The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday on Tuesday, in the final 36-hour-period of their successful African tour. The British media were already taking credit for the tour’s success because Meghan had “taken their advice” and shown off Archie and she hadn’t worn couture or whatever. So obviously, some people are making the criticism that it was stupid of Harry and Meghan to sue the press during a positive cycle. To that I say… the Sussexes know that whenever they get good press, smear campaigns follow. They’ve seen that pattern for the last year especially. Plus, the press around Meghan’s maternity leave was just screed after screed from the tabloids. So, here’s the question: did the Sussexes consult or inform other members of the royal family?
Prince Harry went “rogue” in his fight with the Press as senior royals were not warned about his extraordinary rant, it was claimed last night. He apparently refused to consult dad Charles and brother William, who were only “informed” as his outburst was published on Tuesday night. Harry, 35, wrote it himself with no guidance from Buckingham Palace or his team of senior advisers. It was also thought the Queen was not consulted — although Harry’s communications secretary insisted that she had been informed.
Harry’s bombshell statement overshadowed the end of the couple’s successful southern African tour, which ended last night. Critics raised questions over its timing, said to have followed “specific legal advice”. Harry’s spokesman said the case had been in the works for “many months”. However he had another six years to launch the claim. Experts believe law firm Schillings filed it now to “cause maximum impact”.
But a royal source said: “This is not the done thing on a royal tour, when the principals are representing the Queen and country. I can’t imagine the Queen will be very impressed.”
I believe that the lawsuit was in the works for months and months. The Mail on Sunday published Meghan’s letter to her father in February, and it would not surprise me at all if Meg and Harry consulted lawyers soon after. And considering the lack of advance gossip around the lawsuit, they probably didn’t tell many people (in the family or outside the family) that this was happening. Also: what do we think about Harry and Meghan not using the usual royal law firm? I think it’s a smart move, and something Diana would have done too.
The Sun also had a compilation of negative reactions to the lawsuit from Ken Wharfe, Piers Morgan and Penny Junor – go here if you want to read that sh-t. It’s like assembling a panel of white racist bros to explain a hate-crime statute. What’s a little bit funny to me is that so many of the critics are just latching on to Harry’s statement and criticizing ONLY him. I’ve yet to see any serious commentator take up the cause of “No, of course Meghan is NOT being subjected to some of the nastiest and most racist reporting out there.” They know that argument won’t fly.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
Well, hell
The royal family didn’t give a damn when she was being torn to shreds. So who cares
Most were too busy coordinating photo ops and engagement photos to help distract from the news of their scumbag son/father
And Cathy and Bill weren’t going to do ish. Homegirl was probably too busy at home making a mood board for baby # 4 and wondering where her husband is
Harry is the husband. He’s the one who loves her in a romantic way. He’s the one who is SUPPOSED to defend her. I don’t really get the expectation that William should behave as her husband. And I don’t know what Kate can do. She doesn’t have the power the Queen does. I guess you could argue the Queen could do something, but after the Charles and Diana years where wire taps exposed everyone’s business and no one could do anything, she probably has taken the tactic of letting things blow over.
Ultimately, however, I do think the responsibility lies with Harry since he’s actually married to her. He’s the one living with her on a daily basis to know what’s going on with her. If I were married, I don’t know if I would expect my in-laws to know everything that’s going on with me. I would expect my husband to however.
In most situations, I would agree — a peasant like me, for example, would probably not expect my BIL to publicly defend me if I had issues.
The BRF is a completely different story. They’re not just a family but a firm, and there’s a clear hierarchy. They also have a documented relationship with the press with a constant give-and-take in order to affect coverage. We know for a fact that the Queen can shut a story down when she wants to. I find it appalling that the Queen (who has repeatedly publicly defended Andrew), Charles (Future king), and William (Future king) have let this go on for so long without a single word of condemnation or support for Meghan and Harry.
Yes I’m glad that Harry did this, but it’s a sad statement on his family that he’s the only one. It’s gross that the others will preach about mental health and bullying and whatever else, but let Meghan be tortured for years without attempting to right it.
I’d be surprised if William actually knows Meghan that well. It sounded like Harry didn’t know Kate that well when she married William, so I wouldn’t expect the dynamics to be any different in the other case either.
Also, the legal action surrounds the contents that letter. I wouldn’t expect William to know that that letter was going to be published. I also wouldn’t expect him to know that her dad would turn out to be a complete weasel and sell-out. Who could predict that? We were all shocked. Some of her media issues rest with her own family, and technically her dad could be sued too, but clearly that has to be off the table.
I also think a lot of the weird coverage (i.e where she lived as a kid) came prior to her marrying Harry. At that point, I wouldn’t expect William to come in and say something about someone who hasn’t married into the family yet. I also don’t expect to know which neighborhoods are which in LA. Are most of us going to put ourselves on the line for someone we’ve just met? He barely knew her at that point. Heck, one could argue Harry did at that point too, which I suppose was the argument William made at that time to him in cautioning him to move slowly (and I guess is the source of the alleged rift between them.)
If William became too emotional about Meghan to the media, the tabloid press would probably assume he was having an affair with her or make up stories about it (I wouldn’t put it past them to do so). So, yeah, I’d want to stay out of it if I were him too. I think it’s okay to think of optics in this case — leave it to the husband to defend her. It makes way more sense, imo.
I think one could argue that the Queen could defend her as Head of the Firm. But expecting William to step in seems strange to me. I also think their perspectives might be different based on what they’ve gone through with the media themselves. Charles has seen Camilla attacked by the press so he may take a “let’s see this die down” attitude because that’s how he deals with things. I think your own experiences inform how you deal with things, and other than a few threats here and there from time to time he seems to wait things out and do things more behind-the-scenes. I think that’s his general approach (other than the time he admitted to the affair with Camilla on tv, and, well, that backfired).
For William (both Charles and the Queen could have done a lot more to protect Meghan), the way I feel about him is similar to the famous RBG quote – “we just ask that you remove your foot from our necks.” William doesn’t have to actively defend Meghan, but he could at least not actively sabotage her, you know? That budget flight stunt was the perfect example. He saw Harry and Meghan getting hammered for the private jet, and he saw an opportunity to make himself look good at their expense. Meghan gets criticized for her wardrobe spending, Kate wears repeat after repeat in a row (which she has since stopped doing).
they could make an effort to remove the racist comments on their IG and twitter. Hell they could block some of those people (the Royal family’s twitter is blocking people who bring up Andrew…) If and when Will is ever asked about this lawsuit, he can say something simple like, “I stand with my brother.”
I don’t expect William to throw down with the press over Meghan. but he can certainly do more than he is doing.
He wont, because he and Kate directly benefit from the negative coverage.
and for the record, yes, if I was being attacked daily for something my entire family did (private jets, expensive clothes), things that are so ridiculously over the top (avocado toast causes famine and murder) and things that are outright lies (the car park incident, the “list of rules” given out to neighbors), I would expect that my family would come to my defense – meaning my husband AND my in-laws.
And I think Harry expects that too, and its part of the reason for the falling out between the brothers.
If there was a precedent for them generally defending anyone else other than their wives, I would understand the criticism of William. But in general I don’t think we’ve seen the royal family do that so that’s why I don’t hold much expectation that he would go against how the family normally operates. I’ve never seen an in-law defend another in-law in that family. Usually their defenses only extend to the wives and children and stops there. I don;t think the Queen ever stepped in to defend Princess Margaret, and they were blood-related. There is no real precedent, I don’t think.
