.

It would become public knowledge, so I doubt HM would do anything to further damage the monarchy
 
Along with keeping it going until they can get what they want, there's also the element of that "aHa!" moment when it sinks in that this modus operandi not only garners them attention to keep "relevant" but also could be a source of raking in the green dollars they're going to need. Perhaps, though, only as a last resort I'd hope.

Reminds me of the 70s movie title "Suppose They Gave A War And Nobody Came". With one side refusing to engage, the antagonists will soon be seen to be boring the public like a vinyl record with the needle stuck in a groove with a lot of eye rolling and "here we go again.... " It'd also be conductive to having people ignore anything else they may want to promote because they've heard enough.



Thought ran through my head that if Archie had inherited the nickname "Dumbo", it'd be a relief to Charles as, IIRC, he's been frequently dubbed with that nickname because of his ears. :D


There's precedent for that, I'm afraid. Fergie was unfortunate enough to come from a village called Dummer, which was pounced upon by Tina Brown in "The Diana Chronicles", among others.

As far as Harry's communication with HM, I suspect he was seen as doing an end run, ignoring the chain of command. This would not have gone over well at CH, KP or BP.
 
This could have all have been so different - H&M jet off to California, lived a quietish life doing the odd charity thing, loved by HM, Philip, Charles and William. TBH I do even think the RF would have allowed them to move to America for much of the year and do royal engagements in the UK at set times - it was the pushing back against the way the RF operates and the finances that caused issues for the Palace. I wonder if H&M are too naive to see why the decisions that have been taken were necessary.

It is so sad, could have been so much different and I think in a two, three, four years time H&M will regret ruining their last few years with HM and Philip and destroying any real family they will have had, apart from Doria. I do think they'll see their popularity wain over time, yes people feel strongly about it all now but in a year or two - maybe after the bulling probe, more stories have come out etc I think people will just see two very privileged people having a moan about how unfair their lives are.

Harry could have gone to his father and said, “Meghan and I are really not happy with how things are going. We’re worried about our mental health and need to make changes. We’ve put together some tentative ideas about where we’d like to live and how we’d like to earn money, and how we’d like to combine those goals with continuing our work here in a less intense way. Here’s what we think our costs will be, including security - we’re asking you to think about contributing X amount for X amount of time while we get settled. Would you be willing to do this? Can you take some time to look over what we’ve come up with and let us know what you think? We’ll be as flexible as possible with our exit date but we want a new arrangement to be fully in place by the end of 2020. It goes without saying we won’t discuss any of this publicly until we get the ok from you/BP.” They could have hashed things out over the course of last year and I really think they could have come away with an arrangement that would have allowed them to live part time in the US, earn money in some sort of private capacity, and continue with scaled back royal duties.

The ridiculous part about it is that all the royals wound up having to scale back because of covid anyway. The conditions imposed upon us all by the pandemic would have provided The Sussexes an insanely easy way to gradually lessen their royal duties, while giving them all sorts of time to make well thought out plans for their new situation in the US. Who knows, after a few months of a more relaxing, less visible life, they may have decided that, with a few tweaks, remaining as full time working members of the BRF was doable.
 
Dumbarton castle is where Medieaval Scottish kings lived. So, it is not just some harmless title. It is one with a lot of history attached.
I've never heard anything so silly as Harry and Meghan claiming that they didn't want to use Dumbarton - the name of a perfectly harmless Scottish town - because it starts with "Dumb" (if they actually said that). If kids were going to make fun of anything, it'd be Sussex, which contains a much "ruder" word than Dumb, even if it does come from Saxon and not from, er, anything else. They didn't object to that


Rules on non-residents completing tax returns vary based on individual circumstances, but, assuming Harry gets UK income from investments and other sources, he probably still needs to complete one.
 
The ridiculous part about it is that all the royals wound up having to scale back because of covid anyway. The conditions imposed upon us all by the pandemic would have provided The Sussexes an insanely easy way to gradually lessen their royal duties, while giving them all sorts of time to make well thought out plans for their new situation in the US. Who knows, after a few months of a more relaxing, less visible life, they may have decided that, with a few tweaks, remaining as full time working members of the BRF was doable.

Not to mention that had they delayed their exit by just weeks and then been "stuck" in the UK for the pandemic, they would likely be infinitely more popular and praised than they are now. Like Philip's hospitalization, they seem to suffer from something more unfortunate than just poor timing.
 
