I continue to find it curious as to why People Magazine decided to go with “Royal Rift” for their cover story this week. The rift being the sexy, younger-royal rift between the Sussexes and Cambridges. It seems like that’s not the only damn rift in the House of Windsor these days, as shadow King Charles stuck the knife in his brother’s back yesterday. But as we all know, the younger royals’ drama is being used to distract from the larger dysfunction with the older royals. I don’t dismiss the fact that there IS a legitimate rift between the Sussexes and Cambridges either. Clearly, there is. I just disagree with People’s sources that the rift is all about William’s preparations to be king or whatever. I think the rift is about William being a petty a–hole. In any case, People Mag wants us to know that the Cambridges still haven’t really reached out to the Sussexes:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s emotionally wrenching ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which was filmed during their royal tour in Africa, did little to quell rumors of tension within the royal family. In fact, when Harry acknowledged that he and Prince William are “certainly on different paths at the moment”—it became clear that the unity of the “Fab Four” (Harry, Meghan, William and Kate Middleton) was always more fairy tale than reality.
Those close to the couple say both Meghan, 38, and Harry, 35, struggle with ongoing feelings of isolation from the rest of the family, with Harry’s friend Tom Bradby—who interviewed the couple for the documentary—describing them as “bruised and vulnerable.”
Following their candid revelations in the October special, in which Meghan bared her pain at being a new mom in the spotlight and Harry admitted his desperation to protect his family from constant tabloid scrutiny, a source says “eyes are open” about their emotional distress, but the relationship between the couple and the rest of the royal family has not grown any closer as a result.
“There hasn’t been this complete 180,” a source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “Nothing has changed. They don’t speak, no one is checking in, no one is texting.”
Yeah, I believe that. I believe that William still isn’t checking in with Harry and I believe the Sussexes are being isolated by the Windsors. It really sucks and you know what? Diana would have hated that for her sons. But I’ve always felt like Diana would be very disappointed with how William turned out, in general. I still feel like William wants to exile the Sussexes physically, and perhaps William has just decided to exile them emotionally and psychologically for now, and that’s how he will “force them out.”
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Avalon Red.
The royal family is falling apart and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of selfish grifters. Harry and Meghan would do well to escape the sinking ship.
All I can think is good on them for ducking out of Christmas before the explosion. They were vilified (obviously), but now they look like the sensible ones for avoiding Gross Andrew.
It is Andrew who should be the family pariah, not a young couple who have only been an asset to the institution.
I’m trying to wrap my head why did Harry’s had to announce that Meghan will finally get the family she never had when she marries him? I get that he wasn’t trying to trick her or anything, but in the light of recent events he comes off as just another conceited royal. What was the point of throwing shade at her father, when clearly his own family as bad as any other, only with more money? Was he just hopeful like the rest of us who have families and love them no matter what? Or did he mean himself and their future children?
IDK but according to MM’s own posts to her blog, she had a good relationship with her family members at one time. She went to good schools growing up and there are several glowing posts by her of how her parents stayed close, even though they divorced. One paternal uncle helped her secure a prestigious internship.
Perhaps, instead of Harry explaining that relations had soured, it was easier for him to just say she wasn’t close to them ever, but that doesn’t seem true. Or maybe she didn’t talk about it with him, understandable, so he didn’t have all the details.
I took it as him saying “she’ll get along, spend time with, and be liked by my family.” In a happy way, and maybe he forgot that she had the family issue at that point and was mainly referring to her not having a big family or big family gatherings, which many people don’t. It was a response to a surprise question right? He just doesn’t seem the type to try to make drama or shade or whatever
I said this at the time, that the royal family are no prize pigs themselves (racist, shady, amoral, intellectually weak) so it’s not like Meghan should have to apologize for her own family.
I’ve always felt for William& Harry. It’s hard enough when parents have an unhappy marriage and use you as pawns but so much worse if it’s playing out in the press. I remember reading about them being in hiding at school when Diana’s panorama interview came out. And William being teased about Diana’s affairs& physique. And sounds like she did overstep with having William as a confidante. It probably made it hard to trust so I can see why he might have had a difficult relationship with Charles and would prefer the normalcy of the Middletons.
Then on top of that they had to be seen in public after their mums death& keep a stiff upper lip when most kids would have been left to their grief privately. I think both men bear the scars of a difficult childhood.
I am bored with all the rift talk but hope that what Harry said in the documentary is true-they will always be there for each other& support each other. if there are issues hopefully they take steps to solve them.
@Mrs.Krabapple, IMHO, the only difference between Harry’s extended family and Meghan’s extended family is the amount of money in their bank accounts.
I think Harry, while he likely knew some of his extended family were trash, naively thought his immediate family were better than this, especially his brother and SIL. In a way, I think he was like Meghan in that regard, looking for the best in her father and ignoring other things about him because, despite things he may have done over the years (there is video of her at 17-18 saying right out that she wasn’t talking to her father at the moment), he was still her *father* and she did love him.
It is known that Harry stayed in the Royal Family because his grandmother convinced him to. It’s clear that he’s been a willing shield most of his life for William’s foibles, but he’s always grown up with the idea that it would be his place to support his brother no matter what.
However, it’s likely become heartbreakingly clear to him that that same support was not/is not being returned, particularly by WIlliam. In fact, it looks like it was his own brother helping to throw his pregnant (at the time) wife under the bus.
Harry didn’t lie to Meghan when he made that comment about “the family she never had.” He just, sadly, didn’t really known his own family when it came to this. (And while I’m not biracial or have ever been in an interracial relationship, I’ve heard tell of many stories of white people who enter into such relationship being shocked/surprised and heartbroken with their family in how they treat the POC they are with – sometimes it’s outright hostility, while other times it can be just passive-aggressive ways that they show their disapproval. However, their eyes get really opened when it comes to racism in the world, and that has for SURE happened to Harry while he’s been with Meghan, including probably wrt his family).
This was Harry’s quote after being asked about explaining family traditions to Meghan “ We’ve got one of the biggest families that I know of and every family is complex as well.”
“She’s done an absolutely amazing job. She’s getting in there and it’s the family, I suppose, she’s never had.” I took his comment at the time to refer to Meghan being in this big family atmosphere with strange traditions. Perhaps her family Christmases before tended to be small gatherings.
The Markles have always been fractured. Even those who came out to attack Meghan admitted they hadn’t seen her or other relatives for years. Not sure the Raglands extended family were that tight knit either- in one interview Doria’s half sibling said nobody knew until quite late in the day that Doria was about to marry Thomas.
Guessing Meghan and her father have had up and down relationship for years. In his most recent interview he admitted he hadn’t seen her since 2015. He hadnt seen his other kids for years too. In video her ex BFF sold to the Fail before college Meghan said she wasn’t speaking to her father.
It’s telling that Thomas didn’t sell pictures of Meghan as an adult & if he was closer surely he would have been at her UN talk or other moments whereas her mum was. Sounds like she loves him but there’s been distance for a long time.
If Harry did mean his family could provide real sense of family to Meghan- he was very naive given Diana’s experience unless he thought Diana was exaggerating her sense of isolation or thought they had changed. But also Markle Snr’s letter revealed that in October 2017 (so before the radio broadcast) he had emailed Meghan for money in exchange for his ‘loyalty’ and I think Harry cut off the money train soon after, so it’s possible Harry’s disgust with Snr slipped out in that comment.
I agree with a poster above that Harry may be seeing his family (and maybe friends) through different lens for the first time because of being in an interracial relationship. He’s on record sticking up for many in the family& his comments defending Camilla stick out in particular so must be disappointing for that not to be reciprocated with Meghan.
i can imagine the royals disapproving of Harry’s choice& can understand William urging caution because it was whirlwind& bi-coastal. but William seemed happy& supportive at the wedding & seemed very kind in initial public appearances with Meghan. Plus weren’t there reports William was also very upset when Markle snr pulled out of the wedding?
