Ingrid Seward must be so mad that Robert Lacey’s book hijacked all of the royal-gossip conversations for the past three weeks or so. Seward was all set up to spread her anti-Sussex message far and wide in support of her new book, Prince Philip Revealed, which we’ve already discussed previously. This is the same book where Seward insists, in gruesome detail, that Philip did NOT cheat on the Queen with hundreds of women over the years. It’s also the same book where Seward uses Philip as a prop to project every stupid anti-Sussex rumor from the courtiers and the press. Philip is almost 100 years old – I feel strongly that he really doesn’t give a f–k about most of this. But here we go – Ingrid Seward spoke to Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair, so there’s new sh-t to discuss.
Philip harbored doubts about Meghan: While he was initially fond of Meghan and made a huge effort to be at the couple’s Windsor wedding despite having undergone a hip operation weeks before, the Duke “harbored doubts” about Harry’s wife. Seward’s book, the first major biography of Philip in over 30 years, reveals that he now compares Meghan to Wallis Simpson, who triggered the abdication crisis when she married the then-King Edward VIII in 1937. “For Philip, whose entire existence has been based on a devotion to doing his duty, it appeared that his grandson had abdicated his for the sake of his marriage to an American divorcee in much the same way as Edward VIII gave up his crown to marry Wallis Simpson in 1936,” Seward writes.
Philip & Harry’s relationship has suffered: “Philip simply cannot understand how Harry has behaved the way he has done. His grandson’s behavior is completely alien to him so not unnaturally the relationship has suffered. Don’t forget this is a man about to turn 100 who has devoted 68 years of his adult life to supporting the monarchy, and this has been a great shock. The Queen would not want him to worry at his age, but Philip’s absence from the Sandringham Summit spoke volumes. The fact that he was driven away from the big house at Sandringham before everyone even arrived signaled he didn’t want to be part of it.”
Harry & Meghan ignored Philip’s advice: “Philip’s way is that he says his bit, and then steps back from the situation because he doesn’t like to interfere. It was up to Harry and Meghan to listen but they didn’t and Philip has always been very protective of the Queen so if anyone upsets her, they upset him too. His mantra is the monarchy comes first, second, and third. He cuttingly reminded the late Diana, Princess of Wales that being a member of the royal family was not a popularity contest but involved everyone working together for the good of the institution of the monarchy. Philip welcomed Meghan at the beginning, he knows what it’s like to be an outsider, and so he’s always very supportive of people marrying into the family. He quite liked Meghan at first, but their actions have left a bad taste and as a consequence the relationship with Harry has suffered.”
An apocryphal story about hunting: Harry, who was dating Meghan at the time, was the guest of honor at a shooting weekend in 2018, but pulled out at the last minute because Meghan didn’t want him to slaughter game birds. “At exactly 9 a.m. all the guns were waiting at the door to move off, but no sign of Harry. They didn’t quite know what to do so they waited and waited until Harry eventually appeared at the door in his dressing gown looking very sheepish. His embarrassed explanation was that Meghan did not want him to go out with the guns, which was extremely awkward as he was guest of honor.” The story was relayed to Seward by a source close to the prince. “This is exactly the sort of behavior that led to Harry becoming more estranged from his oldest friends. This wasn’t the Harry they knew; he would never have let them down. Harry knows how expensive it is and how much time goes into organizing a shoot. It was very rude and the general feeling was one of disbelief, because it was so out of character.”
The hunting story, to me, reads like the British media’s unhinged insistence that Meghan is vegan (she is not) and that she’s some kind of dreadful anti-hunter who bullied Harry into abandoning his favorite bloodsport pastime. There is literally no evidence of this beyond some bitchy courtiers’ idle gossip, and it’s been well established that they make sh-t up all the time. Even before Harry met Meghan, he was barely hunting anymore, and I just don’t think Meghan is the kind of person who “demands” that her boyfriend give up something like that. Isn’t it far more likely that Harry didn’t want to hunt and he would have preferred to spend that weekend with Meghan?
As for Seward’s larger projections onto Prince Philip… I would imagine that Philip disliked Meghan straight away simply because Philip is deeply racist and colonialist. I suspect his “advice,” if he offered any, was not made in good faith or it was simply of the “be a meek Victorian woman without opinions” variety. The fact that two people in their 90s (Liz and Phil) are trying to dictate the behavior of their adult grandchildren is deeply unhealthy.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Ingrid needs to stop riding Meghan’s coattails to try to get attention for her book.
Philip is 99 and very racist. Stop using him in this way. Does anyone even care what he thinks about anything?
Maybe there’s a reason no-one has written a book about him in the last 30 years – we don’t care!
Is she the person that said that there’s something about Meghan that annoys her..and then followed up with how she expected Harry to be with an “English Rose”?
