The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 7: Oct. 2022 - Apr. 2023

[Leopoldine]

I'm getting the feeling the persons involved with the production are running out of ideas and that's why we all have the same reaction on this week's podcast of 'haven't we sort of covered this already?' I mean, I could grab all the transcripts and run a word check and end up with not a lot of variety.
Better luck next week

An acute observation, Toledo.

In a previous post, I mentioned editing of these podcasts, and how the cuts and edits can enhance an interview. I referenced Jerry Seinfeld's experience with editing his show. He said it takes hours to get a decent 20 minutes.

I saw another thing on Youtube, a Ricky Gervais interview of Garry Shandling. Garry's parting words to Ricky were, "Cut (edit) this so it looks like you won."

I think the editing of Meghan's podcast is making it all homogeneous. No matter what the guests say, she highlights her own desired spin in the final edited cut. It was obvious with Mariah Carey, who dared to call Meghan a diva, and then inspired the hilarity of a crude voice-over edit where Meghan attempted to relegate her.

 

[muriel]

I think the editing of Meghan's podcast is making it all homogeneous. No matter what the guests say, she highlights her own desired spin in the final edited cut. It was obvious with Mariah Carey, who dared to call Meghan a diva, and then inspired the hilarity of a crude voice-over edit where Meghan attempted to relegate her.

All that this reveals is what we have all known for some time: this is the Meghan show. She really doesn't care what her interviewees have to say, the guests are mere props for her to put her views out.

 

[Granada]

What I thought was interesting about this weeks podcast was Megan's statement that not everyone has to like you, but they should respect you.
I find that laughable, respect is earned, not a automatic given.

Same as another topic, rehashed again, about being women being labeled demanding, "difficult" and the "B" word that Meghan said she wouldn't use. She's better than that......
I believe that Meghan was nicknamed, and NOT in a flattering manner by her ex staff as "Duchess Difficult " , so again a pointed attempt to put her spin on that narrative that is out there about working with her.

The other comment that left me chuckling was about how she was a giant fan girl for "Jeopardy" and specifically Alec Trebeck. Yep, all well and fine.... then she had to become ridiculous and state that when he died SHE supposedly got condolence messages from friends.
Meghan really is quite full of herself, and to me, her likeability factor hasn't been enhanced by the Podcasts either.

 

[Silverpot]

For each episode of the podcast it becomes more and more obvious that Meghan Markle has nothing to say. And that she doesn't take an interest in anything outside herself.

What a waste of such a platform.

 

[Marengo]

As forwarded to us by TLLK:

The Duchess of Sussex nominated the CEO of her UK patronage Smart Works for an award.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/20221111156627/meghan-markle-kind-list-nomination-2022/

 

[Marengo]

As forwarded by TLLK:

Prince Harry sent a letter to Scotty's Little Soldiers

https://www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/prince-harry-letter

 

[HRHHermione]

As forwarded by TLLK:

This one’s tough to comment on. On the one hand, I don’t see anything negative about supporting children grieving their parents.

On the other… maybe make it not about you this one time, man.

 

[Prinsara]

This one’s tough to comment on. On the one hand, I don’t see anything negative about supporting children grieving their parents.

On the other… maybe make it not about you this one time, man.

I don't think that was all about him. It was two undetailed sentences.

William has also done compassionate, effective bereavement work by asking children if they know what happened to him.

It's because Harry and William also went through it that makes what they do in this area especially purposeful. They know and they connect.

 

[HRHHermione]

I don't think that was all about him. It was two undetailed sentences.



William has also done compassionate, effective bereavement work by asking children if they know what happened to him.



It's because Harry and William also went through it that makes what they do in this area especially purposeful. They know and they connect.

I get it. William made a conscious choice to stop speaking about it at some point though, and I think I feel differently about the bereavement work if it’s not tied directly to Remembrance/Veteran’s Day.

 

[Archduchess Zelia]

Did he though? This is from August of this year.

