As I read the excerpts from Robert Lacey’s Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is the Establishment’s response to Finding Freedom. This book is the courtiers, Kensington Palace, and royal commentators “responding” to the versions of events in Finding Freedom. One of the more asinine stories in Finding Freedom was the idea that William and Harry’s relationship suffered merely because William told Harry to slow down with “this girl,” Meghan. FF of course suggested that Will and Kate were pretty cold to Meghan throughout the courtship and engagement, but I’ve never bought that Harry and William were super-close for years and then William says “slow your roll” and Harry is like “I HATE YOU.” A lot of stuff came before and after that. Still, Lacey does a deeper dive into the whole idea that William really believed that Harry and Meghan were moving too fast:
Meghan & Kate got along: Sometime during that first summer and autumn together in 2016, Harry introduced his girlfriend to his father and his grandmother, who thoroughly approved. The problem was William. Meghan and Kate actually got on rather well from the start. They might not be best-buddy material, but they found themselves, sister-outsiders in their extraordinary royal situation, and both of them cool professionals, treating each other with mutual respect. Each was far too canny to make an enemy of a prospective sister-in-law – it only made sense to be friends. The fundamental conflict was between the two males who had known each other all their lives and had never hesitated to tell each other exactly what they thought and felt.
Waity William: For his part, William was worried that his brother was going too fast in his courtship and he didn’t shrink from saying so when Harry started talking about getting hitched. ‘This all seems to be moving rather quickly,’ William was said to have remarked to Harry doubtfully, on the testimony of more than one friend. ‘Are you sure?’ William couldn’t understand how Harry could contemplate marrying this still unknown and untested quantity less than two years after their first meeting. It went against his every instinct – and his own track record. If ‘Waity William’ had taken nearly a decade to test out and approve his life partner, surely his younger brother could ponder his options for just a year or so more? But ‘Waity William’, of course, took so long to commit to Kate for the sake of the monarchy. He had been auditioning her for a job all those years.
Curious: So Harry could not help but wonder whether Wills was really concerned about his personal happiness – or whether he was, once again and as per usual, thinking about the make-up and fortunes of ‘the Firm’ whose boss he would become one day?
William turned to his uncle Charles Spencer for help. From time to time Diana’s younger brother had played something of an honorary godfather to both boys in the years since the death of their mother, and their uncle agreed with William to see what he could do. The result of the Spencer intervention was an even more bitter explosion. Once again Harry refused to slow down. He didn’t blame his uncle. He understood why Diana’s brother should want to help. Yet he was furious with his elder brother for dragging other family members into the row.
The Windsors fundamentally believed that Meghan was “too political”: That feeling was coming to be shared among the Windsors themselves – and Prince William was particularly disturbed. Many of the papers had identified Meghan’s proclaimed refusal to be ‘boastful’ by appearing on the front of her British Vogue issue as a not-so-sly put-down to Kate, whose face had featured on the cover of her own Vogue a few years earlier. But William’s concern went much deeper. Money, power and survival. These were basic royal issues, and they were far too important to be threatened by trendy controversies in a glossy magazine.
The Windsors don’t do woke: William did not see his future role as monarch – nor his current role as heir – as a matter of him working to maintain the nation’s feelings in harmony while his activist brother and his wife jumped up and down beside him cultivating political and cultural divisions in pursuit of their trendy vision of doing good. Windsors do not do ‘woke’. William had been worried for some time that Harry was growing away from him, and this was confirmed when he tried to discuss the issues raised by Meghan’s Vogue with his brother. As with the brothers’ arguments of 2016/17 over William’s attempts to make Harry ‘go slow’, the details of the showdown over Meghan’s ‘Forces for change’ are not known. But there was another classic Harry explosion, followed by a further, even deeper rift.
Re: Meghan not appearing ON Vogue… I always thought that was Meghan’s way of trying to deflect criticism of how “Hollywood” she was. She was trying to show the Windsors that she didn’t have to put her face on something to draw attention to worthy causes. But of course they f–king lost their sh-t anyway. And yes, how political to… talk about environmentalism or feminism or race. TOO POLITICAL!
As for William asking his Uncle Charles to intervene with Harry… Lacey’s book is increasingly a portrait of a Future Future King who was incandescent with rage because he couldn’t control his brother and sister-in-law. He couldn’t dominate them. I don’t know… how does any of this make William look good?
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
LOL at the idea of Kate being a “cool professional”!
Thank you for pointing that out.
“The problem was William. Meghan and Kate actually got on rather well from the start. They might not be best-buddy material, but they found themselves, sister-outsiders in their extraordinary royal situation, and both of them cool professionals, treating each other with mutual respect”
This kind of confirm whatr I have always thought: the problem ia between the two brothers, but the press preferred to portay the two women at each other’s throat.
Hello sexism.
My take on it has always been that they were fine at first but I definitely think something soured in their relationship, maybe as KP would defend Kate but not Meghan, or maybe as the embiggening stories were constantly used to tear Meghan down. Their relationship seemed very stiff and awkward by the time Meghan was heavily pregnant and then from thereon out it seemed like it had soured.
So we have to forget Kate’s behavior at the CW service? ok, good!
Let’s hope Meghan, if she ever behaves that way, will be afforded the same curtesy. I highly doubt it! just like Michelle O or Serena W and countless others could never be afforded the same curtesy
There was nothing “coolly professional” about Kate’s behavior that day, that’s for sure!
Oh no.
But I remember at the beginning the press was all over their “Feud” , when they seemed ok, not bff but ok.
Then something happened during Meghans pregnancy, I don’t know.
The big feud has always been between the two brothers.
Agreed. Kate was complicit. The issue may be with the brothers but Kate did little to help the situation. BUT if Wills is tending to his mistress and Kate she is on shaky ground, how much motivation does she have to help Harry and Meghan’s situation. Ma Middleton is no fool, she saw first hand what happened to Diana and she will not allow that to happen to Kate. Kate goes along to get along and that too is very dangerous.
Kate does not love Meghan and she never liked Meghan .. Did you forget Kate’s facial expressions at Harry and Meghan’s wedding , how she looked so depressed and did not smile? Did you forget her actions, for example, when the press was criticizing Meghan’s expensive clothes, Kate was repeating her clothes ?? Kate is very spiteful and jealous of Meghan because Meghan is an elegant, smart , good in giving a speech and communicates well with people and Meghan had a life before Harry, at the same time Kate only her goal of life is to reproduce and wait for two people to die until she becomes queen consort, also Kate all her life has been about William so …
She literally had given birth just a few weeks earlier.
Say what you want, but every pregnancy, birth, and recovery is different.
You can’t know what was happening with her physically, emotionally, or mentally that soon after delivering a whole person.
Internalized misogyny is a real thing.
Hyrule Castle I agree about the wedding – she had just given birth AND her husband had been attending Rose bushes during her pregnancy, of course she looked down trodden.
Kate recovering from pregnancy is not why she and Camilla were making faces during the black bishop’s sermon. That was racism.
I wouldn’t read too much into Kate’s expressions at the wedding. Girlfriend had given birth 4 weeks prior and had to trot out to a day-long event for appearances sake. I wouldn’t be too happy either.
The rest of it… I imagine Kate was relieved when Meghan came along and the press had a new person to crap on endlessly. I wished she’d said, “I have an inkling what this is like and it needs to stop.” . But instead, she decided to continue to benefit from Meghan being the new royal scapegoat.
LOOL. But she came out happily smiling in front of thousands of people and photographers after 6 hours giving birth to Louis, also soon after Harry and Meghan got married, she and her children went to watch William at the polo match and she was running and smiling … Come on and tell me what is the excuse now ?????
Agree with Nic919. The immature and silly behaviour on Kate’s part, and turning red, had nothing to do with having recently given birth. Jesus, teenagers act like that.
