Yesterday, The Independent published selected excerpts from the new epilogue included in the paperback edition of Finding Freedom. I had been wondering if Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand would drop any new tea, or whether the gossip would be somewhat lukewarm and the British media would just freak out about it anyway. It’s sort of in-between – most of the hysteria I’m seeing is over things we’ve known for months, stuff from the Oprah interview which has just been repackaged. But there are a few new details and of course the Daily Mail is trying to make this into the latest scandal of the year. Interestingly, the stuff that I find to be “new” is not expounded upon by the Mail. Weird! From the Mail:
The book alleges that palace courtiers had lied to the media over Meghan and Harry’s wishes on the issue of Archie not being made a prince, claiming that the couple did in fact want this option.
The epilogue also claims Meghan had no idea that diamond earrings given to her as a wedding present were from Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi prince accused of ordering the murder of a journalist.
The book also suggests that Meghan personally contacted one of the authors to see if they were OK after they allegedly received abuse on social media.
Yeah, of course the Sussexes were interested in Archie getting a prince title. They associated the title (correctly) with security and protection. The Oprah interview didn’t delve into the specifics beyond the title issue when Charles is king, but I would guess that Harry and Meghan were told that Archie couldn’t have a title from the word go. As for those earrings – yeah, I believe Meghan had no idea. I think she was just told that the earrings were a wedding gift.
The big headline today – one which the Mail bungled in their own racist hysteria – is that Meghan apparently seriously considered naming “the royal racist” who asked about what the skin color would be of Meghan and Harry’s then-future children. Page Six had much better coverage:
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were on the brink of exposing the royal they claim made racist remarks before their son Archie’s birth — before deeming the detail too “damaging.” In an updated edition of the biography “Finding Freedom” seen by Page Six, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand allege that the couple considered “sharing this detail” in their sensational TV interview with Oprah Winfrey. Markle, however, shut the idea down, and allegedly told Winfrey: “I think it would be very damaging to them.”
Scobie and Durand said the unaddressed race allegations have threatened the royal family’s reputation around the globe, with a Buckingham Palace staffer telling them: “There is a feeling that if it’s ignored it will go away, but surely by now they should have learned that never happens?”
Markle is said to have found the interview — in which she claimed to have been left suicidal at life behind Palace walls — “cathartic” and “liberating.” The Queen did not watch it, the book states.
While Harry and William have been in regular contact, Harry and his father Charles were only on “light speaking terms” at Prince Philip’s funeral, the book claims.
It adds that although emotions within the Royal Family are still “raw” over the Oprah interview, a source close to the couple allegedly said “it will force people to talk in order for the healing to begin,” although the source admitted that “it will take time to get past the hurt. There has to be some acknowledgment of understanding about what the Sussexes went through in order for there to be progress,” the source added.
However, another royal family source said: “Where we are today versus where we were six months ago, versus where we were twelve months ago … there is actually progress. There are efforts on all sides.” Speaking after Harry’s visit to the UK for the funeral, a friend of his said: “While there’s so much work to be done, this visit has broken the ice … pushed a closed door slightly ajar.”
At least two further conversations took place between the brothers during Harry’s eight-day trip, according to sources. This made for easier communication between the pair as they continue to plan another tribute to their mother, Princess Diana.
“Both brothers are deeply devoted to carrying on their mother’s legacy and no amount of hurt feelings would ever get in the way of that,” said Harry’s friend. “It is an absolute priority and even amidst this other stuff, they simply wouldn’t proceed without one another together.”
Harry also tried to be there for his father, Prince Charles, at the funeral, as a source said: “Though there were many unresolved issues, Harry wanted nothing more than to make sure Prince Charles felt supported in his time of need. However brief their conversations, they were steps forward in a necessary healing process for the pair.”
About the Sussexes’ move to California — the book says they have never once regretted it.
So, basically, Harry and William will always have some kind of contact because of their mom. And Harry would like to have some kind of relationship with his father but it sounds like Charles is holding him at arm’s length. As for naming the royal racist… it was probably smart to not name the person right away. Plus, I tend to believe that there were several members of the family making comments to and about Meghan anyway.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, CBS.
I think Harry and Meghan decided beforehand what they were comfortable sharing and what they weren’t, and they were comfortable sharing the part about the actual conversation, but clearly agreed not to share who it actually was. (cough William cough)
even with my insistence that it was William, I do agree with a lot of others here that there were multiple conversations and probably quite a few family members expressed similar thoughts, but my guess is still that William was the one who first said something like ‘so have you thought about how dark your children will be?” or something else gross like that.
i also think the HRH/Prince convos went like this – “your son wont be an HRH or Prince so no security. ” Harry and Meghan – “uh, what about when Charles is king, then he’ll get that, so why can’t we just start out that way like the Cambridges did?” “well we might change it so he’s not prince at that point either.” And then factor in the conversations about skin color…..and the writing was on the wall.