Diana’s brother-in-law was private secretary to the Queen and country, and he never stepped in to defend her either. I believe the members of that family are all united in terms of service to the Queen (I think even Diana at her most independent was too), but on other matters I think they function autonomously.
Lorelei, excellent post!
@Perplexed
My personal opinion is that William should have made (at the very least) one statement to the press which defended Meghan and that stated how completely disgusted the royal family (or at least his family of 5) was by the coverage of Meghan He obviously has more pull with the press than his little brother does so i feel like he could’ve made an impact, however slight, in the kind of coverage Meghan is receiving.
However, as Becks1 stated, if he didn’t want to make a statement, he could’ve at least not actively tried to sabotage his brother. The stunts William and Kate pulled to try and make Harry and Meghan look bad were disgusting and i can’t imagine how betrayed H&M must feel. Willnot and Cannot put more effort into making H&M look bad than they have put towards any of their charities in the last few years.
Also, comparing how any of our families operate to how the royal family operates is apples to oranges.
@Becks1 ITA with all you said.
And I don’t think we’re necessarily saying that every member of the BRF has to “throw down” with the press. But there are so many other things that they could do to show support. They could speak out more than they do, sure (which wouldn’t be hard since none of them have said a thing in defense of Meghan).
I think a photo of Kate holding Archie and smiling down at him that day at the polo match, for example, would have gone a LONG way, especially with some of the more rabid Cambridge fans. That’s just one scenario off the top of my head, and I’m sure there are lots more, but no one in that family seems interested in lifting a finger to change the perception of Meghan.
As others have said, they benefit from it, so I doubt it will change, but I and so many others have lost all respect for the Queen, the Cambridges, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Charles.
Harry said when Kate was pregnant with George and Charlotte that he hoped she would be left alone to enjoy those pregnancies in peace and expressed concern about her extreme morning sickness. It must have been disappointing that there wasn’t a kind word during Meghan’s pregnancy which coincided with some of the worse press attacks.
In addition to saying he hoped Kate would be given space by press to enjoy her pregnancy I just remembered that Harry has stuck up for Camilla in the past saying she wasn’t a wicked stepmother, how close him& William are to her& how public should sympathise with her. So nobody can say he hasn’t stood up for other people in the family& might have expected the same
Normally it wouldn’t matter but since it’s the Queen and then Charles and William are next in line, the media are trying to make it a thing that Harry may not have consulted with all of them. It’s not a thing, but the media creating another story to try to divert from some of the horrendous stories they have written about Meghan as opposed to perhaps going after a legitimate story like Andrew.
I would not believe anything The Media says. They are speculating, just to give the impression that H&M have no RF support. Charles is fond of Meghan, but The Media, hates Charles, so there is no way he can influence them. He has no clout in The Media. However, I can believe, Charles may have cautioned Harry about going publuc with the statement, for fear of a backlash, but ultimately, will respect Harry’s decision. , For all you know, they are glad Harry did it.
I think the “respectable” newspapers like The Guardian are covering the Prince Andrew story. If you want to read about how gross Prince Andrew is, it’s easy enough to find the information in The Guardian or on the BBC. Some of the stories are disturbing and I do get a fright factor when reading them so I may at times shy away, but I find it impossible to believable that people don’t actually know that Prince Andrew is disgusting.
The British tabloids are terrible. But I think tabloids in every country are terrible. That’s why they’re called tabloids. But I do think the respectable newspapers cover the stories they’re supposed to. And I feel there is a distinction between respectable media and tabloid media. In America, I wouldn’t confuse the Washington Post or the Boston Globe with The National Enquirer or even People Magazine (which is generally favourable to everyone), for instance.
The British media do have distinguished journalistic institutions just like America does. I don’t really think that type of media really goes out of its way to write negative things about celebrities and royals, unless you do something majorly stupid like kill someone or what Prince Andrew has done.
The only sympathetic one is The Guardian. I saw a headline in The Guardian that had this headline: ‘Bullying of Meghan has become a Pasttime’. The Times, Sunday Times; notably; Camilla Long, Telegragh, with another namesake; Camilla Tominey, all broadsheet or quality papers, are all guilty of smearing Meghan. Hello Magazine edited by Emily Nash, is a very positive magazine for everyone, no smears, just feel good , positive articles with lots of glossy photos; I buy most copies with Meghan on the cover. I commend Harry for standing up for his wife, that is gallantry.
royal family (queen) didn’t care about Diana either in her day…
I find it weird, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen William converse with Meghan, not even once. I don’t get why? Meg seems like a nice enough girl, regardless of the lies the press feeds us. Charles and Camilla get along great with her. I get the feeling William thinks she’s too different, she being mixed and an american, I find it incredibly rude and racist if thats the case. A modern man should be able to converse with anyone of any background and see more similarities than differnces and boundaries. The way William behaves around her makes me cringe, not kingly material, Harry must see this as well.
Not a big fan of his, but I do recall seeing PW approach Meghan with a kiss on the cheek, and say a few words. It was outside of a church – don’t recall the service, but DK was not there. shortly after PH/MM were engaged.
On the other hand we did see a really odd interaction between the 2 on Christmas Day. Looked like he averted his attention while she was talking to him. But open to interpretation.
-Duch
The QE is busy defending her favourite son
Doubt William has any impact on the press. Charles, is he really close to his sons? It is easy to blame WK but they the Queen is their boss. She controls everything.
Oh, FFS. Of course they did! Silly Sun.
Of course they did but tabs can’t tell the truth – not now they’re at war – lol
The way the royal family Instagram accounts post and talk about Meghan Lee e feel like they are more than happy to throw her under the bus. They absolutely treat her as an outsider and it shows.
F them all. Go H&M!
It’s obvious they don’t like Meghan and barely tolerate her for optics. The Palace won’t defend Meghan because they are the source for a lot of the negative stories. Notice that they posted nothing about her editing British Vogue, but they made sure to post about Harry editing the National Geographic Instagram account.
Don’t forget the all-too-important “Kate didn’t get Botox” announcement.
I swear, only on planet Earth can someone have a list as long as there arm of things they have done to help others AND be vilified by the press. The press cannot vilify her and then present her as a decent human being as they see fit. I am a half decent person, I have NEVER prepared a cookbook to help women and their families. I have NEVER brought world wide attention to issues involving women. Heck, I am having issues just raising decent little humans and attempting mediocre housework. Yay lawsuit from me. Yay lawsuit.
Angelina Jolie might bee able to relate. But Meghan gets it way worse. May she prevail in court! (Where they still wear those wigs!)
Good for them if they went “rougue”. Yhe Palace does nothing when when it comes to standing up for them. And Piers Morgan can go s@%k a d#@k with his opinions.
He really needs to get a life and get over himself. He’s obsessed!
Meghan should request a restraining order against Piers Morgan. His obsession is scary
Piers is a a ridiculous, disingenuous POS. Look at how he talked about Meghan when he thought he might be invited to her wedding. His behavior since then has all just been spiteful retribution. I’m sure if she called him up today he’d change his tune back immediately. It’s just sad that he continues to have a platform to spout his vitriol.
https://twitter.com/EmmaKennedy/status/1179442965552517120
This is all speculation. As usual the Palace have neither confirmed or denied anything.
I think it’s more likely that they knew about it but of course wish to keep their distance as usual to see what happens. The tabloids naturally prefer the more sensational option of saying Harry is out of control and acted alone.
If William can threaten legal action over Rosegate Harry is thoroughly entitled to protect his family from repeated vicious lies and abuse.
