Tina Brown gave an interview to Marie Claire to promote The Palace Papers. As I’ve said, Brown isn’t changing up her pro-Cambridge narratives to suit her audience. In her American and British promotional interviews, she’s saying pretty much the same stuff, and my concern is that American audiences will start to think she has some kind of point? When really, the reason she’s so pro-Cambridge is because Kensington Palace and Middleton Manor were the people who would speak to her. She follows her sources and is apparently (nowadays) a stenographer to power. Some highlights from this interview:
People believe in the Cambridges: “There’s a pessimism about Charles amongst many circles, but I think he’ll be a transitional monarch. There is a tremendous amount of faith in the Cambridges. [The royal family] are blessed with one pair of people that seem to have accepted their duty and have been willing to serve in the way that they have been trained to do. It’s remarkable to see, really, and we’re lucky, so far, anyway, that William has never shirked his destiny. He’s quite like the Queen temperamentally—a prudent, cautious guy, a sober guy, a decent guy.
Kate is not a doormat?? “In Kate, the stunning thing about it was, people used to think Kate, who’s from a middle-class family, not an exalted pedigree in any way: is she going to be able to carry this out? It seems like now, everybody on earth wonders what they would do without her. She is extraordinary. William was prudent—it took him 10 years to decide she was the one. He really asked her to train, essentially, to be his wife. I don’t know many modern young women who would have waited 10 years. This is a young woman who had a degree in art history from St. Andrews; she’s not a flighty young woman at all. She’s a serious woman, but she, nonetheless, was willing to wait for William and sort of built her life around him without being a doormat. She’s very unusual.
The monarchy did everything they could to ensure there would never be “another Diana”: “They thought they did everything. For 20 years they’d been chugging along, trying to make the point that everyone was now in line. The Firm got itself in shape. We had the glory years, which I write about: the 2011 period of the Queen going to Ireland, Harry serving in the Army—all of it seemed as if it were righting itself. The great and fascinating thing about this family saga, which is why it makes such interesting material, is fate steps in and introduces Meghan to Harry, and all of the sudden they have it all over again. [Meghan] is a celebrity, a woman who has a lot of her own charisma and a strong will of her own, a strong sense of independence, who is not going to be subservient to this concept of hierarchy and monarchy. They had it all over again, and, in a way that was almost more unmanageable because Diana was a child, really, when she married…”
Meghan was “angry”: “Meghan got angry so fast, and that’s what’s rocked the family. They’re still reeling and just baffled why it seemed to go wrong so quickly. It’s still a source of great pain to them; they were also completely knocked for six when they decided to do the Oprah interview, and now Harry’s doing a book. Harry has become a disruptive force in the family. For them, it’s like Diana’s son is continuing the campaign to disrupt Charles’ future reign, and the “War of the Wales” continues. It’s a very destabilizing factor.
Harry is an IED: “When you ask about the future of the monarchy, I think we have in Kate and William absolutely brilliant, well-qualified, and well-trained people positioned as future king and queen. Whether Harry will let that reign proceed in a way that everybody hopes is the question. He does seem hell-bent right now on disrupting it…Don’t forget, [Harry’s book] is going to be coming out as that transition [to Charles] is perilously close. We don’t know how long the Queen’s health will hold out. It’s a very fragile moment, and the last thing they need is that IED going off.
Whether Meghan could have been “handled” differently: “I think it could have been made to work extremely well. She was beloved by the public when she married Harry. If she had taken things much, much slower than she did—I think Kate was smart to be very, very slow to enter into the public realm. But Meghan really did want to come out with guns blazing as the new global royal. And I think she needed to absorb more of the culture of the Palace and understand the minefields there. And on the Palace’s side, I’m sure they are maddening; the Palace is very traditional, decisions are made slowly. They’re not used to a formidable American, a hard-driving executive kind of woman. They do things in their own traditional way, which is extremely frustrating, I think, to anyone who has had a career, and a good one.”
Again, I’m covering all of this stuff because I don’t want Tina Brown’s narrative to become the prevailing, definitive version of events. Brown continues to act as if Meghan barged into Buckingham Palace and screamed “we need to change everything!” She did not. She wanted to get to work quickly because (I feel) she wanted to “prove her worth” to the institution. She wanted to help people and do good work and highlight important causes with the platform she was given. But she did try to learn the rules, she did try to work within the institution. “Meghan got angry so fast, and that’s what’s rocked the family…” More like Meghan, a grown woman, understood that she was being manipulated, gaslighted, smeared, racially abused and controlled and she wanted to GTFO.
As for Kate… “she’s not a flighty young woman at all. She’s a serious woman… she was willing to wait for William and sort of built her life around him without being a doormat…” Is this Opposite Day? My God. Kate IS flighty. She is a lightweight. She is a doormat. This is all so strange.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle Duchess of Sussex at the annual Endeavour Fund Awards held at Mansion House in London. Harry and Meghan will celebrate the achievements of wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women who have taken part in remarkable sporting and adventure challenges over the last year. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 5 MARCH 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 9 MARCH 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reunited with Prince William and Kate Middleton for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 9 MARCH 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – HM Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by other members of the Royal Family as they attend the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 at Westminster Abbey in London. Pictured: Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 9 MARCH 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: JOHN RAINFORD / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – The Duchess of Sussex will celebrate her birthday on Aug. 4, and according to royal expert Katie Nicholl, she’s considering marking the occasion with a road trip — that could include Oprah Winfrey. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 3 AUGUST 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – The Duchess of Sussex will celebrate her birthday on Aug. 4, and according to royal expert Katie Nicholl, she’s considering marking the occasion with a road trip — that could include Oprah Winfrey. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 3 AUGUST 2020 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Oh look, the angry Black woman trope…
From House Incandescent Rage no less…
Yeah, I’m sure calm, stable, not-headstrong William was there to dissolve the situation quickly when Meghan had a screaming tantrum that she is known to do all the time. EYEROLL
Yup, Tina Brown is a racist. There has NEVER been a SHRED of proof of Meghan being angry or being a bully. This talk about needing to “handle” her is disgusting. She’s a professional who knows how to get shit done. Kate doing this “very, very slowly” means she has done NOTHING the past decade. The emperor wears no clothes. Also, ditto that there are multiple reports of Will’s incandescent rage and yet, they’re acting aloof as if they don’t know “what went wrong” with Meghan. Tina Brown is disgusting and her so-called book insults the public’s intelligence.
If ONLY he would’ve put his calming, wise white hands on that angry black woman’s back…alas, she didn’t let him. She was too flighty, stubborn, angry, insert another dog whistle for BLACK.
I’m glad those two Gtfo’d there.
It’s not just that trope. I’m a migrant but I am not black, however I get told off for being angry when I demand some explanations (office environment or a shop, it doesn’t matter) or – God forbid – I see something that is not fair/right and speak out.
Migrants in UK are told by the natives to shut up and take it (the good ole ‘know your place’) and we’re really perceived as angry and ungrateful when we raise issues.
So Meghan likely had that part, plus the racism of course.
And she was damned if she did, damned if she didn’t. She should have taken her time like Kate? If she’d done that, she’d have gotten the “Shiftless Negro” trope instead (which I say as a black woman).
As a non-Brit, WOC living in the UK, not sure this is angry black woman trope (or at least not all of it) but more angry foreign woman trope. Every time I attempt to make changes in our organization I am faced with resistance, including from other British WOC who tell me to learn my place first. I don’t think the Brits do change well and they definitely don’t want change from foreigners.
Meghan is a foreign woman of African-American descent. There’s no need to “well actually” an established racist trope Black women face, regardless of where we are in the West. There have been multiple studies on this, over several decades.
You’re basically saying it’s xenophobia, as if race plays no part in how the media and that family perceived Meghan. You can’t divorce how her race impacted her treatment.
@Bex, not to put words in @Onion’s mouth, but what I think they were trying to say is that, based on their own personal experience, it’s more the order of discrimination they’re questioning.
In America, her race would absolutely be Issue #1 and her immigrant status Issue #2. In the UK it appears to be the other way around. Both awful, both absolutely at play, but Brits seem to put being from somewhere else at the top of the list to hate.
