The Prince Harry-Remembrance Sunday snub just has so many layers of awfulness. Prince Harry is the only Windsor to actually serve in a war since Prince Andrew’s service during the Falklands War. Harry served two tours in Afghanistan, and he devoted his post-military life to developing the Invictus Games and working on veterans’ mental health issues. For Remembrance Sunday, he merely requested that someone, anyone lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in his name. He was refused because – according to the Buckingham Palace courtiers – he is no longer a senior royal. As if that somehow negates his service or his passion for the military and veterans.
The Sun got photos of the wreath Harry likely wanted laid at the Cenotaph – it was made and stored at the Royal British Legion’s Kent headquarters. It cost £1000 to make. And the palace was too petty. Well, Harry isn’t letting it go either. A source close to Harry went to People Magazine:
There was a wreath ready and waiting for Prince Harry — the official organizers of the event, which honors those who have been killed and wounded in war, had created a display and set it aside for Harry. But courtiers and palace officials decided that he couldn’t have his wreath added to those from other members of the royal family because he and Meghan Markle are no longer working members of the institution.
Harry “understands that he doesn’t have the same formal role in the family as he used to,” a source close to him tells PEOPLE. “But he was saddened and disappointed by the decision.”
Again, I don’t see the connection between “he’s not a working member of the family” and “therefore he cannot have his wreath laid at the Cenotaph.” One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other. He wasn’t asking for office space in Buckingham Palace. He wasn’t asking to borrow the crown jewels. He was asking for someone to pay his respects to the fallen in absentia. It should have been a no-brainer. Speaking of, Robert Lacey had some thoughts:
Prince Harry’s rift with the palace over his war wreath highlights how he is seen as “expendable,” a royal biographer tells Newsweek. Historian Robert Lacey charted the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William in his biography Battle of Brothers.
He told Newsweek: “I think this is an indication that things are worse than we thought. If everything was hunkydorey there seems no reason why a wreath should not have been laid in Harry’s name. If the royal family or the palace wanted to co-operate then it would seem to be a perfectly reasonable request to make that could have been fulfilled. I don’t think it augurs well for the prospects of a reconciliation.
“On the face of this, it would seem that Harry is keener on reconciliation or maintaining some sort of link than the palace is to granting one.”
I don’t think Harry is particularly “keen” on reconciliation, he probably just thought that his family, the same people who claim to be all about duty to one’s country, would simply agree that his wreath should be laid out of respect to HIS service and the service of every soldier and warrior. The fact that the Queen and the Men in Grey around her are so petty, so unpatriotic, so nasty and so small-minded isn’t a shock to Harry at this point. As he said, he’s just disappointed that there isn’t more water under the bridge. Hey, but at least no one is talking about William lying for months about having Covid.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
Of course he was upset, unlike his sociopathic family, Harry has empathy. It is unfortunate that these people, adults at that can exhibit so much vitriol, without any one checking them on their behavior. The world is watching them, yet they cannot find the decency to be better and more accepting humans. I really wish, the monarchy would go away, and return the stolen land, jewels, art, money, etc. etc., back to where they belong.
The more the BRF carry on like this, the more they drag down their own reputation. Someone compared the treatment of Harry by his family to that of the Swedish princess living in the US, and you wonder why British royals cannot behave with dignity and class likes the Swedes. I would suggest hiring new courtiers if the current ones are always stirring up drama and damaging their reputation. But then again, the courtiers may simply be following orders.
Make no mistake, this wasn’t just an insult to Harry, the only veteran of his generation in the BRF. This was an insult the palaces and courtiers offered to every single veteran who served alongside him, in both the Afghan and Iraq campaigns.
This has the potential to blow back on the palaces every bit as badly as their ignoring of national/international grief at Diana’s passing. This is a slap in the face of every family who sacrificed their sons & daughters to UK’s wars. This was an egregious insult and a dry slap not just to Harry as a veteran, but to all veterans. Unconscionable.
They’re absolutely trying to pull a Diana on Prince Harry – and I see the recent BBC announcement of an investigation into the Bashir interview (for the gods, why, after all this time?) as an extension of that.
When people have conflicting schedules they don’t have a choice but to pick one. If the veterans charity is a recurrent one, it should be a no-brainer that the one-off event is the one ultimately chosen. That Harry has done multiple veterans charity event, including setting up the Invictus Games, no one should hold it against him for missing one. He will have more opportunities to attend others.
This is beyond petty. Arthur Edward’s placed a wreath for the Sun, so it’s not like only royals are allowed.
Harry hopefully sees completely how all his family is after this. Especially since they thought it was perfect to run to the press with the denial.
They could have let one of his friends lay one to represent Harry and Invictus. That would have made the royals look far better than sending a message that a member of their family is “expendable”.
They couldn’t have stopped one of his friends laying one. They just didn’t elect to have someone lay a wreath during the “royal” section of the show. Apparently TQ and Charlie lay a personal wreath and the rest are laid for individual branches of the military.
I’m sure I’m in the minority to think this is petty on all sides from the faux military tassels to wool coat in LA.
@Melissa
I do think Harry and Meghan have started to fight back a little bit more in the since their move. Not necessarily a bad thing though
Well, it was colder than normal in LA on Sunday, and that coat wasn’t remotely a heavy coat.
Also, the need to “both sides” this is wild, especially in the face of palace employees behaving like they are. Those people chose to run to the Sun AND allowed them to place a wreath “for their readers” (as they gloated on their website).