The Sussexes didn’t have to name the racist. Several of them outed themselves. We had a number of them going out of their way to be photographed with and visiting ‘black’ establishments. Pretty pathetic that the Dail Heil has this crap as the front page when the UK is going to pot.
the fact that there are several Royals who could’ve said that, and each one is as plausible as the next, is really more damaging than if they had named one person specifically.
and, honestly, if they didn’t want people thinking they were the racist or the family wasn’t racist, they could try the whole not acting like a racist/actively correcting any situations in which they side-step policies meant to combat racism
Lol dailymail is losing their mind without Sussex content. As for naming the racist , one of the tarot reader who predict everything accurately said that many in the family raised that question .
They need the Sussexes content to distract from the sh==t show that is the UK at the moment. Many of us don’t care about that family but the racists need something to hold onto now that Brexit is a complete shambles, the government is next to useless, the RF is imploding, children are starving the brand UK is tarnished beyond recognition. The Sussexes are being served up on a press platter to the sheeple.
I’m not sure a deck of cards is necessary for someone to guess that several members of the BRF were concerned about a visibly black child being born into their family. Seems a bit obvious?
Who’s the tarot reader?
All I am saying, is Omid knows as much about the Sussexes as me. He is just a tabloid reporter with a veneer of politeness.
A blind man can see they’re happy in Montecito.
Bwahahahaha😂😂 you make so much sense. I believe and I’m actually with you on this @Jan. At the end of the day, Omid too is just out to make a buck on the Sussexes’ backs. He’s just politely and nicely repackaging all the tabloid crap in a better looking box and tying them with a pretty ribbon, that’s pretty much it.
That is what needs to be highlighted more.. all these commentators or Royal experts along with there media outlets are profiting by spreading hate against H&M.. The only ones not profiting are the Sussex ‘s.
Yeah, I also believe that it was more than royal making racist comments. But I don’t believe there has been any improvement in the relationship between Harry, William and Charles. Harry and Meghan told us in the Oprah interview that the Palace was lying about them to protect others and that the Palace lied about the title for Archie. The Daily Mail, Telegraph and the Express are trying to make these “revelations” in the epilogue into a thing but there’s nothing that I’ve seen so far that hasn’t been confirmed by Harry and Meghan in the Oprah. It would have great if there was further expansion about the birth certificate story but it appears that there wasn’t. And what about the crying story which Omid and his coauthor initially wrote didn’t happen? And the bullying allegations?
My theory with the crying story is that it was an example of bad reporting on Omid and Carolyn’s part. If Meghan was told she could not correct the story, and her friends could not correct the story, then obviously no one was going to be told “actually it was Meghan who cried” bc Meghan was told not to do that. So if Omid called up someone in Meghan’s camp – whether a well placed source or not – and said “did Kate really cry at this dress fitting? what happened there?” The MOST the source would be able to say is “no, she did not cry.” But they wouldn’t have been “allowed” to actually correct the story. And the “bad reporting” is because whoever was the one asking did not follow up any more than that, they just wrote the whole episode off as a lie (which many of us here did as well, since it was from Camilla Tominey.)
That’s just my theory anyway.
I agree that I don’t think there’s been significant improvement in the relationship between Harry and his father or his brother. The most I can see with William are some very surface level discussions about the statue unveiling, so that could be interpreted I guess as “talking regularly” or whatever.
As far as William goes, it’s hard to imagine, under even the best of circumstances, what Harry has in common with him at this point, apart from Diana. Maybe that’s been true for some time, but is more so now that Harry’s life has taken such a different turn. They certainly won’t be chatting in any substantive way about work; Harry has blossomed since leaving the RF orbit, while there’s little reason to believe that Will’s efforts, when he chooses to make any, will be any less superficial they have been up to now.
@Becks ITA that you’re probably right, but for the second time in two weeks, my reaction is “Or what?”
For argument’s sake, let’s say Meghan told all of her friends the truth and deputized them to get the real story out there. What on earth could the BRF have done about it? They were ALREADY doing absolutely everything they possibly could to make the Sussexes lives as hellishly miserable every single day.
They were ALREADY stabbing the Sussexes in the back by leaking to the tabloids, most of it twisted to denigrate them, and by teaming up with that Markle trash and giving them a platform to spew their vitriolic nonsense. They were ALREADY talking about “exiling them to Africa” as if they were boxes they could simply package up and send away, not human beings, adults who can decide for themselves whereTF they want to live and raise their family. They were ALREADY attacking a pregnant woman with no regard for the consequences of the resulting stress and upset it could have on her baby. What else could they possibly have done, even if they were mad that Meghan let the truth out there?!
I’m not blaming Meghan *at all* because she was basically stuck in an abusive relationship (with the family and their staff, not Harry, obviously), and she was scared, and for so long we could see she how hard she really was trying to follow all of the “rules” (which of course were different for the Black duchess and were constantly changing to make sure she was in the wrong no matter what she did) and do everything “right” according to the BRF.
In hindsight, though, I really wish she’d just thought “well fck this, what more can they even do?” and made sure the record was corrected about the crying story. It’s not as if the Fail would have ever acknowledged it or splashed, “It was actually KATE who made MEGHAN cry!!” on the front page, but at least she would have gotten her side of the story out there, and there are many people who would have believed her.
