Here’s Part 2 of our coverage of the new book which is getting a lot of headlines this week. The book is called Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, and it was written by royal expert/historian Tom Quinn. The Times of London published an exclusive excerpt and, as I said in Part 1, this reads like a choose-your-own-adventure soap opera, the way Quinn is trying to rewrite and reimagine these narratives. You see, *some* people did like the Duchess of Sussex during her brief time in the UK, but those same people also grew to hate her because she was so confident and American and because she didn’t want to be their voiceless doll. If I’m being honest, I’m a little bit surprised by how Quinn’s “sources” say some nice stuff about Meghan, but of course all of the nice stuff is immediately contradicted by “sources” saying that Meghan had a “messiah complex.” These people will never be okay.
Meghan saw quickly that Harry had always been neglected: Meghan’s experience of growing up was totally different. “She spotted immediately that Harry wasn’t quite as central to things as his brother, William,” said a member of the comms team who was particularly close to the duchess. “I don’t think Harry had even thought much about the fact that he was a spare until well into his marriage. I think she was oversensitive on Harry’s behalf and convinced herself he was being treated as completely unimportant.” The strongly held view among current and former royal staff is that Meghan felt she was standing up for her husband, telling “her truth” and encouraging him to tell his, but this was seen as deeply disruptive.
Meghan hated that shack: Moving into Nottingham Cottage in 2017 compounded the tension — “Meghan felt it was so small that it must be a reflection on how the royal family were belittling her husband. She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because, having always had them, they take them for granted,” said one member of staff who helped out regularly at Nottingham Cottage. A rather beautiful house in the grounds of a famous palace hardly seemed to Harry the equivalent to being forced to live in a shed at the end of the garden. But for Meghan things were more complex. She saw Kate and William living just a few yards away in Kensington Palace itself with teams of live-in servants.
Meghan undoubtedly felt constrained by protocol. “Meghan quite rightly hated the fact that when she was in Nottingham Cottage, she had to agree well in advance what time she might leave for an appointment or an event and she had to make sure she didn’t leave at the same time as, or clash in any way with, a more senior royal leaving the palace,” a former Kensington Palace staffer said.
How Meghan treated staff: Another problem was the servants: Meghan both loved having everything done for her by the domestic staff and also hated it. As one former staffer said, “Through absolutely no fault of her own, Meghan wasn’t always great with her staff — she just wasn’t used to it as Harry was. So, one minute she would be really friendly, perhaps overfriendly, hugging staff and trying to make friends with them, and the next she would be irritated by the fact they wouldn’t respond instantly at all times of the day and night. At times it got so bad that I heard one of the senior staff mumble that Meghan should really have been employed in the palace kitchens. It’s true that her nickname for a while was the Duchess of Difficult, but she had other, friendlier nicknames, including Mystic Meg, which came about because she was so new agey, so woke, about so many things. She could be difficult because she was finding life difficult — trying to feel her way and work out the intricacies of a positively medieval, labyrinthine system. She couldn’t understand why Charles, for example, was so formal with his mother. She once said, ‘But they’re mother and son — why are they so completely stiff with each other?’ ”
Meghan had her supporters. Many of the ordinary staff liked the fact that she was feisty and wanted to change things for the better. “She was very straightforward and matter-of-fact,” said a former member of the Kensington Palace communications team. But the old guard was against her. One source said, “They [the older, public school-educated advisers] really had it in for Meghan and, to be fair to her, she really stood up to them. But, of course,if you make waves in the royal family, the senior royals will always back the courtiers, because in many cases the senior royals have been friends with the courtiers since childhood.”
Meghan just wanted to do her own thing: According to one of Elizabeth II’s former courtiers, Buckingham Palace grew really worried when they became aware that Meghan had plans for her life as a working royal that were not going to be part of a general strategy agreed with the staff — she just wanted to do her own thing. “But it was never going to be acceptable that Meghan should outshine Princess Anne, Prince Charles [as he then was] and the Queen. Quite rightly, the Queen always had to be the centre and focus of everything the royal family did and I don’t think Meghan understood why that would mean her doing things she didn’t want to do. She didn’t understand that when you join the royal family, you don’t do as you please, you do as you’re told.”
