It’s so insidious and despicable to watch the British media and the Windsors try to hijack Heart of Invictus. It’s clear that Kensington Palace went on a briefing spree this week as soon as HoI came out, and there’s an outsized focus on claiming that Prince Harry “trashed his family” or that the whole series is somehow about Harry or about the Windsors. The Daily Fail’s columnists are desperately trying to convince their readership of that, and it’s utterly bewildering. Literally, all anyone has to do is watch the series to see that the Mail is full of lies and that HoI is incredibly inspirational and the series centers the veterans’ stories. Instead of simply praising Harry’s decade of work with Invictus, the British media is clinging to the lie that the whole show is about Harry “whining.” Well, let’s talk about this Eden Confidential column: “Prince Harry’s decision to talk about himself – again – instead of brave wounded servicemen has left me with a bitter taste.”
Prince Harry’s decision to air yet more personal grievances on a new Netflix documentary about injured servicemen leaves ‘a bitter taste in the mouth’ according to Daily Mail Diary Editor, Richard Eden. Writing in his latest Palace Confidential newsletter, Eden praises the work of the Invictus Games – a multi-sport event established by the prince in 2014 – but is critical of Harry’s decision to turn the spotlight back on his own problems.
‘The Invictus Games are one of the Duke of Sussex’s lasting achievements, helping to provide injured former servicemen and women with a fresh focus and challenge, as well as creating new friendships and support networks,’ he writes.
‘So his new documentary series for Netflix, Heart of Invictus, gave Prince Harry the opportunity to tell some of the inspiring stories of the competitors from around the world. Sadly, from what I have seen of the series, which was released by the American streaming giant on Wednesday, Harry couldn’t resist using this priceless opportunity to talk about himself, again.’
In comments that have been widely seen as yet another swipe at the Royal Family, the prince tells the documentary makers that he did not have a support network around him and that Princess Diana’s death was ‘never discussed’. Eden concludes that, while Harry has made similar comments before, ‘to do so in a television programme that is supposed to be about the brave, inspiring competitors in the Invictus Games leaves a bitter taste.’
Again, if you watch the series, you can see for yourself how the veterans’ stories are framed and how Harry speaks about his backstory to explain how he put Invictus together and why he’s so passionate about helping wounded warriors. One of the biggest goals of the series is to encourage veterans to speak about their trauma, pain and mental health. Harry uses his own story to lead by example. Harry is trying to end veteran suicide. The Mail is trying to smear a veteran and tell every veteran that they can’t and shouldn’t speak about their trauma and mental health. That’s where we are now.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
In a 5-hour documentary Harry’s on screen for about 30 minutes. In those 30 minutes he makes one mention about his experience and his feeling of a lack of support around returning vets. How is this making it all about him? Is he literally never allowed to talk about his lived experience? We all talk about things that happened to us why is he the exception? If something super traumatic happened to me as a kid there’s no time limit on how much I can talk about it or talk about how it impacted other parts of my life. This cultural ideal of stiff upper lip, never talk about things that happen to you, if your life isn’t an absolute shambles you can’t talk about any struggles is so unhealthy. I hate that mindset and it’s indicated very strongly in the documentary how many people don’t want to talk about their struggles because of reactions like this. It’s honestly disgusting.
Yeah, way to scare off other veterans from talking or seeking help. Eden is a nasty creature.
The whole reason the RF are patrons of charities is to put a spotlight on those charities according to them. This is the same. Anyone with an ounce of media experience knows much more people will watch a show, documentary or movie when there’s a big name appearing in it.
Richard Eden real issue is that Harry is not a working royal and so he’s not allowed to shine a light on charities. It overshadows the work of the other royals and shows what the Royal Family has lost.
He don’t give f%^ about the other royals being owershadowed, he just wants to write nast s”:^ about Harry and Meghan to sell clicks.
Richard/Maureen IS NOT A JOURNALIST (much like the rest of RR’s). He is a urinalist. A paid lackey to spew on what he’s told to spew on for a paycheck. No normal person would make the comments he (and BM cohorts) made about HOI f they actually watched the series.
You don’t need to be a fan of H & M to appreciate the value of Heart of Invictus. It’s inspirational to non veteran athletes who’ve lost mental & physical well being to injuries & invisible injuries.
Apparently, the BM & their tentacles have an attention span lower than a gnat I’ve quickly swatted down. Were the subtitles to challenging to read? My goodness, The Me You Can’t See had Harry sharing bigger stuff. Hmmm, wonder why they (the BM) minimizes that?
The series also highlighted that veterans can have mental and physical health issues that are not directly related to their time in the military. Gabe joined the navy to get away from his home life and was injured in a road accident. Despite this he still got to compete and tell us his life experience.
