The bitterness with Sussexit began before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had even formally exited the royal family on April 1st. The anger was palpable from the courtiers and from the press. During Harry and Meghan’s final “tour” in March, the anger turned bittersweet, and some of those same bridge trolls came close to acknowledging that the Windsors were losing two charismatic stars. But that sadness and bittersweetness turned salty AF in a hurry. The British press clearly doesn’t want to openly acknowledge that their own racism and smears were a big part of why the Sussexes left. And that massive blindspot has lead to some weird coverage in recent weeks. It’s clear that the British way of doing things, Sussexit-related, is to never acknowledge whatever legitimate arguments Harry and Meghan might have had and to simply mock them from afar. Which has led to this: a Newsweek poll showing that British peeps are still mega-salty. The British Isles were built on sustained bitterness and anger, I guess:
Brits have two words for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Good riddance! A new poll published by Newsweek indicates that the majority of Britons have no interest in welcoming back the couple following Megxit, especially considering how they’ve handled the coronavirus pandemic in the eyes of the public.
The survey asked 1,500 UK residents how the spread of COVID-19 has changed their view of different members of the royal family. While 20% said their view of Markle has improved, 36% now have a more negative view of the Duchess of Sussex. As for husband Harry, 33% responded that they have a worse view of him post-coronavirus compared to 19% of respondents whose opinions have improved.
Overall, 54% said the couple should not return to royal duties while 28% said they should and 18% said they did not know. While Harry and Meghan gave up their positions as senior royals on their own accord, Newsweek reports the arrangement is currently under review, meaning if things don’t work out for the family of three, they could return to their royal life in 2021.
It should also be noted that the Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll was taken shortly before news emerged of their recent charity work in Los Angeles.
I’ve said all along that the one-year review is merely more punitive action from the Queen. In a year’s time, does anyone realistically believe that Harry and Meghan will be begging to come back? And that one year from now, the British people and British press will say “no, we don’t want you back, we prefer our regressive institution all-white, thank you very much”? That’s clearly the fantasy for a segment of the populace that feels like a jilted lover. So in April 2021, what will happen? Harry and Meghan will come back for a “review” and their vibe will be “actually, we’re much happier in America.” And then the Queen will try to take more sh-t away from them.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red and WENN.
1,500 UK residents i.e. palace courtiers, other members of the royal family, members of the royal rota, Daily Fail, Sun and Mirror readers…yeah, I can see how they would arrive at this conclusion. Well, guess what? H and M don’t want to return either!!!
The number is laughable. The poll is worthless.
The last 25 of the number were found at a local pub after a couple of rounds of drinks were bought.
Lol
No, This is how polling works. And statistics. 1,500 is more than the average for general opinion polls in America. Average poll size here is around 1,000, which is considered statistically significant for our population of around 330m. The population of the UK is around 67m, so the margin of error is reduced even more and the significance greater. The fact of the matter is that opinion of them in the country they left has gone down and not everyone is a fan and statistically speaking they can’t all be racists with an agenda. It’s total hubris to think that the opinions of a few dozen (mostly American) gossipers is more accurate or relevant than 1,500 CITIZENS of the UK – I thought everyone here cared so much here about the feelings and rights of those “taxpayers” over there?
@peanuts: The type of people who took the poll also matter. 1500 men will have a different opinion compared to 1500 women. Similarly with class, 1500 aristocrats will have a different opinion compared to 1500 working class folks. Also with ethnicity, income bracket, area and even country (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales).
1500 is fine to use if they want to. But it’s got to be a representative of the population to be worth anything. For example if there’s 10% black people living in the UK (I pulled that number out of my arse I don’t know the real number) then 10% of 1500 aka 150 should be black people.
Amen Sofia —- if it’s one thing I learned in Statistics course is that Stats can be manipulated in so many ways that they can say anything your agenda wants them to say. The old ‘numbers don’t lie’ is BS. This is like the recent 1000-person poll Trump uses in a country with a population of almost 350 million to prove he’s the man. Trump has been quoting it lately to support his belief that Americans love him because his polling numbers are up. (poll was probably conducted at a MEGA rally.). I’m sure the average British citizen doesn’t care one way or the other whether the Sussexes stay, go, or comeback. And as to the year review —- yeah, that’s going to be a game changer! I really think that is about the senior royals hoping Harry will divorce Meghan and come back into the fold. If he does that, they deserve him.
