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


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Harry didn’t paint either of his parents as bad or his childhood as horrible. I think it was one remark in the context of being a child of divorced parents, apart from both at times, royal life on royal estates away from the life of ordinary people and to a large extent subject to inflexible schedules followed by most of his royal relatives and his father’s workload. Charles self-confessedly did not say very much of his sons for weeks at a time before and after his separation from Diana.

I don't think its a dig at the parents either about the bikes. With the parents he had and the lifestyle he had, Harry grew up to be more familiar on a horse than on a bike. He followed his dad into playing polo and, IIRC, the reason James Hewittt even became a twinkle in Diana's eyes is that he was hired as a riding instructor. Harry's childhood bike kind of had a snort and a tail. :lol:

I grew up in a Detroit neighborhood where a bike was the primary method of transportation for kids until we were old enough to get a driver's license. Riding a horse was something we did once in a blue moon on a field trip with the Girl Scouts or something.


Good article that makes a whole lot of sense. It really says so much better what I've been trying to say in that doing this interview wasn't their best foot forward. Thanks for sharing. ?
 
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Anyone would think, judging by the reactions of the British Press, that the Sussexes have been sitting down each week with TV personalities, chatting about life in the BRF, since they left in March last year instead of one single solitary interview.

What makes you think they've finished yet? They don't appear to be a couple putting any brakes on themselves so I think we'll be hearing from them again, perhaps as soon as after the Queen's 12 month review, perhaps after the findings of the investigation of the accused racism and bullying issues are made public but I doubt they're going to keep their heads down any time soon. I think they like to be seen and heard.
 
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The Queen’s twelve month review has already been and gone, with all loose ends tied up. And the Sussexes did not speak at all in 2020, nor do I expect the couple to sit down to such a wide ranging interview involving the BRF again. Meghan is entering her last months of pregnancy, there’s Archewell to fully launch and Netflix and Spotify work to begin, and Harry’s Apple show with Oprah on mental health during COVID to complete.
 
The Queen’s twelve month review has already been and gone, with all loose ends tied up. And the Sussexes did not speak at all in 2020, nor do I expect the couple to sit down to such a wide ranging interview involving the BRF again. Meghan is entering her last months of pregnancy, there’s Archewell to fully launch and Netflix and Spotify work to begin, and Harry’s Apple show with Oprah on mental health during COVID to complete.

I hope you're right on this. They've got a lot on their plate going forward and the new baby to welcome into the family. They've also stated that they'll not be talking about the BRF (the past) again. Hopefully, they've stated what they felt they needed to state and now are moving forward.
 
The Queen’s twelve month review has already been and gone, with all loose ends tied up. And the Sussexes did not speak at all in 2020, nor do I expect the couple to sit down to such a wide ranging interview involving the BRF again. Meghan is entering her last months of pregnancy, there’s Archewell to fully launch and Netflix and Spotify work to begin, and Harry’s Apple show with Oprah on mental health during COVID to complete.

Technically they did via "Finding Freedom", and that excluding the many tweets of their unofficial spokeperson, Omid Scobie.
 
Scobie reports on many royals. And if he is the Sussexes spokesman then people like Robert Jobson are the spokespeople for Charles and the Cambridges. Jobson’s written books on both.
 
Scobie reports on many royals. And if he is the Sussexes spokesman then people like Robert Jobson are the spokespeople for Charles and the Cambridges. Jobson’s written books on both.

Scobie rarely reports on other royals, when someone on Twitter asked him about why he didn't cover Sophie's events a couple of months ago, he simply said that many people in the US didn't care much about her.
 
He reports on the Cambridges, on Charles and on Camilla as I’ve read his tweets. As for Sophie, well she was pretty well ignored by most of the royal reporters until after the Sussexes left, when they began covering several more of her engagements, so Scobie’s not alone there. .
 
Piry that (according to M&H) there was no photoshoot at the hospital offered.
I, for one, was applauding her decision *not* to go and have to stand there, all dolled up, just hours after giving birth.
I think it is an inhumane 'tradition'.

I could not agree more! Diana and Kate were brilliant, but I think 90% of women who have given birth only hours ago are not in the mood to stand in front of photographers with a beatific smile and a perfect blow out.

When HGD Stephanie of Luxembourg left hospital last May some three days after the caesarean delivery of her baby son, there was some sniping online that she still looked pregnant and was walking as if she had been struck by an SUV.

