The Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Step Back as Senior Royals: January 2020


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Sorry , Yes I agree you didn't, I need to write longer posts and explain myself better.

The posters who support them are saying certain reporters have the correct story and everything else is lies. So the two I named are favoured reporters and if they say it , then it must be right. The fact that H & M might want to spin their own story doesn't appear to come in to it.
That's a very good point, thanks for the clarification.
 
But its understandable look at Prince Andrew and Edward it is no fun being a spare. He doesnt want it and I dont think using other peoples sacrifice and suffering as a reason that he should endure the same is rational. It doesnt make it sense why does he have to suffer like the rest of the BRF who gave sacrificed did?

Suffer? I’m sorry, but if you want to talk about suffering, talk about people who can’t afford to put bread on the table. I personally wouldn’t want to live that suffocating lifestyle even if it meant I was incredibly wealthy, but it’s not suffering - and I seriously doubt that members of the BRF think of it that way.

Edward has done very good things and he’s happily married. I’m not touching Andrew - his problems are his own and nothing to do with being a spare (which by the way, Edward is really not).

Harry has the right to not want this lifestyle, but he doesn’t have the right to be selfish, disrespectful and hurtful. He’s caused a great deal of pain to his own father, his brother and his grandmother...
 
As an American, I have no desire to see Harry and Meghan living here...not after this has all gone down.
Even my mother - who was a big Diana fan - is appalled by this.
 
Here's an interesting breakdown of some of the costs that are associated with the Sussexes, and which will now be under review. Apparently some of the figures given on the Sussex site may not be totally accurate:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...tion-sussexes-claims-about-finances-qb0j3pgj8

Here's another:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-f...-harry-meghans-plans-breakaway-revealed-just/

And... the Palace and Home Office appear to be squarely on their game. Isn't the Telegraph supposed to be the only Sussex friendly outlet per the outline on the website?
That's going to leave a mark.
 
This is concerning to me as well as a Royal watcher/lover from the U.S - though, not if it’s only Americans who feel this way as it’s none of our business. I like the way the Queen and Charles are handling this....

For the couple are not so much redefining their royal role, according to some fans, as fighting a noble battle against a heartless British establishment determined to crush their caring, progressive spirits.

As America’s NBC network put it yesterday, quoting a typical Meghan supporter from Michigan: ‘Good for them. Their mental health is worth more than the monarchy.’ Social media was buzzing with similar sentiments.

While this simplistic ‘Cinderella’ narrative might fall apart under the most cursory scrutiny, it is gaining ground.

Like those made-up plotlines of Netflix soap opera The Crown, plenty of people will start to believe it simply because they choose to believe it.

And it is not just the monarchy and the Press which come out looking bad. It paints a sorry picture of Britain, too.

It is one reason why the Queen and the Prince of Wales are determined that there will be no instant, draconian response to the Sussexes’ unilateral declaration of independence. They have made no secret of the fact that they have been hurt and disappointed by the way the couple have dumped a fresh crisis on the 93-year-old sovereign at a time when she is trying to draw breath after the multiple setbacks of 2019.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/...e-Harry-Meghan-crisis-does-not-pantomime.html
 
Even my mother - who was a big Diana fan - is appalled by this.

I think Harry is squandering much of the good will people - not just the British - have towards him. Most of us are not royals, but all of us have parents/grandparents/siblings, etc.. and no decent person could support the Sussexes in their treatment of family...
 
Like a lot of well-known people, they want full media coverage when they're trying to publicise something, but they don't want the media anywhere near them otherwise. Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. Surely they cannot be so naïve that they don't know that?

The government seems to be staying out of it. In case Harry and Meghan haven't noticed, there's a very serious situation in the Middle East, affecting both the UK and Canada, not to mention the fact that the Brexit negotiations are at a crucial stage, and no-one needs to have to deal with stroppy Sussexes at this awkward time!
 