Let’s not kill the messenger. Redfield & Wilton is a legit polling firm. They know how to collect a statistically valid sample. The reporting here is just about Harry and Meghan, but it’s possible the rest of the royal family is getting the same negatives since they haven’t been particularly helpful or inspirational during this crisis.
@mac – yes – have to take into account it’s people of all stripes – those that don’t like the monarchy to begin with and so they’re lumped in with that, those who were on the fence but now don’t like ANY of them because they see their posh spoiled lifestyles in a time of austerity and crisis, those who support them, those who are racist, those who are classist, etc. People come into polls with their own preconceived notions and views all the time…
@peanuts since you know so much about how pills work: your bias is showing.
I think the timing of the poll matters. People don’t have much patience or goodwill for anyone or anything right now so the negativity doesn’t surprise me.
I’m just really tired of the British media and RR trying so hard to bring their ‘salty,’ bitter viewpoints about Meghan & Harry to American shores. Stop it already! Take your shitty views back to Britain with you and get used to your precious royal family without Meghan & Harry!
Cover the Lamebridges and stay stuck up under those boring farces already and leave the Sussexes alone!!!
@YT said:
“The number is laughable. The poll is worthless. The last 25 of the number were found at a local pub after a couple of rounds of drinks were bought.”
😜 🤣 🤣 😂 😍
@Peanuts said:
“… I thought everyone here cared so much here about the feelings and rights of those ‘taxpayers’ over there?”
Huh? 🤨 You thought wrong. All you Sussex haters are the ‘taxpaying’ whiners. Suck it up with your whining. M&H are well rid of your lame excuse-making for all your hate. Enjoy paying for the royals you’re left with, and stay out of M&H’s business already! 🙄
Thank you, @songbirds.
@Mac, you should realize that these polls are absolutely useless. Who cares what Britishers think about M&H at this point?! The Britishers who matter and who have open minds and hearts surely understand Meghan & Harry and what’s in their hearts! That is, if these Britishers actually take the time to read fair and balanced stories about the good work M&H are doing and have been doing since they met, and individually before they met.
Polling samples are useless when they are so dependent upon moments in time, and on how survey questions are phrased and on how the sample polling population was selected. I don’t care about the survey company. Newsweek should find better things to do with their time! But nope, everyone and their grandmother and investment partner are soooo thirsty after the Sussexes to the point where creating ‘clickbait’ around them is the going thing.
Every opportunist coming over here from Britain need to rethink their negative slants and ‘salty’ clickbait strategies.
Maybe @Peanuts can break this down for us.
From YouGov: “Harry and Meghan have told the UK tabloid press they are ending all co-operation with them due to the reporting of “distorted, false or invasive” stories. We found recently that only 8% of Britons trust tabloid papers to tell the truth…”
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1252142602197053440
It’s like most of that whole isle needs some kind of collective, psychological intervention. These people are getting on with their lives and you’re still fretting over them. Think they know they shot themselves in the foot with the whole world watching. Sheesh!
Can we not generalise about a whole country, please? The majority of Brits are largely indifferent to the RF unless there’s a specific event that puts them in the public eye (e.g. a wedding). At present, as in most other countries, the citizens are largely preoccupied with getting through this pandemic, and those who think about the RF at all are either fans who follow them regardless or folk who find them a fun gossip diversion (like other celebs). As a nation, “we” didn’t “drive them out” and it’s a mistake to think that the tabloids speak for us. They represent the views of a small but vocal segment of the population, but they’re like Fox News in that regard!
Intervention is right on the nose. Critics/haters say “good riddance,” and yet they Cannot.Stop.Talking.About.THEM. I can’t stand the Kardashians and I think they’re terrible, but you know what? I skip right over any articles about them and get on with my life. Why are people so OBSESSED with hating the Sussexes? I truly don’t understand that mindset.
@Waitwhat – I agree 100% with you. “The majority of Brits are largely indifferent to the RF”.
IMPO the “salty attitudes” are being driven by the BTL commentariat of the British Tabloids the Sussexes are no longer engaging with.
Today alone, since the release of the Sussex statement, the Daily Mail has ran four stories about the Sussexes and there are now THOUSANDS of comments less than 24 hours old rehashing all the old complaints which basically have not existed and have no relevance since 31 March 2020 midnight.
The Brits who don’t care about the royals and are thus indifferent about Meghan & Harry shouldn’t have their feelings hurt then about what Sussex fans around the rest of the world think about overly romantic royalists, racists, and garden variety trolls who enjoy hating on the Sussexes.
