For what feels like the millionth time, let me just repeat this: the original story in the Sunday Times London newspaper was that palace courtiers were working with Prince William to arrange for the Sussexes to be exiled abroad. The sources claimed repeatedly that there are serious concerns about the popularity of the Sussexes and how Meghan and Harry are “overshadowing” William and Kate and senior royals. As punishment for being “too much like Diana,” there are serious discussions to figure out a country where the Sussexes could be exiled for a few years. Australia and Canada were under consideration, but nixxed because of the media presence. Currently, courtiers and Kensington Palace want to send the Sussexes to Botswana or South Africa for a time in 2020. Only hours after that Sunday Times report, the story has been twisted and flipped to “Prince Harry is the one who wants to leave England and William is merely supporting the decision.” Bullsh-t. Anyway, Page Six/The Sun had more details on the newly revamped storyline – some highlights:
The talk of a move to South Africa or Botswana: The recommendations have been made in a top-secret briefing document about how the couple will establish their future after the imminent birth of their first child. But sources close to the Duchess of Sussex last night rubbished speculation that Meghan wanted to move back to the US and one day become the American president, insisting she had no political ambitions.
The other royals “came on board”: We have learned senior members of the Royal Family, including the Queen and Prince Charles, have come on board with the African plan. But there are concerns within the royal household about the costs of the move. There would be a huge security bill for eight full-time police staff to relocate permanently with Meghan and Harry, who has visited South Africa on numerous occasions. Officials there and in Botswana have not yet been consulted because the discussions are at an early stage.
Harry & Meghan are involved with the plans? A royal source said: “Harry and Meghan are very much engaged in these plans, although the move isn’t planned until next year or 2021. The idea is they will spend between three and four months every year based in an African country, where they would work and then use it as a base for travel. South Africa and Botswana are two countries on the shortlist that are considered the most likely.” Sources close to Harry, 34, and Meghan, 37, insisted the exact scope of the role they would play in Africa had not yet been determined.
The briefing paper: The insider explained: “A briefing paper has been prepared and shared with a very small circle. They’re starting to look at how the next couple of years of their lives are going to be spent and looking at some long-term strategic planning. It’s all a part of a process. They have a vision of being ambassadors for the UK, representatives of the Commonwealth and pursuing the works and good causes they want to focus on. They like the idea of being able to put roots down in a country, have a home base and really get involved and engaged in the community and country. Africa is an obvious starting point for Harry because of his affinity for the continent. But how it is all worked out from the official side is still to be developed because these are such early-stage conversations and we are not there yet.”
Again, the British tabloids are totally playing fast and loose with who came up with the scheme and why the briefing memo was written or why this whole scheme was even introduced. I think it’s possible that Harry said something to someone (his grandmother, perhaps) about wanting to do more Commonwealth work and wanting to carve out more of a commonwealth niche for himself and Meghan. And that interest got twisted by William, who jumped in and started telling people that it would be GREAT if Harry and Meghan moved away for a time and Will was like “let’s get this going, let’s start making plans.” All the while, Harry is more focused on the immediate concern of the birth of his first child. William’s fingerprints are still all over this, even if the tabloids have been directed to leave Will out of their narratives now.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
Well and spending “three or four months a year” is very different than the “relocate permanently” used in the same article. Not the same thing people. I just don’t know what to make of this… do I think they’d want to move full-time? No. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Harry was into spending a few months in Africa every year.
Also where the f*ck did that bit about becoming American president come from?! Jesus christ. Anything they can do to make shit up about her.
The Shipman Times article quoted some members of the royal family who don’t like Meghan–they think she’ll run for president one day. Clearly they are not the brightest bunch.
This is all so messy like I said the other day.
And, like I said on the other post about this today – the issue is now if they do move, even if the idea was 100% Harry and Meghan’s, its going to seem like they are moving to protect William’s ego because he cant handle their popularity. That first article or two about how this move is being engineered by William really put a negative spin on this whole thing. And its a pretty blatant article about William and his ego and the palace trying to “contain” harry and Meghan. I wonder if it was like Sandra Bullock in Ya-ya sisterhood, where someone was sitting around with Shipman and talking aimlessly, and just sort of unloading, and didn’t realize that Shipman was taking notes. That person would be stupid, but calling Richard Kay about Rose Hanbury was stupid too.