Meghan had a messiah complex! Harry, meanwhile, was delighted by the possibility of freedom, of doing things differently, that Meghan introduced into his life. Senior staff begged him to intervene with Meghan to try to make her toe the line, but by all accounts this was the beginning of what staffers describe as “Harry’s tendency to defend anything and everything Meghan says or does. She really did have a messiah complex,” one of the couple’s former staffers said, pointing out how Meghan was focused on how she could become the best-known and most loved member of the royal family. “I don’t mean that in a critical way because all her big ideas were about doing good. She once said, ‘What Diana started, I want to finish,’ and we took that to mean she wanted to become a sort of globetrotting champion of the poor and the marginalised. She has managed to do this to some extent, but she really wanted to do it as a princess and with the full backing of the royal family, but on a part-time basis.”
Meghan fought back: “You’ve got to hand it to her,” a former member of her staff said. “She really is a fighter.” One source said Meghan thought Kate was “just too eager to please, too much a goody-two-shoes girl”. Yet Kate did manage to negotiate difficult matters with staff and family relationships. The answer as to how is summed up neatly by a former member of the Kensington Palace staff.
Kate is a stronger person than Meghan: “Kate is someone who slowly and carefully absorbs the atmosphere of a place, the relationship between people and the rules. She doesn’t jump in straight away and try to change everything to suit her way of thinking. She bides her time and is very intelligent and intuitive about other people, what they do and how they behave. She was also coached — not just by William, who wanted Kate to avoid the problems his mother had encountered, but also by the staff. Kate was always happy to accept advice both from the lower staff, with whom she got on very well, and from the courtiers, even though some of them were initially very snooty about her. It was the same kind of backbiting gossipy criticism that Meghan had to put up with, but Kate is actually a much stronger person than Meghan in many ways. Yet what Meghan saw as Kate being pushed around, Kate saw as an essential part of being a member of the royal family.”
Meghan was a spare as well: “Kate’s view of Meghan was always implied rather than spoken, I think. It was that Meghan thought she knew better than an institution that had been in business for 1,000 years and more. Kate was never going to buy that.” The irony, given all that has been written about Harry being the “spare”, is that at Kensington Palace, it was clearly Meghan who felt she could not find her place; she too was a spare.
As always, I’m sort of amazed by how much projection is built into these people’s assessments of Meghan. It’s not that Meghan ever said or indicated that she wasn’t happy in Nottingham Cottage, it’s that the courtiers knew that they were treating the Sussexes differently on purpose, and they projected those snubs onto Meghan and made it sound like she was irritated. It’s the same with “Meghan hated the protocol” – she hated that she was being controlled to a ridiculous level and she could see that other royal women were not being treated the same way. It’s also obscene to say that Kate is stronger – Kate was so insecure about Meghan, Kate spread racist lies about Meghan, openly suggested that Meghan’s Black child would look bad for the royal family, and Kate still style-stalks and abuses her sister-in-law to this very day.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Instar.
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- North America Rights – London, UK -20190713- The Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Sussex, and Pippa Middleton Matthews in the royal box during the 12th day of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. -PICTURED: Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- 173969, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge attend the first annual Royal Foundation Forum held at Aviva in London. London, United Kingdom – Wednesday February 28, 2018. Photograph: Ã?© Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 534296456, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle to attend the first Royal Foundation Forum Under the theme ‘Making a Difference Together,’ the event will showcase the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation, and will include a number of delegates who have been involved in key projects. The Royal Foundation’s . programmes to date include Heads Together, the Invictus Games, and United for Wildlife. The Duke and Duchess, Prince Harry and Ms. Markle will appear on stage together to discuss why The Royal Foundation was set up, the projects they are currently working on, and their ambitions for the future. During the event, Their Royal Highnesses and Ms. Markle will also meet with other forum attendees. Ms. Markle will formally become the fourth Patron of The Royal Foundation after her and Prince Harry’s wedding.,Image: 534748353, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Pippa Middleton, at the women’s Final on day twelve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, 13th July 2019. Pictured: Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 13 JULY 2019 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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- 09-03-2020 Commonwealth Day Celebrations Westminster Abbey 2020
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- Australia Only, Norfolk, UK – 20181225 – British Royal Family Attends Christmas Morning Service. -PICTURED: Prince Charles, Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded Featuring: Prince Charles, Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry Where: Norfolk, UK, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2018 Credit: INSTARimages.com **Australia Only**
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- Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 11, 2019. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth – a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge sits near the Duchess of Sussex as they attend the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge stands with the Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey for a Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
Opposite Day in full effect with this bit of hysterical nonsense!!! Can’t is so strong she doesn’t want what she is wearing to be criticized so they can’t talk about that anymore lol.
