It feels like other countries are trying to do the most to cash in on the newly-minted Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Prince Harry has always been popular in Britain and abroad, but now that he’s married, their Q-rating has gone through the roof. It’s not a conspiracy against the Cambridges either: most countries want William and Kate to visit too, but it’s mostly about Kate. It’s a simple equation: royal woman + fashion + royal tour = photo gold, more tourism, more attention for whichever country is being visited. Well, it’s looking more and more like my theory is dead-on about Harry and Meghan going on little mini-honeymoons throughout the summer, because they’re quickly filling up their calendars with official trips, tours and events.
First up, Meghan and Harry are probably on a little mini-honeymoon right now, as we speak. I don’t believe any of the reports for where they are now, and I honestly don’t care. I hope they have a nice time and no one knows where they are. They’ll be back by June 8th for Trooping the Colour. We also know they’ll be in attendance for Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October, although they’ll also go to Australia in October for the Invictus Games… and likely a mini-tour as well. So what else are they penciling in?
Prince Harry will reportedly visit the Netherlands this summer and will most likely be joined by his new wife, Meghan Markle. The Duke of Sussex will travel at the end of July for his work as founder and patron of the Invictus Games; the sporting tournament for wounded servicemen and women is slated to take place in The Hague and Rotterdam in 2020.
Ahead of the Games, local news outlet Nederlandse Omroep Stichting has reported that Harry will visit the Netherlands. It’s unknown whether Meghan will make the trip, but it’s likely that she will to show her support for her husband and for the Paralympic-style event.
These feels very Brexit-ambassadorship to me, and I hope William and Kate don’t get jelly! It wouldn’t surprise me at all if both Meghan and Harry traveled to the Netherlands for a few days. Maybe a cute photo-op in Amsterdam? Hopefully. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Harry and Meghan add a bunch of these Invictus-adjacent appearances to their calendar throughout the summer. We’ll see.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Pacific Coast News.
I can’t wait to see them in an official royal tour
Love how physically supportive these two are of each other.
Me too. She has to touch him and support him. I love the pic up top. I was also wondering if the royal rule of not showing affection for married couples will be put in place for these two. I honestly don’t think they could do it. 🙂
Why are they referring to her as “his new wife, Meghan Markle”?
We still call Will’s wife Kate Middleton…
Meghan Markle is fun to say. I hope she is ALWAYS Meghan Markle first, Duchess/Princess Whatever second.
@ Dee:
Ease of reference:
They (media) still need to be able to link her quite easily to her charming siblings Samantha and Thomas Jnr and their bile, so I’m afraid that name isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. 💩
Kate and Pippa are both Middletons. It’s how we met them.
Markle is Meghan Markle. Or mm. But please don’t make me learn and type the whole hrh thing. And btw i call prince Charles Chucky, so…
Naaahhh @ Bella Dupont it has absolutely nothing to do with Meg’s siblings. Except by a few people, Camilla is never referred to as Duchess o Cornwall, she’s still Camilla Parker Bowles even though she hasn’t been that in a very long time. Prince Charles is never called PoW, William is still called William even though he’s been DoC for 7 years now, Harry is called Harry even though he’s now a duke, I have never called Kate Middleton by her title. Who ever calls Andrew Duke of York? Or even Edward Earl of Wessex? Not just the media that call these people buy their names but most of us regular plebs do so.
@MasamF:
While I think you are 100% right that laziness is a large factor on why she will remain a Markle, I also think that the British media (DM and Daily express especially) have worked diligently to rubbish the Markle name (aided and abetted by the ghastly siblings)……..they have achieved that to a large extent, so now, they’ll make sure she wears the name/label like a convict wears his cell number.
Or maybe I need to take off my tin-foil hat….😁😁
@ Milla:
At this point in the game, Meghan should do just fine…..the “Markle” is now surplus to requirements. 😁😁
@bella
We can call her Meg. Since harry is a nickname.
And btw I have no idea what’s Camilla’s official hrh title. She’s Cami when she’s nice and Camilla when she’s well Camilla.