Does anyone have ideas on what more support we can give this couple?
If you can afford to, support their charities. Get the Hubb cookbook. Donate to whichever one(s) most move you. There are so many worthy causes.
I loved the Global Sussex Baby Shower. That was a great response to the trolls and it did some good at the same time!
Yes, l have bought the book and l also purchased clothing for the SmartWorks initiative. I am thinking of what we can actually do to back up and confirm that the behaviour of the British press is outrageous and try to stop the malicious bullying.
@PrincessK; I complained to IPSO a few months ago regarding all the inaccurate (lies) and racist headlines the press were presenting as fact. I spent ages preparing my complaint including links to articles and narrative as to how I felt they broke the Editors Code…. after some tooing and froing over various articles IPSO concluded there had been no wrong doing! Unbelievable…. they said they could only take action if the individual concerned made a compaint which it seems H&M have as the Sun has had to issue an apology this week over one article. IPSO are toothless…
What we need in Britain is a Leveson2, self regulation of/by the press is not working after Leveson1.
Well done Moose! I wrote four letters of complaint to DM over the terrible treatment of Meghan during her pregnancy but what you did is really impressive. I hope that you have kept all your files of information, it may still come in useful.
@PrincessK, yes i have kept all correspondence with IPSO. Going to write to my MP next to encourage him to raise the issue of out-of-control press in Parliament.
I’m livid they are now all ganging up on Harry and calling him mentally unstable becuase he has the courage to call them out on their harassment… especially after what he experienced as a child and how he is such a supporter/champion of Military veterans mental welfare.
Piers and Ingird must be jelly because jam don’t troll like that.
@Loreli
Wow! I dont watch Piers Morgan so I have never seen any of his coverage of Meghan (positive or negative). While I have read comments on here about his 180 towards Meghan, that clip is absolutely disturbing.
I think their secretaries gave them the heads up as respect
And as for timing, I believe the courts open on the 1st of October (they close on July 31st) and they also (Harry and Meghan) gave them DM time till September 30 to fix it. They didn’t so lawsuit it is (and filed it on the first day)
Interesting… I just opened up the FAIL page: the AMERICAN headline is:
“Moment Prince Harry reprimands a reporter for asking him a polite question during Malawi hospital visit – just hours before the royal launched his attack on the media”
The BRITISH headline is:
“Policewoman is among four officers killed in rampage by civilian worker armed with ceramic knife INSIDE Paris police headquarters before attacker is shot dead”
Hmmm…….
Why should they consult with people who are working against them? The Royal Family has done very little to protect Meghan while tripping all over themselves to comment on affairs, botox, and Pervert Prince Andrew. My respect for the Queen, Charles, and William is very low. They are willing to throw Meghan under the bus in order to protect themselves. They are cowards and complicit in the abuse of Harry and Meghan.
My thoughts exactly M! By not consulting/telling anyone Harry and Meghan insured that no information was leaked. Because as most of us have guessed, Harry’s family is all too willing to leak information or even misinformation about Meghan in order to get good press coverage for themselves.
Simple they work for the monarchy, and the lawsuit does affect the monarchy too. If it goes right everyone in the monarchy might be protected a bit more. If it goes wrong well that would be worse for the Sussexes but everyone in the monarchy would be affected. This is like a regular job, but not. I think the Queen and Charles were told. They probably did disagree, as it isn’t really the royal style, but sure the Sussexes made a good plea for it. My only issue with the suit is I wish it was on one of the more libelous stories. Privacy is important, but I don’t like the precedent this might set for other more corrupt figures with writing they did.
The Queen, Charles and William have all sued the media themselves over privacy issues so I doubt they object to the lawsuit about the letter being published.
The cannot sue the RRs for being racist, petty bitches. They’re filing on something legally actionable, while most of the other things aren’t actionable.
No you can’t sue the RR’s for being racist, but you can sue the publications for libel with malice for public figures in the US at least and I thought the UK’s libel laws were a bit stronger than ours. My issue is there are other stories which may have been harder to win, but more outright lies, and I wish they went there. This story printed her letter and cut it up to make their terrible point, but it still printed her words. It’s more privacy and copyright infringement than libel, and some of the other stories were flat out lies.
But they want to win. That’s the point. If they sue and lose, it would become a total free-for-all. This is a much stronger case, there is very little defense – they will probably win.
If they sued for every general lie published or every negative story, they would never get out of court. Here, they are picking very clear, actionable items (the car park story, this letter) and going after them. I imagine they pushed the MoS for an apology/retraction and the MoS refused, and now we have the lawsuit (the Sun apologized for their inaccurate story about the car park.)
Who knows, if they win this, maybe down the line they will file more lawsuits. But right now, this is a good first step.
ETA now all that said, emotionally I am with you. I would like to have seen them come out swinging against some of the other really awful stories over the past year. But, this is something.
I think there’s only so much the royal family can do in cases where Meghan’s family are the ones feeding the beast. Unless they send the dad to an island somewhere, how do you get him to stop selling information about Meghan? Could the royal family have even predicted that he’d sell the letter? Would they have even known the letter existed to keep it from being published? There are some things that I feel are out of the royal family’s hands, especially if her sister is all over Twitter posting stuff. I don’t think the Queen can tell the CEO of Twitter to pull the sister off of the platform.
Even for the monarchy, I feel there are limits to what they can do, especially if some of the stuff occurs outside of Britain. The Queen is Queen of the UK, not the rest of the world. Even she can’t tell Meghan’s sister to shut up, especially since the sister isn’t even British.
The mental gymnastics some posters here do to defend the brf’s shitty stance towards Meghan and Harry is exhausting. If it’s true that Harry didn’t consult them prior he is within his rights, they’ve shown how they won’t help with the constant attacks so why should he give them more ammunition.
Agree with you @gingersnaps. It is very easy to tell who is not really for Meghan.
The lawsuit is about the letter. Beyond that, I don’t think even Harry and his lawyers can really push beyond what is legally actionable. It’s reality whether we like it or not. It is what it is. He can tell the press to stop printing private letters, but that’s something you can legally act on.
It’s also not a legal requirement on Celebitchy to have to be pro-anyone or anti-anyone. We are allowed to look at a situation without influence from other posters. It would be boring if everyone was saying the same thing.
I also think he consulted with the royal family, they were okay with it, and this is how things are done in the family (one person files and the rest nod in agreement but don’t necessarily say anything publicly.)
Good for Harry if he ‘went rogue’ – when did anyone in his family publicly back him or Meghan? The BRF are falling over themselves to protect a literal CHILD PREDATOR, but are silent as the dead about the Sussex sledging…smh.
I hope H&M continue to go rogue as well. It’s not like the BRF can do anything if they do – they know the Sussexes are popular overseas and are great advocates for their outdated institution.
The language in the response, referring to Harry’s statement as a “rant” and an “outburst”. I thought the statement was concise, clear and yes, strongly worded. But the farthest thing from a rant or an outburst.
The thing I always go back to about racism is that it is mostly done in coded language, in ways that give somewhat plausible deniability to the racist. Because if you state that racism is evil – no one disagrees- even racists know it’s true.
But it runs so deep and seems based in white people’s own sense of inferiority and worthlessness, things that are hard to admit to oneself.
I also got stuck on the language calling the statement an “extraordinary rant” and an “outburst.”
Same.
The condescension in their descriptions of the statement really gets under my skin. Something very… gaslighting…about it.