She is so strong she can take a beating forever and not flinch – that’s how strong she is, poor cow.
Kate the mumbling, flashing ,obsessed stalker nicknamed the mattress, from working class grifter family. . Deleting her trashy history does not make it go away. The DM used to call her a manipulative tramp. Do nothing, done nothing what is there to admire ?
So Kate is a stronger person because she lets other people constantly tell her what to do? Okay. Just more anti-Americanism, misogyny and racism from the UK media.
Don’t forget she knows about Peggy’s wandering Willy and can be counted on to pretend everything is A-OK ,maybe that’s their definition of strong.
I think both Meghan and Kate are very strong, but in vastly different ways. Kate knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. She’s figured out a passive-aggressive way to survive in that zero-sum game, she’s near her goal and she’ll step on anybody who gets in the way. Even with this whole cancer fiasco, she’s coming out of it as St. Catherine because she knows that royals can get away with anything – all she has to do is put her head down and wait and waiting is her superpower.
Waiting is her superpower…indeed.
She lost in the process, she is wary of other women because they might have attracted William. She has no women friends. Kate also had plenty of time to get an Early Childhood degree or have a full time career but she wanted to “be there” when William called. She comes across as very dependent.
It is ridiculous how she was treated in the beginning. If she was strong why the Buckingham Palace staffs waved their white bedsheet outside the window with blood on it after their wedding night???
It didn’t happen for other members. Then why only her??? Why she never fought with the palace for treating her like that. In a modern era, a state institution judging an educated woman with old traditional views were very cruel. In these instances Diana fought against them. She stood for herself. But this woman….
Being white is Kate’s superpower.
@Tessa – Of course, she dependent. She fought for years to be the Ultimate Dependent. People seem to think the only way a woman can show strength is to be a go-getting American feminist, but Kate has never been that. She never had any ambition to be helpful or useful or influential or self-sufficient or even interesting. If she had, we would have seen it over the past 20 years. But she’s the one singular woman on the entire planet who managed to become the future queen of the UK. And that doesn’t just happen because her mother said “Get off your ass and marry a prince.” It takes work to avoid work for all these years, to dispose of your American rival, to become Queen Bee.
“If she was strong why the Buckingham Palace staffs waved their white bedsheet outside the window with blood on it after their wedding night???”
Whoa–what!!!??? Please spill. First I’ve heard of this. Thanks!
@Deering24, I saw that video a decade ago. I searched for it but unable to find it. A women from the balcony waved the blanket to outsiders. I barely remember the scene, some excited baby boomers were there outside. Not a big fussy scene like their wedding. But a small crowd I think. Under the video some people commented that it was the tradition and not happened to Diana because she was very young and from their closed aristocratic circle. But for kate, she had other men in her life, before William and during breakups. Also many criticised that tradition. I will post it if I get the link.
@Deering, were they trying to insinuate that she was a virgin. Because she was no virgin! I have never heard about her dating other men when they between break ups and it brought me to wondering. Has Kate ever had affairs? It’d be a lonely life if only William was out and about screwing everything in sight. Would she have someone on the side? Inquiring minds want to know. lol
Thanks, Honeybee and CherryBerry!
Okay, yes, royal adjacent upper-middle class white chick is so much stronger & has endured so much more than new/abused black royal.
jfc
Meghan actually worked for a living and had a career. Kate didn’t case closed.
Upper-middle-class-adjacent from Uncle Gary’s dodgy money buying access?
In any case, Kate middleton never was upper middle class. Her grandparents were bricklayer and miner. Her mom was born in a council estate and the family was so poor that initially she had to quit high school to help the family put bread on the table. She eventually was able to go back to get her diploma and wanted to be a school teacher, but again, the family was too poor for a child not to work, even though Teachers College was then free. She became a flight attendant.
That type of background isn’t even middle class.
And that’s the reason the Middletons are insecure, socially inept, and lacking in confidence. Yet they’re calling the shots in the RF.
Dealing with being pushed around is not strength, but I’m not surprised that they think that.