I do carry my father’s last name even though he was a drunken mess. He doesn’t define me. Nor does his other children, my halfsiblings. So i understand Meghan. I will never fully understand her biracial side and all the racist issues, but i get the crazy family part. But… If she plays nice with the Queen maybe she can send some mi6 folks and make them sign ndas. Also, that Samantha, no one takes her seriously. She’s sad woman. Yes I could talk about disfuncional families for ages. The bottom line is that you rise above it.
William and Kate shouldn’t get jealous. She is on maternity leave, and isn’t he going to Israel, Jordan and will also be visiting Palestinian occupied territories?
William is going to Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories next month. So he is he is definitely getting out-there too.
I am sure she will go to the Netherlands with him. Especially if it is only for a few days, it will be a good opportunity for her to get her feet wet, so to speak, with royal tours, especially before Australia.
eta and I know Australia is for the Invictus games and not a full on royal tour, but even so, it will be very different for Meghan than the Invictus games in Toronto.
It might evolve in to a full on tour, we don’t know yet.
LOL I figured whether I put that edit in or not, I would get corrected one way or the other 😉
I could see Australia evolving into a full tour, too. I think it would be a great way for Meghan to get comfortable with the full tours that will be expected of her.
Did Charles and Diana do as many tours together? I know they did quite a few, but I am wondering if the monarchy realizes it’s much better for W&K and now H&M to tour together as frequently as possible.
The overseas tours, though, have little purpose beyond PR for the royals but they do cost the host country millions. All that fashion and security (including prior reconnaissance), accommodation etc is paid for by the host countries. The monarchy definitely wants to hang on to its HoS status in several Commonwealth countries but that’s more to do with cementing their own futures rather than for the good of the once-colonised countries.
The royal/royals come, are shown the best hospitality (expensive) the country has to offer, and are showered with beautiful gifts. In return, they do a walkabout or two, and a couple of official functions. Smiling, waving , a few conversations. People turn out to gawk at celebrities, but there’s always another one coming round the corner. But they are quickly forgotten and yield absolutely nothing tangible for the host country.
Whether they increase tourism is rather moot when they go to places that are already teeming with tourists – even the UK officials are backing down on that claim that royals bring tourism. Nothing is proven. I used to work in tourism at one point and really, there are multiple campaigns running at any one time. It is impossible to determine whether the appearance of royals in hot spots adds anything unless longitudinal studies are set up for just that purpose – and they are not.
The several mini-breaks seems much like the pattern the pair established when dating. Harry had the lowest CC totals of any working royal, despite him having left the army in March 2015. They need to be careful; if this is what they plan to do going forward – breaks away in between engagements – they will fast get a rep as being profligate.
I don’t understand why she wouldn’t go with him to the Netherlands
Right? She’s got nothing else to do now but tour around and cut ribbons. Sure she will be there.
I still think Royal Brexit Ambassadors is a riddiculous idea. They might have entertainment and gossip value, but no one in the EU gives a rat’s ass about what they have to say about Brexit.
No one in the UK cares what they have to say about Brexit either. (Sorry again for my idiot countrypeople).
True. And no one in the UK (or EU) cares what these people have to say about…anything at all.
@Tina – wouldn’t they be prohibited from giving any opinions on such a divisive subject as BREXIT? I don’t think your countrypeople are idiots, I think they are in the midst of difficult times, and haven’t been talking to each other much. Same here, FWIW, except to scream at each other. But were I the royals, I would sure as heckfire keep my mouth shut on this topic. Kate and William have been sent off on “charm offensives” re BREXIT before in the EU, but unless I missed something, they never said one word publicly about the topic. Which begs the question, what’s the point of a “charm offensive” in that case?!
@Violet, it’s not that W&K will be talking about Brexit. They will be doing a charm offensive to remind people (in theory) how delightful and Merchant Ivory a country we still are (gag) and people should still like us. And I know it hasn’t been publicised as much in the US (for understandable reasons) but Brexit has been shown to be just as much an utter disaster as everyone said it was going to be. And worse. The people who voted for it have shot themselves in the foot (and the head).
@ Vanna:
Soft power.
