There have been many moments in the past five years which I know will be “controversial” within the British media. Like, you can set your watch to it – Prince Harry and Meghan will confirm something or do something or say something, and we all brace ourselves for the howling tantrum from the Mail, Mirror, Sun and Telegraph. But can I just say? There are so many moments where the tantrum actually surprises me and amuses me. For example, I was not expecting the weeks-long “controversy” over Meghan wearing a red dress to a children’s hospital gala. And while I knew that the Sussexes’ Christmas card would make news, I did not expect the Mail to turn into Deranger Forensic Files. Anyway, as everyone can read on the card, it says “On behalf of the office of Prince Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.” As in, this is the Christmas card from their office, which they’ve sent to their business associates and which they’re happy to release publicly. This has shocked the Daily Mail.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caused a storm with the release of their ‘holiday’ card this week – but it appears the couple have a second, private card too. The season’s greetings from the Archewell Foundation featured a photograph of the couple’s rarely seen children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, for the first time in years. It also showcased the highlights of the Sussexes’ year, including pictures from their four-day visit to Colombia in August.
Despite the intimate pictures, the card struck a formal tone, simply reading: ‘On behalf of the office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions and Archewell Foundation, we wish you a very happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.’
This is because the card is only intended for professional use, and the Sussexes in fact have a second, private card which they have sent only to close friends and family, and members of their inner circle, according to People Magazine.
The card will not be shared publicly, but will likely share more sweet insights into family life – more similar to the personal cards Meghan and Harry shared in previous years.
Despite stepping down as working royals in 2020, the couple have continued the tradition of releasing a Christmas card each year. This year’s version confirmed Harry and Meghan’s desire to keep their children out of the spotlight, with both Archie and Lili facing away from the camera at a distance.
Imagine being this upset that the Sussexes have a second, private card they send to close friends and family. And can I just say? I actually doubt that Harry and Meghan’s second card is some kind of family photo with Lili and Archie’s faces. I just don’t see H&M sending out anything like that, even to the people they care about the most. It’s not a matter of trust, but all it takes is one card accidentally falling into the wrong hands, and suddenly the Mail or the Sun has paid seven-figures for the exclusive, you know? This Mail piece is actually a bounty on the card. Which is why their second card is probably just some artsy pic of a Christmas tree.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Archewell, Backgrid.
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle pose for a photo during their official visit to Bogota, Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Bogota, Colombia When: 16 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I’d agree about that artsy tree, but I could imagine it being a tree somewhere on the Sussexes’ property, or that tea house, or something like that watercolor they shared of Archie, his playhouse and Guy and Pula — before they had Lili and Mama Mia.
The Fail is obsessed, and all the gutter press, the rota 🐀🐀🐀 and all tasked with reporting on anything Sussex-related should seek therapy.
Artsy seems right to me too. I keep thinking about where M & H would get the pics developed or the cards printed- because that’s where the tabloids would go to bribe someone. How could they trust the employees of any printer not to leak the pic?
They live in a region with many, many privacy-minded public figures. Many businesses have staked their livelihoods on maintaining that privacy. Getting cards printed can be done.
(Developing is unlikely to be an issue. I’m sure they are a fully digital household like the rest of us.)
O those Brit POS are really vile and keep getting more so. To bait the friends of the Sussexes like that. Such bottom feeders. And for who / Willie and Charles? Ugh.
Haha – I’m sure it is some lovely art card with a beautiful message. After all – their friends don’t need pictures of the kids. They probably see them regularly, lol
Exactly what we all said yesterday. Duh.
Question for british folks on here: do people think its strange this type of coverage over these two people? Or are they like, yes we want to know…
Depends who you ask. There are rabid royalists and tabloid enthusiasts who eat this all up. Then there are more moderate people that think it’s really weird how obsessed the press is. Then there are people like my mother who don’t read tabloids or watch daytime TV and aren’t aware all this weird coverage is happening. She saw the cars on social media said ‘that’s nice’ and moved on with her life, not giving it a second thought.
I find that most are unaware of it. I haven’t seen them on the covers of print versions in ages and they don’t come up in conversation at all (at least in my circles). Most of the royal coverage has been about disgraceful Andrew these days.
I’d say it’s lapped up by DM, Telegraph and Sun readers, Telegraph especially. But the wider British public most of whom don’t read newspapers are pretty disinterested. Your point that does anyone now comment that it’s become obsessive, can’t say I’ve noticed anything. Yet.