Also, even if they have never been to war, veterans can have acquire life changing injuries during there time in the military. My dad has mobility issues from the various injuries he sustained during field exercises.
Which is precisely a point that Harry I think was trying to make i.e. not all veterans suffer from PTSD, but those that usually do often have a prior trauma that makes them more susceptible to army related PTSD. It essentially becomes a complex trauma and takes skilled professionals to peel back the layers to allow for healing and this is why so many vets end up homeless, with addiction problems, broken marriages etc.
Yes Harry talked about himself as a veteran and what it was like for him as a veteran and how he relates with the veterans. These people are so insanely jealous and bitter against Harry that they don’t realize that they are talking 💩about veterans when they talk 💩 about Harry who for the love of God IS A VETERAN!!
Well, Eden Confidential has to throw HIS TRIBE / THE HATERS A BONE, and they CHEW on it every time 🤣🤣🤣
Swaz. What are you talking about?
@Susan Collins, I think what Swaz means is that Eden is writing for his fans aka the haters. Because there’s nothing bad he can say about HoI, Eden decided to write crap for his fans/DF readers (throw the haters a bone) to enjoy (they chew at it every time). At least that’s how I understood this.
@Taytanish. Thank you. I thought it was a troll so I worded it that way just encase it wasn’t. Good thing I didn’t say what I first wanted too.
@Taytanish that’s exactly what I meant 😍thanks for clearing that up @susan we’re on the same side Team Sussex 😍
The Royal Rota keep confirming they are idiots.
The RR keep confirming people who believe them are idiots. I know not all English people but absolutely all I know. I assume age related but still.. Not a single original thought in their heads. Scary.
Criticizing veterans when they specifically discuss mental health is something that most right wing media in other countries wouldn’t even touch because that’s how disgusting it is.
The BM don’t really care about anyone, sadly.
Nic – it happens in America too, thinking back to how easily George W was able to smear John Kerry’s service with the Swift Boat attacks. I think right wing media would do it all day everyday when it’s against someone they want to destroy. For all they claim to, they (right wing media and their viewers) do not actually care about veterans or active duty service members. It’s disgusting.
The smearing of John Kerry was not done by the media specifically though. It was campaign ads. This is an alleged neutral media person full out attacking a veteran.
The Daily Mail and The Sun have an axe to grind so they continue bashing Prince Harry. Whilst The Telegraph’s Jennie Bond knows that it is time to give credit at least to Prince Harry for Invictus
Man talks about self, oh no!
That bitter taste in your mouth is your own bile, Dick.
I’ve watched the documentary four times. These reporters are either deranged or making shit up for clicks. I’ll let you guess which. 🙄
A bit of both, I’d say. And their readers just believe it without checking for themselves or stopping to do the tiniest bit of critical thinking.
I don’t even know why to say and this point. The Harry criticisms are rinse and repeat. These people soak in hatred.
We need some new words to describe this lot b/c sad, immoral, disgusting, deplorable, depraved, degenerate, debased, despicable, pathological, pathetic, parasitic, repulsive, stomach churning, leeches, …. doesnt cut it anymore.
Going after veterans is a very bad look. What kind of dictatorship is the Uk that Harry can’t even suggest that there aren’t enough supports for returning veterans.
Eden is a coward who has never served and instead chose a path as a pathetic sycophant to uphold a system that only rewards a very few people.
Lol, did he miss the article about how Charles is proud of Harry?
The South Park meme of the guy sitting at his computer, satiated and covered in semen is Eden every time he can moan (pun intended) about Harry. The guy gets off on being able to write diatribes on Harry and Meghan
I think he dresses up as Maureen Eden for his self pleasuring episodes
Has Richard Eden even watched the docuseries? From his piece it seems he hasn’t. As Kaiser says Harry speaks about his own experiences as a way to introduce issues that many veterans face. The focus is on the veterans and the Games. If Harry was still a working royal, people like Richard Eden would be praising him.
Sounds like “from what I have seen of the series” means, I watched a few minutes of the beginning of episodes 1 and 2. Those are where Harry is seen for a short time alone talking about his own experiences, because he’s introducing how the IG came about, and what the series will cover. The other times he’s seen, and his total screen time is overall minimal, it’s either in planning meetings, or talking with participants.
Lucky for all these dimwits, the bit about there not being a support network when Harry got back from Afghanistan is just ten minutes into episode 2. Looks like once they decided to make that the story, it’s as far as any of them bothered to go.
Someone — I *think* Jan Moir? — wrote a column a few days ago trying to debunk every single thing that Harry said in HoI. One of the items listed was his comment about his frustration at how many soldiers he saw returning home maimed not being reported on and it was crystal clear that he was specifically referring to WOUNDED soldiers. They tried to claim this was false by showing a screenshot of a photo that had apparently accompanied an article about people gathering to show respect as coffins draped with flags were driven by.