For all their lack of intellectual strengths, the one thing the royal family are fantastic at, is selling the shit out of Britain and it’s culture. Witness 2 billion people around the world, turning in to see the latest royal wedding.
It’s all part of the seduction.
@Bella DuPont – yes, ITA, that’s the BRF’s real job. In fact, it’s probably the real job of most of the royal families of Europe. But interesting about the 2 billion viewers – the rest of the world seemed more interested than Britons. They just published the UK viewer stats (first in HELLO then in other papers) that not only W&K’s but Edward’s and Sophie’s weddings, got more UK viewership than H&M. I was surprised myself by this, but then remembered that poll that YouGov did for that republican group, whatever it’s called, that showed two-thirds of the country didn’t care about the wedding.
It’s ironic, but it may be that the BRF and its doings have more hold on the world outside the UK than inside it. That’s interesting to contemplate, no? And perhaps a warning to the BRF?
@Violet, the most recent published ratings fail to mention that in 1999 and in 2011 the both Edward and William married, technology was not as advanced as it is now. Tell me, is anyone reporting the numbers of those that watched Edward and William’s weddings online? I bet you they’re not mentioning anything because then their claims that Harry and Meg wedding flopped become empty. And IIRC, the numbers reported yesterday were from just BBC and ITV non? Correct me if Im wrong. I would like to hear about ALL rating that is BBC, ITV, online live streamings, those that had it TIVOed and watched later because they we’re working that day and also the that watched on their smart phones. If after all that Harry still in 5th place, I’ll eat my words. Im not sure of the UK, but here in Canada, if you have no cable service provider, chances of watching on CBS etc are slim to none, so many of us watched online by Yahoo, etc. so were all those numbers considered?
@Masamf – actually the articles mentioned that the numbers did account for both streaming and recording for watching later on. How they do that, I don’t know, I can barely figure out how to switch between regular TV and the Roku box (tech is not my strong point). But they did account for upgraded technology somehow:
“The new numbers, published by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), are consolidated ratings and include those who recorded the Duchess of Sussex tie the knot to her prince and watched it up to seven days later.
But the figures show the special day at Windsor was watched by less people than the wedding of Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex who married in June 1999.”
And this report does kind of hang with the reports that requests for fee waivers for licenses for street parties were way way down from W&K, which in turn were way down from C&D, etc.
I guess what I’m wondering is whether there is a gap between how well the BRF is doing at home as opposed to abroad, which is kind of an interesting question. I’m unable to answer it as I don’t live in the UK, but I think it’s worth a question or two for them.
Oh, the articles also mentioned that BBC beat out Sky by a big margin for coverage.
Violet, please don’t use facts to show that most Briton’s don’t care one bit about Harry and Meghan and their wedding and what these elitist, out of touch people think about anything! People will just deny the facts are facts.
And Meghan seems to just have to share her view on everything so watch her step in it on Brexit and cause trouble for the royals.
@Violet, I guess I misunderstood the articles. In my reading, it was reported that these ratings “consolidated those that recorded the wedding and watched 7 days later”. I didn’t understand that to mean that the survey covered those that watched on line, I could be wrong but I didn’t read that anywhere in all the articles I read. I also deduced the 11.5 million to be 8.9million BBC1 watchers and 2.6million ITV watchers. Did I miss something?
@Veronica T, the same facts show that the majority of Britons don’t care to watch ANY RF weddings in general. There was an estimated 53+ million people in the UK in 2011, only 18million tuned in to watch Kate Middleton (British, English flower, non divorcee, not an actress, not a WOC, 29 year old who ticked all the right boxes that Meghan is despised of) marry prince William, only 18 million. I betcha if William married Kate today? You’d be very lucky to get 10 million to watch their wedding. Nuff said.
@ Violet:
I found those numbers interesting as well…..Harry is not the heir to the throne and maybe the racists decided they couldn’t bear to watch. Who knows?
Furthermore, I’ve always wondered why they insisted on fixing their wedding date on the cup finals (?) day…..maybe this had an impact as well.