(side note: like others have mentioned, the Sussexes moving “to Africa”* will do nothing to diminish their popularity. there are journalists, internet, etc “in Africa.”*)
*I hate the whole “moving to Africa” thing because like others have said repeatedly – Africa is a large continent with many diverse countries.
If anything I think moving “to Africa” will make them more popular. There are journalists there, too, as you say. And they’ll get great action shots of Harry and Meghan working with actual charities, with children and elephants, etc… while Will and Kate will continue to look out-of-touch/stuffy and getting credit for things like going to church and Trooping the Color. It just will create two drastically different narratives about the couples.
That being said, I think the popularity of both couples is limited to 15~ years, and then the next generation will come and it will be their turn.
@millennial – agreed re: popularity. William was insanely popular as a young man, we talk all the time here about how good looking he was, lol. People assumed he had his mother’s charisma (not so much, as it turns out) and he was just super popular and well liked. The wedding bought him a lot of goodwill, and when it started to slip a bit, having the kids helped. But, it is inevitable that as those kids get older, they will take the spotlight. If William becomes king in 20 years, George will be 25 and HE will be the handsome prince that the public remembers seeing grow up.
The same will be true for Harry and Meghan. In 20-25 years, the kids are going to be the next generation of royal “stars.” (maybe not so much Baby Sussex, but the Cambridge kids in general will take the media spotlight away from the older generations.) That’s just what happens. The Cambridges and Sussexes can still be well-liked and popular, but the scope will change.
Agreed, no matter where they go there will be media coverage. If this is indeed about”peak Harry” I would advise William to either do more to become peak Wiliam or just wait, time fades all celebrity, the problem is it will do so to him to some extent as well as Harry and as his children grow up to become attractive young royals they will naturally overshadow middle aged royals.
You’re absolutely right…..this is messy AF.
I cannot believe we are discussing an article that originated in the The Sun. Is not The Sun as bad or worse than the Daily Fail?
Pretty sure Meghan will be thrilled with ‘exile’!
Oh, the other thing that just occurred to me – maybe H&M DO want to leave England for a few months out of the year, to escape the vipers nest that is the BRF (as someone put it earlier), and William wants to make it seem like he is the one in charge and calling the shots, not H&M. So they only move if HE says its okay.
I don’t know. This is just…..messy.
I would welcome the change if I were them. And imagine how pissed William would be at the frenzy when they came back. This is all so very Shakespearean.
I’m curious what Charles thinks of all of this.
I loled at the “Meghan wants to be president” line.
William is a total prat. The benefit for the Royal Family of having very popular members ist being thrown away over the jealousies of a middle aged balding cheater and a wisteria clinger.
And don’t get me started on the racism of it all.
@HyacinthBucket, I agree with your take on Bill Cambridge but I do not think Cathy Cambridge is as all “get-out-awful” as she has been made out to be on many blog sites nor do I think she is the angel the Daily Fail makes her out to be. I think Cathy Cambridge is a complicated woman carrying a Metric-F*ck-Tonne of pressure on her fragile shoulders.
Really amazing that the BRF squandered all the international goodwill they received from the royal wedding. The ineptitude is stunning.
Whomever is doing PR for the palace, at best, they need a new strategy, at worst they need to clean house. Even if this thing does happen, no one should know until it does. It’s a dog’s breakfast.
This right here. This is exactly the problem. Their “public relations” team has so fumbled the ball that I would get rid of the entire lot.
This leaky ship needs some serious plugging and no one should release *anything* until it’s ready to go.
Also, we need to talk about Jason Knauf. OMG.
It’s so embarrassing that this “press secretary” is an American. Where in God’s name did they find this doofus? I’m sure Sara Latham is running circles around him.
Wow, this story is something. I would love to know the actual genesis behind whatever prompted this article on Easter Sunday, because it seems like a such an obvious PR disaster. You have to wonder who thought this would be a good look for anyone in the BRF?