Errm...Poor Stephanie looked and walked like many/most new mothers after a c-section.:ermm:

I think the post birth photo op expectation is unreasonable and unfair.

Why can't the release of a few photos be enough?
 
It's a 30 second photo op as they're leaving the hospital - not unreasonable at all in my view.
 
The Queen’s twelve month review has already been and gone, with all loose ends tied up. And the Sussexes did not speak at all in 2020, nor do I expect the couple to sit down to such a wide ranging interview involving the BRF again. Meghan is entering her last months of pregnancy, there’s Archewell to fully launch and Netflix and Spotify work to begin, and Harry’s Apple show with Oprah on mental health during COVID to complete.

I only heard that they wouldn't be returning to royal duties. Not much of a "review". THEY told the Queen that!
 
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Let's agree to disagree, I think he is playing the victim and complaining about his "horrible childhood". I really don't understand why, unless it's to paint Charles and Diana as bad parents, who never took him on a bike ride, note that Harry is painting Diana as a bad mother here as well.

That was a hilarious statement only because the press were able to immediately find many pictures of Harry literally on the back of Charles's bike in a little baby seat and later his own little bike when older. Diana and William were there as well.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royal...ng-bicycle-prince-charles-childhood-photos/6/

Others also noted that there were entire months in the Summer that Charles and the kids disappeared to Balmoral or places like Majorca with their Dad and later on skiing which is more than a lot of kids get.

Whilst Charles was obviously extremely busy a lot of the time and being a young kid in a breaking marriage is awful, it seems he DID take Harry on a fair few bike rides specifically so once again it comes across as "their truth" not actually the facts.

I commend him for wanting to raise Archie differently than he was raised if that's what he feels is right but the specific thing he mentioned there is ironic. Did he not remember or did he just think it sounded like a good comment and didn't care if it was true? He could have picked any number of things that weren't easily disproven.
 
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The bike comments highlight how much of "Harry and Meghan's truth" seems to differ from the facts. I'm intrigued by their process - do they actually believe what they are saying is the truth or do they know it isn't but think it sounds good - i.e. are they doing it purely for PR, selling their narrative reason or because they genuinely believe the things they say.

The guardian article is interesting as up to now the guardian (despite being traditionally anti-monarchy) has been relatively supportive of H&M.
 
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Thank you for sharing, it's rather brilliant.

In Finding Freedom a holiday/ visit at the Clooneys home is described in detail, who was there, what they did. Motor cycles, baby talk dinner.

Nothing earth shattering but still private and personal, and information that must have came from somebody who was there.
By the way did anybody notice that in the interview Meghan said that she already knew Eugenie, but she had previously told us she knew nothing of Harry or the family.

I have came to the conclusion that when Meghan says she knows somebody it is because at some point she has been introduced or had a 1 minute conversation. I have been to a royal garden party and met Charles and Princess Alexandra, I don't tell people I know them. I went tonguetied and
nodded my head all the time.
Imagine me with nothing to say.
 
The bike comments highlight how much of "Harry and Meghan's truth" seems to differ from the facts. I'm intrigued by their process - do they actually believe what they are saying is the truth or do they know it isn't but think it sounds good - i.e. are they doing it purely for PR, selling their narrative reason or because they genuinely believe the things they say.

The guardian article is interesting as up to now the guardian (despite being traditionally anti-monarchy) has been relatively supportive of H&M.

He should remember that some parents do not have the luxury of having time to take their kids on bike rides. Some dads are out working long days to pay the bills. Mums as well I should add.
He never had to worry about a roof over his head or food on the table. He obviously has plenty of time.
He also went on about taking Archie walks etc in the UK they lived on huge estates with access to bike rides and private walks.
There are also times when our memory plays tricks on us , something really sticks out and in your mind you did it all the time or the opposite it was so insignificant that you fail to recall it.
 
The bike comments highlight how much of "Harry and Meghan's truth" seems to differ from the facts. I'm intrigued by their process - do they actually believe what they are saying is the truth or do they know it isn't but think it sounds good - i.e. are they doing it purely for PR, selling their narrative reason or because they genuinely believe the things they say.

The guardian article is interesting as up to now the guardian (despite being traditionally anti-monarchy) has been relatively supportive of H&M.


I wouldn't say the Guardian are pro or anti anything to do with the monarchy but because they dont have a skin in the race they are often jaded and questioning and reflective on them. Not a bad thing.
 