Friendly reminder that Harry is currently suing the Sun for tapping his phone while he was dating Chelsea.
One side rejected the request of a veteran and the other couple found a way to honour the sacrifice of veterans with respect. Taking a photo doesn’t denigrate that any more than the photos of the other royals doing the exact same thing elsewhere.
I’m not making a both sides argument, I just stated that personally I find it all petty and disrespectful.
The Sun is trash, but they weren’t “allowed” to place a wreath, anyone can place a wreath.
How is a photo of Harry going to a cemetery honouring veterans disrespectful anymore than the photos taken of Charles putting a wreath at the cenotaph? The pettiness is from the royals who refused to honour Harry’s request to place a wreath prepared by the Legion, thus abandoning it, but also placing a wreath for Andy the pedo.
There is no disrespect on Harry’s side here. Only from the royals. The both sides argument is disingenuous here. And veterans see this dishonour. Only blind royalists pretend this was anything but an ignorant action by an arrogant and delusional family.
@Melissa….I’m a veteran, living in San Diego County, CA having served in two branches of service(& during the desert storm campaign); I found what Harry/Meghan did at the LA cemetery as very admirable considering Harry’s request wasn’t honored. The only side that was being petty was the British Royal Family.
Donna B, Thank You for your service.
@ Donna – thank you. I too served during Desert Storm right there in your back yard at Miramar before it became a Marine Base, VF-124. Maybe we were in Orlando together, K099?
We can have different opinions and still have respect.
@ Faye! Harpers Bazaar had an excellent article about how these petty people pushers upset many in the military, those who know Harry well and those in higher ranks, were extremely upset. Now from reading what was quoted, I could gather to guess they sounded angry too that his request was denied. They did not take the actions of the TQ and The Firm lightly, as they stated that he had every right as a member of the Royal forces that served his country with two tours and standing beside them as they all made their own sacrifices to protect TQ and England. But it definitely left a bad taste in their mouths as to their actions from the outlandish lengths that TQ and the rest of the lot took.
I am starting to wonder if his dad even love him in the first place. I know it’s a dysfunctional family but to be this petty just to hurt your flesh and blood is weird.
If Charles knew about the request, as Harry’s father, he should have done the right thing and placed the wreath for Harry. This looks so bad for Charles especially. In normal loving families you’d think your own Dad would have your back. These people are pathetic and just reinforce why Harry had to leave. So sad for Harry.
Right ? It’s crazy to me that after everything he has done he has the audacity to not have his son’s back. I feel sorry for Meghan for marrying into that family. It’s hard enough to grow in a dysfunctional family imagine also marrying into one. Thank God they have her mother.
Agree. Just because Harry left the “ family business” doesn’t mean he left the family. As a family member he should still be invited to ceremonial events.
Does Charles live in Buckingham Palace or use Buckingham Palace courtiers or their PR office? Or does he have his own setup at Clarence House? Harry contacted Buckingham Palace with his request for someone to place his wreath because that’s the Queen’s house and he was formally making his request to her. Regardless of whether the courtiers made the decision to deny Harry’s request on their own or if they ran it past the Queen and she said “Absolutely not!,” Buckingham Palace made that call.
Is Charles not readily available to Harry when he needs help. Charles has been notoriously absent in all of this, and William seems to have taken over on the decision making regarding treatment of Harry. Certainly Charles could have done something.
I’m so puzzled about Charles’ role in all of this! It’s pretty clear William really wants Harry out and I guess the Queen is all about punishing and freezing him out, but where is Charles? He always wanted Harry as part of the “slimmed down” monarchy. He also really seemed to like Meghan. So is he just going along with HM and William because he’s spineless or did he get too jealous of their popularity too?
The Queen is an ostrich, Charles is afraid of William’s petulance, temperament, and whiplash lashing out in the tabloids. None of them knows how to slap William down and put him in his place.
I don’t think love as we know or exists in that family. Di has it for her children but the rest of them are so easily able to throw each other under the bus without a care of how that will impact their “loved one.” They may be blood but not family. The firm.
That’s my take
There’s no love in that family. Look at what George V, QEII’ s grandfather, did to his first cousin Nicholas II of Russia. Abandoned his own family, letting them all be killed, just to save the House of Windsor. This isn’t ancient history in that family at all. Elizabeth knew George V. She was around ten years old when he died. We’d have to be crazy to think that Elizabeth didn’t have this lesson drilled into her little brain by George V himself. Knowing that George V let his blood relatives be slaughtered just to save his crown, offing Diana would have been nothing to these people. And this cruelty towards Harry and his family is nothing for them. Nothing at all. They’ve done far far worse just to hold onto their privilege.
Tinfoil tiara mode on:
Could it be possible they said no and leaked that they said no to take the heat off William?
I think its more likely Wills leaked it thinking that it would make everyone look good. it is absolutely up his alley that he would think doing something like this would be good PR. His attempts at PR are always so amateurish and petty.
it does appeal to the super haters, this messaging
William (by way of a surrogate) leaked this to the Sun. We already know his comms director/whatever is Christian Jones. His BF is good friends with Dan Wootton.
The story did not originate in The Sun. It was in The Times, which is a completely respected newspaper and the one that prints the court circular every day. The Sun ran with it later. If it had originated in The Sun then I would have said the leak came from William, but this news came from someone in Buckingham Palace out to humiliate Harry.