So i dont buy there was a pre wedding rift. my guess is work related conflict with the Royal Foundation. Hopefully they can sort it out.
Re “According to posts on her own blog” comment – I see 3-5 lies a day online about friends’ and acquaintances’ awesome relations when I know better from real life but I don’t call anyone out on it. People are messy.
Oh please! Harry has been a Royal all his life and yes he’s not as bad as Andrew but to think he’s somewhat above them all is ridiculous. The entire Royal family are entitled and only recently has Harry been trying to separate himself from the lot of em
I do think think that their future plans include a) what will happen when the monarchy is slimmed and they eventually are put out, and b) what happens if the monarchy collapses during their lifetime. I think their work shows that if either of those things happen, they’ll still be able to work independently, without patronages, etc. They’re basically building their own businesses and creating a job for themselves with volunteer work. They know what could happen, apres nous le deluge. Although not as dark and terrifying, the end is now a possibility.
I think people has this story this week bc it was already written and ready to go, and the younger royals on the cover would sell better than Andrews face.
The rift doesn’t have anything to do with William being king unless that means William thinks he should be able to throw Harry under the bus whenever he wants. I am more of the belief that it’s bc William is a petty ahole like Kaiser said.
The reason Meghan has such a big target on her back is to hide Andrew. Its classic deflection. Don’t look at this dumpster fire here, let me cook you up something to rage at over there. It’s just very lucky for the palace that Meghan has liberal politics, is biracial and is a Yank. The perfect trifecta for Brexit Britain and the Daily Fail commentariat to froth over. The fact that the Palace connected commentators like Dickie “The C*ck” Arbiter tried to invoke Meghan at the beginning of the week just gives it away. As the days have passed, it’s become impossible to draw a parallel to drag the Sussexes into producing click$ for revenue$ and royalists have had to just focus on Andrew. Looks like People Magazine was a puppet in this strategy but went to print before the tide had fully turned on Andrew.
It isn’t just hiding Andrew. It is hiding Rose and all of her cohort, as she wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.
nota, you are correct. However, I was referring specifically to the People Magazine story and what has gone on this week in the press since the Andrew interview. The London Telegraph has an excellent article by a political reporter posted today about Andrew..
Honest truth? I think William DOES think he should be able to thrown Harry under the bus to protect himself whenever he wants. Because that has pretty much been Harry’s function since the time they were teenagers at least.
And I’ll bet William is put-out that Harry isn’t going for it anymore and just baring it. Charles let it be known he likes that being with Meghan has given Harry more of a backbone, and I bet William hates that. Because I bet it means that Harry’s directly stood up to him more now in private about such things. Including likely the Rose stuff if it’s true.
So yeah, in a way, this does have to do with William being King, in that Harry likely isn’t deferring to William and what he wants when it comes to some personal things anymore especially wrt Harry himself. Harry doesn’t care at all about being King, but he DOES care about being used by his brother in the way he used to be just because William will (maybe, if the monarchy survives) be King one day
Ahem let me readjust my tinfoil tiara.
Theory: people had this already written up and went with it not because they are covering up Andrew but because they had made a deal with H+M. My reasoning is that the line about William not reaching out directly contradicts stories about him being concerned about his brother etc etc. I think H+M are using the media connections they have to play the game back at William. This article really didn’t make him look good I thought.
(Goes to add new glitter and rhinestones to tiara)
I have to agree with you. People seems to be one of Meghan and Harry’s publications of choice. This isn’t the first time People has ran pro Sussex stories.
That concern was PR because Will’s people had to put something out. Which was the word “fragile”.
Harry doesn’t seem fragile just tired of the UK press BS. And this article has more of a link to the Cambridges than the Sussexes, since that Simon guy who is a contributor on this article is a major suck up to them.
The article would never have come from the Sussexes as the article blames the feud on Harry’s jealousy. If anything, the article has a pro-Cambridge spin.
I think if Diana were still around a lot of things would have played it very differently.
Yes for one thing Katie Keen wouldn’t be Duchess – in fact she would have seen the Middleton’s off at the gate. Diana was a snob and there is no way she’d want someone like Kate and her family anywhere near her son. It’s likely William would have studied in the US and probably had lots of fun with the ladies of US high society – who knows he might have married an American.
A snob wouldn’t want Meghan and her “family” either. Harry’s life would have been trauma free and he probably would have settled with a Diana-approved woman in his late twenties.
I see some similarities in Diana’s public personality and Meghan public personality and don’t think Diana would have liked the competition. Diana may have loathed the media and paparazzi when it wasn’t on her terms but she absolutely LOVED the press attention and having the spotlight all to herself on her terms. With Meghan in the picture she would have to share the spotlight/column inches and I don’t think she would have put up with that.
I think that if she was still alive both her son’s would have married different women.
I am very close with a woman who was a student at the Pimlico kindergarten where Diana worked prior to her engagement to Charles. Diana even babysat her on occasion, and the family stayed in touch with her after she married. So I can say with confidence that Diana was not a snob in the classic sense – she did not think of herself as automatically better due to her title nor did she think of any work as beneath her. She used to clean houses and babysit for cash, for heaven’s sake.
However, Diana was street smart in a way the Windsors are not. She could smell a social climber from a mile away and knew that her position as the mother of a future king would always attract some bad apples. Kate would have never been allowed anywhere near William, but Meghan might have been acceptable for Harry. Had she lived, I suspect she would have understood the power of social media and realized that a savvy, well-educated actress could be most beneficial to the Firm and to her personally to deflect from her when necessary and draw even more attention to her when desired. Can you imagine how much promotion would be generated from Diana doing a joint appearance with Meghan at a charity?
A snob who wanted to marry an ordinary Pakistani?
He wasn’t an ordinary Pakistani, his family is of the nobility. They thought *Diana* wasn’t good enough for *him*.
@Fabuleuse – your racism is showing. Hasnat Khan is an eminent heart surgeon and from a very high-ranking family. His family was aghast that he was involved with Diana, they wanted him to marry into an equally noble Pakistani family.
Bearcat
I’m sorry but Diana was absolutely a snob. She was considered a bit eccentric because she absolutely and genuinely loved doing domestic chores. She said it relaxed her. Ironing was her favorite. But yes she was a Sloan princess if ever there was one. She once made a scathing remark to Prince Philip about the royal bloodline (Germanic) not being as aristocratic as her English one.
In another instance she ate a meal that her boss had left in the fridge. She was reprimanded and asked to replace the roast. Insulted Diana took the passive/aggressive route and “accidentally” left a check from her father lying around. Her boss found it and returned it to her, evidently aware of the eye-popping sum it was made out for.
Diana was more than comfortable reminding you who and what she was.
I don’t think William would have studied at a US university. Diana had an admiration for JFK Jr.’s conduct with the press, but I don’t understand the assumption that she liked all things American.
@BearcatLawyer – yes, Diana cleaned houses… but they were the homes of her peers, her sisters’ friends and such – people from “nobility”.
@MonicaCK – the details are irrelevant, of course, but as a historian I like to set them straight. 🙂 She did raid a fridge and pick all the meat out of a casserole or something, but she was never reprimanded – in fact, she was kindly reminded that she was welcome to anything in the fridge, only would she please let them know, so they can replace the foodstuffs. Apparently she turned red, apologised, of course… and then the next day the woman whose son Diana was babysitting found a checkbook or a letter on her sofa, with the inscription LADY Diana Spencer. That was what impressed the landlady. Apparently she said to Diana: “I had no idea you were a lady”, and Diana – of course – laughingly waved the subject away as if it were an unimportant trifle.
Yes, she liked being treated as a “regular girl” – as long as it was clear to everyone present that she was anything BUT.