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Isn't Dumbarton a courtesy title anyway?
So if Harry was concerned about it, why did he choose the Dukedom of Sussex?
There were other possibilities.

The dukedom of Sussex was conferred to the couple by the Queen. It was never for them to choose.

Issues with the Dumbarton title was purely on social media and forums. I never saw in any tabloids or serious press about the couple disliking Earl of Dumbarton.
 
At the time, I thought people bringing it up were mad, cruel, or strangely poorly-historically informed.

Now all I can think is if they want things so much, and they want so much, give them the double dukedom. (Although it would still not be fair to Archie.)

Edit: The Windsors' interview with Kenneth Harris in 1970 is at the end of their thread. Different timeframes, but she is oddly likeable despite everything and he is a very sad, diminished man (unhappy. Not necessarily pitiable). Will this, too, play out? Who knows...

The Windsors looked very humble and likable, as opposed to the crass performance by Harry and Meghan
 
To be fair, I've never heard that fears of teasing were the reason Harry and Meghan didn't want to use the Dumbarton title. All I've ever heard were the "we want our son to have as normal childhood as possible" claims, straight up to the interview. Sure, there were suggestions but I took them as idle gossip, preferring to believe the "more reputable sources" that spoke, or claimed to speak, with authority from Archie's parents.


Not that I can remember what these sources were right now. And obviously, I was wrong in trusting Harry and Meghan's words. She used friends to feed facts to Omid, yet managed to end up with a book she now contradicts despite hailing it as "their truth" at the time?
 
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We heard that he was going to be Master Archie for now with his parents making the decision about HRH Prince when the time came. That they wanted to keep their options open. That was from BP.

Omid Scobie crowed (and it was crowing) that "as expected" Harry and Meghan have chosen to forgo any titles including EoD because they wanted Archie to live a normal life. And even then he was perceived as their mouth piece.

There was also a lot of talk in the media about Peter and Zara vs Bea and Eugenie for how they're perceived and from most it was considered a reasonable idea.

DUMBarton seems to have taken off as speculation among fans and royal watchers and gradually made its way into the online blogs and tabloids.

I think people are scrabbling around for "well since they cared about titles why didn't they use one of the three options actually open to them?"

It really is interesting to think that if they'd waited a few more months things might have turned out very differently. Although I think Meghan would have still felt "silenced" by not being able to speak out on whichever topic she wanted and join panels like the 19th.
 
Harry could have gone to his father and said, “Meghan and I are really not happy with how things are going. We’re worried about our mental health and need to make changes. We’ve put together some tentative ideas about where we’d like to live and how we’d like to earn money, and how we’d like to combine those goals with continuing our work here in a less intense way. Here’s what we think our costs will be, including security - we’re asking you to think about contributing X amount for X amount of time while we get settled. Would you be willing to do this? Can you take some time to look over what we’ve come up with and let us know what you think? We’ll be as flexible as possible with our exit date but we want a new arrangement to be fully in place by the end of 2020. It goes without saying we won’t discuss any of this publicly until we get the ok from you/BP.” They could have hashed things out over the course of last year and I really think they could have come away with an arrangement that would have allowed them to live part time in the US, earn money in some sort of private capacity, and continue with scaled back royal duties.

The ridiculous part about it is that all the royals wound up having to scale back because of covid anyway. The conditions imposed upon us all by the pandemic would have provided The Sussexes an insanely easy way to gradually lessen their royal duties, while giving them all sorts of time to make well thought out plans for their new situation in the US. Who knows, after a few months of a more relaxing, less visible life, they may have decided that, with a few tweaks, remaining as full time working members of the BRF was doable.

Maybe I'm imagining things and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm way off base but wasn't it said that when Harry was talking with Charles from their hiatus in Canada about the situation and Charles told him to sit down and put it in writing? That had to be at the end of 2019 after the South African tour. Were they so impatient that Harry felt he had to talk to the Queen and at that time was told that she was busy? The "manifesto" must have been what they wrote down and figured out but due to a "leak", they had to release it to the website? All in all, it does sound like it was all very impatiently handled. Instead of talking and negotiating, they wanted results *now* and forced the issue?

With the way things have gone forward though, I don't think they ever thought there as a possibility of "no" for answer. I think any major corporation would have looked at that kind of a manifesto and deemed it conflict of interest to be just "part time" in and part time working for another corporation in basically the same line of business.
 