I agree, they really needed a distraction from William’s covid cover-up and this was what they grabbed for press. It’s a famously cold family, dedication to tradition over true bonds of love etc. Therefore a badly run family ‘firm’ now story has a story with legs that gets their Tory royalist base angry and petty, while providing revenge by snubbing Harry’s wreath and military history works?! It seems crazy but it’s like that plane stunt, perhaps…
Hmm. You do have a point there. However it looks like Willileaks has his fingerprints all over this. There is only one person who benefits from throwing both brother and father under the bus and that’s him. The issue is that he has over played his hand. People I least expect to are beginning to see him for what he really is. Even those who fawn over him know deep down that he is at best mediocre and needs to be propped up and praised like a child which they are willing to do for now as there is the biracial one to hate. He simply isn’t up to the job and they all know it.
Good point Elizabeth Regina. I for one am beginning to see William and his nasty, narcissistic personality and demand for 100% of attention as Trump 2.0 in the making. He’s such a little mini-me. Thank God, the Crown has no real power. (Unlike Trump and the poison he’s been able to spread.).
@ Elizabeth Regina, you make excellent points ER! I had not thought of it from your prospective. May PWT die a miserable and horrible death and haunt the halls at all of his enormous estates and properties! And may Unable be draped in the ugliest fabric dress that is weighed down with buttons, ruffles, and a full skirt and no hem weights with them so that she can clearly scare everyone who enters, but primarily PWT!!
Imagine if those petty idiots actually accepted his request and had like PWT take it: putting his arm around his brother once again as he likes stating he has done so often. He lost a chance to get petty applause for at least a week in the papers. I so wish this century gets rid of those people.
I would be incandescent with rage personally…
@janey. I love it. I wonder if he knows incandescence really isn’t environmentally sustainable. There are LED options widely available now to light up his anger issues.
🤣🤣
That is the dimwittedness of the BRF and the Firm: snub the man who fought for the country and show how petty you can be while having Kate wear her military coat and tassels. I am sure they think Kate playing dress up Barbie is enough to show how much they care.
I have known families that have come to blows and in the end have reconciled. But when you have outside (meaning the men in gray and courtiers) buzzing around your ear feeding you what you want to hear and lies, that will not happen.
I wish Harry and Meghan well, this cannot be easy for them.
They were not even smart enough to strategically harness some positive international press. Imagine how they could have looked if they extended a faux welcoming arm and yielded to Harry’s request. They would have garnered some good will and there would have been no need for H and M to do their own thing, and their photo would not have upstaged theRF’s photos. Instead we now have more direct comparisons, with one wife looking like she was channelling and cosplaying JJ’s Rhythm Nation/ The Beatles Sgt Pepper (thanks celebitchy) and the other looking like the fashion forward modern dresser that she is.
Not only fought for them and was a Captain, he was actually promoted to Major and the royal family kept it quiet. Just saw that on Twitter today. They are spiteful.
I think the reason Harry asked his family to lay his wreath is that he knew there was one already made. It wasn’t an outlandish request. I also don’t think it’s because he wants to reconcile either.
I do wonder what will happen next year. Will he do Trooping or Remembrance Day? Part of me thinks he will until the Queen dies but now I don’t know.
I don’t think Harry wants a reconciliation, but I do think he wants to maintain links to the military – I mean, that’s obvious. So this seems like a natural request on his part.
Interesting point – the royal reporter for the Sun, Matt Wilkinson, shared on twitter a screenshot of letters to the Sun about this debacle, and the letters the Sun decided to print were decidedly pro-Harry. I believe term “petty” was used at least once. So like I said, interesting that the Sun printed those opinions.
The palaces desperately need new blood and they need to do a major courtier housecleaning. This makes them look so bad and could have been very easily avoided. If they didn’t want Harry to leave a wreath on behalf of a specific branch of the armed services, why not have someone leave one on his behalf after the ceremony, like Arthur Edwards was able to do on behalf of the Sun? Hell they could have had Charles AND William lay Harry’s wreath together and it would have been a PR win.
HOW ARE THEY SO BAD AT THIS?!?!?!
I ask the same question and I like how the new season of The Crown asks the same question in a different way. My only thought is that they truly feel it’s their God given right to rule and everyone else must fall in line.
I saw the screenshot you’re talking about and was surprised it was being printed in the Sun. The actual responses don’t surprise me because I saw a few vets (and non vets) on Twitter saying they should have laid a wreath on Harry’s behalf.
I suspect it was printed because someone on the Sun also thought it was a bad idea for the wreath to not be placed so printed these letters in the paper
The Sun apparently is advertising a new Harry and Meghan blog for news about them within this article about the wreath. But….Ingrid Sewer said they don’t sell in the UK anymore.
I am guessing The Sun is anticipating a lot of Sussex activism and news and popularity for the Sussexes in the wake of Archewell being activated and the Biden-Harris administration ushering in a renovation of the American political and social landscape.
A certain soon to be first lady has said veterans and their families will be an important part of her work. And a certain soon to be president attended the Invictus games several years ago, spoke with competitors, and was pictured with Harry.
Thankfully the RF are not political (sarcasm) or one would be tempted to think the entire way this was handled was not a smart move for reasons over and above the personal hurt it caused a member of their family (not to mention the citizens of their own nation with whom he served).
Since they couldn’t lay a wreath for a Harry, when he does work with the POTUS elect and the future FLOTUS, I don’t want to hear nan a complaint about politics. F-ck that family, which clearly disowned Harry by their dispicable behavior. I hope he takes some responsibility by protecting himself from these terrible ppl. And I hope he and Meghan make them pay by overshadowing everything they try to do.
