The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 10: August 2024 -


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The medals for the Invictus Games have been made and are ready to go. The artist who designed them is a member of the Lil'wat Nation.

TSN article link here.

The designs are lovely. And the cedar presentation box is stunning. I'm sure the recipients will treasure receiving both.
 
Meghan attended a birthday party for Kerry Washington - no photo yet but a brief glimpse of her in a video.
 
TLLK said:
Fair enough, but IMHO she needs to take a break for a several months.
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I don't think it would matter.
At this point, I don't believe there's much she could do to improve her popularity.
It's not just that she is disliked in so many quarters, it's that many blame her for making Harry disliked (which is not entirely fair, but there it is).
 
I am very glad that the founder of this charity, Avery Colvert, has spoken out to counteract the lies, sneers and mistruths that have swirled around since that event. Meghan donating her own clothing to help women whose own possessions had gone and staying there for hours to help out is certainly different to ‘only staying for ten minutes’ and ‘it was a photo-opportunity for her, that’s all!’

And this comes from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Even so, people won’t believe it. Meghan has now been completely demonised in most sections of the media and SM, whatever she does.
 
Curryong said:
I am very glad that the founder of this charity, Avery Colvert, has spoken out to counteract the lies, sneers and mistruths that have swirled around since that event. Meghan donating her own clothing to help women whose own possessions had gone and staying there for hours to help out is certainly different to ‘only staying for ten minutes’ and ‘it was a photo-opportunity for her, that’s all!’

And this comes from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Even so, people won’t believe it. Meghan has now been completely demonised in most sections of the media and SM, whatever she does.
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Let's not confuse Meghan donating clothes after the fires with the highly inappropriate initial response she and Harry had when they showed up while the wildfires were still raging and people couldn't get back to their houses but H&M could pull relief workers away to show them around the still smoldering wreckage.
 
I’m not confusing anything. Meghan and Harry helped to serve food at WCK and the couple gave donated food, on the first occasion. No credit given for doing that, apparently.

On the second visit, to this charity, she donated clothing and beauty products/ cosmetics. Meghan also stayed for hours there, to help. She was criticised and lied about for so doing and that’s what the charity founder is trying to counteract.

And on that first visit to the fires Harry and Meghan did not demand that any relief workers show them around the smouldering wreckage of homes, whatever might be thought of this decision ultimately.

The couple simply accompanied local officials like the mayor to inspect those ruined homes.
They were almost certainly invited to do so by these local officials. And those people certainly did not receive blow-back on social media from all over the world for walking around inspecting the homes, unlike Harry and Meghan.
 
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The first visit, while the fires were still raging, is where all the blowback came from. I have no knowledge of any blowback from the second, third or fourth charity visit elsewhere, just the first visit on site. So yes, it seems to me the two events are being conflated.

I don't believe they were invited to tour the rubble, why would someone like the Mayor call them to come down and inspect the debris? Pfft. They asked to be shown around, inserting themselves in the middle of the emergency response.
 
Then Avery Colvert is complaining publicly about blow back involving Meghan’s visit to her charity on SM and elsewhere that does not, did not exist, apparently? Curious, especially when she emphasises the time Meghan spoke helping the victims with clothing.

And here the Mayor speaks about that first visit by Harry and Meghan and talks about how they were there to work and how ‘we visited’ the impacted area.

Mr Gordo is the mayor.
‘They didn't come out here for publicity. They came out here to work.

"Then we went to visit some of the families in the impacted area and view first-hand some of the impacted area.

"Then they wanted to go visit the first responders and personally thank them for their efforts to help our families and our neighbours.’

Doesn’t sound like he objected to the couple being there or felt they were ‘inserting’ themselves into anything.




news.sky.com

Harry and Meghan make surprise visit to hand out food to LA fires evacuees in Pasadena

Footage showed the duchess, wearing a blue "LA" baseball cap, hugging and consoling people who had fled their homes.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
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They weren't invited, they invited themselves. For publicity. Who cares if the mayor objected, that's not the point. What's he going to say, "no, stay away"? They didn't visit families anywhere except the food service area, there were no families allowed in the ruins at the time. The "work" they did was handing out lunches. Again, pfft. They got a lot of well-deserved negative feedback about the first visit across the board. I saw no such feedback about donating clothes (in fact, I hardly saw any mention of it at all).
 
Well, there was plenty of talk about Meghan donating clothes on SM. and other places then, as there is in the comments section of the DM which ran the article today, about Avery objecting to onlookers’ criticism about it, with the same sort of nasty clap trap. Meghan is just not able to do anything right ever in some people’s eyes.

