The Duchess of Sussex was smeared and abused about so many different things in the press and within the palaces, it was sometimes difficult to make a good-faith criticism of anything to do with Meghan. One of the very few areas where I thought Meghan could perhaps make some improvements was her spending on royal-event clothes, much of which was financed by Prince Charles. Again, it’s not that Meghan was the only royal woman spending too much on clothes (Kate says hello), it’s that Meghan was dropping huge amounts on bespoke designer clothes… just like Kate. It was the one area where they were shockingly similar. This issue was picked up on by Royals At War, the new shady royal book by Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett. They also have stories about how Kate once told Harry to go slow with Meghan, because of course. Some highlights:
The Cambridges were concerned about Harry’s lavish spending post-wedding: He reportedly forked out more than £6,000 within months for acupuncture ‘as part of a health drive’ and enjoyed a ‘babymoon’ with the Duchess of Sussex at Heckfield Place, a luxury spa in Hampshire – the three-night stay is said to have cost up to £33,000.
Harry was looking for a mommy, apparently: The authors suggest Prince Harry was drawn to his future wife’s ‘confidence, commitment, drive and ambition’ because ‘subconsciously he was seeking a figure to replace the mother so cruelly torn from him at a vulnerable age’.
Kate urged Harry to take things slowly. ‘She gently reminded him that he was dating someone with a completely different life, past, and career and it would take time, care and attention for them to integrate,’ the authors write. But the concerns resulted in Prince Harry becoming convinced that the Royal family and even Palace aides were against him and his new partner.
The courtiers were gaslighting Harry: After a meeting of senior Royals that the mother-of-one attended, one well-placed aide remarked: ‘All their IQs put together would not equal hers.’ Another source explained: ‘It’s my opinion that Harry feels he couldn’t protect his mother, so he’s going all out to protect his wife. He is so sensitive he often sees criticism or negativity where there isn’t any.’ As Howard and Tillett conclude: ‘The rifts that eventually opened up in the Royal family after Meghan arrived could have been avoided if Harry was able to empathise and take his brother’s concerns in the spirit they were intended.’
How Meghan spent a reported £478,920 on maternity clothes. ‘The fact that Meghan splashed so much cash rang alarm bells with the traditionally conservative Queen Elizabeth,’ said the authors. ‘Growing up in the war left the monarch with a built-in sense of frugality and economy, despite being one of the richest women in the world.’
There’s also something about the private planes, because of course there is. What’s telling is that this book – like so many – is just slinging the same old mud and making the same coded (and even racist dog-whistle) arguments, and that they can’t honestly distinguish a legitimate complaint (Meghan spent too much money, just like Kate) from a royal-approved talking point, which is that “everybody loved and accepted Meghan, and Harry was just being too sensitive!” It’s the difference between offering constructive criticism and participating in yet another gaslighting campaign against two people who were being severely battered by the press and palaces. And of course Kate told Harry to slow down. Kate and William truly did not want Harry to ever find a wife. I don’t even believe it was particular to Meghan, actually. I think Kate and William would have been horrible to ANY woman Harry wanted to marry.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
It’s not Meghan’s fault that Harry wanted Meghan at the altar after only knowing her for less than four years but she had to wait for the ring for 10 years. *Sigh* I know I’m being petty but I’m over this passive aggressiveness directed towards Meghan when she’s literally minding her own business in a whole new continent.
But, but, but… Meghan had mystical, magical powers that she used to render Harry completely unable to resist her womanly charms for very long. . And Kate didn’t..
Actualy, it is NONE of cathy’s business what Meghan and Harry do. She needs to take care of her own hubby, rose’s boyfriend…… Make sure your own house is clean before you TRY to clean someone else’s house. JUST SAYING
Two years not four. They met in July 2016, he told aides by September it was serious. They were already redecorating Nottingham Cottage together by Sept/Oct 2016. Engaged Nov 2017, married in May 2018.
It isn’t that unusual although haters would say otherwise. Both Rania & Abdullah II and Letizia & Felipe were engaged within six months of meeting.
It is unusual in the BRF though. There are even rumors that the Queen made a rule about having to be with someone specifically 5 years before marriage because of all the divorces. I also remember Charles has publicly mentioned having to be cautious around marriage because the people who want to marry in sometimes have ulterior motives. It’s well known that William married Kate more because he could trust her than because he loved her. Edward was with Sophie 6 years before marrying her. Beatrice was with that one guy for 10 and he turned out to be using her the whole time. Now she’s engaged to a childhood friend. He’s probably using her too, but I don’t think she’d be engaged to him without that history. So, there’s a lot of evidence to point to the Windsors being very cautious around marriage. The problem isn’t so much that any of them wanted Harry to slow down. It’s that they didn’t get on board when he didn’t take their advice, but decided they had to prove that they had been right. Everyone should have started supporting Meghan the moment that they got engaged.
Harry and Meghan wanted children. How could they wait 5 years? I don’t think it was the QUeen’s idea for Kate and WIlliam to wait, I think it was William’s.
@Ainsley: Remind me: how long was Bea with her fiance before they got engaged? He may have been a childhood friend but how long were they actually dating? And the timelines are murky with that relationship
So either that “rule” is a lie or it’s being used to excuse to shit on the Sussexes
That ‘rule’ was made up by 1) Kate stans to justify William dragging his feet for a decade and 2) Meghan haters as a way to try to deny Harry and Meghan marrying for five years. They hate her so much, they wanted the Queen to force Harry and Meghan to wait five years to make it more difficult to have children.
Good point, Sofia. Bea and shady Edo were together less than a year before their engagement announcement.
Time doesn’t erase a crown/title-digger’s motivation. In fact, the more sunk costs the tighter the grip. We all know that after 5-8-10 years Kate was not going to give up exactly because of the time invested.
I think more likely he settled for Kate. He wanted other women to love and trust and the reason for the breakup in 2007 was to see what his other options were. William made the call to wait all those years. Kate had no say in it.
ANd then there was Mrs Middleton with the heart to heart talks with William. Saying about “all the years” Kate was “committed” to the relationship.
Edward and Sophie were not required to wait, that was Edward’s choice. Sophie admitted several times she was frustrated by him dragging his feet. Press attention made him back off repeatedly. They’d get close to agreeing to marry, the press would publish something about how they *should* marry. Edward would get spooked, back off, and Sophie had to go back to her waiting game.
The messy messy timeline with Edo and his ex fiancée is way more problematic than Harry and Meghan dating for two years before marriage. Edo has a young child in the mix and shows way more signs of using Beatrice for social clout but the tabloids have not lobbed the same social climber aspersions that they did to Meghan, who did not disrupt a young child’s life.
Double standards galore.
Edo also looked like a rebound after Dave Clark dropped her. The Dave Clark-Bea relationship illustrates that long relationships are no guarantees of marriages.
@Ainsley7 “I also remember Charles has publicly mentioned having to be cautious around marriage because the people who want to marry in sometimes have ulterior motives. It’s well known that William married Kate more because he could trust her than because he loved her.” – the more time passes, the more I feel like it was he who married Up. At least Kate’s family is a close-knit group of people. Had he married another aristo, he would just be continuing with the kind of family that he already has.
Nobody has a crystal ball with relationships. And Harry and Meghan are adults in their thirties, not teenagers who need guidance. With that being said, this situation is just as much a job as a marriage. It’s tough because so much of the things that should be between a husband and wife are being lived out on the public stage. Plus with the courtiers, it’s like having a hundred different interfering in-laws. I think escaping was the only solution. Especially for Harry who wanted a real life for himself outside of ribbon cutting and photo-ops. He would have to have married a pod with no brains and ambition who would be satisfied with playing dress up everyday. Meghan is too smart and ambitious for the job.
Rhys, the social climbing, co-dependent, unhealthy Middleton family wouldn’t want anything to do with William if he wasn’t Prince William. They don’t care about him, they care about what they can get by being close to him.
It was supremely stupid of Kate to “gently” speak to Harry, an adult in his mid-30’s, about his relationship. Obviously, it would do nothing but reinforce his relationship with Meghan. I think it’s evident that the royals disapproved of her from the start.
@Ainsley7, I don’t think that rule is an actual thing tbh. What’s much more likely is that the royals are just a bunch of incredibly sheltered, tightly-knit people with bad pickers who blame everyone except themselves for not having the proper discernment when it comes to choosing a partner.
They prioritize certain modes of behaviour without questioning whether it’s the right way to be, and are then subsequently baffled when people walk into their lives and point out how messed up some of the shit they do to each other actually is.
‘Less than four years’ could still be ‘two years.’ It could even be ‘three years’
It is inaccurate and one of the things the tumblr haters cling to. It was two years, say ‘two years’.