Jealousy, envy and hatred are not rational feelings and they make you act blindly. That family has been caught up in intergenerational resentments that are actively exploited by their courtiers for point scoring. It will take a lot to sort out this mess and make them work together for the greater good of their own survival. Luckily H and M got out in time and are living in America where Diana sadly hoped to escape to.
An abuser is usually never always terrible to their victim. They abuse and console to keep their victim in check. In this case, my guess is that the Sun often sneaks in a negative story about the Royals to keep them on their toes instead of getting too comfortable. They hate Meghan..almost as if it’s personal, but they generally just want the Royals to play the game.
When the Sun is printing letters trashing the royals for their petty behaviour…. that’s a very bad look on them. A wreath was abandoned out of their pettiness and that is disrespecting veterans enormously. No amount of patriotic tassels or buttons can make up for that insult.
Guys, I’m beginning to get the impression that Harry and Meghan aren’t coming back…
It seems like the royals miscalculated once again — maybe they thought Harry would just keep quiet about this (showing they don’t really know him that well) or maybe they don’t see why it looks so bad to use a sombre day of remembrance to enforce a petty grievance?
They also lack the most basic of PR skills to realize that this could have been a win – a way for them to look magnanimous by “letting” Harry’s wreath be displayed. Currently, every article or photo I’ve seen about this mentions the slight to Harry. Just a massive fail all round.
I can’t wait to see if Harry even bothers to show up in March 2021 for the 1 year review that the Queen, Charles, and William insisted on. If I was Harry, I’d be a no show and just let the 3 of them hold the meeting without him! Sounds like it would be a classic Monty Python sketch. 💃🏻
STAGE SET AND ACTION: THE DUKE OF SUSSEX ONE YEAR REVIEW
March 2021, a lovely room somewhere in the bowels of Windsor Castle. The Queen, Charles and William (along with several lawyers and aides) take their seats and the meeting begins. Charles opens with, “Well what do you think mummy?” William quickly interrupts with, “I’ll tell you what WE think. This can be a short meeting as Harry is out and stays out and I am incandescent with happiness to make sure he knows it.” The Queen and the future King look at each other, and shakingly say, “Whatever you want William, just don’t talk trash about us.” William, smiling broadly, turns to tell Harry he’s permanently out and realizes, Harry has not bothered to show up for this very important meeting. William instantly becomes incandescent with rage and says, “How dare he disrespect us after everything we’ve done for him this last year. I am the best brother anyone could ever have, but I’m totally through with working so hard to try to help fragile Harry do the right thing! Harry must be told immediately.” William quickly shouts to an aide, “Get the editors of the Daily Mail and The Sun on the line now.” And we fade out, as the sun continues to set on this empire. MEANWHILE, back in California USA , Harry and Meghan are keeping calm and carrying on and will — it is the hope of this dear reader — live happily ever after, living rewarding and fulfilling lives.
Lol! Brilliant!
Haha! Very well said. One small point of correction though. Being the gas lighter in chief he is, he will get The Times to tell the world how he stood up to his brother, The Telegraph to deny that this actually happened, The Mail to tell everyone how MEGHAN did not let Harry come to the meeting and The Sun to talk about M’s snub to the queen.
Love it. William is becoming a farcical character.
After this incident, it may be best if Harry moves on completely. He has the goodwill of most of mainland Europe and America behind him. All he’s ever gotten from the UK is abuse and neglect. We all know and have seen it.
There is nothing left for him there except toxicity. I would be afraid of what they may do if he were to go back. He’s better off abandoning all of it and not dealing with their toxicity. They have made it clear being royal is the only thing that matters to the lot of them.
So the palace courtiers denied Harry’s request and then couldn’t get to the phone fast enough so they could let the tabloids know that Harry was “saddened “? Disgusting!
Harry know his family made his own plans. Hopefully time and distance from the toxic family have given lessened the sting of betrayal.
As was said yesterday, it was intended as a snub to Harry but was actually a slap in the face to veterans. I wonder how long the military will sit back and be used by the rf.
I agree. Veterans are VERY upset by this. I think the RF pissed off the military community. It just shows that Remembrance Day is not about the veterans but the RF dressing up in military uniforms pretending to care. Not letting an ACTUAL war veteran lay a wreath was such a bad move on their part.
Yes, the fact that this is being discussed takes away from the point of the services and ceremonies happening around this time (even scaled-down ones). The royal family member who served two terms in Afghanistan wasn’t allowed to participate in the Remembrance Sunday ceremony. That’s a bad look and it really does make it seem like the ceremony is about Kate getting to wear a new black coatdress and William and Charles putting on all their unearned medals and parading around in front of their subjects, not about honoring the military.
A small point – the wreath was made at the Royal British Legion’s factory, which reportedly employs former service members, including those who are disabled.
They must have been proud to work on a wreath for the RF in general, and for Harry in particular, a man with two tours of duty on active service. And instead of their wreath being displayed to honor comrades, it was left in a box somewhere in Kent.
How much stupider can this family get?
If only working royals are allowed to lay wreaths then why was Prince Michael of Kent, who is not a working royal and who works as a “consultant” for shady Russian oligarchs, and whose wife, who is infamous for wearing a racist brooch at her first meeting with Meghan and for naming her black sheep Venus and Serana, publishes books credited as HRH on the cover allowed to lay a wreath? These people are so full of it.