And as someone who has donated and helped out in some horrendous and regular bushfires here in Victoria, I have nothing but contempt for those who do nothing themselves for charities but fill tabloid comments sections with unwarranted criticism.


www.dailymail.co.uk

Charity founder supported by Meghan praises her as 'incredibly kind'

Avery Colvert, 14,said that support from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell Foundation had helped turn Altadena Girls into a full-blown non profit organisation.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
 
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Healthy Sceptic said:
They weren't invited, they invited themselves. For publicity. Who cares if the mayor objected, that's not the point. What's he going to say, "no, stay away"? They didn't visit families anywhere except the food service area, there were no families allowed in the ruins at the time. The "work" they did was handing out lunches. Again, pfft. They got a lot of well-deserved negative feedback about the first visit across the board. I saw no such feedback about donating clothes (in fact, I hardly saw any mention of it at all).
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To me the issue was that they showed up, ostensibly to help, but with a camera crew! Perhaps like the time they went to a veterans cemetery around Remembrance Day, armed with a camera crew. Is there anything H&M do that is genuine and not for display?
 
muriel said:
To me the issue was that they showed up, ostensibly to help, but with a camera crew! Perhaps like the time they went to a veterans cemetery around Remembrance Day, armed with a camera crew. Is there anything H&M do that is genuine and not for display?
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As far as I know the didn't "show up with a camera crew". I have however read of people who were there who said they came alone without camera crew. News agencies were already there, hence the interview with Jennifer Garner. The only place I have seen these accusations is on Facebook/Instagram/etc. I don't really consider those reliable.

I understand not everyone will agree to visits by celebrities when disasters like this happen, but people should at least be consistent. I really dislike double standards.
 
The difference is Jennifer Garner actually lives there, she wasn't doing a publicity tour of a place that she had no connection to, which is exactly what H&M were doing.

Camera crew or not (I guess we'll see if the footage turns up in the next Netflix show) they had zero business being there.
 
Elenath said:
As far as I know the didn't "show up with a camera crew". I have however read of people who were there who said they came alone without camera crew. News agencies were already there, hence the interview with Jennifer Garner. The only place I have seen these accusations is on Facebook/Instagram/etc. I don't really consider those reliable.

I understand not everyone will agree to visits by celebrities when disasters like this happen, but people should at least be consistent. I really dislike double standards.
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I think the term "disaster tourism" has been used in the context of H&M in various commentary.
 
The ‘various commentary’ would have been quoting the actress Justine Bateman, who first used that phrase in her attack on Harry and Meghan very shortly after the fires. She used it on her Facebook page, I believe. It didn’t come from any journalists prior to her. So a comment from an ex actress and from an unreliable source.
 
Curryong said:
The ‘various commentary’ would have been quoting the actress Justine Bateman, who first used that phrase in her attack on Harry and Meghan very shortly after the fires. She used it on her Facebook page, I believe. It didn’t come from any journalists prior to her. So a comment from an ex actress and from an unreliable source.
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One ex actress making a comment about another ex actress.
I am interested as to why it is an unreliable source. She hasn’t denied saying it.
Good for them if they wish to donate, serve food whatever, in general I do not think people had an issue.
IMO the issue was the tour round peoples burnt out homes.
If that had been my home and I was sitting in a shelter watching them on tv I would have been devastated.
That was people’s homes and possessions it was in poor taste and badly advised that it was ok to do it.
They surely should have realised themselves it was in bad taste. I do not find the report about Archewell and them needing to know how best to help very convincing. Absolute nonsense, they are a very small charity in the scheme of things. If the work they are doing with the young girls is correct well fair enough that is probably Archewells level of contribution.
By the way I believe Justine has a bigger cv than an ex actress .
 
New reel on instagram. Mediocre actress.


www.instagram.com

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on Instagram: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever

meghan on February 4, 2025: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever, Meghan".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Curryong said:
The ‘various commentary’ would have been quoting the actress Justine Bateman, who first used that phrase in her attack on Harry and Meghan very shortly after the fires. She used it on her Facebook page, I believe. It didn’t come from any journalists prior to her. So a comment from an ex actress and from an unreliable source.
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Bateman may be the first person who applied "disaster tourist" to Harry and Meghan, but it's a phrase that's been around for years. Google Ngrams shows it going back to the early 80s.
 
Ghost said:
New reel on instagram. Mediocre actress.


www.instagram.com

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on Instagram: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever

meghan on February 4, 2025: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever, Meghan".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
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That was cringe. Once again Meghan makes it about her and what she has done.
 
GondorHasNoPants said:
The medals for the Invictus Games have been made and are ready to go. The artist who designed them is a member of the Lil'wat Nation.

TSN article link here.