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Meghan has been a Royal for what...19 months? And look where we are now because poor Meghan is “unhappy”. Hogwash.

Everyone is different - I think that 19 months is a long time to spend your time doing something you hate. I feel the same way about those who compare Meghan to Kate. They are different people. I know that other people are able to ignore things that really bother me.

My criticism is not that they want to step back, but how they went about it. If it is true that Harry did not want to put anything in writing because of leaks and his concerns were dismissed, I understand his and Meghan's frustration when it did leak. It must have confirmed their fears that they were not being supported. If the Queen and/or Prince Charles wanted Harry to describe what he wanted in writing to avoid misunderstanding, then they had the responsible for ensuring nothing got out.

However, although I understand Harry's frustration, I still think that going public before the royal family was ready was not the right move. The Sun article would have been grist for the rumor mill, but wouldn't have made any difference.

From what has been reported and posted on their website, I think the family (including Harry and Meghan) were working toward a plan that allowed Harry and Meghan to step back but kept the door open for them to become more active.

In the past, the Windsors have been accused of putting duty before family. However, this incident reinforces my conviction that the Queen and Charles love Harry deeply and are standing behind him. Forcing people to do what they don't want to do can cause deep unhappiness and resentment. The path they are working out appears designed to ensure that, with the support of the family, Harry and Meghan are able to lead the life they want while being as active as they choose.

I wish everyone the best.
 
Its nothing special to him, its literally from their website.

Exactly. He’s reporting from the SussexRoyal site.

Not sure why the original poster denigrates Omid as a “little reporter”?
 
I don’t want to think this, but a part of me wonders if Meghan is deliberately trying to isolate Harry from his family at least subconsciously because of her own issues with hers. I can’t help thinking of how Charles was reportedly insecure about William’s relationship with the Middletons because hen was feeling shut out by his eldest son - and I wonder how he’s feeling now that his youngest appears to be also pushing him away.
 
I guess Meghan hadn't took too much time to perform the transition from a commoner to a royal duchess. She never get used to know what her new role is. She never had enough time to create her own "duchess-type".
 
Everyone is different - I think that 19 months is a long time to spend your time doing something you hate. I feel the same way about those who compare Meghan to Kate. They are different people. I know that other people are able to ignore things that really bother me.

My criticism is not that they want to step back, but how they went about it. If it is true that Harry did not want to put anything in writing because of leaks and his concerns were dismissed, I understand his and Meghan's frustration when it did leak. It must have confirmed their fears that they were not being supported. If the Queen and/or Prince Charles wanted Harry to describe what he wanted in writing to avoid misunderstanding, then they had the responsible for ensuring nothing got out.

However, although I understand Harry's frustration, I still think that going public before the royal family was ready was not the right move. The Sun article would have been grist for the rumor mill, but wouldn't have made any difference.

From what has been reported and posted on their website, I think the family (including Harry and Meghan) were working toward a plan that allowed Harry and Meghan to step back but kept the door open for them to become more active.

In the past, the Windsors have been accused of putting duty before family. However, this incident reinforces my conviction that the Queen and Charles love Harry deeply and are standing behind him. Forcing people to do what they don't want to do can cause deep unhappiness and resentment. The path they are working out appears designed to ensure that, with the support of the family, Harry and Meghan are able to lead the life they want while being as active as they choose.

I wish everyone the best.

They may or may not love Harry deeply, but , in this case, I think they are being pragmatic above all. As I said, the Queen and especially Prince Charles don’t want a new Diana situation , so they have come to the conclusion that it is better to negotiate a truce than to have a full-blown war. The courtiers , however, and maybe the government ( if I were in their shoes) may be not as conciliatory when presented with unreasonable demands.
 
Exactly. He’s reporting from the SussexRoyal site.



Not sure why the original poster denigrates Omid as a “little reporter”?


If you asked, I’d answer.