Have to add, by their never-ending obsession with the Sussexes the UK press (inadvertently or intentionally?) give a free ride to W&K – the real villains of the piece. How grateful they and the Middletons must be.
Is this all feigned so that they can write hysterical articles, or are they really this clueless? Because they constantly write stories about things that are pretty typical and normal as if it’s the first time that it has ever been mentioned to them. Someone in a high level position left their job after 3 years working for the Sussexes! A married couple with different focuses in their work sometimes travel separately! An organization sent out a formal card to all of their business associates who may number in the thousands, but sent out something more personal to their friends and family! The way they are just ” mind-blown” about the most common things.
The obsession is real. Has a day gone by in which they aren’t writing about the Sussexes? I don’t think it has. It’s wild that Meghan has been gone now for much longer than she ever lived there and they still are obsessed.
Honestly, I can’t tell. Some days I think all has to be feigned just for the hysterical articles and clicks and such because who can honestly think this is something worth writing about?
But then I think……maybe these people really are just that delusional and dumb and so driven by hate and bitterness that they honestly get super worked up over…….the possibility of a personal christmas card.
The BM elevate the RF’s ordinary actions so they can praise them. And the BM elevate H&M’s ordinary actions so they can trash them. Without the elevation, there’d be no story at all.
🎯
The obsession of wanting to see the Sussexes kids faces..creepy
Meanwhile the local royals haven’t yet posted their Christmas cards while we’re less than a week before Christmas..weird, isn’t it? Perhaps, the obsession with the Sussex Christmas card and their children is to fill the lack of news from the wails…
I’m surprised that anyone is surprised by the rabid reaction from the DM. This fools have no royal news happen except for Willy’s yellow teeth and raggedy bearded face smiling, throwing darts and talking about ShitShot.
Harry and Meghan are all they got in terms of a gorgeous and glamorous royal couple. They won’t admit it but they’re obsessed and will never stop.
Love Shitshot. That’s what I will be using from now on 😅
He was a ShitShot at darts too, apparently. He missed the board totally. 😁
“Despite the intimate pictures“LOL.Except for one, all of the photos were from public events. It baffled me last year as well that they keep calling the business cards family cards. Personal notes, cards etc don’t say “from the office of”.
“Despite stepping down as working royals in 2020, the couple have continued the tradition of releasing a Christmas card each year.”
I guess I’m a working royal, because I’ve sent Christmas cards every year for something like 17 years. Many people “release a Christmas card every year.” LOL
I rarely send Christmas cards, but I have family and friends who send cards with pics of their kids every year. I had no idea I had so many connections to royalty.
WE don’t get any cards with family pictures on, just the normal sort of cards that you buy in the shops although I do have one friend who makes cards herself, but they are traditional cards,
I do mine on Shutterfly and we do photos! I love getting cards with photos on them.
Most companies send Christmas cards, mostly digital by email these days, just as the Sussexes did. The didn’t print the cards, they were sent to everyone on their mailing list for Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions.
Only the British press seems not to know that, but who would send a Christmas Card to the Daily Fail anyway.
If the Sussexes sent private cards I doubt it would show the children. With all the phone hacking it is far too easy to get the photo. A printed version which the household staff might see and sell? The Daily Fail wish H&M were that daft.
To this day they are so angry that they have no control over them. I can imagine that they are practically begging them for pictures on a regular basis. The Wales’ kids are right there. Focus on that.
I have never seen Beatrice daughter. Maybe the rest of you have but I haven’t and I have zero memory of the British media throwing their toys out of their Pram because of it . It’s not Harry and Meghan fault that we have all seen way too much of the wales kids and therefore become blah about seeing them now , So don’t blame Harry and Meghan for protecting their children from the abuse and danger you created for them .
It’s so bizarre and so indicative of their sense of ownership. There are tons of celebrities( and everyday people!) who never show their kids faces on SM, who will not confirm when their kids have been born or their sex, or their names. But for some reason it’s bizarre and deserves conspiracy theories that Harry and Meghan don’t plaster their kids faces everywhere and have them in videos with them every day. When Beatrice and Eugenie do the exact same in that family and have the same ” working royal” status.
yup, I think Eugenie showed a few pictures of Auggie when he was a baby but now I feel like all the pictures of him have his back turned to the camera. there may be one or two out there of his face thats recent but its not common. I think Bea is the same with Sienna. (Siena?)