It’s as fascinating as it is depressing, the way biases and discrimination shift and sway from one culture to the next: we hate this, they hate that – but we all hate something. The cycle never ends it seems.
The race was the main problem for them. Clamoring about her Americanness was the excuse.
I had a feeling Meghan would run into some obstacles bc the UK model of philanthropy is really old fashioned vs. the American model. In the US, non-profit orgs and foundations are run like businesses (i.e. project management, deliverables, accountability for where the money is going). It’s not just donations and ribbon cuttings.
I had hoped that Meghan and Harry, who already had Invictus and other projects, would be able to coordinate with the Family to avoid overlap, but otherwise show what you can do with a Royal title, money, and engaged media savvy leadership. Alas, no.
Bex, Onion is right – differently from the USA xenophobia and racism in UK aren’t mutually exclusive, often they go hand in hand. So poor Meghan suffered both. The nativism issue also goes hand in hand with white supremacism, of course.
I’m a white woman who once lived in the USA and nowhere I felt the huge hostility that I had to stand in England since I moved here a decade ago (from Scotland, biggest mistake ever!).
I was attacked and threatened after the Brexit referendum, police did nothing. I’ve also naturalised as a British citizen years ago so that has nothing to do with nationality, they hear your foreign accent and immediately identify you as non-UK born.
Someone who never lived here cannot really understand.
I’m glad H&M made the decision to leave this God-forsaken island.
Onion and Terra,
This is happening in my province in Canada. It’s always been a thing but has flared up during the housing crisis where those from out of province are blamed for inflating house and rental prices to an unaffordable level, and making an overburdened healthcare system worse. And yes, they are sometimes offended by newcomers wanting to change things, which I have some sympathy for.
Yep so messed up a black woman has to deal with this. They continue to change the narrative around what happened to Meghan because they know what they did. All of them.
I recently been called “angry lady “ by a well known designer ( I am one , albeit not famous) anyhow , that really shocked me to my core and still processing that. I work for that brand and feel that now I have to adjust my entire being to not be known as the angry lady. I am a black European woman by the way. It’s so damn exhausting , they ask us to be our authentic self to then ask us to just be 50% of that. Can’t wait for the day I start my own business.
“Angry” is a word racists use to demean and silence Black women who speak up about oppression and cruelty.
I’m a little surprised (not really of course) that Tina Brown isn’t saying anything about the palace refusing Meghan’s request for mental health treatment when she was literally suicidal, while pregnant. Like how is that not a HUGE issue, perhaps the most important of all??? It’s her life! Have they learned nothing from Diana (one asks for the umpteenth time)?
It really makes it seem like the palace and Tina don’t care about Meghan’s LIFE.
The Palace Papers was well titled as it was clearly written from the perspective of the palace. Not from the perspective of an investigative journalist interested in truth “without fear or favor.”
It’s pretty clear at this point that TB is dismissing Meghan’s words and feelings while creating a caricature of Meghan based on racist tropes. The Meghan in TB’s mind does not exist in real life but serves to affirm Brown’s racist worldview. The real Meghan is standing right there but TB will never allow herself to see her which is really effing sad.
I wonder if a lot of it is simply the fact that the Sussexes refused to speak to her (and I assume told trusted friends not to as well), and it might have been different if both Meghan and Harry had actually given Tina some time and told her their side of the story? I’m not advocating for it one way or another, just wondering if that’s why it’s so one-sided.
ETA I would never even suggest this if it was Piers Morgan or a ROTA reporter or someone like Angela Levin or Lady Colin Campbell; they already hate her and cutting off access is best. But Tina Brown has a better reputation, and it seems as if they were going to talk to anyone for a book, she’d be the most likely one.
@Lorelei – this woman is supposed to have been a journalist. If she was disappointed in not being able to get interviews, she had an obvious alternative – do some independent research (there’s lots of material out there), engage her logical brain, and objectively analyze what she found. I mean, doesn’t she wonder about any of the things that H&M actually said in the Oprah interview, why that was their perspective? Start there. That she chose instead to write a florid, clearly biased, possibly vindictive book worthy of the worst of Dan Wooten et al., hints there was always an agenda there, and anyone who refused to talk to her was right not to.
TB’s past reputation may have gotten her play in the press and on the morning shows, but IMO she’s really damaged that reputation with this garbage.
Lest we forget, Brown tried any number of these tropes on the Obamas. 🤮🤮🤮
It’s such typical misogynoir, and overlooks the fact that had Meghan actually been angry, she had a right to be so and b) Meghan was more bewildered and hurt than anything else, her hideous treatment and lack of support all the more glaring because even the House of Commons went on record about something as risible as Kate’s wiglets.
What a idiot, OMG. Harry didn’t get angry at all over how Meghan was being treated though, right Tina? Not at all. This is all Meghan’s fault. Sure. Go have a beer with Thomas Markle, it’s about your speed. #TinaBrownisaliar
You know what is even more gross? That the fact that Meghan was suicidal is just swept under the carpet and they make it seem like she’s some lady who has a temper tantrum.
Yes, totally! Like it never happened.
I don’t think it’s swept under the carpet. I think they’re telling themselves that Meghan was lying. Even more disgusting to me
William sent J-Knife to court to prove Meghan was a liar and the royal rota turds gleefully dubbed her Princess Pinocchio. Never mind that Meghan’s emails showed that Knauf was misleading the court. Never mind that the judge said that Knauf’s input was insubstantial and irrelevant. Branding Meghan as a liar is William’s only defense. And this is an example of what they can and will do to Kate if she doesn’t go quietly when asked.
They don’t mentioned her thinking about suicide because that doesn’t fit with the “cunning wench” caricature they have created for Meghan. Again, the racists don’t see us as people with feelings. I’m sure if the story was put out that Keen was driven to thinking of taking her life because of the hounding by the press, no one would disbelieve her and it would be all sympathy and flowers.
@Eurydice THIS! They’ve called Meghan a psychopath and a liar. They have convinced themselves of their righteousness by choosing to believe she made up the story about being suicidal.
They’re following in PM’s footsteps.
Well, with all the garbage that nasty old heffa has spewn thus far, is any surprise that she would pull out the old “angry black woman?” Man, Tina Brown is a walking cliche of a racist white woman. What’s she going to do next? Call the police on Meghan? Should we start calling her Miss Anne?
This book is truly propaganda.
For the most part TB’s book is a total turdburger, but there are a few truth nuggets/burns:
– The BRF isn’t used to a “hard-driving executive kind of woman” – so much for “Top CEO” Kate
– “They do things in their own traditional way, which is extremely frustrating, I think, to anyone who has had a career, and a good one.” Good thing Kate DIDN’T have a career at all to speak of. Good thing she was such a blank slate. See also: doormat.
Agree with both these points. Both reflect *very* poorly on the RF.
Yes, good points. They are admitting the royal family is filled with people who are *nothing.* They don’t know how to handle a hard-working, successful, intelligent person because they’ve never seen one before. And they won’t welcome a hard-working, successful, intelligent person, because she’ll make them all look bad in comparison.
Totally agree. Like so many other author’s of Meghan’s story, these folks chose to write propaganda to suit the Firm’s narrative they wish to promote. However, what they fail to realize Meghan is defining her life daily as she has always done. Those who know and support her know the truth. The Folks who chose to believe this will. Tina Brown as far as I have read from the exerts here is an angry woman. Angry because the Sussexes did not engage with her and angry because Meghan’s self worth trumped living in the shadows of an institution that is long pass it’s expiration date. Try as these folks might, this narrative she is presenting will fail because it is not truth. The Cambridge’s will continue to fail because they are not bright people and their existence as royals depends on the Tina Brown’s of the world propping them up
I’ll say it’s propaganda. The terms T. Brown used to describe Meghan: “Came out guns blazing” and “hard-driving executive kind of woman.” Gee, she makes Meghan sound like the Tasmanian Devil; while the palace was simply described as “traditional” when Brown is trying to apportion blame to each side about what they each did wrong. That’s it? They were “traditional”? Her bias is showing.
Also, British Tina Brown doesn’t get to dictate tastes and preferences in America. I don’t care where she’s worked. She can say whatever she wants about the English, she’s theirs and they don’t seem to mind that type of thinking, but she doesn’t get to claim how Americans feel about royalty. Apparently, these people still don’t get that they’re not a world power. They act like Russia in some ways.