None of the behaviors on display at the royal wedding of H/M had anything to do with pregnancies. Not Zara’s ugly behavior, not Kate’s disrespectful behavior and blaming a grown woman’s disrespectful behavior on pregnancy is utter rubbish, out of here with that. Women have come too far for that. The royal family acted abominably, all of them including the Queen with her royal b#tch face, (see her attendance at other weddings to compare how she is used to looking on those occasions.) Like Kate if you like, but be factual, she along with Zara especially, Eugenie and Beatrice behaved badly at the wedding. It’s called class and the royal family showed none at that wedding.
Hyrule
Postpartum does not make you racist or lose the ability to be respectful. Just stop there.
@4Eva a big Amen
Whatever issues they had/have, they seemed to be fine at Christmas 2018 – or at least were happy to pretend to get along if they really didn’t like each other. Then the only time we really saw them /together/ was at Trooping in 2019 and there wasn’t much (if any) massive signs of hostility between the two. Then it came to the CW day which the only time Kate was rude.
Remember the polo match where they sat on the grass next to each other and didn’t interact. Kate who supposedly loves babies and children didn’t even acknowledge her nephew. The Cambridge kids didn’t show any interest in Archie.
@FLUFFY_BUNNY No, it’s not the polo match that Meghan and Archie was there, A few days after Meghan and Harry’s wedding there was a polo match in which only William attended and Kate was there with her children, she was running and smiling and laughing even though she just had given birth to Louis…. to the people who defend her tell me why she was so happy at the polo match and so depressed at Harry’s wedding as if her ex was the one who got married??
@Oh – yes, you are right, but I think FluffyBunny is referring to the polo match in July 2019, where they didn’t interact at all, as evidence that the two women really had no relationship at all.
“money, power and survival….basis royal issues.” Well, that explains a lot about *all this.* At least someone is finally just coming out and saying it. The royals care about money, power, and survival. Not making positive changes* not helping others not connecting with “the people.” Money, power and survival.
*someone was talking yesterday – Mignionette maybe – about how the royals don’t actually want change because they are invested in the status quo. And I 100% agree with that. But the royal status quo is going to look more and more outdated as the older generations die out. The Windsors may not “do woke” but they’re going to have figure out a way to “do woke” sooner rather than later. And its a shame because they could have used Meghan to help them get there, even if they disagreed, and now they’re just coming off as antiquated dinosaurs who are willing to say “save the environment” but not willing to say “black lives matter.”
Probably in part because their entire brand is about “saying” one thing while doing another. They “say” save the environment while surrounding themselves with manicured lawns and gardens and cultivated spaces and then they fly in helicopters and private planes and they hunt and engage in any manner of Nature destroying activities.
They say they care about children and families and put together little events and dumbass 5 question surveys that sell that idea and then they protect a pedophile and they profit from generations of child labor and abuse and their surveys useless and their talking points are banal.
Their images are all about appearing to give a shit about things they actually care very little about while they stack their money in offshore accounts and are generally disgusting behind closed doors.
Of course they can’t say Black Lives Matter. That’s too real and doesn’t in any way contribute to the image they are cultivating. Why would they bother? I’m sure they’ll be saying it at some point, but likely not until after it’s tired and played out and everyone has moved on to something else more relevant and current to the times. They are the kind of white people who feared and despised MLK during his lifetime and now, 50 years after his death, they misquote him to Black people in an attempt to keep them in line.
I agree completely, especially with your third paragraph – “Their images are all about appearing to give a shit about things they actually care very little about while they stack their money in offshore accounts and are generally disgusting behind closed doors.”
The curtain is starting to lift a little on that and I think Charles and then William are going to have an increasingly harder time convincing people to “pay no mind to the wealth and hypocrisy behind the curtain.”
It explains his ‘bored with racism’ comment. He could not offer a more in-depth and nuanced commentary on racism because he is indifferent to this issue. Even with his other passion causes, he offers nothing substantial. Mental health for him is mostly about sitting in a pub with a beer and saying “mental health is important”; all while cheering on his favourite football club. On environment, nothing there either. He doesn’t even live by what he preaches. The guy is not here to promote positive changes – just to be seen to be acting like a statesman, an important person with things to say.
William is a slacktivist.
I’m beginning to think he’s the English version of Ivanka Trump: putting on a show, trying to prove he’s relevant/important/powerful, with no intellectual heft or actual power or influence to back up his show.
The Windsors NEVER care about doing good for the less fortunate – them publicly supporting charitable organizations was ALWAYS a strategy for survival in the wake of the Russian Revolution, WWI and the anti-German sentiment of the time (that is why they also changed their name from Saxo-Coburg Gotha to Windsor).
Yes! there’s a series on Netflix – I think it may have originally been PBS (our public broadcasting) but I’m not sure – called “the house of Windsor” and the first episode is called “Adapt or Die” and it covers the early 20th century, specifically the name change. It’s interesting that they were strategic in terms of ensuring their survival in the early 20th century and don’t seem able to do the same a century later.
I suspect that Queen Mary was a driving force there as her husband wasn’t known for being very intelligent. The Windsors have always (and their Hannover forebears) have always been dim and feckless. Any intelligence and drive always came from the consorts.
Well shit the William as monarch years are going to be a disaster if Kate has to supply the intelligence and drive.
Those are all “trendy controversies.” Like having POC represented on the magazine. That’s just pandering to a “trendy controversy.” These people are AWFUL. They are just screaming it from the rooftops, now. Racism is a “trendy controversy,” representation is a “trendy controversy,” women in the workforce being allowed to have ideas and not be raped and sexually harassed the whole time is a “trendy controversy.” I’m sure they think Andrew’s pedophile friends and raping of girls is a “trendy controversy” as well.
Them seeing social justice as “trendy controversies” makes them so awful. They really don’t care about the less fortunate.
Perhaps Harry wasn’t impressed with the results of Williams decade long tryout. After all Harry knows Kate pretty well and is in a position to judge.
Good point!
The statement “But ‘Waity William’, of course, took so long to commit to Kate for the sake of the monarchy. He had been auditioning her for a job all those years,” really obfuscates the reality that William supposedly auditioned several women and ultimately settled for the only family…err, woman…who wanted the job.
Well, he chose someone who is quite bad at the job.
He auditioned her for the job for 10 years and she really sucks at the job. She’s the only one who actually wanted to marry him. Everyone else he tried out told him no. All of the aristos know how much the royal family sucks that Charles’ sons had to marry commoners.
He settled for her and kept her waiting for years. In case he found someone “better.”
Right, William is in no position to judge.
Harry and Meghan were in their thirties, not twenties, would William want Harry to wait 10 years until Harry and Meghan reach their forties and then get married ?? This is not making sense . William is a sick person, I really can’t stand him
If Harry was not rushing into marriage with Meghan I think SHE would do the same thing Chelsey Davy did.
Can we stop the whole “they rushed into marriage”. Maybe it was too short of a courtship for you /personally/ but they were both in their 30s, wanting marriage and kids. They liked what they saw, realised that they were a good fit and decided to get married.
Besides Meghan already did the whole “date for a bit and then get married” with Trevor and look how well that marriage turned out.
Thank you for saying this. The whole “they moved too fast” thing gets on my fucking nerves. No one has the right to dictate how quickly someone else’s relationship should proceed. They aren’t inexperienced children.
I don’t think a less than two year courtship is really that unusual anyways. That seems to have been a pretty standard length of time that people would wait before getting married, that has really only changed in the last decade or so when more people are either deciding not to get married at all and just live together or when people need a whole 2 year engagement so they have enough time to plan a massive wedding.
And there’s a big difference between mature adult people in their thirties who both know they want to get married and know they want to have children and who are both financially successful and stable and who have their careers figured out… and people in their twenties who aren’t even sure they ever want to marry, who are working on their careers, who can’t afford a home or wedding and don’t want to start a family anytime soon, and who are maybe still thinking about additional schooling, or travel, or a career change.