We see the Phillips’ girls more but I think Peter Phillips is so far from anyone’s radar that it doesn’t really matter, LOL. Same with the Tindall children.
Its up to parents to determine their comfort level for sharing pictures of their children, for any reason – general privacy, concerns about safety and security and death threats, concerns about online bullying and trolling (I feel like the latter is a big concern for the Yorks, considering how they were treated online for ages.) But whatever the reason (I think we all know what that is for the Sussexes), H&M dont want to share photos of their children with the world, and neither do Bea or Eugenie. And yet only one of those sets of parents is criticized for it.
@Dee(2) – Boris Johnson, former British PM, is an example. He never shows his kids’ faces publicly and nothing is ever said about that in the tabloids.
@Becks: we’ve actually seen pics of August’s face, he came to an event at the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 in full view of media cameras. So he’s been seen in the wild out for a major event. Granted, it’s been awhile and his face has probably changed since then and Eugenie is very choosy about when she shows his face. There is also one family pic of Ernest as a baby circulating out there that she’s posted where we can clearly see his face.
I mean, okay, lol. We saw his face once at an event 2.5 years ago. That doesn’t really disprove my point considering I said “there may be one or two out there of his face that’s more recent but its not that common.”
I find it interesting that Beatrice and Eugenie have both followed H and M by not showing their children’s faces.
Of course they have a second card – well maybe not “of course” but I’m sure they do. This card is lovely but focuses on their work; I’m sure there is another more personal family-focused card. maybe it doesn’t feature the kids front and center but its from the Sussex family, not the office.
They have drawn a clear distinction between their work and their family and who can blame them for it?
and the idea of a business card and a personal card is pretty standard. I used to work for a small law firm – just a husband and wife – and they always sent out holiday cards to their clients and network etc. They sent out personal cards to their friends. The scandal!
Man they do have a sickness those gutter press rats. They just can’t seem to function without printing the Sussex name on a daily basis.
The red dress meltdown will forever be funny. How many days did it go on for? 10? More? The Christmas card meltdown will hopefully be shorter.
Doesn’t Harry’s lawsuit against the Mail go to trial in January? So beyond the obvious trolling for hate clicks and hate posts, some of their articles seem like straight-up vengeance. You can bet the Mail won’t cover the trial.
Ha, yes, you’d think the mail wouldn’t cover it but I bet they pick and choose which details to cover and slant it all negatively against Harry in some way.
Good point.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the personal card is a picture of a jar of jam? Ha! Keep them guessing Sussexes, don’t give them a thing!
Imagine sending a second card with each card slightly different so that If it was leaked they’d know who did it?
Well at least we can be certain Toxic Tom isn’t getting one.
That’s a neat idea.
I agree it does sound like the DM has put out a bounty for the second card. It’s very scary sometimes how obsessive and fixated the British press can be about Harry, Meghan and their children.
It’s completely scary.
I’m pretty sure their actual friends and close family know what everyone looks like and sees them with some regularity.
Cultural question, in the US do you buy and send regular cards or do most people have a card printed with some sort of family pic? In the UK we overwhelmingly buy cards (often sold by charities) and I’m not sure if my impression of the US is accurate or one of those movie tropes.
My boyfriend just won Christmas by giving me a card of Die Hard Bruce Willis that says ‘yippie ki yay it’s christmas’. We did attempt to do a fun ‘family photo’ with the cat one year but it was not a success.
The majority of the cards we get are the photo cards. Family will send “real” cards (my mom always sends us an actual christmas card, my husband’s aunt does) but the cards from friends and such are all photo cards.
My husband and I have sent photo cards every year since we’ve been married and that’s been…..well this is our 18th married christmas, so a fairly long time.
So this card from the Sussexes is pretty typical for what most in my circle would send. It’s usually either a collage of pics from throughout the year (that’s what we did this year) or its anywhere from 1-3 pictures from a family photoshoot, whether or not its holiday themed (we have done this in the past as well.)
some people will include a blurb on the back with general life updates but most don’t.
I do love the idea of a holiday themed photoshoot.
Most of the people I know don’t send cards at all anymore.