Ex-Mel
I read a different account. It was my understanding that the employer certainly knew she was a lady and Diana left a check, not her checkbook, lying around. Tina Brown was good friends with Diana. Still I completely agree with your summation of Diana’s approach to her aristocracy.
There is no way the British royal family would have let William marry an American. I don’t even think someone fron high society in any commonwealth country would have bee nacceptable. He is the future king and the expectations and pressure on him is huge. Not to mention he himself is a snooty a-hole.
I think Diana did a lot of damage to William before she died, personally. Not to say that her death wasn’t the biggest trauma in his life, but there are so many accounts of the ways William got caught in the crossfire between her and Charles. I always remember how she told the press the story of him consoling her in the bathroom. I feel like he had to bear the brunt of those issues in a way Harry was a bit more protected from.
And I’m not convinced Diana would have liked Kate OR Meghan. Don’t think she was a fan of perceived competition.
I agree with you, any parent that use their child against the other parent is a bad parent (Diana &Charles).
She did not help William at all, treating him as a confident, instead of a child, no wonder is is such a wet blanket.
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. Being the oldest child when your parents are going through rough patches/divorce isn’t a fun time. Parentification of a child is a lot more common than people think, AND it does a lot more damage than people realize. Your child shouldn’t know the inner workings of your relationships/relationship struggles. Friends and adult family members are there for venting… your child should never be. And I know for sure that my own childhood wasn’t nearly as rocky as W&H’s and it was never a public spectacle, either. And it STILL managed to give me a lot of neuroticism and conflict resolution issues that I work on to this day.
I will say most parents who do this sort of thing probably aren’t doing it with evil intentions, and a lot probably aren’t aware of how hard it is for the kid going through it. But the damage still gets done.
I think Diana “spousified” William which very often happens to the eldest child when there is a divorce or early death of a parent/spouse.
I have seen this happen in may families, mine own included.
My mother did something similar to me, not regarding marital troubles but regarding her illness and her general bitterness over her parents and her sister. Our roles got completely reversed and that really does a lot of damage to a teenager.
I also think that at one time or another, she was estranged from every member of her family. She did the same thing with friends-there would be fights and freeze outs. She was not an emotionally healthy person. I think that as the boys got older, she would have done the same thing with them.
We can only guess at what Diana would have done. Diana & Charles didn’t always discipline William when he was young and I think we’re seeing the results of that today. However, of the two parents, Diana was known to check William’s behaviour when he was acting badly as a child. Since there is no one who will check William now he doesn’t know when there’s a problem that needs talking out and when he’s just being petty,
I can believe part of this story, that the Cambridges have been ghosting and isolating them – the court case has gotten the DoLittle’s worried as they are about to be exposed for leaking all that stuff to the Fail. This is William being a petty bully to try and make them drop the lawsuit. Shame on them all if the rest of the family is doing what Bratty Bill wants but am not convinced of that – to me this stinks of the recent PR narrative that’s been coming out about how William is preparing to be King one day. I guess Charles isn’t going to be King then – what does William know about that we don’t!?!?!
When I read that article the other day that the Sussexes are basically being shunned by the royal family that quote that nobody is calling, visiting, or texting to show any sort of support rang true to me. Although, how anyone other than Meghan and Harry would know that makes the article very unreliable. However, I haven’t seen one photo or read one article that states that anyone in the family spoke to them or allowed any sort of photo with them at the 2 big Remembrance Day events they all attended. And surely every reporter at those events was salivating for any family contact between the Sussexes and the others (even a behind the scenes friendly greeting or a smile). All we have is a photo of them sitting behind Andrew or Harry having to stand next to Andrew at the wreath laying. I found the footage of Meghan on the balcony sandwiched between 2 obviously unrelenting, frowning in-laws to be especially brave of her and yet sad. Even the body language of the 2 in-laws was hostile and cold and unrelenting. Sophie especially looked like she was sucking on something extremely sour. So, I think there is some truth to the article because how hard would it have been for any of them to give 10 seconds of support with a brief smile or touch or a friendly word to indicate to press (and thus to us all) that they are supported.
So, who in their right mind — or good mental health — would subject themselves to several days over Christmas with that unrelenting level of hostility just to provide a PR walk to church. Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday in Great Britain so it’s only Christmas we are talking about here.
I say good for the Sussexes and anything they need to do to thrive not just survive. Who wants to spend quality private time with hostile “co-workers.”
Harry saying he and his brother are “certainly on different path at the moment” never made sense to me. Would have made more sense back in the day when he was single and partying hard, but now both he and Will are married, are fathers, both the duchesses are mothers and are more visible than ever. If anything, this is when their “paths” should have been more in sync than ever before. So that statement always struck me as way more loaded than he expressed. Something very divisive must have happened between the brothers and it doesn’t feel like it has anything to do with the crown. It seems personal, and that’s definitely something harder to reconcile.
I think it stems for the fact that reportedly William does NOT like Meghan and tried to talk Harry out of marrying her as he didn’t feel she was good enough for his brother. And also Harry marrying and starting his own family meant that William could no longer throw his younger brother under the bus to cover for his own indiscretions – Harry is putting his own family before his brother and William cannot handle that. William has lost control of his brother and is taking it out on Meghan who he see’s as a threat.
This is what happened with my brothers, and why i recognized this right away and knew it was not the sister in laws who were at odds. My older brother disliked my younger brother’s fiance (now wife) from the get go. Not because he didn’t she was good enough for him, but because she wasn’t subservient. I am not kidding either. Anyway, this led to an eventual permanent falling out, which has stressed the entire family. Pretty common I think. Not too royal! lol
She is a threat because she is wildly popular (#1 fashion influencer this year) and she has delivered 3 major completed projects/initiatives and shown how lazy and inept Kate is. It’s gotta burn like fire.
I honestly think the rift started when that piece of gossip about Kate not giving Meghan a lift to the shops ended up on Lainey Gossip (Meghan has links to Lainey through Ben and Jessica Mulroney). My theory is William didn’t like that someone who wasn’t even a member of the family yet was being loose-lipped, he tried to tell Harry to slow down, Harry took offence to that which started the rift and the rift has just escalated since then.
There is just some thing about that bit of gossip and how it found its way to Lainey that seems really, really fishy to me.
Just my two cents
My issue with that theory (that William didn’t want Harry to marry Meghan) is that they were perfectly fine at the wedding, and William seemed nice enough to Meghan In public. It wasn’t until the pregnancy/Oceania tour that things seemed to start to sour. Now that we can see the visible tension between them, I think we would have spotted it earlier if it was “just” the marriage to someone William didn’t like.
I think Meghan’s successes rub the Cambridge’s the wrong way.
DaisySharp – you hit the nail on the head.
At the outset of the smear all the RRs labelled Meghan as being ‘difficult’, a smear that could only have come from William who saw Meghan’s natural agency as a threat to the codependent existence that Harry had come to accept with William.
Harry is the typical younger brother who goes along with William not to upset the apple cart. Kate is a doormat and then along comes this hardworking self made woman who takes no prisoners and has had plenty of practice dealing with difficult and dysfunctional family members.
The attacks on Meghan have been about destroying her popularity and credibility thereby making her an outlier. The actions of a frightened, entitled man-child Narcissist. He couldn’t control Meghan so instead went about controlling how others see her.
Yes to all you guys are saying, and especially to DaisySharp. My ex fiancee’s brother loathed me, because his brother was in love and this made the brother lose control over him. He waged war against me, and unfortunately my fiancee wasn’t independent or mature enough to resist it. When we broke up, the brother made everything in his power to make the rift permanent. They also had a highly disfunctional family, their mother (who suffered from obsessive compulsive behaviour and anorexia) having died a couple of years before, two hateful stepsisters, an absent father. The brother’s gf was, like Daisy very aptly puts it, “subservient”, but I wasn’t, and I was made into the odd one out, the destroyer of peace, etc etc. My heart aches for Harry: it must be horrible for him atm, even more so because all the vitriol is sent his and esp his wife’s way, while the pedo uncle is protected by the whole family.