So what they’re saying is that Kate was the manipulative one that did whatever it took to cling to the class level she gained with that marriage, not Megan. That’s what they mean by “stronger.”
Meghan broke everyone in that household by literally doing nothing, it’s fascinating to watch
It seems that her work ethic and kindness got them all in such a tizzy, that they just couldn’t stand all the efficiency and end product as it made them all look like amateurs! What was she thinking making them look bad?!?/ snark
The writer is strait-up putting dialogue in Meghan’s mouth. As if Meghan said that she was going to finish what Diana started. That was in quotation marks as if Meghan said exactly that. I’m sorry, that’s just not believable. And someone saying that Meghan was focused on becoming the best-loved and best known member of the RF. Ummm what? And someone extrapolated that conclusion from her trying to do good work. This is a mess.
They only “work” for recognition. They can’t imagine someone actually wanting to do good.
It”s just bizarre. They are making up and imagining what Meghan was thinking and none of it has to do with her but with the biases of these sources imagining that she was out there thinking in her head that she’s going to be the very best ever in the world. I’m pretty sure she was thinking how am I going to survive these terrible people.
The line about how Meghan didn’t understand why she couldn’t outshine the Queen or Princess Anne – I mean everyone outshines Anne, lol.
but i do think there’s a partial truth to all of this – like I think Meghan wasn’t TRYING to outshine anyone, she just did, and that’s when she was told to dim her light and to try to be half as much, and she didn’t understand that because she was just being herself. And then when she did try to “dim her light” and wear muted colors and to let other royals walk in front of her or not laugh as much as or whatever – it was said she was sulking and unhappy etc.
This excerpt just really makes it sound like Meghan wanted to work hard and make a difference and didn’t understand why that was an issue for so many.
The real issue was outshining Kate. Anne was never a part of this.
It just reminds me of a moment in the Netflix doc where the whole family went to some nightly charity thing together. I can’t remember what. But when they had breakfast together the next day, Meghan said her heart sank when she saw that she got all the covers as opposed to the family together (bc apparently they have all the papers and tabloids spread out over breakfast bc that’s healthy). She yeah she did figure out that the attention she got was a problem for people. Sometimes people get geekily excited about things and are passionate and Im sure Meghan was like that and then she got shamed for just being herself.
Meghan and Harry escaped hell and they’ll never get over it. The royal handlers were treating her like Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters treated Cinderella. “Stay here, do all the work and we’ll let you out when we tell you to go out.”
Of course, the relative strength of two women must be a competition. smh
“Nottingham Cottage. A rather beautiful house in the grounds of a famous palace hardly seemed to Harry the equivalent to being forced to live in a shed at the end of the garden.” Is this the same place we saw in pictures from the documentary? It may not have been a shed but it barely qualified as a shack. Considering Meghan brought over some of her own furniture and purchased other items out of her own pocket to make the place livable should have been an indication it didn’t matter too much to her.
Some of the sweetest scenes in their docuseries were of them painting and making NC more of a home. Even in Spare Harry described the night he told her he loved her in NC, where it finally felt like a real home to him for the first time. The description was beautiful and sort of drew me in. I’d seen the photos of the inside and outside but it was his description of how they both made that small space a real home, that made me see it in a different light.
It had fallen into terrible disrepair and I remember watching them stain the wood on the outside and cleaning up the weeded over garden. Apparently the bedroom was just some jerry-built loft where you couldn’t even stand up and the furniture was decrepit. A rather beautiful house my ass…
We all remember how Hillary, in the kitchen of Nott Cott, couldn’t believe what she saw — which clearly wasn’t a “rather beautiful house”.
Wasn’t it Oprah who couldn’t believe it?
That comment that she should have been employed in the kitchens is so breathtakingly nasty and flat out racist.
Also, what I’m hearing is that it’s strength to let yourself be walked all over but weakness to stand up for yourself. Lol ok.
Right!!?? That comment was shocking! And the rest of it reads like an abusive relationship—she didn’t know her place in the hierarchy, so deserved all the abuse she got. In fact, she was so low in the hierarchy she should have been in the kitchen, so she should have been grateful just for being in that shack on the palace grounds. Good lord the racism and contempt for her.
So basically a lot of the staff was racist trash bc telling a writer about that joke is something else. It’s like putting out a neon billboard proclaiming yes we are very much racist here. Jeez.
My jaw dropped when I read that kitchen line, though I shouldn’t have been surprised.
