How do we know she isn't playing fast-and-loose with him?
True enough.
Works both ways. But somehow I don't think so. She's the real deal. She's hooked. He is, too. He knows he's got 'the one' who will give him a home and family life. It's a very happy moment.
I also don't think it is fair to call on Harry to "be a man."
Well, for Cressida's sake, I hope he has matured and is 'a man'.
First, it is extremely paternalistic and old fashioned.
Not so much imo. Love is love. Men are men. There is nothing more thrilling than that feeling of the man's protection. I am a reasonably young woman and I have it. Very special. But then, I am married to a European, so maybe that makes a difference.
Second, he can't protect her. There is very little he can do. He certainly can't control the media and she shouldn't be counting on him to do so.
Here we are going to disagree. I think he can protect her, in countless ways, and he should. I think he has already begun to do so.
Harry, like the rest of the royal family, has no choice but to be in the public eye. The people who marry into the royal family are making a choice. If she can't handle the pressure, she shouldn't be involved with him. She is in her mid-twenties, which is old enough to take responsibility for her own choices.
I suspect, given she is a young woman interested in being an actress, that she can handle the spotlight
when she has the right manager. Even actors have protectors, albeit paid ones. If she doesn't have a manager, then she needs Harry's protection. If he's a decent sort, and a man in love, he'll supply it.
It would be very sad if she loved him but they broke up because she couldn't handle all the pressures that go along with being involved with Harry.
I think that's not going to happen. I think this is it. It's just a matter of how and when. I wouldn't be surprised if Prince Charles has already been consulted and the scenario is being plotted out.
But both of them have to be realistic and they need to address their challenges together. Harry shouldn't have to carry the burden alone.
If they are a couple, he is no longer alone. But more, I have a hunch Charles and Camilla are there to help, too.
BTW I think the article is a bit breathless. We are either getting some serious confirmation, with
both Harry's and (perhaps) Cressida's complicity in the leaks, or there's been some little bits surmised that then a whole embroidery has been made. However, what's being shared is extremely detailed imo. Probably has some truth, and joint approval. Part of Harry protecting Cressida. JMO.
[...]she stayed in touch with her former real-life costar. "She and Harry were in contact the whole time," says the royal insider. Even as Harry indulged in a few flings (remember ex-Miss Edinburgh Camilla Thurlow?), "he knew where his heart lay," says the insider. "You can try to forget about someone and move on, but if the love is still there, there's nothing you can do about it." The Leeds University alum sealed the deal September 10 when she showed up at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, the four-day sporting event Harry planned for wounded veterans. "The fact that she was there, supporting him, got the fire burning again," says the royal insider. "They know they're both so important to each other."
Since then, the duo have traded phone chats for pillow talk. A source says she bunked at his Kensington Palace pad September 13, and three nights later they caught a screening of the comedy Sex Tape at the nearby Odeon cinema. In between laughs, they made time for state-of-the-union conversations. "Harry's aware of Cress' fears about going further down the path of their relationship," says the insider. "But he's made it clear he will provide her as normal a future as possible." Even if her preferred normal includes red carpet premieres. Says the insider, "If she wants to pursue an acting career, he fully supports that." Though the insider predicts she may soon have to schedule auditions around cake tastings: "By this time next year, they'll be planning a wedding. Seriously."
This last bolded part is very unusual, isn't it? Are we so sure the BRF would allow a working actress amongst it's members? Is this an idea being run up the flagpole to see how it fares in the breezes of public opinion?
This is the part that sounds like an over-enthusiatic journalist spinning stories. No leaks.