Ok...wait. Have the Sussexes appointed Gayle King as their office spokesperson??:sad:

Yes I agree. I wish she would sit down somewhere and stay out of this.


I was thinking the same thing - why is she suddenly Harry and Meghan's spokesperson? I like her even less than Oprah. Why don't they hire a PR person and have them release official statements if they want to dribble out news?
 
The dukedom of Sussex was conferred to the couple by the Queen. It was never for them to choose.

I read that it was the title Harry preferred, instead of Clarence, Cumberland, and Windsor.
 
I just watched a programme about Caroline Flack. A British TV presenter who tragically commited suicide a year ago. A lot of what was talked about was the same. The addiction to social media and an inability to not look at it. A loathing of the media but an inability to not engage in fame. A very no BS friend of hers said she wanted all the good parts of it but didn't get that when you become really famous you have to deal with all the dreadful stuff the media say. Her dalience with Prince Harry. And mostly how unstable she was and yes the Sussexes really are very unstable too.
 
I was thinking the same thing - why is she suddenly Harry and Meghan's spokesperson? I like her even less than Oprah. Why don't they hire a PR person and have them release official statements if they want to dribble out news?
Because they "won't speak about it anymore". Harry's words.


My guess is that they intended to play it classy and keep to the silence the RF adheres to but the temptation was too strong. And by having Gayle speaking out for them, they aren't *officially* leaking. Kind of Finding Freedom, second edition. They endorsed Scobie, announced he was a phony, then made him a confidant again... I have no idea why they think they're being savvy but leaking to Gayle is totally their style.
 
I read that it was the title Harry preferred, instead of Clarence, Cumberland, and Windsor.

I dont think Windsor was an option. Cambridge and Sussex were the Dukedoms talked about for William and Harry for years.
 
I do not recall anything even being suggested about the Dumbarton title being a problem for the Sussexes. As far as I know, that was only idle chatter here... and was likely thrown out as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke.

Issues with the Dumbarton title was purely on social media and forums. I never saw in any tabloids or serious press about the couple disliking Earl of Dumbarton.


That is correct. The official statement sent to reporters from Buckingham Palace stated simply:

“While there are courtesy titles that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex could apply to their son, they have chosen not to give him a “courtesy title” at this time. So he will be known as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...e-a-prince-once-charles-is-king-a4137941.html


Apart from Earl of Dumbarton, other courtesy titles which the couple could have chosen to apply to their son are

- Lord Kilkeel (the barony conferred on Prince Harry)
- Lord Mountbatten-Windsor (the traditional courtesy title used by the eldest son of a duke, marquess, or earl who does not hold another peerage of lower rank)
- Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor (the traditional courtesy title of a younger son of a duke)


The dukedom of Sussex was conferred to the couple by the Queen. It was never for them to choose.

Can you share the evidence that the Queen did not allow her grandson a choice in the matter of which peerages she conferred on him? Note that unconfirmed reports stated that the Earldom of Wessex was the personal choice of Prince Edward.
 
They've all got "interesting" histories. William IV was Duke of Clarence before he was king, but it's associated more closely with Edward IV's brother, who was executed for treason, supposedly by being drowned in a butt of malmsey wine, and George V's brother, who was supposedly suspected of being Jack the Ripper. Windsor, say no more. "Duke of Cumberland" is not a popular title in Scotland because it's associated with George II's son, who led the Hanoverian forces at Culloden, and it then all got a bit messy when it was held by the King of Hanover during the First World War.


The previous Duke of Sussex, Queen Victoria's uncle, seems to have been very nice!
 
I have the feeling that, no matter how much the Queen might give them, it wouldn't be enough to satisfy them for long.
The worst thing anyone could do is "buy silence" because, if you do it once, they'll always come back for more.

No to mention Gayle King announcing on CBS the next morning exactly how much the silence cost
 
I've never heard anything so silly as Harry and Meghan claiming that they didn't want to use Dumbarton - the name of a perfectly harmless Scottish town - because it starts with "Dumb" (if they actually said that). If kids were going to make fun of anything, it'd be Sussex, which contains a much "ruder" word than Dumb, even if it does come from Saxon and not from, er, anything else. They didn't object to that


Rules on non-residents completing tax returns vary based on individual circumstances, but, assuming Harry gets UK income from investments and other sources, he probably still needs to complete one.

Right! Instead they wanted their son to be referred to as “Master” Archie?
Of course no one would have any issue with that in America. :whistling:
 
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