At this point, anyone who claims to be neutral regarding the British royals is probably not understanding the nitty gritty of what has actually been going down, or else prefers to view the royal family through rose-coloured glasses.
When all the trolling and hating against the Sussexes ceases, and when all the flaming and hating podcast crap on Youtube and hater forums all over the Internet substantially decreases, then maybe there might be room to pull away all the shit that’s been thrown at the Sussexes. Only then can they be viewed and examined fairly with reasonable critiques that aren’t purposely vindictive, polarizing and deceptively or blatantly intended to be harmful and divisive.
In the meanwhile, it’s probably best to choose a side and stay in that lane. Yes, it has come to that emotionally polarizing state of affairs! Sadly, it came to that a long time ago! Those who haven’t been paying attention, need to do their homework. The trolls just need to find a home that offers a more agreeable space for their jealousy and vitriol.
I’m pretty neutral on the entire BRF. I find the exit interesting just because it hasn’t been done before and I am of an age where I remember Chuck and Di’s wedding and the ensuing carnage that followed.
Also American so I don’t have to pay for them and I like checking out the clothes and tiaras. As far as picking a side? I don’t know these people, if I had to pick a side it would be the taxpayers that support this circus…then again, they’ve had long enough to get rid of them if they wanted to.
1500 people? hahahaha….such great polling.
I know, it’s so dumb anyone would
Think this is representative of anything
Unable came up with the poll, that’s why.
^^ @Nev Ha ha ha
LOL! 😜 🤣
They used the people who took Kate’s “groundbreaking” survey.
🤦🏻♀️👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thanks for the laugh Zuri, I needed that.
Yep @Zuri!
Thanks for the good humor. Laughs are needed for sure! 😂
16,000 plus people in the UK are dead from the coronavirus.
Why did people care about the Sussexes?
Newsweek has stooped to a new low. An online poll, supposedly representative of the country’s demographics when much of the demographic that would have any personal opinion about the Sussexes has obtained their news about them from tabloids? Please. Newsweek is as greedy for readership as the British tabloid media. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have published in the midst of a pandemic such a trash article about two people who no longer live in England or perform service for the monarch.
^^ Exactly @Olenna! Thanks for hitting the nail on the head! You are so right with your summing up about Newsweek’s motivations.
Please. A trash poll, most likely buried in the middle of a very negative article, by an organisation with vested interests. The questioning was almost certainly biased to ensure the results skewed this way.
If Yougov carries out a similar poll, the results would be far more meaningful, as far as I’m concerned.
This is so dumb. Is anyone supposed to care about such a Tiny poll? Who did they ask, daily mail readers?!
Only people like us who read gossip sites avidly take notice of what the BRF do, and especially at the moment no-once really cares. I doubt most people even remember Harry and Meghan have left. Our perceptive is skewed to the point where we think people are screaming in the streets for Meghan’s head, it’s just not the case. Maybe the doolittles are screaming though lol
The queen will probably be delighted to take even more away from them. Not to worry, William has a list prepared for when he is king. Number one on his list is to exile them along with no financial support.
I hope Charles leaves them a fortune so they don’t have to bother with William.
That is my hope also. Charles must know that he needs to financially protect Camilla and Harry from William.
I hope they Make a fortune so they don’t have to bother with any of them. Personally, I don’t think Harry or Meghan give two hoots about what the Queen takes away from them, Once she took away Harry’s military appointment (and then put that on hold once she realized how petty is made her look) and showed how truly petty she is, he realized how it was going to be from now on. He’s moving forward and ain’t lookin back.
There’s really nothing more that can be taken away from them other than money. It would take an act of parliament to remove their titles, and there’s no real precedence for doing so (a royal historian can add more detail here). Even formally removing their HRH would be a challenge: Diana and Sarah got theirs removed due to divorce (they received theirs by marrying in), but Prince Harry had his from birth. If he and Meghan divorce, hers would likely be removed, but there’s no real way to remove her HRH while she remains married to Harry since she’s already been granted it. The Duke of Windsor didn’t have his HRH removed when he abdicated his throne–he was born with it. Wallis Simpson was salty AF because she wasn’t ever named HRH, so there was no “removal” of hers. The only thing that can be done would be to ask the Sussexes to continue not to use HRH, which is the situation now. I can’t imagine even the most Tory of parliaments taking up the status of the Sussexes when they have corona virus and Brexit to contend with. But then again, I also thought the RF would do everything they could to prevent the Sussexes from leaving in the first place. I gave them too much credit for intelligence. If the Torys actually hold hearings over the Sussexes, that could backfire like mad, especially when the Sussexes will have a much more active philanthropic presence than the Cambridges. My guess now is that the RF and the media will try to poison the British population against the Sussexes so much that they will fear to return to the UK at all. (And then blame them for not coming back). The problem with that strategy is that in a global media, that cannot work. When the Sussexes are doing their work all over the world, how will it look that the British media keeps dragging them? It will look like the sour racist grapes it is, which will ultimately reflect even worse on the Royal Family itself.