The British press can try to spin this as much as the way to save William reputation as the caring older brother but everyone knows that William and his press secretary were behind this plans for the beginning. What William and his press secretary didn’t expect was the backlash they thought the public would be on willliam side and agree with this decision now that the public reaction has been meet with accusations of racism jealousy and William fragile ego William has now send his people to flip this story and place the blame solely on Meghan and Harry . I do believe William is consumed with jealousy and he starting to try to flex his weight around and bully Harry and Meghan to his will and as much as the British media wants people to believe that all this was Meghan and Harry idea I’m not buying their newly created story .
No one else is buying this story either.
Well, it’s obvious ridiculous BS, but hypothetically speaking, I am 100% ON BOARD with the prospect of President Markle-Sussex and first husband Harry.
I wouldn’t be surprised if H & M would want to spend some time every year away from the sh*show British tabloids and the toxic brother and sister-in-law. Before Megan, Harry would often go to whatever country it is he likes to go to for respite.
I can also see this plan backfiring spectacularly on Wills & Co if, whenever Harry and Megan return to England every year, it is a REALLY BIG DEAL.
I keep wondering, how will Megan fulfill all her various commitments if she is far away? Anyway, if I were them, I would run, run like the wind!
She wouldn’t be able to, that’s why this whole story is bllsht! What I don’t understand is how the Times writer let himself get dragged into this mess, since they turned around and basically refuted the whole tone of his article when it backfired. Now he’s covered with egg just like William.
The Times article is not bull.
I call bullshit on this story. Unlike KP with W&K, H&M don’t leak half-assed plans. We only hear about their projects when they are ready to be launched. This has W&K’s fingerprints all over it.
Or maybe William cooked this up with Rose to get the media spotlight off of her. If it removed H&M for a while I’m sure he would look on it as a two-fer.
Yep, watching the royal reporters tripping over themselves to redirect the blame from William to Harry has been a sight to behold. I appreciate Harry and Meghan’s approach to work and revealing their projects when it’s ready to launch. I suspect H&M’s ability to deliver and keep momentum going is why some are working hard behind the scenes to sabotage them.
Doesn’t the whole Africa thing sound quite imperialistic/re-enforcing colonialism? Ugh I wish these two well (I like Meghan), but I would not be mad if this monarchy faded away into oblivion.
this is what I have been thinking about the whole thing – there exists an anti-colonial sentiment in many commonwealth countries and re-colonizing through Harry’s presence is completely tone deaf.
Like I said on the other post, Will got wind of the talks, that he wasn’t a part of, and he/his people put the spin out that it was his idea to banish them.
Williams secretary was actually mentioned by name in that Tim Shipman story, but that article made Willian look an ass, so the new spin machine began.
Very plausible
What moron in the Palace came up with the narrative that Meghan wants to “move back to the US and one day become the American president”? C’mon that is beyond belief, even for these racist idiots. (Although I have no doubt she’d love to move back to the US, given all the crap she’s facing in the UK.)
The same moron whose cousin is also a moron and works for the Daily Fail. The Daily Fail has an editorial policy of doing anything possible to run down and run over Oprah, The Obamas and Meghan.
Um, and who might that moron be, lol? There seem to be a lot of candidates who could fit that description!
Inthe Shipman article, the people who said that were royal family members who don’t like Meghan. So yes, morons (as we’ve seen, the BRF are not the brightest). I’m betting on Princess Michael.
I can’t see H&M spending part of the year abroad on a permanent basis once their kid(s) start school. They’ll want them to live in a stable environment.
Id like to think Diana would step in here if she were alive. William seems awful here
I often wonder what form & shape the BRF would be in if Diana had lived.
I think Diana was into the whole “mother of the future king” vibe. I think she would side with William and tell Harry it was his job to support William as the heir. If William is spoiled and entitled it’s because he was raised that way by his parents.
I don’t buy any of these stories. Conversations were maybe had for Meghan and Harry to go visit Africa and then it turned into “Meghan and Harry are moving to Africa.” With what money? Taxpayer money? I doubt that would go over well with the public. If William did leak this dumb rumor, he did it because of whatever tiff he’s in with Harry. I don’t know what happened between those two but William needs to stop. He knows Meghan is about to give birth so that will take over the news for a few days. It’s almost like he’s trying to distract the media with bogus stories.
I have to wonder about the timing and purpose of the original story. It seemed to accomplish nothing but create chaos, at a time when the focus should be on Meghan, Harry and the new baby. But maybe that’s the whole point.