I feel so sorry for her, because now we can see so clearly how she was always in a no-win position no matter what she did with those people or how hard she tried to do everything she was told and fit in with them. Harry and Meghan would never truly “fit in” with the BRF because they’re not selfish, racist, arrogant monsters. But, I wonder if looking back, Meghan wishes she’d ignored some of their “But it’s protocol!!” crap and done what she knew was right in order to protect her reputation. Even if I completely understand why she didn’t at the time.
If I’d been one of her friends who knew the truth, it would have been so hard to keep my mouth shut, my god. I would have needed to duct tape it shut. And my hands as well, to keep from typing. I’m barely kidding…it would have been the most unbearable thing to watch playing out every day but needing to stay silent. It was upsetting for *us* to witness and we’ve never even met Meghan ffs. The cruelty was just so blatant.
Omid has been pushing that BS about Harry improving his relationship with Will and Charles since last year. The Oprah interview confirmed that is not true at all. I don’t think their relationship will ever heal. I think Harry knows that as well. Harry doesn’t need to be in the UK to improve their relationship. Phone calls, texts and Zoom exist. Omid is a royal reporter first and will always try and make the RF look good.
Well I saw parts of the video and pictures from the statue unveiling. And maybe my body language expertise is rusty, but if Harry and william relationship is or has improved then I need a pretend career
Sorry a new pretend career
We’ll never know the full extent of the ostracism and racism Meghan experienced. And unpopular opinion, but based on the Oprah interview, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lot Harry withheld from Meghan regarding what his family and friends have said about her and their (future) children.
I don’t think that’s unpopular, I’m sure that’s definitely been going on – that Harry has been protecting Meghan from the worst of the racist comments etc.
I think Harry learned, through his relationship with Meghan, who his family really are. He knew that they would never protect him, and that they needed him to play the role of lovable clown to bolster William. I don’t think he had any idea how much they deeply disrespected him, or how absolutely conditional their love for him really was. he learned not only that his family are a pack of sniveling racists smiling behind false facades, he also learned that the only use they have for him is if he plays the role they need him to play. To survive in that family, he would have to suppress 9/10th of his spirit and his intellect, and even then, he would get no respect. The least he could do, with that knowledge in place, is protect his wife and children. He brought them into the royal family, and for him to abandon them the way his family wanted would destroy any vestige of self respect or honor that he had. To preserve his own honor, Harry had to turn his back on the royal family. I’m glad he was man enough to do so.
Yes, there’s a reason he cut out lifelong boarding school buddies. They must have said some vile “jokes”.
Exactly – the whole Princess Michael wearing blackamore jewelry. That was intentional and evil!
I would agree with this. He may have told her everything that was being said early on, but as things worsened and her mental health suffered, I could see him absolutely keeping the worst things from her in order to protect her.
@Annie Bobany, the so-called “lifelong boarding school buddies” probably told Harry that you sleep with women like Meghan, but you don’t marry them.
This could be a warning shot from the Sussex camp: “We decided not to tell people your name *then,* but we can change out minds at any time.”
It would be a very ‘f**k around, find out’ thing to do. Fingers crossed the RF decides (yet again) to think Harry and Meghan are bluffing. SMH, they keep forgetting – over and over again, ad nauseam – that Meghan kept receipts of all their nonsense.
Didn’t Harry say in the Oprah interview that he would never say who it was? Or am I remembering it wrong?
He did say that, that it would be something he would never reveal. But Meghan did not say that 😉
No, I remember he said he would never discuss it.
@Becks: I think it’s safe to say that Meghan will respect his wishes. I think it’s more likely that the Royal Family will eventually tell on themselves.
@AmyBee, she definitely will respect his wishes, she won’t out the person. Unless Harry gives her the go-ahead as a way to get around not revealing it himself, lol.
I’m mostly joking, I don’t think either one of them will ever reveal it. I actually think its interesting that it has not come out yet and I think that’s because of what we’ve said on here – it was more than one convo with one person. I think William was the first (and probably the most shocking to Harry), but I think it was said by more than one person, including Charles or Camilla. So they are all running a little scared – “did Harry mean me?? Is he going to tell people it was me???” I think if it was just one of them, we would have gotten confirmation of that by this point.
like, if it was Charles, and William and harry never once had a single convo about the skin color or anything else racist, William 100% would have leaked that it was Charles to make him look bad.
He said that he wouldn’t discuss it *then,* but the interview was filmed before the bullying accusations, before they tried to imply Meghan lied about not making Kate cry after having already lied about it for two years, before Charles ran off to Wales rather than speak to his own son, before they flat-out called he and his wife “damaged goods,” and so on. Who knows what they’ll try next?
If the Windsors and their attack dogs don’t stop Harry might decide it’s no longer worth protecting people that won’t leave his wife and children alone. I doubt he’d do so while the Queen is alive, but after? There have been plenty of times I’ve made a decision about toxic family members and then changed my mind after more time and hurt passed.
We all have our breaking points. If the RF isn’t careful they’ll push Harry past the last of his.
