Dan Wootton is a very problematic, shady “royal commentator.” Just in 2020, he broke the story of the Sussexes’ exit from the UK, when he was clearly leaked the Sussexit documents by Kensington Palace officials. He’s caught up in a bribery scheme involving KP personnel too, and I believe (still) that Prince William and the KP staff are consciously leaking to Wootton but only about the Sussexes, all as some kind of tit-for-tat arrangement because Wootton knows some dirt about William and Rose Hanbury. That’s my conspiracy! Maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, Wootton finally got around to doing a “commentary” piece about the Finding Freedom excerpts. I won’t bore you with all of the sh-t he says about how selfish and self-aggrandizing the Sussexes are, but I did want to highlight a few curious sections (you can read the full piece here):
Why Harry & William’s relationship became strained: Strains between the previously tight dukes were evident from the moment Meghan became the driving force behind Harry’s decision-making, encouraging him to stop working with the royal reporting rota and instead embrace the use of social media. But ultimately the breakdown was personal. From the start, Kate was horrified at the way Meghan spoke to staff members at Kensington Palace and it was clear they would never click in the way Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson had once done.
The “tiara drama”: The now infamous tiara row, which I first revealed in November 2018, was the culmination of many fallouts before the wedding. Afterwards, William and the Queen’s dresser and closest confidante, Angela Kelly, were united in their decision not to loan Meghan items from the Royal Collection, which included tiaras worn by Diana.
Wootton’s narrative about how he broke the Sussexit story: Much has been written about how I broke the story of Megxit, with the finger incorrectly being pointed at both Clarence House and Kensington Palace. The couple like to promote the idea that they were somehow ambushed into revealing their plans after we published the world exclusive on January 8. However, they neglect to mention I had originally put the story to their office ten days earlier and had discussed every aspect of what we eventually published with their officials. It is not a coincidence my first story of the move included details of the Sussexes’ unhappiness about the release of photographs over Christmas featuring the Queen, Charles, William and George. The biography goes further by pointing to the absence of a picture of Harry, Meghan and Archie on the Queen’s table during her annual Christmas Day message. It is inconceivable to me that this wasn’t a purposeful slight by the institution, trying to make a point to Harry and Meghan: “Come back and join the party during events like Christmas or we’ll pretend you don’t exist.” It backfired spectacularly.
Can the toxic relationship between the Sussexes & the Windsors be healed? There is a growing acknowledgement from both sides that so long as Harry and Meghan’s romantic relationship remains strong, that is highly unlikely. But this book is a spectacular own goal by a couple who like to insist they are opposed to bitchy off-the-record briefings and royal revelations using source quotes slagging off other members of The Firm. Because fundamentally, that’s all Finding Freedom is.
I do not understand Wootton’s narrative of what happened with the Sussexit leak – “I had originally put the story to their office ten days earlier and had discussed every aspect of what we eventually published with their officials.” Ten days before he published the Sussexit exclusive on January 8th… that would have been December 30th or so? Harry and Meghan flew back to the UK from Canada in the new year (and they left Archie in Canada!), and they came back armed with the plan to force the conversation (of their exit) with the Queen and with Prince Charles.
The Queen’s people and Charles’ people were the ones who told Harry to submit something in writing before they would even agree to meet with him. So he did, even though he feared the plans would leak. Sounds like the plans were leaked to Wootton shortly after he submitted them, and Wootton immediately went to Harry & Meghan’s staff and showed them what he had. Maybe they said “no comment” and just waited until Wootton published, or maybe they gave Wootton a nod, knowing that at least then the issue would be discussed immediately. Both sides are playing fast and loose about who said what and where. It’s more than possible that Kensington Palace (or someone from another palace) leaked the Sussexes’ plans AND Wootton went to the Sussexes’ office for confirmation. It’s more than possible that the Sussexes used Wootton’s attempts to confirm the story as their advanced notice that the story would break soon.