Meeting at collage age and meeting in your 30’s are two very different things. Advising collage age people to slow down probably isn’t okay but it certainly isn’t okay advice to give to people in their 30’s. The breakdown of relations wasn’t due to marrying too quickly, it was due to jealousy of the Cambridge’s.
There are rumours floating around that the Cambridges hated Meghan from the very beginning.
@ArtHistorian, I can believe that. Just as I believe they were/are intimidated by her and left feeling insecure which instead of looking deeper inside themselves and working on that, they lashed out.
Meghan couldn’t be controlled which scared William and Kate. She knew how to navigate in real life without being coddled and was successful at it. It probably scared those two because they didn’t know what it was like to success without being given success or PR to pretend that meagre accomplishments are real success.
Plus it was obvious Harry got more confident and assertive once he was with Meghan. She supported him and I am positive showed him just how much his own family was using him and treating him poorly.
Nothing Gentle about Kate. Her playing “mother” to Harry is gross. She flirted outrageously with Harry.
Charles walked Meghan down the aisle and then had both of them attend his BP garden party days later as a sign of support. The Queen invited Meghan to do an event with her as a sign of support. The Cambridges did ….. crickets. There is no identifiable “showing support for Meghan” event that the Cambridges can claim to negate the impression that Harry was right in saying that their support was lacking.
The only thing the Cams did with them (alone) was that “Fab Four” panel for the Foundation, wasn’t it? In it, Kate just giggled, William looked pissed, and Meghan was a Boss Lady, knowing her facts, and talking intelligently, off the cuff (I should add, Harry looked proud…don’t remember him saying much).
I wonder if the QUeen and Charles were frustated, like the rest of us were, that Kate refused to mingle with her new sister in law.
The “fab four” panel has now been cited as the event where Kate realized Meghan was outshining her and had to go.
Kate and Carole knew all along that Meghan would outshine Kate, and was therefore not to be tolerated from the start. See the talk of Kate refusing to meet with Meghan, the weird shopping story of Kate refusing a lift to Meghan, Kate’s outfit at the wedding, Kate’s tights tantrum.
@yinyang, the Queen and Charles know how temperamental and difficult William is. They okayed splitting the Households in March 2019, helping to get Harry and Meghan away from William’s control. Wasn’t enough, there was still the problem of W&K dipping their fingers into the Foundation monies Harry and Meghan raised. Wanting credit and control over what Harry and Meghan did. Announcement of a separate Foundation followed.
For a while there, QEII and Charles were doing whatever they could to let Meghan and Harry be independent while trying to placate William. Wasn’t enough for William, he wanted them under his control or out completely.
This advice from the woman who chose her University to stalk and conquer William?
The once and future “Waity Katie?”
Quite the irony no?
I somewhat judged Meghan too for the clothing budget..but now I’m sort of seeing how it might have been retail therapy. If she was genuinely trying to find her place in a life where she had no voice, and the one benefit was bespoke outfits, I can see it. I suspect she’d much rather be herself and do her thing than shop all day, given the choice.
@Bettyrose it’s completely fair to judge their spending habits because I was looking at those prices with bewilderment, but I had to pause and just give her a pass because I was not sure if those outfits are things she already own/buys with her own money or from the family (also the rest weren’t getting any flack for their spending so why should I care about Meghan’s spending?). We all know that the RR were adding articles of clothing that she bought and own into their calculations on the costs of everything she touches and wears.
Speaking of the wardrobe,jewellery, tour gifts etc does she get to keep all that or are they archived in a royal vault somewhere lol
I judged her a bit too but it seemed like she was trying to build her royal wardrobe, which made sense. And when she wore cheaper clothes (like the South Africa tour) she got criticized because people didn’t like THOSE clothes either.
But the problem with the criticism over her wardrobe costs was that it really reeked of “the black duchess doesn’t deserve a bespoke wardrobe” while Kate was wearing lots of bespoke McQueen etc.
@Becks1, I thought the same thing, Meghan was building her royal wardrobe just like Kate did when she was first married. And of course when Meghan wore cheaper, high street clothes everyone bitched about that too. It really does boil down to “the black duchess doesn’t deserve a bespoke wardrobe” or have better fashion sense then the FFQ.
I judged her when the expensive clothes weren’t tailored correctly or weren’t particularly flattering. Same with Kate, same with anybody really. If you’re going to drop a lot of money on clothes at least make sure they fit.
Thing is, I don’t think Meghan dropped “a lot of money” on her clothes. Royals can, and do, accept deep discounts on clothing and accessories. It was even reported (but the DM article did quickly disappear) that Kate accepts freebies (which she is not supposed to do). Royals have also borrowed things in the past (I think the engagement photo fiasco grew from a photo shoot loan to Meghan having to pay (a discounted price) for the dress).
I think any guesstimates on clothing expenditures are greatly exaggerated.
The maternity budget HAS to be an exaggeration. That’s about $600,000 for a 40-week pregnancy – $15,000 a week on clothes. Even accounting for some high-end pieces here and there, I just don’t see how this number could be true.
It’s also the first time I have even seen that number for maternity clothes. They certainly priced every time Meghan stepped out for events and it didn’t get close to it. That number looks like they added every single thing she ever wore and ascribed it to maternity clothes.
Can’t trust tabloid figures. From security costs for the wedding (£30m quoted constantly when it was £3.4m) to the ballooning baby shower costs, always exaggerated.
From Duchy of Cornwall accounts Charles spending on his family went up by £89,000 from 2018 to 2019. Latest accounts suggest 2019 operating costs overall increased by £260,000. So unless very creative accounting going on, costs for Meghan’s clothes including that £100k quote for the Dior kaftan has to be made up.
The stories on the not so Fab Four are all over the place. First family was welcoming but then it’s Harry was upset the Cambridges didn’t roll out the red carpet. Recently the Fail suggested William recruited Earl Spencer & friends to dissuade Harry on the engagement& wouldn’t have her at Diana memorial event. Tatler’s piece suggested Kate wasn’t keen to make an effort with Meghan.
Inclined to believe there was frostiness from the start. Makes you wonder on Harry’s reluctance to anyone about Meghan for a while especially if he was meant to be oh so close with the Cambridges& they lived nearby.
The Meghan as mother figure for Harry sounds like projection of William’s relationship with Carole.
Didn’t we just see the estimated security costs in Canada drop from $2 million to $34k? And yet some people want to believe the clothing costs as gospel. She wore some things from H&M and others were a couple of hundred dollars. A lot of coats she owned before. The most expensive things she wore while pregnant were for a state visit including an audience with the king. Should she have bought stuff from Walmart? If nothing else, I hope Finding Freedom goes into some of the costs of things and how the media pulled them out of thin air.
I’m curious … why don’t people ever suggest that Meghan bought her own clothes? Wasn’t she labeled a ‘fashionista’ prior to meeting Harry? The press acts like Meghan didn’t have a penny to her name when she met Harry. The woman came into the marriage with some money of her own. Certainly enough money to buy her own clothes.
It’s a shame the Cambridges couldn’t have given Meghan a chance before spitting in Harry’s ear. But they obviously got the Vapors because she was outspoken, opinionated, and assertive.
No matter who paid for them Meghan should have gotten help in styling and fitting. I don’t know if that Mulroney woman was to blame.
Meghan is simply being unfairly targeted surrounding the cost of clothes for her royal duties. Kate never endured such relentless criticisms about clothes, not in the same way. Also we don’t know all the details in terms of
wardrobe cost. A lot that’s been mentioned is speculation. The engagement dress could have been previously owned by Meghan, or a loaner from any one of her designer friends. At that point, Meg wasn’t yet married into that crazy family. The media and haters were prepared to hate on Meghan for anything and everything. We shouldn’t forget that.
It ain’t true either that the royals are so frugal. LOL! Charles has always lived a deluxe, luxurious, well-staffed lifestyle. The Queen also indulges and spends huge sums on things that matter to her, like her horses and formerly her many dogs. She bred her own dogs and horses. She no longer doing dog-breeding, but she still has the horse-breeding operation. One of her horses won a race at Ascot this year; another came in second.
Don’t be fooled. The royals do put out the accurate p.r. about their frugal practices surrounding running of their drafty, old palaces, and they pay their staff peanuts, but that’s in order to downplay the fact that they all live in great, expensive style! You must all read Brian Hoey’s book that came out about 6 years ago: Not in Front of the Corgis. It’s a revealing and entertaining read. Hoey says in his book that the British royals never skimp on what they “eat, wear, ride, and drive.” LOL! That tells me everything. High style living all the way. And they got the nerve to question Harry spending a huge sums to enjoy a getaway with his fiance in the lead-up to their wedding! This, after all the hard work M&H were doing traveling across Britain representing and helping Meg learn about the people and communities in her new country! It was Meg’s idea to get busy right away, even while also helping plan her royal wedding — huge, daunting undertakings that it’s amazing she was able to manage with all the scrutiny and evolving hate percolating against her.