I wrote him as their little reporter because he is exactly that, at the time he was the first to comment on the information, others followed, and then it was discovered the information was up on their website.

Omid has been, as has Tom Bradby, the Sussexes information peddlers for a while.
 
Has Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer made any public comment yet?

I
 
Speaking with my friends today at lunch it was unanimous that here in America we will greatly welcome Prince Harry and Princess Meghan if they so choose to live here. They are both smart and enjoyable people and its easy to make a small fortune here as long as you already have collateral money which I assume they do. I thought they were treated most unfairly in Great Britain, but there is always an opportunity to change one's way of life. In a way they will be 'our royals', but only in thought and never legally of course....lol.

Speak for yourself, that is not a unanimous opinion across the U.S.
And in agreement with several of our Canadian members, I don’t want to pay anything for them either.
 
The Michaels of Kent are paying full price for their apartment at Kensington. Then the Sussexes should pay full price for their place they wanna keep. As simple as that.
 
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If you asked, I’d answer.

I wrote him as their little reporter because he is exactly that, at the time he was the first to comment on the information, others followed, and then it was discovered the information was up on their website.

Omid has been, as has Tom Bradby, the Sussexes information peddlers for a while.

As a journalist, we all have specific beats, subjects and angles we cover. It is immature to label someone doing their job as “little,” because you don’t like what they’re reporting.

These are dangerous times for journalists and overall freedoms of the press and information.
 
As a journalist, we all have specific beats, subjects and angles we cover. It is immature to label someone doing their job as “little,” because you don’t like what they’re reporting.

These are dangerous times for journalists and overall freedoms of the press and information.

That's exactly the Sussexes are trying to do by :
- Provide access to credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting to cover key moments and events;
- Continue to share information directly to the wider public via their official communications channels;
- No longer participate in the Royal Rota system.

Basically they are making a difference between "good" and "bad" journalism, which is higly subjective.
 
Then the whole story is much more incomprehensible as it alreaday is anyway.
Slimming down the Royal House would be quite a normal process, they just could have bite the bullet and get it done. A few more month and there you go.
Communicated by the Queen, nobody would have cared (be aware of that is what they wished anyway).

Who knows but some correspondents think this was Harry trying to speed up the inevitable. He is the 2nd son. His brother has three kids. People know a slimmed down monarchy was coming. Some claim Harry would have been part if it. Maybe, maybe not. He clearly didn't see it that way.

If there was ever any thought that Harry (and Meghan) would not be fulltime working royals—the Queen would not have given them the Commonwealth roles she did. Nor would some of the patronages been passed to them.
IMO, This is a story dreamed up by Sussex fans to present their heroes in a more positive light.
 
From the Guardian:

"It is claimed they ignored a request by the Queen not to go public until matters were sorted. The couple are reported to have summoned their own aides to their Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor on Monday evening. Despite entreaties from those aides not to release a statement, as it was “disrespectful” to the Queen and also “shooting themselves in the foot”, their minds were made up, sources told the Daily Mail.

One source told the newspaper they had been “holed up” in Canada, away from the influence of palace aides, in a “vacuum, thinking and plotting, winding each other up”. On their return, it was said, they would “listen to no one but each other”."

There's been a lot of unsubstantiated speculation from some Sussex supporters that any leaks must of course have come from KP, but it's pretty clear that there are multiple sources for leaks. You can't have a website like Sussex.royal or Sussex.official, which took months to build, and required human beings to build it, or multiple staff members and all the associated bureaucracy for the Sussexes as well as KP, CH and KP, and not have the potential for leaks.
 
That points to many who stated that it would be necessary for Meghan to first experience what life in the UK was like before making important life decisions such as marrying the son of the future king of that country. If she truly never liked the UK and did never intend to become a UK-based British senior royal she should have made it clear before the wedding; in that case Harry might still have chosen Meghan (which of course many wouldn't have take well) but they nor the BRF would have gone through what they have gone through and are going through now.