@Ianne – I agree with all you so eloquently said. However, this whole thing is just getting more and more bizarre. The Sussexes probably do not want to come back. William does not want them back. The haters at The Fail, The Slow and The Dim do not want them back. None of the Celebitches want them to go back. The broadsheet newspapers do not seem to care one way or the other. The majority of the UK public based on polls either do not care, have no opinion or have no idea what we are even discussing. The only entities that seem to want them back are the tabloids they no longer engage with and the Future Charles III.
I would think that more people would be more interested that Richard Branson, who is being presented as a tax exile and tax dodger by the tabloids, is asking the UK Government for a zillion dollar loan guarantee to keep Virgin Airways in the black.
^^ You make so much sense @BTB! What’s going on is so crazy, re the fact the Sussexes are definitely NOT going back to Toxi-City. You and @Ianne articulate this situation so well!
@Ianne said:
“… My guess now is that the RF and the media will try to poison the British population against the Sussexes so much that they will fear to return to the UK at all. (And then blame them for not coming back). The problem with that strategy is that in a global media, that cannot work…”
I always felt a no-holds-barred negative campaign was going to be waged against M&H to try and hurt their independence efforts. Knowing that the ‘gray men’ in the palace initially claimed, “The Sussexes will be punished!” — we certainly know that pronouncement is still the aim regardless of palace sources trying to walk it back.
To be honest, I believe that Prince Charles and the Queen care about Harry and so they did appear to fully accept Meghan once they met her and saw her positive impact on Harry. It was also more acceptable to them to welcome her when it was revealed that Meghan is genealogically related through her father to Harry and the royals including the Spencers, the Churchills, et al., going all the way back in a direct line to King Edward III, and his wife, Philippa of Hainault, who btw was also a WOC (described in historical records as having ‘brown skin all over’, dark eyes and hair, along with ‘broad nostrils’). It’s not for nothing that one of their sons was called, “the Black Prince.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_of_Hainault
https://media.americanancestors.org/uploadedfiles/content/features/meghan-markle-chart.pdf
But today’s classist, racist, snobbish diconnect has infected too many minds. And let’s not forget that Meghan’s lack of passively fading into the background, her indifference to being grateful for royal perks and her reluctance to be stiff-upper-lip happy to be abused DID NOT please Will/Cain and the ‘gray men.’
Plus, the royals had gotten used to taking Harry for granted. They thought they might be able to ‘punish’ him into changing his mind. Will/Cain didn’t really want Harry to leave, he wanted Harry to continue being the puppy dog third wheel, whose ideas and initiatives he and Unable could piggyback on. Those days are over and done though. There’s NO GOING BACK!
So the objective at the moment for palace sources, the court at KP, and the British tabloids and RRs is to lambaste M&H from here to kingdom come in hopes people might forget how bright the Sussexes’ light shines. The hope apparently is to try and dismiss or tarnish the Sussexes’ genuine popularity among people who can see M&H for who they truly are.
1500 people in a country of 66 million is not a good representation of the population. Also I’ve noticed it’s pretty much those above 45 that have a problem with her. Everyone else who’s under doesn’t seem to care or likes her. I am generalising of course! I’ve seen 20 something year olds not like Meghan! And I’ve seen 50+ defend her!
But come on don’t we have bigger things to worry about?
Living in Britain I’m surrounded by people who will jump at the chance to be salty about anything and everything and it’s exhausting.
is that sample representative of the population? we should really study the mean from different populations. how was this sample collected? if via internet, could people vote multiple times and from any country in the world. if face-to-face, were they samples of convenience?
inquiring minds want to know, or else this is just more useless data intended to hurt/mock/taunt people
If it’s an internet poll, almost completely disregard it, for reasons you’ve mentioned and more.