Well one of the princes is with an English Rose sooo…
If that’s her and not some other woman i forgot, then me thinks she gets on well with that man.
I truly don’t think Philip has that deep of an opinion on Meghan and her opinions other than “I don’t like her/her opinions”. He’s nearly 100. I suspect his main priorities at this point are staying alive, spending time with Penny, eating and making the days go by.
@Sofia Totally agree. He’s ancient, his health has suffered, and Ingrid Sewer’s narrative is totally fictitious. She’s really dredging the bottom of the barrel to create an unhealthy picture of Harry, put upon and dejected by his mixed-race wife. Is anyone ever going to directly call her out on her racism and classism? Is anyone ever going to call her the liar that she truly is?
Phillip didn’t give up his life prior to becoming consort gracefully. By all accounts there was a rough adjustment period, including the discussion of the name. He didn’t think he would spend 68 years being consort and supporting the monarchy. he thought he would have a distinguished naval career and then his wife would become queen at some point 20-30 years down the road. Edward died in 72 so even if he had remained king, Phillip would have had 20 more years of his career under his belt before his wife became queen. So the narrative being pushed that Phillip willingly and joyfully took a backseat to his wife for almost 70 years needs to stop, because it was a bumpy road for a bit.
also – Phillip took a backseat to the Crown, the monarch, the Queen, who was his wife. Meghan was being asked to take a backseat to the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of the queen because she couldn’t outshine the boring as dirt Cambridges. Those are very different things IMO.
I think Philip suckered a naive teen into marrying him to improve his family fortunes that went to pot during WWII because his family were Nazi’s and were royalty with no country.
But, I agree, he probably thought he would have a cushy life free to pursue his own career and interests and wouldn’t have to deal with any of that Queen stuff until we’ll into his retirement.
I also agree that he’s too old to care by now and it’s twisted that this woman is pushing her narrative onto him.
He had a very ambitious Uncle Louis Mountbatten with Dynastic aspirations, he supported the Philip-Elizabeth match. He also perhaps could have engineered a match between Charles and Amanda Knatchbull (Mountbatten’s granddaughter) had he not been killed in a terrorist attack.
If Philip hadn’t married Elizabeth, he would have been another broke titled post-war royal without a country. At best he’d be a career army guy living a fairly modest life, but more likely doing the international party circuit and relying on the good will and favors of friends and lady “companions”, flashing his medals and dining out on war stories. He may have resented taking a backseat to Queen, but what would he be otherwise. I bet Meghan had a healthier bank account and higher net worth entering her marriage then Philip Battenberg had entering his. The last time he seemed to take a stand was when he sent Fergie packing from Balmoral after Andrew’s infamous ride with mummy following his buddy Epstein’s “ suicide”.
The whole “made Fergie leave” thing still kind of makes me laugh because its clear Fergie is SUCH a trigger for Phillip, even to this day.
You’re right about his non-royal life, so its just a dumb comparison to make. I do think he still would have married someone with money (kind of like Kate would have if she didn’t marry William) but his life as…not the duke of ediburgh…wouldn’t have been all that great, at least not by his standards.
He might have enjoyed that.
He received an honorary Admiral if the fleet rank, but he was apparently a gifted naval officer and probably would have been highly ranked even without marrying Elizabeth.
Sounds like the relationship has suffered because of Mr “20,000 speeches,” “has done so much for sport in the British former Empire,” “constantly making racist/sexist jokes,” “screaming at his wife in front of guests that he’ll throw her out of the car” Philip, not Meghan or Harry. Gosh I wonder why Philip didn’t like the Black woman.
Why is a 90something year old man still hunting? That seems dangerous. Hopefully he just goes along but doesn’t actually shoot.
He’s a racist bag of bones who doesn’t and has never thought actresses were for marrying. While I’m sure he doesn’t like Meghan just like the rest of them I don’t think he cares all that much. He’s put in his time and now he’s retired. I’m sure he’s washed his hands of the whole institution and is focused on spending his last days peacefully.
As soon as any book about phillip insists he didn’t cheat on his wife, the book is useless garbage and fiction.
Why bother denying something that has been public knowledge, and part of the actual public record for more than 50 years.
The publisher is an idiot.
Also framing a known racist’s disapproval of a black woman as anything other than racism is disingenuous. Racists are racists. His position about Meghan was always going to be that she didn’t belong in the royal family with their “pure” bloodlines.
I just don’t believe Phillip cares all that much about anything except his own comfort.
I can not believe the hunting story, if, for the simple fact, that Harry would not sell out Meghan like that. Sure, I can see him canceling on a scheduled shoot, maybe even partially because of Meghan’s influence. From what I have seen and read about him, though, he would never “sheepishly” blame Meghan for it. This is courtier gossip, pure and simple.