You’re absolutely right. People in their thirties who are contemplating marriage approach it in an entirely different way. They have already had a chance to make their relationship mistakes, mature, and figure out what they want and don’t want. William was smart to wait until he was older before marrying. And an older Harry didn’t need to wait.
I’m surprised that this book isn’t making William look very good, if it the Firm’s answer to FF. I wasn’t going to read it because I thought it would be another Bash the Sussex’s book but it appears to be a bit more even handed so I might give it a go.
Same. If this is coming from the Firm and intended to make Harry look bad then they’re doing a very bad job. All it does for me is highlight how toxic and stupid Willnot is.
I dont think this is sanctioned by the BRF. Robert Lacey said he always sends a copy of his books to the subject, just to give a chance of rebuttal. He said this one was returned unopened which is highly unusual. They must want nothing to do with it.
@mynameispearl well they can’t say they didn’t have a chance to be warned!
I think it also shows that William has enemies with the ‘grey men’ and that his behaviour has not endeared himself to them. If William wants to control the Sussex’s, the close he gets to the throne the more the ‘grey men’ will want to control him and his stepford wife (and the Middletons).
I got this impression too. It sounds like there are some courtiers who are beyond fed up with him and this is a warning shot. If just reading about him and his antics is appalling, imagine having to work with and for someone like that.
From all that I have read, it seems that everyone who works directly for Charles & Camilla (Clearance House, The Prince’s Trust, The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund and etc…) really enjoy working with them and stay for years.
This was going pretty far, he even prevented Meghan from coming to the private Diana funeral on his estate. Also “William couldn’t understand how Harry could contemplate marrying this still unknown and untested quantity less than two years after their first meeting” – WTH!!!! Meghan is a human being, not a test product!
Exactly, this is how William thinks about people in relation to the BRF. Products. Whereas Harry is a grown man in his 30’s quite capable of making decisions that he feels will improve his quality of life. William just stagnates and rants.
Wait wait wait….what private funeral was Meghan prevented from coming to? That’s awful!!!
I think it was a 20th anniversary of her death memorial service for Diana in the Kensington Palace garden that was dedicated (or being dedicated that day) to Diana. Harry had invited Meghan and she had flown in specifically for the event (and I think she was still filming suits at the time so she really had to juggle her time to make it work) and then at the last minute William decided it wasn’t appropriate for her to be there and she wasn’t allowed to come. In finding freedom it said that Meghan didn’t want to press the issue so she and Harry just let it go and hung out together after the event.
That is just cruel to Harry. He was serious about her – and probably had told his family that he was serious about her and the William pulls a stunt like that at the last minute! WTF is wrong with him? Diana was Harry’s mother too and he is just as entitled to bring a person he loves as William is. That fact that William unilaterally decided this just shows how toxic their relationship is.
I don’t buy that Kate and Meghan were ever friends. This is the RF’s response to how cold Kate came off in FF.
I will always believe that KP and William were the main ones that got Thomas to do the pap pics before the wedding and convinced him to not come to the wedding. The RF did not want this marriage to happen.
I don’t think the Thomas Markle pap pics were a KP conspiracy, but what I would believe is that if the FF story about Jason Knauf and KP calling Meghan up and lecturing her about the tiny H & M necklace is true that when the first pre-setup pap pics of Thomas came out and he was buying beer or whatever that KP was calling and lecturing him about his appearance and how it wasn’t appropriate for the father of a future Royal. Which made the pap argument about helping him improve his image more compelling.
I never believe that either. Soon after Prince Harry announced his relationship with her. Suddenly Pippa was paraded on a charity event in a hospital which was very usually especially after she was quiet for a very long time. There was a lot of distance between one day you see Kate driving to the palace after so much not getting along scandal and then we see them later on a tennis game with Kate’s sister. Kate, always gave me this vibe as a gaslighting person. William might have short tempted with his aggressive tantrums. But she always gave me that passive aggressive gaslighting vibe. They are both controlling. K/W quietly orchestrated this toxic environment.
How many years are they going to drag this story again ?
@Angel, well considering people still talk about Diana, Charles and Camilla like it happened yesterday, I suggest that you brace yourself for another 20+ years of this. Sorry 😐
Since the royal family progresses in the equivalent of soap opera years (where you could miss an entire season and come back and they’re still talking about the same stupid story line but with 20+ new dramas), I’d bet that the royal family (and their associated mouthpieces) will be talking about this for years. Meanwhile, watch how Harry and Meghan move on to bigger better brighter things and the only time it comes up will be as a side question for other interviews.
Basically, the raggedy ass royals will be playing “we used to know them!” for the next several YEARS.
@Angel – Agree with you. If this story is going to continue to command column inches then I want to know what was Charles’ take and role in this horror story. Did he have any part in trying to manage the problems with his sons, did he attempt to make it worse and how does he really feel about Meghan? Why has Charles been so silent?
In the Shipman Times article last year, it said that Charles cannot manage his sons and sounds like he was just sticking his head in the sand on the issues between them.
I think like others in the family, the bad press for Meghan was useful so they weren’t getting bad press. Eg Camilla, Kate, Sophie have generally had nothing but good press since Meghan came on the scene which is why the Tatler piece was such a jolt to KP. Also focus on Meghan stops the press focusing on other issues eg Andrew.
Also if the press hate Meghan (a journalist revealed there is a Facebook group where a journalists spend inordinate time hating on her) Charles wasn’t going to use his limited capital on someone who isn’t important to the future of the monarchy when he needs it for himself and Camilla particularly as his heir is more popular.
Remember that tea on here a few weeks/months ago? Someone with a connection to the royal family through an elderly relative said that it was well known there was no relationship between William and Charles and things were really bad between them.
@Becks1 Do happen to know what article this was that the person said this? I wanted to go back and read the comment.
@ginger, no, I don’t remember at ALL and I wish I bookmarked those kinds of comments, lol. There was that poster, someone who knew Edo, etc. I need to save these in the future ha. Of course the person could be lying, who knows, its easy to say anything behind a keyboard, but it was so out of nowhere that I thought it rang true to me.
That’s okay! I was going to look myself but there are so many royal stories and they all
have hundreds of comments. It would take forever lol
For as long as they can get clicks/revenue.
@ Becks1, let us not forget that when Wilileaks is angry at Charles, he retaliates by keeping access to his own grandchildren extremely difficult. Wilileaks is so petty and manipulative in regards to his anger, he used his own children as the source of PENALTY to his father with visitation!! A grown man who seeks revenge on his own father by using his children as collateral for disagreements is extremely manipulative and hurtful, but mostly to his grandchildren as Charles apparently loves his Chan’s children and Wilileaks KNOWS that!!
Can you imagine what kind of a depiction of Meghan Will gave Earl Spencer to get him to intervene? Harry got back at the Earl by seating him at the back of the church, next to Fergie, for the wedding.
And he wasn’t invited to the evening reception. Harry invited Earl Spencer’s ex wife and she was invited to the evening reception.
Which ex-wife as he has two ex-wives? LOL! LOL!
Did a little research on the Earl’s current wife. Born in Canada and her first marriage was to a Hollywood producer who did Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot. So Earl Spencer also married a woman who lived in America and had Hollywood connections.
Virtually all important things are political; politics aren’t inherently bad; fixing broken Britain is a major political undertaking, for example; charity is political; etc.
This excuse for why they hated her and continue to sucks. Unless they’re going to be honest about the fact that her mere existence in the family was a political statement, and one the conservatives (is that what they’re called there?) simple could not tolerate.
The Midds are major conservative party donors. They kissed the ring, paid they dues and bought protection as with any major criminal syndicate. Because essentially that is what the BRF is a racket.
Robert Lacey makes in the book that in his opinion all the problems started with the courtiers and went down hill from there.
I have a strong tendency to believe that if the courtiers had treated Megan and Harry with more respect and help them find a role they were happy in, the problems between the brothers could have been managed.