I have to laugh about your photo attempt with the cat. An old co-worker of my father would send us a long printed letter – “Dear Retirees and Trailerites…”, filled with all the wonderful things they did over the year and all the fabulous people they met, none of whom we knew. They’d also send a photo card of their two daughters and their two standard poodles. For years. The daughters got older, the poodles got older, a poodle would die, another poodle would arrive, a daughter would age out and grandchildren would appear… We never did find out exactly who the Trailerites were.
LOL. one of my parents’ oldest friends is the kind of woman whose family is always perfect – her kids were always the smartest (until they weren’t), most successful, etc. Like the kids were 8 and the parents were talking about when they graduated from Harvard. (neither went to harvard lol.)
Anyway so her xmas letter is the same thing. Daughter went on a trip to X country and can you believe how independent and amazing she is (daughter is 43 I would hope shes independent by now.) Son went to the office we are constantly blown away by him. Grandchildren grew taller can you believe their talent and skill.
Its become one of the highlights of the holiday season because its always so over the top and ridiculous lol.
I feel like some people can send those letters and have them be what they are intended to be – general life updates – but a lot of people can’t pull it off LOL.
I have quite a soft spot for the Christmas letter sent out en-mass. One of my dad’s cousins used to do that and I weirdly enjoyed it, they stopped a few years back and if I knew them better I’d ask for a re-boot.
I’ve usually gotten (and have always given) ‘real’ Christmas cards rather than the photo cards. I had one friend who’d send the family photo card when her kids were little, but that tapered off. Nobody I know ever did the annual Christmas letter (thank goodness!). And fewer and fewer people seem to be sending cards any more. I do, because I enjoy it, but I receive fewer & fewer every year.
Yesterday was the first day I had postal service in over a month, since Canada Post went on strike. Had I known I would have mailed everything early.
I feel for you Lady D, I found a small gift for friends in Canada back in September (we usually only exchange cards) so sent it off with a card and was starting to wonder if it was lost somewhere over the Atlantic when they messaged to say thanks and explain the delays. It must be a nightmare.
@BillieBean – Normal folk in the UK regard “family photo” Christmas cards as being rather tacky. We had one relative who did that once – cringe. It was like they were trying to ape the RF.
Thank you for the responses! I love learning more about different cultural traditions.
I hate writing the cards but love sending them out and getting them back so I’ll be one of the last to give up. It’s an integral part of our holiday decor plus gets me to meet up with friends in December to hand them over wherever possible.
I send out boxed cards that I buy. I receive a mixture of boxed cards or family photo cards back. It’s definitely a mix.
What I find really funny about the Sussexes releasing this card, is just last week I saw a clip of one of the BM talk shit shows where the ” host ” stated that “the children are a figment of Harry’s Imagination”. Then this picture is released that is like, in your face and take that! But also in the vein of talk to the hand, it says “talk to the back”
SSSWWEEETT!! I’m sooo loving it!
I don’t know about anybody else, but unless there’s mooning and a middle finger involved, I just don’t see how a simple, joyous Christmas card release can inspire someone to write the words “caused a storm.” That is just absurd.
Being this obsessed with strangers’ babies is weird behaviour 😕
I find it interesting that they mentioned the trip to Colombia and not Nigeria.
I also noted that. Knowing The rotten mail it’s probably intentional for whatever reason, it’s baffling!
Yeah, but they also blatantly misstated the greeting which is printed right there in clear letters on the front of the card:
“Despite the intimate pictures, the card struck a formal tone, simply reading: ‘On behalf of the office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions and Archewell Foundation, we wish you a very happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.’ ”
…Except the card actually says “and a JOYFUL New Year.” So either the Daily Mail’s reporters can’t read, or they’re allergic to the word Joyful, or they feel the need to avoid it for some reason.
I doubt the private holiday card features pictures of the kids, if only because the people receiving that card are not lying, leaking losers and they are therefore allowed to actually see the kids. They don’t need a card with a picture of the kids when they’re probably seeing them and exchanging gifts IRL.
The children are dressed for “picture day” so I agree with others who thought (yesterday) that this could have been a professional photo shoot for a private family Christmas card.
We do the photo cards because it’s easiest. And this angered a (former) friend in England, who sent us a blistering letter denouncing our “corporate” greeting card.