ONLY if it’s carried out by *a reputable polling company* who would put In the exhaustive (expensive), measures to ensure that the sampling is robust and the results are representative, would I even look twice at such a poll.
Newsweek? Pfft. No.
Polls in general are so diluted and biased. I kind of quit them, even when I want to believe so much. It has never been a great source of information, but it has really become a pseudo-tool for places to attract clicks. Thanks @RoyalBlue for the question and @Bella DuPont for your answer.
I remember believing in polls back in November of ’16. I went to bed believing the polls for the last time ever.
^^ Here, here @Lady D! So very true for me as well!
To top it off, it was a big help in reducing my severe depression when Harry’s press statement came out the day after the election, which confirmed he was dating Meghan! That’s when I was first introduced to Meghan and rapidly began learning more about her.
The rest is history! And history is still in-the-making. 🤗
“…how the spread of COVID-19 has changed their view of different members of the royal family.”
– I could not think of a more inane and useless question
“Overall, 54% said the couple should not return to royal duties while 28% said they should and 18% said they did not know.”
– Well of course they shouldn’t return – they decided to leave!
Truth is, no one really gives a crap about the RF at the moment. People are more angry that PPR is being sold by the UK to Europe and apparently there’s been bots pretending to be NHS staff on social media supporting the governments’ response!
The people who disliked Harry and Meghan have always disliked them. Covid hasn’t changed that. I wonder if they had any questions about Prince Andrew…?
Yeah —— where’s that Prince Andrew poll? If Newsweek is going to spend the coin on such a useless poll, why not make it about something that actually might be about breaking the law instead of quitting a job?
That one I’d read.
The descendants of people who enslaved African(American)s hate an African American who became part of their royal family. Mmkay.
So 64% of people’s image of Meghan improved or didn’t change, in other words.
And most Meghan supporters also want her to not resume royal duties so they are part of that 54%, but again 46% want her to or don’t care.
This.
This was a way to drum up news and keep the big bad Sussexes on the brain. Why someone felt this poll was necessary, when the rest of the Royal family was right there in the UK, and being questioned on their usefulness during the pandemic, is a bit odd. It looks like the Sussexes actually did more from 6000 miles away to help with the effort then the domestic royals were doing. But sure, we really need this information during a pandemic because it’s easier then to ask if they approve of how the government is handling the pandemic. Did they throw in a loaf of bread to go with the circus too!
I’m sure some British people are salty, to the extent they care about the royals, especially if you only pay a bit of attention and just see the headlines. The press is using this as one final “eff you” in terms of their coverage.
I’m also sure a lot of British people either don’t care and would just shrug when asked, or would say they did the right thing.
Finally – the bit about “not wanting them to return” is misleading and I wonder how the question was actually asked. I don’t want them to return as royals, but not because I dislike them.
Hi, non-salty Brit here (well, salty about Covid, lack of PPE, getting furloughed on mat leave, many things but not this). When I worked at a TEEN MAG back in the day, 2000 responses was considered the absolute minimum for useable stats (we couldn’t even get responses online as we didn’t have an interactive website at the time – old school 👵🏻😂). This is beyond lame.
Speaking of surveys, where are the results for Kate’s struggle survey?
I thought that the one year review is about using the term “royal.” I.e., if the Queen does not find their work unseemly they can use the word “royal.*
If the one-year review period was intended to be a way for them to rejoin the firm as senior royals I think that has just been shot in the foot by the Sussexes saying they will never again work with the tabloids!
Don’t get sucked in Harry and Meghan! You are living good in america, don’t mind that stuffy archaic institution.
lol that number could well be the courtiers/palace staff and brexiteer keenbridges friends. It actually shows how much support the Sussexs have
Not to mention the fact that “54% believe they shouldn’t return to royal duties” is very misleading. I’m a HUGE supporter of H&M and I don’t think they should return to royal duties!!! They’d be miserable all over again! The way that number was positioned was to imply that 54% don’t think they should return to royal duties because they don’t like H&M. But that is NOT necessarily true!!
Also I’m sure republicans would say they don’t want Meghan (or any royal) returning to royal duties. Along with Meghan fans
In all due respect how can a sample of 1500 be a proper representative of 66.44 million people? Was it done online or via telephone ? If it was telephone where in the UK ? Margin of error? What were the questions that were asked?
There are too many outstanding questions to attribute anything negative or positive attitudes towards the Sussexes.