I wouldn’t call it a rant, but I’m half New Yorker, so I tend to say rants are more Robert DeNiro-ish or even Trump -ish, and this was not that. They are British and royal to boot so they are a bit more staid. It is forceful though, and that is a good thing. I wouldn’t hype on that wording though it seems the least of the issues and is most likely cultural. I am very curious how this turns out.
It definitely caught my attention too. Describing Harry’s statement as a “rant” is definitely a tactic to try to undermine him and the whole issue. It is a way to to cast him as an over-emotional guy that is over-reacting. It is a subtly malicious way to frame this situation and it pisses me off.
If he wrote that statement himself, I’m impressed.
Otherwise, yeah, no one stood up for her. A token sleepover with the Queen was not enough. Charles’ deft image management at the wedding was not enough. That family is lucky to have such talented young roving ambassadors especially in a time of instability.
And its weird to me because initially they seemed to welcome her, AND that was good for their image. People thought really highly of Charles for his handling of the wedding, walking her down the aisle, she and Charles and Camilla seemed to genuinely get along, etc. And that benefited Charles. Why not keep that up, at least for Charles? Being around Meghan made him seem more fun and more engaging.
Charles does not like others getting more attention than him, case in point “Diana”
So along comes Meghan who the press was building up to tear down. You don’t think he is going to go out his way to defuse the situation.
William, like his dad want all the attention because he is the Heir, but Harry got all the attention, good and bad.
This is the same man that was jealous of his wife outshining him. I can also imagine, Charles, who is already insecure about his position, being not so keen on being upstaged by some American actress.
but my point is that with Meghan, it brought more attention to Charles, in a positive way. He was the supportive father, the understanding father in law, the person who stepped in at the wedding, the excited grandfather, etc. It helped his image and made him seem more personable and fun.
His silence here isn’t helping him at all, and its not bringing him more attention. He worked consistently throughout the summer and all the RRs wrote about was Meghan anyway.
So while I can see your point about him not liking to share attention/spotlight, it seems in this case he would be self-aware enough to know that its a good play for him. But I guess you cant really accuse the royals of being self-aware.
“And its weird to me because initially they seemed to welcome her”
Becks1, I am with you. There is something going on or something went down that “we” do not know about. The Queen approved the marriage of Meghan & Harry. QEII is smart enough to know that there would be problems with RRRs and British MAGA types. Why were Megan & Harry abandoned by the BRF right after the Oceania tour? Something very serious “we” do not know about had to have happened.
Also, I do not think Charles is insecure about his position in anyway.
I know that Charles couldn’t handle the fact that Diana got more attention than he did back in the day, but he was 32 years old when he married her. He’s accumulated decades of wisdom since then. At this point I have to assume he understands that the younger royals will always get more coverage, and also that his biggest concern at this point is the monarchy and it’s survival. He must know how good Meghan has been for the image of the BRF and it’s shocking to me that he hasn’t done anything (publicly, to make a point) to put a stop to the disgusting treatment of Meghan.
I also agree with Becks1 that his relationship with Meghan around the time of the wedding reflected incredibly well on HIM, so even on a purely selfish level, he should want to throw his support behind her very publicly.
See, never bought that Charles loves M. It is clear WK are not close to him. He used HM to boost his image. W and H are Diana’s sons and they know how Charles treated her. He was 40 when they separated and he did nothing to protect mother of his children.
He tried though. Diana’s the one who refused palace protection after the divorce and hired private security, and apparently they had really cajoled her to accept RPOs instead. (Also, the divorce never was going to happen until Diana went on television and flat out stated that Charles should never be king.)
I keep wondering why he’s been so distant from Meghan and Harry as well.
Charles and William DID call out the bullying of Meghan before — only they obscured the issue by insisting on including Kate as an equal victim (apparently criticizing Kate’s laziness is the same as a racist attack?)
That won’t ever change. Charles and William are the future Kings (if there’s still a monarchy). Every one else is “lesser,” even their own family members, and can be disposed (socially, financially, politically) at will. That’s just how the monarchy works.
@MrsK, do you have a link to an article where they called out the bullying of Meghan? i haven’t heard about this before and would like to read what they said… Thanks.
I have a link to a CNN article, but I’m not being allowed to post it, for some reason.
Charles and William both have their eye on one key objective and that is to ascend to the throne, everything else is very secondary and they not allow Harry and Meghan’s sufferings to mess up things up for them.
@Moose I think Mrs K is referring to when all royal family SM introduced new social media guidelines and KP and Hello did this hello to kindness initiative to stop racist& sexist social media posts and people comparing the two. It was hilarious as example they used of abuse the two got was Meghan being accused of faking her pregnancy& Kate being called boring.
I am sure the palace knew about the lawsuit and that at least Charles supports it. The statement itself may have come as a surprise (or maybe they knew that Harry was going to “release a statement” and the actual wording caught them off guard) but I just cant believe that the Sussexes would do this without the approval of the palace. And its not like the this is the first time the royals have sued (or threatened to sue, cough*rose*cough).
Someone pointed this out on twitter and I agree -Harry spent several days on this tour retracing his mother’s footsteps, with pictures of his mother and him plastered all over the news, etc. I have to believe that seeped into his head and influenced the tone of the statement.
I’m with you. I truly honestly doubt that they did this without a word to anyone. I think at least Charles knew beforehand. They might be more modern, and they might be at odds with parts of the family (still not positive on that one / to what degree) but I doubt that they’d go completely out on their own without any consultation, or at least a heads up. I think they probably spoke to Charles early on in the process, and it’s possible that they didn’t know when it was going to drop, but I think they knew it was coming.
That said… it doesn’t mean that any RR’s or staff outside of who they hired to work on it knew anything about it. And I think that’s 100% deserved and on brand. The people who seem most up in arms about M&H are the old school RR’s and staff who don’t like change, and who like to feel like they’re incredibly connected and important. And when M&H do things like this without them even knowing a hint about it, it REALLY boils their blood. They’ll disguise it as “oh, the queen is NOT going to be happy” or whatever, but really that’s probably a lot of projection. The queen has enough shit on her plate at the moment – I really doubt that she cares.
And I think your reasoning on the Diana stuff is apt, too. I was surprised at the Diana bit in the statement because it almost felt tacked on to hold more weight. Make people feel guilty for treating M similarly. But even then – it was fully his right to do so, and I support him for it. It was his mother. He’s probably genuinely afraid that something just as bad could happen. But when put into context with the tour, it makes complete sense and I think it was a true, raw emotion put into words.
@Erinn – I agree with your middle paragraph. I don’t think the RRs or that many palace staff knew this was coming and that’s why so many are “lashing out” (since that’s the phrase du jour).
Re: Harry’s Diana comment in his letter, it did give me momentary pause, my first impression was to feel he was using “old news” to push a point, but then I had to ‘shake my head’ (as my grandad used to say, when he wanted us to use common sense) because the loss of a mother is NEVER going to be old news to her son, nor should it be. And it’s always going to be one of the lenses through which he will examine his and his family’s relationship to the press. So it was totally legit.
Also agree, I don’t think he went rogue. My opinion is that Harry has shown he respects the royal family’s functions and he makes amends for his mistakes, but if he feels they don’t have his back on something, he will not step down, he will do what he thinks to be right. The family would be smart to acknowledge that stubbornness and help him feel supported so he doesn’t have to appear to ‘go rogue’.
@Becks1 & Erinn: I agree with all you’ve said.