In my opinion, William and Harry using their own awful experience with losing a parent in their work has always been one of their strongest, most genuine and admirable qualities. I'm sure it's not easy but it allows them to connect with people who have been in similar situations on a whole other level that I imagine is rewarding for both the people in question and W&H themselves.

I can't comprehend why anyone would want either of them to stop doing it.

 

[Curryong]

Scotty’s Little Soldiers is an organisation that directly supports the families and children of vets who have died. It was founded in 2010 by Mrs Nikki Scott after her husband Corporal Lee "Scotty" Scott was killed in 2009 while on active service in Afghanistan with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. It’s a terrific cause and it’s great that Harry is supporting it, as he has done before.

 

[Mirabel]

In my opinion, William and Harry using their own awful experience with losing a parent in their work has always been one of their strongest, most genuine and admirable qualities. I'm sure it's not easy but it allows them to connect with people who have been in similar situations on a whole other level that I imagine is rewarding for both the people in question and W&H themselves.

I can't comprehend why anyone would want either of them to stop doing it.

Maybe because enough is enough?
William and Harry are not the only ones to ever lose a parent when they were young.

William seems to recognize that harping on the loss gets to a saturation point.
Harry does not.

 

[Iluvbertie]

They aren't even the only two in the BRF. The Kent's were even younger when their father was killed. Prince Michael was six weeks old while the Duke was six and Alexandra 5.

The way these two have both gone is though is to suggest that they are the only two who have ever lost a parent.

 

[Curryong]

They aren't even the only two in the BRF. The Kent's were even younger when their father was killed. Prince Michael was six weeks old while the Duke was six and Alexandra 5.

The way these two have both gone is though is to suggest that they are the only two who have ever lost a parent.

But Harry’s letter was addressed to children who know exactly what it means to lose a parent. He wasn’t speaking in general.

 

[kimebear]

When it comes to grief, it can be exceptionally helpful for children to know that they are not alone in missing their deceased parent. Never underestimate the need of a child to forge and benefit from a connection to someone who knows from personal experience what they are going through.

 

[HRHHermione]

Did he though? This is from August of this year.

In my opinion, William and Harry using their own awful experience with losing a parent in their work has always been one of their strongest, most genuine and admirable qualities. I'm sure it's not easy but it allows them to connect with people who have been in similar situations on a whole other level that I imagine is rewarding for both the people in question and W&H themselves.

I can't comprehend why anyone would want either of them to stop doing it.

I would feel differently about it if Prince Harry still lived in the UK and represented the armed forces, but he doesn’t and that was his choice. I also think there’s a difference between childhood bereavement as a general area of concern and the specific experience of children whose parents were killed in the armed forces representing their country. I would have loved to see Prince Harry there today, working alongside his family and taking the representative of this organization by the hand as she marched in memory of her father. A letter from LA feels cheap.

I won’t say more out of deference to the rules and guidance of the thread, but I very much think context and intent matters. Once the context of Prince Harry’s relationship to his family and the UK changed, so did how his actions might be viewed and interpreted.

 

[Prinsara]

I would feel differently about it if Prince Harry still lived in the UK and represented the armed forces, but he doesn’t and that was his choice. I also think there’s a difference between childhood bereavement as a general area of concern and the specific experience of children whose parents were killed in the armed forces representing their country. I would have loved to see Prince Harry there today, working alongside his family and taking the representative of this organization by the hand as she marched in memory of her father. A letter from LA feels cheap.

I won’t say more out of deference to the rules and guidance of the thread, but I very much think context and intent matters. Once the context of Prince Harry’s relationship to his family and the UK changed, so did how his actions might be viewed and interpreted.

Okay, but you originally expressed it as Harry "not making it about himself", not specified it as the issue being the children are in a country he no longer represents or resides in. Which is a valid point. If Harry were working with bereaved kids in the US, would you feel differently?

 

[HRHHermione]

Okay, but you originally expressed it as Harry "not making it about himself", not specified it as the issue being the children are in a country he no longer represents or resides in. Which is a valid point. If Harry were working with bereaved kids in the US, would you feel differently?