I read another version that also claims that harry was at some point considering coming back for this but was told he wasn’t invited. If true that explains those stories from a few weeks ago that claimed staff was prepping Frogmore for his return. I can see him canceling the trip when he was told he wasn’t invited and then the courtuers being petty a-holes decided to leak all of this to try and humiliate him. It’s just so petty and cruel. I was watching a doc about Harry’s 2nd tour of Afghanistan and they showed Charles trying tp be relatable like “i know what it’s like to have a son at war”; once again using Harry for positive PR yet he wont stop the palace from smearing Harry’s military service in the papers or using his connection to the military to taunt and manipulate him. I know Harry is a loyal soldier and respects his grandmother but at some point he has to realize these people don’t care about him and he cant expect them to be good by him because they won’t. The sonner he comes to terms with that the better off he will be.
He has to go no contact with these people. As soon as he made contact with them to request the wreath be laid in his absence, they ran straight to the media and tried to humiliate him. They need to be cut off completely. And if Megan’s pregnant, they shouldn’t tell his family.
But Arthur Edwards from the Sun was able to lay a wreath on behalf of the Sun’s readers and of course he took lots of photos so everyone knew! But they denied Harry?! WTF??
Old man Arthur was being rewarded for his plaintive wails for Harry to come back. All part of the orchestrated smear campaign to get H to abandon his wife and child. But I sense that the RF did not expect the blow back they got. It was a bad, bad move on their part to deny Harry his request.
It’s almost as if the RF wanted to show Harry they’re on the side of the tabloids.
But then the Sun publishes a negative article on the RF and in Harry’s favour. Putting the RF in their place?
These power play cross currents are so confusing. Well to me, at least. If it wasn’t for CB I’d be even more in the dark
The fact that the wreath was already made…
Harry has given his family so many chances to do the decent thing and every time they’ve chosen the prettiest most spiteful option instead. Of course he’s upset.
And not only spiteful, but stupid. They want him back to be the family scapegoat and take any kicking that William might have got, but they’re not even willing to let the kicking ease of a little bit in order to tempt him back.
I don’t think he wants reconciliation either. I think he expected civility at the very least but I’m sure he knows better now. There was no reason not to honor his request other than pettiness and the fact that they thought leaking it was a great idea…..I don’t think they want him to come back at all. This isn’t “leaving the door open for him” as they claimed to be doing. They’re trying to sever his connection to the military for a reason.
I wouldn’t want reconciliation with a sorry ass family either. At this point they are doing everything to hurt him.
They are trying to sever the connection to the military because William wants that connection without doing the work of course. They also know how much the military means to Harry so this is two folds, punish Harry and give stuff to William to make him happy. These people are without equal in terms of just sheer stupidity and pettiness.
If I’m reading the date on the box correctly, 07/01, the wreath was ordered and made in January, before they escaped. It isn’t like he called morning of while Kate was combing out her shoulder fringe and said hey, btw, can you do this. If the guy from the Sun laid a wreath “for their readers”, an Invictus representative could have been scheduled to lay one for Harry. Unless they waited until last minute to tell Harry ain’t gonna happen mate. Or they were dead set against it in any form. If you can’t set petty family drama aside to honor the fallen war dead in your country then you are a special kind of worthless.
Agree with you on most of this – but surely Unable has a tassel/button wrangler on staff and wouldn’t lower herself to arranging her own fringe.
I would be upset too. While reconciliation is probably not what he was thinking of when he made that request, it was to show he still respected and appreciated the military.
And there was no reason to leak this to the Times. They could have just said no and that’s it. But no, it had to be leaked to the press in some way to make someone look good I guess. And don’t tell me this couldn’t have not been leaked. If they can keep William’s COVID diagnosis a secret for 6 months, they could have kept this quiet too.
I think the message is pretty clear. William & Co. really did run Harry and Meghan out of town, and they mean to keep them O-U-T. Excommunicado. Personas-non-grata. It’s not just “petty”. It’s how one attempts to erase someone else…except there’s no erasing Harry and Meghan. Their stars are on the rise! They behave with poise, maturity and grace. The more the BRF continues down this road, the worse it will reflect on them.
What you just described is called or karma (or reaping & sowing). The BRF is going to destroy themselves & the monarchy.
If the rules are only working royals can place a wreath during REM Sunday services or only monarch, consort & heir can have wreath placed on their behalf in their absence then fine- the Firm is entitled to say no. However if the wreath was already made I can’t see why it couldn’t have been arranged for someone to place it after the formal ceremony. The whole thing just seems so wasteful.
People in the Firm don’t seem able to think outside the box or when a bit of flexibility could be required. Kind of reminds me of the debacle when the Queen refused to lower the flag at half mast until the public outcry forced her to. Yes Diana had done the Firm damage with her interviews etc but she was still mother of the future king & how much would that little charitable gesture have cost the Firm? Instead they had to be browbeaten to do it.
Just like this story had a simple solution but now people are talking more about this alleged snub& using the day to settle scores than the Firm’s presence at the Remembrance Sunday event. I can’t believe the Sun are even printing negative reactions to the Firm’s decision. On that I think the Sun are needling the Firm a bit
The Kate derangers are the ones pushing the lies re. Philip gets a wreath placed in absentia as consort but not working royal. The fact is, some petty member of the BRF or their staff chose not to place Harry’s wreath; there’s no rule that his wreath couldn’t be laid.