We were like, we have two kids and two jobs and a dog, and it’s a freaking miracle we could scrape together the time to put stamps on envelopes … we always scribble a brief personal note on the back, but apparently that wasn’t enough for our English friend.
So, question for Brits: Do you really view these photo cards as insulting? Because they’re the norm here in America.
Not insulting, slightly odd perhaps, but then it is not a British tradition. Of course most of the time it is the women who sort out the cards so of course H and M have followed the American way. Wouldn’t life be boring if we were all the same. I like the card.
Brit here! Not insulting exactly, but I guess I’d say, its considered tacky? Most cards I get feature a beautiful illustration, whether religious or secular. A traditional secular card will feature a robin. Some with young children might opt to include a current photo within the card though. I’d say the norm is we buy a pack of say, 25 illustrated cards for family and acquaintances, and those with young family might make a few prints to send to the extra special recipients!
Thanks, Suz and sunnyside up, for the info.
We were really taken aback by the response — even my English husband was, but then, as sunnyside up points out, it’s often we women who handle the cards, so what would he know LOL?
I’m American and I gotta say, I hate that personal photo cards have become the norm! I remember as a child my mom would display every card our family received, and my sister and I would spend a lot of time picking our favorites based on the artwork. Then we started getting photo cards, and they felt awkward within the displays. Especially when it’s people that you’ve never met before, like parents’ coworkers. I rubs me the wrong way similar to how social media erupted–so many are sharing pictures of their kids practically everyday! I’ve had to mute people like that who I only ever accepted the “friend invite” as to not be rude (like my sister’s husband’s sister for example). Sorry for the rant, I just miss the old days of artwork on cards!
Huh. I’m American and had no idea the photo cards were viewed as corporate. I have a lot of far flung family like aunts and uncles and cousins and the their families and they all send photo cards. It’s a cute visual of family you don’t get to see often. It feels personal bc it’s the pics that family chose to send. So the idea of it being corporate is new to me. But I like the idea of artistic cards too so I can a value in both types. I wouldn’t denounce one or the other?
I’m so happy that celebitchy is doing the work of reading the tabloids so I don’t have to
My forensic analysis shows that Lili has gorgeous hair. Happy for them to show as much or as little as they like 💖
This excerpt from the Fail article quoted in the blurb for this thread caught my eye, especially the last sentence.:
“……..the Sussexes in fact have a second, private card which they have sent only to close friends and family, and members of their inner circle, according to People Magazine.
The card will not be shared publicly, but will likely share more sweet insights into family life – more similar to the personal cards Meghan and Harry shared in previous years.”
This suggests a couple of things: (1) either that H&M are used to including chucky in the “inner circle of family and friends” by sending him their private and personal family card and the usual palace leaks know better than to leak the card itself but have no qualms mentioning to their rotaRATS whatsapp group that such a private card was sent to chucky; or
(2) the Sussexes perhaps used to send chucky such a card but no longer do so and because the peoplemag article mentions the private card, it tells the palace that this Sussex tradition still exists but that chucky is no longer a part of it. The last sentence: “….similar to the personal cards Meghan and Harry shared in previous years,” is a tell.
Perhaps H&M stopped counting chucky as family when he snatched Frogmore from the Sussex family. Thats when he ceased being family to them and perhaps now, H only relates to chucky as the monarch of the system to which he and his kids are still attached.
The bm get more confusing every year. Does the UK have NO businesses there which send out holiday cards to clients/customers and have different cards for those close to them? This is a weird thing to write an article about.
I hope it’s a group photo of the dogs in front of the Christmas tree. That would be so cute.
There should be a special home for these mentally damaged journalists .
They probably keep talking about HMs Christmas card because they’re regretting and kicking themselves for helping to drag HM out of that country. And – they don’t have access to HMs Beautiful children in California.
Hey, What comes around goes around.
I have the feeling that they want one thing above all else. They want Prince Harry to destabilise before the trial next year. If you have followed how these madmen work, it is very often a system of psychological warfare and disruption, as we know it from countries that want to keep their citizens under control by these means. Scaremongering, destruction of trust in the immediate environment, attacks on partners, friends and business associates etc. In my opinion, these newspapers are advised by people who have much more knowledge about these things than all these small reporters. They are fighting a war. None of this has anything to do with “tabloid” anymore.
Good that other teampeople are reading and cushioning these attacks on Prince Harry’s health and life.