Also: Kate being horrified by the way Meghan spoke to staffers… Jesus, these smears just will not die. Meghan made Kate cry, Meghan made all the white women cry, Meghan used words in front peasants, it’s all Meghan’s fault! There will be no peace in House Petty until Harry falls out of love with his wife! Think about how awful that is. Last thing: of course Angela Kelly and Prince William were in cahoots about the jewelry. Jesus H.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
We knew this at the time, or shortly thereafter. I think it makes sense with the whole story as we know it. Harry was told to put something in writing, so he did (maybe even via e-mail), it leaked immediately to Wootton, who gave them 10 days to respond (which is surprising to me, that he didn’t just publish it, but my guess is that had more to do with the Sun confirming it and checking with lawyers) and my guess is during those 10 days Harry was frantic to get in touch with the Queen and Charles, probably saying “someone whose name starts with Will and ends with -iam leaked this, and its going to come out, and we need to meet NOW” and they kept brushing him off so when it was actually published, he said eff it and published his response.
Wootton is a piece of trash but there are some interesting tidbits here, again tidbits that he thinks help the royal family but they actually don’t. We’ve heard for 8 months that the pictures during the Christmas address were just meant to emphasize the line of the monarchy – queen’s father, son, grandson, great-grandson – and weren’t meant as a slight to the Sussexes at all. And now Wootton is saying it was an intentional slight. Well, the Sussexes got the message.
And every time they mention how Angela Kelly – a staffer – was blocking Meghan’s access to the royal vault – it just makes them look so petty and mean spirited. She’s the daughter in law of the future king, and you’re blocking her so she cant wear royal jewels but you’ll send her on international engagements when she’s 6 or 8 months pregnant?? So you want her to do the work but not get any of the perks, like a country house or access to jewels etc. meanwhile you have to bribe the other duchess with shiny “new” jewelry to get her to venture out.
Ugh. Just typing it out is making my blood boil again.
Yes, and this timing underscores just how ridiculous it was when Harry asked to see his grandmother and he was told that he could not see her until January 29th. So, Harry knows they’re going to publish something soon (because they made him put something in writing) and they are still putting him off from seeing the Queen? They not only leaked the info to Wootton but wanted to make damn sure it was published.
“tidbits that he thinks help the royal family but they actually don’t.”
He’s not trying to help the royal family. He’s creating future drama and story lines by forcing them to respond. Tabloids cannot live on leaks alone, they also stir the pot and reap the rewards.
Becks, I agree with you about everything. This was the original story. He gave them 10 days to respond and rather than respond to him, giving him a rundown of their plans (because why TF would they do that? Seriously?), they launched their website and got their own ideas out there in their own words. Especially since they weren’t getting any cooperation, or even meetings with, the Queen or BP.
This is what The Sun did when an ITV host was outed as homosexual, despite being married with children. The ITV host was allegedly involved with a MUCH younger staff member who initially started working there as a teenager.
The Sun had the story and went to the ITV host and told him they could spin the story favorably for him.
I think Wootton wanted to do the same with the Sussexes. He goes to their people to let them know he has the info and tried to negotiate a way of getting the story out so The Sun has the exclusive. We know Wootton is good friends with KP’s comms director’s live in boyfriend, so there’s the likely sources. Byline Times has a series of articles about the connection and payments made to the live-in boyfriend.
My impression is that the Sussexes didn’t play ball and let the 10 days run its course bc there was no way around it. They couldn’t trust any of the palaces. The Sun was going to make the story negative regardless.
Not to mention the toxicity of the “Join us for Christmas or we won’t feature you as a family member” BS. He just admitted that part out loud. 🚩🚩🚩🚩 Red flags all around. As hurtful as that blatant message was, I’m glad they cut and left. So incredibly toxic.
I just had the thought… I’m surprised he published this part. Up until this point, messaging has been that the Sussexes, in all their victimhood, imagined all the slights and they were welcomed with open arms. This admission confirms what we (readers of this site) already knew — the gaslighting was real and it was petty.
Agreed. As for whether or not he’s helping, I can see it both ways. He can be seen as saying to the Cambridges “Give me more or I start spilling” as he mentioned William’s involvement. Or he could be saying “Look! Even the Future Future King doesn’t like Meghan! Therefore everyone who hates her is now validated by William!”
I agree that Wootton isn’t revealing anything new about him threatening to reveal the story…. it’s what Harry and Meghan confirmed when they made their website public. That’s not a scoop of any sort.