What bothers me is that as a biracial American woman with a black mother (and worldly experience) she is automatically political. Her situation makes her political. Only assuredly rich white people can afford to NOT be political. I’m stunned that no one in their inner circle has been able to convince them of this.
Being political means she’s a liberal as opposed to a Tory. That’s why ‘woke’ has become such a slur.
Some of the current Tory Govt are on record as saying they don’t believe in civil liberties or social justice. Just today the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Home Sec Priti Patel were complaining about ‘do gooder’ lawyers who are helping asylum seekers and other disenfranchised and marginalized sections of the population. They are using this as the basis to cut funding for the courts system and reform the criminal justice system so that certain sections of the population *cough young black people* will become more vulnerable to being criminalised bc they will have no access to effective legal assistance.
There is a war on decency , human rights and individual liberties in the UK. Yet the far right will convince you that they’re fighting for freedom of speech amongst other things.
I feel sorry for these two. The timing of their union really hurt them. Contrast that with Bill and Katie who met when the country was far more liberal. At which point Kate had to wear Zara to remain relatable and relevant.
H&M didn’t want to pander or play games. For that I applaud them.
Mess.
Lol literally nobody ever called him “Waity William”. Nice attempt at rebranding the Waity Years though. 🤣
If fits though, doesn’t it? They’re a Waity couple, the behaviour of one enables the behaviour of the other, and the result is… waitying (and “keeness”).
I honestly don’t think Kate suffered so much in the Waity years, she had the perfect excuse to just party and do whatever she pleased… After he came back from the breakup she knew she had him, and before that she was making contacts, enjoying life in London with her sister – living it up as many vapid, well off socialites.
Carole, on the other hand, might have been a big ball of tension 😀
It feels like ‘looking for a better option William’ is more accurate.
There is something really wrong when the second in line, aka the junior partner, is running the family and the firm.
What kind of dirt does William have on Charles because Charles is fully cowed when it comes to dealing with William. But then has Charles ever fully taken on anyone besides Andrew? He was scared of Diana as well.
I believe that the beef was always between Harry and Normal Bill. I think that Meghan tried to be friendly with Keen Kate, but when she was rejected she kept it friendly professional. Then the pregnancy was announced, then the wildly successful tour and then the smearing campaign started. At that point doing some research the Sussex probably realised just who the source was and I can totally see Megan telling Keen Kate to F- off, and Harry at that point was pretty much ready to get his family out of there.
There’s nothing apolitical about ranting constantly about how much you hate all things “woke”. Tell me, what’s the opposite of “woke”?
Racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, etc.
All hats he and the rest of the family wear proudly.
YES. When people say “you’re being too political,” what they mean is, “I’m mad that you’re making me look out of touch, small-minded, and bigoted.”
Yup. William is clearly a Tory and very regressive. That is political.
Lanne posted yesterday that simply being a black woman is political and Meghan faced that from day one in the UK. She hasn’t said anything political and yet intentions are ascribed to her based on assumptions. She’s probably been more neutral than most royals and especially compared to Charles.
The book attempted to portray William as someone who cares about duty, service and protecting the image of the royal family but he’s coming off as angry, interfering, snobbish, racist and inflexible. Also, Meghan was political by merely joining this white institution, unfortunately there was no one in the family that recognised that.
Robert Lacey’s book does no favors for William. He comes off worse in this book than he does in Finding Freedom.
William comes across as a spoiled and angry brat trying to control everyone around him. He judges his brother and his father.
Must be fun for Kate to be married to him.
I think Petty Betty enjoys undermining Charles and is happy to side with William. But she did care about Harry.
The Wimdsors (and their Hannover forebears) are famous for conflict-ridden relationships between the monarch and the heir. That is pretty much their default setting. I do think the Queen and her father were the exception to this pattern.
William should’ve stayed in a sibling’s place. State your concern and otherwise shut up and just be there for your sibling. But he dragged other folks into it which makes me think he panicked about losing control of Harry long before the Oceania tour.
I’m also sure Meghan and Kate were civil but it’s obvious that relationship soured. Whether William played on Kate’s insecurities to get her involved or she became jealous on her own, she played an equal part in sussexit and she’s gonna be the fall guy if push comes to shove, ESPECIALLY if William ever pushes her aside.
I wonder if the book will say anything about the BRF reaction to the Oceania Tour. Cause that balcony scene was definitely the tipping point and sent the smear campaign into high gear.
That and the speech Meghan gave about financing her own education.
Earl Spencer has had multiple wives and has cheated on them so if this story is even true, I’m not sure what William was thinking by using another cheater to give Harry marriage advice. Kate passed the test of accepting infidelity so maybe that’s not what Harry felt was a priority in a future spouse.
William even went to the Queen and Philip with his “concerns.” The Queen has to give Harry permission to marry. William’s behavior could have genuinely stopped his brother from being able to marry Meghan.
I think by that point Harry was willing to walk and leave everything except Meghan behind. He’d of left the country to marry her.
It’ll be interesting to see how many journalists pick up on how poorly this reflects on Will.
Will it be glossed over in favour of another chance to bash the Sussexes?
Yeah the royal journalists and experts suddenly don’t like conjecture & guessing people’s feelings because someone must be figuring that this book isn’t reflecting great on William& other royals. They eat it up when it’s Meghan though.
The Times (one of the BRF’s papers of record) had a piece by Libby Purves saying how bad royal bios are because they add speculation to known facts and how Lacey is exaggerating threat to the Firm by the brothers’ feud etc
Yes that article was pretty transparent. Why not write it after the upteenth lady Colin Campbell book or other hate fests. No let’s wait for a book by someone who the establishment praised as a historian writes negative things about William and suddenly all bios are bad.
There is such a creepy Fox News approach to royal watching now. Kate and William are never to be criticized and it’s always someone else’s fault.
THIS!!!! IT does feel like Fox. They have to cover for that boring duo no matter what. I mean, egregious coverups, all whilst making mountains out of any little molehill in Harry and Meghan’s life. It’s bizarre & more destructive to the royals they love than they could possibly know.
This is all exhausting. I will be so glad when the furor over this book dies down.
Pre finding freedom release the Fail had a pre-emtive article that William had asked Earl Spencer& others to intervene. But it’s odd as I always hear neither Harry or William are that close to Earl Spencer. Plus was he really best person to advise when he married his third wife after a year of dating (so shorter then time Harry & Meghan had been together)?
Edward enniful was one who said Meghan declined to be on cover as it would be boastful which makes sense as it was celebrating forces for change. Imagine if she had been on the cover? So no don’t think it was a slight on Kate as the press was alleging at the time.
Find it hard to believe William or any other royals were that bothered by Vogue but maybe the coordinated press attacks on the issue was because the more conservative courtiers tipped the press of about their displeasure. maybe speaks to fact that Meghan’s perceived politics really was an issue for the Firm. Now I believe one reason the press hasnt been as protective of Charles as a heir (even before tampongate etc) as William is because his perceived politics is more problematic to them eg climate change. He also was pro Notting Hill carnival in the 70s after the riots and sure that wasn’t a popular position for an Establishment figure.
I think Kate was more threatened by Meghan initially as unfortunately& naturally the press was going to compare them more. that’s why we had all those pieces about Kate not being jealous of her when Meghan first married in and how she’s secure in her role as the future queen. I think it was success of Together cookbook & Oceana tour that set William of more.
It’s weird as William seemed friendlier to Meghan initially. At the royal foundation event, William at least mentioned her whereas Kate kept speaking about her William and Harry only. I thought he looked happier at the wedding compared to Kate & i thought he was sweetly helping Harry with his nerves 🤡 I remember at the RAF event he seemed to be conscious of making space for Harry & Meghan on the balcony, gesturing for Kate to move along. But then by that Christmas he was ignoring Meghan pretending to fix his scarf and Kate & Meghan were doing the heavy lifting. So bizarre.