They saw Meghan — a professional woman with experience in international humanitarian work, as well as a successful acting career — as a downstairs cook. Because she’s Black.
None of this makes Meghan look bad. None of it. But it makes the royals and palace courtiers look terrible and racist.
Also, no human being should be considered a “spare,” and the monarchy is sick to categorize people in this way.
Of course they saw this educated, accomplished biracial-Black woman as having her proper place in the kitchens. Just like the Orange Menace and his followers insisted that an accomplished lawyer (Harris) who had passed the famously difficult California Bar Board tests has “a low IQ”. Yeah, sure Jan.
Many white people have no imagination but prefer to assume that non-whites are inferior in every way. I guess it soothes their Caucasian souls.🤷🏾♀️
Racism is one hell of a drug.
There seem to be some basic truths here. Harry is the Spare and Meghan is Mrs. Spare. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been born into the RF or who hasn’t devoted their lives to working for them can fully comprehend what an ossified institution this is. Imagine a reward and punishment system that depends entirely on one person, the monarch. Everything flows down from that one person, all the levels and degrees of importance, who gets the biggest piece of the pie, everything, everything, down to the head gardener and under gardener. And then you bring in an American woman of color, from California, no less.
Even if the fiction of W&K being initially welcoming were true, it could never have lasted. Not only because they’re horrible people, but because they can’t imagine a world without the hierarchy. That’s why they can’t even connect with their own subjects, let alone an American.
🎯
I am actually surprised that there are some positive comments about Meghan in this book. The comment saying that the staff did like Meghan except for the old guard kind of explains it all. The traditionalists didn’t want to change and Meghan was disrupting their routine.
I agree with everything Kaiser had said here. What’s being left out of this is the xenophobia and racism that Meghan suffered at the hands of staff and family members. Harry was well aware of a status from very young he just believed for a long time that was his destiny. Plus there’s still no evidence of Meghan bullying staff.
Look if I had married Harry, I would’ve done the same thing as Meghan . I would’ve looked around and said “this is some bullshit. I can’t believe how you’re being treated” and I would’ve told him he deserved better.
That’s what those people are mad about that Meghan made Harry realize that life didn’t have to be that way that he could be more do more. As Meghan once said, it’s not enough just to survive you must thrive.
“I heard one of the senior staff mumble that Meghan should really have been employed in the palace kitchens.” Interesting comment from a staff member as “coloureds” ( Palace word) were only employed in menial positions, they wouldn’t employ them in the offices. Explains why the white staff didn’t like taking orders from Meghan. Cats out of the bag.
I’m surprised they let that out.
Stating that the Royals are so insulated by institutional and generational wealth that they simply don’t think about housing insecurity others might experience is not exactly the flex they think it is….
Yeah, that stuck out for me, too. They’ve always had houses & furniture, they just don’t think about such things. WOW. Talk about out of touch.
A smarmy hit piece. Kate is not strong, her life depended on William’s whims, she never used her degree, she is a mean girl. All the “nasty nice” criticism of Meghan is the same old same old nonsense. And protocol shifts with the sands in the RF. The double downing on the St. Kate spin because Kate has been criticized. of late
I know they THINK it’s a hit piece but from my American point of view, it doesn’t make Meghan look bad at all. It makes her look like a fish out of water at worst. They believe it’s the worst thing in the world not to conform and shrink yourself to fit in for this stunted institution.
what bothers me is there is no proof that Meghan bullied staff yet it is taken as “fact.”. The bad part is she had no chance to testify. and the “report” disappeared.
@tessa
I’m convinced they took her wanting to do things differently as “bullying”. And, hey, maybe the constant push and pull between the old school courtiers and the new school Sussexes stressed them out, but that still doesn’t constitute bullying.
I agree. They’re the ones who look bad here. The childish nicknames (who does that past grade school??), the in-your-face racism (she should have worked in the kitchens??), the refusal to change & adapt, the lack of common human kindness for others. Breathtakingly awful work environment, completely lacking in professionalism.
Snuffles, there is a process in real businesses to file complaints. And the one accused gets a chance to refute. The way it was done with Meghan is a scandal. There is no tangible proof she “bullied.” And the charges are “vague”. And people don’t have to answer emails from 5 am in the morning. they can be answered during working hours. The royals can make up “protocol” as they go along. I think William was instrumental in setting this up–he wanted Harry to “take his time” aka “break up” with Meghan. He wanted to make things unpleasant. In a real work environment there would need to be transparency not a vague “report” that is hidden out someplace probably because they found she did nothing wrong.