So yes, the media might have covered the *deaths* of British servicemen and women, but Harry was talking about lack of coverage of the *wounded* ones. They’re this disingenuous and purposely obtuse because they’re just so hellbent on trying to make Harry look bad at every turn. And their core readership lacks the reading comprehension skills to realize the difference, so most people’s takeaway was, “Here’s Harry lying again, as usual!” It’s incredibly frustrating to see, over and over again.
Why is the British media and the institution so hell bent on showing the world their unhinged asses? I mean they are literally attacking people who give their lives so that they can sit there and have the freedom to write grotesque crap about veterans. It really amazes me how low they continue to go to be petty . And I wish chuck And company would take a moment to realize how these people are making them look and sound to the rest of the world but I guess this is a horse they sent out to do they bidding and now it’s run wild they have zero control over it.
Note the phrasing ‘from what I saw’. I’m guessing. Eden hasn’t even seen the whole series but perhaps breezed through to find something he could twist out of context.
I’m two episodes in, and it’s fantastic! And I agree with Kaiser that this is Harry leading by example. While it’s certainly each person’s choice whether or not to share their experiences, I don’t think this mission would be as effective if Harry was encouraging people to talk about their experiences while refusing to share his own.
This is him introducing himself, his background and why and how he’s helping other vets. Which is what he’s supposed to do for a documentary on a huge platform. like There are still a large number of people who don’t know about Invictus and what they do for vets his introduction of himself is for those people. The UK need to get over themselves this isn’t just for them this is international.
LOL, tell me you haven’t seen the docuseries without telling me. Actually he is telling us, he literally says “from what I have seen” – so he either hasn’t watched it or is just pretending he hasn’t. the majority of the series focuses on the wounded servicemen and women. And the directors handle Harry’s role in well – he is also a wounded serviceman with PTSD but is also part of the docuseries as the founder and patron of Invictus, and they do a good job of walking that line with him. He’s not in it as an active participant in the Games, there is nowhere near the focus on him that there is on the athletes.
It really is a well done series, its emotional though so is taking me a while to get through it. I’m about a day or two before Russia invades Ukraine, and the tension in the series, knowing what’s going to happen, is tangible.
Looking at those three large bombed out apartments was bad. I was picturing Grandma in one making soup, in another a five-year-old getting ready for kindergarten, someone ironing their clothes for the day and every picture is framed in black.
The British tabloids are attempting to diminish a valuable product (Heart of Invictus) in an effort to attack Prince Harry because he has challenged them in the courts. He is their enemy. They are personally invested in him failing, being cut down to size for challenging and not yielding to them. 🤷♀️ Like with Spare and the Harry and Meghan documentary, the first few days of tabloid noise will die down and people who watch the HOI documentary will have a very different view than what the British tabloids paints.
Harry’s ability to relate to people in society who have been overlooked and/or dismissed (such as ‘British common folk’, people living with addiction and trauma pain – physical and mental disabilities) is what has made him successful at serving as a patron or advocate for the charities or initiatives he supports.
While those who are well off in society chastise, ignore and diminish the value of people who need a helping hand, a compassionate ear, a hug, an acknowledgment of their pain and struggle, he is using his privilege to highlight the value of people with those needs to be valued. His humanity is what people outside the grips of the toxic royal mafia institution and their sycophants appreciate about him. It is the reason he will continue to be seen as a threat to the British media, royal sycophants and the toxic royal mafia institution. The threat is that if he is successful serving outside of the system (taxpayer funded royals) their subjects may question the need for the system and that may lead to consequences the status quo is highly likely unwilling to deal with.
The veterans have had a dedicated advocate in Prince Harry for almost 10 years. I believe Invictus Games has been successful for the veterans because he relates to to their challenges and has not been shy about speaking up to the senior ranks to deliver a message to global military leaders who sign on to ensure their veterans receive a treatment that is befitting their needs. It is the reason the Games has grown over 9 years to include other nations.
Thank you Prince Harry.
The British media will never leave Harry and Meghan alone.They’ll continue to twist everything they say and do.They’ll lie,commit crimes and fake stories to get at them.As long as people keep listening,reading,or watching their crap,this is what will happen.
By telling Harry he cannot talk openly about his pain and trauma associated with his mother’s death, they are reinforcing that William cannot either. And that man needs more therapy than anyone. He has rage for a reason.
Tell you what master Eden, go get some counselling, because your addiction to Royal rats is disgusting, or is it just hate your addicted to. Let me explain it to you, HARRY is a veteran, Harry put his life on the line for muppets like you to muppet! Harry knows what these veterans face every day, both in a theatre of war and when they get home. Harry has opened his heart to them, to show he understands, BUT, I tell you what master Eden, this veteran would like a quiet word in your ear, and I think you will find there are thousands of veterans around the world who feel the same as me. When you GROW the hell up master Eden, one day you might even be able to be called Mr!