Yeah, how dare Meghan try and use her platform as a royal to do some good?!
Debbie, she doesn’t get to dictate tastes and preferences for Britons, either. This woman does not speak for me or anyone like me.
I totally agree. What sets propaganda apart from general bs is that it has a clear goal. The agenda with this book is to discredit what was said in the Oprah interview, embiggen Kate + the institution, and simply smear Meghan some more. Those goals all together are meant to help strengthen the monarchy. It’s such a hatchet job.
And I agree with Debbie – these people should apply for jobs with Russian state media.
William, Charles, Kate, the courtiers and the royal rota are so much in a hurry to prop up Tina Brown as their propagandist because of the positive exposure and goodwill the Sussexes had in the Invictus Games. They had to immediately kill the good PR the Sussexes received from the Games.
Yes let’s push the “angry black woman” narrative because that’s never been done before and it definitely is very much not racist 🙄
If memory serves me well, it was Kate who displayed signs of anger in church and that other time William pretended to play with his scarf. Racist people do love some revisionist history.
Don’t you forget, they are “very much not a racist family”.
it’s opposite day. that is the only explanation. Kate is underqualified to be a diplomat, so is William. Literally we just saw again Meghan and Harry be great diplomats, and Kate and William prove they are not up to the task.
And the idea they keep yelling about, that the british public loved Meghan in the beginning and then it is her fault they turned on her – that is the most BS. There were some good articles around the wedding, but that was at the same time the British press/kensington palace was putting her dad constantly in the papers to embarrass and hurt Meghan. and then once they saw what a great job she was doing, they doubled down and spread the stupid rumors about the tiara, and kate crying, and the cost of the house (all lies), just to shape the narrative that meghan was the problem. it is all lies.
I actually do think it’s true that the majority of the British public loved Meghan in the beginning. I also think that the RF saw that and said, omg not another Diana and then proceeded to brief hard against her at every opportunity. The RR then picked up their marching orders and ran. Working as hard as possible to turn the public against Meghan and succeeding.
It doesn’t get mentioned enough but Meghan’s lawyers figured out that between 2019-2020 alone, there were over 250,000 negative articles about Meghan. That’s ONE year and not even including TV, radio, and social media. Think about the enormity of that smear campaign.
Yes. I’m so disappointed that Tina Brown, whose entire adult life has been immersed in just this sort of media, doesn’t seem to have even mentioned the smear campaign in her 500+ page book. She has the contacts and the clout to do a fascinating exploration of how and why that happened, and she chose not to. It’s bewildering.
(Caveat: I haven’t read the book, only excerpts and recent interviews.)
Clearly KP and the Midds spoke to TB at length but also TB really seems like a deranger, she believes the crap she’s saying. She’s a racist royalist and misogynist.
@Lionel, me too, and I just commented above that it might have been different if the Sussexes had given her some access? It’s harder for her to get the whole picture if Thomas and Samantha are the only ones willing to talk. I don’t know; for all I know, it might not have made a difference at all if she had an agenda from that beginning, but that was never my impression of her — but I think that giving her zero access ensured that their side couldn’t be represented in this book. And I agree with you that Tina *was* probably interested in the scope of the smear campaign (I’m sure she read Caity Weaver’s piece in the NYT, and some of Buzzfeed’s coverage) but again, if she’s only hearing the palace’s side of it because the Sussexes refuse to participate…I don’t know. It’s just really disappointing and I feel sorry for Meghan and Harry for having to deal with this crap again.
Lorelei, It’s certainly possible to write a carefully researched, as-balanced-as-possible book, pointing out what’s missing — without resorting to racist tropes, biased and racist framing, and clearly biased assumptions that are then “confirmed”.
In this case, TB has written a 600 page book about recent events in the BRF. It really defies both credibility and journalistic integrity to imagine anyone writing about Meghan without including some critical assessment of the racism that she faced in the press, in the media, and within the BRF — and she would not have needed “some access” or indeed, any access to the Sussexes to do that.
tldr: Most biographies are written without “access”. Racist bullies are going to racist bully. As Meghan said, she expected things to be “fair”. This mess isn’t “fair” and wasn’t intended to be.
$22 for lies and slander I can read for free on the gossip sites if I so choose to? Thanks but no thanks. Go try and peddle your brown stuff somewhere else Ms. Brown. Disgusting Byotch.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the non-stop negative articles about her not to mention all the commentators giving their not-kind opinions. The wedding was well received but then it went right back to the negative stories.
I can promise you that all of the people who are regulars on this site are not forgetting anything.
Oh, the angry black woman stereotype? How original (eyeroll)
If I were suddenly given the ability to raise awareness on a global scale to causes that I felt deserved spotlight, I would also hit the ground running. If I were told I would have people who would help me facilitate that, I would expect them to help me do so.
She did understand heirarchy; she worked in Hollywood, and in an ensemble cast for 7 years ffs. She has no problems with that.
UGH they are purposefully misunderstanding what the issues were. Also LOL at once again Kate being infantalised. She was so slow to enter that I still don’t think she’s entered? What has she actually done besides let a bunch of her patronages close & fumble basic jobs?
The Kate stuff is absolute hysteria. SHE HAS A DEGREE IN ART HISTORY. SHES VERY SERIOUS.
ok. Well if she is so serious, why didn’t she LIVE AND WORK during the ten years before W proposed instead of just going to clubs, dangling after him and NOT USING HER VERY SERIOUS DEGREE*
*I personally do not think Kate’s degree is serious but if that’s the narrative being spun, it doesn’t make a bit of sense since she didn’t do anything with it.
The Meghan stuff is just pathetic spin to try and turn the issue back to a grown woman, who’d worked her entire adult life (as well as always being earnest as far as I can tell), and make her the one in the wrong for the crime of: wanting to do the actual job. Let’s not pretend that if W/K had ever actually committed to doing the damn job, this would not have been a revelation to the palace staff AND no one would have felt the need to slow her down. The real issue with Meghan being ready to work is it made the lazy Cambridges look bad.
Art history degree, huh? So she knew exactly the history and connotation of the painting they had up when the Obamas visited. Fuck off, Kkkhate.
Now, now, let’s be fair. She knew enough to have a plant put in front to block the name of the painting visible on the title plate. (/s)
The worth of her degree isn’t really the issue. I have a UK friend who has a trade school certificate in welding and he’s a million times more intelligent, curious and aware of others’ points of view than Kate has ever shown herself to be.
I have real degrees, one of which is in Art History, which I did for love of the subject. Kate’s degree may not be serious, but mine is. The woman is a dilettante. If she had taken the classes seriously, she would be able to speak, or at minimum, translate French or German. She would been taught the use of philosophical and literary theory. She would know something about history and post colonial studies. It’s an interdisciplinary degree. Even if she didn’t use it in the field, she would be able to speak, since she would have had to present and defend her thesis.
@TEALIEF – Well, sure. But as the old joke goes – What do you call the guy who was last in his class at med school? – Doctor.
My point is that it doesn’t matter what Kate’s major was at university. Kate herself is an incurious and lazy person – she would do the least amount of work and end up equally ignorant whether she studied literature or history or business or pick any other subject. I’d say that her goal wasn’t to learn, but to acquire a necessary piece of paper on the way to getting a PhD in William Studies.
Yeah Bitsy wasnt running down art history degrees in general. She was calling Kate’s degree not serious, because she did not take it seriously and it was clear that Kate picked a major that she thought would be good for the FFQC.
@Tealief. She obviously did not pay attention to her studies. When visiting an exhibition of Faberge Eggs, didn’t she ask if they were still making them? Yeah, she really is the best of the best TOB could find, because no else wanted his crazy vindictive ass.
“Kate, who’s from a middle-class family, not an exalted pedigree in any way”
I’m no fan of Kate but that’s such a gross way to talk about a woman. If people feel comfortable talking like this publicly, I can’t even imagine what they say about in private….
Yup, imagine the unfiltered comments behind closed doors where they feel safe.