I’m still not sure the Christmas thing with George was a specific slight on the Sussexes because Charlotte and Louis were excluded. And none of her other great grandchildren showed up in the pictures for the Xmas speech outside of the Cambridges. I’m sure there have been slights but I don’t think Dan knows what he’s talking about here. BP doesn’t talk to him like Christian Jones and his bf do on behalf of KP.
As for linking AK47 and William with the jewelry, I think that Dan having some fun. William doesn’t care that much about the jewerly and AK47 is petty enough to do that stuff on her own. Do I think he’s playing games with some of Diana’s stuff? Possibly but that would be Kate being involved as well. Her use of Diana’s earrings and using baby clothes that Harry specifically wore is totally part of her Diana cosplay.
@Nic – for the jewelry, I think William is petty enough to start caring about it, but I do think it would come from Kate – in a “only one married-in gets to cosplay Diana” kind of way, and Kate would make sure it was her. (note that I don’t think wearing a piece of jewelry from Diana is cosplaying her. But…..with Kate…..) I think William has become (maybe he always was) very obsessed with his status as future future king and he would use something like jewelry to lord it over Harry.
I don’t think the pudding cooking was an intentional slight, since as you said Charlotte and Louis were also excluded, but I think combined with the pictures during the Christmas address, it just ended up looking bad (plus, those pictures were so awkward lol.) I think they could have avoided a lot of the talk about “was it or wasn’t it” by not including the Cambridges as a family – a picture of William with George would have been better IMO. And I think Tom Bradby mentioned it at the time and now Wootton is repeating it – so I do think it stung Harry.
@Nic, I think the slight was Archie’s birth was that year, and yet, there was no acknowledgement at Christmas. The Queen usually says what she’s grateful for in that year, either vocally or photographically. And this year, there was no acknowledgement of Archie’s birth. Coupled with her absence from his christening and…hurt feelings.
That’s fair re Archie being slighted. But I still don’t think Wootton knows the workings of BP as he does KP. He probably just made an assumption and it isn’t far from the truth.
@Nic – I do completely agree with that. I think Wootton has clear contacts at KP (as we all know) but probably not so much at BP (maybe some contacts but nothing like his KP connections) so a lot of his BP knowledge is more guesswork/assumptions than anything else.
“I think the slight was Archie’s birth was that year, and yet, there was no acknowledgement at Christmas.”
@TheOriginalMia, not true, actually. Went back and double checked. Towards the end of her speech, TQ mentions that she and Philip welcomed their eighth great grandchild, then the speech wraps up with a segue into Christmas being about the birth of a child. The image on the screen for a couple of beats is the lovely picture of Archie meeting TQ and Philip, with Doria there.
I do agree the pudding picture, combined with the actual physical pictures next to TQ during the speech, came across as an awkward and heavy handed message, though not sure who the intended audience was.
Kaiser I just want to say thank you for reading all of this on our behalf and then excerpting, I can barely read what goes into these stories without feeling my blood pressure rising and always wait for your coverage of anything that makes it to the sources I do read (BBC News mostly) so that your narrative around it will calm me down again. That and most of the comments from fellow readers.
Thank you for this important public service!
Yes, they are excellent but make my blood boil
Was Meghan a ‘coloured’ house maid to them? Not allowed to wear the jewels or appear represented in family photographs but okay to bear children and work
It all feels as though it has big house slavery written all over it
The Royals seriously need to sort out their optics
(Apologies if this upset anyone)
I just have a hard time believing anyone in Meghan Markle’s position would march into a f*cking palace start being bitchy to members of staff. And I have an extra hard time believing that Meghan Markle in particular did that. I’m sure she’s not perfect and maybe some of the things she’s done would make for good gossip but it’s really difficult to take anything these people say about her seriously when every single story is so negative and so obviously meant to make someone else look comparatively good.
Also, the Lady MacBeth narrative they’ve got rolling here is beyond gross. If my family thought I was as dumb and spineless as everyone seems to think Harry is, I’d cut them out of my life too.
You know why I don’t buy it? Because just a few days before the wedding, they published an article saying that the staff was a bit “horrified” and taken aback that Meghan was too nice and would hug them. They blamed that on her “Americanness”. We didn’t hear anything else about staff until October 2018, when the smearing campaign started. Then, Meghan was mean and would “berate” the staff.
