Hi @nrllee,
I’ve been living under a rock these past couple of weeks. Will you please fill me in on the Harry and Rachel/Meghan continuing saga post-Megxit? Thanks.
I heard that he released a book called “Spare” and in it, he mentioned using his late mother’s cream — Elizabeth Arden — on his frostbitten wiener? Huh? What the ?? TMI!
He was spoofed on a late night comedy show, Jimmy Kimmel. Starting at 4:49.
Is his book supposed to be an autobiography or a “diss fiction” to disparage his family? I’m confused: I thought he and his wife wanted privacy so when will they ever cease talking about her brief stint as a royal?
Lol. I think Georgette Heyer’s novels are more my style than Harry’s potboiler.
I hope that Mrs Royally Blunt replies soon.
My older daughter isn’t a fan of royalty, but she has the same confusion you do. He has certainly burnt bridges and handed out TMI. If he has advisors, they should be fired.
For myself, I’m just tired of hearing all about it, especially on the news. The book is now being discounted where I live. We think many in his target audience in our area are struggling to survive the high cost of living this winter.
😂😂😂. I thought you were going to steer clear of the Royal drama? Where do I even start? I guess the Netflix docuseries is a good place. 6 eps of painful viewing if you up to it. Everything was so staged. It was a cringe fest. I didn’t watch it. I only read the articles of journalists picking it apart and the associated clips. The facts just don’t add up. It’s their narrative. Told with a heckuva lotta embellishments 🙄🤦♀️ to make them look like victims. That was round 1. Then came the book Spare and Harry’s promo interviews. That was a lot more revealing. But honestly like you say, it’s TMI. Some of it is so juvenile. Like when he complained William didn’t want to be seen with him when they went to Eton together and he was hurt. Err…tell me which older sibling would want their younger sibling to hang around their friends in high school? It’s so petty it’s ridiculous. When I watch some clips of his interviews promoting the book, it just sounds like he’s doing a therapy session where he’s just airing his grievances with no filter. It’s disgraceful. It makes absolutely NO sense. He sounds deranged and paranoid. His claims of the RF planting stories and colluding with the British press against them just don’t hold water. He’s trying so hard to paint the RF as the the antagonists in the story but it’s not working. It’s got to a point where I feel sad for him. He’s not a well man mentally. And he’s just doing nobody any favours by trying to “reveal his truth”. There are glaring mistakes in his book (facts that don’t add up) – I am not sure why editors were not as thorough as they should’ve been before releasing the book. Like this one
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/air-new-zealand-takes-a-swipe-at-prince-harry-after-false-claim-in-explosive-memoir/news-story/2fdb01eae889e153ac3c0e164f8a6b8d
So if that’s in there, what other fabricated stories are in there too? 🙄🤦♀️ It’s just a PR disaster for the Montecito couple.
Apparently the book deal was supposed to be a 4 volume extravaganza. After Spare, I am not sure anyone will take him seriously anymore. It will sell I am sure. But not for the right reasons. It will just be more of the same. Airing dirty laundry. And for some reason, the man feels that this is the way to reconciliation. Is he crazy? Who in their right mind would want to invite him over for dinner now? Your conversations could end up in his next tell all book. Nobody trusts him or Meghan anymore.
As for the privacy comment you made, well that’s what nobody understands? They want privacy but here they go releasing a docuseries and a tell all book. That’s just feeding the very people (press) they want so badly off their tail? Their “logic” just doesn’t make sense. Everyone thinks it’s about the money. They need money to continue to live the extravagant lifestyle they are used to. So they are selling out their family for it, all in the guise of “telling their truth”. 🙄😑 It’s disgraceful.
I didn’t watch anything or read anything but I saw that bit about the bow to the late Queen.
I was so angry at how it was shown. Just look at Harry’s face. 😏
That was enough. 😡
Thanks for the info @nrllee. I’ve not kept up with any of it. I didn’t even watch the Oprah interview. I’m sad for the RF and for H if he’s really unwell and just sliding downhill all the more.