ETA: Also, what other dirt must Harry have on his family? There’s no telling what hell he could unleash on them. They’re not beholden to the family for money or security, so if Harry decides to be entirely done with them once and for all it would not effect their livelihoods or safety.
That’s why saying no to H & M’s half in/half out idea was such a bad idea. There’s nothing holding Harry back but the idea of “family.” As the daughter of a woman with NPD, I can tell you that after enough abuse you break yourself of the belief that you owe someone anything just because you’re related to them.
@Becks1, Why would anyone think Meghan would out that person when Harry already said he wouldn’t? How could it advantage her to say that? She only stated what Harry told her about that. No one said anything directly to her face about Archie. Black women are never afforded any grace or sympathy. Look at how she is being “ blamed” for correcting the crying Kate lie? It would send a ton of blowback in her, and she still bears the brunt of this already. We’ve seen so many instances of the racism from that institution, especially during the time they were under KP.
A (white) friend of mine is married to a Black woman, and most of his family has been just as toxic and racist as Harry’s. Still, we’re programmed to love our families, and no matter how awful they are, it can be difficult to shut them out completely, so he still visits (alone, of course. His wife, like Meghan, takes a “fuck that, have fun in Hell” approach). But every time he returns from those visits, he’ll say that he couldn’t have survived even a weekend there if not for his hometown friends. So I kinda wonder if enough of Harry’s so-called “friends” made disparaging remarks about Meghan that he realized he didn’t have much to lose, friendship-wise, by permanently moving to Montecito. His true friends can come and visit him in America (and hopefully play some more polo, because eye candy).
(Replied to the wrong comment! This was meant to be a response to mariahlee’s comment above.)
I hope he doesn’t bring his children. I can imagine what his family would do to abuse biracial children.
I think it will be revealed, but not by the Sussexes. I think when the Queen passes, and Charles gets on his stilts and looks over his court. His ego will inflate and he will do some massive damage within the familiy. Andrew will be first, and rightfully so. This is going to cause havoc.
This will set off the York sisters or Fergie. The Royal family is dangling on the edge of relevance with the queen still alive, but after that they will turn on themselves and the whole fam damily will implode.
I can’t prove any of this, however I believe william was the first one to have concerns. However his wording to Harry when Harry announce he was going to marry Meghan, william response was, BUT SHE IS BLACK. . Can you imagine what sort of colored children you would have? It’s just not done in this family Harry, we don’t taint our bloodline. Because in my eyes and I will believe this forever. William didn’t say take your time getting to know this girl. His words were a lot worse, in fact they were full on blatant racist
William was always the one who was telling Harry that he was “moving too fast” in any media reports and so the baby skin colour question would come from him because he seemed too involved in interfering with Harry’s relationship. Keep in mind we never heard that William had concerns about Chelsy or Cressida.
And Harry would only care about a few people asking him that question, which is why Charles and William were narrowed down as the likely ones to say it. He wouldn’t be getting advice from Anne or Sophie.
I agree with everyone saying that Harry will probably wait until the Queen dies before he unleashes any more of the truth about the family. BUT, on the other hand, we’re constantly being told that the Queen has basically checked out, the courtiers carefully monitor what media she has access to, she’s declining mentally, she barely knows what’s going on anymore, etc. So I don’t really get the consistent logic that anything that needs to be said will only be said after she’s gone.
As it is, the tabloids are always blaming every single thing the Sussexes do as “blindsiding” the Queen and causing her more upset— they screeched about it when her husband was in the hospital, and then again after he died, then with the absolute sh!tshow they created about Lilibet’s name, etc. The list goes on and on. So, if according to them, she’s already a) senile and b) feeling “attacked” by every word out of the Sussexes’ mouths, why not just let it all out?
Considering that family’s genes, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that she could live another decade. Harry and Meghan shouldn’t need to feel like they have to put a lot of what they want to say to defend themselves and their reputations on hold until her death, imo. I mean, I’m sure Charles never thought he’d be 70+ and still waiting!
Re: this particular issue — the naming of the racist who made the comment about Archie — I don’t even think that would really be a bombshell at this point. They’re ALL racists, and it’s pretty obvious that the person Harry was specifically referring to in the interview was most likely William or Charles. I’m more curious about how it will affect what Harry writes in his memoir.
@Lorelei: I’ve kept quiet about my father’s older brother attempting to abuse me when I was young so as to spare my grandmother. She knows part of it (along with everyone else in the family), but not all simply because I didn’t realize everything that was wrong until I was much older and finally put the pieces together.
My grandmother has a guilt complex where her eldest son is concerned and letting go would be incredibly difficult for her, so I’ve said nothing more about it. She’s in her early 90s and I can’t stand the idea of hurting her more even though not saying anything hurts me. What can I say? Family st*t can be tough to negotiate and sometimes no one wins.
So the Queen never watched the interview? Makes you wonder how many other Royals did not watch it but allowed others to tell them how horrible it was?
As for naming the racist, not naming them made the entire circus trip over themselves showing the world just how racist they all are..