I feel that part in thhis article on William is telling. Perhaps Harry should have followed the same plan with Meghan, once he realised she was the one and the mother of his children (emphasis in the quote below mine):


Those closest to the duke say his resistance to the idea of full-time royal duties stemmed not only from a desire to achieve something for himself but also from a fear of the impact on his family life. Miguel Head worked alongside the prince for ten years until 2018, as William, Kate and Harry’s communications secretary and later as William’s private secretary. “In his role everyone’s going to tell you you’re marvellous,” Head says. “The RAF and air ambulance jobs were about knowing what his abilities were, what he was good at in his own right. Without that he’d still be hankering for something that was his own.” After children came along he says William developed a “visceral determination to give them a life of consistency and privacy that were missing for large parts of his own childhood”.

Another close aide says the plan enabling the Cambridges to have a few years of “normal” married life, away from the full-time glare of the royal spotlight, paid dividends: “For years, the battles around privacy and paparazzi intrusion were all-consuming. He wanted to know, could we build them a credible plan allowing them a family life while slowly increasing the profile of official life? It took years to get there, but the success of that plan allowed him to be confident and content in his role. He’s not worried about his kids’ privacy any more and he has been able to be the kind of dad he wants to be.”

“Marriage maketh the man,” a friend says. “Catherine’s groundedness has been the critical anchor. And where his relationship with the media was once all fury and frustration, he now understands using the power of modern media, so the public feel they’re getting enough access.


Full article: Up close and personal with Prince William: an intimate portrait of the future king https://archive.ph/iaDYk
 
I think everyone's circumstances have been different. George VI tragically dying in his mid-50s meant that neither the Queen nor Prince Charles had that opportunity for time out, other than the short period that the Queen spent in Malta. William and Kate moved in together in their early 20s. By the time Harry met Meghan, he was into his 30s, and he'd left the Army, and he already had a high public profile. He'd done solo tour abroad long before they got engaged. It might well have worked out better if he and Meghan had had that time out, before doing full-on Royal duties, but I can see why it might not have seemed like such an easy option for them - he'd have been stepping back from a role he was already in.
 
It might well have worked out better if he and Meghan had had that time out, before doing full-on Royal duties, but I can see why it might not have seemed like such an easy option for them - he'd have been stepping back from a role he was already in.
It wouldn't have worked out better, IMO. Meghan *wanted* this royal shtick. She was ready to hit the ground running. They only had some 15 years at most before William's kids pushed them out of the headlines and turned them into just-another-Windsor-family-different-than-the-heirs. They wouldn't have wasted 3 or 5 of those years on training Meghan and settling into family life, especially if, as they routinely say, they had been discussing leaving (before they catch themselves and start insisting that no, no, they were fully committed to the job).


I hope this is the end but as we know, the Sussexes are extremely good at forgetting what they said before. I hope we don't get to see them baring their souls publicly, thrashing everyone around in the process, but I don't have much faith. As I said, I see them as effectively "sacked" from any public connection with royalty and they need media attention if they want to achieve something in their chosen field, which, of course, relies on them being famous. Biting the hand that made them famous has been their MO this far and I don't expect this to change.
 
I could not agree more! Diana and Kate were brilliant, but I think 90% of women who have given birth only hours ago are not in the mood to stand in front of photographers with a beatific smile and a perfect blow out.

When HGD Stephanie of Luxembourg left hospital last May some three days after the caesarean delivery of her baby son, there was some sniping online that she still looked pregnant and was walking as if she had been struck by an SUV.

Errm...Poor Stephanie looked and walked like many/most new mothers after a c-section.:ermm:

I think the post birth photo op expectation is unreasonable and unfair.

Why can't the release of a few photos be enough?


I've always liked how the Dutch royals handled the post birth presentations for W-A and Maxima's daughters. W-A came out with the newborn and answered some questions while Maxima was discreetly moved into an awaiting car. Later father and daughter joined her and the family left the hospital for home. There was a slight change for Arianne's birth when W-A appeared without her but still answered questions and spoke about the new baby.


Later the family could release photos of the new baby to the world.
 
It wouldn't have worked out better, IMO. Meghan *wanted* this royal shtick. She was ready to hit the ground running. They only had some 15 years at most before William's kids pushed them out of the headlines and turned them into just-another-Windsor-family-different-than-the-heirs. They wouldn't have wasted 3 or 5 of those years on training Meghan and settling into family life, especially if, as they routinely say, they had been discussing leaving (before they catch themselves and start insisting that no, no, they were fully committed to the job).


e.