Not just that it’s about a country he no longer represents or resides in, but about children whose experience is fundamentally different than his on this one day. Remembrance Day is about those lost in military conflict and it coincides with Veteran’s Day in the US which celebrates our veterans (but not our war dead, that’s Memorial Day in May.)

It just didn’t seem like an appropriate time for a Diana reference to me. She wasn’t a veteran, her death has only a tenuous link to what these children experience. If I’m trying to be specific, I think what I don’t like is Harry taking a personal experience entirely unrelated to Remembrance Day and making it the focus of his letter. There are other moments where it is appropriate, but she wasn’t a veteran and her death shouldn’t be referenced as a distraction to Remembrance Day.

 

[Prinsara]

Diana may not be a veteran, but she did die suddenly, violently, and to her children's perspective, while she was under attack.

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think Harry was trivializing anything or shifting perspective from military sacrifices by saying he knows what it's like to abruptly lose a parent. And it wasn't really the focus of his letter. It was two sentences, and I can't even remember if he said "mother" rather than "parent".

William has comforted kids who have lost parents to cancer, which is entirely different to what he experienced except in its most important aspect. I think where children are concerned, losing a parent is losing a parent. It doesn't much matter how.

 

[Curryong]

Harry has contacted the kids at this charity before, for an Xmas party. Is that also a distraction?

https://www.today.com/parents/prince-harry-dresses-santa-deliver-message-kids-who-have-lost-t170463

And in fact it was one of the seven charities and organisations the Sussexes asked for donations to instead of wedding gifts.

https://abc11.com/royal-wedding-date-meghan-markle-prince-harry/3319526/

So Harry has been supportive of Scotties for seceral years. Including a fundraiser for the organisation two years ago.

https://www.maxoutinthelakedistrict...or-scottys-little-soldiers-with-chinook-force

 

[Claire]

I lost my mom a few days short of my eighth birthday. She was murdered in what the police think was a mugging gone wrong.
Years later I met a friend man at my job that was a counselor for bereaved children who had lost parents and siblings. He was from Rwanda and witnessed most of his family been killed in front of him when he was about ten, with machetes and guns. I learnt a number of things from him that I remember till today.
Despite the circumstances surrounding the death of a loved one - it is the emotional maturity and their coping mechanism towards death that determines how children process the death.
There is something counsellors watch for in children and adults who have suffered trauma - and that is when they no longer define themselves by that trauma. It is the same with people that talk about the occupations of their parents - rather about their own achievements. When people stop defining themselves by that trauma is when they have resolved it. It does not mean they have overcome it or are ignoring it - it is simply they know that their current live is no longer depending on that event in the past.

 

[Toledo]

Part I
Re Prince Harry sent a letter to Scotty's Little Soldiers

I read it and it was written in a way both personal and simple because the letter was meant to be read to or by young children that lost a parent. Harry makes them see him relatable as an adult that, also as a child, lost someone. And without mentioning details he established these emotional scars run deep and you just don't forget them even when you reach adulthood.

His brother Willliam was older and copes with this in a more private way, but I think Harry and all his emotions reflect what William prefers to keep private. Remember the age difference reflects how both were affected by seen their mother hunted down to her dead, with paparazzi climbing on top of the car to take pictures of her inside, and they were all acquitted during the trial. All of them, provoking the speed chase into that tunnel in Paris, were acquitted. Harry will carry that pain till his last days because even if he was isolated from the news, the moment he had access to any computer he probably searched what happened that night in Paris.
And yet, he didn't say a word of it when telling children in his message he relates to their pain. It was a nice letter from an adult to these children.


Part II
In reference to Meghan's other link where she nominates her friend and charity business colleague for an award, I don't know what to say. Part of me is like that's nice of her. Another part tells me it's about doing another self-congratulatory moment by nominating the Smart Works CEO that made Meghan the official patron for Smart Works in January 2019.