My own in-laws don’t like me because I’m not a good subservient wife. My husband and I are equals in our relationship. Neither of us tells the other what to do. His family can’t stand it. I feel there’s a bit of this going on in the RF.
@ChunkyLa I remember reading that! It was a blind item with no names and I had no clue it was about Kate and Meghan. I have heard that Kate has never liked Harry’s girlfriends.
Harry and Normal Bill’s friends (male & female) NEVER liked Cathy.
@bay – Yep, although they all apparently liked Pippa who was the more warmer and easy going of the sisters.
Kate never really played well with other women who were around the Princes’.
chunkyLA
I have been saying this from the beginning! The only thing I can’t figure out is whether or not Meghan took a PR gamble that failed or if she told this to a confidant in private who in turn used it for gossip fodder. I tend to think that Meg told Jessica who in turn told Lainey. Jessica got a warning and Lainey got cut off. This is my theory.
That Laineygossip thing didn’t hurt the Cambridges in the slightest one could argue that for security reasons they couldn’t ride in the car together. It was nothing and has nothing to do with this rift.
@Mego,
It’s not about the Cambridge’s being ‘hurt’ with that bit of gossip but I think the royals – especially William – expect the upmost discretion and don’t like it when even trivial gossip like that get’s out. I can definitely see William being suspicious with Lainey’s scoop and Meghan involvement and that started the rift.
@Marie
Kate got along with Chelsey. There have been pictures of them hanging out being friendly.
@Monicack
I’m sure Meghan is friends with Lainey as well. Didn’t someone once mention that Meghan went to a dinner and Lainey was there?. So it’s possible that through that friendship Meghan told her about what happened and didn’t need to go through Jessica Mulroney. Anyway , I think Meghan, Lainey and possibly Jessica all got burnt from that. I don’t recall seeing any gossip of that kind from Lainey since then but I could be wrong.
I think especially telling is that quote from an earlier PEOPLE article that one of the issues was that Meghan wasn’t willing to let others take credit for work she did. I think this whole so-called “feud” is William’s dislike of Meghan and his anger at loosing control of Harry. A feud implies 2 people coming at each other. That may be the safer PR option for William and his lackeys to push to public when — I think — in reality, it is all William and Harry is just fed up and exhausted at William’s unbelievably hostile actions.
I don’t think William is aware of a blind item on Lainey Gossip and even if he was, I really don’t think that’s the reason for his dislike of Meghan (if he does dislike her, I personally think that he may like her in general but doesn’t like the threat she represents in terms of being charismatic, popular, and hard working.)
@DaisySharp I agree some much of what you’ve said. This has nothing to do with some little blind item on Lainey Gossip. This is much too big for something that small.
As I noted in a post above, Charles has let it be known that one reason he likes Meghan is because she gives Harry more strength and backbone. Harry has been *showing* that in the fierce way he protects her from the moment the news of them being together got out.
However, I bet William cannot *stand* that. Harry used to be thrown under the bus to protect William when convenient, and I’ll bet William was very happy when Harry was just the third wheel with him and Kate. Then, here comes this woman who’s beautiful, successful in her own right and knows her own worth and, while she likely respects William’s eventual position as King, but – because she’s American – doesn’t think that makes her lesser than him as a person. So he has no problem feeding her to the tabloid press, especially after the Oceanic Tour proved to be such a success and her and Harry’s popularity was shown to be through the roof.
I have one theory that William is out to ruin harry and Meghan in the hopes that she gets scared off and leaves, because he himself wants a divorce . He is trying to create the illusion that the Sussex’s marriage is turbulent from the start, to cover his own marital woes. If Meghan finally has enough and leaves, it opens the door for William to pull the plug on his own marriage. If harry and William were to both announce they were getting a divorce, Harry’s marriage will look worse because the press have constantly created drama around them, whilst William and Kate will ‘consciously uncouple’, thus William still looks better. But William can’t and won’t ever pull the plug on his marriage whilst harry is still happily married because his own issues and insecurities regarding Harry won’t let him. Also William won’t survive a divorce s well as harry. If he and Meghan ever split, they will both still thrive as individuals. William and Kate’s whole popularity revolves around being the perfect family, it’s the only success they have. Plus ma Middleton will ruin William and KP will ruin kate, so either way he’s f*cked.
@ChunkyLa, I don’t think that William or anyone associated with him reads LaineyGossip, frankly. It’s not a British tabloid, and it’s not enough of a big name North American publication that he’d be aware of it. Lainey serves something of a niche, and it’s people who read gossip blogs and actually have discussions about it in the comments. William ain’t it. He doesn’t strike me as the type to concern himself with anything that happens outside of the British tabloid press.
Second, Lainey has already stated that her and Meghan aren’t friends. They shared a table at some charity dinner once, and that’s where they were photographed together. She knows Jessica Mulroney, yes, but that’s about where that degree of separation ends.
I echo what others are stating in the comments. I think Meghan knows herself and what she wants, and William and his staffers at KP couldn’t stand that. Fwiw, I doubt Meghan was sweeping in, barking orders at everyone. But she probably pushed peoples’ buttons by being overly enthusiastic and excited about what she wanted to do and that pissed everyone off. I think the staffers at KP who worked for William were the ones who were behind the bulk of the negative press, and it escalated from there. But William is 100% used to being deferred to in KP and he doesn’t like that order to be upended like it must have been when Meghan married in.
Yeah, William has decided to work with the very people both brothers despised, so definitely they’re on different paths.
Harry has made it clear he has no use for the way the UK press behaves, but William and his in laws are actually doing interviews with the paper (Dailymail) that’s been the most vicious to Meghan. I could see that as a betrayal too, if I was Harry.
So yeah, that’s not a path Harry ever plans to go down.
Harry’s own father publicly backed a Daily Mail initiative in December 2018 (which ended up being a great success) and another one earlier this year. I think that is a bigger betrayal, imo.
And when did William do an interview for the Daily Mail?
@chunkyLA
Yeah, but the brothers at one time were united in there stance with the tabs, now that’s changed greatly. As for the interview Wll did, I can’t find the article, but at the time I wonder whe he didn’t use a different source.
@Toot
Harry has also said, IIRC, that her and William had agreed not to let the courtier’s play them against each other. Yet, here’s William clearly allowing that very thing to happen when it comes to Harry and his wife.
They’re on the same personal path but on very different “professional” paths as William and Kate have a somewhat of a defined role and a predictable future while Meghan and Harry have to establish that for themselves.
They have a lot more freedom. I don’t think they want to cut tree ribbons a day in Lancashire or Somerset in their sixties like Anne is doing or be as useless as Andrew or as invisible as Edward.
Take it in context. They are on different work paths, which is normal and what Harry was raised to expect. He has always known he will not be king and he’s never wanted William’s job.
‘Part of this role, part of this job and this family being under the pressure it is under, inevitably stuff happens. But look, we are brothers, we will always be brothers. We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him and, as I know, he will always be there for me. We don’t see as much as we used to because we are so busy but I love him dearly and the majority of stuff is created out of nothing. As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.’
I agree. The press act like Harry just recently found out William will be king and is now trying to figure things out. Harry has launched Invictus, Sentabale and more. He has made his own path and I am sure William is bothered by it. He doesn’t need William.
Meh, more lazy journalism from People. Like who cares about the 19longago Sussex interview? There’s a NEW juicy interview and People still pushing the Sussexes were frozen out by RF narrative? Geez, talk about being completely out of touch. Andrew is the news now, Andrew’s interview IS the news everyone, except People, is talking about now.