Who are these “staff members” who spoke about Meghan’s supervisory style. Meghan had no chance to testify against accusations and the “report” commissioned by Will’s minion Knauf is shut away some place.
The, “She should really have been employed in the palace kitchens” tells it all, the staff don’t like taking orders from a black woman, the report wasn’t published because the accusation was unfounded, BP would want the world to know they employ racist staff, after all, the late Queen was the head of the Commonwealth the majority of whose citizens are brown skinned.
They’re mad Meghan stood up for herself, period. Kate is the weak one, willing for the nobility and the snobby staff to trash her and her relatives to fit in. Can anybody tell me if Kate or the Middletons are close to the Spencers? I’ve seen no indication they hang out. The aristos will always see Kate and the Middletons as social climbers and titles for Mike and Carole won’t change that.
“She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because, having always had them, they take them for granted”
Mmmm, so how do we explain the so-called “battle for Royal Lodge”,
And W supposedly putting his foot down to ensure he, not the Gloucesters, got the best apartment at Kensington Palace… then rubbing that in their faces by moving his family to Windsor
And if they don’t care about houses and material possessions what about Charles and Dumfries house?
And if material possessions don’t matter, why not let Duchy tenants buy their homes?
The list goes on and on and on
yeah, the bit about royals not caring about houses and material possessions makes this whole book farcical.
That first quote is such b.s. The royals are the most class and status conscious people I’ve ever heard of. Doesn’t Charles travel with his own bed? Anyway I’m glad Harry and Meghan escaped. And this should put to rest those stories about how Harry “longs” to go back to royal life. Sure, Jan.
Yet how come Kate was in such a hurry to get to wear some of the recently deceased Queen’s jewelry. If she “did not care”.
when I think of Kate strength is the last word I would use.. shallow, vain, unaccomplished, insecure, talentless, rude and racist all are words that immediately come to mind when Kate is mentioned.
Agree 100%. She wouldn’t be able to withstand a week of the abuse Meghan has endured for years. This piece is just pure, unadulterated BS.
This article just reinforces why the monarchy is such a cumbersome, archaic system that should be abolished!
The royals themselves are a petty, dim witted bunch of idiots who would not be able to achieve all this rubbish without the massive amounts of Courtiers, private secretaries, etc etc who really run the Monarchy. Hangers on in their hundreds (or thousands!) who can’t ever let their generous salaries, perks and housing ever go.
The royals don’t want it to go, Mumbles Mcbuttons, Slumlord Willy and co are part of a system that rewards them with obscene wealth for existing and complying.
The hangers on really DON,T want it to go, as they would never get anything like the perks, power and money in the real corporate world.
Kudos to Meghan, so tried so hard to change this, but it’s beyond anyone person to change it. Only a complete and massive overhaul by the government and legal system would ever get rid of this stupid and bloated “royal” con.
The funny thing is that I don’t even really think she tried so hard to change it. In the sense that Meghan was willing to learn and wasn’t trying to burn down the monarchy. She was willing to work within the status quo. I think a lot of us forget that they would have likely stayed if the family hadn’t been instrumental in throwing them to the wolves. However, I think she did drink the Kool aid that they were all about charity and public service and was excited to contribute and come in with her ideas but when she went behind the curtain, she realized there was no “there” there. She decided she wanted to try and bring some substance but they firmly rebuffed her and tried to destroy her
Keener’s “strength” is written all over her face. Can you imagine her posting make-up free, let alone without excessive photoshop? The strongest, hardest thing to do is to get out of a toxic situation and not allowing abuse to continue. Harry and Meghan managed to leave, speak out and thrive. I wish the exact amount of the settlement with the Sun was known, because it rather seems like the rota (and the Windsors) know Harry is financially set for life because of a massive amount of Murdoch money and are melting down because Harry bested them at their own game.
This just sounds like the classic introvert vs extrovert…Kate being the introvert obviously. No one can blow normal human beviour out of proportion like the monarchy. (Team Megan all the way though. Lol)
Kate is not an introvert. She’s an exhibitionist and she plays the submissive role publicly because that’s what the misogynist media expects.