This is why the concept of “royalty” makes no sense to me in a modern age. I’m from the US, however, so don’t have any nostalgia or attachments of any kind to this institution.
We can take away the titles but aristocratic snobbery will remain. The main difference in the US is that once anointed with wealth people no longer obsess over your upper middle class origins. You’ve joined the club.
Yeah, I am with you. This is so gross, Tina Brown is disgusting.
Brown has seen the fierce loyalty to Meghan on SM and she’s afraid it will hurt book sales. I also think the announcement of the Markle-stein Monster’s plans to crash the Jubilee is damaging her credibility too. How is this book doing on the NYT Best Sellers’ list? That’s the clue.
The sheer fact that she sympathizes with TM discredits her book, imo. I mean there are other reasons but everyone can see how TM is terrorizing and threatening his daughter and yet she’s giving him air and credence? History will show this book to be an example of the racist treatment of Meghan. TB’s book is just adding evidence.
Please do *not* use -Stein perjoratively. As a Jewish woman, I find this very offensive. There are many people whose names end in -Stein who are not monsters.
So much to unpack here. First off, the notion that Kate’s art history degree makes her some sort of accomplished, brilliant scholar. It’s not rocket science. It’s art history. No offense, but it isn’t the most rigorous major she could have chosen, but it is perfect for someone who is looking for a career as a wife of an aristocrat at minimum. Second, she does actually note that the Palace is a nasty place and refers to Meghan as a successful executive woman. I do think that was a lot of it. Meghan was successful already. She didn’t need the monarchy. She loved her Prince. I’m guessing she would have made the decision to commit herself 110% to her role, which likely scared the knickers off of the Keens and the men in gray.
Agree 100%. TB notes the ‘minefields’ of working within the Firm. Even she can’t play off that maybe powers that be inside don’t anyone succeeding or superseding those in line to the throne. So pathetic. This whole institution needs to just go down.
lol rude… I have an Art History degree. Not saying I’m a genius, but TBH it was a lot more difficult than my International Relations degree!
Same here. Bio and Art History. Art History was harder, I said so above.
Tina missed an entire angle of this story: How William worked against his own brother in the press. The leaking of Meghan’s precarious mental state, adding to the press pile-on with the Flybe jet stunt, the leaking of the Meghan made Kate cry story, the bullying accusation from KP being released to smear Meghan before the Oprah interview. And even though it probably happened after her manuscript was turned in, the extraordinary action of Jason Knauf going to court as a defense witness for the Fail. Still, Tina is ignoring all that in her present day comments.
But sure, Harry and Meghan were angry about not getting to be King and Queen one day, and left in a huff because it wasn’t as Hollywood as Meghan expected.
#TinaBrownisaliar
@kellybelle please don’t start any hashtags on social media because it only gives her engagement which she needs to sell books.
Why do you think Piers asked trump on his first show about Meghan and a Harry?!!
They use them for clicks and engagement. They use anger/outrage whatever to sell their trash.
William is not next in line and Tina is already worried the Sussexes will ruin his realm? Charles is next in line. He may live as long as Elizabeth has.
Charles must really hate Wiil’s big rush to become king.
I listened to another long Tina Brown interview on The Sway podcast (a podcast by an often Silicon Valley focused interviewer)
Tina Brown was ridiculous and contradictory. She flat out said at one point that Harry is incredibly stupid (something like he never cracks a book).
Kara Swisher the interviewer – who apparently has not spent much time on the royal family – just let Tina roll with it but she did get a few zingers in (she called Kate an old fogey) and she also asked about Andrew which Tina Brown discussed. According to Kara, Andrew was often in Silicon Valley with his hand out..
When Kara asked whether Meghan faced racism, Tina Brown basically said that the palace is largely white .. she wouldn’t answer the question.
I read the transcript to The Sway podcast. It was incredibly offensive how both Brown and Swisher dissed Meghan as being disingenuous for saying she did not Google Harry before getting involved with the royal family. As if googling Prince Harry was the equivalent of looking into a crystal ball and completely and totally predictive of the smearing, racist, anti-American, anti-work, anti-everything she does sentiments that were piled on Meghan every single day by a media system the likes of which no American really has a concept of until they are in its crosshairs.
And, ignoring that Meghan said that Harry was the one telling her what she would be getting into. Meghan was getting the lowdown straight from someone inside the Firm, but it was her fault because Google is better y’all. Trash.
@Harper, this infuriates me. The story is not at all complete without getting into how THE PALACE was behind a lot of the smear campaign. And she wouldn’t necessarily have had to burn all of her palace connections, because KP was really the one working hand in glove with the Mail and with Wooton; Jason’s actions are proof of that. She could have put it all on KP and acted as if the saintly Queen was blameless.
Meghan wasn’t and isn’t angry, she was disappointed. Harry and Meghan aren’t going to cause the downfall of the monarchy. The royals themselves are, all this pressure mounting on William is going to reach a boiling point and he will act out. All harry wants to do is to be left alone, with the briefings stopped. Tina is putting all her eggs in the wrong basket and it’s going to be absolutely glorious when it cracks
Em, I keep wondering exactly what they’re afraid will be disclosed that they go so hard at trying to undermine Meghan’s and Harry’s credibility. They clearly don’t want anyone to believe anything Harry will say in his book–idiots, it’s a memoir. They need to get a clue. I don’t think that Harry has any intention of burning anything down. Having said that, I do think if they push Harry too hard he will come out with guns blazing. He will protect his wife and kids, and they would do well to remember that.
I think there’s a whole laundry list of things they don’t want disclosed:
1. Who made the comment about Archie’s skin colour (we all know it was Wm)
2. Why their foundation was split in two (because Wm was playing musical chairs with the monies that the Sussexes brought in)
3. The way the Grey Men/Firm basically locked Meghan up — she had her passport and car keys taken away, wasn’t allowed to go out to lunch with friends, she was a veritable prisoner
4. The way the BRF looked the other way when all the serious Meghan-bashing by the tabloids started, even a cartoon showing Archie as a chimpanzee
5. The leaking, lies and back-stabbing coming from all sides — CH, KP, BP, the Midds, all piled up on her at once to the point where she was suicidal
6. The precarious state of the Cambridges’ marriage what with Wm’s uncontrollable temper and wandering peen
One of these days, after TQ has shuffled off this mortal coil, the tide will turn against the Cambridges (actually it’s already started in a covert sort of way). The more stuff that gets dropped the more the Sussexes will have the ammunition to say…”Well, yes actually. This is exactly what happened and one of the reasons why working on behalf of the BRF became untenable.” Until then they’ll just keep on keeping on doing their good works and enjoying their well-deserved life together.
@Jaded, ITA. I just wish the tide would turn a bit faster! But I agree that as more of William’s poor behavior is revealed, it will become evident that he was working against the Sussexes.
Jaded, thanks, that’s a long laundry list of actions they must be afraid will ultimately come out. Do you think Ma Mids deeds will also be aired? I would love that.
And here we go with the angry black woman trope that sells so well to the white supremacists.
Who is she trying to convince about Kate? Herself? Her reading public? Kate was lazy, not smart, to wait 310 million years to start doing any work to earn her keep
And though we all wish Harry would burn it all down, he won’t burn it all down, he’ll lob some Molotov cocktails but he won’t go full nuclear. But I love how they’re all working themselves into frothy lather believing he will, trembling in fear about a memoir.
I agree with Kaiser on Meghan wanted to hit the ground running and to prove herself. My friend always says that the Black community KNOWS they have to work extra hard and prove themselves because of the scrutiny and racism that exists.
Also, a hand gesture to the comment Meghan got angry quickly. The poor woman was tormented and no safety net was provided. ALL WHILE HAVING A BABY. Postpartum is real and they ADDDED to the problems. Knowing full well the issues Diana had. They can all take a flying leap.
Also, she’s not lazy. What was she going to do, sit around for 10 years and “learn the ropes” so she could be ready to “come into her own”? Oh, wait…..