The hugging and niceness seems far more likely and goes totally against the grain of this stuffy, pretentious and hierarchical institution (who bows/curtseys to who, etc. within a FAMILY???).
It’s like they don’t expect people to remember what exactly they wrote, just that Meghan Markle=negative emotions.
@Lila I was about to say the same thing, that Meghan was criticized for being too “familiar” with the staff. The way this is worded, it makes you automatically assume Meghan was being mean to everyone but that is not what it says. It just Kate was horrified at how Meghan to her staff. And Kate supposedly is very stiff and reserved so it’s not surprising that she and Meghan didn’t “click”. Doesn’t mean Meghan is a horror show.
Being too familiar with the staff is upper-class code for not overtly treating staff as underlings beneath you, i.e. being too friendly with staff.
Meghan worked on SUITS for 7 years and neither her stand-in or any of the people that she worked with have nothing negative to say about her but all of a sudden she moves to England and 6 months after the wedding (when their tour of Australia, NZ, etc. was a hit), all of a sudden there are tons of negative articles about her and the KP staff. We all know it’s because suddenly after months of playing Candy Crush on their phones, they were being asked to actually do the work that they are paid for.
It’s a ridiculous narrative that this woman, with a nearly impeccable record of kindness, would enter this ancient institution and be more spoiled, demanding, and rude than literal blood born princes and princesses. Even if she wasn’t particularly nice after a while (and I wouldn’t blame her bc we’ve seen how they talked about her), no way she was worse than the likes of known brats like Will and Andrew.
How often do you hear men called out for being bratty? I think that might be why they claim it’s Kate who was so appalled at Meghan’s behavior. Middle-class Kate, who learned how to do things The Right Way (TM) vs American actress Meghan. One knows her place and the other steamrolls over anyone who gets in her way.
THIS. I dno’t believe these stories at all but even if she was rude there’s no way she’s even close to this bunch of privileged, mediocre, spoiled, lazy people who have never broken a sweat or lifted a finger in their lives. Also even if it’s true, I mean it’s the whole point of this antiquated structure. Meghan joined the upper echelon of British society, is a royal now and its her prerogative to stomp on the servants feelings should she so choose. Part of their job in this messed up institution is to accept it as her right and their duty to obey her commands.
Funny they have no problem serving the paedophile and his trashy ex.
I am not the biggest fan of Meghan, but I agree with this. She has never presented as the kind of person who would be rude to staff. It seems much more likely the opposite, and that she would be very kind and open.
Exactly. It is a complete lie that she would be rude to staff
This “Meghan was rude to staff” claim is the same one-sided nonsense as “Meghan made Kate cry” – IF (and that’s a huge IF) Meghan DID make Kate cry, or Meghan did snap at staff, WHAT OCCURRED that caused that behavior? Because her reputation on set and in the industry speaks for itself, and if there were stories of her being a diva then best believe they’d have come out by now.
I take the fact that the press has clung to these base-level statements repeatedly as confirmation that they have sourcing here (we’ve seen with the Angela Kelly story that they DGAF about real journalistic sourcing, so by sourcing I mean someone in KP whose word they just take instead of actually verifying). However, IF they were able to provide the WHY in either story (to flesh out the scenarios, to make Meghan look worse, to make Kate look angelic), they 100% would – but they haven’t.
I would bet money that someone on Kate’s staff made a remark (“that isn’t how things are done here”), Meghan politely but firmly pushed back (“well, this is how I’m going to do them”), everyone was just SHOCKED and this story was born. Unless and until they can point to the actual WHY of all these scenarios, it’s just more baseless fuming at the biracial duchess. I SEE YOU!
William & the Queen’s dresser decided Meghan would no longer have access to Royal Jewels, this sounds so petty and awful. It is like junior high with William as Queen Mean Girl
My theory is William planted the story about the emerald tiara in the Times to justify why Meghan was not lent any jewelry for the Australia trip. And all the racist royal supporters were happy to believe that nonsensical story.
What I’m confused by is why they think this makes William look good. He’s not the King, or even the Prince of Wales, but he got involved to ensure that his sister in law couldn’t borrow his grandmother’s jewelry…? It’s not HIS jewelry, and he’s still a few generations away from getting a vote. This doesn’t make him sound firm or authoritative; it makes him sound mean and small.