But for me, in gauging the popularity of the royal family, the key figure I would worry about more are their YouGov favorability numbers……. they’re still at about 71% of Brits who still think they should remain. That’s a very, very healthy figure, especially in the current global climate.
Short of some gigantic scandal, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. And I will thoroughly enjoy them while they’re here. 😬👍🥂
PS: MasamF, some brilliant points there. 👍
@Masmaf, Bella, and Veronica T. – I’m guessing there’s a difference between supporting the monarchy, which as Bella points out, about 70% of Britons still do in theory, and stopping everything to sit glued to a TV for a few hours watching the 6th in line get married in a lower key setting than the Abbey/London/Buckingham Palace balcony, you know, all that. And even on that score, street fairs and viewership were lower for W&K than for Charles and Diana. I think different times is part of that equation.
I guess the point I was trying to get opinion on especially from British posters, is whether they think there is an indication here that interest in these kinds of events with the royals is generally declining, no matter who they are? If so, what does that say about the times for the BRF?
Drilling further down, I guess the question is, while support for the monarchy as an institution (and I’ll accept arguments on that, there’s some to be made on both sides) is high, but not necessarily for individuals within it. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Except the Queen, who seems to be so deeply respected.
What do people think?
@Violet, most people in the UK are in the peculiar position of not wanting any kind of republic or constitutional change whilst not actually caring much about the royals. It is deeply, deeply uncool to express admiration for any of them (except the Queen). But deep down, in our heart of hearts, they’re ours. We make fun of them and call them anachronisms and we wouldn’t want their lives for all the tea in China. But we don’t want a President Trump (or even a President Macron) either. We don’t want to change anything, not because of the power it gives the royals, but because of the power it denies politicians.
@Violet, I’m not sure I understand you, because the way your first post was framed, you seemed to reference the most recent ratings to indicate how Harry and Meghan were so unlikable in the UK (compared to other RF members) which resulted in “fewer people watching” and thus the low ratings. I was just pointing out to you that the ratings you cited did not take into consideration people that watched through other mediums other than BBC1 and ITV and thus can’t be accurately relied upon to tell us how popular (or unpopular) one RF couple is. If I misunderstood you, I apologize.
In terms of the popularity of the BRF, I do think that going forward, no one individual will on their own will single handedly be able to keep the general public interested. Its going to require a collective effort if the firm is to stay afloat. That’s why I think it would be very wise of both Will and Kate to get off their buts right now and pull their weight in this effort. Charles seems to be smart (well he is older and wiser) enough to know that the public interest shouldn’t be taken for granted as it used to be. Both couples, the Cambs and the Sussexes, are gonna have to work hard for their keep, otherwise Charles might be the last king of the UK and the realms. MO of course.
@ Violet:
Just to support the brilliant points being made by others….
There are evermore dazzling options of shows, movies, series etc to watch on tv and online as the years pass, so the “ royal weddings” genre will continue to face stiffer and stiffer competition as time goes on.
As wonderful as the wedding was, there was nothing shown that I can’t find an equivalent of on YouTube or Netflix, no matter how dazzling. So, people are just getting harder and harder to impress these days.
With respect to their popularity, Ipsos MORI’s did a poll in March and April and Harry just surpassed the Queen in popularity within the UK and remains tied with her across the rest of the world.
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/royals-favourability-jan-2018.jpg
So, I guess even after the Queen passes on, there will still be some pretty popular members to keep pushing things through.
PS: this is obviously subject to Harry not monumentally f*cking up in one way or another between now and then.
@Bella DuPont, re: Harry screwing up, Harry has screwed up more times than I care to count, but he still remains the most popular than any other BRF member. I think it’s because Harry of all the BRF members has always been and still remains on of the few us regular Joes can relate to. Also, because Harry is not afraid to apologize when he does wrong; he is not too royal to accept that he messed up, that will always set him apart from the rest of them and IMO, it doesn’t matter how much he messed up, we always forgive him because he is our Harry. I have such admiration for Harry for admitting that he, at some point in his life, sought mental health help in order to cope. That alone resulted in countless people , who were in dispair not knowing what to do, seeking help. That’s one of the qualities that make Harry very very popular and I believe he will continue to be if he continues on this path. IMO, Harry will always be a darling because of who he is and all the qualities he possesses. He is a man that is never afraid to admit guilt, apologized for hurting others, learns from his mistakes and works hard to be a better man, wears his emotions on his sleeve, cares for the welfare of others, that Harry is hard to hate and he sets such a high bar for the rest of them.