Any ‘financial excess’ related critiques against M&H are about pure jealousy.
I remember an uproar when Diana spent a huge amount on her first tour because she had little to nothing in her wardrobe that was what was needed. Kate has been accumulating designer clothes for many years. So I really didn’t fault Meghan for the expensive clothes in her first few years or first pregnancy. She has a wonderful style and I always enjoyed seeing what she wore.
Diana earned the wardrobe. She had a work ethic and did not sit back like the Cambridges do now.
Diana also wore her clothes more than once and you can see multiple rewards of outfits over the years.
Kate wears an outfit twice in 10 years and she is hailed as being “such a thrifty duchess.” It’s nauseating.
I’m glad Meghan will no longer have to deal with that.
Kate more than makes up any savings with adding new accessories, jewelry, hats and shoes every time she wears a dress for a second time. Once she was lauded for wearing a dress a second time, but she added a new $1,000 McQueen belt.
Meghan was building a royal wardrobe, which does require considerable outlay in the beginning (I remember that CP Mary spent about £120.000 on her wardrobe in her first year) – but I also think that some of her spending was very lavish, like haute couture when she was very pregnant. That is a lot of money for 2 outfits that she’ll probably never use again. However, Kate’s spending is insane, especially considering that she orders bespoke garments that look almost identical in cut and colour. There’s no need for her to own fx several baby blue bespoke coat dresses that are identical apart from tiny tiny details. Furthermore, the Queen is NOT frugal with her wardrobe! She has an in-house bespoke workshop – that costs A LOT of money and I bet her wardrobe is more expensive that even Kate’s. However, we cannot price it because everything is made in-house.
The Queen also has a VERY EXPENSIVE hobby: breeding race horses. The probably cost more than the clothes of Queen, Kate and Meghan all together. The notion that the Queen is frugal is total BS.
Like many extremely rich and privileged people, she’s likely very frugal with other’s people desires, labeling them unworthy and wasteful, while the things that SHE wants are valid expenditures not be questioned.
This is the sort of cheap-out behavior we usually see from wealthy men in regards to their wives, children or employees.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that the designers still charge Her Maj the same prices the would have charged in the 50’s. C
@ArtHistorian, thank you! The Queen being portrayed as “frugal” is laughable and infuriating. The way it’s written, it’s clearly intended to appeal to the Little England Racist Brexit contingent who pine for the pin curls and the “Blitz spirit” while never having experienced the tragedies and trauma that comes with war, but want to stake claim on the victories anyway. F-ck them, and f-ck the Fail for its racist pandering.
Ha ha @ Ginger, re Kate being heavily portayed as frugally re-wearing clothes and practicing ‘high-low’ clothes buying. Kate does that because she was inspired by Michelle Obama, and in other ways by Diana! Don’t forget that Kate has always been about cosplaying since she don’t have ideas or true style of her own.
I definitely agree that the clothes were undeniably expensive. I LOVE your retail therapy thought… And sure, if we’re being generous, the press are allowed to point it out. But MY GAWD they were awful. Expensive clothes don’t justify her years of being bullied…
the British press and the RF need to take the L. Because they lost a good one. And it became even more stark after I saw her Vogue issue won a major award. She’s on the right side of history, and she could haves cc’d the whole lot of them with her to the future
@Love, I don’t remember any of her clothes being particularly awful. Just a normal, regular wardrobe of a modern woman with some looks better than others. Jessica M would be a good example of someone with a tasteless wardrobe.
Meghan wore mostly very expensive clothes (and frequently wore conspicuously extremely expensive clothes), but she had a stylist so I thought the clothing was mostly borrowed from designers. Was that not the case? I could see the Queen taking issue with the conspicuously expensive looking part more than the dollar amount. She’s not such a flashy dresser. Just a generational culture clash.
The royals generally don’t borrow things, especially not clothes and they can’t take freebies. I honestly think that Meghan went a little wild in the beginning. Suddenly, she had access to couture and the rest of the family spend money like grass. I would have found such a scenario tempting too.
Sure the queen is not a flashy dresser. She just pins multi-thousand dollar brooches on her bespoke suits and dresses.
The Queen has an in-house designer, Angela Kelly, who creates all of her outfits. All of what she wears are bespoke pieces tailored for her. Everything made bespoke does not have an easily detectable price tag, even though it can often be incredibly expensive and probably is.
So the idea that the Queen is a conservative dresser who is careful about spending money is just hot garbage. We don’t know how much she spends, and she takes a lot of effort to make sure we don’t know what she spends because she doesn’t want to be accountable to anyone on the subject.
@A, according to her book, Kelly has also worked with designer Stewart Parvin for close to 20 years, which she started doing because there was too much for her to do by herself. Many of the fabrics used for TQ outfits come from Joel & Son, who describe themselves as “Specialists in Haute Couture Fabrics” and typical fabric prices are $100-$200 a yard and up, as per their website, even for relatively simple, conservative material. And it sounds like the designers are in charge of selecting the fabrics; I doubt TQ concerns herself with anything other than if she likes the material. And yes, everything is custom made, and includes hats (not to mention umbrellas) for every outfit where she’s making daytime visits. Then there’s shoes and handbags. Considering the number of engagements TQ generally has, the amount she spends on just clothing must be mind-boggling.
So, frugal, my behind.
Angela Kelly does not work alone. She has a team of 4-6 full-time pattern makers, cutters, seamstresses, embroiderers, ‘wardrobe mistresses’, etc.
@nota, for sure, Kelly doesn’t work alone as part of BP. She herself started as an Assistant Dresser. Parvin works with her on designs and fabric selection. He wrote the forward to her book.
Right. One of their ‘QEII is a frugal dresser’ stories was embroidering one country’s flowers on a white gown for QEII. Then making the embroiderers carefully pull out tens of thousands of seed beads and silk thread. Re-embroidering the dress with a different country’s flowers for a new visit.
Just made a new version of the white dress and embroider the new one. In the end, it would cost less staff time.
She would have been raked over the coals had she’d shown up in anything “less than” what a royal should wear. She hadn’t had time pre-wedding to build up an adequate wardrobe like Keen did so she gets a pass.
I don’t know if I really buy those figure numbers from the Daily Fail. But I do agree with people here that Meghan was more than likely building a Royal Wardrobe, and doing such a thing was just going to cost money. Not to mention she got pregnant during that first year as well, so she had to get maternity royal clothes as well.
Honestly, from what we’ve seen of Meghan before she joined the BRF and after she left, those styles of clothing were never really *her* by in large. Everyone noticed how much more “normal” and relaxed she looked in Canada in those charity pics – just wearing jeans and a sweater. She obviously does like to dress well, but her royal clothes were clearly more of a “uniform” that she was trying to build up, and not her normal clothing habits.
I think “Meghan spent too much money on clothes!” is unfair when:
1. We know the press was adding the cost of clothing she already had and inflating the prices of the clothing she got.
2. Prince Charles was financing her wardrobe. If he was paying and he thought it was too much, he should’ve shut her down (and Kate as well).
3. She needed a working royal wardrobe. She was starting from scratch.
4. She became pregnant immediately. Pregnancy bodies change rapidly. What fit in month 3 will not fit in month 6.
But lets say Meghan did spend too much money buying clothes. The clothing she was wearing weren’t that good. She probably had to frequently change her wardrobe because Cambridges didn’t like what she was wearing. We all saw how she really wanted to dress on the Bye B!tch Farewell Tour.
Criticism is fine but you also have to consider the context around the situation.
Remember that awful blue and white dress with matching hat she wore to that summer wedding of Harry’s friend? Not one inch of that outfit said *her*. Clearly, she was directed by someone to wear that monstrosity.
I’m willing to bet some of the clothes she “bought” weren’t even really chosen by her – or she was given a limited option between some select things.
The clothes she wore on the Bye B!tch tour were all her – the *real* her.
@bettyrose, I agree those numbers seem high, especially for stuff that I thought was often ill-fitting and bland. I like her more casual style so much better, and maybe she’ll auction off some of her “Duchess” outfits to benefit her patronages. Then Kate will have to do the same lol.
In retrospect, no matter what the cost, it now seems plain that it was a rigged game. If she bought new clothes, how dare she own nice things. If she bought cheap stuff, how dare she be so casual and disrespectful. How dare she wear nail polish, bare shoulders, makeup etc…
I have the utmost respect for her in sticking it out as long as she did.
“All their IQs put together would not equal hers.’
As usual, even they cannot deny it.
and of course, this is said as a veiled insult, like Meghan is calculating. But anyway, the truth is the truth, no matter the spin.
I think they somewhat know this and that is why they rely on the couriers advice so heavily.
Interesting reading… I read this as them being sarcastic, that H always thought she was right and smarter than the lot, but I like your analysis
“All their IQs together wouldn’t equal hers”.