It’s sickening to read that he dare involve himself there, future king or not. How f*cking dare he intrude on that poor woman’s wedding like that? It’s beyond inappropriate. Imagine that scenario aside from the context of royalty, and you can see how out of line it is.
And really in the context of the court too, he’s got 2 deaths between him and the throne, he acts like it’s a forgone conclusion he’ll even be king so he can already barge in and order about everyone on anything. Well, newsflash if Betty lives to the ripe old age of her mother (about another 10 years) and Charles the same (30 years), William might die of old age before he sees a the damn throne. He needs to get a clue and some humility and just treat people with basic decency. At the very least during their own wedding plans.
Otherwise, he’s going to continue on like this, alienate everyone in his life with this kind of ego and end up a senior citizen who’s still throneless and loathed by the nation and everyone close to him.
Kate has her own stories of treating staff poorly, and her mother as well so I doubt she was shocked about anything except maybe asking the staff to actually work.
I was reading excerpts of Charles’ biography or whatever and it talks about how he would have tantrums and throw things at staff. And then of course the recent revelations about the Queen’s alleged lover, Angela, keeper of knickers and tiaras, also having tantrums, getting into cat fights, throwing things at staff… So all them upstairs and downstairs and in between people just be having tantrums and throwing things… but somehow Meghan, MEGHAN, lifetime working woman, came in and behaved so badly that those savages were APPALLED? These people must really think we’re all idiots. I’m ready to bet Kate has a tantrum for breakfast and dinner every day.
Ha ha ha with Wooten and the story about the jewelry *sounds* like it’s a twofer – one, to further the smear, and two, to subtly let everyone know who’s behind all this: William and the courtiers. I mean it’s not new news at this point, but think of what a bomb that is.
And I say again: this is all William. I think Queenie’s main problem is the same as ever, that she just pretends not to see problems, and I think Charles has it to a lesser extent, but also he’s not the King yet. This is all William flexing because there are probably fewer people on earth with whom he is as obsessed with as his younger brother.
My own personal and long held belief is that William’s obsession is with his brother’s wife.
He has been metaphorically running after her, all across the playground, pulling her pigtails every chance he gets, to get her attention and to assert his dominance.
And Kate knows.
I agree. That’s why Kate has repeatedly shown her bad side to Meghan. She’s notoriously competitive and jealous, plus she’s married to a philanderer. It was inevitable that they’d both treat the Sussexes badly out of a combination of covert attraction on William’s part mixed with jealousy of their hard work and success. It’s a horribly toxic situation.
I would agree, but it’s been acknowledged that William has been trying to one-up Harry since he was born. Hating Meghan was just one more way to get at his brother.
I’ll do a tarot reading and see if Willie has any attraction or feelings towards Meghan. BRB.
@February-Pisces Do that, but I can bet the answer is affirmative, but that he finds icky…like those super-duper straight guys that actually do nkt want to admit they have same-sex attraction.
I’d look forward to that reading, FP, and agree that it is in the affirmative as well.
The media has too much power,but in the UK my gosh,its like a rabbit in heat. They never learn it was just months ago a resenter Caroline Flack commited suicide. They dont have a stop button.
I think I’m going to have to cut myself off of reading y’all’s summaries of all of these royal “insiders”. So much bitch, petty, racist bile. It makes me irate.
The royal family and the “press” that revels in theIt petty nastiness- they’re all garbage and the world would be a better place without them.
Frankly I don’t even read the articles because the lies and extreme contortions the snakes make to justify them, make me upset. Same for Trump articles because I just don’t want to see his pictures or video. So I go straight to the comments only because Celebitches always have good tea and comments.
I just wish UK or Gen Z UK would start removing this insane family. They have enough personal wealth to GTFO. UK is getting more diverse and mixed every year but there seems to be a long way to go.
Funny, I don’t read the articles on Meghan or Trump either. I get too angry. I read what Kaiser has to say and the comments. I more than get the gist without the anger that comes from reading about the ignorant things they throw at the Duchess, or hearing Trump’s (shudder) voice.