Chris Ship reported the queen and Charles were given the heads up. The Fail is claiming Charles and William were not told but that’s expected. The talking heads are scared the lawsuit is going to put the British media on trial for its practices. A YouGov poll just came out saying 54% support the Sussexes on the lawsuit, 11%% don’t. Details of the suit are due to the court by Oct. 14, the first day of the Cambridge tour in Pakistan. Karma comes for unsupportive Bill and Cathy.
No sighting of Bad Dad. The Fail can’t interview him now because he is potential witness. I still think DM sees him as a liability that needs to be dealt with.
Karma for Wandering Willy… gotta love it. Just what WW is afraid of: Harry (and Meg) getting more headlines/attention than him (and Kate).
Ahahaha I know this is petty and I’m sorry but I absolutely love that more details will come out on the very first day of the Pakistan tour. Beautiful.
+1!! Looking forward to it…
Yeah, that is really petty seeing as the Cambridges did absolutely nothing to disrupt the Sussexs tour.
I have no respect for that.
We’ll see who the press will cover. And how positive the spin.
That’s not an accurate portrayal of what was reported. It was reported that the Queen and Charles were informed of Harry’s *statement* that was issued, not that they were informed of the lawsuit before it was filed or the statement was issued. Basically, someone asked the palace whether they knew, and they sidestepped and answered that they were aware Harry had issued his statement.
I don’t trust their family and would completely understand them not trusting them with this information and not wanting to use their lawyers. They’ve done nothing to help her and it’s not a reach to believe some have been actively working against them. Do what you gotta do H&M.
Why would the Sussexes tell the people smearing them they are sueing
Because notice must be formally served when litigation starts within 2 weeks. The claim has been filed with the court so formal notice will be being served, the announcement H made allowed his spin/statement to come first, which I feel is perfectly appropriate, rather than no announcement and court reporters announcing when the notice is served.
The Royal family did absolutely nada when Princess Diana was hunted and killed by the paparazzi because it benefited them. As if the royal family was going to accept a Muslim man into the group.
Now, these media attacks on Meghan again benefits them so they will do absolutely nothing at all.
Harry was a child during Diana’s death and couldn’t do anything but he is an adult now and he will do anything to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
Go Harry, show William & Charles what a real man does to protect his family.
Diana was divorced by the time the media turned on her. While she was married to charles and even afterwards she was very close to many in the media and often tipped them off. It’s well documented. The royal family at that time had a very different and often difficult relationship with the media. When Fergie was hung out to dry they did nothing. The queen herself was castigated by the media after Diana’s death.
When you look back on photos of Diana with the boys when they were young William and Diana were often smiling and Diana frequently looked into the camera when shots were supposed to be candid. Harry on the other hand even as a child looked like he loathed the attention. I think he’s always had a hatred of the media before his mother died.
Wasn’t it Wills though, who famously said (on his first day of school), “I hate ‘tographers”?
Actually, the press routinely ripped her apart and stalked her the whole time she was married until she died. One of the most famous pics of Harry & Diana is of them peaking around a corner trying to get away from the paps-google it. It was a constant back and forth the whole time. One day it was good, the next day it wasn’t.
Diana refused Royal Protection when she divorced. It’s likely they could have protected her, but she refused their efforts (why? Only she knows). I also don’t think they could have predicted that Dodi would hire a driver who would get drunk while on the job. She trusted Dodi too much to protect her, but he didn’t have the experience to know how to deal with that stuff. We have to remember a drunk driver was involved and he was speeding.
Honestly, I think Dodi was a bit of a loser. She should have stuck with the heart surgeon. Although he was so low-key, she might have grown tired of her life with him.
The heart surgeon did not WANT Diana’s life, esp. the media attention. He broke it off. I do think he was truly the love of her life.
Dodi was a pastime, someone *mostly* to make Hassnat jealous, but also who’s father’s money could afford to give her a great summer on yachts, with enough security around (as Diana had (stupidly) refused RPOs after the divorce . According to one of Diana’s best friends, she planned to dump him after the summer.
I agree with you. Diana put herself in Dodi’s hands completely for her safety on that trip to Paris. Unfortunately the whole al Fayed secuirty organization was composed of lackeys who had to do spoiled fortysomething brat Dodi’s bidding or get in big trouble with Dodi’s daddy. The outcome was Diana ended up in a giant Mercedes driven by a drunk man careening through a tunnel.
I don’t believe she was ever going to marry Dodi, he was a summer fling and she was sticking 2 fingers up to the establishment…
Unfortunately as we all know it ended very sadly.
They know they can’t trust anyone in the Royal Family, notice no leaks since they moved to Frogmore Cottage.
The Queen can do photo-ops with her Fat fingers son, but it’s not going to stop the info coming out about him and minors.
The Royal family is a nest of vipers, jealous of one another, maybe if the Queen put family before Country, her children would’ve turn out to be better people, and now the same is happening to the grandchildren.
Excellent point, the leaks stopped after the move. Very telling.
Exactly Yoyo. I am surprised very few have commented on it! no more leaks since H&M left KP. They are able to do (especially Meghan) many & many visits with no one knowing about them until they are ready to reveal the full project.
As far as I am concerned, I will support the Sussexes (Meghan really and Harry by extension) in their Charity effort; the rest of the RF, have MAGAs, extreme right wingers and racists to support them. After FlyBe and Car rides with pedo Andrew, you can see it is a family where jealousy and envy reign supreme
Does anyone else find it ridiculous that many of these delusional royal sycophants believe that a 35-year-old man should have asked his granny, dad, and brother for permission to defend his wife? How freaking insane! My respect for Harry just went up tremendously. These psychos really want Harry to leave his wife and child and continue to follow Will and Kate around like a little boy.
I know I don’t know Harry, but he strikes me as a person w a big heart who takes up for the underdog. I believe he has and will continue to support Meghan. No matter what his family says.
Let’s keep in mind the Queen and Prince Charles are Prince Harry’s bosses.
They have to be kept in the loop of major decisions.
No, not ridiculous, given they are effectively his bosses and pay for his lifestyle.
I disagree. Informing them is one thing, but needing permission is ridiculous. If the royals were a true family, then they would publicly stand up for Meghan against the racism and slander she’s received for the past three years. They’ve released statements for several other royals, but are silent when it comes to Meghan. Doing what’s right is more important than not offending a bunch of people who are more concerned about optics than they are the well-being of another human being.
I think it depends on your definition of ‘permission’. I feel like in many cases it’s a formality, not so much a necessity, and more about the APPEARANCE of yielding to the hierarchy. And I doubt that permission is ever really withheld for logical things, if that makes sense. I think it’s more protocol of “Hey, this is what’s happened, this is what I’m going to do, I hope you see it my way”.
I agree with you @Erinn. People seem to fetishize the permission seeking in the royal family. Yes I’m sure it’s a complicated dynamic with a mix of both formal hierarchy and family but it’s 2019 and these people are adults. It’s not an involuntary servitude operation. I’ve never believed the Queen is sending out memos on pantyhose or nail polish or any other “protocols.” It seems like people are strangely drawn to the idea of that but I don’t think it’s accurate. Look at Charles and Camilla. He did have to “ask permission” to marry her given his rank and I’m sure discussion around the optics of it. But he was doing it regardless. I’m confident it was similar in this situation. We can discuss it if you want but it’s happening and we hope you’ll be supportive.
However, H&M are paying for this action with their private funds so RF really has no say in the matter…. not that Harry needs “permission” just needs to inform them so press offices are aware…
I don’t think it’s strange to consult with the Queen (the Head of State) or the first in line (Charles). They can offer advice where press is concerned. Charles himself has been a target (i.e the tampon conversation revealed through wire-taps) so he’d probably know how to help.