Something happened between the four (or maybe just between Meghan and William) at some point after the RAF event (Which is the event pictured here in this post, people can look it up on youtube, its pretty funny how William had to tell Kate like 4 times to move down to make room for Meghan, and then you have the sour face from Kate about it, she did not to move out of the picture so to speak) – but William seemed happy enough at the wedding, he and Harry did that walkabout before the ceremony and both seemed really happy, William told Harry they should stand when Doria entered, etc. But something changed after that.
We always say here the Oceania tour and the pregnancy kicked off the smear campaign, and I really wonder if it triggered William to the point where he didn’t want anything to do with Meghan.
“I really wonder if it triggered William to the point where he didn’t want anything to do with Meghan.”
I wonder about that too. He seemed to have an attitude at Christmas walk 2018 so possibly something happened before that. This is a complete tinhat theory but I wonder if /some/ people started making indirect comments about how the Sussexes seemed more “royal” than the Cambridges and that was a massive blow to William’s ego?
Or he snapped at Meghan about it and instead of bowing down and accepting it, she snapped back at him and fought with him, which again, was a blow to his ego?
I wouldn’t count out Kate playing a part in souring things – she was probably threatened by the friendliness William was showing to Meghan, see it as a threat and then tried to run Meghan off as she has done many time before. Meghan was a threat to Kate in many ways – we all saw how Kate lived for Harry’s attention.
William is like his father – he does not like sharing the spotlight and its been said he is very competitive against the rest of the family for positive press coverage.
The balcony in Fiji happened between the RAF event and the Christmas walk. And days after the cheers by the crowd in Fiji the stories about the tiara started to show up.
Meghan kept proving them wrong. I am guessing they didn’t expect her to get pregnant so quickly and easily. I remember at lot of RRs at the time saying that Meghan would wait because she had a lot of tours to do.
Looking back now maybe that was what Bill was told but secretly H&M got cracking.
This family is a mess.
Just realized GuestWho also posted about the Together cookbook right below, and I agree. That happened in mid-September 2018, a month before the Oceana tour (and her pregnancy announcement). Despite attempts to deflect from the launch event with a KP announcement of Kate’s ‘Broken Britain’ whatever initiative, the book was hugely successful almost immediately. That was a lot of money Will was counting on to big up the foundation, and use at his discretion. If Harry and Meghan stopped him from diverting the money away from the Hubb kitchen, yeah, he’d be pissed.
I think some of billy’s bitterness stemmed from the monies coming in from the cook book – wasn’t there a lot of kurfuffle about his wanting to use the proceeds for other projects? Maybe when M&H put their foot down about the money going to the kitchens and not to other foundation initiatives billy got bigly mad.
William may have been pretending to be sweet in public to deflect attention from him. Even at the Commonwealth Service, Kate had a sour expression on her face while William looked more neutral.
Meghan always looks uncomfortable when she is around William … Thanks god she is gone of that horrible island
Kate’s not as good as William at hiding her feelings.
I think Kate was also pissed at the CW service because Meghan had really brought it with her fashion for that trip. Remember the worldwide coverage she and Harry got for the picture in the blue dress under the umbrella, and how a couple of days later Kate was papped in the same color blue outfit, suddenly out shopping for books? Then Meghan shows up in that fabulous green dress, while Kate and Will’s Ireland trip, including her Irish themed costuming, had been a dud.
I bet she was expecting to lord it over Meghan by being able to walk in the procession, when the Sussexes weren’t going to, and when that didn’t happen, you could read it all over Kate’s face.
@ ABritGuest, I agree with everything that you have said. I know that Keen was immediately jealous of Meghan given that she was a breath of fresh air, carried herself confidently and spoke with great conviction and purpose. Another addition the the jealousy was the fact that Meghan was invited for Christmas with the entire family before she and H married, an invitation that was never extended to Keen until she and Wilileaks married. Soon after their wedding, TQ took Meghan on the overnight or day trip per the train and TQ was extremely open and undeterred by her position, in regards to entering the car, and TQ allowed Meghan to enter first. There were many early miff’s that Keen took to heart as an absolute disregard for previous Royal relationships, especially in her case, that were put to the wayside for Meghan. This must have set her off in the very beginning and she just continued to stew in those jealous and pity party feelings. On top of all of this, Meghan conducted herself as a future Queen consort as she and Harry made tours and was praised for her eagerness and her handling of having just become a royal herself and never held a miss-step. All of this, compounded by Wilileaks anger and resentment eventually snowballed into this unending smear campaign that they engaged upon with such force and determination that it is now coming to light the depths of which these two played such large roles in.
As for the future of the British Monarchy, as a British citizen, I would be concerned once Wilileaks becomes king, how this issues that he has will play into managing the monarchy with his inability to keep his greediness, anger and incessant need to control everyone around him will play into his future head of the countries.
delete double post
I don’t believe either of them are at all close to Earl Spencer. This story is ridiculous.
Earl Spencer was blacklisted from the RF after the eulogy he gave at Diana’s funeral. I doubt Harry and William saw him at all in the years afterwards. He was relegated to the back of the church at the wedding and not invited to the reception. Then H&M invited Diana’s sisters to A’s baptism and even had them in the official photos and ES was nowhere to be seen.
I’ve watched a couple of interviews with him over the years and he’s a pompous, disingenuous ass. He ignored Diana while she was getting divorced and needed support, then as soon as she died he swooped in to pretend that he had been there all along, taking care of her after the Windsors cast her out. It’s BS. He only wanted her tomb at Althorp to drive tourism to his estate.
@Melissa – I do not think the Windsors cast Diana out any more than they casted out the Sussexes. In my POV, both Diana & the Sussexes left on their own accord.
@BayTampaBay – i think they left of their own accord but only because they were bullied so badly by the RF that they had no other choice. i don’t think either would’ve left if they’d been treated fairly and with respect.
@Jodi – What you wrote is what I meant. Diana and the Sussexes were not sent into exile like the Windsors or Margaret would have been if she married Group Captain Peter Townsend.
The more I read this, the more I am convinced Bill is pissed that he never was able to get someone awesome like Meghan so he can have someone by his side the way Harry does. Bill wants that passion but every women he has had it for did not reciprocate it, no matter being the Future, Future Kind of England. And Bill still does not see his personality is the reason why. Harry grew, Meghan saw and they both were ready. Bill refuses and still does not get it.
I don’t really think William wanted someone like Meghan because I see nothing in his character that suggests he can stand beside someone with a good sense of who they are. He needed someone he could control and I think Kate fits the bill, or at least is good at pretending to. His need to be the center of attention and to control those around him would result in a relationship like his parents if he had married a woman like Meghan.
Which is why I think a part of him knows that. Anyone can have a moment of self reflection and put in the work to change, he didn’t and look at what he has. None of it is glowing or really good, with the exception of his 3 children.
It feels like…William has just now realized that another type of royal life is possible. H&M are living the type of royal life he always wanted for himself, but he doesn’t want to put in the work. They have put in the work in their marriage and their professional life, and it shows. They, together, are a force.
William was raised by the monarchy to believe that the stale relationship he has with his wife is normal, and it is normal to parade your children about for PR purposes, that it’s normal to cheat and expect no consequences, that it’s normal to be an arse with your family because it’s business.
He’s brainwashed and will go down fighting for this type of lifestyle that made him because he’s stuck following the “rules” everyone else must abide by them too no matter how unhappy he is.
I think William’s problem is that as an individual, he requires someone like Kate–willing to accommodate his every whim & define herself by her proximity to him. But as a future monarch, he needs someone more like Meghan (or Diana)–hardworking, passionate & able to generate popular support for the BRF. I don’t think he can reconcile the conflicting needs. But I do think that seeing Meghan really highlighted how lacking Kate is as a future Queen consort.
And the thing about Rose Hanbury if you look at her instagram of Houghton House is that she has loads of personality and interests and is good at generating excitement.