Genuinely.
I get the abbreviated version here as well to spare myself a lot of agita from wading in the cesspool.
This is the only place I read up on my Meg and Harry news. I get too angry otherwise…so much toxicity most other places online.
Harry was trying to speak with the Queen and Charles after he knew Dan had the info about his and Meghan’s plan, but after he was continually stonewalled in meeting them he said fuck it and released their plans.
Imagine needing an appointment to speak to your own grandmother? What a family.
Not just his grandmother but his own father. He needed an appointment to talk to his parent! Yesterday someone said that the Windsors aren’t really a family because they don’t act like one – they act like acquaintances who are related by blood.
The royal tradition of excessive formality, even among family, is the relic of a bygone age and it is hurting them as a family to such an extent that it is hurting the institution. Because this is an institution made up by a family – and if they can’t balance those two aspects, then they are in trouble. It may have worked centuries ago when the ideology about family was different but it doesn’t work today.
It’s increasingly clear that the concept of family is way down the list of priorities for them. Humanity is not allowed. I’m so happy for Harry that he was able to make a break for it.
This is once again a sign of the Queen being a poor leader. There is no reason for her family to need appointments. She’s not that busy and she doesn’t do world tours anymore. This is someone who is unwilling to change what her father did in the 30s and 40s and sadly it seems like Charles is doing the same. Family businesses do not need to run this way. These people aren’t CEOs working 24/7 anyway.
What I don’t get is how it’s apparently impossible to get an appointment with anyone else in the RF and yet the RF was constantly complaining about being “blindsided” by anything and everything Harry and Meghan did. Including the timing of projects and what those projects were about, but also just all the personal stuff like wanting to separate from the Cambridge foundation, or move, or set up their own offices separate from KP, and any time they’d release a statement or make any kind of remark in an interview, and even sometimes they would claim to be baffled or blindsided by what Meghan was wearing. If you refuse to ever talk to your (grand)child about anything, then how do you expect that (grand)child to keep you fully up to date on every single thing they’re thinking, doing, saying, and even wearing.
“ As long as their romantic relationship remains strong ing” wtf
Yep. Not only they are not hiding, but they are sending this over and over again.
That was especially gross. It’s a marriage. “Romantic relationship” makes it seem like she’s a fling or a side piece or something. She is his wife, of a couple of years, the mother of his only child, the only family member he has that he can talk to without making an appointment and having everything he said twisted and then leaked. She is an HRH, a member of the BRF whether they like it not, and the Duchess of Sussex.
And the other part about how Harry became a problem once he started prioritizing his wife’s wants, needs, happiness, and wellbeing over anyone else’s? That’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do when you get married. You make decisions based on how they will affect your spouse as opposed to your brother or sister in law.
It is almost as if certain people don’t want to acknowledge that the marriage actually exists, that they don’t want to acknowledge her as Harry’s wife. That reads like the subtext beneath this wording.
Falls right in line with yesterday’s post. If Harry leaves Meghan (and presumably Archie as well) he will be welcomed back into the family fold with open arms. But only Harry and Harry alone. How horrid these people are.
Charles called Harry “c*ntstruck.” They don’t take the marriage seriously. They think Harry was an idiot who married his lust object and the reporters agree. Remember that story about how they were talking on the press bus in Ireland?
Gross. Charles is one to talk after musing about being Camilla’s tampon….
@Hope, I have never brought up that alleged c##tstruck comment before because the sourcing is a bit suspect; however, it does mesh nicely with the “blinded by lust” commentary we are hearing about now. So, it does make you wonder whether Charles really did say that!
Haven’t we all seen the pictures of how Harry looked at Meghan at their wedding? That’s not lust. That’s adoring, undying love. You’d think Charles would respect that because he had to wait so long before his true love was accepted by his family.
What a disgusting thing for a father to say about his son. Good lord, these people.
Right!?! That kept off the page and slapped me in the face. What a bunch of a$$holes. As long as you are with your wife and son….
Of course he did – he prolly found out about it 5 mins after the Cambridges did.
All of this hate to towards the Sussex’s is in most part driven by the Cambridges who are feeding the press to hide their own shadiness. The rest, well TQ is not going to stop is as is distracts from what her toe fetish son is trying to hide. Now we know why Fergie liked getting her toes sucked by that other bloke.