Good
William has grown up to be a prick
Yeah, but looking at clips when he was younger shows his prickness, lol, was always there.
As Toot says its always been there – its gotten worse as he’s gotten older. William is a man who is deeply unhappy with his life and takes it out on those around him.
‘Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man. – Aristotle
Billy the Basher was a sly bully of kid and he hasn’t improved.
Lots of commenters here say the same. What specifically supports that opinion? Honest question as I don’t see it.
I don’t think William would be the William we know today if Diana was still here. The same for Harry. I don’t think any of this would be going down this way. Who knows if the brothers would even be married to the same women. You remove a mother at such young ages, and you change the course of each life. Just my opinion.
I agree and was going to comment something similar down below. It is unfair to say that Diana would be disappointed as William is now, because if she were alive and Harry and William never had to go through such immense trauma at a young age, they would not be the people they are today. Her death molded their personalities and altered their lives forever.
I agree with this. Its hard to play the “if Diana were here” game because if she were here, everything about the boys lives would be very very different. They wouldn’t be who they are today. And that’s because they lost their mother, which obviously changes your life, but they also lost her in such a public and traumatic way and weren’t allowed to grieve as they might have wanted, and that left a different sort of scar.
Is it possible the Cambridges had little to no contact with Harry outside of “professional” settings before he met Meghan? He said that he didn’t knew Kate very well shortly after the engagement and she had been with William for ten years.
A lot of people have accused Meghan of destroying the “trio” but maybe nobody was speaking or texting before her arrival and nothing has changed since then.
Kate and Meghan always seem to be friendly when they’re together just like Harry appeared to be chummy with Kate and William but maybe that was only an act all along.
I’ve never bought the Three Musketeers theme the media was putting out (and that the Cambridges and Harry engaged in to some extent, to be fair). Frankly the media acts like Will and Harry are inseparable. In reality they’ve had their own travels and things going on (and they’ve apparently had their share of serious fights over the years…which isn’t really surprising when you think about it).
Honestly, the Fab Four thing looked like it might’ve worked out until the Oceania tour. Up to that point, I thought *Will* was the one who actually seemed friendlier to Meghan. Kate gave off some rather passive aggressive vibes in the few events where all of them were together prior to October 2018.
I think there is some truth to that. Harry’s path seems to have diverged a while back when he started working hard while William and Kate just phoned it in. Harry set up Invictus/Senteable and was moving in circles the Cambridges weren’t. That had to piss off W&K.
Anyone who thought W&K would reach out to H&M to support is delusional. Those staged budget flight should’ve told everyone where W&K stand in regards to the Sussex’s.
While we know TQ plays ostrich and doesn’t “get involved” unless forced, you don’t think that plane stunt could’ve been an “order” from TQ’s courtiers (or Charles) in another botched “PR” stunt to counter the bad press? While I wouldn’t put it past William (as he’s a petty prick), it wouldn’t surprise me if it came from “The Grey Men” as Diana and Freeloader called them. Or even Charles. Like something to the effect: “You will take the budget flight, no private heli. We’re arranging for the plane to be flown in, empty, and that is what you will use. There will be one sanctioned photographer to get photos of you AND the children. End of.” Or something to that effect.
They name-checked Carol Middleton in the article, I think it’s from her and the Cambridges alone. The whole stunt was incredibly clumsy.
@Jane’sWastedTalent, Agree with you 100% The Budget Airline stunt has Carole Middleton’s smell and fingerprints all over it!
Lol, you might’ve said it first in previous articles! I do remember Carol being the culprit was the general consensus. It would be so interesting to read a book or a lengthy, in-depth article about the Middletons (Carol especially) and what possible influences they might have on the future of the monarchy.
If Billy was smart he would have kept them on his side. Once he reaches the throne how many working royals are going to be left? The older generation will either be dead or dying out. By that time it will only be the 5 Cambridges. I highly doubt he wants all the engagements to fall on him and his family.
He hasn’t thought that far ahead.
I forgot a few people in my calculations. 5-8 Cambridges depending on when the kids get married and all.
They’ll probably scrape by with that but when people start asking questions on why the royal family is barely doing engagements, Billy will get his wake up call
Wandering Willy as already put out that as king, he will be cutting down on ALL the charities, whittling them down to 3 or 4 “major umbrella” charities that he and Kate will “support” (ie: show at Galas/premiers/etc… you know…the “fun” stuff). He does not want to “work” in any sense of the word. And we already know Kate is Keen to do whatever WW wants. Eventually she won’t have the kids to hide behind, and we’ll go back to her “housewife” days of working out and shopping.
@Sofia, That’s the problem though….he’s not that smart.
Yes, but he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he keeps them around, he’ll have to compete with them for popularity which means having to work harder, or burn with jealousy when they outshine him. If he gets rid of them, he gets all the attention but risks looking lazy.
He’ll always have to compete with them for popularity! It’s better for him if he keeps them close, because he’ll have some semblance of control over what they do. Cut loose, they answer to no one. The Sussexes will be at the Oscars, the Met Ball, the Nobel Prizes, Cannes. They’ll be doing interviews with Oprah, running their own organization, maybe even a “behind the scenes” show. A book deal, a netflix deal. They’ll be on the cover of every magazine, and when they get overexposed, they can disappear for a while. Even worse, they could go on morning shows to provide commentary on the Royal family, imagine that! If Paul Burrell the butler and Lady Colin the one minute noble can making a living at it, then so can the Sussexes. UN Ambassadors? They could brand reps for luxury houses! What leverage does Will have then? Don’t interview the Sussexes or you can’t interview us? Bye Felicia, says the US media, while the British media can butter their bread with “Cambridge vs. Sussex smackdown” forever. The ultimate gift for the tabloids.
Don’t forget, the Cambridges are as much celebrity freaks as people claim Meghan to be. Remember the first Cambridge tour to the US when they put together a totally unnecessary trip to Hollywood to meet celebrities, and created a fake BAFTA event? They want to hang out with the Cool Kids, not cut ribbons at some Midlands rubber band factory.
What will the “optics” be if the next visit of the Sussexes to Africa happens after they have been “banished from the RF?” Will said countries want to pay to bring the white people to shake hands and waved who kicked out the woman of color? The Cambridges would inevitably end up King and Queen of the Brexiteers. I don’t think they want to be the face of right-wing nativist England, no matter what they might privately feel. (I suspect Will is something of a right-winger, but I doubt he would want that known. He didn’t seem as eager as Andy to meet Trump).
In a slimmed down RF future, the people will inevitably ask: where are the Cambridges? The Royals have sent reps to the Lincolnshire village Cabbage festival for decades! Plaques around the UK will languish behind their curtains! Ribbons will remain uncut! I imagine lots of royal reporters will beg to be put on Sussex beat instead, just to have something to actually write about. Nah, William needs those Sussexes. He might be too dumb to realize it, though.
The Sussexs can do things that William, by dint of his role as the heir/future monarch, can’t. And that’s not a bad thing. He can’t be everything to everyone all at the same time. The fact that he has a brother who can share some of the public roles with, who will shoulder some of the weight of creating good PR for them, that’s only a benefit for the RF. But when you’re raised with the attitude that the heir is the most important, that everyone else is just secondary and in service to the heir, then yeah, you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of constant seething about how you’re not being give your due.
I suspect this is Sussexes PR and what they are essentially saying is that the reports that the queen checks in on them regularly is a lie.
Well, another People article about Kate and Meghan. It makes Meghan looks bad. I don’t think it’s the Sussexes PR.
I do not think it is Sussex PR either.
Funny how folks will always believe exactly what they want to beieve, and disbelieve what doesn’t fit their agenda.