Fair enough Nota. I saw it from Gerts Royals & figured she might be reliable. But can also see this being type of situation Firm hasn’t really faced before& where rule is conveniently made up.
The royal reporters have clearly had their mass briefing and apparently the photos were misjudged and a statement that Harry commemorated the day would have sufficed. So clearly some are in their feelings about photos because they see it as competition. Makes sense why Piers was criticising them for making it seem like they were a rival court.
So pathetic this row over what should be a day focused on fallen soldiers. I personally think it was a messy courtier who leaked Harry’s rejected request but this seems to have backfired.
Gert’s Royals isn’t really that reliable a source. For some reason people are convinced she’s this long standing royal expert, I think she’s around 25 or so and she’s completely pro Cambridge.
Exactly, Becks1. She’s a self-proclaimed expert who knows less than many posters here. And she is vehemently pro-W&K and anti-Sussex.
Gert lives in Detroit and is no royal expert. She does reprint occasional entries from the Court Circular as tweets, which is about all that is accurate.
This has got to be the worst for me up until this point. This is such a small gesture, it would basically go unoticed and not make any news had it been granted, but the family that is supposed to be the greatest in the PR business really needed to make a point to deny it and make headlines appearing yet even more petty. The Windsors don’t even know how to play their own game anymore, they’re so blinded by pettiness and revenge.
I hope no one in the rf needs a favor from Harry in the next few decades.
The legs on this story assume that self-absorbed Harry dialed up BP with the sole purpose of asking to get his wreath laid and that once hearing his requests, the courtiers answered back with a well-deserved and resounding “no” and then dialed up The Times laughing at the nerve of this guy who wants to have his cake and eat it too (the most common slam against Harry that I read in the comments.)
But I wouldn’t put it past the family/the courtiers to have been in communication with Harry about other things and have the subject of the wreath come up in the course of the conversation and Harry logically suggest that someone put it down for him because the wreath is sitting there already made with his name on the box. Which there is NO CRIME in suggesting. And this is why Harry left that snakepit because HIS private conversations turn into headlines and well-meant intentions are twisted and released to the public in a way that aims to humiliate him.
This is probably exactly what happened. If those wreaths are ordered close to a year in advance, then Harry probably ordered one last January, knew it was there, and asked that it be laid for him, rather than just going to waste. It was probably part of a broader conversation and someone leaked it to the press.
Someone up-thread mentioned there was a rumor several weeks ago that Frogmore was being opened as Harry was planning on returning for the service, but was then told he was not invited to attend. Sure he could have come anyway and waited until the family left and laid his wreath, but can you imagine what a stink that would have raised. I think Harry would have seen that as disrespecting the Queen (as the disinvite would have had to be with her approval)— something Harry is too honorable to do. So, perhaps he then asked if someone could AT LEAST lay his already made wreath for him and was told no. Then the palace leaked just the part of being told he could not lay a wreath because to leak that he was coming in person to lay it and disinvited would be bad PR. Whereas to their stupid way of thinking, just revealing that no wreath would be placed from him somehow makes the royal family look good and Harry bad. If this is what truly happened, it is even more disgusting.
How Harry was planning to return to the UK? was he planning to return alone? or was he planning to return with Meghan? but how…. did they want to leave Archie alone in the US? If so, then why Meghan delayed her trial to fall 2021?? this doesn’t make any sense….
I doubt he was expected to attend. He would have had to quarantine weeks before and after.
The leak remains a perplexing choice by BP. But if Roya’s other recent exclusives are an indicator, the source just wants to hurt and humiliate Harry, veracity and self-awareness be damned. Was the PR accusations peddled by the usual subjects in the UK media the RF’s response to the backlash? I feel like we’re waiting for them to mount another defense/attack against H&M.
On that note, Meghan continues to catch strays for Harry’s actions. Obviously she loves and supports him, but it has to be at least annoying to know you’re always going to be held responsible (by some) for things your husband does. As long as the RF/BM remains this antagonistic, Harry is one day going to have to move on from his ties to them, for the sake of his wife.
Once again Meghan gets more clicks than Waity. Ahahaha.
The closer we look at the royals, the nastier they look. They are supposed to be the epitome of grace and dignity. They are supposed to be the ultimate aspirational symbol of high society. Turn the magnifying glass on them and we see that they are nothing but a bunch of petty, overbred, undereducated twits. The palaces are full of leaky pipes and vermin (you know that mice and rats are having a big ole feast in those palaces), the jewels are either stolen from brown and black people, or were procured through the enslavement of brown and black people. Their food is probably overcooked and bland. Their holidays are tedious and uncomfortable. Harry and Meghan are living much more comfortable lives in Montecito.
What’s so great about these folks after all? What role do they have to play in society anymore? What happens when the nostalgia factor of the Queen is gone? More importantly, what do these folks have to offer to the citizenry to justify their cost in the 2020s?
With each new event like this, Harry develops more depth and the Royal Family looks more arcane, aloof, spiteful, and shallow. The day was about honoring veterans and they made it about their own cruelty.
The BRF is 💩! I’m glad Harry is no longer part of that corrupt and petty institution
The claim that only working royals are allowed to lay wreaths gets invalidated when Prince Michael of Kent has been allowed to lay wreaths in the past and when the Royal Photographer for the Sun is allowed to lay a wreath. However, I think even worse than denying the chande for someone to lay down Harry’s wreath for him was leaking the story to the press. If it is true that the wreath was made in January, I think Harry was being reasonable in asking if the wreath could be laid even though he is no longer a working royal. He also knows that the Palace has been trying to damage his reputation with the military. I don’t expect Harry to come back in March for the one year review and I’m not sure that he will attend trooping or the Diana statue unveiling either.