Meghan was busy as a new royal but its not like she was trying to recreate the Firm from within. she was working behind the scenes with the cookbook and doing typical royal engagements – but she really didn’t come in “guns blazing” like Tina said. It’s not her fault that every time she made an appearance she was charismatic and popular and people responded well to her and it got lots of press attention. she didn’t start out doing 30 appearances a week or demanding that the royal foundation be completely reorganized or barging in on the Queen and demanding jewelry or anything else. Do people think that a woman who hesitated over whether she should get into a car before or after the Queen came in “guns blazing” to the Firm?
she just started off working more than Kate, which makes sense bc she was older, wasn’t lazy, and had an established philanthropic history – she knew what she wanted to do and how to do it. Those aren’t negatives.
You’re making me think that not only did Wiillnot and Cannot want to siphon off the proceeds from the Together cookbook, I’ll bet, when Meghan came up with the idea, they expected and asked her to let Khate do it instead, and Meghan balked. They’d never forgive that. They were so used to others barely doing anything and letting Khate sign her name to it, that when Meghan declined, Wills went off like a supernova, dying star that he is.
How conveniently they forget Can’t and Won’t’s engagement interview where they said she was the “most prepared” woman to enter the family, and that she was “ready AND EAGER to “hit the ground running””. Then they holed up in Wales for 2 yrs, then Anglesey, for Won’t to spend more years dodging full time work (playing CO-pilot, as he couldn’t/wouldn’t accrue the hours/training needed to be a FT pilot).
Just more revisionist history. They truly seem to forget that the internet NEVER forgets, and no matter how hard they scrub, someone, somewhere, has screenshot receipts.
@Seraphina, I know, it’s like, please define “quickly.” Meghan came in ready to work and everyone knew it from their engagement interview. She kept calm and serene even as her father was making her life hell behind the scenes in the run up to the wedding. After the wedding, she immediately appeared at a BP garden party for Chuck, followed by the cookbook and the SmartWorks initiative. She went on every engagement she and Harry were asked to do (and came away more popular after each one, proving she was doing an excellent job representing the Queen), she clearly showed her respect for the Queen, and she took her patronages seriously. She and Harry had an amazingly successful tour just as they announced her pregnancy.
It was then that the smear campaign really ramped up — and she had every right to be “angry” at the lies being told about her every day in the press with no way to respond. Meghan didn’t do anything “quickly,” imo. She was SILENT from 2016 on, all the way up until she made that one comment to Tom Bradby.
But if Kate waiting around for ten years doing fuck all is the gold standard for these people, then I guess it’s impossible to have a rational conversation about the facts.
Tina rhapsodizes about how “perfect” Kate is but makes her sound inadequate and inarticulate and blames Meghan for it. Kate had plenty of opportunities to improve her speech and learn something, but apparently did not.
I think if Tina’s was the only narrative and voice long term I would also be more concerned about her version of events sticking. She may be it for now but the news cycle moves fast.
Even trumps little dig overshadowed her press stuff.
Another problem for Tina is that Harry has his book coming out which will get global attention far above her few minutes of fame..she will be a distant memory.
Her book is also a part of another series of books that have been popping out since Meghan and Harry met.
It all just gets lost in the shuffle.
Eventually I hope Meghan writes her own book but I don’t see her doing it anytime soon.
Overall Harry and Meghan just living their life, making a difference, and creating projects will do more talking than these books.
What’s getting me is that nothing in this book has seemed very new or revealing. It’s like oh another hit book on Meghan, yawn. The person who writes the book that actually delves into the smear campaign and the treatment of courtiers and family members towards Meghan will make a splash. This is just more of the same.
I really hope this book tanks and the publisher looses money for printing this trash.
If I can’t pirate it, I won’t bother.
The harder they argue Kate is SOOOO important and holding it all together makes more obvious that’s not true. Same re: all of their arguments. The constant commentary of how the Charles and Will and Kate are saviors is just…..becoming pathetic. It’s coming off as sad and desperate. Maybe they should DO something rather than just fill the news with how great they are. SHOW it. This is the difference between the royals and Harry and Meghan. They have some sound bites, yes, but they are showing the world that they’re personable and caring and genuine when they do stuff. William and Kate come off as so above it and distant. They’re putting the nails in their own coffins day by day.
Tina Brown is a repulsive racist creature.
Ah, I was wondering when Kate’s middle-class roots would pop up.
Poor RF, they had no idea why Meghan was upset, not even when she asked for help and they refused.
The palace may be frantically shredding docs showing Meg and Harry beseeching then for help, but they are apparently too stupid to realize that M&H KEEP THE RECEIPTS! They SAVED the correspondence to release if need be, whenever they want to.
Again, once Lizzie is gone, the gloves may come off if/when the need arises.
They did the interview (as Meghan said) because 1 year after they left, the family and firm were still leaking to the press about them.
It’s especially disturbing because Tina Brown’s name carries a lot of weight. People will read this book and trust her analysis. I don’t understand why she’s doing this, though. Did she feel snubbed by Meghan? Did she expect Meghan coming in from the entertainment world to seek her counsel and when she didn’t this is the result?
I don’t think her name Carries much weight anymore and I don’t think ppl will be as interested in this book as Prince Harry’s memoir. Ultimately Meghan left two years ago, so it doesn’t really matter anymore
@BettyRose, I don’t think she would have expected Meghan to seek her counsel (and if she did, she’s certifiably insane!) — but I do think she probably expected some level of cooperation from the Sussexes for the book, because as you said, her name carries more weight than, for example, Jobson or Angela Levin— and they gave her nothing. But who knows how much of a difference it would have made even if they did give her access.
And she even blames Meghan exclusively for the breakup of her first marriage because she believed the account of a “friend” of Meghan’s.
Bettyrose – I don’t think Tina B’s name carries a lot of weight. The L.A. Times review places her firmly in the palace-press industrial complex with former Tatler and royalty-heavy Vanity Fair stints. NYT says the institution she’s taken on is Windsor press, rather than the monarchy. All reviewers give her Diana Chronicles credit where it’s due, but that’s about it. New book title appears to trade off more significant Papers (Pentagon, Panama, Paradise), but follows on the heels of very popular book, The Paper Palace.
I feared Duchess Meghan would stay in the BRF enduring bullshit because of her love for Prince Harry and the “first of the kind” situation. Praise to Duchess Meghan for leaving asap. She knows herself, and has her own agency.
How awful would it be to watch her shrink, become a smaller and smaller version of herself. I think the abuse would have ratcheted up even more, not less. the point was to make her leave by any means necessary, whether it be back to the US in disgrace or by taking her own life. The point was for her to leave, alone, so that Harry could marry the “right sort of woman” (white). There was no way for her to stay and survive. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone (Fergie, Anne, Camilla) told her privately that she never had a chance, and that she should leave before the family destroys her. That would have made Harry angry, and Meghan too. They would have (rightfully) seen that as an attempt to split them up. But I can’t believe that no one on the inside saw this coming. Whether or not they decided to say something to Meghan about it is another story
I think they never believed Harry would go. The BaRFs have experience getting rid of troublesome spouses but never has a blood family member left too. I don’t know of even any untitled family members who’ve really been able to make a name for themselves outside of the royal circle. But to move an ocean away without drowning or begging to come back? And to do such a great job too? Bring out the smelling salts!
@Ianne and @MsIam, Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry leaving the BRF and the UK is the first reason why I became their Fan. I jubilantly screaming F–k the BRF and raised both middle fingers to the BRF and rotas when the news broke. I felt such a relieve and tremendous joy for them choosing their lives and that of Archie as important.
The BRF, the firm and rotas are morons for thinking Prince Harry would stay without Duchess Meghan. The moment Prince Harry release his love-shield letter calling out the racist courage of Duchess Meghan I knew he was ready to war. My fear was more that Duchess Meghan in the name of love would acquiesce to the RF ways.
@Petra: “I feared Duchess Meghan would stay in the BRF enduring bullshit because of her love for Prince Harry and the ‘first of the kind’ situation. Praise to Duchess Meghan for leaving asap. She knows herself, and has her own agency.”
Meghan might be considered ‘first of kind’ in the modern day BRF, but she is NOT the first WOC in the BRF historically. Check out Queen Sofia Charlotte, wife of George III, and Philippa of Hainault, wife of King Edward III (BTW Meghan has direct line descent from Edward III and his wife, paternally). Too bad no one is interested in publicizing that truth. Plus, all humans are descended from dark-skinned people, period. Sorry, not sorry to break that fact to racists.