Here’s MY two cents…I think the rift with William started with Harry discovering that his brother was taking on one of the WORST aspects of his Father’s past…by cheating on Kate…remember…Kate and Harry were truly close…that was/is his “girl”…and with how cold William was regarding Meghan…that affair crap…which I DO BELIEVE WENT DOWN…was the LAST straw with Harry…and I think that was fuel for William to throw Meghan to the wolves…and once THAT went down…that’s when Harry decided…
AWWW….HELL…NAW!
Harry had been slowly moving away from the stereotypical “royal” setup…for YEARS…I think that Harry made a definitive decision…years ago…what type of human being he was going to be…either like his Mama…or his Daddy….He obviously decided after living like the latter for years of his life…that he could only find true peace in following in the footsteps of the former….
Harry has decided…like his Mama…to be “something new”….and I can not WAIT to see what evolves from that…because I KNOW it will ultimately be good…
And William…will be….typical British Royal
I don’t buy that Harry was into William’s business and what he was doing, it was nothing new with William cheating.
He was dating someone else then cheated on her girlfriend with Kate,, so there you go.
Yea…people change…and in the past Harry might have been down with what William did…but it sure as HECK don’t look or feel like he’s down with that crap now….
But it’s ALL speculation…but Harry has been VERY honest and open with how his psychological makeup is now setup…and besides…you think Harry wants Meghan to think he’s down with cheating?
AWW…HELL NAW!!!!!
Yeah, we need to remember that cheating has been a hallmark of W&K’s relationship since their college days. It’s how they got together and it’s something that Kate’s accepted over the years. It’s why the way the Rose situation went down was pretty surprising. If I had to guess, I’d say that it wasn’t so much about Rose being her friend that it was about this affair with Rose going beyond physical attraction. Frankly I doubt Harry gives a damn about whatever goes on in his brother’s bedroom.
Lala11- I agree with a lot of what you’re saying about Harry’s psychology, and I think he probably felt nothing but disgust over Will’s cheating- but I don’t think it was the affair itself but rather Will throwing Meghan under the tabloid bus that brought out the lion in Harry.
@Jane, I also think it was William’s oversized response to the mere mention of the Rose affair in the press that really cinched it too. He called up his lawyers and threatened EVERYONE and told them all to shut up or they’ll get sued. And all the tabloids did exactly that. Meanwhile, Harry’s over here struggling to deal with the barrage of negative press regarding Meghan. I’ll bet he’d reached out to William, Charles and the Queen, asking them to do something about the press, and they all just shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn’t. And then here’s William pulling this sh-t for a situation that has the potential to make him look bad, but he couldn’t do that for Meghan? And he’s sitting idly by doing nothing when the press is excoriating Meghan instead as a result? Yeah. How many extra seconds would it have taken William to say, on the phone to any one of the disgusting RRs he has on call, “Hey, by the way, if you come for my sister-in-law, I’m going to sue you, and your paper, into f-cking oblivion. Don’t even think I won’t do it, because I will.”
Also, think about that–William merely threatened to sue the papers, and they all mysteriously shut up about Rose. Whereas Harry actually HAD to sue the papers, and not only are they still a sh-t show, people are actually pissed at Harry and Meghan for taking legal action? Like, really?
@A-WOW. BRAVO 🤸♀️👏👏👏👍🤸♂️ Thanks for your spot-on post. You nailed it and I finally get why Harry’s so hurt, disillusioned and seething.
Great points, A. You would think that at least William’s pride would keep him from sinking so low, if not love for his brother or his own children.
I don’t think Harry and Kate were ever close, the media and fans made a big deal of them being close friends during the ten years pre-marriage then Harry admitted he didn’t even know her at all!
This. Harry’s comment the day he was surprised by the engagement announcement? ‘I’m looking forward to getting to know her’.
LOL he didn’t say he didn’t know her. He said he was looking forward to knowing her better. Whatever you want to say about their relationship pre-marriage there is no question that they shared a bond afterwards. There were enough articles about their shared sense of humor that was supported by photos of them sharing a laugh or a giggle at public events. It was even reported on their wedding day that after the ceremony William Kate and Harry watched the events together in their bath robes at the hotel while they changed for the wedding brunch hosted by the queen. After Harry returned from a charity hike in Antarctica he was asked by reporters what he was looking forward to the most and he said he was anxious to see Kate and his brother. In those words. I thought it was sweet. In addition there are stories about him being happy to hang out with Kate, William and the kids for relaxing family dinners at home.
All of that has definitely changed but let’s not rewrite history to fit our own bias.
Let’s not rewrite history to pretend Harry and Kate have ever been close. Never happened.
His exact quote, on video, is, ‘I’m looking forward to getting to know her’. Not ‘know her better’. William was away at uni, Harry went to Sandhurst and was in the Army. William spent a decade being the newest member of the Middleton family and Harry was no part of that. William treated Kate as dispensable for 10 years, and that included being far away from family including Harry. After they married, they were out of sight in Wales (or her living at Mummy’s) but they were no where near Harry.
Harry admitting with the announcement of the second pregnancy that he hadn’t seen Kate in a while, but he thought she was fine. The only time he was seeing these two was during forced Three Musketeers event.
Those silly stan story about Kate being the glue holding the brothers together, Kate intruding in Harry’s love life and trying to pick his wife? Those are the same stans who hate Meghan because 1) they wanted Kate to have both brothers to herself and 2) she makes Kate look bad simply by breathing.
Harry also had a history of cheating on girlfriends Chelsea and Cressida, did he not? I’ve always thought these two brothers have more in common than not. (except for the eyes, very different eyes. William got diana’s eyes and harry has charles’. )
I feel like Harry will stay for the rest of the Queens reign but will want Charles to make some serious changes regarding the press and courtiers. If those changes are not made I think Harry and Meghan will leave.
I think People’s latest issue is based on Richard Palmer’s tweets.
@RedRoyal I agree and that’s why Palmer was promoting the article on twitter. Which was odd because the royal reporters seemed to be upset about American media being involved in the British royal family when there was a CBS camera at Archie’s birth photocall& when they had stronger presence at Harry&Meghan’s wedding. And I remember in 2016 pre Meghan- those reporters getting upset with People mag getting Cambridges exclusives.
Palmer had a twitter thread about how William has dropped Harry& nobody was supporting the Sussexes and then wrote an article about how the Queen visits the Sussexes often. When challenged on the contradiction he says the family are supportive but just not of the Sussexes stance with the media lmao
Don’t they have a family WhatsApp group? Have the Sussex’s been booted from it?
Harry has been banging his head against the great big wall of obsolescence and cruelty that is the British Royal Family for a while now. The main expectation of him has always been to make William look good, and that’s only gotten more intense the closer William gets to the throne.
People tend to stare down their life choices, childhoods, and their place in the world when they become parents. It’s possible Harry had a moment of clarity and wants better, or at least different, for his own children. And if there’s one thing the royal family hates it’s even the vaguest hint that there might be some thoughtful introspection going on
Around the time Harry and Meghan announced their engagement, when her dumb*** family were blowing up in the media, Harry commented that his family would be the one she never really had. I remember thinking, what the hell is he smoking? No way in HELL was that ever going to happen.
From all of the stuff that’s been said about H&M, I think the main issue basically boils down to the fact that Harry wants respect. Respect from the family for the contributions that he’s making, respect from the press for his wife (or at least a commitment towards being fair in their coverage of her), and support from the family in return for the support he’s provided and continues to provide for them.
I honestly don’t think Harry minds being in that supportive role. I think he’s comfortable with it, and with who he is as a person. He knows what he wants to do and accomplish with his public role. But I think the lack of response from any of them wrt what happened with Meghan, the total coldness, the total absence of any visible support in any way, shape, or form, as well as the refusal to do anything about the people in their own ranks leaking negative stories to the press, all of that was what made this situation what it is. Harry has always tried to make his family a priority, and he no doubt takes his role as a member of the RF quite seriously in fact. So of course it’s awful for him to know that these people only take him for granted, the same way they take everyone in their orbit who isn’t in the direct line to the throne, a royal, or mummy’s favourite for granted.