It’s been pretty shocking how boring and predictable and unwilling to work Kate has been. It’s obvious she really doesn’t give a rip about charity work and her only purpose is being a wife & mom (when in her position she could do so very much)
This is an absolute bloodbath. This makes the Tatler article look like an expose on local unicorns.
@Andrew’s Nemisis, and I’m loving it😁😁
These excerpts really makes William look like absolute TERROR!
The BRF may not want to move with the times but the times are moving regardless. Sussexit has just shone a light on how out of touch they are.
the narrative that adhering to people’s basic human rights, equality among all people / fairness for women and caring for our planet is too POLITICAL is so exhausting! and it, in one sentence, describes everything that is wrong with both the two party system in America and the traditionalism (colonialism) of the Monarchy. do they hear themselves? i can see how “toeing the line” might’ve been revered at one time but we are long past this. Stoicism about crucial human rights issues and environmental issues is now just privilege, selfishness and out and out laziness. shame on this family and these reporters for perpetuating this message and shame on them for bullying the only two “royal” family members who are talking about these important issues. Meghan and Harry are doing so much good simply by using their voice. this should be celebrated.
Especially when many of the commonwealth countries that they depend on so much and will need even more after brexit, that they use as some kind of proof that they’re still an empire that the sun never sets on, that they’re very very keen to keep, are majority black or brown countries. How do they feel hearing that anti-racism and human rights, social justice and fair elections, and representation in media, government, and other institutions is just a “trendy controversy” to the BRF? Why would they want to keep the monarch as their head of state? Why would they want to associate with and pay for the BRF?
Did not Barbados and Jamaica tell the BRF to take hike?
I realize this is their response to Finding Freedom but doesn’t it just reinforce that they are awful , petty, racist people.
Yeah which is why I’m not sure if it came from them. We don’t know yet what the totality of the book will be, but thus far it’s not making the BRF look well. So far the snippets attempt to portray H/M has whiny and impulsive, but his characterization of the BRF in these excerpts make them seems cold, racist, out of touch, petty and entitled.
And this is why things have turned out the way they have. I mean did nobody read this and realize what a s-tshow this would be?? With all the leaks and inept PR I knew they would unravel, but I didn’t know it would be this soon.
I think this book is the courtiers response to being blame in finding freedom I do think that William and Kensington Palace thought this book would make him look good. William behavior towards Harry is disturbing and scary it’s like he whole mission in life was to demean and destroy Harry At all cost I can’t believe that their are people who still believe that William and Kate are caring loving people who were only looking out Harry. It’s seem to me that William has never been happy even though he the heir to the throne and he saw how happy harry is with being married to Meghan and having his own family and he wants to destroy Harry marriage and his happiness .
I brought this up yesterday, but I really really need people to read some of the things written about William and his politics here very carefully. I’m probably overreacting, but reading between the lines, none of this look very good at at all.
1) “But William’s concern went much deeper. Money, power and survival.”
Why would William feel that Meghan being progressive would threaten the future survival of the monarchy? There were a lot of ways in which the people in charge at the BRF could have negotiated her views into the fold. As everyone keeps pointing out, that is exactly the sort of thing the Windsors NEED to ensure their survival–they have to keep up with the times.
So what does it say when it seems like William, for all intents and purposes, does not see a future for the monarchy that involves it incorporating, or even just paying lip service even, to progressive views? What future is he envisioning here, exactly, for Britain, and the world at large?
2) “These were basic royal issues, and they were far too important to be threatened by trendy controversies in a glossy magazine.”
Here we get a better window into what William thinks. Money, power and survival are “basic royal issues,” and they are “threatened by trendy controversies.” What are those “trendy controversies”? Women, many of them women of colour, who happen to be change makers and progressive activists for worthwhile causes. Those worthwhile causes are “trendy controversies.” And the women who fight for those causes are the “threat” to William’s future job security.
The characterization of those causes as “trendy controversies” also bears a closer look, because what does that imply? It implies that William thinks progressive causes like anti-racism, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, etc., are just getting coverage because that’s what’s “cool” right now, and that people only fight for those causes to be and seem “trendy,” and not because they’re actual problems that exist in the world right now.
3) “William did not see his future role as monarch – nor his current role as heir – as a matter of him working to maintain the nation’s feelings in harmony while his activist brother and his wife jumped up and down beside him cultivating political and cultural divisions in pursuit of their trendy vision of doing good.”
Here is the clincher. William does not think his future as a monarch involves him “maintaining the nation’s feelings in harmony.” And here we get the clearest depiction of what William REALLY thinks about progressive issues and activism–they’re just another way for people to cultivate “political and cultural divisions.” Not that they’re valuable issues worth discussing and rectifying in our society. They’re just “trends” that people cotton on to for “social clout” or to give off the image of doing good.
It’s hard for me to explain why all of this pisses me off so fucking much. I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job of it here. But what this essentially speaks to is the fact that again, William is pretty much a right-wing authoritarian Tory reactionary. He thinks modern day activism for equality is just people moaning in order to have things to complain about, and that people stump for those issues just to seem “trendy.” He does not see a future for progressive causes, and he certainly doesn’t think he needs to give much of an eff about them as the FFK of a multiracial, multiethnic, British society. Remember how he’s “bored” of racism? Yeah, this puts that comment in the ugly context it deserves to come in, doesn’t it?
He’s turned out just like his grandfather, Phillip. He’s really got the worst of his parent’s and paternal grandparents beliefs and attitudes.
I find that so strange though as not long ago William was praised for being on the cover of Attitude & he was saying that he would support his children if they were gay. He was praised for GQ interview with Alistair Campbell when heads together was first launched for helping (with Kate & Harry) to modernise the royal family& moving away from stiff upper lip. And whilst I think Will is a hard core Tory, I also think leaking to the Sun about his plea for more diversity amidst this years ‘Baftas so white’ row is because he is not totally against being in the ‘woke’ space. my bet is we will see the Cambridges taking up some of the things the Sussexes are criticised for as being too ‘woke’- gender equality (incl championing girls education), promoting diversity, representation etc as these are the issues that concern the younger population who the royals also need to appeal to.
On the pregnancy thing- A royal historian said she was being asked about IVF& whether royals can adopt not long after Meghan got married. Then there was all the talk about how she wouldn’t get pregnant before Oceana tour because of zika. I think people were caught by surprise with the pregnancy news & thought she might struggle due to her age etc. I wonder if there was a thought she could be run her off before she had Harry’s much longed for child. Didn’t one of the recent books claim some in the Firm were upset she got pregnant so quickly?
Here’s the thing: white people can be gay, white people can suffer from mental health issues, white children can suffer from bad childhoods or lack of education, white people can suffer from global warming. White people dont suffer from racism. White people don’t suffer from police brutality and an u fair criminal justice system. White people don’t suffer from having their voices and voting rights denied. White people dong suffer from a lack of representation in government, institutions, the monarchy, the media, business, and popular culture. White people aren’t portrayed as dangerous, violent, angry, agitating, animal-like creatures who want to tear it all down.
It seems pretty clear to me that those progressive or semi-progressive causes that affect white people are safe enough for him to pay lip service to, white anything involving POC is “unsafe, divisive, threatening the harmony of the nation, and trendy controversy.” William is racist. The BRF is racist.
Many of the supposedly “radically woke” things that Meghan said/did were only unforgivable “woke” because she was saying them as a black woman. If a white woman or a white man had said/done all of the apparently horrific, protocol-breaking, progressive, irredeemably ”woke” things that she was accused of doing/saying, it would have been fine. Because that’s all just abstract, lord of the manor, noblesse oblige, “I care about all the people, even the little people,” stuff. But because she was a black woman saying these things it made it sound like she was personally agitating for things that would benefit her directly and that would uplift her politically, socially, financially, etc, and that by mentioning racism exists she must be complaining that everyone was racist to her. By uplifting the voices and projects of other POC, she must have been complaining that she herself wasn’t getting enough attention. Etc.