So, according to this book, Meghan’s worst qualities are that she is incredibly smart and she (checks notes)… works hard? That’s bad?
It is bad because it makes the Cambridges look bad, therefore Meghan is a bad team player.
that is it. That is all they got.
Ahh, but you see, she’s TOO smart, in a TOO obvious way, and she tries too hard in a too obvious way, and for the British, especially the British upper crust, showing off in any overt fashion like that is bad wrong vulgar in the same way that vacuuming your house and having furniture that isn’t covered in dog hair is considered too “flashy” and “new money” for their taste.
‘All their IQs put together would not equal hers.’ Well I could have told you that for free!
And as for being frugal – these are the most greedy motherfuckers in the world.
They horde their wealth while clapping for the underfunded NHS. They deliberately tie their money in shady schemes as to confuse the public, take public funding and don’t pay tax. It is beyond gross.
This stood out for me too. But you know, in the context, you might even argue is not a compliment. ..
This stood out for me too. But you know, in the context, you might even argue is not a compliment. ..
The Queen had a problem with Meghan spending money on clothes because she’s “conservative” and “frugal.”
But she had no problem at all riding with pedo Andy to church in an open and defiant show of support, even though he was spending money on underaged girls for sex.
Because the former is just too beyond the pale, but the latter is okay because, ??? ???? ????????
And we all know it was a mistake because Meghan was a gem of a woman who knew her worth and had ambition but was still respectful of that Queen.
But she gets penalized for it.
And why would Harry take advice from Kate or even William. Both of them don’t know what they’re doing.
William is too heavy handed. I think if both parents had been around he would not have gotten away with so much nastiness to his brother. Diana did not want the heir treated more “special.” Kate is just plain nasty and out for herself.
Telling a Loved one to slow down a bit in a new relationship is not really a big deal, but Kates concern was probably embarrassment that she litetally followed Billls around and took all his BS for years before he even entertained an actual marriage commitment.
Kate did not mean well IMO. NOBODY but nobody should try to come between a couple it always leads to big problems. I think Kate did not want them to get married.
Yeah, I don’t believe for a minute that W& K just told Harry to slow things down. I think, like Phil, they told him that Meghan was not suitable and that Harry should not marry her. Which would, rightly, explain any anger on Harry’s part. And, how much of a dog-whistle is that “different” language?!
Yes. Many parents all over the world bite their tongue because they foresee just this kind of estrangement.
Anyone else notice that for the next big royal event with Meghan after the wedding, Kate wore a pale yellow outfit? Something that would have worked better for the color scheme of the wedding than off-white?
also notice that during the last royal event that Meghan attended, commonwealth day where she slayed that green number, Kate was wearing red after Meghan trended all over twitter for wearing that gorgeous red ensemble (matching Harry) at the Mountbatten Music Festival?
I LOVE that green outfit, everything about it. She looked fantastic.
Kate was playing copykate and it bit her in the ass. When Meghan wore the aqua blue dress, Kate made sure to show up the next day buying books in a coat similar to that color.
When Meghan wore the red dress the next day, she stunned. So Kate decided to show up at CW Day in red. Kate did not expect Meghan to show up in that brilliant green and that plus the new seating arrangements is why Kate was so nasty to Meghan at CW Day.
Not quite, actually. The next big event Kate and Meghan attended after their 2018 wedding was the Trooping the Colour, when Kate wore an ice blue dress. The pale yellow in this post is from 2019, after Meghan had Archie. The ice blue dress could have worked for the wedding though.
The monarchy should be abolished that’s all am saying,how can u give permission to the press to torment a woman while heavily pregnant,I can’t with these people anymore 🤷🏻♀️
I hate those ‘gentle reminder’ things. It’s such a passive aggressive move which come to think of it, keen kate is known for.
It’s creepy passive feminity that is actually full of judgement and control. Kate is the delicate white mother gently handling unstable Harry.
I never believed that Harry was as close to Will and Kate as the press want us to believe. I don’t think he ever asked them for relationship advice. I also don’t buy that Harry has mommy issues, he seems very independent and lived life outside of the royal bubble.
I’m sure out of all of his girlfriends, Kate was most threatened by Meghan and he still married her. She may think her opinion matters but it doesn’t. It’s just creepy to get involved in your BIL love life.
@Ginger, I agree with this 1000%! W&K really just wanted Harry to continue to be their court jester and whipping boy and yeah, Kate was definitely intimidated by Meghan, by her work ethic, by her strength and by her passion. Lastly, I imagine it really upset Kate to see a Windsor man so in love with his girlfriend/wife when Kate spent years convincing herself that William loved her but didn’t show it because that just wasn’t “done” by Windsor men. Now she knows that it is “done” and is done well!
@Ginger, remember what Harry said when W&K’s engagement was announced? ‘I’m looking forward to getting to know her’. William strung her along for a decade and Harry barely knew her. William didn’t even introduce Kate to the Queen himself. They met briefly at Peter and Autumn’s wedding, while William was at a Craig family wedding.
Meanwhile Harry spent all that time setting up meetings with friends/family and teas with the Queen to make sure they all got to know Meghan.
“enjoyed a ‘babymoon’ with the Duchess of Sussex at Heckfield Place, a luxury spa in Hampshire – the three-night stay is said to have cost enjoyed a ‘babymoon’ with the Duchess of Sussex at Heckfield Place, a luxury spa in Hampshire – the three-night stay is said to have cost up to £33,000..”
How could a three night stay cost up to £33,000? Do any of the Brit CBers have knowledge which could clear up my confusion.
That figure could be accurate if they rented out the entire spa (so meaning no other guests) and if it included to cost of accommodations for their royal protection officers.
@caitlinsmom – It never occurred to me that the Sussexes would rent out the entire Heckfield Place spa; a complete floor maybe but not an entire spa.
IIRC, Did not Kevin and Karen Keen take at least one two-week “babymoon” in Mustique?
It is the “up to” that is the key. They do this with every price tag attached to Meghan.
W&K complaining about how much someone else’s holiday costs? FFS, they rented out an entire resort in The Maldives for their ‘baby moon’. Their bring-the-friends-along honeymoon was a million as Digital Unicorn states, and that was without the costs of the protection officers.
They are conveniently forgetting that the Cambridges had a ‘babymoon’ after both George and Charlotte and likely after Louis but it was not mentioned in the press that i recall. And there is all the bespoke designer clothes CEO Kate bought during all 3 of her pregnancies – projection much from those authors.
We should also not forget that the Cambridge honeymoon allegedly cost £1mill – they hired out a WHOLE island for themselves (and a few friends) and then had luxury yacht trips, water skiing etc..
It’s becoming more and more clear with these ‘tell all’ books that while the whole family were triggered, no one was triggered more by Meghan than the Cambridges. NO ONE!
There was likely not a babymoon after Louis because that is when the Rose affair seem to have been made known.
But yeah total hypocrites about spending from the couple with a helicopter parked in their yard.
The one after Charlotte that was hushed up. One of the many secret vacations, because it is unlikely they took toddler George and six week old Charlotte with them to Mustique. That’s when Kate earned her SCUBA certs so William could no longer escape underwater to get away from her.
Yes the scuba cert… Kate didn’t have time to do engagements but made sure she got the hours in for scuba certification. And they even tried to tout that as an accomplishment trying to pretend she would barely get 100 engagements in per year
The most expensive room at Heckfield Place is 10,000 £ a night, so, easily could be 30,000 for a three night stay. The room consists of a private apartment with a sitting and dining room, a bedroom, and private balcony and terrace. I had to look it up bc I was wondering seeing about that place.
We don’t know it cost that much.
The British press also said their security cost Canada 20 million and it cost $56,000
They love to randomly make up numbers to push their narrative.
@ginger, the royal reporters also still harp about the wedding security costs being around 20 million pounds when it was over 2 million (about half of what Trump’s first visit cost, security-wise). The Thames Valley Police issued a press release in November 2018 detailing the actual cost but this of course was ignored by the RRs.
The media looked up the prices or called the spa and asked how much for the most expensive items. I doubt they showed them an itemized bill for aHarry and Meghan’s stay. They did the same for the baby shower in New York, and just threw out the biggest numbers they could find. When you have an agenda you can always find things to make your case.
“All their IQs put together would not equal hers.’
When even the bullies know that their victim id best than them.
Before I didn’t care about William and Kate but now I can’t stand them. They’re really bad persons.
I still don’t care about spending. Tabloids would factor in pieces she owned pre Harry just to add to the number so excuse me if don’t trust whatever number they came up with. They were also treating her like shit so spend ALL their money girl. I also agree that William and Kate would’ve treated any woman Harry married poorly but Meghan is gorgeous, independent, ambitious and gave Harry an extra boost of confidence. That was probably especially triggering to William who married someone he doesn’t love, is lazy and has 0 accomplishments as well as to Kate who is married to someone who doesn’t love her, is lazy and has 0 accomplishments and wanted the attention from both brothers. And add in the fact they wanted to keep Harry as their third wheel? I’m surprised people were in denial for so long about the part they played tbh.