I can believe that the queen didn’t watch it. And maybe Ann. But I think the rest of them absolutely tuned in and watched every second of it.
I think Harry saying it wasn’t Phillip or the Queen is him confirming it was Charles and William. I believe they both had conversations with Harry about Archie’s skin tone.
I think it was Charles and I think it went beyond a question of skin tone.
I have always thought it was Anne
I can definitely buy that it was both William and Charles (though I’ve been in the William camp from day 1 — looking at it from a generational standpoint, I could see why it would have been more shocking for Harry to hear it from his brother. His father would be less surprising). Again, while it’s certainly not impossible to think that Anne holds those views as well (and I would bet she does to some extent), she’s just not important enough to Harry for the Sussexes to care what she thinks. So by that, I do not think it’s her they were referring to.
@SWIRLMAMAD. Anne is important to Harry. She spent a lot of time with when he was a small child and looked after him when Diana died.
I don’t think it would be at all damaging to Anne if people knew it was her.
I think whoever said it was established enough in the power structure (both the official palace/firm structure and Harry’s main ‘support’ structure within the firm) that it had deep deep impact on Harry.
Frankly, I don’t think Anne fits that criteria.
And I don’t think it would be damaging to her, the way Meghan said alluded to in the interview. It would barely make a dent in Anne’s popularity, because older royalists would agree with her (mostly) and younger people would tend to shrug and think ‘yeah, I have a racist old aunt too’. Anne might work hard, but in the end, she’s a side cog in a larger wheel.
I think the ‘damaging’ comment meant it would damage someone ‘important’ to the monarchy, and someone important to Harry in relation to his position in the familhy. And that would be those in the direct line of succession…the Queen, Charles, and Will. He’s said it wasn’t the Queen.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of family members said stuff, but the ‘concerns’ that impacted Harry came from either Charles or Normal Bill.
Hearing the skin colour question come from your own brother would be the type of thing that would permanently damage a sibling relationship. The discussions of William and Harry not getting along anymore went on for months before we knew about this skin colour question. The media tried to blame Meghan for it, but it was more her skin colour that was the issue. They were not saying that Harry had an issue with Charles until the whole security costs came up and being cut off so quickly. And to me it is very telling that he was able to articulate his issues with Charles but with William it was “just space”.
@Becks ITA. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but I honestly don’t think people even care enough about Anne to bother being upset about anything that comes out of her mouth. I certainly don’t, lol. And I agree that it wasn’t just one comment one time by one person, it was likely an ongoing issue during lots of conversations before the wedding.
At that point, they were still under the illusion that Harry was “one of them,” and that he would be as horrified as the rest of them were at the thought of a brown baby. And they learned the hard way that they were dead wrong.
Yes, the point about TQ not watching struck me, too. So when TQ/BP said “recollections may vary” which recollections were they talking about?
I remember a font saying that Charles and Willie stayed up and watched a live stream of it from the uk as it went out live in America, and afterwards they were ranting and making threats and having full blown meltdowns. I don’t know how accurate the fonts insider knowledge is, but I do believe it. Omid live tweeted from the uk as it went out in a america so there must have been a live stream somewhere.
I think there were ways to live stream that it are beyond my very limited tech knowledge lol, using different VPNs or something, but I also know some people on twitter who watched in zoom…..like an American logged into zoom and propped up their phone or ipad or whatever so it focused on the tv and people logged into watch that way.
Interesting that a Buckingham Palace staff said
“There is a feeling that if it’s ignored it will go away, but surely by now they should have learned that never happens?”
Enter Prince Andrew. That’s EXACTLY what he is doing.
@Ginger you’re absolutely right and I for one cannot wait until it all blows up in their faces. How many hits can that institution take before it crumbles?
More fan fiction. Meghan didn’t name names the whole interview & anyone following them knew it was Harry to watch out for. Harry said he wouldn’t disclose conversation ever so I don’t think there was real consideration to naming the one(s) who raised concerns . I think the royal family & staff were probably all talking about how ‘black’ Harry& Meghan’s kids would be from when it was clear they were serious to when Meghan was pregnant but there was probably one comment which was seriously offensive to Harry.
It always stood out to me how Harry kind of laughed when he said things went better than he first expected when Meghan met his family. Maybe he was expecting ‘gaffes’ from Philip but expected better from the person whose comment was offensive.
I also agree that Harry didn’t want his relationship derailed so might have kept some things from Meghan initially like the family saying they didn’t have money for her & probably the worse snide comments from the aristo circle.
Not sure I believe in FF’s take that things are that much warmer since the interview or funeral. You can tell the senior royals apart from Liz didn’t know about Lili’s birth until the last moment. Then you had Kate admitting she hadn’t FaceTimed the new parents to meet Lili so guessing William wouldn’t have either at that point. Plus with the palace causing a controversy with the BBC about Lilibet’s name, claiming Meghan had radicalised Harry & then the briefings to Lacey for his new book, doesn’t really signal relationships are on the mend.