She has those “wardrobe” malfunctions including the one with the red dress when she got out of that car.
And she made the suit she was assigned for fashion show to see through outfit.
Exactly!
I would agree that she has an exhibitionist streak.
I firmly believe Meghan and Harry would’ve tried to tough it out a little longer if Charles had agreed to fund Meghan. He was the one who broke the contract. Why on earth should they be public property and live in a cottage and be the “spares” and then not even be supported?
How could they tough it out when Charles had no control over incandescent son William. Charles allowed William to drive them out. And William actively tried to break up Harry and Meghan.
Honestly, I don’t think that was even the straw really. The fact that they wanted to sue the papers over Meghan’s letter and the palace kept giving them the runaround bc they didn’t want them to sue was a pretty big deal. And then Harry choosing to sue the tabloids. While William and Charles were in full on relationships with the tabloids at that point. Leaking and planting about Meghan. It was untenable. But Charles not wanting to pay for Meghan was a very big red flag and some serious foreshadowing for things to come.
Kate increased her clothing spending twofold during those two years when Meghan showed up. Meaning, if Charles set aside X amount total for all four of them? Kate deliberately took all the money that would have gone to Meghan’s clothes. Yes, Charles is a sh!t. So is kate.
The most laughable thing I have read in YEARS …
I feel dirty reading this filth. It’s filled with racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and classist language that makes my skin crawl because they say it with such ease. Referring to certain staff as “ordinary” and others as the “older, public school educated advisors” and the unnecessary comment about her being better suited to work in the kitchen. Them talking about how Harry felt the need to constantly defend everything she did and said, was in their minds, her seeing herself as the Messiah. Not that Harry saw her in that way but that they assumed she saw herself in that way.
I think the part where they try and bring in BP in the conversation instead of just KP or Charles and Camilla is because they want a new angle to protect William and particularly Kate. Them saying that they were concerned that she was trying to outshine Charles, the Queen and interestingly enough, Anne, doesn’t seem likely. She and Anne had a seemingly good relationship and Anne has always been one who sees the royal family’s global appeal as paramount to their longevity, so I can’t see her being concerned that someone more well known globally is outshining her. I think if that were the case she would also have had an issue with Diana and even Kate. I think they included Anne because they can’t include Kate who was and is the real person who was jealous and concerned, because they can’t keep letting us know that it was always Kate who had an issue with the biracial woman who’s better than her.
Nerd, your comment deserves a “LIKE.”
Kate was absolutely jealous and insecure about Meghan. As for Anne, it sounds absurd. That said, I think Anne might have had issues with Diana back in the day? Don’t quote me bc I wasn’t there and who knows how accurate the reporting at the time was.
In that documentary about Diana with just interviews/ news reports . Anne snapped “no” at a reporter who asked him if she heard about William’s birth.
You can see the moment Kate knew she was screwed when the “fab four” were on stage for the one and only Heads Together appearance. She and William both knew they were about to be completely shown up, and they couldn’t stand it.
Yes, Anne and Alexandra both did. They went to QEII and demanded a change in the Order of Precedence so Diana and Fergie would have to curtsy to them if their husband’s weren’t present. Anne and Alexandra are in the line of succession, Diana and Fergie were not.
Also, Anne bitched so much QEII gave her the Princess Royal title to distinguish her from Diana and Fergie. She could have awarded it much sooner but she didn’t. It was only after Anne’s bitching that she did.
The Queen had to give Anne the Princess Royal title because she was so upset by all the press Diana and then Fergie were getting. Anne was cold to both.
Over the past year I have been wondering whether Kate is a stronger person than Will ? Carole’s PR has been about how she and Kate have provided Will with a secure and normal family. They claim to keep this volatile man from a famously dysfunctional dynasty calm and functional. Kate’s family took care of her last year and are back in favour after recent negotiations? She has her family’s support and she is remaining married, is PoW and FQ. They are in this together. Will alienated his brother and has complex relationships with his dad and stepmother and other extended members of RF. He has lost weight and looks preoccupied by the realisation that he could inherit the throne very soon. He does have 3 children to parent and love which is a blessing. He looks so burdened and wretched despite his wealth and platform to make a positive difference. He seems lost and uncertain. He needs to find his purpose in life and get the therapy he needs to do something positive not punish others with anger.