Heck, if I were him, I’d ask Hugh Grant for advice if I could.
LOL I’m laughing bc Hugh Grant came out in support of this lawsuit. (don’t know if you knew that, it was just funny that he was the random celeb you named.)
They aren’t the Kardashians, it isn’t a celebrity family, they are part of the government of the country. That is why they should consult each other. It is a pact with the devil – you want wealth, money, land, titles, privilege – you pay a price for that. They can give it all up tomorrow if they want. They don’t want. That is why people don’t like it when they complain. Fergie and Diana and Charles even have probably endured worse than anything H&M are complaining about. For instance, we’ve all heard Charles and Camilla on the phone, with him telling her he wants to be her tampon, we’ve seen Fergie and the toe-sucking. Camilla was attacked in public and probably the most hated woman in the country. They all had it worse than H&M, they got on with it. There is no god-given right that we have a monarchy, they are there by the will of the people only, (albeit clearly we would never be allowed to have a vote to get rid of them, lol!)
Thanks Grumpy for articulating exactly what I wanted to put. I think it’s also hard for people overseas to appreciate how weary & exhausted & anxious & depressed most Brits are now so to hear Royals whining about how they want to be normal, whilst doing nothing to renounce all their perks & trinkets, is possibly too much for us all to bear.
We’re having to read about our Nurse of the Year being driven to a nervous breakdown by his worries over Brexit (he’s Spanish but is partner to a Brit & has three children with her but is terrified over their future, as are we all) so I think sympathy may be a little thin for an entitled couple’s complaints at the moment.
🙁
@grumpy Charles, Diana and Fergie suffered because of what they DID. Both Charles and Diana had side pieces. Charles was married to Diana when he offered his services to Camilla. As for Fergie, she was trash from the beginning.
The Duchess of Sussex is being attacked for who she IS. She’s never flashed her ass or any other part of her body. She hasn’t fucked a man other than her husband or vice versa (Rose who?). Meghan is being attacked by the British media because she’s a Black woman.
Several young women have come forward to say that Prince Andrew had sex with them when they were children. I haven’t seen a fraction of the criticism of that pedophile as I have of Meghan, even in places like this that are allegedly pro-Meghan. The people who are quick to post their opinion about the Duchess of Sussex seem to be awfully silent when it comes to the Grand Old Duke of York.
Only someone who has never experienced racism would think that what Meghan is experiencing is the same as what other royals have experience. Harry certainly doesn’t and he’s been on the front line. In situations where one doesn’t know what they’re talking about, t mighti be a good idea to sit back and listen to those who know a bit more than you do.
@kerwood ….. love love love your post; Go Harry and Meghan, I hope they win. There always need to be someone who takes a stand; and there are those who prefer to be followers……..so once again Go Harry & Meghan
Charles has sued a paper/magazine before, as has William. Can we PLEASE stop with the narrative that “other royals” don’t complain? they absolutely do.
Releasing this lawsuit during a tour centered around women’s rights is perfect.
IMO, everything about how this lawsuit and the release of its filing plus Harry’s official statement has been managed masterfully from both a strategic and tactical standpoint. As others have said, seeking advice from or involving senior royals along the way would have been useless and counterproductive because of the sieve-like leaking we’ve all seen from them over the past few years. Harry and Meghan owe nothing to William, but clearly informed the Queen and possibly Charles, as appropriate. That’s all they are required to do. I so much admire how Harry and Meghan have stayed the course with how they are living their lives without toeing the old line with the BRF and British media. It obviously is very difficult in that pressure cooker. Good for them.
Very good point Kittycat, and Meghan’s final speech on their tour was so heartfelt and made many hints to what she has been going through and feeling…
Yeah Harry – unless he actually is estranged from his whole family – which he isn’t, would use some of the resources available to him a member of The Firm, I’m sure. I mean, he still lives royal palace grounds, has a title and uses some of the privileges of being a royal to promote the causes he cares about so.
I do agree however, that the timing overshadowed the end of a successful tour. It distracted me and I’m sure it did other people as well, which is a shame. I noticed the tabloids are treading lightly at the moment interestingly.
It didn’t overshadow to the groups and people they visited in South Africa. Apparently, as someone above posted, Oct. 1st was the day the court re-opened for business.
These people need to move and start a new life somewhere else. Get away from the BRF, there are plenty of countries that would be happy to have them and they can do charity work anywhere in the world. This just makes me sad because you know it’s never going to end.
Good for them! The Royal Family is pure trash
There are other articles (like Vanity Fair and Times) that said that Harry informed only the Queen (and this was good IMO).
Vanity Fair + Katie Nichol = 0
Vanity Fair thinks South Africa still has a Pime Minister (which they haven’t had since 1984, literally 35 years ago). So that’s the last place you should look for “facts.”
I find the way these slimy tabloid hacks keep characterising his very thoughtful and heartfelt statement as a “rant” to be extremely insulting and infantilizing. These people are ruthless and brutal. Those of us who’ve been following the coverage have seen this vicious smear campaign unfold in real time for the past year, when it really started to accelerate. We have also seen the individual members of the Royal Family either do nothing or actively seek to use the bullying to their own PR advantage. Meghan and Harry are not above criticism but anyone looking at this in good faith knows it’s gone way beyond that and that it’s truly mean-spirited and ugly, with plenty of racist, xenophobic, classist and sexist undertones.
I fully support you, Meghan and Harry!
This.
+1
Good. It’s what they deserve. The Palace stood by and did NOTHING to protect Meghan. Meanwhile the Queen is taking pap rides with her pedo son and Kate and William are speaking out against botox stories. Screw them all. Harry is a lot like his mother in that he will go rogue to protect himself and his family because he knows the Palace doesn’t give a damn.
Glad he didn’t, if true.
As others have said, this would have been leaked if he had. The timing to me was perfect especially since Harry knows these two faced reporters were going to start their crap again as soon as they got back like they did after the successful Oceanic tour. Also, it shows that Meghan and Harry aren’t scared to face these people after dropping this suit.
These reporters were at Meghan’s throat during her whole pregnancy, and not one peep from Harry’s supposedly anti bullying supporting brother to back off. Harry always supported Kate and was vocal with it.
Harry had a true awakening with that POS brother.
I seriously doubt the Queen and Prince Charles were kept out of the loop. They knew about it, but seriously what could they do. William was most definitely kept out of the discussion because Harry doesn’t trust his family’s well-being in his brother’s hands. KP would have leaked this information.
The statement from the Sussex lawyers said they were funding this case themselves. They aren’t asking BP to give them money to fight their battles. They are doing it themselves. As an aside, I wonder if adding that part to the statement was deliberate and directed at certain family members.
Everything in that statement was well thought out, this is a man with a huge family, thanking strangers for their support and asking them to keep supporting them, nothing about his family.
Kensington Palace can continue with their keenness.
It’s typical when someone in the Royal Family initiates a legal action like this (as Charles and William both have), for them to note that it’s being funded privately. This is good for optics too, as the media can’t shape the narrative and say “your tax money is funding attacks on the press by the royals,” which I’m sure they’d love to be able to say to gin up maximum outrage, and which would be pretty problematic if true. It has to come from their own pockets.
I agree that Charles and the Queen were probably kept in the loop, it seems obvious they would be, but that William and Kensington Palace were most certainly kept out of the loop. Harry doesn’t answer to William at this point in his life, but he does answer to Charles and the Queen. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the leaks stopped once Harry and Meghan moved to Frogmore and their offices formally separated. It seems very obvious that sources within KP were doing most of the leaking.