No way would he just show up in his bathrobe and cancel day of. Also, surrounding that story was another account that Harry had an engagement or other commitment that day, which is why he didn’t go on the hunt.
I didn’t buy the part about answering the door in his bathrobe. Just seemed like more of the racist garbage directed at Meghan, implying her sexual prowess is what keeps Harry tied to her. Maybe that’s just me, but that’s how I took it.
I agree, Original Mia, and I think this is another example of the BM ‘telling on themselves,’ and their dreary, pallid, cold fish relationships. To hear them tell it, obviously, since Harry is in a passionate marriage, he can no longer control himself, allows himself to be lead by the nose, and in fact behaves like an addict- everything to maintain this ardent romance. This is how they portray Harry and Meghan’s dynamic, and it speaks volumes about their own stunted lives and thwarted desires.
Even if it’s true, so what? This makes me like her even more. If Meghan doesn’t hunt and, like (I assume/hope) the vast majority of British and American people who don’t hunt, not only doesn’t see the point of it, but also, and more importantly, thinks it’s cruel, and would rather her husband and father of her child doesn’t do it, and doesn’t indoctrinate her child into doing it, THAT’S A GOOD THING. Her request that Harry not do it is completely reasonable and is probably the response of any ordinary decent person confronted with the opportunity for bird/animal murder on a large scale. If he really cared about it, he’d have explained himself to her and continued to do it. And as for it being expensive, the royal family have a gold piano. I doubt a few hours of shooting is going to break the bank, assuming the shooting party was abruptly cancelled and everyone went home, which I doubt. But this is just another attempt at making Harry look like a hen-pecked wimp and Meghan a ball-busting battle-axe. Since in the UK blood sports are not only mostly illegal but also extremely unpopular with the general population and only a very small group of people (mainly aristos) do them, who is this story even for? What average British person would read this and take the shooting party’s side?
It’s not really illegal here. Fox Hunting yes but Northern Ireland still does it. Game, geese, duck, deer and other animals are also legal to shoot under certain circumstances – as long as you’ve got a valid licence for your gun and insurance. Entire estates (such as Balmoral) are used for hunting and shooting birds and birds are reared specifically for this purpose.
I do want to add that I’m in no way support of it but I wanted to correct the fact that it’s not mostly illegal
Agree, hunting is a bloody and cruel sport. I can’t imagine Harry taking Archie to hunt one day, that would be hypocrisy because Harry said on the podcast that his son loves birds so how does he love birds and kill them at the same time ?? Also, don’t talk about the environment if you are going to do this horrible bloody sport
If Harry is really shunning the grouse hunting then good for him. It has long been contested as environmentally unsound. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/the-guardian-view-on-game-shooting-the-threat-is-to-nature-not-sport
I don’t believe a word Ingrid says. She hates Meghan.
It’s amazing to me how PERSONALLY some of these so-called professional royal watchers take their jobs. They are really invested in this family of people they do not know in an incredibly unhealthy way. They all behave as if Harry has injured them personally by choosing to marry Meghan. They aren’t his family, or his friends, or even his colleagues. At most, they are in the periphery of the royals’ lives, yet they act as if they themselves should have a say in how their lives are conducted. No bitch, Harry isn’t your family. Ingrid, you have no more right to tell Harry what to do than I have telling her what to do. Royal watching seems to be a deeply problematic activity for a lot of these people. If they worked for actual legit media instead of tabloids, they would have been seriously reprimanded or even fired for their blatant unprofessional behavior. Why do these people think they should be treated like professionals when they don’t act like professionals?
They are no more professional than a gaggle of old hags in a sewing circle spouting off about “those young folks”
She’s a friend of Cressida Bonas’ mother and was looking forward to being the go-to reporter when H and C got married. She wrote a cringe inducing article telling Harry to take Cressida back after they split and had hopes for a reconciliation for a long time. Megan destroyed her chance of being able to claim to be a personal friend of a member of the Royal family and Ingrid has never forgiven her.
I actually think that Cressida *could* have ended up as Harry’s Kate – the person he married eventually because he liked her well enough, she was suitable and no one he liked better was interested. Except he fell in love with Megan and didn’t have to settle.
Harry did not seem to be interested in Cressida. He would not pay that much attention to her on dates and would rush ahead of her.
How quickly Ingrid and the other harpies forget that Harry and Meghan offered to support the “Crown” and the crown said “No thanks!”. You can’t be mad when somebody calls your bluff.
“His mantra is the monarchy comes first, second, and third.”
This is the problem right here for the BM and the RRs. Perhaps for the direct heirs you can apply this crazy logic. But applying this to the “irrelevant 6th in line and no longer the spare” makes absolutely no sense. This is what they want to beat Harry over the head with. He should never have put Meghan and Archie before the Monarchy.