I agree. Plus, her whole wardrobe for their South African tour was the cheapest of any royal. Of course the British press will never print that because it makes Meghan look good.
When she was pregnant she had to have new cloths. Anyone that is pregnant has to buy a new wardrobe.
Is that $400K figure including the clothes she needed for the Oceania tour? Wouldn’t be surprised. It happens that she was pregnant then, but to call items needed for an extended official visit special “maternity wear” is disingenuous, though it would be typical.
I suspect it includes the clothes for the Marocco visit where she wore couture Valentino and Dior.
The tabloids also went with ‘guesstimates’ from haters on bespoke items, instead of doing research and getting logical quotes on costs.
These are the same people that said Harry and Meghan’s security for their time in Canada was in the millions when it was barely £30,000 for 6 weeks. I disregard any numbers they try to pass as fact.
And that the wedding security cost 30 million, and when the figures came out it was something like 3 million.
William doesn’t need accomplishments. He is going to be king no matter how lazy or productive he is. A shitty king, but king nonetheless.
He still doesn’t fancy you Kate! Gutted!
I have no problem believing Kate wanted him to marry someone less pretty than her.
Yes I think Kate is pretty. Or was. Ok I think she does not look bad. But she is petty as fuck. Like William.
Kate is not pretty, she slathers on the eye makeup. She’s average.
She has her moments.
I think it was more that Harry looked at Meghan like he wanted to take her behind the rose bushes every time they were all in the same room together and Kate realizes that Bill is doing that with literally anyone else but here.
Meghan’s arrival and Harry’s treatment of her was a wake up call to what Kate’s relationship with Bill is.
DING! DING! DING!
Kate believes she is the hottest thing ever and hated finding out Harry was not secretly in love with her. Petty and jealous.
@Tiffany YUP! Especially at the wedding. Everyone pointed out how he looked like he wanted her right then and there in the middle of church. That had to be a blow to Kate who William was never as expressive with or genuinely loved that way.
This. No one can deny how loving and protective Harry has been toward Meghan. It’s one of the things that endures me to this couple.
@Tiffany, I agree with you and will take a step further: it must burn Kate to the core that Harry walked away from the BFF for his love knowing the younger brother is capable of THAT kind of love yet she hung around for Wills for a decade must sting- even if for a little bit.
Tiffany you are spot on!!!! Kate is jealous and hell hath no fury like a bitter jealous FFQueen
Kate stans are desperate for harry to be in love with Kate, cos they think if someone that dull and boring with zero accomplishments can get Harry’s attention, they too might be in with a shot. Unfortunately for Kate and the stans, he will never fancy her, ever! And the fact that he wife’s someone who is the exact opposite is a kick in the teeth. But Kate definitely wants a piece of Harry’s dong!.
Every time Meghan walked out the door everything was itemised and some of these outrageous numbers included jewellery which was worn over and again. It was insane. Kate’s clothing is bespoke so guess what? No numbers.
I wasn’t a fan of all of meghans outfits/the fit and style were off often. Body con is her best look. but had she dressed down she’d have received the same treatment. Lose lose proposition. She did wear *some* beautiful clothes and she was representing the Queen. Was she meant to be wearing Walmart? The clothing thing was an issue and it would have been no matter what.
I’m glad she smashed it out of the park that last visit.
This means Harry and Meghan should be as cunning as the rest and use bespoke clothing
and other tricks to hoodwink the taxpayers.
She did wear some bespoke, but as I wrote above, the tabloids went with guesstimates from the hate crowd instead of getting logical quotes from other designers.
Most of the time when Kate is praised for wearing off-the-rack? It isn’t really off the rack. She has the designer custom re-make it, raising the waist, adding details, changing hems. The end result is 1) often ugly and 2) always costs far more than the everyday price quoted.
@alexandria… Yes!
I see some blogs where the Kate sugars cannot believe she spends a lot of money, she’s like the “rest of us.” LOL.
The gaslighting of Harry and the ever changing, flip-flopping narrative continues. One minute they are saying the royals rolled out the red carpet and welcomed Meghan with open arms but she ruined it by being oh-so-difficult, the next they are saying the royals were gently advising Harry to be “cautious” but he and his paranoia and mommy issues ruined it by being overly sensitive and taking it as a criticism. I wish the royal storytellers would just get together, decide on a narrative and stick to it, but when you have to make it up as you go along and are not telling the truth, that’s kind of hard to do.
As for Harry not being empathetic to Psychic Hotline Caller William, and Her Majesty “bespoke-outfits-in-every-colour-of-the-rainbow-golden-piano-posing-asking-for-money-from-the-state-poverty-fund-to-heat-her-palace” the Queen being frugal… give me a break.
Psychic Hotline Caller William 😆
Of course William and , in particular, Kate would have hated any women that Harry married. She was nasty to Chelsy and Cressida as well. She wants both brothers. The title and crown from William and the attention from Harry.
I find it hard to believe that Harry sees Meghan as a mother figure ( that’s gross) William is the one that puts his head on Carols lap and is obsessed with her.
It makes it obvious this hit piece is coming from W&K&Carole. They’re still trying to rebut the Tatler story about William’s weird relationship with Carole. He didn’t marry Kate, he married the entire Middleton clan with an emphasis on Carole.
It’s a book. There’s no way it could be in response to the Tatler article. You can’t write a book in < 3 months.
@NoWords – you can if you’re just copying it from old tabloid stories.
And if you’re rushing to promote ‘excerpts’ before the book itself is even written or published. With today’s publishing technology? It doesn’t take months to get a book from screen to printed page, especially if you’re just throwing crap at the screen.
The audacity of Kate to tell Harry to slow down when Will is porking his neighbor on the side. The nerve of some people. Will and Kate can barely sit together without rolling their eyes at each other or outright ignoring one another, but Harry is the one who needs guidance about his own relationship. Kate should worry about her own marriage.
They all spend big money. Kate redesigned her home twice for no reason other than she’s indecisive. I really have to wonder what Harry was thinking. He knew his family better than anyone, did he really think they would protect Meghan? He didn’t prepare her and he’s lucky she stuck with him.
He has always been supportive of his family and I suspect that he thought that they would return the favour. They didn’t and they even tried to sabotage her (and him). That must have been very hurtful.
This! Harry has always been supportive and he supported his father remarrying, he supported the Queen and his grandpa and William by leaving the army. He did everything and on the side he even founded Invictus and Sentebale. He was by William and Kate’s side as part of the fab 3. He never showed Kate a sour face. He made Kate smile and laugh. But all of them fucked him over. There I said it.
If harry had really told Meghan what life would be really like she would have run a mile away I believe he played it down to keep her.
Ugh, no. We ALL saw that coming. We ALL know the Diana story.
Or it could be Harry supported his family for years and assumed they would do the same
for him. When they didn’t, he got out.
Harry wouldn’t be the first person in history to misread his own family. And he’s not the first white person to marry outside their race and discover that his family harbored racist tendencies towards their significant other.
As others have said, he supported his family for years. If anything, he was just naive when it came to thinking he’d automatically get the same type of support in return.
Did William hire these guys to write this book? Were the tabloids not enough of a medium to bully his brother through, and he needed to also do it via a more “respectable” format such as a book, for all the people who know never to believe the tabloids? Because they’re sure parroting every tabloid narrative about Meghan, right down to inflating her clothes spending to enrage people about how she’s wasting their money. (Not to mention her clothes spending is probably not much more than Kate’s when you account for how much of it she probably owned before she married Harry).
I wrote my comment before seeing yours, but I had the same thought. It’s like every tabloid narrative from the last 3 years neatly packaged into a book. And how convenient, it comes out a month before Finding Freedom.
I think it is more likely that the writers simply copied all the nasty tabloid articles – added a few fictive “sources” and voila: a book written without much investigative effort.
William and Charles must have laid out a tidy sum to ensure that these books came out before Finding Freedom.
The “authors” write for InTouch which always have false stories about the royals on the cover. Every other month Kate is pregnant with twins or some such crap. No wonder they just rehashed all of the tabloid stories.
Regardless of spending (and I’m pretty sure those numbers are just made up anyway) they still offered to work for the monarchy for free and fund themselves.
As for going too fast, they are a couple in their thirties who had been together for 2 years already by the time they got married, it’s not unusual, especially if you want kids, I know many couples with the same timeline.
I like that you included the pic of harry and Kate, that’s the one that Kate stans creamed their pants over, cos they thought harry looked like he was in love with their basic looking idol. Lol, he was trying to smile but his disdain for her was shining through.