Thanks for the update, @nrllee. I haven’t been following the Harry & Meghan story- did not watch any interviews, have not watched the Netflix series, nor have I read Prince Harry’s book. Actually did not know things were controversial after the Netflix series premiered. I just did a little internet searching now after seeing this post, and saw the many comments, positive and negative, about the couple. There seems to be a lot of polarizing views. Interestingly, this article about his book from the New Yorker is pretty positive: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-prince-harrys-spare-a-political-manifesto
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised when the couple announced they wanted to leave the working RF as Harry pretty much stated this years ago in an interview I saw on TV (he was single at that time-had not met Meghan). Went on about how he didn’t like the “life” of having to attend events he wasn’t interested in, lack of privacy, etc. Much preferred being an active duty soldier. Then he drops he doesn’t want to be a prince. (Did not go so far as to actually say he just wanted to be a civilian trust fund baby, but the inference was there)
I got the feeling he wanted all of the perks of being a royal but of course none of the “duties.” Just give him the money. I think this seems to be what he still wants. I keep waiting to hear that he has a job someplace but it is never mentioned.
I’m sure all of the conflict with his family and the Royalty machine has taken a mental toll. I hope that he can get any help that he needs and I hope he can reconcile with his father and brother. Family strife is hard on everyone.
Apparently Harry appears to be mentally challenged and seems to be played by Meghan, who seems to be using him for whatever purposes she has. I pity their children who will inevitably be the subjects of curiosity and will be followed. They better hope that the nanny has an iron clad nondisclosure clause because they could be subjects of a tell all book. The two appear to differentiate the British tabloids from the American press. In the US they believe that they will be insulated from the RF leaks to the British Tabloids. But from what I see in the coverage that they get from the Murdoch press, they already have a potent adversary. Americans have so many people they follow like the Kardashians that people will soon lose interest in H and M. The Netflix series are no longer on the top ten and the one about leaders never made it. So the book made it but will probably have a short shelf life once the hoopla dies down. And how much more dirty laundry does anyone want to hear. In the book, Harry has also somewhat walked back the racism issue. So, the next thing to look for is when Oprah and Tyler Perry wash their hands of them. I hope they have good financial advisors because I can see them spending their way through what seems to be their new found gains. If they are no longer involved with the RF, they have nothing new to report.And old news doesn’t cut it. Anyway, they have to make their money now because the public is fickle and will find others to be curious about.
Thanks, @nrllee. I knew I could rely on you to know the scoop.
I was TRYING to avoid the Royal drama. After the Queen’s funeral, I expected some sort of détente between the British Royal family and the “overseas” couple. (lol. I still can’t forget that King Charles conveyed his love to the couple “as they build their lives overseas.”) So I was surprised to hear that he came out with this book. They’re on Netflix, too??
But was this book already in the works before his grandmother’s death? What if the Queen hadn’t died in September, was he planning to release this book while she was alive? Ugh. The timing tells me that:
one, he didn’t care that his book would have greatly hurt his grandmother as long as he got his grievances off his chest.
two, what he wrote as tribute on her death was phony. He wrote that he admired her commitment to duty, that he cherished the special moments he spent with her and that would sorely miss her. Pffft. It’s only been four months since she passed away, and he was already willing to bring down the institution she served all her life.
I also don’t get this notion of “his” truth vs THE truth. That silliness sounds like something that his wife would espouse and advocate. Truth isn’t fluid; it’s objective, rather than subjective. If his autobiography is based on his feelings about an event, or his blurry memories of the past, then he’s distorting the truth to suit his agenda, and masquerading his delusions and lies as reality.
And yes to airing his dirty laundry. I see it as a blackmail. If his father, brother and the whole British Royal family don’t apologize to him and his wife, then he’s going to expose everything. He doesn’t get that he and his wife look like the biggest losers here. And if he resents his family, his upbringing and his blue blood so much, then why the heck did he APPROPRIATE his grandmother’s private name and call his daughter Lilibet? Why not call her Doria? Or Shaniqua, Oprah, Lakeisha, Imani, etc., to celebrate his wife’s African-American heritage?
His lack of self-awareness is dumbfounding. Does he think that the hosts of tv shows on which he’s invited to appear, admire him? They view him and his wife as the Kardashians 2.0. But heyyy, in my books, the Kardashians score higher. At least, the Kardashians are unapologetic about being gaudy and vulgar, whereas the Montecito couple blame others for their personal decision to be trashy and nasty.
What bow to the late Queen, @agdr03? Huh?