The designs are lovely. And the cedar presentation box is stunning. I'm sure the recipients will treasure receiving both.
Click to expand...
I have been reading that there are 500 competitors in total for the games. The numbers do appear to be slowly rising each year, Whistler could be different of course as it is Winter.
Is it correct that the competitors are required to self fund. ?
 
Hallo girl said:
I have been reading that there are 500 competitors in total for the games. The numbers do appear to be slowly rising each year, Whistler could be different of course as it is Winter.
Is it correct that the competitors are required to self fund. ?
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According to this article about an Invictus athlete from Washington state, she attended a training camp but otherwise is self-coached and self-funded.

She attended Team U.S. training camps in Park City, Utah and Lake Placid, N.Y., but the rest is self-coached and self-funded. While Oakley donated helmets and goggles, she’s still training on a secondhand pair of skis and boots from a Seattle ski swap.
Click to expand...
 
Hallo girl said:
That was people’s homes and possessions it was in poor taste and badly advised that it was ok to do it.
They surely should have realised themselves it was in bad taste.
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If there is one Harry & Meghan have clearly demonstrated in the last 5-6 years is that they have terrible judgement. We have seen it time and again. Some examples of this poor judgement include comments made of the Bradby interview in Africa; the lack of grace and dignity in their exit from the BRF; the "Service is universal" comment; public statements about the BRF not owning the term "royal"; the Oprah interview; the clear threats in The Cut interview...... the list goes on and on!
 
I do think that this would be a good time for Meghan to listen to PR professionals and look for ways to signal that she cares about the work and not the attention.

Showing up for Invictus and sticking to primarily Invictus branded clothing rather than focusing on fashion would be a good start.
 
Meghan's new Instagram video re Billie Eilish. Sorry, I can't post it.

Great that so many people got the gifts for the 15 year old whose house burned in the LA fires but I'm actually more interested inthe glimpse of the family photo of Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lili shown in the video. Does anyone know if this is actually real, when it might have been taken, or if it's an AI fake by a fan?
 
Ghost said:
New reel on instagram. Mediocre actress.
www.instagram.com

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on Instagram: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever

meghan on February 4, 2025: "Let’s keep supporting those affected by the California wildfires. Thanks to everyone who made this possible but most importantly, thank you to our first responders who are the community’s real heroes. As ever, Meghan".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
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OMG.
Just when I'm ready to give Meghan a pass and the benefit of the doubt, and this is her priority from her trip while Disaster Touring moment?

What I see:
  1. It's all about Meghan, no mention (like the first names only) of the fire victims. The person's name is 'young woman', and Harry's name is just 'my husband'. The tirade of name celebrity dropping was more celebrated than the victims from start to end. The victims became 'young woman' and poor Harry that is now reduced to a possessive pronoun.

  2. It's all about Meghan telling us how she is such an influencer she can leave a message and reach out to celebrities to get in touch with a celebrity she doesn't know, but needs for namedropping, and they respond.

  3. No sense of the disaster that happened and affected thousands of lives. No sense to realize thousands of animals, pets and wildlife, that died despite her being a pet owner and chicken 'farmer'. It's all about a shirt from a celebrity that might be forgotten in a few years like so many before her.

  4. Tone deaf on the real tragedy, the family home destroyed to the ground, but this shirt will make them be grateful to Meghan.
When you help out someone during a tragedy, last thing to do is film yourself in the moment you create a look-at-me video to pat yourself on the back for piggybacking into a tragedy as a Disaster Tourist.

And I wonder if this has a part 2 in the making, like the person using these shirts will be profiled during the Invictus broadcast while Billy Ellish sings in the opening or half time of the show? I won't be surprised.

As I said, just when I'm ready to give Meghan a pass and the benefit of the doubt...and any doubts on her being even aware of optics, on how tone-deaf this is, makes me see its always all about her. Not to mention she barely mentioned her husband, or his name, when he is the sole reason why she is a celebrity in a rental house at Montecito.

Harry, you are now hanging on the closet next to her seasonal accessories attire.
 
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Meghan just doesn't seem to understand how she comes off with a post like this regardless of her good intentions. Why the need to broadcast that your request was honored? So many are helping but don't feel the need to draw attention to what they are doing in order to get a pat on the back for it.
 
HRHHermione said:
I do think that this would be a good time for Meghan to listen to PR professionals and look for ways to signal that she cares about the work and not the attention.

Showing up for Invictus and sticking to primarily Invictus branded clothing rather than focusing on fashion would be a good start.
Click to expand...
I agree. Most royals when they attend high profile sports events ie Olympics are typically wearing some portion of the team's official branded clothing or accessories. It's always easy to spot the Dutch royals in their head to toe signature color. ;)
There should be plenty of opportunities for Meghan to wear an Invictus polo or cap while at the Vancouver indoor or outdoor events should she choose to attend.
 
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