I had to LOL at the story about denying Meghan access to Diana’s ‘jewels’ in the Royal Collection – I didn’t think there was any, other than the ones that she got to wear as Chuck’s wife which Kate would have access to anyway. Diana’s personal jewellery was split between the brothers (and maybe other Spencer family members) – me thinks William was butt hurt that Harry gave Meghan a few pieces of Diana’s like that lovely blue ring. Didn’t Kate get a watch or something else on top of the ring of doom.
The story goes that William and Harry had divided the jewels between them two. As a spoiled brat, when time came to propose, Willaim decided he wanted a ring that Harry had- and Harry gave it to him.
Wooton qat least is very clear, I give him that. I said this yesterday, the spin is that William and TQ close friend together decided Meghan should not have access to the jewerly, implying she did something so wrong they got together to block her. Since AK is an old woman, I assume she was scared Meghan would steal something—you know, cause she is biracial? And William just wanted to fley his muscles and show Harry who was the boss while also pandering to Kate.
William and Harry were allowed to choose one keepsake piece of jewelry at the time of Diana’s death. William chose the watch, Harry chose the ring. The rest of the jewels were put away to be divided between them at a later date.
William swiped the ring out of the vault (did Angela Kelly help with that?). Harry was surprised in public by both 1) the announcement of the engagement and 2) the use of his ring.
Kate stans went off creating fan fiction about a deal between the brothers, whomever got married first got the ring, Harry loved Kate so much he wanted her to have his ring. All of it fan fiction lies.
@ Notasugarhere
So does Meghan get to keep the watch at least in exchange? Or is the D*ck With Teeth’s sense of entitlement gone past even that?
@nota “harry loves kate so much he wanted her to have his ring”. Lol, I bet Kate stans love that she has harrys ring and see it as some sort of ‘proposal’ from him. We all know how much they dream of harry and Kate being in love. Lol for days.
I think they denied her access to the royal jewels in general, and started using the spin that she couldn’t wear anything “made famous by Diana” from the vault because they thought that would fly with the public – Kate as future princess of wales has access to the jewels that the most famous princess of wales wore. And I think that could make sense – it could work that there is a hierarchy to the jewelry – compare what we see sophie wear to what we see Kate wear – but I don’t think that was what happened here. It wasn’t about a “hierarchy,” it was about completely blocking her. They weren’t saying she couldn’t wear the girls of great Britain and Ireland tiara. They were saying she couldn’t wear anything.
And that’s just a really bad look. (and it seems to be true, because I don’t think we saw her wear anything from the vaults, ever, besides her tiara, right? I know big jewelry isn’t really her style, but you would think they would have offered her some significant earrings or a pretty bracelet for her trip to Morocco etc.)
Remember that story about how Meghan asked Charles if it would be appropriate to wear a tiara on that Oceana trip since there was a state dinner scheduled and he told her “ no because it would smack of colonialism “ or something like that? I always thought it was odd that she asked Charles but now I’m guessing that if Angela Kelly/William were blocking her access to jewelry, she (or Harry) probably went to Charles to intervene. And Charles, being the company man that he is and not wanting to upset the FFK took his side. Maybe that’s how she got those earrings she wore.
@MsIam I always thought that story was strange, and honestly what stood out to me about it was that no one was helping her. No one was talking her through the things that ACTUALLY involved protocol. Meghan is intelligent, but still new to the royal life and she isn’t going to want to do anything on a royal tour that would be considered an insult. So I can see her just wanting to clarify “do I need a tiara?” and asking Charles about it because there was no one else she felt she could ask. To me that just proves that Kate wasn’t offering the little bit of help she could, and Angela Kelly was not either.
I do often wonder if Charles bought her those earrings. But those are also a great example of what I’m talking about – I don’t see Meghan lusting after some of the big diamond necklaces and such, but she did wear those big diamond earrings with that pretty blue dress in Fiji, and that would have been a prime example of when she should have been able to borrow something from the royal vault, but did not. It struck me as really weird at the time. Kate borrowed a brooch from the queen for her first international tour (to Canada.)