Completely agree with “A’s” comment here.
I think the past year has been a harsh wake-up call for Harry concerning his family. The “family she never had” remark sounds incredibly naive in hindsight, but Harry’s family is unusual for numerous reasons. “Normal” is a subjective thing, but Harry has probably never gotten an in-depth look at what “normal” families are like, or what “normal” relationships with one’s relatives are like.
He’s grown up being told that his brother was more important than him and that his main role in life was to support the heir (be it his father or his brother). Also, while he’s been upset in the past at being thrown under the bus by his father and brother, he’s also accustomed to that. I think meeting and being with Meghan has sparked new revelations for him concerning his family, both good and bad. He probably sees that he shouldn’t feel the need to dim his light for others, but he also sees how nasty his family can get when someone (Meghan) is outshining them with ease. He probably didn’t expect the media’s campaign against his wife to get to the state that it has.
I really do not think the British Press gives a Fat Rat’s Clacker one way or another about Meghan and I have no doubt, that on a personal level, Cathy Cambridge is no female RR or RRR cup of tea.
I have always felt the tabloids are feeding their BREXIT Britain commentariat.
Click$ for revenue is what it all boils down to.
100% Ames.
I think william is jealous of harry. I think meghan is the type of woman william wanted but couldn’t get. I seriously think they thought harry would marry a party girl or some bland socialite that would make kate look good.
I kind of agree with this.
They expected him to marry someone they could mould in their image, and got the exact opposite.
I actually agree with this too. Harry was expected to marry a woman even less spectacular than Kate as to not upstage the future future pair. Him punching up with Megan switched things up completely. Add to the fact that they’re a much more charismatic only adds fuel to the jealousy fire. I’m sure on some level William feels away that as future king he couldn’t find someone like that to marry him but his knucklehead brother who is supposed to be less, could.
Erica I think you are right on target. Imagine being someone who has gotten everything he ever wanted and being spoiled and unable to appreciate a loyal wife and 3 beautiful kids. Then seeing how happy your brother is with his wife and family. He is having an extended I want his “toys” tantrum.
William wanted an Isabella Calthorpe type. Harry more or less *got* that type, looks-wise at least, but someone who also wasn’t just a pretty face but was self-made, confident and not shy of hard work. At every turn the press *tried* to pain Meghan as a shallow party-girl type – the type they all wanted and expected Harry to marry – but as Meghan continued to shine in her work that angle just kept proving to be more and more false and ringing hollow.
Her getting pregnant with Archie so fast and his birth NOT being a Lindo Wing affair AND Archie not getting a title really put to lie everything the tabloid press tried to pain Meghan as being to fit her into that “shallow” mold/narrative that Harry’s supposed spouse was supposed to follow.
BTW: Ingrid Seward wanted Harry with Cressida who was Isabella younger half-sister, and is still butthurt that never happened.
Why would Meghan want to talk to William/Kate who are responsible for a smear campaign against her. She doesn’t strike me as a person who is going to play the game and pretend nothing is happening or that they didn’t smear her. Good on Meghan and Good on Harry for standing by his wife.
Th e idea that Willy is close to the throne is ludicrous. Charles will likely live well into his 90s like his parents. Wills is a good 20 years from being king
From your lips to God’s ears.
Jealousy. Prince Charles was jealous of Diana’s popularity, and William is jealous of Harry and Meghan, who have charisma. It’s hard to be an introvert in a public position – instead of the eldest being next in line, it should be the mot charismatic and hard working next in line.
Except I have a suspicion that people like Margaret and Harry are charismatic and hard working precisely because they’re not the heirs. They don’t have their public roles clearly defined and set out for them the way that William, the Queen and Charles do. It’s not so much that they’re freer from the constraints of that, but more so that they have to cultivate things like an actual, viable personality, like the rest of us, because their lives are not defined in their immediate circle by being “the heir.”
Charles’s role was not clearly set out for him. Most Princes of Wales have been useless. Charles built his role from the ground up with dedication to developing the Duchy, creating the Prince’s Trust, organic agriculture. There was nothing holding William back but William.
William has actually said that there is no set path and that he has to figure it out. His -Whatever work is -statement.
I wish someone would take all the times over the last 15 years William has blathered on about creating his own path and juxtapose it with his lack of work and commitment, and all his partying.
I do think personality plays into this as well. Fx, in Denmark the Crown Prince Frederik has always been more likeable and approachable than his younger brother Joachim, who has always come across as rather stuffy and snobby (though that image is changing a bit since Joachim’s started doing documentaries where he appears more down to earth and less stuffy than he usually does). When they were young, Frederik was always the more outgoing personality – and Joachim was completely outshone by his first wife Alexandra.
William is going to be the future monarch. Charles is going to be the future monarch. The Queen also, before she inherited the throne.
That is their role. That is clearly defined per the constitution. William and Charles both have the benefit of knowing where their lives are going. Who they are as people is shaped entirely by their status as the expected future monarch. How they are treated by their families, how they were raised, and who they are today is entirely shaped by this. It isn’t so much about how they’re choosing to define their roles as heirs in waiting right now. They can do that however they like. But they know where they’re headed, and that changes everything for them.
People like Harry and Margaret don’t/didn’t have that. There is really no proper guidelines for what a modern day monarch who is not the heir but the second son/daughter is supposed to do. They’re living within the confines of a feudal system where the first born takes all. If this were any other time period, they could have conceivably joined the army/been asked to become monarch of a country that doesn’t have one/been given a position as governor general etc. But that is not an option these days, and even back then, spares/extra children (god that sounds awful to write, lmao) felt that lack of options keenly. It isn’t about the daily work you do, it’s about your larger role in life, and how that affects your sense of self.
None of that excuses William being unable/unwilling to get his act together and accomplish anything in the last 15 years. Charles has had the burden of future kingship on him his entire life, his mother was crowned when he was a child, he was made Prince of Wales at 18. William has had far less pressure on him for decades, and still does nothing but complain.
Harry founded his first charity at 19. It floundered in the first few years, but now is thriving. Nothing holding him back, no constant bitching that his role didn’t allow him to do valuable work.
ArtHistorian I find Joachim far more likeable with Marie than with Alexandra, and I was a big Alexandra follower. The documentary with him picking the kids up from school, doing daily things? Made him appear much more approachable to me.
Per nota, “Charles built his role from the ground up with dedication to developing the Duchy, creating the Prince’s Trust, organic agriculture.”
Prince Charles is turning The Prince’s Trust over to David Linley, Earl of Snowdon. I think this turn-of-events says so much about Normal Bill.
Nota, I think Joachim and Marie are better matched than he was with Alex. I like Alexandra, she made a HUGE impact when she joined the DRF. She was charming, charismatic and she learned Danish really really fast, which the Danes really appreciate. However, I think mainly living in a tiny hamlet in the country when she was from Hong Kong was something that just was hard for her, and that it probably played a role in the end of the marriage. Møgeltønder where Joachim had his estate is beautiful and idyllic but it is literally a one-street hamlet. During the last years of their marriage Alexandra lived more in Copenhagen than in the country.
@nota, I don’t think it excuses William’s behaviour either, and I’m not saying that it does. My point is less about work ethic and more about what shapes a person’s character. I think that having a set, defined role in one’s life, from before they were even born, changes one’s life and how a person views themselves. William will always have a clearly defined cubby hole for people to put him in, no matter what he does or does not not do, and that is due to his position as the future monarch. I have no doubt that, among other things, constrains William’s ideas of who he can be as a person.