I think Harry is squandering much of the good will people - not just the British - have towards him. Most of us are not royals, but all of us have parents/grandparents/siblings, etc.. and no decent person could support the Sussexes in their treatment of family...

We will all miss Harry who has been a fairly bright and positive fixture of British public life for decades. However, he married in mid thirties and chose an American wife set in her ways with a long TV career behind her and utterly different values and loyalties. The dream when she married into the family was that she would settle in and conform. But she was too old and too americanised to do that - and maybe too stubborn. She could have become a fun and lively figure spreading good will, wisdom and charm at those endless engagements - meeting public sector workers, hospitals, fire fighters, civic dignitaries and VIPs, formal dinners, Festival of Remembrance, walkabout crowds and basically the cross section of British society who the monarchy reflect and care about.

We have a 'contract' after all - we average Joes support them and they support us. But it seems Meghan was not able to fit into the expectations that we have of the monarchy. Americans do not 'get' the way that British life operates around the public service model of HMQ and family.

I sincerely hope Harry is all right. It is sad to lose him but his new loyalty appears to be to his wife - who is reluctant to share him in the usual way because she is unable to adapt. The newspapers, the public, those in authority, officials etc all have welcomed her. She was refreshing. Her mixed background has been a definite plus because we see the friendly woman who our Harry has chosen and who is a different kind of choice and yet is not 'different'. We wish them to reflect the best of British in all its wonderful diversity.

It's worth repeating - the problem is that Meghan just cannot adapt. If she has experienced racism in the UK then this will have come from informal and antisocial sources. Racism is not tolerated here. Both of them could have done so much to suppress unpleasant attitudes of discrimination and hatred as part of their public duty.

Key point - I hope Harry is ok. This is his choice so let's accept it and support him - even though it is unhelpful and probably a selfish decision. He had a role of sustaining and even strengthening the British monarchy as it integrates into the British way of life but has chosen the sidelines instead. Hope that works for him because its not contributing to the UK or the Firm.

A horrible thought is that they will both become one of the regular turns in those glossy Oprah style discussion programmes where everyone wears an inch of make up and has Mr Whippy hair dos - lucrative but vacuous, no credibility and ethically questionable.

The Crown will win. Those who are loyal will increase in standing - Charles and Camilla, the Middletons, Anne/Ed. They will all gain in stature in contrast to the bolter. Bless 'im.
 
Were Sussexes mentioned in the Christmas Broadcast? If not it might hurt they feelings. They know their place, but it's still nice to be recognized, especially if you pit worki in, and it's a family firm. Also, I can see them hurt by the lack of Archie's photo. His birth was surely a highlight of the year. Was he even mentioned in the speech?
I know Sussexes are down the succession line, but they were supposed to be front-line royal represantives, at least till Cambridge kids are old enough. And IMO in popularity and recognizability (is that a word?) H&M are equal to W&K.

Archie was mentioned in the speech. This isn’t about “hurt feelings.” And I didn’t see Princess Anne’s photo either—and she’s the hardest working Royal after Charles.

This is a well thought out plan to try to get their own way, one way or the other.
The avoidance of visiting Balmoral this summer makes a lot of sense now-I think this has been planned by H&M for a long time-and I don’t think Harry could face his grandmother.
 
If there was ever any thought that Harry (and Meghan) would not be fulltime working royals—the Queen would not have given them the Commonwealth roles she did. Nor would some of the patronages been passed to them.
IMO, This is a story dreamed up by Sussex fans to present their heroes in a more positive light.

I agree, there's a slimmed down Monarchy and then there's an absolutely skeletal one! It was my understanding that when Charles took the throne the BRF would consist of himself, Camilla, his sons and their wives and his grandchildren. This was represented at the Diamond Jubilee where BOTH of his sons appeared on the balcony as part of what many interpreted as the future slimmed down royal family. William's children are decades away from royal duties so of course Harry was going to be needed to support his father alongside William. Bradby is talking nonsense IMO.
 