Those instances when he is not against these issues–it’s usually because there is some benefit in it for him, personally. The BAFTA thing was the exception, not the norm. William usually does not speak out or align himself with such causes, & he definitely doesn’t if there’s a risk to his own image or his own convenience. He is not willing to brook the discomfort that comes with being “woke”–he would prefer other people do the difficult work, while he can breeze in and reap the benefits for himself. That has been the Queen’s royal MO from day 1, and so it is for William.
And the thing is, bc William knows he’s only attaching himself to these issues for the clout, he thinks everyone else does it too. He thinks the only reason anyone would care about them is to make themselves look better in front of everyone else, that everyone else takes the same, craven mindset that he does, & it’s why he’s so baffled by (& rather fearful of) the sincerity of Meghan and Harry’s actions. Understanding why anyone would do something that comes with such a huge personal and professional cost to themselves is beyond his grasp, bc “being woke” has to benefit him somehow. What Meghan and Harry are doing doesn’t benefit him, and he thinks it doesn’t benefit them either, so he wants them to stop doing it.
Wrt his children–it’s not particularly difficult to do a better job of raising your kids than the BRF has done, up to this point. It’s not difficult to not be cold and distant towards your older children. To not pick favourites. To not use your power to allow your criminal son to escape accountability for his actions. To not have children before you’re mature enough to. To not rely on your children for emotional support they can’t provide. To not make them the puck in the very public punting match you’re having with your spouse. To not see them solely as the fulfillment of your dynastic reproductive duties. To keep their emotional well-being front and center of your mind when you’re a public figure, to provide a safe, stable, environment where they feel validated, loved, and cared for. The fact that the BRF consistently failed at all of these things makes THEM the aberration, it doesn’t make William the “woke” exception for loving his children and catching up the royal parenting handbook to what the rest of the world has been doing for decades by now.
And again, raising his children this way is directly beneficial to him. I really do think that he sees his own children as a “do over” for the crappy childhood he feels he was saddled with. It fulfills a particular emotional need within him. He’s making up for the childhood he himself was denied, and the middle-class cosplay benefits him in front of the public too.
Same goes for the early childhood mental health stuff, and mental health in general. To him, it feels rewarding to get involved in those causes, because he knows how those things can affect a person, since they affected him. This is a perfectly valid reason to be involved. But the only causes William connects with happen to be ones where he has something of a personal stake. When it comes to causes that don’t affect him personally? Where he has to examine his behaviour and change it? Where he has to show compassion for people who are feeling emotions he doesn’t relate to and can’t understand? He’s nowhere to be seen. He’s mistrustful and suspicious of sincerity to such causes, because he lacks it himself.
He has his moments, and I won’t deny that at all. But for the most part, he’s following the QEII Handbook of Monarching. It remains to be seen how that goes for him.
@Amy, I wish this was on the front page of the most popular newspapers in the world because you nailed. Not just as it relates to Meghan and therefore why H/M had to be smeared out of the BRF because as it relates to civil liberties for Black and other POC. Excellent!
You’re not overreacting. William likes whatever gives him the most control. He is the epitome of white male privilege and he doesn’t want to give any of it up.
He’s a Tory Party puppet and happy to be that way.
We also saw what he thinks about people at Wimbledon when he openly mocked people who would have been affected by a transit strike.
You’re making sense. that passage tells us so much about William’s thought process and what he wants to do/be as monarch. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating because someone is basically saying that the future future king of England thinks that racial justice, Black Lives Matter, women’s rights etc are “trendy” and he’s not going to get involved because his priorities are money, power and survival.
I know I said this a few months ago and several others did as well – the reason no royal spoke out on black lives matter and actually said the words, “Black lives matter,” isn’t because it was “too trendy.” It’s bc they honestly don’t think that black lives matter.
I also think @AmyToo raises some excellent points as well.
It’s hard to say BLM when you are still profiting off their subjugation and mistreatment I would imagine
To me, this begs the question: who is William keeping company with? Who is surrounding him, both in a professional and a personal capacity? Especially in terms of political leanings? What sort of sources is he reading to get his information from, particularly wrt politics and current events? The way this stuff was worded, a lot of it strikes me like a fucking Telegraph op-ed, especially the stuff about how they “don’t do woke” and how the causes Meghan aligns herself with are merely “trendy” and a recipe for causing “cultural divisions.”
And at the end of the day, this stuff is particularly alarming, because what am I supposed to take away from it? Take the recent melt down about Meghan speaking up against voter suppression. Whether William cares or not, given the actions of everyone in the BRF, the message that I’m left with is this: this monarchy, a wholly unelected institution led by someone who acquired the position for no reason except as a result of an accident of birth, but who now claims to be superior to everyone else in the land, in a country that is still enormously powerful geopolitically, with a disproportionate amount of influence into world affairs, does not think that democracy, and the right of every individual to have a say in who governs them, is important, let alone valuable or worth preserving.
Because where I come from, if an unelected monarch that is rich off of public money were to call these issues “a trend,” that would be rightfully seen as a fucking threat to freedom. Freedom which people gave their lives to win, and to subsequently defend, time and time again. This means that Britain now has a future royal in the pipeline who essentially thinks right-wing authoritarianism, where people are denied a say, is the way of the future. Why this isn’t more alarming to anyone, and why people aren’t rightfully calling this a fucking threat to democracy, even if it’s obliquely expressed, is beyond me.
Great post @A, interesting way of looking at thing and the real insight into williams views as a person.
William was on the cover of Attitude which is a gay magazine, he also said he wouldn’t mind one of kids children being gay and he did that dud racism speech at the BAFTA’s. I think William doesn’t mind ‘being woke’ when is suits him and when he thinks he will be lauded for it. I think he will follow whatever the trend is that will receive the most adulation, not with what he thinks is right. He’s anger towards meghans vogue was mostly down to jealousy of the fact it was the biggest selling issue for a decade.
But the points you made are a perfect example of the sort of person those courtiers want William to be and what they want him to represent. Someone who is right wing, oppressive, who treats minorities and women as second class citizens.
I think the government, media and courtiers have purposely isolated William and Kate to a right wing only fanbase, as liberals followed harry and Meghan out of the door. Therefore in order for them to survive they have to appease the ‘right wingers’ only, thus helping the campaign for total right wing dominance.
I kind of disagree. I don’t think his anger towards the Vogue issue was solely confined to how well it sold. The issue was trashed by all the right wing commentators in tabloids and broadsheets. William, according to at least one former private secretary, consumes a great deal of news media, particularly the print media in the UK. I don’t think he’s looking at the sales numbers–he’s looking at what the nasty, reactionary, op-ed writers are saying, in papers like the Telegraph and the Times, and for the most part, it seems like he’s agreeing with them.
Let’s also not absolve William of responsibility regarding his own views, over which he has complete agency. Putting these issues down to just his courtiers isolating him doesn’t hold much water, given that William hires his own staff. He chooses who he has in his circle of friends. He could, very easily, choose to expand his horizons, but he doesn’t. He has mostly hired only public school educated, university educated public servants, most of whom have worked for Tory govts or politicians in some capacity or another.
Never a woman. Never a POC. All of them white men, all very similar to William himself–a person who went to Eton, the poshest of posh old boys club institutions to exist in Britain. He hung out exclusively with the posh group at St. Andrews. He hangs out with posh toffs, many of whom probably vote Tory, or are Conservatives in the House of Peers. He hires staffers who are Tories. His family is not exactly known for being the most forward-thinking institution in the country.
But he is going to be a monarch who represents countries who are definitely not composed solely of posh, white British men. He serves in his position at their behest. However, his views seem to be informed by a crowd that is increasingly being rightfully called as out of touch, and by a highly monopolized news media that doesn’t have an allegiance to the truth as much as it does to the ambitions and priorities of its editors. And William doesn’t seem to be keen on expanding his consumption outside of these avenues, even though his position, at this point, mandates that he should. He has successfully alienated his own brother, one of the few people who brought in a fresh perspective.