The video that picture is from tells a very different story than the one Kate stans were trying to push. In the video he looks in her direction, gives her a fake-looking smile for a split second, then drops it as he turns to look at something else. I think Harry knows he has to publicly treat Kate politely; imagine the press hysteria (and all the ‘it’s Meghan’s fault’ headlines) if he showed her even an ounce of disdain at an event. He did abruptly shoo her over to her own car at this same event, but no one really paid attention to that.
Yes I remember that video, he smiled for a split second at her then at the people he was talking to as well. I think harry tries to have a good game face, but you can always tell when something is bothering him, he doesn’t hide his feelings as well as the others. The press were too busy creaming themselves over kate and harry back together again, and the kate stans literally we’re overjoyed at him looking at her ‘lustfully’, lol. Kate was trying her hardest and looks delighted to have some one-to one time with him and he looked like he wasn’t up for playing her games.
This event happened right after that Tim Shipman article. I don’t think Harry was originally supposed to be there because Meghan was due soon. They brought him out to show the public that everything was a ok with them. He barely looked or talked to her at this event. And one of the photographers said they shared a car and Harry leaned over to the window as far as you can get and ignored her.
@ginger lol, that doesn’t surprise me, he wasn’t up for playing her game. It’s funny cos he did seem distant and she was working it like no other, so the dynamic seemed completely off. But the British press were literally fawning over the two of them together and ‘how close they are’. It’s clear the press were briefed beforehand as regards to what narrative they were going to go with. harry knew he was being stitched up.
“Growing up in the war left the monarch with a built-in sense of frugality and economy….”
bitch has a piano made of gold. A golden piano.
RIGHT ???!!!
And all of her clothes are custom made.
She personally owns two of the Cullinan diamonds.
Miss me with this “sense of frugality and economy” nonsense.
Her shoes are bespoke too.
The two Cullinan diamonds owned by QEII were purchased by Edward VII from the cutter.
They were the unpolished cleavings, from the major stone, given to the cutter in-lieu of a fee for his work.
@bay – that doesn’t change the fact that she owns two of the Cullinan diamonds personally. They are not part of the crown jewels.
(two of the C diamonds ARE part of the crown jewels, on the crown and scepter.)
ETA I googled and I am incorrect. she owns 7 of the cullinan diamonds personally. And only one of those is the one purchased by Edward.
@nota bespoke shoes!!! That sounds like heaven for my chronically aching feet.
I agree with the larger point being made about the ridiculousness of petty betty being referred to as frugal. But when I read your comment about the shoes I paused to daydream.
And a member of the staff is assigned to wear them first to break them in. One’s royal feet must not get blisters.
All of her shoes are ugly now, but when she was younger she had some great shoes. Her wedding shoes were perfect.
Yes, the frugality of one’s private racing horse breeding operation in the UK. Or one’s private racing horse breeding operation in Kentucky.
QEII’s horse Tactical won the Windsor Stakes at Ascot couple weeks ago, 40k pounds in prize money. See, she DOES earn her own money!!! Bet the bitch kept the cash.
And this bij ensures that the annual spending of her household is more than the previous year’s and also wtf happened to the Buckingham Palace maintenance funds until it needed a major refurbishment?
Chronically mismanaged for decades while ceiling tiles and structural pieces of BP were falling off. In response, gov rolled over and gave nearly 400 million to restore it. Clarence House restoration is going to cost another 80 million.
I’m also very curious about what happened to the BP maintenance funds – because there hasn’t been any maintenance since the palace is in such poor conditions. Where did that money go?
The monarch shouldn’t be in control of the money for the publicly owned royal properties. That ought to be managed by a government org, like in fx Denmark.
Rumour is that the funds to finally sort out BP were spent refurbishing Amner Hall and A1a at KP (twice) – I remember the stories of Kate, Duchess of the 7 Kitchens. She had KP repainted twice as she decided she didn’t like the purple that she had had it done in originally.
Given the Cambridges spending I think we can guess where the money came from to move the tennis court, plant privacy shrubs at KP and their own personal helicopter.
I know that a lot of BP maintenance money was spent on the Cambs’ residences – but I’m curious to know what happened to the money in the BP budget from before the Cambs’ marriage. There hasn’t been done any larger maintenance on BP for several decades (it is rumoured that the boilers are from the time of WWII!), so what happened to 50-60 years of maintenance money?
The negligence the Queen and her staff has shown to her primary residence is almost criminal. This is why the maintenance for the royal estates owned by the State should be under the purview of a government office like it is in Denmark.
It could have been misdirected towards care, feeding, and staff for royals at BP. Andrew, Edward and Sophie have large suites at BP. Also towards the royals and staff at Saint James Palace, paying for things it shouldn’t.
A lot may have been misdirected towards Kensington Palace for those decades too. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent had their rent illegally subsidized for years, and the Queen hid one of her Bowes-Lyon cousins in a posh apartment at KP too. What money paid for those quarters, the staff, the food and drink, etc.
There is nothing more frugal than using the priceless, gold-leaf-encrusted, family heirloom piano you already have as decor instead of going to the shops and buying new things that look less dictator chic! Nothing!
I can’t help but think back to a blog post from 2013 that laid out how Kate was trying to insert herself into Harry’s life (described as an “unhealthy fixation” with his life) to the point where he started avoiding her (and they posited then that this is where the rift between the brothers actually started). She had lists of “suitable” women that Harry should marry – and you can bet that none of them were prettier that Unable nor accomplished in any way shape or form. She tried to push the Pippa match, which was publicly shot down quickly by Harry and the courtiers (she wanted to make Pippa a lady in waiting so she would be in his proximity).
So, if this is even partially true, you could see where her gentle reminders about Meghan would go down like a lead balloon.
I remember similar reports at the time, and also remember them saying that Harry was never looking for a mother type figure, which Kate kept trying to fill with both William and Harry. It was said that Harry didn’t need to be mothered and she made him very uncomfortable. And that courtiers were tasked on making sure she didn’t keep showing him so much public attention because it looked bad.
But now Harry was looking for a mother and that’s why Meghan was able to manipulate him. It’s all so ridiculous.
I remember similar reports at the time, and also remember them saying that Harry was never looking for a mother type figure, which Kate kept trying to fill with both William and Harry. It was said that Harry didn’t need to be mothered and she made him very uncomfortable. And that courtiers were tasked on making sure she didn’t keep showing him so much public attention because it looked bad.
But now Harry was looking for a mother and that’s why Meghan was able to manipulate him. It’s all so ridiculous.
The IQ and spa stories are word for word Emily Andrews’ articles. These “authors” are just regurgitating tabloid stories and repackaging it as them having inside scoop.
The narrative is always the same — Meghan/Harry bad, Will/Kate/RF good (despite the piling evidence to the contrary). Surely, that can’t have always been the case. Surely, someone in that country can at least recognize Meghan’s positive qualities and her extremely positive contributions to making the RF globally relevant in today’s pop culture.
This book seems specifically sanctioned to counter all possible storytelling in FF that may deviate from the UK media narrative. It’s like a complete regurgitation, as if everything is fact. Guess that’s the point though.
This just gives me stress reading it. Nothing new, just usual shit rehashed, showing they’ve not taken on board a single thing.
Funny how no-one writes books about the Cambridges. In the global interest arena, they are ‘also rans’.
Good point. This sums up the entire ‘feud’.
This is true. Even with all the so called drama, there is little interest in writing about the Cambridges. The most interest they had in months was the Tatler article, which was a 2 minute read and was a bunch of disjointed snippets of snark and Sussex complaints. Such a dumb, incomplete article but they got so riled up about it.
They do actually write books about the Cambridges – it’s just that nobody talks about them once they’re published.
They really were mad that Harry:
1) found a woman he wanted to marry;
2) found a woman who was accomplished and educated
3) found a woman who had a successful career and had earned her own money
4) found a woman who wanted to actually work as a royal
5) found a woman who made Harry realize his own worth.
I honestly think the last one was the kicker, that’s what gave Harry the strength to walk away, but all of those were dealbreakers for the Cambridges IMO.
And it does seem this is all about the Cambridges. Kate must be the most insecure woman on the planet.
To your point 6) Kate must be the most insecure woman on the planet
a) With the most insecure, social climbing mother on the planet
b) and who is married to the most insecure man on the planet
Diana, harry and Meghan could walk away and tell them to stick their HRHs cos they knew they were worth so much more. They don’t need titles to thrive. William and Kate are nothing without theirs, absolutely nothing. That’s why kate is hanging on for dear life, she doesn’t have anything to fall back on.
Kate has spent her entire adult life around William. I truly wonder if she has a personality away from being William’s something – whether that’s his girlfriend, fiance, wife and mother of his kids.
Her identity and personality truly revolves around William.
