On Sunday, we discussed how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle probably went to Victoria Falls in Zambia as part of their three-week holiday in Africa. Some people questioned how we kept getting all of these shady leaks about their trip, but I tend to believe that Meghan isn’t, like, calling up E! News and People Magazine while she’s vacationing with Harry. Maybe I’m wrong! I mean, I do think Meg leaks sh-t to the American press, but I think the stories about this vacation have mostly been fueled by British reporting and “sources” in Africa. Anyway, People Magazine has a necessary update on the situation:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ended their three-week vacation to Africa with a visit to one of the most romantic places on the continent. The couple left Livingstone, Zambia, on Monday after several days in a safari lodge close to the spectacular Victoria Falls, known as the “smoke that thunders.” Like their trip to neighboring Botswana, their stay was intensely private, with officials and local hotel and safari staff sworn to secrecy.
The couple headed to Botswana shortly after Markle’s 36th birthday on August 4. Locals believe the couple stayed at an exclusive lodge on the Zambezi river. The couple were taken directly to their plane at Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport in a shuttle bus, and no pictures were allowed to be taken, a source tells PEOPLE.
“It was a very, very private visit,” the source adds. “They stayed at a beautiful lodge in Livingstone.”
The source couldn’t confirm local reports that the couple took a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls, which are said to be among the seven wonders of the world and a must-see for any visitor to the area.
Harry is due back in the U.K. this week in time to help mark the 20th anniversary of the death of his mother Princess Diana. On Wednesday, he will join brother Prince William and sister-in-law Princess Kate to tour the public garden at Kensington Palace that has been planted with special white blooms to commemorate the princess and meet with representatives from the charities that Diana was closely associated with at the time of her death.
I LOVE when unnamed sources go on and on about how private something was, whether it’s a vacation or a wedding or a date. Like, if People Magazine is reporting it, it’s really not that private. Anyway, now you know – Meg and Harry definitely went to Victoria Falls. And they’re definitely OUT OF AFRICA (eh) by now. Harry is due back in London tomorrow, which I forgot. What is this “tour” of the KP garden supposed to be, exactly? Are William, Kate and Harry actually allowing the press into the palace grounds to document their walkabout? Or will photos just be released by Kensington Palace, which would basically consist of Harry, Kate and William going into their backyard? Also: is Meghan returning to Toronto or will she go to London with Harry? HM?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Eh? a new low – an event in your back garden.
I think the low was when William, the President of BAFTA, declined to go to the 2016 reception for the nominees, in the state rooms next door. It was the second year in a row he declined, btw.
The lowest of the low was in 2012 when the Ordinary and Waity spent a holiday in France. The official narrative had prescribed that they were preparing for a foreign trip and thus skipped their appearances during the Para-olympic Games. Instead, they were caught by some means (yet to be decided by a French court whether legal or not) holidaying in France. The great public could see pictures of Waity, topless. The journalists involved stated that the royal spouses had been caught on film during performing a marriage act. Whatever that means. No pun intended.
Other lows, pun intended, were Katie’s two lower cheeks exposed for people to see. I don’t know if they could get lower than that. No the lower cheeks, mind you. Just the pair of them. The royal pair: William and Kate of Cambridge.
With all the crappy news-from North Korea to Texas-I really could use a nice engagement story.
Same. Its why I frequent this site so often.
Me too. Discovered the site fairly recently this year. I feel like I’ve discovered a treasure of information and community. Signed, Happy SoulSPA
It would be nice to have a nice fluffy distraction.
Amen!!!
People: Prince Harry & Meghan’s African holiday was ‘intensely private’
then how the f*ck are you able to report on it?
It was intensely private while he was on vacation. I assume he didn’t want to be chased by paps shouting questions about the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death. This story is after the fact and after the need for privacy.
What exactly are they reporting other than the country they were in? Honestly just by googling, I could write the same article. Throw in some stuff they may or may not have done, saying it comes from “sources” and there you have it. There are no pics other than the three airport pics from more than three weeks ago, no actual people coming out saying the saw them, so yeah pretty much as private as it can be for royals.
The media in the countries they’ve been to must have been gagged. And the British, of course. With so many people selling stories to tabloids, it’d be impossible not to get more information. Media has been gagged.
Does any British CBers know how the Freedom of Information Act works in the UK? I only know of the case of a football player who had a gagging order on the press put in place by a court, and a member of the Parliament spoke out in light of his immunity. I am indeed extremely curious to know if the British press has been gagged as regards real facts of the private lives of the royals. Outside the speculations of course. My conclusion is that they’ve been gagged. What, no pics of Harry’s repeated holidays? No pics of Dolittle out and about?
Wow, so intense. Do you really feel we are entitled to media reports of what these people are doing on holiday? How much more information is needed exactly? Should royals not have some expectation of a private life?
@SoulSpa http://popbitch.com/home/2016/12/08/part-iii-battle-royal/ I found this a while back and thought it was interesting.
If there is any new information – she’s a famewh*re and she’s behind ALL the leaks ALWAYS because no one else is interested in them.
If there isn’t – there’s no way NOBODY saw them and is willing to talk to the press! The media has been gagged, the AUDACITY!
Some people need to make up their minds already, sheesh.
Ok, so you’re conflating a number of different issues here. First, the UK media has not been gagged. They voluntarily agree not to publish certain information about the royals, but there is no official court order requiring this. I think you’re referring to super-injunctions, which have been taken out by various celebs (allegedly, Ryan Giggs, Elton John & David Furnish and Hugh Bonneville, among others) and which prevent not only the publication of the relevant story but the existence of the injunction itself. This would not be needed here, as no British paper would publish details about the royals’ holidays until they had left the country (and probably not even then).