I recall in my office working in Government the managers used to find teams and projects to nominate to the Governors' Award so their/our boss Commissioner would go and get the recognition himself of hard work done by others. If Smart Works CEO wins, I have the feeling the Duchess will be climbing those steps to the podium with Kate Stephens trailing behind.

And that's how I see it, not harsh on either lady but at face value. Meghan is just thanking her friend by returning the favor in this win/win situation. Nothing wrong with it but still, self-congratulatory from our "...proud feminist...with the patronages and charitable work she is constantly engaged in, advocating for women and doing all she can to make the world more equal for all women, regardless of background. "

 

[Durham]

Remembrance Sunday is just not the day to publish this. The day before or after then fine but not on the day itself. That’s just common decency considering that any reports should focus solely on the events at the Cenotaph.

It comes across as inserting himself in the news at a time when it is not appropriate whether that was the intent or not.

That’s about as mildly & diplomatically as I can put it.

 

[Marengo]

As forwarded by TLLK:

Prince Harry made a solo visit to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii on November 11, 2022.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royal...rry-spotted-veterans-day-pearl-harbor-hawaii/

 

[Curryong]

Remembrance Sunday is just not the day to publish this. The day before or after then fine but not on the day itself. That’s just common decency considering that any reports should focus solely on the events at the Cenotaph.

It comes across as inserting himself in the news at a time when it is not appropriate whether that was the intent or not.

That’s about as mildly & diplomatically as I can put it.

It was the organisation itself that published it, stating that Harry sent it to the children of their members to help on this anniversary. The media then jumped on it.

As for it being published on a special sacred day, the actual Remembrance Day is the 11th day of the 11th month, which is the day that many in the Commonwealth celebrate the Armistice that ended WW1, (we in Aus commemorate it on THE day every year) not on the Sunday following, which was arranged by the Royal family after 1918.

 

[FigTree]

It was the organisation itself that published it, stating that Harry sent it to the children of their members to help on this anniversary. The media then jumped on it.

As for it being published on a special sacred day, the actual Remembrance Day is the 11th day of the 11th month, which is the day that many in the Commonwealth celebrate the Armistice that ended WW1, (we in Aus commemorate it on THE day every year) not on the Sunday following, which was arranged by the Royal family after 1918.

Ah it’s both in the UK.

 

[Curryong]

I know. I grew up in Britain before I migrated. However, the eleventh day of the eleventh month is Armistice Day. It’s the actual day the war ended, not the following Sunday. And, as I posted, it was the charitable organisation that publicised the Scotties letter anyway, not Harry.

 

[HRHHermione]

I will say, I think it’s nice Harry went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I do hope at some point he visits the National World War II museum as well simply because it’s fantastic and deserves appreciation for the history it has curated and preserved.

Maybe I wasn’t entirely fair before, I just can’t help but think how sad it all is whenever his new life contrasts with his old one.

 

[TLLK]

I will say, I think it’s nice Harry went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I do hope at some point he visits the National World War II museum as well simply because it’s fantastic and deserves appreciation for the history it has curated and preserved.

Maybe I wasn’t entirely fair before, I just can’t help but think how sad it all is whenever his new life contrasts with his old one.

I do agree that it was a nice thing to do and likely very educational.
I hope that in the future that Prince Harry considers making a public visit to the Veterans Administration Hospitals in either Los Angeles or Long Beach or perhaps to one of the local Central Coast. VA clinics in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo or Santa Maria.

 

[Prinsara]

I will say, I think it’s nice Harry went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I do hope at some point he visits the National World War II museum as well simply because it’s fantastic and deserves appreciation for the history it has curated and preserved.

Maybe I wasn’t entirely fair before, I just can’t help but think how sad it all is whenever his new life contrasts with his old one.

And I actually have to disagree with you. I think this is trying to draw attention on a day that shouldn't be about him, because he has nothing else of (visible) soldier solidarity to do anymore.

If he was so interested in learning about Pearl Harbor, he could have gone any other day of the year. There are always vets there.

This feels a little "unofficial royal engagement".