“ At times it got so bad that I heard one of the senior staff mumble that Meghan should really have been employed in the palace kitchens.”
Wow, no racism there at all…🤬🤬🤬
Nott Cott was such a wonderful home that William and Kate refused to bring George home to it and Kate and William only pretended to live there and instead she lived with her parents.
🎯
W and K never lived there… she lived with her parents when she wasn’t in Wales with William.
They required 1A for George.
Quinn just uses second hand information and makes unsubstantiated claims. Claims must be backed up by verifiable information, his do not its “a courtier said” without stating that the courtier was in fact present when something happened. A claim is not valid when the courtier is repeating something he heard.
The last three photos , with Kathy in the red coat and hat, and Meghan behind her in white, say it all for me. The sly and hateful look she is giving Meghan, in a church of all places, shows what type of woman she is.She may be Princess of Wales and future Queen but that means nothing at all and never will.
Tom Quinn writes a lot, on many subjects and delights in gossip, but he’s neither a royal commentator nor a historian. As a matter of fact he has no university degree. He went to a northern university but didn’t complete his BA. Prior to that he had gone to a private independent school. He has no Wikipedia page, and isn’t respected amongst writers.
“She saw Kate and William living just a few yards away in Kensington Palace itself with teams of live-in servants”- are we going to talk about how this article just low-key blew the cover off W&K doing everything themselves because they’re soooo normal??
I went to the Times link and read the whole piece. It’s shocking that they came out and admitted to bullying and hazing Meghan as much as they did. That they would have treated her differently if she had been a white UK aristocrat. That senior courtiers HAD IT IN for her. That there was incessant worry about overshadowing the bland senior royals. Those senior courtiers will be dead or retired soon, and won’t be around to see the damage they did to the royal family. Because the loss of Harry and Meghan is a mortal wound. And I’ll be laughing my ass off.
I feel sad for Kate, she’s in competition with Meghan. What Kate doesn’t understand is that others are using her to compete with Meghan. Meghan is however in competition with no one. Kate lives for the outside world.. her private self and public self are in conflict and her Soul is not having it. It shows if you look into her eyes (eyes are the window to the soul). Meghan is not in conflict, she is true to her soul’s calling and doesn’t have to be a different person in public in order to be liked. Whether you like her or not, she’s not changing her values just because Richard Eden, Angela Levin, piers Morgan, Dan Wootton etc. spread lies about her and hate her.
Anyway, I’ve never had a rolmodel – but Meghan is my rolmodel… when I go through tough time, I think about Meghan. May God protect Meghan, Harry, Archie, Lili & Doria!! No weapon against them shall prosper!!
I have absolutely no sympathy for that lying, racist, scheming b!tch Middleton. None.
“She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because, having always had them, they take them for granted…”
— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I think a truly strong person wouldn’t tolerate mistreatment just for the opportunity to be crowned QC. It takes real strength of character to walk away from the material trappings of royal life.
Those folks had never experienced a fully grown adult of Meghan’s caliber entering into that family as a married in. Princess Diana evolved from a very young woman to the person she later became. Meghan married in at that caliber and shook those racist to their core. But because she was Black, married to the Spare she was deemed unworthy of the status she acquired from their married. You cannot rewrite history because you do not like how it turned out. This Quinn man has never met Meghan, never spoken to her so what he is offering is conjecture. Of course those who wish to relegate Meghan to the characterization he employed with this nonsense will readily accept this, those with good cognitive skills will see it as another book destined for the discount rack because of its lack of substance.
Kate is just trying to hang in there to become Queen. She obviously does not have much pride left and whatever self esteem she may have had has been trampled upon. From her back story she got around a lot in her circle looking to snag a well to do husband before and during her courtship by William. And was employed as a yacht girl. In addition, there is document information showing she was an exhibitionist while in college. This is the history we have seen re her character. No rewriting can change this.
Meghan should have been working in the palace kitchen or whatever racist piece of shat I just read. Like seriously, why because she is black she should do the servants job and had no place in the actual family. Hence why Kate was a b to her . Hence why that family stuck them in a shack . F these racist goats . I have had enough. Kate is the daughter of an air hostess.. someone better remind the tacky social climber and as for the rest of those folks . You are a bunch of welfare recipients robbing the public blind . Sit the f down and shut the f up. At least Meghan earned her own money . What the f have the rest of these salty b ever done?