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 regulates public access to information held by public authorities. Neither the royal household nor the Duchy of Cornwall are public authorities within the meaning of the Act, so no information needs to be provided by them. The link HappyXamp provided is interesting, but it is a fairly “inside baseball” discussion of whether the publisher of the relevant claim would have to pay the complainant’s legal costs.
@HappyXamp: thank you!!
@Mimi: I couldn’t care less about pictures from their holidays or out and about shopping or doing whatever. The problem is their lack of accountability and the power they have over the press. You cannot stop your picture being out there or some sort of mean story about you. The BRF are accountable to the people. Otherwise they should only be in name in history books. The British public have the right to know what these people are doing. And bar some events and occasional outings such as expensive holidays with at least huge amounts for royal (publicly funded) security, the public have no idea what they doing. So no, it’s not curiosity about their hols. I couldn’t care less. It’s the immense privilege they have not earned. And their contempt and spite of the British public.
@SoulSPA
You say you’re not a fangirl but you sound just like the ones that think they’re somehow entitled to every private detail of their favourite actor/actress’s life simply because they pay to see their movies or contribute to their shows ratings. Hate to break it to ya, but privacy is a fundamental human right and that includes public figures. How many vacations they have a year – fair game. What they do on those vacations – not so much. If you want that go watch The Kardashians lol.
SS, while I am sure your interests in the BRF’s holidays are completely pure, of course, it’s quite interesting to see how much concern from some quarters there is over Harry’s vacation time and use of RPOs since he begin dating Meghan. It’s as if the thought of her even indirectly benefiting from his immense privilege is just too much for some to bear.
And just for the record, there are plenty of powerful, influential people, even at the local level, who have an enormous amount of sway over what makes it into the public domain. You seem to be imagining something quite nefarious when in actuality it is more of a quid pro quo type of arrangement.
@Tina, you’re a treasure! Thank you!
Because yesterday afternoon around 2:00pm Londn time, a leading newspaper in Zambia published a story online quoting from a few excited government and airport officials…
I am only surprised the international media took so long to pick up the story.
And remember, nobody in Africa supposedly gives a damn about who Harry is. All the while african government officials are fangirling all the way to their local press to gush about them lmao. But yeah, all the leaks are MM’s fault because she’s the only one who actually cares about this. >>eyeroll
Just what I was going to say.
The event is in the public part of Kensington Palace Gardens. Anyone can visit the Diana garden… also they’ve done engagements at Kensington Palace before without any problems of letting the press in.
The details are from local sources. The Zambia trip was reported in local press first, I highly doubt Meghan is calling up small local papers just to have it known she is there. People talk, government sources were quoted. They are back in London now and according to Lainey, they travelled from Heathrow together, so Meghan is in London too.
She looks like Pippa in that pic. A bit too orange.
Pippa wished she looked like Meghan.
+100
@Jessica, +1000
Actually I dont find either one all that pretty. Rather plain imo. But both smile with their eyes which is an attractive trait. Pippa has a nice figure.
++100
Since it’s her natural skin tone, blame God!
I’m surprised it took them so long to go look at the flowers. They were blooming earlier in the summer. The garden is part of the public part of the palace.
This is what it looked like earlier in the summer.
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/galleries/x701/233830.jpg
If he didn’t propose at the end of all that……someone should give him a slap.
?
Probably as “private” as he is “regular”. Living in palaces and all. Anyway. I say the proposal either already happened or it’ll happen in the fall.
Did you all see Lainey this morning? She has scoop on the 2 of them catching the Heathrow Express back into London this morning!
That was a great scoop!
Right?? My type of celebrity gossip, someone creeping on them and reporting back with the details I’d notice- how they sat, what they wore, how they acted… I want more!
Inb4 accusations that MM sent that scoop herself because it was Lainey that reported it lol. But yeah, that piece of gossip was top notch. 😀
I have just read it. Very interesting. Now we know they are back. I just love the way they are staying out of the radar and doing their own thing in their own way. But I expect for privacy they must have used a First Class Heathrow Express carriage, otherwise idiots would have snapped them. Can anyone tell me why there is no Royals button at the top, very tedious having to trawl through to find Royal stories.
Where is Lainey.
No to above. No middleton – hard smoke face looks nothing like Princess Henry in the making. Frumpy middletons will be on their toes trying to keep up to Meghan no fuss chic, classy look.
You mean it was really, REALLY private? We didn’t get long-range photo lens snaps of them using the outhouse in the bush?
Wow.
Keenly private.
I want to be your friend!!!! 😄😄😄😄
LOL!!!! @Tourmaline! So funny! 🙂
To give them credit, they do manage to avoid pap photos for the most part.
But nothing about these two will ever be terribly private.
E online are now saying that Meghan will go to Birkhall to visit Prince Charles this weekend and then possibly Balmoral to meet the Queen. How do they know this stuff? I doubt the BRF is leaking this to E!. If this turns out to be true it makes you wonder who is leaking to E!
I don’t think one PR move is made without the firm’s approval. Think about how innocuous this is. No dirt. Nothing juicy. Just he went to A and she went to B and then they are going to C. Nothing earth shattering.
This!
Totally agree!
If we know – it’s because it is sent loud and clear from BP/Prince Henry, the Firm.