Agree with both of you. That may be why she is so insecure. She is nothing without William, and I don’t just mean in terms of titles or rank. If William wanted a divorce, what on earth would Kate do? I assume she would get a nice settlement and a place to live with the kids (maybe even stay in KP) but…..she has nothing. She has no strong interests, besides…sailing? Tennis? Maybe? …no projects, no experience.
Everything about her revolves around William and has for almost 2 decades.
I don’t know about Diana and Harry. Of the 3 of them, Meghan has had to hustle the most and knows the real world. To an extent, Harry was also exposed by being in the army so that is not bad. For Diana, she had her teaching job and then was thrusted into royal life at 19? I think she would have had to struggle now if she were still alive. So out of the 3 of them I believe Meghan can survive without being HRH.
@alexandria. When Diana’s title was taken from her it didn’t diminish her star power, which the royal family probably hoped for. I think it released her and gave her a certain amount of freedom to finally thrive. I think she was very young when she married, so most 19 years olds don’t have too much experience, but I think she had grown leaps and bounds by the time of her divorce. If she had lived she could have done so much.
Exactly.
Kate is shrinking away literally because of her miserable marriage so she is the last person to give any relationship advice. Harry actually respects his wife, which is something Kate doesn’t understand.
I think Diana would have found her way and carved her own niche. Harry and Meghan still have the titles and I think they have the toughness to succeed.
This is now the second time I have seen Meghan referred to as “the mother-of-one”. While that is indeed a fact, it’s odd to me the way it keeps getting said…almost a very, very subtle dig that Meghan is not as a good a person? mother? royal? because she only has ONE. I don’t know, I’m getting a gross vibe from that.
These tabloid people always say the weirdest sh*t when it comes to moms. Like always calling a woman, “pregnant [insert name],” like it’s a new name or title. Or “the mom-of-one [insert some activity she’s doing].” Or “[insert name] puts her burgeoning bump on display.”
Yes, since it was pointed out in the last excerpt I noticed it right away! It’s almost like they are hoping people will believe that Archie is “hers” and not Harry’s? Or that he’s not legit somehow?
The racism is almost so obvious that I genuinely looked hard for any other reason this could be worded in this way.
All media does this. Local news are always reporting on what local moms think or do. It infuriates me that they cannot just say women. Occasionally they might say female but almost never woman. Sorry for the rant, been a pet peeve for a long time.
OMG some of these stories are lifted from the Sun- more particularly Emily Andrews. Many of whose stories were discredited eg baby shower guests, on Frogmore having a gym, copper baths, rules for neighbours etc.
I definitely think the royals should be accountable on spending especially as it has emerged they are being paid more and doing less. Meghan should have known that she could be easily targeted for that as a woman of colour. But given Charles published accounts the tabloid figures for her spending on clothes never matched up. According to published accounts Duchy of Cornwall spending for Charles family increased by just £89,000 from 2018 to 2019. Not sure what it is for 2020 yet. So unless Meghan was paying for all that bespoke stuff out of her/ Harry’s own pocket (which I doubt)- these figures of her clothes spending must have been grossly exaggerated.
As I said I don’t believe authors of this book have any credibility and are just rehashing tabloid stories. I don’t believe these Will& Kate conversations with Harry happened as described.
But with hindsight clear Cambridges had an issue with Meghan from the start. Just after the engagement news Tom Bradby talked about the Cambridges being cautious and Harry& Meghan needing to be careful of conflicts around popularity, money, status. That royal foundation forum talk when they discuss unresolved arguments now seems very revealing.
Then at the wedding Kate barely looks at the bride& most of the family barely watch the vows. Unusually Miss grin a lot can’t muscle a smile for official wedding portraits which I know was put down to having had a baby recently at the time but following tights/hemline gate now not so sure.
I wonder if we will ever know things said/done around the wedding which apparently caused this schism.
Meghan spent too much , wasnt that money approved by someone or was Meghan so powerful she could spend their money and they couldn’t stop her ? Why don’t these lunatics, liars and gossips go after the person who approved her budgets
Also I don’t really care for kate and the RF but this article is ridiculous. Except the IQ part ,that family and its courtiers are so useless any person worth their salt will always sit on their necks and make them look stupid . Also the Windsor men must treat their women as shit for them to have an issue with harry for standing behind his wife or not allowing them to look down on her
I feel like this is the most passive/aggressive family. They cannot keep their noses out of each others business and they cannot sit down over a nice private meal and discuss matters. They go right to trying to publicly shame someone.
The are utterly dysfunctional – and have been for centuries and the lack the self-awareness to change the pattern. The Windsors produce emotionally stunted people who can’t communicate.
These figures are inflated like crazy, lifted right from Emily Andrews articles in the Sun. The same woman who got the baby shower wrong, the copper bathtub and genderless Archie wrong as well. Meghan is the one who grew up working class and had tips for saving money on her blog, how could someone born in a palace ever raise their eyebrows at how she spends?
They were probably trying to build her up as the next Fergie. Born and raised working class, so you’d think she’d be a deft hand with budgeting, but once she got into that high-flying world spending other people’s money she never quite learned how to NOT spend too much money. Such comparisons would also come with handy village bicycle rumors, which they did seem to be trying to paint Meghan with as well.
Why do people actually believe the numbers in these stories about ANY royal (or celebrity or politician). They get so many things gifted, discounted, loaned etc it’s virtually impossible for anyone to ever know how much they spend on anything.
Has anyone on social media who may have bought the book realized they have been bamboozled into buying two year old, warmed over, unsubstantiated gossip?
On another thread someone said Scammy is doing a book scheduled to come out this August. The tabloids would have reported it if true. The Markles won’t crawl out from under their rocks unless one of the books (Omid’s most likely) does damage to Toxic Tom’s self serving BS of a self sacrificing dad for Meghan.
That was me, lol re: book. Everyone wants to jump on the Meghan train even if they have nothing to offer other than regurgitating tabloid lies and exaggerations from the past three years.
It is much easier to regurgitate tabloid stories than to do the investigative work and cultivate connections to get access. Sensational tabloid lies sell better too.
This is why the haters are mad about Lady C’s book. They said there is nothing new at all. It’s just a repeat of old headlines.
This book is going to be a rehash of 3 years worth of tabloid gossip
This book is wildly biased. It just seems to extract info from blogs with the same nasty comments. Kate probably wanted Harry not to marry at all after he did not follow up on her pushing Pippa as a possible wife. Kate also flirted and giggled with Harry and he looked uncomfortable.
I have no doubt Meghan and Harry threw money around like it was nothing. Because it *is* nothing to people like the royals. They’re wealthy. It’s how they were raised. What I don’t get is them trying to convince me that somehow Kate and William are somehow different in this regard. They’re all like this. Anybody who grows up in that tax bracket has that sense of entitlement.
THIS x 1000!!!
I would not be at all surprised to learn that Harry encouraged her to go for garments she found beautiful. Heaven knows, I’ve come out of the changing room and heard, “you HAVE to get those pants!” from an SO.
This family is so toxic! The whole family is literally a waste of taxpayer money but ok let’s target Meghan. Sigh. And maybe Kate was concerned with how fast things were moving but when you’re in your 30s you know who you are and don’t need to waste 5 years with someone like you can in your 20s when you’re figuring out everything. I don’t know what building a royal wardrobe means exactly but everyone could probably being doing it on the cheap (second hand consignment clothes or at least ethically made stuff), especially with Brexit and people suffering, the optics aren’t great. I wore my yoga leggings and tank tops and sweaters through my pregnancy and literally didn’t buy any new clothes but that’s not going to work for a royal! Harry and Meghan do seem happy and like good people, I’m sure they have issues and their flaws like we all do and marriage is tough but I do hope they find happiness and purpose and stay away from this toxic mess of a family.
Does the palace/courtiers think this narrative will paint Kate in a good light?? If anything this proves that they were against Meghan from the start. The writers just like that campbell is picking the side of British tabloids/courtiers regurgitating old xenaphobic stories implying that Meghan “changed” harry.
I hope their book tanks and they are forgotten. I’ll make a reminder to leave a bad reviews
Translation : the authors think William and Kate can do no wrong. ANd they were right to “instruct the wayward brother” who “did not know his own mind like THEY did (LOL). The book is ridiculous.
Vassi Chamberlain said someone told her that William and Kate found out about Harry and Meghan’s engagement two hours before the announcement. Well that explains.
You can find her article on Airmail.
Yes, they were so helpful in telling Harry who to not marry, but that was the first and last help he ever got from them. If Kate came from such a loving family why is she so vindictive, why didn’t Carole extend a hand to Doria, why didn’t Kate show Meghan the ropes about royal life, or do they only help when they can get something out of it.
Umm, yes they do only help when it ends up benefiting them.
If you analyze the sentimental life of Harry, you will realize very quickly that Harry never looked for a maternal figure in his life.