KP couldn’t even confirm Harry’s presence at Diana’s unveiling until fairly late in the day. but when talking about Diana Harry has referred to ‘our mother’ & included William in his speeches about her eg at the Diana awards (William not so much). Plus they walked& unveiled the memorial together so any of us could have written that the brothers (largely) push their issues aside when it involves their mother& celebrating her memory
Agree with all of this. I don’t understand how they can make these wild claims that the two couples are FaceTiming and chatting it up while cooking meals and what have you, when just a couple of weeks ago the media was gleefully saying how William was telling everyone who would listen that Meghan was a sociopath and a b*tch. If my BIL was saying such vile things about me you can be sure I would NOT be calling to see how his kids are doing, chatting with his wife and my husband would be getting an earful from me if he was talking to his brother like nothing ever happened.
I think the only communication between Harry and William is for things that there has to be communication about and it’s through staff. For example, they would have had to communicate to finalize plans for the Diana statue unveiling. They probably communicate to coordinate their activity with the Diana Awards. Harry gave that video speech for the awards in July. William recently gave that quote for the new fundraising campaign. There has been nothing to indicate anything substantive particularly with regard to resolution of the issues that led to the Sussexes leaving.
That’s what I said yesterday, any communication is being handled through staff. This is why I think none of the family heard about Lili’s birth until maybe a few minutes before they posted it on the Archewell website. They were able to keep a lid on it for two days which would not have happened had they told the BRF ahead of time.
I think that William was the first to voice his “concerns” which is why Harry didn’t immediately announce W as his best man, why their relationship was more strained around the time of the wedding then M&H’s relationship with Charles. Let’s not forget that after the wedding M&H spent more time with Charles and that relationship seemed to be heading in a good direction until Charles lost it over his jealousy about Meghan and how great she did on the Australia tour.
ITA! There were stories about William “telling Harry to take it slower” and they framed it as obnoxious Harry not wanting to listen to concerned William. I always thought there was more to it and now I think William did say something like “how dark are your children going to be? It won’t be a good look if they’re too dark.”
That’s exactly what I think went down. The “concerns” were about skin colour.
@Lila ITA that could definitely be how it happened. That also explains why Bill and Cathy have never once uttered Archie’s name in public (as far as I know), and why they always looked annoyed or ambushed when asked a question about Archie or Lili while cameras were on them.
And I agree with others that it wouldn’t be some shocking revelation if it turned out to be Charles. He’s an elderly white privileged British man, so it would surprise no one. We’d already assumed he was racist before the interview. I mean, look at the comment he made to a woman at an event which was, I think, less than a week after the Oprah interview! You’d think they all would have been super careful about everything they said at that time, but Charles continued to stick his foot right on into his mouth when faced with a woman of color.
@Harper, re: your comment below, ITA about the leverage. But then I remember the absolute sh!tshow of rage that ensued when they learned Lilibet’s name, so even the fact that they *knew* how much leverage the Sussexes had wasn’t enough to shut them up, or even force them to act as mildly decent human beings. I truly think they’re too stupid to put two and two together. And none of them strike me as being the least bit self-reflective.
I think your timeline makes sense. The fact that H&M specifically said it would be too “damaging” makes me think it’s William they had in mind. H&M and the general public probably wouldn’t be all that shocked if Charles, a man in his 70s, said something questionable. There would be backlash but people would get bored and move onto the next old white guy talking out of his a$$. William, on the other hand, is young enough to be expected to know better. He also has a stunning lack of social and emotional intelligence, so where I think Charles would attempt to be “tactful,” I think William would just say it in the most blunt and hurtful way possible.
William is still riding on his late teen good will and there are still people in the UK commenting that William is doing a great job and will be a wonderful king. As opposed to Charles, whose fandom is small in comparison (perhaps one can say nonexistent, or pretty quiet.) And because William has been extraordinarily protected in the press, there is no new or interesting information about William coming down the pike to alter his reputation. Even his temper and incandescence is portrayed as a righteous anger. But those of us who have peered a little closer into who William really is see the extent of the mirage.
Harry absolutely knows the real Will probably better than anyone on this planet, but Harry also has a good heart and is sympathetic. Harry can engage and try to bring Will down but he chooses not to (unlike Will who has no issues with throwing his brother and Meghan under the bus). I do believe Harry and Meghan considered the full frontal honesty approach in regards to Will, but the power of holding back and creating leverage is sometimes the smarter and more strategic choice and I think they understood that.
I always thought their body language at the wedding was strained. Harry seemed tense around him. And they barely spoke.
Lol the only thing these stories do are remind everyone that the RF are racist to the core and then set off a debate about who is the most racist of them all, leading everyone to conclude that it was one of the future kings (with a side of “literally anyone else in the RF”).
It’s interesting that we had months of “H&M must apologize first!” stories and now we’re getting these “they’ve all spontaneously reconciled like a lovely algae bloom starving the pond of oxygen.” It’s a pivot— question is obviously why start pushing this narrative now?