That said though, it’s time the burden to not mess up and to carry the burden to make BRF to continue to be relevant, it’s time Harry and now his wife Meghan, stopped being expected to bear this load. He is, as so many remind us very often, the sixth in line. Harry will never be king, nor his wife ever be the queen consort. William the future king and Kate the future consort should carry this burden. If they choose not to, they risk being the couple that waited to reign, but never really did. And being that they’re having a large family of 3-4 kids, it’s in their best interests to get up NOW and get to work.
MasamF:
You are so right on all the reasons why Harry is so loveable and we continue to forgive all his many f*ck ups.
But honestly, he can fuck up as much as he likes wrt everything else, as long as his fuck-ups don’t entail screwing over MM……what with all the crying, remorseful, resentful ex-girlfriends, waiting in the wings…..
And I don’t just mean Chelsy.
The royals have fleeting entertainment and gossip value but that’s about it. People in the UK were largely disinterested in Harry and Meghan’s wedding, as polls suggested, and the viewing figures (broadcast and streaming online) bore that out. Huge fall in street parties too. That’s bad news for the BRF who were banking on a huge PR coup for themselves using taxpayers’ money.
The wedding costs borne by taxpayers was huge vs what the royals paid for what they considered a private family wedding. You can see why people are fed up or at best, indifferent. The DIsney fairy tale might play well in the USA, but the hype wears thin at home and in C’wealth countries. There is not much point to the notion of royalty in the 21st century. It’s pretty redundant. The value isn’t there vs the spend. The sooner they end, the better.
A stop over to Mexico to see Meghan’s father will be next to impossible because the money hungry family will tip off the press, in turn put the couple in danger. Anything for a buck. A stop in LA would be easier because Mom Doria has proven herself to be discreet.
They could fly him over. There are solutions to ward off the siblings.
I think a trip to the Netherlands is a good to neutral PR move for them, more so than WK—who cut a more staid and traditional figure.
For HM, this tour is a meet and greet for those royals and statesmen/ women who were not invited to the wedding. Perhaps somewhat of an apology tour? It also connects the next level and generation of the BRF to their counterparts—most who are just edging into forty or slightly under 40. And it allows HM to get some low-stakes, low entry international road testing under their belts.
Finally, I think when people think of the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia, people mostly have positive thoughts: hip, young, progressive, enlightened, modern and forward thinking. That seems to be HM appeal as well. Finally, HM, will get some exposure to the type of stripped down monarchy Charles maybe going for.
I dont think Charles had the Grilling with Meghan video in mind when he envisioned a stripped-down monarchy.
What was wrong with it again? You never explained before and you seem quite focused on it.
Back when the IG were launched it was reported that prince harry intended theme to be only 5 “Invictuses” and thats it. The original reporter were that they will be hosted by UK, then US, Canada, Australia and then come back to the UK for the grand finale in 2020. Has that changed? Because now it seems Holland wants to host them too. If they expand to something Harry never dreamt of, something that continues for years to come, that would be the awesomest thing in the world. Harry would be so proud of his military family but most of all, prince Charles would be so very proud of his little boy and what a fine young man he turned out to be!!!
The Australian High Commissioner met the Queen at Buckingham Palace, in the background, lo and behold there is a picture of Meghan and Harry not seen before.
Now don’t tell me the Queen is trolling the dailymail.
I’m just so happy with this marriage. It’s given us loads more Harry stories, and I’ve made no secret about being a big Harry fan. But more than that, I just really dislike W&K. Love, love, love reading royal gossip, but I get so tired of hearing about these two more than anyone else in the world. With Kate on maternity leave and lots of stories about this couple being so ~truly keen~ to get out there hustling, it’s such a refreshing change.
Yes, more installments of my favorite soap opera, the BRF!