Harry’s emphasis on thanking the public and saying that while it may
not seem so, they do need the public’s support, made me go “hmmm”. That might be directed at the family as much as at us.
One interesting thing to note about fees is that under English law, whomever pays the bill very much influences who can ‘instruct’ the lawyers and access case information. This is all based on the principle of ‘who is your client’. It’s a conduct point and lawyers can be sanctioned for flouting it.
This may be why H & M are funding it so that instructions come from them and not ‘the crown’…. a very impt factor when you are trying to keep informaiton beyond the reaches of other senior royals (aka William) and / or ‘the little grey men in suits’.
I also notice that H&M are using Schillings as opposed to the usual RF Lawyers ( who I believe are Harbottle & Lewis). Again this may be due to privacy / collusion concerns (which theoretically lawyers ‘should be above’).
However note that Solicitors and Barristers are ‘officers of the court’ so ultimately at all times the highest authority you are answerable to is ‘the crown’….
Re the timing, it’s classic tactical ambush. Catch them in the after-glow of monetizing Archie when they least expected it and thought the bullying campaign had worked.
I love how these racist idiots infantalize Harry. He’s a grown man perfectly capable of dealing with personal issues without running to Dad and Granny. Still trying to paint him as the hot headed incompetent youth who doesn’t listen. Penny Junor is such a mysogynist too for a woman.
A recent YouGov poll stated that 4 percent of the English public trust the news. So the bigger problem is not the dynamics between Prince Harry and his father and brother in this endeavor.
It is that if one is in the business of selling news as a commodity, there are certain criteria that must ensure that in the exchange the buyer is getting the best product at the best price.
Writing unsanisiated news items without factual evidence and producing biased opinions to inculcate hate and initiate cultural wars is not a good business model. Yet they persist
Why?
The Sussexes are not the problem , the bullying they endured is.
The tabloid press seemed unable to accept that they do not set the terms of engagement in the resolution of their anti social behaviour.
It is similar to turning on a hose to stop kicking sand in you eyes and people saying it is ineffective. So what is the alternative? The present way is clearly unacceptable.
I mentioned in the thread on this topic yesterday that inciting hatred is a crime in UK, so surely some of these RRRs can be charged with that? Not sure how far that law reaches though….
I wouldn’t consult the RF either. All they care about is protecting Pedo Andy and letting us know that Kate doesn’t get botox *side eye* & that Wills did not cheat on Kate *eye roll*. They’ve never had their back and most of the leaks and bad stories about H&M seem to have come from the palace. They have no reason to trust them so good on them for going “rogue”.
Reminder, Kate’s topless photos came out during the Cambridges Asia tour. They issued their law suit and William made a strong statement about it in the middle of the tour, including saying the photographer’s actions reminded him of the harassment his mother endured. I don’t remember the press saying that statement overshadowed that tour, also funded at taxpayer’s expense.
Most reports indicate Harry did inform the Queen of the lawsuit. Charles and the Queen have both sued on the same basis previously so this is not new to them. In relation to the statement – doesn’t their comms have to run through BP? I wonder if it’s on separate website from BP as Harry’s statement talks about press bullying which the Queen may not want to be seen as given approval to.
But generally, Meghan and Harry are on their own – I think that’s why Harry’s first speech made the point that his role was to defend his wife. Whilst the Queen and Charles may like her I don’t think they are going to waste PR points on supporting her. Their support may be behind the scenes like supporting their office through BP but I bet the Queen doesn’t think she needs to do more publicly due to Meghan’s lack of constitutional importance. And now she’s got bigger problems affecting her own son. Charles really doesn’t have that much leverage with the press – they aren’t exactly nice to him either – look how they forget him in rush to crown William and Kate future King and Queen. And as I’ve said on previous posts whilst Meghan is in the firing line, others are getting glowing press. Charles and Camilla still get quite low poll numbers, so being in press’ good books works for Charles as he prepares to become King and helps to ensure Camilla will be Queen consort, which he really wants.
love that the lawsuit caught the royal press pack by surprise. Much tighter ship since since they moved to Frogmore.
Apparently there is going to be a documentary by Tom Bradby about the Southern Africa tour and he said on Twitter that it will explain a lot when it airs. Intriguing!
Never heard of Tom Bradby, is he any more credible than the BM?
Did you mean “DM”?
Bwahahahaha! “BM” is perfect!!
@Yoyo Tom is a journalist that is a friend of William & Harry. He did the Cambridges engagement interview and think he’s done a documentary with Harry in Southern Africa before. So I think he would have BTS access.
@Rogue ITA with your entire comment.
All this reminds me of something I heard on a podcast recently. It was about Trump, but the reporter said something like, imagine there’s a full sheet of paper with typewritten text. It’s like the public is looking at it through a straw — we see so little of what’s actually happening.
Obviously I’m here reading and speculating along with everyone else, but I do think it’s a good reminder that we really have no idea what happens behind the scenes in the palace or who actually did what. But we CAN clearly see that absolutely none of the senior royals have defended Meghan publicly, which is vile IMO.
Does anyone else think that the phrase he used “powerful forces” he is referring to members of the BRF
It can be both the Royal family and the British Media.
Maybe, but I think it also includes the British MAGA types.
Apparently his advisors thought it wasn’t a good idea, mostly because of the timing. The RF should be happy, it’s a diversion from the Pedo.
The queen and her regular law firm are probably too busy figuring how to defend paedo andy to get involved in this legal action. Anyway, good for h&m.
Entire family is trash. Down with the monarchy but protect the Sussexes
@Sands I do wonder if it’s the ‘men in grey suits’ he was talking about as well as the editors etc when talking about powerful forces. I do think saying public support is needed cos a) family havent helped b) public drives demand for these stories so may make it go down if people stop clicking on these stories c) he knows how press will report to avoid accountability& public need to rally against bullying. Right now reporters are calling him hysterical, unhinged, fragile& questioning his mental state.
Also recent YouGov poll stated 39% think Meghan is covered unfairly- was largest margin by compared to rest of the BRF. And 54% strongly support or tend to support the legal action
H&M are progressive, merit-oriented royals in a predominantly (far)right class-oriented culture of royal family, courtiers, press, political and aristocratic establishment (the “powerful forces”). So no support for them there. Harry’s appeal to the public for support (like Diana) is the only alternative they have to create their global humanitarian platform for change. The timing of the statement/suit was perfect, at the peak of the tour in the global spotlight. The global public and serious press response were very positive. The grapes are sour for the toxic UK tabloids. Rightfully so!
The power of the RF is in decline. The monarchy is now the weakest link in the constitutional system (thanks to Boris Johnson-QEII parliament suspension debacle). The political left and right are pondering to abolish the monarchy after Brexit. Hopefully H&M will have their own humanitarian global platform by then and continue to serve the UK government as royal ambassadors. It would be the best position any spare ever had.
Except BP confirmed that both the Queen and Prince Charles had both known about it before he released it. It was in all the initial reports but of course theres not a story there so why not re-write it with them having no idea and being blind-sided.
Thank you! Good lord, people are acting like Harry and Meghan are five years old and need their permission slips signed before doing anything. I think Charles and the Queen are fully aware that they’re dealing with grown adults here, and that while they can advise, they can’t make them do anything they don’t want to do.
Oh boy, Harry rightfully does not trust his family it firm.