Despite the fact that Diana is dead, she remains for Harry her only maternal figure because unlike William, Harry still has a very strong fusional relationship,with Diana. But like all human beings, he is subconsciously attracted by women who share character traits common of one parents. In all of his previous relationships he has always been attracted to free-spirited, independent, strong, intelligent and charitable women. Character traits that match those of Diana.
Reason why he will never was attracted to a woman like Kate and Pippa Middleton because they are the complete opposite of that.So, it was very clear that Meghan is the right one, was obvious because it is the one that share most peronnality traits that Diana had.
Karen Cambridge strikes again.
Kate was just salty that Meghan didnt have to wait ten years for HER ring.
Bingo! I think Kate and Carole believed Meghan didn’t suffer enough during the courtship so they intended to make up for that. Sorry Waity you wanted the big ring and you picked the wrong brother. Now you get to eat your bad choice for the rest of your marriage. Enjoy!
👏👏👏👏👏 precisely!!!
I’d want to see an accurate accounting of Kate’s wardrobe before I complain about Meghan’s. I would think married-in’s clothing costs would be high the first year, especially since Meghan was pregnant and had a big tour as she’s building her royal wardrobe. There probably was also some “keeping up with the Cambridges” going on; she’s an actress so she was trying to dress like Kate/Sophie to figure out how a duchess would dress. As far as their “babymoon costs”, again, let’s get an accounting of the Cambridges’ honeymoon, babymoons and, heck, routine vacations.
Also, I don’t think Harry has “mommy issues” and was looking for a “surrogate mother”; I do think he has a strong protective instinct and there may be some guilt that he could have helped his mother more. So, when he saw Meghan (and later Archie) being attacked, he acted.
Agreed, I found that bit about Harry somehow seeking a surrogate mother figure in Meghan so strange, especially given William’s odd relationship to Mrs. Middleton.
I doubt Kate ever really said this, but I do see her wanting to keep things as they were, not sharing the spotlight. Also, since she had to wait around so damn long, it must sting a bit to see Harry so driven to go after his love.
I wonder how long would ever have been long enough – when Kate’s kids are grown? When racism ends? When the struggle survey is finished?
I disagree @paddingtonjr. I don’t see Meghan as following anyone of those royal firm b**ches. Meghan has her own mind and her own style. I don’t see any of them trying to help her either, despite Sophie initially seeming friendly toward Meg publicly. Possibly Meg did some royal sartorial research, looking back at outfits worn by others for special occasions, just to sort her ideas. That’s easy enough to do online. Mostly, Meg probably relied on her own savvy fashion sense and on advice from her designer friends, like Misha Nonoo, Roland Mouret, and her wedding dress designer, Clare Waite Keller.
Meg sometimes experienced fit and seaming issues likely due to her difficult to fit short-waisted body type. The wedding dress issues probably were due to Meg losing weight, and the luxe fabric was prone to wrinkling. Still, it’s a classic design that suited her and the venue. Tailoring issues were sometimes a problem, but Meg don’t seem like a persnickety fashion diva drama queen. She’s fashionable, but chill and down-to-earth at the same time.
Racist dog whistle: Kate told Harry he and Meghan needed time to “integrate.” Am I the only one reading it that way? The only other time I’d use that word to describe a romantic relationship is for partners who have kids from previous marriages/relationships.
They keep trying to put out that ‘they told harry to slow down”. Here he is 2 years later and still happily married with a baby, so what’s their damn point? They keep trying to spin it as some whirlwind romance and they’ve been together 4 years now and still going strong.
They sure didn’t slow down or hit the pause button when it came to attacking his wife and child. They were going full speed ahead with that.
I don’t feel one way or the other about this. It does regurgitate a lot of tabloid stuff. Why is Kate so possessive of Harry is another thing. I’ll tell you if my interfering sister in law got into my personal business( and they’ve tried it), it brings my hackles up and I shut it down because it’s none of their business. It gives the impression that Kate’s a control freak and wants to be the only girl inthe room. Weird and a bit disturbing. I think the royals wanted Harry to be a bachelor well into middle age.
As for the criticism of Meghan, she is the only royal whose finances they were interested in, so was her spending out of the norm, or because she was new to the role and had to build a royal wardrobe, set up a new household etc? I think the angle was that she was taking advantage or” gold digging”, so I side eye the concern about her spending, especially when the spending of the other Royals get no scrutiny. It’s hard to criticize when someone is constantly under siege with so many vicious attacks, so what advice was given or heeded gets lost in the noise. I feel that they were trying to heed advice, dim the light so to speak, stay out of the spotlight during her maternity leave, but the attacks actually increased. I think they wanted her to fail, didn’t want to support her or her marriage and wanted her gone. It was a messy situation and think that placing the burden on the Sussexes to fix it is the wrong angle. The royals will be fine without them, and getting out of the UK is what they needed for themselves.
People in their 30s who want to have kids are not going to wait ten years like Kathy did for Bill.
The queen is frugal now???? What they mean is it’s okay for a white woman to hoard almost immeasurable stolen wealth, and it’s not okay for her Black granddaughter in law to spend a tiny fraction of it working for her. Frugal! The gaslighting is severe.
Meghan’s wardrobe doesn’t seem anywhere near as expensive as all of Kate’s bespoke McQueen and Katherine Walker coatdresses in every shade of every color. Also Charles covers William and Harry’s expenses. His annual expense report did not increase significantly since the addition of Meghan and Archie. All the media types repeating this line about her spending need to produce some receipts and let the true comparison be revealed.
I agree! I don’t know why people drag Meghan’s wardrobe expense, it doesn’t look nearly as colour cordinated and wellfitted and expensive as Kates.
Cheese-on-bread, I wish these people would just stop the bullshit commentary.
No kidding. I don’t believe this for a minute. Kate had no need or no bloody business “gently reminding” anyone of something that was none of her business. I call BS.
I just wanted to add that many of the clothes that Meghan wore she had before she became a duchess.
Very tired of the Meghan is outspoken, assertive, opinionated narrative. She is a very thoughtful intelligent woman who was enthusiastic about her role and how she could use her platform to do some good. She is not boorish but rather poised and courteous when she speaks. She is also a good listener.
This book sounds like the author cribbed from a pile of Daily Mail and Sun newspapers so full of False narratives and outright lies.
Kate wanted Harry to marry Pippa.
In a nutshell, the obsolete RF didn’t know what hit them when Meghan walked through their door, and they bungled it from day one. She was too fresh, modern, articulate and competent for them to handle and for them, the very foundations of the monarchy were all shook up by her presence. They took horrible wide-ranging measures to drive her out and now the repercussions will have very long lasting and far-reaching consequences. But their biggest mistake is that they didn’t bank on Harry taking the first exit out of Britain with her either. So they can continually smear her all they want and denigrate Harry, but the optics and their motives are too transparent now out on the world stage for all to see. Everyone’s eyes are now on the bigoted British royals and their nasty ilk.
Living well is the best revenge, Harry and Meghan.
Meghan is there favorite scapegoat and always will be no matter where in the planet, she’ll always be in the headlines. Why? So if their expense is questioned they’ll point at Meghan and say she’s the one, if there is a republic they’ll point to Meghan and say she was the weakest link that wasn’t special enough. These people have no souls, they are the worst, the sooner they’re gone the better, we don’t need humans like that.
all i know is that the cambridges and the courtiers have turned the british royal family into the nastiest of all the notable royals. the spite and sneaky insults about their own family are unlike any i have heard in recent time. shame shame on them.
Kate did not approve of either Chelsey nor Cressida as was acknowledged by an eagle eyed contributor on Twitter. On a purely shallow basis. What do these two women and Meghan have in common?
They are more beautiful than Kate. In regards to Meghan, Kate did not respect boundaries and was jealous because Harry led Meghan through the front door so she did not need the ladder that took Kate 7 years to build.
On another note, there is no way Meghan can outspend Kate, who spent 1 million £ when she went on tour whilst pregnant with Charlotte. It is common knowledge that the dunces at the Daily Heil cannot create a Balance Sheet nor balance an Income Statement. One of the dresses that Meghan wore to a private affair was overpriced by£20,000. So there.
Kate never liked anyone for PHarry. She always feel threatened by them because she’s, I believe, she has very low sense of self and self-esteem.
She didn’t like Cressida Bonas because she’s from an aristocratic family. She doesn’t like Meghan because she makes her (Kate) feel inferior even if she’s the FFQ.
PHarry likes his women strong, confident, and intelligent. William likes his women submissive, dim and dull. Two brothers are opposite.
god they never come for andrew this hard. where is lady colin campbell’s book on him? why are these royal experts not clamoring to write about him and his lies, extravagances, corruption, relationships with felons etc.
no, they would rather write fairy tales about an independent and accomplished woman just because she makes the other women pale by comparison.
Why do you think will and kate never wanted harry to marry?