I actually LOL’d at “from what I have seen of the series …”
It reminded me of a British sitcom (can’t remember the name) about a TV network in which the news anchor asks a reporter if he’s read the materials he’s discussing on air and the reporter says, “They have been read.”
Eden is a cog of the bitter and twisted Fail. He’d be irrelevant if the underlying message to other veterans wasn’t so dangerous: “Speak of your trauma at your peril, because we will rip it apart and belittle it.”
@QuiteContrary, and I actually laughed at *your* comment because William is too stupid to even come up with “they have been read” — remember when he just blatantly blurted out to a person hosting him at a visit to (I think) a hospital that he hadn’t bothered to read the briefing papers that one of his staffers had prepared for him in advance of the visit?
So the fictitious idiotic sitcom reporter is still smarter and able to think on his feet more quickly than the actual heir to the throne is. 😂
Rupert Murdoch and his evil minions are a stain on this world. HoI is moving and beautifully done. Harry is leading the way and helping other veterans seek healing. The UK tabloids are sick filth.
The RR continue to embarrass England. I know that they really don’t represent what everyone thinks and that is the only saving grace in this.
Their readers continue to decline and every time I see the figures their readership has gone down.
They are not getting the message though, so stories like this will continue.
Fortunately I am seeing that the US media seem to be referring to them less and less.
They are slowly but surely losing control. The Royal Family bet on the wrong horse here ….but maybe they felt that they had no choice
Remember when those four rota rats were outed as making stuff up when they did those fake interviews about the Oprah documentary? Bet the same thing would happen if they did something like that with Eden and HoI.
I sure do remember, and I’m still surprised and annoyed every time I see one of them quoted anywhere. They showed themselves to have ZERO credibility — not to mention integrity or professionalism— yet publications still refer to them as “experts” (!!) and print whatever nonsense they spout? They’re still *paid* to give their opinions after they were indisputably outed as liars? Unreal.
The rota’s “power” has become weaker and weaker over the years. H&M just living their lives and being dedicated to their work and causes is overtaking the moaning from the UK press and the RF nonsense. It was bound to happen.
Their problem is they are so eager to drive a narrative they are missing the point. When he says he didn’t have a support system in place in the middle of his crises – he meant a team of professionals, peer support, friends to access. Which is why everything clicked to start Invictus as well as the part about unseen wounds.
Looks like Eden (aka Maureen) is taking over from Wooten as The Fail’s lead deranger. Harry refers to his post-discharge distress and his mother’s death once or twice–a grand total of possibly twenty or thirty seconds in a five hour series. After Eden/Maureen hate-watches the rest of HOI, I expect him to come back with a weekend exclusive twisting every utterance or camera appearance Meghan makes.
It must be horrendous to all those concerned, whom were of the opinion that they mattered as far as Harry is concerned.
While I dare not speak for him, with wisdom from growth, it would not be a stretch that his latest disparagers are angry because he seemed unconcerned about their opinion about him and his family.
He will do whatever to protect himself and especially his immediate family but seemed disengaged about their thoughts filled with untrue insinuations….
Oh the wrath of the scorned, be they the media or certain family members.
It shows them in poor light, because they are in the spotlight 365 days/24hours and it is not enough.
What is their problem??
A timely reminder – in this case – Richard Eden…..
” When a toxic person cannot control you, they try to control how others see you”
This is clickbait from another hack writer peddling desperately as journalism, and a reminder that there is no depth as to where Eden and his ilk would go to denigrate Harry and Meghan.
Honestly who is surprised by this take. Many writers of the toxic British media show a surprising lack of empathy and human kindness. So of course they would be confused by Harry [or Meghan] or anyone who shows an once of empathy. They want Harry to “shut up” about his struggles with mental health issues because the British press is archaic. Harry can talk about his own lived experiences all he wants. It is his right. He can also let his lived experiences guide him into making a positive difference in this world. That is what it means to lead with empathy and compassion.
What I find unforgiveable is that Harry’s stated goal is to reduce the number of veteran suicides, the bm comes out with DON’T TALK ABOUT IT. It’s appears from the outside, that the Tories, brf and bm do not value their military members. They have chosen to place denouncing Harry over protecting their veterans. The harm that they’re doing is unforgiveable. The US values their military veterans and the biggest issue is trying to get enough funding as well as programs to help. At least we acknowledge that.
So, will these Tory/brf/bm statements cause even one vet to not talk and decide suicide is their only recourse?
+++ It is unforgiveable. The BM’s focus on their weak attempt to dis Harry because??? They are dissing vets. That’s it. The British Media hates military personnel and veterans. Otherwise, they would support this beautifully crafted series that showcases veterans. A$$hats.