I think the timing of the lawsuit was correct. H&M know the bullsh!t with the press was going to start up again as soon as they got home. They can’t let their guard down with this pack of wolves. If they had filed it while W&K were in Pakistan then they would have been accused of being attention wh*res and overshadowing “future king and queen”.
Excellent points, @MsIam.
I think the tour was great and extremely effective. It’s proved that the Sussexes can bring it and felt they gained momentum as they went along. Releasing the statement when they did didn’t take away a thing from it. While the Royal reporters are saying it took away from their begrudging coverage , I think it took away from whatever narratives they were going to construct after the tour to undermine what they accomplished on the tour. What it did was focus world press attention and the public on the tabloid press’ virulent and persistent anti-Meghan stance, and gave maximum exposure to Harry’s statement. They knew what they were doing. After all, aren’t they surrounded PR professionals that we were lead to believe are here to “clean up” Meghan or make them more Hollywood 🙄. We are told that the statement was all Harry and he consulted no one before sending that. Yeah , sure. That’s the spin to undermine it. Compare the writing and construction of what he wrote, with specific legal call outs, to that sloppy grammatical mess Andrew issued a few weeks ago. Did Old Yorkie consult the palace before he issued that hot mess? There is no comparison. The tabloids will continue spew what they want but it will be met with skepticism by most except the Brexit, MAGA, and bigoted bunch they cater to. Well done, hope they prevail in the lawsuit and then get on about their duties and causes as they have been doing from the start.
Well said!! Regarding the statement and who wrote it – I too believe he had a professional write it but that it’s 100% his sentiments. There’s nothing wrong with him having it written for him that’s what he pays them for and as you pointed out, he wants to make sure it’s crystal clear and not a mess like Andy’s.
Screw the royal family. They’ve done nothing to protect Meghan. But they love to profit off her. Good for harry for standing up for his wife. I really hope they end up leaving that cesspool of crap one day.
Frankly, I do not think it matters. But also, remember that Harry and Meghan are based off of Buckingham Palace now, and are presumably sharing some staff still with the Queen the last I heard. The idea that she hasn’t known about this is ridiculous. She knew. She didn’t give a f-ck, because as a rule, she chooses not to intervene in the personal lives of the younger members of the RF. That has ALWAYS been her MO. The fact that the media is trying so hard to paint her as this head honcho who has to micromanage everything is flat out wrong. She prefers that members of the RF handle their own sh-t, which is exactly what Meghan and Harry are doing.
Good! About damn time!
The daily mail loves to run with a narrative that Meghan and Harry have gone rogue that they doing things without permission. That’s the narrative that the press has created and the royal reporters have been saying since after their wedding. Its pretty clearly that Sussexs have a case and that their going to win the daily mail is trying to muddy the water and continue to create chaos by trying. To gaslight harry statement as rants when it’s clearly to anyone who has a heart that this for a man who loves his wife and his son and sick and tired of the nastiness that has been throw at his wife. The daily mail knows that have been downright awful disgusting and incredibly racist toward Meghan they only things they can do is try to demonized the Sussexs as much as possible. But it’s clearly that public on the side of Meghan and Harry . I hope this goes to trial I want to know how much they been paying Thomas and Samantha markle for the past three years to trash Meghan .
@Vanessa OMG I hadn’t thought of that but it will be extremely interesting if during the trial we find out how much and when the DM paid the Markles for those photos/letter…🍿
If they hate their lives so much why dont they renounce their titles? But they never will because they would never give up their status and privilege.
They don’t hate their lives, they hate the way jealous trolls and the press are treating them. I doubt seriously if the roles were reversed you would roll over and play dead too.
They hate the RACISM. And only someone who has never experienced it would be so casual about it.
This is not about hating their lives. It is about Prince Harry calling those vipers who are harassing his wife and infant son. Jeez, I cannot believe you people would side with those racist reporters. It is very telling.
Why consult people who are protecting a known pedophile? They don’t exactly have the best judgment.
From a PR standpoint, I’m not sure I agree with announcing the lawsuit during the Tour. I think they hoped it would just get washed over by all the events they have going on, but now THIS is the headline instead of all the good work they’re doing in Africa.
I fully agree Harry should be able to protect his wife in any way he sees fit, I’m just not sure about the timing of his announcement. It would have been better to wait until the royal tour was over .
The UK as we know it is over so they are using Meghan as a distracting tactic. she should stop reading the paper if she even does, and enjoy her life. She has the tools!
Why should Harry consult with the royal family? I’m sure that his grandmother and father know. Other than that, it’s nobody else’s fucking business. Should he have dropped an email to the woman who wore a ‘blackamoor’ brooch the day Meghan was to meet the family. Or texted his brother, who has exploited Meghan’s abuse for his own gain?
The people that need to know, know. The rest can pound sand.
I see an interview with Harry/Meghan in the near future. So they can set the record straight and explain their reasons on their own terms. If the British tabs would back off a bit the Sussexes would probably cooperate a little, but they can’t catch their breath without some ridiculous story in the tabs where they can’t respond. Harry/Meghan should use some press releases to combat some of these negative stories. For example: The Sussex did not give any rules for their neighbors to follow when they are approached-this was said by others not working on our behalf.
@Blunttalker they would be doing daily press releases- someone like the Express has 9 stories on their website before noon. the neighbour rules story was denied by BP& the denial was in a small paragraph in the original article but the Sun still ran it on front page & resulted in Meghan being called uppity on TV.
@Clay statement says they’ve been trying to resolve with the Fail BTS which is something required under English civil law but it wasn’t resolved to their satisfaction. I imagine they have also been collecting evidence to build strongest case.
I’m not surprised the PRESS think it’s ill-advised- yesterday an MP quoted this action and other recent high profile incidents as to why Levenson 2 inquiry is needed which media obviously don’t want. The Queen& Charles have sued (and won) over their correspondence before so Meghan’s action over her letter isn’t new& is a real legal issue which many commentators think is a straightforward win (the copyright issue).
Schillings seems to have a specific expertise on privacy& smear campaigns which is also listed in the claim so maybe that’s why they are being used rather than Harbottle&Lewis.
I think they’re fed up. That’s the feeling I’m getting from them.
If I remember correctly there were rumors of a lawsuit right after the letter was published. I don’t think a lawsuit can take that long to prepare, unless they had it there waiting in the oven ready to pull it out when they thought the timing was right. And this leads to really questioning their timing. Many outlets serious and not biased have said they had to push out favorable stories about the ending of their African tour to make room to this story about the lawsuit and Harry’s statement. They all agree the timing is terrible. The choice of an external law firm makes me think the Palace was informed but was contrary. Using the palace law firm would have implied the Queen approval without a doubt, and that they had the support of the family. It all seems like a ill timed and advised issue, maybe orchestrated more for public impact than a real legal issue.
It was mentioned that the lawsuit took months in preparation and that private negotiations with the press had taken place but were not successful. That is not unusual. The timing was perfect, in the global spotlight. The response was positive in terms of public support and exposure by the serious global media. Real life is always a mixture of magic and raw reality. As was beautifully highlighted on this African tour through the inspiring engagements and reflected in their personal story through their heartfelt statement/suit. More power to them!
A lawsuit without the Queen’s approval has a weaker impact on the press.
Please explain. I don’t recall TQ announcing, personally or via proxy, her approval of the Cambridge v. Closer lawsuit.
LOL
The only thing that impacts the press is the bottom line £££££££.
The Queen is a figured head, just wait for the next Bulletin from Boris Johnson to read to the public.
It’s call negotiating.
Screw serious outlets, their job is to report the news not make it up.