I’m gonna bet every single property I own and every dime I have, that if true this was not the original plan for the couple.

The fact Meghan was originally added to the foundation, the big wedding, the house, the patronage’s and president/vp positions given speak to that.

My guess is, if this is true due to Meghan not being able to wait to launch her silly brand and commercialize and profit off her title, then **** started hitting the fan with these two, so the family had to make a decision. And Harry with Meghan is too much of a wild card. If things were different, if it was just Harry, or Harry and a spouse who cared about duty and not money and fame, this decision, again if true, would not have happened.


It may not of been....but the continuing situation with them since day one has made that perhaps not possible.

First off there's no reason to think they want to profit off their titles/position for any other reason than to fund their charity work. Long before she met Harry she was in an interview (it was posted here long back) talking about working in order to fund it. Secondly, this is done by several members of the BRF so certainly no reason ppl should be acting like they are some sort of monsters because they want to profit off who they are.

I've seen 0 evidence either of them are interested in fame or money (other than to do their work).



LaRae
 
That's exactly the Sussexes are trying to do by :
- Provide access to credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting to cover key moments and events;
- Continue to share information directly to the wider public via their official communications channels;
- No longer participate in the Royal Rota system.

Basically they are making a difference between "good" and "bad" journalism, which is higly subjective.

Would this be do awful? It gives them more freedom and control over what is printed. I doubt they only want positive news to come out, they never said this, they don’t want the media to print lies or half-truths. Doesn’t seem so unreasonable to me. And there is a difference between good and bad journalism and irony agreeing or disagreeing with what’s printed. The Daily Mail is bad, The Times is good journalism.

It may not of been....but the continuing situation with them since day one has made that perhaps not possible.

First off there's no reason to think they want to profit off their titles/position for any other reason than to fund their charity work. Long before she met Harry she was in an interview (it was posted here long back) talking about working in order to fund it. Secondly, this is done by several members of the BRF so certainly no reason ppl should be acting like they are some sort of monsters because they want to profit off who they are.

I've seen 0 evidence either of them are interested in fame or money (other than to do their work).

LaRae

This, a lot of people here, and elsewhere, are being a bit dramatic. Just wait and see what happens before accusing them of things that haven’t happened yet.
 
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I am also beginning to wonder if the Sussexes were not irritated/affected by all the gloating in the media pointing out how HMQ had removed their photo from the background of her Christmas speech.

It's a little thing....but i am starting to see the drip drip effect of what they might have considered as rejection.:ermm:

I don't think the picture 'issue' has anything to do with any of this....it was the heir line made prominent.



LaRae
 
I don't think the picture 'issue' has anything to do with any of this....it was the heir line made prominent.



LaRae

But Harry has always known that he is the spare.
Even though Diana said that she and Charles were scrupulous about treating both boys the same, she admitted that others in the RF insisted on emphasizing the importance of William.

So, it's not as if this comes as a shock to Harry and Meghan.
 
Imagine if the gender roles were switched and it was Max Markle doing this to Princess Harriet.
Everyone would be crying controlling and isolating partner. “She’s not the fun loving person she used to be” etc.
 
Would this be do awful? It gives them more freedom and control over what is printed. I doubt they only want positive news to come out, they never said this, they don’t want the media to print lies or half-truths. Doesn’t seem so unreasonable to me. And there is a difference between good and bad journalism and irony agreeing or disagreeing with what’s printed. The Daily Mail is bad, The Times is good journalism.

As long as they are doing work for the British monarchy, and therefore the British government, any attempt to limit their coverage to only positive coverage is untenable. They have to accept that not everything they do is going to be free of criticism, which apparently is an issue for them. So yes, it would be awful. The only way to control that stuff is to go the celebrity route, which apparently is where this is headed, as many other posters on this thread have noted.
 
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