If they’re going to keep trying to deter his association with the vets in the uk, I hope he’ll find a way to do work with commonwealth soldiers stateside for Remembrance Day and veteran US soldiers for Veterans Day. I’d love to see him work along side Jill Biden again.
Prince Michael is in a grey area. He wasn’t supposed to be a working royal, but I have suspicions the Queen having their KP rent paid through the Sovereign Grant. And he shows up in the CC sometimes too. To me that indicates they’re sliding him in as a working royal without making statements about it.
The funny thing about Prince Michael is he is the younger brother of the Duke of Kent, who is the more senior of the Kent’s and who will pass on the title. However, it’s Prince Michael we know of, so he has a very minor official role, if any at all. I have no idea who the Duke of Kent actually is, or Gloucester for that matter. They’re Elizabeth’s creaky cousins and very few of them have actually had real jobs outside royal welfare. Royalists, why weren’t any if these male cousins crowned king, instead of giving it to Elizabeth when George VI died?
Allowing Prince Michael to do part time duties to justify him taking money from the Sovereign Grant just makes BRF/The Firm look even more hypocritical for not allowing Harry and Meghan to do a part time model.
Sweden’s Royal Family does this so much better.
I can’t get the forlorn look on Harry’s face at the LA cemetery out of my head, 🙁
They may be unknown to some, but they do their engagements without fanfare instead of bitching and complaining. Which frankly is what bread-and-butter engagements are about. Show up at the local event, press the flesh, and make people feel like they (the people) are important.
Duke of Gloucester is 76 and 27th in line to the throne. Duke of Kent is 85 and 37th in line to the throne. Billy the Basher is 38 and 2nd in line to the throne.
2018 Engagement Totals
– Duke and Duchess of Gloucester combined = 333
– Duke of Kent = 174 (one of the years he was fighting cancer)
– W&K combined = 307
2019 Engagement totals
– Duke and Duchess of Gloucester combined = 310
– Duke of Kent = 203
– W&K = 346
Why did the throne go the way it did? Because of the abdication, frankly. They considered skipping Bertie and his two daughters. The next in line was a different Duke of Gloucester, a playboy known for his affairs with married women. He wasn’t seen as a better choice, so they went with the mild-mannered Bertie and his two cute daughters.
Sweden’s royal family doesn’t do it all that much better. Madeleine is attacked constantly by tabloids for moving out of the country and refusing to stay on the royal dole. Meanwhile, CP and his tacky wife insist on staying on the dole and living off the taxpayers full-time. The king only acted after five political parties alligned to demand a decrease in working royals.
I read that since at the time of the abdication, Prince George, DUke of Kent had a son and daughter and the only male sibling of Edward VIII with a son (Henry Gloucester and his wife later had two sons), there was talk Prince George should be next. ALthough, George had had problems with substance abuse and philandered. As it turned out, the ‘traditional’ line of the next oldest brother and his daughter were the next two in line.
Aside from being an absolutely sh*t thing to do to a family member you supposedly love, it is incredibly short sighted politically. The US is rolling into a new administration – a POTUS who really, really, really dislikes the UK PM, with a peer insulting VP Elect Harris publicly, Brexit looming with the need for trade deals – among other things. They have the PERFECT soft diplomat who already has a relationship with the Biden’s on the ground, and instead of embracing that, they take a deeply personal issue for Harry and use it as a cudgel (again). These people cannot help but shoot themselves in the foot time and again. I hope their petty points are worth the loss of a talented connection here in the states. I’m not putting this particularly well – haven’t had my caffeine yet – I will just summarize by saying that these people are not bright.
Exactly! I’ve been saying the same thing! Harry and Meghan could be a marvelous asset to the UK when it comes to US-UK diplomacy but they are too petty to rise above personal grievances to do so.
I find it really gross and tacky that this family chose to make a MEMORIAL FOR FALLEN SOLDIERS all about them. So tone deaf and disrespectful.
So HIS service meant nothing? I hope he NEVER goes back to visit not even once. Not even for the queen hag and prince haggards funerals, mat they rot in hell.
If I didn’t know any better, I would suspect this was revenge for whoever leaked William being sick with coronavirus and lying about it to the press. I am not saying Harry leaked that story (it’s possible he had no idea his brother even had it in the first place), but as we all know William loves throwing his brother under the bus whenever he gets bad press. Honestly we should have seen this coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the palace who is pro-Harry leaked William having coronavirus. And in retaliation, William decided the world should know that the palace refused to put a wreath on the Cenotaph on behalf of Harry in memory of veterans. Or in general, as usual, William was incandescent with rage over the whole coronavirus thing and decided his brother should also get some negative press.
Only he again miscalculated because Harry is an actual veteran and his ties to the military community are strong. And this has upset veterans and the military, because instead of having the focus be on actual veterans, the whole wreath ceremony has turned a private family affair into a public spat and shows how petty the BRF is.
My bet is William leaked his own COVID diagnosis to try to gain sympathy. Trouble is, with all the lying around it, fudging the dates, and not discussing contact tracing? That leads to more questions about when he got it, with whom, in what country, has Rose been tested, etc.