In addition, according to Omid, via M&H sourcing around the time of Sussexit, Meghan still wanted to try working w/in the royal institution, because she doesn’t give up easily. At the same time, she knew it was important to thrive, not just ‘survive’ strife and unpleasant attacks. Harry has said that it was ultimately his decision to leave in order to protect his family. Meghan acknowledged this too during the Oprah interview.
No wonder this trash book is not even in the top 10 on Amazon. Behind “The 14 Day New Keto Cleanse”.
Wow, that’s promising. Sounds like a real flop in the making. Does anyone under 40 even know who Tina Brown is? It sound like the palace went all in, hoping that this would become the definitive royal book on Meghan’s time in that hell hole, knocking Finding Freedom off of the podium. Well, it looks like it’s not working.
I had a look on Amazon UK and no idea how it’s actually doing but what did catch my eye is that someone has released a study guide to ‘interpret’ the book. Am I missing something? Will anyone be studying it? If you want insights into the book come here!
The book is not showing up anywhere on my Amazon recommendations. I’ve bought several British history books from Amazon (including one this past week) and I bought the Norman Baker book, the Nigel Cawthorne book on Andrew and Epstein, and Finding Freedom all from Amazon. I also talk about the royals a lot (we know Amazon is always listening, thanks Alexa.)
oh wait I just looked, on my amazon main page if I scroll to “books you may like” its in the fourth group of options. the FOURTH. Even the amazon algorithms know I’m not buying that book LOL.
Amazon tried to recommend me Lady Crypt Keeper’s book so that algorithm is whack, lol. But I’m willing to bet the Meghan and Harry fan base is bigger than the Tina Brown fan base and you know we ain’t buying her trash book.
Pure propaganda. Its telling that the monarchy needs so much propaganda to justify its existence. It’s really interesting to see history rewritten before your eyes. But these are the people who insist that Elizabeth has ‘served’ people in commonwealth countries soo…
William is a prudent, sober guy.. I mean even William’s mouthpieces talk about his hot temper. What in the fan fiction is this?
Is Tina saying that Kate is extraordinary because…she waited & trained to be William’s wife? That doesn’t sound like a very modern take especially as Kate has higher education & wasn’t she calling Kate modern? How was she NOT a doormat if her own part time work place said she had to have a schedule that would make her available for Bill? Also surely Tina can expand on what makes Kate a serious, substantial woman who we are lucky to have?
And compared to basically most royals, Meghan’ received no protection against press abuse. Betty made a statement for Sophie during sheikh gate, asked editors to leave Diana alone whilst pregnant, editors made a policy to ease up on Fergie whilst pregnant. Kate has rarely been criticised & when she has, there has been push back. She’s been allowed to pushed back on everything from Tatler to rumours of hair extensions. Meghan had none of that & was clearly fair game to the press. Even now the palace can’t even brief anonymously how it’s bad to ‘joke’ about her & Harry being pushed off a balcony. So can’t really compare Meghan’s experience.
Tina is ex Tatler. I’m sure her old colleagues could have told her about the nasty names & gossip staff at Kensington palace were leaking about Meghan if she wanted to know what went wrong. Plus how can the palace claim to be surprised about what went wrong- didn’t they leak to the press that Meghan was a bully & sociopath? I guess that doesn’t fit Tina’s angle though.
As for going down the angry black woman route – she’s despicable
@ABritGuest, notice she doesn’t seem to give any concrete, specific reasons or examples for her assertions that Kate is “substantial” or “extraordinary.” To prove she’s substantial, she would have had to have at least a few accomplishments to her name by now for Tina to highlight, but she has none. I guess that she’s catering to the people who think that Kate is the best thing since sliced bread simply because she’s a British, white, thin, silent mannequin, who always keeps a smile on her face for the cameras. And she provided the heir and the spare (I feel so gross even typing “spare”).
Kate putting her life on hold for William and not letting any work get in the way, IMO shows great insecurity on her part , not confidence. She would be afraid if she was at work and she had a pesky deadline, William would call someone else. Kate did nothing admirable. And if he were not a future King, she would have ditched him.
Harry and Meghan will continue to disrupt Charles and William’s reigns by……….existing. Sorry Tina, you picked the wrong side and wrote the wrong book. Harry’s book is coming out in the fall, Meghan’s podcast, Invictus 23. How long can the BaRFs and the tabloids pretend that Harry is still the drunk that played naked pool and therefore should be totally disregarded?
I’d be pretty quick tempered myself, plus very tired from trying to drag that entire family into current times.
Outdated. Their only use is to bring in the tourist trade. Oh, and to keep hiding Andrew.
Once Liz is gone, down with the Monarchy.
Hold on. Wait a garsh darn minute. “They’re not used to a formidable American, a hard-driving executive kind of woman.” But I thought KHATE was a top CEO—chief executive officer? How could they not be used to one, when they already had the other? /Celebitchiness
No, no. That’s next week. This week, Kate is “extraordinary” & definitely NOT a doormat for having an arrogant asshole expect her to “train” to be his wife for a decade. So next week, she’ll be a CEO, then the week after that, she’ll be finding her voice, which the poor dear keeps misplacing.
When I read that word “train” my first thought was “puppy” but then I thought “employee”. Not once did I think ” partner” or “wife”.
“…which the poor dear keeps misplacing” LOL
If you read between the lines of all the Tina Brown gaslighting (William is calm, Kate is the Mona Lisa, Harry is an IED, Meghan is an angry Black woman), you will see that Brown actually understands that without the Sussexes this royal ship will eventually go down faster than the Titanic. So she engages in all kinds of wishful thinking about Harry coming back (at least part time! He can commute!) And maybe even Meghan will come to her senses in this TB fever dream. She’s super emotionally invested in saving this corrupt institution.
LOL at the “He can commute!” Yeah its only 11 hours each way, piece of cake! Maybe Tina thinks Harry can do Zoom engagements for the future. Because he ain’t coming back. He’s not single Harry with no family any more, that’s over. He’s a married man with his own family. Plus I believe he’s more interested in furthering his own goals and agenda now, not those of the BaRFs.
I howled at the “commute” comment, as if he’s based in a suburb outside London. @Brassy, you’re right that it’s wishful thinking, and she clearly knows the monarchy needs the Sussexes star power. I will be laughing about the commute comment for a long time to come.
For the most part TB’s book is a total turdburger, but there are a few truth nuggets/burns:
The BRF isn’t used to a “hard-driving executive kind of woman” – so much for “Top CEO” Kate
“They do things in their own traditional way, which is extremely frustrating, I think, to anyone who has had a career, and a good one.” Good thing Kate DIDN’T have a career at all to speak of. Good thing she was such a blank slate. See also: doormat.
The more I read Tina Brown, the more I think she is more aligned with Camp Middleton, than House Cambridge…
EasternViolet, I do, too. It makes me wonder exactly what Keenless did to Meghan that they want to undermine her credibility. There’s always a lot of talk about Clueless and what his machinations behind the scenes were, but I think there’s a lot that Keenless did and Ma Mids is afraid it will come out.
I wonder if this is about Tina wanting to write THE book about Kate after she leaves the royal family so that’s why she’s coming across so strongly pro- Kate here?
The more I see this stuff the more I think about a comment that was made here a few weeks ago stating that what kate really said to Meghan had nothing to do with bridesmaids tights but that she told Meghan during one of these fittings that Harry would cheat on her too, which is an incredibly cruel thing to say. And also that Harry stepped in asking kate to apologize, so that’s why the flowers and note were sent.
Also this would have been around the same time that Tatler said the rose affair was revealed to Kate (or at least the seriousness of it) which would also explain why Meghan said kate was a “Good person “ in explaining the real story behind the crying.
@Becks, that is an excellent theory!
She’ll be in competition with Katie Nichol, but TB is better known in the US and the Cambridges seem to be obsessed with their popularity here, so Tina might win out.
ETA: @Nic, just saw your comment, and that makes a lot of sense. It definitely must have been about something more than tights for Meghan to go out of her way to say that Kate is a “good person” on Oprah. Meghan likely pities her.