As someone who comes from a country over which William is going to be head of state, who is a woc, my take away from this is that William, an unelected head of state who will essentially be foisted on me at some point in the years to come, doesn’t give a shit about me, or the issues that concern me. In his eyes, I’m a “trend.” But he will have a role to play in a govt that decides things that impact my daily life. Maybe he’s hoping that by the time he becomes king, my trendy WOC phase will have somehow passed, and the melanin will evaporate, and I’ll have become a white woman somehow?
I don’t disagree that William is a Tory racist pig, who surrounds himself with people just like him. I think in general he hates all people and couldn’t give AF about anyone. He seems to be a borderline sociopath,
I think with regards to meghans Vogue, the rage was preemptive, the RRs we’re briefed in advance to rip it to shreds regardless. Dan wootton going on Tv the day it was released shouting ‘royals don’t edit magazines’. Whenever he kept being called out for his hypocrisy, he kept changing the reasons. The whole point was to create the idea that Meghan was doing something controversial by shouting about it, to give the idea that she was ‘disgracing them’, because they knew it was going to be a huge hit. This is just another reason why they are mad about it, but even if the cover had all white guys on it, they would have found another reason to rage about it. I do 100% believe that William feared meghans vogue being a huge success, so he had to create negative hype to take away from it being celebrated.
We all know that Willie rages at what ever harry and Meghan do, then goes and copies them. Ultimately Willie only cares about his image, and will do whatever he thinks will make him more popular, regardless of the cause, that’s why most of his work sucks, cos there’s no genuine passion behind it.
KP would have seen the smear campaign was creating a left wing/right wing divide and chose to push the divide harder. KP chose to toss away any liberal supporters william and Kate may have had. William is now basically a Tory puppet, so I expect moving forward he’ll be used to promote their ideals in order for him to survive.
“It’s hard for me to explain why all of this pisses me off so fucking much.”
You are NOT alone! It pissing me off to the fucking nth degree too!
Hard to believe that William may hang out with Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell but it seems to be true.
Harry & William’s Mama…ALREADY told us that Harry had a better temperament to be King….
Seems like Diana…foreshadowed…A LOT…about her boys…when they became men!
They keep trying to push the narrative that William had harrys best interests by asking him to ‘slow down’. That angle is kind of pointless now given that harry and Meghan have been together 4 and a half years now and still going strong, so basically harry was right about Meghan all along. I think by this point they would know each other pretty well. And Meghan has show how loyal she is to him. This confirms William went out of his way to break them up, based on absolutely nothing that Meghan had actually said or done.
If Willie cared so much about harry why is he always incandescent with rage whenever anything good happens to him? Meghans vogue was no more political than willies ‘climate change’ nonsense he loves to pretend to care about. He was only bothered by the fact it was a huge success whilst his basic wife’s cover flopped.
Willie is becoming more and more erratic, he basically turned into a super villain. And the only way to reign him in now is to knock him off his pedestal.
“whilst his basic wife’s cover flopped”
I am not fully convinced that William cared one iota that Kate’s Vogue cover was not a massive success.
At the time he probably wouldn’t have cared. But with meghans vogue sales being the best of the decade, whilst Kate’s cover wasn’t even the biggest selling of that year, it kind of make team Cambridge look like the losers they actually are.
Kate’s cover was supposed to be this huge deal because it was the100th anniversary edition, and vogue went all out to get her.They were expecting record breaking sales. However The editor at the time basically said they were shocked at the disappointing sales figures from it, it was even out sold by cara delevingne.
So meghan having the fastest selling vogue, is a massive blow to the Keenbridges fragile egos.
Why was William so invested in Harry not marrying Meghan? There is something there. If Harry got it wrong and they later divorced so what? There are plenty of divorces in the family. I want to know just why William worked so hard to break them up.
Probably because she’s not white.
Earl Spencer is just as much of a jerk than William, that’s where he gets it from. If I were Harry I would have run away from that meeting too.
I know Diana wanted to stay at Althorp at sometime after the divorce and her brother said no. Nice guy.
Earl Spencer was too cheap to spend the money for additional security to secure his estate if Diana had a country cottage on the Althorp Estate. This tidbit is per Lady Colin Campbell.
Thank you BTB. I read that the cost of security played a big part in why she spent her last summer as she did. Her sons were with the queen and her friends couldn’t invite her to stay or go on vacation for that reason. But Dodi and his father could afford the security.
Also, we must remember that Earl Spencer relocated to South Africa with his soon to be ex-wife, four children and domestic entourage right after Diana’s divorce leaving Althorp basically in mothballs and sack cloth with only a skeleton crew of caretakers in the main manor house let alone security for for the major cottages on the estate as they were empty.
I have this theory that the fight between Will and Harry escalated with the affair. Harry was always kind and respectful to kate, and saw what Charles’ affair did to his mother. He’s known to be loyal and kind and looking for the love of his life, so imagine his reaction to learning his own brother chose to cheat on his wife. I imagine he would have lost a lot if not all respect for Will at that point. Then seeing Kate essentially put up with it, something Diana would never do must have been a blow. I bet Meghan and Harry already having a low opinion of Will, then being asked to take one for the team with the bad press as a scape goat to the affair sent them over the edge. Will not getting his way would have triggered a rage like no other.
Yes this is based on nothing but my speculation but the timeline adds up. The Africa trip, the cover up, the “if you knew what I knew you would be on my side”.
LOL at the Earl of Spencer being in a position to tell anyone how to handle romance. He on what his 19th wife?
“Lacey’s book is increasingly a portrait of a Future Future King who was incandescent with rage because he couldn’t control his brother and sister-in-law. He couldn’t dominate them. I don’t know… how does any of this make William look good?”
It doesn’t.
Classic “Harry explosions”? Harry is triple earth sign. He’s Virgo sun, Taurus moon and Cap ascendant He does not “blow up” until he’s pushed to his limits. He’s clearly been feeling all of these things for a long time before Meghan came into the picture. She just gave him a purpose outside of The Firm.
Can someone fill me in on what Zara and the York girls did that was rude at the wedding? I somehow missed that.
Making “funny faces” and “mugging” like a 10 year old.
I was surprised at the York Girls’ behavior as Fergie was invited to the wedding.
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They were giggling and making faces when the black bishop was giving his sermon. It was rude and they looked like ignorant racists. Kate was not giggling but she kept giving looks to Camilla, who we couldn’t see because of the large hat.
I feel as if the same exact story just keeps recycling itself.
This headline made me think Andrew was the uncle in question.
Sadly, the British people fully support the RF and they think Harry belongs to them, and Megan
is the devil. It will be hard for this to change unless William and Harry do a BIG HUGS photo shoot.
So…the Windsors don’t do ‘woke’ in a world that is changing every day…As Darwin has pointed out, to survive you have to adapt and if they fail to adapt, their system will go extinct – and deservedly so.
Harry always seemed close to Diana’s sister than earl Spencer. The guy refused Diana’s request to live at the family estate which wouldve given her shelter in a distressing time and perhaps even didnt have to look for a rich suitor who would take care of her. He also used her funeral to attack lizzy and chuck even though he did nothing to help his sister. For this it’s no suprise that Billy thought of going to him to control his brother.
All I’ve learned from this book is how dysfunctional this family is and how obsessed they are about having control over their own family. It’s pretty obvious that it was authored in cooperation with courtiers/RF but much like tatler its backfiring on them. It makes Billy as a jealous bully and chuck as a powerless or careless man and lizzy as an absent parent who’s only present on family occasions.
I can’t say what the problem is between William and Harry-Knowing Meghan’s stance on equality and women’s rights-If William said or did something that Meghan did not like-I think she would voice her displeasure and make her feelings known whether William liked it or not-This in turn would make him angry because he is not use to a woman talking or commenting about something she feels he did that was not right. I would say this would cause William to blow a gasket in his brain. William is raised to expect people to cowtow to his demands and rules-no exception.