I think William leaked it as well, thinking it would make him look better, like a strong leader who has BEEN THERE and so can understand what the average Brit is going through!! Except that failed spectacularly and just ticked off the RRs.
So from that regard, I can see William feeding this story about the wreath to deflect from the poor reaction to his COVID diagnosis.
Omg, then he’s an even bigger moron than we realized. He leaks his own covid diagnosis, the media does not appreciate being lied to. Duh!
So then he decides to leak the Remembrance Sunday wreath story hoping to make his brother look bad, only to anger veterans and the military community Harry was close to in the UK. It especially looks bad now that we know there was a wreath made on Harry’s behalf ahead of time, only for it to be not used specifically.
I agree notasugarhere….we’ve all been witness to how very bad William is at PR even though he continues to think he’s a black belt master. I think William leaked the COVID info and has now made sure this info on Harry got out to try to get himself off the hot seat. Someday, the press is going to eat William alive, just like they turned on his mother and devoured her right before she died with some really nasty stories. Then she died, and the next words out of their press was all about Saint Diana. This whole crowd deserves each other.
The funny thing is that no one gave AF about his diagnosis, he didn’t even get any sympathy. So I hope that tells Willie just how much the people really feel about him, they don’t give AF. I’m also sceptical about him ever having it. There are too many holes in his story.
Ugh, he’s family, and he’s a veteran. That should have been enough. I feel like the BRF disrespected Harry’s service with that move.
The more I think about it the more I think they need to stop engaging with the RF and live their best life in America doing what they want to do.
Don’t ask for them to lay a wreath, don’t attend the review, don’t go to trooping the colour. Instead live in your fabulous mansion, attend a service on Memorial Day, work with the Bidens, talk about racism, hang out with Gloria Steinem and say all the things about feminism you want
After all they are now like Cher, they are so famous they only need to be introduced as Harry and Meghan. They don’t even need the Sussex name.
And look on and enjoy the schadenfreude that will come to your petty families (both)
Cheers to that! I hope they do just this. Living a great life is always the only useful course of action when dealing with narcissists.
I think Harry wants reconciliation with that evil firm aka his family. I think he doesn’t want to work with them,but he wants to have a relationship with them. I’m very sad for him because they don’t deserve him. When I remember how he defended karen and that woman who made his mother’s life as hell, I feel so disgusted.I hope Harry realizes that they don’t love him and they want to destroy his marriage and humiliate him in the front of the world. I really hope he realizes that.
He was targeted to be kidnapped in Afghanistan because of his royal status and they pull this petty BS. Not a good look.
The royal family has shown their true selves. Harry is better off walking away from all of it and washing his hands of the lot of them. He has a wonderful opportunity for an amazing life in America. I truly hope he never looks back.
They need him far far more than he needs them. I hope he stops engaging with them and does his own thing never looking back. He doesn’t need their name or their backing, his own is quite enough as a brand
Wow, this was handled really badly. The BRF would rather let a wreath meant to be placed in honor of veterans go to waste rather than let someone place it on Harry’s behalf. That doesn’t just hurt Harry, it shows veterans what the BRF really thinks of them. Of course, Harry is saddened; the health and well-being of veterans is a personal cause for him nd a big part of his life and his heart. By snubbing him at this event (and running to the press to gloat about it), they were trying to hurt him.
What the BRF has failed to realize, aside from the fact that Harry is not going to just walk away from his wife and child, is that H&M have influential friends. Whether earned or not, they are at least acquainted with the successful, political and wealthy of their generation, the people who could have been great connections for PwT as he becomes PoW and later king. At a time when the UK will need to re-work trade agreements and its standing in the world in the wake of Brexit, having an American duchess could have provided some much-needed soft diplomacy. Instead, the BRF has shown how they treat WoC who dare try to marry into the Firm.
Ah – Harry will be a special guest at this year’s (virtual) Stand Up for Heroes event, which honors and raises money for veterans and their families. This year’s host is Jon Stewart; multiple musicians and comedians will take part, including Bruce.
I’m sure the BM will find a way to minimize this, especially since it’s an American event; but it’s hard not to conclude the RF, including the incandescent one, just got smacked in the face by karma. Again.
I’m really sick of this nonsense from the Royal Family, using every opportunity to take a swipe at Meghan and Harry. If they want to give his honorary military titles to William or Anne or who ever, just do it and stop trying to make a thing out of it. We haven’t heard from or seen the Sussexes in a couple weeks, the last thing they did was the Time event, which was way outside the royals wheelhouse, and they’ve been minding their business. But once again, the BRF and their minions have to cause some BS with them because they didn’t like the press they got with Will’s Covid stunt, or some such nonsense.
The BRF is really set on self destruction, no? The only thing keeping it relevant is public support and tourism draw. Harry is one of the most popular – if not the most popular – British royals abroad. As a former Anglophile who was in love with all things related to the British monarchy (I’ve made two trips to England as a tourist and spent lots of money there), I have lost interest and respect. The disrespect to Harry, while sheltering that useless pervert Andrew…I’m done.
Um…if Harry is seen as expendable, why in God’s name does the royal family think he’d ever come back?
Jesus these people are petty. I didn’t realize there was actually a wreath made and ready to go and they wouldn’t even do it! Yikes so dysfunctional.
Not only are these people petty, they’re stupid beyond belief. They pulled this stunt on Harry right before the premiere of the Diana centered season of The Crown. Fresh in everyone’s mind just in time to tune in and remember how they manipulated and emotionally abused Harry’s mother.