I remember that comment and I do think it fits. Many of us speculated anyway that Kate was especially upset/angry at the dress fitting as a result of the cheating (maybe she found out it was still going on, maybe she found out it had never stopped, it was more serious than she thought, etc) but it makes sense for the comment she actually made to Meghan to be about Harry cheating. Especially if she was really upset in general and seeing Meghan happily plan her wedding was too much to her and she just lashed out – “what are you so happy about, he’s just going to cheat on you.” That would explain why Meghan protected her in the interview and why she was willing to forgive Kate – she understood the comment came from Kate’s sense of hurt and betrayal.
What this tells us though is that Kate does not accept the cheating, is not okay with it, and is really hurt by it. So it seems shes not okay with her bargain after all.
I was wondering when the “angry black woman” racist stereotype would be revealed, and voila! Here we are.
Meghan, who is beloved by pretty much all her co-workers, is an angry woman? Nope.
If Meghan was an angry woman, she wouldn’t have called Kate a good person, even after Kate let that crying story lie go unchecked.
These fools are lucky Meg is not an angry woman.
I am a little surprised that Tina Brown decided to shred what was left of her reputation.
She’s writing to a specific audience, of course, the monarchists and the racists.
We see you, Tina. The whole world sees you.
I know we don’t know any of these people, but my god if there’s someone in that family who gets angry easily is certainly not Meghan!
And honestly, anyone who thinks so is obviously being racist.
I’m fascinated by the rota/pro-BRF coverage because they can’t help telling the truth here & there. This is supposed to be a family business, essentially. Yet more than once, Brown describes it in terms of a war zone (IED, minefield–particularly interesting considering the anti-Diana stuff). Even the “snakes & ladders” comments covered on other posts suggest that the whole thing is, indeed, a pit of vipers.
There’s a cognitive dissonance that I’ve seen with many of these reporters. They want to prop up the institution, but at their core, they know it’s rotten.
I thought describing Harry, a combat veteran, as an IED was pretty gross.
And the angry Black woman trope is just disgusting.
I had the same reaction to the IED analogy, SUZIEQ. It’s especially gross given the fact he just hosted the Invictus Games for wounded veterans, some of whom suffered grievous wounds as the result of IED’s. She is tasteless and classless. Both Harry and Meghan are much better human beings than she will ever be.
Ok I’m just done with this. Her willful ignorance at this point just makes Brown look deliberately malicious and slanderous. It’s like she refused to pay attention to the real time news cycle when Meghan was there. Did she not send what the tabloids wrote or how the palace did nothing. Meghan never once came across as angry in public, instead she and Harry voted with their feet, and hired good lawyers. Brown is pissed and calls Meghan angry because Meghan pushing back and saying what happened to her embarrassed the royals and exposed how racist and petty they were. Her suing and winning against the tabloids humiliated Browns press colleagues. I kinda wish she’d be sued but at this point she doesn’t need any more attention. I’m glad Meghan bothers her so much. Stay underestimating and dismissing the Sussexes. See where that gets you. I hope everything Meghan does or presents gets under her thin pasty skin. Tina Brown is the one who has had her royal fairytale bubble burst by the mean “angry” Sussexes. Shes the one clinging to her passive princess fantasies and terrified of the possibility of a shrunken or non existent monarchy. She’s the one who sounds delusional and having an identity crises.
Tina’s definitely thrown her support towards the wrong side with this book of mendacious drivel. Her fawning over the Cambridges, esp. KKKhate, is sickening and she seems to be clinging to her fantasy of having a *special* insider relationship with the BRF. Tina is driven solely by white arrogance, an obsession with status, and thinking she inhabits a special world where every word she writes is brilliant. She’s nothing more than a hack editor whose 15 minutes of fame are long over and this book proves it.
They (BM) seem to think if you repeat the same lies enough it becomes the truth. Not so fast little minds… If Meghan had such a temper or attitude where is this history pre- royal days. For a woman who came in with a career there is no angry black woman nonsense. Kate was and is a blank slate ,but yet the Commonwealth service and a visit with a class asking about Meghan ,show a nasty b*tch for all to see. Where is the evidence of Meghan’s anger? All we hear is an oft repeated lie.
So it that Tina did not discuss Meghan’s mental health at all in this book? Because, I think it is a vital part of the story that is constantly ignored but has parallels with Diana’s experience as a Royal. If she didn’t examine this part of the story, she has written an incomplete book.
Tina Brown said in 2019, before Archie was born, that ALL royal wives find it difficult., Describes BP, KP and CH courtiers as: “awful, snakey, hissing, vipering, gossiping”. Says the press don’t like H & W having agency, and feel like they own “ the boys”. And now – Meghan was the angry one. 🤦🏾♀️
Why is any American media outlet giving Tina a platform?! So frustrating. My dream would be that once the queen dies, Harry comes out and spills the tea, names names, and gives really specific examples of all the awful things his family did to him and Meghan. Burn it all down to the ground.
Tina Brown has really drunk the Kool-Aid.
Tina Brown will turn on the Cambridges (at least Kate) when it’s expedient to do so… She is selling books, no more.
No she won’t. This isn’t about money, it’s about race. If she wanted a smash seller, then she would have written what really went down and told the truth about what Meghan and Harry experienced. She didn’t do that. This is about her trying to hold the line for what’s essentially the last bastion of white supremacy. She’s so invested that she’s chosen to completely tear to shreds her own professional reputation, what’s left of it at least. She’s Angela Levin crazy because they’re both in the trenches for this one-sided race war.
I cannot with the embiggening of William the Saint of England. Like, “brilliant”? Really?!
He is — very obviously — a mediocre and ordinary man, maybe a bit more bitter and more tightly wound and angrier than average, with no gifts of public speaking, military leadership, or international diplomacy.
National headship and monarchy through primogeniture is a beyond absurd system, deeply oppressive and anti-democratic, and it is obviously not based on inherent merit.
I cannot.
This is so pathetically slavish. It’s outright lying and bootlicking.
Has Tina Brown forgotten when she was the brash young foreigner who came in, guns blazing, to take over the New Yorker?
Meghan was way more careful and modulated than Ms. Brown was at the age.
Okay Tina, Kate is not a doormat but yet she lived for Willy and his wandering preen for 10 years with no complaints. Yes nothing screams not a doormat to me than a 10 year waiting woman
Seems to be a book written by a viper and printed with venom ink!
“Stenographer to Power”
Beautiful turn of phrase and so perfect for Tina Brown and others.
So Kate the best-educated woman in the RF needed 10 years to prepare to marry into the family and then needed 10 years to acclimate to the family and do royal “work”? And PC, the hardest-working royal and one who has actually established several foundations that make a difference in the world is less qualified to be leading the monarchy than W&K? Who published this book and what moron proof-read it? The author should be embarrassed, the publisher should be mortified and the editor should be in hiding.
Kate ISN’T the best educated. Meghan is!
A degree in international studies from Northwestern is certainly above art history from St. Andrews.
Now and at the time she married in Kate was the only “working” RF female with a university degree. The remark was meant sarcastically towards Brown’s take on the issue of “perfect Kate” anyway. If you are counting all of them Bea’s history degree and Eugenie’s degrees in art history, English lit and politics is more impressive than Kate also.
Kaiser, thank you so much for checking this propagandist BS at every turn. TB is a hack. I will not click on tabloids. And, of course, will not be buying this trash, lol.
Here we go with the “angry black woman” narrative. Sigh. It’s exhausting.
Kaiser, you’re doing yeoman’s work. I can’t with this book. It’s so much garbage. It would have been great if Meghan had gone off on those crusty, racist people, but she didn’t. She was humble and conciliatory almost to her own detriment. She tried to fit in. They wouldn’t let her. They then used their considerable power and connections to continuously beat her down. The woman almost killed herself and these people still won’t let up on her.
What a total and complete hack Tina Brown has turned out to be. It boggles the mind she was ever hired as the editor of the New Yorker. The old guard at the magazine were right about her. Go count your money Tina, you’ve earned it.
Meghan is peaceful under a tree and William walks everywhere with his tiny dictator fists clenched angrily…but sure, ignore reality and lean into the Angry Black Woman trope. TB is broadcasting her racism, loud and clear.