Also, even setting aside all of this stuff, it’s a matter of pure birth order. William is the first born. He’s going to be the sponge for all of his parents’ anxieties. Children born later down in the birth order do tend to be more relaxed, more outgoing, and that’s entirely because they’re born to parents who perhaps are more relaxed in their approach to parenting. There’s a lot that goes into it, but I personally have the opinion that the very system of primogeniture is also the system that sets you up for some mediocre monarchs in the first place.
I think the brown matter hit the whirling blades in several ways that permanently damaged the relationship between Wm and Harry.
1) Petty jealousy – Bill was outshone by Harry and Meghan and we all know what a petulant little prick he can be when he’s not in control.
2) Bill turned on Meghan out of a combination of jealousy because she’s so accomplished and makes Kate look like a vegetable, and possibly is attracted to her which Harry may have picked up on thereby causing some tension.
3) Harry found out about Wm’s dalliance with Rose Hanbury and who knows who else and felt sorry for Kate who has had to put up with Wm’s infidelities throughout the entirety of the their relationship. I imagine he had some stern words for Wm who we all know doesn’t take reprimands very well and told Harry to mind his own f*cking business.
That’s my tin foiliing for the day.
My cheesy theory as to why they decided to run w this story this week rather than the Andy story is that a ton of American women will be in the grocery store for thanksgiving and will spring for a “fun” cover like this rather than a far more depressing story…
That’s actually a really good point. There’s a certain demographic of American women—the soccer mom type—who’d be the perfect target for these kinds of headlines.
I call them the “Jennifer Garner” types.
Well, to be honest, for magazines like People it is a matter of having covers that have some aesthetic appeal. A big face of Prince Andrew of all things is NOT going to give them a fighting chance for good newsstand sales, simple as that.
This is a boring feud. There’s not much detail in the article so who actually knows what’s going on.
Lady Colin Campbell or Tina Brown needs to write a new book on the current BRF feuds.
Not Colin Campbell! Not after what she said about Epstein’s victims. I do not trust her judgement.
Yes the whole thing seems pointless and stupid. The issue are William condoning press leaks and smears against a Harry and his wife. Harry knows his brother will be king and not like he’s vying for the job. Honestly, before Meghan, they got fairly mild criticism for their laziness compared to the lies and slander Meghan gets every time she does anything. Maybe the Cambridges should just shut up and stop playing stupid games. They’re boring wallpaper and everyone likes them that way. Why change the formula because they can’t handle someone working hard with a new approach. They still get the throne in the end.
At this point I am not surprised the Cambridges are ghosting the Sussexes. It is disappointing to see Charles and Camilla not show any public support though.
None of them will because they’re scared of the tabs.
Weaklings. Harry is the only born in one in the family with balls.
Harry has only recently found his balls thanks to his wife.
The Cambridges are unsupportive because they don’t want to feel undermined by the Sussexes and their popularity and work and attempts to be close with Charles.
Sophie was wearing Emilia Wickstead during that controversy because of her own resentment. She wants to be known as the Queen’s favorite, so she’s not going to reach out either.
Charles is not above using Harry and Meghan to work on his relationship with William, his heir, so he won’t rock the boat too much.
The Queen and Charles don’t want the scrutiny on Andrew to fall on the rest of the family so Andrew was pushed out when the floodgates finally opened. And now they have to change the conversation so back to going after the Sussexes.
I do think the Queen and Charles were a bit concerned by William’s behavior towards the Sussexes which is why they okayed them leaving KP, clearly intervened with the Cambridge Christmas plans last year, alliwed it in the statement that the Queen supports the Sussex Christmas plans this year and confirmed that the Queen visits them at Frogmore.
I don’t think the Cambridges were forced to go to the Sandringham Christian last year. I think they just focused on undermining the Sussexes enough to get some concessions from Charles and the Queen for agreeing to show up. Funny that their undermining efforts this year, like the budget plane, didn’t work as well and now they also have to contend with all the support for Meghan and Harry.
I don’t understand Zara’s comment though. What is Meghan not sharing?
Outside of tumblr haters, where is the on-the-record published account of these Zara comments? Some hearsay at a sporting event? Someone on here claiming to be an insider who heard it from someone who heard it from someone? Not buying it.
What Zara comment?
Given that Meghan herself wore wickstead after the comments, I don’t think we can read too much into it. As for the Zara comments, that an anonymous poster made, who knows, I’m going to need more than a very nebulous heresay.
There are much more tangible slights that can be laid at the senior royals door. There should have been more joint appearances right from the start of the media battle
I really don’t know how Diana would react, she could be just as petty as William. Just look at Earl Spencer–plenty of jackass-ness comes from her side too.
I mean, in light of everything else that’s going on, it’s understandable that the rest of the family hasn’t really bothered to check in on the Sussexes. But for sure the Cambridges aren’t doing it, and it’s because William is an emotionally constipated dillhole who expects that people will cater to him and not the other way around. He’s never had to actually give a damn about anyone else’s feelings. I’m sure that he fully expects Harry to be the one who picks up the phone, and he’ll make a big to-do complete with several articles in the BBC, the Daily Mail and the Telegraph about how he’s going out of his way to be magnanimous to his younger brother who hurt his feelings ever so badly by having the audacity to be hurt by how William has treated him.
“Emotionally constipated” is the best phrase. I may steal that if you don’t mind… the holidays are just around the corner after all 🙂
“emotionally constipated” seems to be the natural state of the Windsors, they’ve been like that for centuries.
You’re very much welcome to use the phrase!!! Although, I do request that you maybe try and figure out a way to work “emotionally constipated dillhole” at least once too. 😛
I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that William wants Harry to choose him over Meghan (and Archie) in a way. Harry has chosen to stick up for and protect his wife and son, and if choosing them over his brother is the way he had to do that, well, William isn’t liking the chose Harry’s made wrt that.
I can kind of see that. I bet you anything that William, to a large extent, has also been raised with the whole, “as future monarch, you must sacrifice everything for the sake of the monarchy,” shtick too, from both Charles and the Queen. He sees the expectations placed of others who are in service to the monarch, especially people in his own family. And given that the general attitude with royals tends to be that they always come first, even above and beyond family, I have no doubt that there’s a part of him that’s angry and miffed that Harry is choosing to focus on something else.
I don’t see why it’s necessary for families to check on each other while they are on holiday. I get along with my brother but I don’t check in on him when he’s away. The boys now have their own families, no need to keep tabs on each ther. Who’s leaking this stuff anyway?
I totally believe Diana would have been disappointed in William.
Why are they running this story now? Because for the last year or so it has been an evergreen story. Could’ve been written at any time and slotted in, and with the holidays coming up, People probably has a lot of staff on vacation this time of year.
I really don’t like taking tabloids as truth. This story only ran this week because it was ready to go and nothing more exciting happened that People was willing to cover. That’s…it.
Karma is real and a mean, nasty B. It doesnt give a hoot if you are the king or queen either. Whatever comes from King Williams petty will come back.
I really can’t stand William, I feel like slapping the smug look off his face! and his stupid Stepford wife! It seems like society love to push the “angry black woman” Meghan. But the real issue is the “angry white man” we see you William!
I don’t buy Harry is jealous William is going to be King. Didnt Harry get in trouble for saying “nobody wants to be king”. I bet that’s a reality they’ve spoken about and I wouldn’t be surprised if William does feel (or did previously) a huge burden about that.
These jealousy stories would have made more sense when he was single and William&Kate were building their family because Harry said he longed for children. But now he has his own little family. And not like William has access to the Duchy of Cornwall funds yet which would be something to be jealous of.
The Sussex family is having some down time out of the spotlight. Why let everyone know what your vacation plans are. Everybody know some funky ass courier for KP is waiting to learn and tell where the Sussex are and what they are doing. This source with no name is trying to get info on Meg and Harry. Maybe the Sussexes are communicating differently with the royal family on their whereabouts. They maybe communicating through a 3rd party who will not disclose their whereabouts.