It is a bit difficult to work out what their plans were. And they themselves seem to be saying now that they were thinking of leaving from a long time back even before they got married. So yes I think that they did have to "rush into" royal life, have a baby, be seen on tours etc because that gave them exposure and that would mean that they were well known when they took off for America..
 
It is a bit difficult to work out what their plans were. And they themselves seem to be saying now that they were thinking of leaving from a long time back even before they got married. So yes I think that they did have to "rush into" royal life, have a baby, be seen on tours etc because that gave them exposure and that would mean that they were well known when they took off for America..
This gives a new meaning to the "spectacle for the world", as Meghan called her wedding with all the aristocratic hauteur of a seasoned royal for a year and a half. They, and she especially, needed to be seen in their royal fairytale to visually show the world just how royal they were in the hopes of paving a smoother road to the kind of fame they wanted. Else, Meghan might have bene seen as just another mediocre actress who married Prince Harry, yes, but without this visibility she wouldn't have had the royal fairydust connection. It was literally a spectacle, allowing the world to see her as princess.



I only wonder why they opted to put the Flowers on Colonialism, Oppression and Racism on her veil. If I felt so strongly about something, I wouldn't have made it a prominent part of my big day.
 
I think the post birth photo op expectation is unreasonable and unfair.

Why can't the release of a few photos be enough?
One more time - the discussion is not over "is it a good tradition or not", that was beaten over to death when Archie was born. What is interesting now, is that after a pretty clear statement from their comms team that they want to keep the birth private and do all of the public things after having some time to celebrate as a family, Meghan is now claiming that simply they "were not asked to" do that.

If you add it to the (growing) list of lies in the Oprah interview... Well, the irony is, we're finally getting an honest picture of Harry and Meghan.
I think everyone's circumstances have been different. George VI tragically dying in his mid-50s meant that neither the Queen nor Prince Charles had that opportunity for time out, other than the short period that the Queen spent in Malta. William and Kate moved in together in their early 20s. By the time Harry met Meghan, he was into his 30s, and he'd left the Army, and he already had a high public profile. He'd done solo tour abroad long before they got engaged. It might well have worked out better if he and Meghan had had that time out, before doing full-on Royal duties, but I can see why it might not have seemed like such an easy option for them - he'd have been stepping back from a role he was already in.
I don't think one can compare their situation to this of William and Catherine. They were young - still at univeristy, and while William did some things, he was not an active, working royal as Harry was, when the relationship began. So here the comparison between brothers is not working.

But they had the experience on how to do that - somehow - with Camilla and Charles. Just introduce Meghan slowly, do a couple of things, let her know how the work looks like, what is expected, and so on. She didn't need to hit the ground running or be on (almost) Harry's level from the start. And then increase the workload after she's accustomed to the job - if that could ever happen, I guess.
I think the theory presented in the article is somewhat true - Meghan got back to what she knows from her previous life, and she feels that they need to be out there. (But I think it was also born out of a desperate need to tell the world how awful their life was, so partially that).

Can you imagine Michele Obama airing her family's dirty laundry on CBS like that? Or Amal Clooney saying how she was mistreated by her in-laws because of her ethnicity?

While the interview was a mistake - if they really want to shoot for that Clooney/Obama type of fame - I think the biggest mistake was allowing King to tell on national television that Harry talked with Charles and William. Now everyone - BRF, celebrities - will be wary of what is said in a conversation with the Sussexes, knowing that they can be used for "getting their names out there" in 0.2 seconds with one phone call.
 
This article quotes the original Twitter announcement by the charity concerned. It doesn’t mention any ceiling board.


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/meghan-harry-pay-repairs-texas-23543459

[FONT=&quot]The shelter wrote: "Today, the news of our damages reached Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"Through their nonprofit, they are supporting us by replacing the roof at our transitional housing facility & helping us meet our immediate needs. THANK YOU, ARCHEWELL FOUNDATION!"[/FONT]

I live in Dallas TX and can assure you, they didn’t have “roof” damage.

Here is a local report that clearly shows that it was the ceiling board caused by frozen pipes.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/2...-children-after-damaging-pipe-bursts/2557429/
 
I find all this ridiculously fascinating. I blame the Covid restrictions :)

But I wonder if I've managed to miss a few things, namely the bits and pieces Oprah promised to air a week after the interview. Where can I find that? Or, hasn't it surfaced yet? Did they think better of it?
 
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