This one. 😡
https://youtu.be/vNSAWu2Msj4
@packmule3, I am sure Harry didn’t write the ‘trubute” to his grandmother. He and his wife must have publicists to do the work. And up until recently Meghan passed for white and did not play the race card
Her mother barely reared her and she was mainly with her Dad. When she was a college student she was in a white sorority. The more I think about it, given stuff like her first marriage, Ms. M is just a manipulator who probably thought she could take over the RF. It didn’t work. I always say that when you go to a new place, it is your responsibility to adjust and not take over the place. Old M was too confident and was brought up short. She was up against thousands of years of customs and a monarchy that is accountable to the government. M probably didn’t study history
@agdr03, Wow, he seems chuffed that his wife was acting out about the curtesy she made before the Queen, doesn’t he? I wonder if she actually felt so cheerful on the day? I suspect not, but she is plumping out the story after the fact, playing to an audience. Sure, as an American, the custom would seem strange. I don’t deny that. Americans are taught that they are the equal of anyone and bowing/curtseying is out. But in her circumstances, and given that she was a guest and a potential inhabitant of a foreign country, she should have respect for the local customs, at least publicly. You can bow or curtsey without compromising your dignity.
I’m from America and live in England. There are things that grated when I arrived, but one makes an effort. I really had high hopes for her because I have daughters. I think a lot of teenaged girls would have taken her as a role model if she had stayed, supported them and inspired them with the roles she would have taken on here- particularly as a person of mixed race. Pity she didn’t see it that way.
Hi all,
H&M’s popularity is plummeting of course in the US and UK and elsewhere. A Newsweek report came out with the figures and it will make salutary reading for their PR team.
For those of us who look on, it looks like such a massive misstep in public engagement. The publishers are making a mint but are effectively despoiling the Royals and the over-sharing ‘Spare’. The publishers and the Netflix team and other producers of content, Oprah etc etc are the only winners in this.
Picking up on @nrllee’s comment – I read somewhere that William and Charles have said behind the scenes that they simply cannot afford an honest face-to-face because of Harry’s ‘take it to the media’ strategy.
That said, I heard a report today that Charles, William and Harry may be sitting down together for an emergency pre-Coronation summit. I guess they will need to get that conversation sewn up legally.
*are the only real winners in this.’ Obviously H&M are making a lot of money at this stage… and perhaps are delusional enough to think that any loss of popularity is the price you pay for speaking your truth! On the other hand, they may having a rude awakening about that has happened to their public reputations and credibility.
Hi @Fern, I am from New York City and grew up in a poor neighborhood where I lived in a tenement building until I was twelve and in union housing until I went to college. In public school and in the settlement house where I was in after school and preschool programs we were taught to curtsy as part of dance classes and as parts of school plays. We learned to do this as part of learning about fairy tales; Cinderella at the ball. Meghan was filmed doing a curtsy long before Harry came into the picture
She would have had occasion to do it as part of something theatrical. Her feigned ignorance seems disingenuous to me.
That was it for me too @Fern. The respect especially to a might be future family in-law then and to a Lady who governed for 70 years. I thought it was a given, given her boyfriend is a Prince, obviously not. 😏
@packmule3 yes. The Kardashians may be vulgar but they know what family is. They stick together yeah? That’s what I heard anyway. H&M have BOTH burned the bridges to their families. Remember how appalled Meghan was when her father Thomas sold them out to the press with his stories? She canceled him didn’t she? What are they doing now? Exactly what they accused him of doing. Profiteering. They make their money by dishing the dirt on the RF. Their double standards astound me. 🙄. And yes to naming their daughter Lilibet Diana 🙄🤦♀️. Desperate much?
And in Harry’s latest interview with ITV, when he was asked about the RF being racist, he shook his head and denied that they ever accused the RF of racism. Apparently that was the Press’ fault. It was how the press spun the Oprah interview that was the problem…when Meghan mentioned someone in the RF asking what colour their baby would be. Harry very pompously said, it was “unconscious bias”, not racism 🤦♀️. And for 2 years neither he nor Meghan bothered to correct anybody about accusations of racism within the RF. What’s more, they recently accepted the Kennedy award for standing up to Structural Racism within the RF (https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/harry-meghan-racism-award/ ) didn’t they? 🤦♀️ Huh? If it wasn’t racism to begin with, then they should just give it back? There’s something very wrong with their side of the story. It’s fluid. They are never wrong. Everyone else is though. 🙄
I think the less attention given to this couple, the better.