ETA: Also I’m beginning to get nostalgic for the over-the-top “Kate must be queen now! She is the glue holding the balsa wood monarchy together! She is the crown jewel who will carry the RF on her basalt shoulders! Meghan’s igneous indignity cannot compare to the metamorphic strength of Kate’s granite, which has been refined over these years from gentle sandstone to diamond— she is truly coming into her own!” Actually, I believe sandstone’s metamorphic form is quartz, which I guess looks close enough to a diamond. (Geologists please chime in with any corrections! I know you’re out there— there was a discussion about cubic zirconium a while back that I enjoyed immensely.)
It would explain why she’s taken a geologic age to set up the center for children’s early years or whatever.
“…the metamorphic strength of Kate’s granite”
omg, I’m howling, Laraw 😭
Omid alluded that if the royal racist is a future head of state it needs to be known. I bet Omid knows and it should be known.
I think the press already know but can’t say either because of fear of libel suit or because they are protecting the reputation of the person. They all WANT Harry to disclose it in his memoir so they can finally talk about it.
The main reason why I think it was William is because of all those reports since 2018 claiming that William & Harry had had a brotherly chat about the relationship causing Harry to go ballistic & starting their rift. The press claimed it was about William telling him to slow down & FF claimed it was about William referring to Meghan as ‘this girl’ but it doesn’t add up that Harry would be so upset over such benign comments.
Plus he seemed to be the one that was most in Harry’s business to stop the relationship/get rid of Meghan, allegedly recruiting family like Earl Spencer to speak to Harry & the one whose office has the most venomous briefings about Meghan.
Yeah, that’s what I think as well. They all know what happened but can’t say it for legal reasons.
But if either Harry or Meghan (I’m thinking most likely Meghan) has some sort of contemporaneous evidence to back up the fact that it’s true, like an email or text to a friend sometime in 2018 describing what was said by whom and what Harry’s response was at the time or whatever, it wouldn’t even be a legal issue, right? If it’s proven to be true, they’re SOL without a legal leg to stand on? I’m always unsure about the UK’s laws when it comes to things like this.
What people often don’t get about the security for Archie thing is if Harry and Meghan only have security then Archie wouldn’t have any security at school. Given that I remember there was at least one incident at George’s school. Situations in England like happened after the recent football final when it comes to racism. Normal parents worry about school security and Harry and Meghan had a lot more to worry about, especially when the kid is being compared to monkey as soon as he is born by even people in the media.
I take this as a warning shot. They can and will name the asshole if push comes to shove.
I will die on the hill that the only conversations Harry was having with William was about that statue. And of course there was more than one racist relative having racist asshats comments about the biracial baby. Harry can’t possibly move on and forgive when William keeps coming for his wife. That’s utterly ridiculous
Of course it’s a future head of state. That’s exactly why they decided it was too damaging.
It’s so incredibly obvious. The RF family could survive the scandal if it were anyone other than Charles or William. And even if it were Charles, the public might not care that much–after all, nobody likes Charles all that much and everyone knows he’s jerk. But William? If the young, woke, modern FFK is a racist, then the RF family is truly f*cked.
I hope that somehow Harry comes around to “It’s the British public’s right to know what their future head of state is like” when it comes to this.
Not only do I actually believe that’s true, but why on earth should Harry continue to protect William from his “damaging” remark when ALL WILLIAM HAS DONE FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS is make horrible, “damaging” remarks about both Harry and his wife, AND made sure many of those comments got to Dan Wooten for publication?
I can buy that *maybe* Harry is keeping it to himself so that William’s children never read it, but tbh there’s already plenty of negative stuff about their father out there already, and knowing William, there will continue to be more and more. Children aren’t stupid, and they will form their own opinions on all of this when they’re older anyway, even if they come to the sad conclusion that their father is a pretty terrible person.
But considering the fact that William didn’t even react when his nephew began being trashed by racists in the BM when he was only HOURS OLD, I don’t see why Harry still feels compelled to cover for him?
The fact that Harry is simply a better person than William is really the only explanation. (Sometimes I wish Harry was just a bit more petty!)
They are shocked that these two are showing more care for the reputation of other members of the RF than any of that lot ever did for theirs. They could’ve easily named names and left the RF to deal with the (deserved) fallout, but they chose not to. Yet somehow it’s STILL a targeted attack on whoever it was because they thought about naming them at one point in time… because the perpetual outrage machine needs more fuel.
I think people are forgetting that Omid himself said that his epilogue would be from articles posted since FF first came out and from the Oprah interview. All of this is nothing new.
The random stories about H&M FaceTiming over dinner seem to be fanfiction made up by RRs looking for their time in the spotlight and repeated by various outlets.
What we know for sure is Kate hadn’t talked to Meghan post Lilis birth, Harry and William had to text to arrange things around Diana’s statue and possibly the other ceremony in September. That’s it.
But I did notice the influx of attaching Kate and William to everything good H&M are doing so I thing KP is changing their strategies. Being perpetually angry at your brother probably doesn’t work out too well especially when he’s raising money and being acknowledged, loved, and supported by celebrities all over the world. The same celebrities that KP is trying to court.