A Squaddie said it best on Twitter when talking about Edward’s wife. I’m posting @JoDivaRunner words here since I know rotas stalk this page.
@JoDivaRunner is a truth teller! “Sorry! No women with self worth, would stay around and be abused by her husband’s, family, employees or media hounds. Periodt! Moreover, no man who really loves her would expect her to!”
Tina Brown get your heads out of BRF a-hole.
I’ll gave TB credit for this: Her descriptions of W&K are hilarious. Completely wrong, but hilarious, even if unintentionally.
She should market this book as a parody of royal reporting. It’s got it all: a*s-kissing, praise as a reward for access, purple prose and shallow, wrongheaded analysis.
This really annoys me. Whenever we’re not totally compliant or willing to put up with someone walking all over us while smiling, whenever we put down a boundary , we have an attitude or we’re angry.
The only one that was angry and still is , is William. And his wife when they saw that Meghan wasn’t impressed with their poor work ethic and lack of charisma .
Tina brown is another Karen
There’s some real intellectual dishonesty at play here by Tina Brown.
Imagine a scenario where Meghan had taken the “Kate route” after marriage ie, doing nothing, nesting, birthing babies, doing more nothing….
I think we can all fill in the blanks of what would have been said and reported about her and “lazy freeloader” would have been amongst the most complimentary. She was damned either way, at least she has a great work track record to show for her time on Salt Isle, whether the media wants to respect that or not.
@Lorelei
Um…no. Thats not it. I:e TinaBrownIsARacistLiar didnt write this anti-H&M book just because H&M didnt give her the time of day. As one reviewer said, the book, like the RF, is dull and boring until it begins to talk about H&M.
First of all, the agenda of the book is clearly that TinaBrownIsARacistLiar wanted to use her last vestige of any remaining name recognition she might have, to try to re-conceal those bits of the nasty underbelly of the RFamily and RFirm that were revealed to the world by the treatment of M in particular and by extension, H; and secondly, in order to do that, she had to travel the tired old T R A D I T I O N A L route of embiggening the good-for-nothing lazy white royals and disparaging the black excellence that showed them up for the wasted, grifting, welfare-layabouts that they all are.
Of course, because H is M’s steadfast, loving, loyal and protective husband, he has been duly dubbed a “race traitor” by racist brits so of course, TinaBrownIsARacistLiar leans into that in her book.
And lastly, why would H&M talk to ANYONE who wants to write a book about them, when they are perfectly capable of telling their own story and will be doing so in due course.
Meghan understood the assignment as soon as she and Harry realized there was something between them to go after. She came out “guns blazing” because she knew what she had to do and was eager to show everyone she fit right in. There was zero need for her to wait it out and not start engagements with Harry or the Queen immediately. She would have been attacked for it if she had waited anyways.
Tina Brown is a liar and has lied consistently about Harry and Meghan since she started her book tour.
M has said and has demonstrated that she’s “a woman who works” not a “lady who lunches.”
Throughout her entire working life, from before the age of 18 and certainly during her 7 years of a steady paycheck with Suits, M has worked hard, played hard and be of service to others.
When she and H got together, as everyone knows, she gave up her entire lifestyle to fit in to what she thought was a life of being of real service to others, thinking that the RF was a global platform that would make “being of service to others” even more impactful than she could have done on her own. So she and her husband were rearing to go, because they both individually, already knew how to get shidt done.
So, as any hard-working person can understand, imagine their frustration when, with every fully planned idea they presented, they were thwarted because those higher-up the hierarchy (meaning the DoLittles) hadnt gotten up off their arse in months; or were on yet another vacation and everything was on hold til they returned; or, most maddening of all: being told that their projects, even tho it was H&M’s idea, the DoLittles would have to get first billing, with their name on it as if the project was their idea.
Its no wonder M went outside the Institution to pull together the resources she knew she could call on to help her pull off her projects (the Hub Community Kitchen CookBook & the SmartSet Collection….just as H had done with IG and Sentebale and Endeavor Fund.
But showing up the DoLittles like that was not sustainable. There is no way on Gods green earth that H&M were going to be allowed to continue their productive ways, showing up/embarrassing the DoLittles, without pushback from the powers that be.
And the pushback would be unrelenting, engineered by “powerful forces” (as Harry told everyone) and with the end-game being Meghan’s demise.
As Prince Harry said: “Theyre not going to stop until she is dead.”
And this was said AFTER the Sussexes had already left the RF.
Amen
She also repeatedly gaslights Harry in the book as being “fragile.”
Please, please, let Brown attempt this stupidity on an American talk show and get the push back she deserves.
Oh, bollocks to Tina Brown. It is opposite day, too. So waitying around for 10 years was actually a good and admirable thing, wise, too. Oh shut up, Tina “She’s not a doormat” Brown.
She leaves out incandescent William wanting Harry to slow down and then telling Uncle Charles Spencer to help.
Tina’s double standard is mind boggling. She excuses Kate for not denying that Meghan made her cry story. Then she criticizes Meghan for saying Kate made her cry and that “poor” Kate is a royal so she has to stay quiet. Tina then writes that “both” were upset, but that does not address the issue of Kate letting Meghan take the heat for it.
Tina “admires” Will and Kate’s relationship and his making her wait. It sends a bad message to women that they “have to” put up with bad treatment and breakups because they will be “rewarded” in the end. Who is she kidding?
What a load of bullshit this entire book appears to be. Pure PR for the Cambridges. I hope Brown got paid well in whatever form because she should be fucking embarrassed.
The RF wanted to destroy Meghan, we should never forget they tried to break this woman. Why? Because her and her husband were proving to be way more popular than the British royals destined to take the crown. They kept her basically locked away in Kensington Palace and then at Windsor. Like Meghan told Oprah, “…she was everywhere, yet nowhere”. The RF told her when she had been basically In exile at Kensington Palace for 4 months — that she was over exposed in the Media and that she needed to lay low. The RF took her credit cards, car keys and passport. Those close to her heart, said the RF was not protecting her from the BP. The BP was being allowed to slander her, no one was stopping them. It drove Meghan to not want to BE. Who could help her go up against an ancient Monarchy that many believe to be ethical and beyond reproach. Here in America and Canada, anyone who has ever worked with Meghan, or knew her, said she was one of the sweetest people. I don’t care who you are, if you never screamed at or acted that way with other people — you don’t all of sudden start doing that out of the blue.
The RF are cruel people who are still plotting against them. I’m so glad they are here in the SoCal. Also, Celebitchy thanks for calling them out.
“There is a tremendous amount of faith in the Cambridges. [The royal family] are blessed with one pair of people that seem to have accepted their duty and have been willing to serve in the way that they have been trained to do.” LOL I’m sorry but who is she talking about? She must have read too many au novels.
“William’s quite like the Queen temperamentally—a prudent, cautious guy, a sober guy, a decent guy”.. Sure, as if the whole world doesn’t know he’s a rage monster.
The bit about Kate is hilarious, she must be on something strong because no one would believe such BS. All she does is parading clothes and make jazz hands, that is more than slow in my book, it’s doing absolutely nothing but wanting all the credit for it nonetheless.
As for Meghan, well, of course she was depicted as angry (rings any bells?) because these people rather make up lies and focus on everything but the problems under their snotty noses.
Thanks @Celebitchy, This is the bottom line!:
“…Meghan, a grown (and might I add ‘brilliant’) woman, understood that she was being manipulated, gaslighted, smeared, racially abused, and controlled and she wanted to GTFO.”
This fact — exacerbated by serendipitous timing of the global BLM movement shining a spotlight on racial inequality in GB, the US, and around the world — exposed the firm and the British press, including Tina Brown, to be plagued by the same archaic issues that make Colonialism so offensive. If only the monarchy had done the right thing and defended Harry and Meghan against the racist toxicity that she was smeared with on a daily basis since the day the news broke that they were dating, we would be singing a very different tune now. The majority of the world and the Commonwealth sees you for who you are and sees the truth, as evidenced by the disastrous Caribbean tours of the Cambridges and the Wessexes.
My message to the Monarchy (and Tina Brown): Beware! You’re standing on the wrong side of history and the backlash has only just begun!