He is an adulterer and a racist, who cares what he thinks of Harry and Meghan’s relationship. I doubt any of this are his thoughts either. The guy is basically a corpse, I don’t think he is spending his remaining days/years worrying about his grandson.
I sincerely doubt Philip even remembers Meghan. He is 90 and in poor health. He probably doesn’t remember anything after breakfast.
He’s 99yo, Merricat.
Good grief.
Sounds like fiction to me. If Philip didn’t like Meghan it was because she’s black.
Didn’t Diana not like hunting? I remember stories about her not liking it much either. Let’s face it: this is a family that’s very insular, set in their ways, who don’t like change. And there’s a huge industry built up around it with all these ‘journalists’ who are so busy trying to protect their jobs they don’t see the systemic racism in the entire project. Ugh.
And what is the problem if Harry stop hunting for Meghan ? She gave up her entire life for him. This is the least thing he can do for her is to stop doing this bloody sport
No, Diana was raised with the hunting lifestyle. She knew it was bad PR, even in the early 80s, so she made sure not to be photographed hunting.
Diana was taken out hunting by her family when she was in her early teens. . She did have a go at fishing with Charles and was seen going with Charles on a hunting party ca. Fall 1982 but after that she did not hunt. The boys went but she did not go stalking with them.
I don’t believe one word. If a 100 y/o man who has devoted his life to his wife cannot understand why Harry decided to do the same then he just isn’t listening.
I truly believe that anyone who is closing in on 100 gives a hoot about anything or anyone besides themselves and their own comfort. I think he’s checked out of all that “royalty stuff” and is doing him.
I think Phillip DID like Meghan. She’s attractive, smart and fun. Yes, he’s a racist but I’m sure he made an ‘exception’ for Meghan.
These assholes are trying to create the ‘Phillip died of a broken heart and Meghan killed him’ narrative, which is bullshit. I’m sure that he wasn’t happy about Harry making the choice to peace out but probably because he (Phillip) never got a chance to do so. Phillip has a son who is a sex offender; Harry is not the worst of his problems.
Phillip doesn’t even want to stay in the same house with his own wife. He’s not sweating Harry and Meghan.
Totally agree with you! A guy like him, even at his age, would have an eye for attractive, intelligent women. Now Kate and Fergie, that’s a different story.
Was Philip the royal who allegedly said you take actresses out you don’t marry them? Maybe that’s the advice Harry ignored especially as Meghan isn’t the first former actress to marry in.
I’m pretty sure I read Harry went boar hunting in 2017 whilst still dating Meghan. And didn’t that infamous Tatler article claim that Meghan had worn jeans to a shooting party or something like that& all the aristos were shocked at this inappropriate outfit. this would have been after the wedding. So not buying Ingrid’s take that Meghan banned him from hunting. I remember there was a period where press claimed she banned him from everything including drinking tea.
Whilst Harry may have changed views on hunting it’s also possible hes stopped going to certain events because of being a new husband and father who had moved a few times so busy with new family & also some friends were clearly leaking stuff to the press eg that Tatler story & one in the Fail about Sussexes wanting to sit together at dinners parties
I was going to say, pretty sure he went boar hunting in Germany after he was dating Meghan?
Every one of these stories is designed to do one thing and basically one thing only – make it seem like Philip is vibrant and involved with his family when he is a half dead bag of bones, who retired from public life and whose appearances thereafter have seen him incredibly frail and/or placing members of the public in great danger. It’s all made to seem as if the figureheads seems actually running things when they are not. I’m sure that to the extent he pays attention he’s irate at the drama and the splitting of the family. Oh well! But to another commentator’s here comment – absolutely right about the secondary narrative being Harry and Meghan have killed him.
Oh, please.
Philip is not one to talk. His in laws George VI and Queen Elizabeth had misgivings about Princess Elizabeth marrying him so much so she had them delay any engagement for a year and took Elizabeth and Margaret with them on a royal tour.
Ingrid was pushing Cressida but she is an actress. What if Philip did not approve of Cressida because she was an “actress” and they are not to marry? What then?
I don’t believe for a second Meghan demanded or even asked Harry to give up hunting. Hunting is too much a part of Royal culture that she would rock that boat. It’s also BORING, especially the way English aristo’s do it, which is why they refer to it as shooting and not really hunting. My dad was an avid hunter, but he became less and less interested in it as a casual social activity shooting animals with little chance of getting away. Maybe Harry just found himself preferring to spend the day with his wife than sitting around with a bunch of snobs shooting “wild” animals with no chance of escape, specifically raised so they could dress up and play hunter for a couple of hours and then have tea.