@Linda, ITA. I also think that Omid realizes that his book is pretty much irrelevant now since Harry and Meghan spoke for themselves with Oprah, and now Harry has his own book coming out— so this is his last chance to squeeze as much $$ out of FF as possible.
I can’t even really blame him; that’s just how these things work. But I can definitely see him emphasizing *anything* that wasn’t already said by the Sussexes themselves in order to sell as many paperbacks as possible before the book fades completely into obscurity.
The Aristocracy is snobbish about Social Class and racist. The Earl of March and his wife adopted two black girls many years ago and the backlash from ‘Aristocratic Friends’ was horrific. More recently the heir (now incumbent) to the Marquess of Bath married Emma who was both half Nigerian and not ‘top drawer’. He was ostracised by his own parents who themselves had amoral lives (eccentric they say). Please Google all this. It’s not limited to Meghan and Harry. As regards Emma Weymouth her husband was exhorted by his mother ‘not to pollute hundreds of years of blue blood’.
Now I’m obsessed with Emma Weymouth
Finding Freedom has two authors yet we only ever see Omid Scobie doing promotions for it. At this point, I’m getting the sense Carolyn Durand contributed nothing to this book?? Did she only write two sentences? Why do I get the sense only Omid wrote any of the new stuff? Why has she been such a ghost about this book?
Harry and Meghan will always take the high road. They will sit back and watch while William and Kate repeatedly embarrass themselves on the world stage, they’ll watch while the gutter press continues to froth at the mouth make up the most asinine lies (and occasionally sue them for said lies), and if anyone reveals who made comments about Archie’s skin colour it will likely be the tabloids turning against the Cambridges. Once TQ falls off her perch it will be gloves off.
Question for people from the UK: what is your metric for what makes a good Queen or King? I’ve seen a few comments today about how William and Charles will be terrible but mostly positive things about the Queen. But it seems to be because she’s the Queen and not based off of merit. What are yall looking for from a monarch?
@Steph that’s an excellent question! I wonder how many of the older royalists would even be able to come up with a coherent answer to it quickly.
“…has threatened their reputation around the globe…”
Oh, please. They’ve done that all by themselves. The publication of their behaviors has just made what was long suspected abundantly clear.
It was obvious for everyone watching the interview that Meghan wanted to say more, you don’t have to have “inside info” or whatever to figure that one out. I wish she had, it’s not fair that she was a victim of these people and still had to guard herself when telling the truth.
I’ve said this from the beginning, I don’t think Harry’s relationship with William is done, as much as the Sussex Squad wish it was.
Andrew is a rapist and is being sued by one of his victims.
I mean, that is still news, right?
Why is there not more people upset in the household about that instead of *checks notes* two grown people who are minding their business.
Royalty, is inherently exclusionary. The RF as an institution is exclusionary and racist e.g. colonialism, banning of ethnic minorities from office roles until the late sixties. Coincidentally, or not, many former realms booked to hell out in the late 60’s into the 70’s. This is a system, and a family whose existence is predicated on bloodline and primogeniture. They think, no, they believe they are better by right of birth. So there isn’t one racist. There are the ones that “expressed concerns”, the others that thought about it, but didn’t say it to their faces, and the few who heard what was being said, knew that it was wrong, but were too cowardly, didn’t call out their family members and “peers” and shut the sh*t down.
Yes, but the UK establishment is still pushing that ‘if I don’t use racial slurs then it’s not racist’ nonsense. The only racism that exists to them is the in your face I’m-not-gonna-hire-no-lazy-Mexicans variety.
We already know it was Princess Michael of Kent. Next.
Naw. She has already showed what she thinks and would have been out here bragging herself.
She is not high enough up the chain for that kind of protection.
Exactly. Not to mention, Princess Michael’s opinion is just irrelevant to Harry and Meghan AND she’s overall irrelevant when it comes to the institution. It’s also interesting that Meghan did say that she felt the decision regarding Archie’s title was related to their “concerns” about his skin color.
Good points! So the suspects are: Charles, Camilla, William, Anne (because who really cares what Kate thinks)…
@Freddy Meghan said there were multiple conversations, so I don’t think it was one person. It was probably all of them talking to each other and then the closest to Harry relayed their “concerns” to him. IMO, it was Will (before the wedding and then during the pregnancy). He is definitely someone who would be concerned with the “optics” of having a non white child being born into the family.
I don’t want to sound like a tinhatter, but I’m starting to wonder if he was working behind the scenes and lobbying for Archie not to have a title.
I could see William doing this for many reasons, not the least of which is he didn’t want his brother’s children to have the same level of titles as his own. Because William is that way. Harry must always have less.
@NOTA I also thought about that. It would be like William to want his children to be the only ones with a certain status.
I think it was Camilla.
Explains why Charles is pushing Harry and Meghan out of his life and why they’re running stories about Camilla lately. Especially that they’re worried he will write about her in the Memoir. It all seemed out of the blue unless unless you connect the dots.
Camilla has always been terrible and it’s not a stretch to the me that she would say this. What’s really telling is how it’s incredibly believable it is that virtually any member could have said it lol.