I just googled, and at the time all that was said was that the earrings were “borrowed” but KP wouldn’t say from where, and I feel like if they were from the Queen, they would have said so.
The maple leaf brooch has been lent out to Sophie for her visit in Canada as well. I guess they think Canadians don’t see enough maple leafs that they need to see a diamond one worn by the foreigners who pretend to care about the country. It wasn’t special so much as “oh you’re going to Canada don’t forget to wear that maple leaf brooch, it will please the peasants over there”.
And you know Kate is never going to pass up an opportunity to theme dress if she can help it .
It’s odd to refer to Harry and Meghan’s “romantic relationship ” that way. They’re a married couple with a child. She’s not a royal mistress. The passive-aggressive tone never ends.
Everything they say is gross.
Twist it a little…maybe they mean once Harry starts treating Meghan like a “wife” – when he stops treating her with affection, respect, and like a partner. You know, the way Cain treats Unable – certainly would describe their relationship as romantic.
But, yeah, everything they say is gross.
How can a cloakroom attendant be so powerful to say NO to Harry’s future wife? I don’t get this.
QEII has few close female friends remaining. Most passed away in the last five years. Her closest friend was her cousin Margaret Rhodes, whom she saw every Sunday at Windsor. Rhodes passed away in Nov 2016.
If I were Charles and Co., the idea of an employee having that much power and influence over my 90-something-year-old parent or grandparent would disturb me, monarch or not. There are plenty of stories of even the most intelligent elderly people getting taken advantage of by their carers and others who work closely with them.
Uh.. so where’d he get the story from if not the Sussexes, CH, or KP? Is he confirming BP leaked? Like, it doesn’t answer the question of how tf it leaked. Who cares how H&M responded. It was probably the last straw and it’s done now.
If I’m Harry and Meghan and I unfortunately break up, I would never go back to that country to live.
They dont give a damn about him.
I agree. They made him leave the military, which he loved, because he was going to keep getting promoted, be successful, and way outrank Wills. He has more medals and rank than William and when they (used to) appear together Harry had more bling to wear.
Also, someone needs to really explain why Edward, an earl of something, lives in a 57 room castle with a surrounding estate, and Harry, a duke who way outranks him, was installed in a former dormitory on his granny’s property that he now is in hock for.
I mean if these idiots want their way of life to continue they need to rewrite their narrative.
Edward was supposed to be the Duke of Cambridge, but he preferred Earl of Wessex because of his love of the movie Shakespeare in Love. He is supposed to be made Duke of Edinburgh after Philip passes, but we don’t know if Charles will follow through on that promise.
Edward is Philip’s fav, Sophie sucked up to the Queen and Philip. Sophie doesn’t have an honest interest in reading military history and horse racing. She engages in those things because it gets her in with QEII. Likewise, Lady Louise trains in carriage driving because it is a sport Philip helped to reinvent.
Sophie has carefully calculated her way through 25 years with the Windsors. Charles wants her and Edward out, so now she’s sucking up to W&K.
If I’m M&H I’d never actually break up just as a fuck you to the whole family. If things didn’t work out I’d quietly live apart. But that’s not going to happen because have you seen the way they look at each other? They’re head over heels in love. Their’s is truly a love match.
The only useful thing Dan has done was put them on notice after their plans leaked. Releasing it when they did to get ahead of the leak set everything in motion and allowed them to get the heck outta there before the pandemic hit. Imagine if they were still stuck there right now or trying to move??? a nightmare. The fact that no one was fired over that is still bonkers to me till I remember that everyone was complicit in the smear campaign.
William needs to get out of women’s business. Blocking Meghan from the royal jewels serves what purpose other than being a petty asshole…..?
It allows William assert his dominance over Harry (and Meghan by proxy) and forces her to realise (or so he thinks) that *HE* is the alpha male around here, and not her husband.
Well, he has just confirmed that Big Willy was indeed behind cutting Meghan off from the jewels..ugh, what a nightmare family.
I genuinely wonder how MM copes with all this. It’s relentless. It must be so hard to deal with, and for Harry too. How does one cope with toxic racist bullying on an international scale? And how does one deal, knowing that in all likelihood, the racist spotlight will one day shift to your child?
That’s why they got out early before William ascends.
Yes. Once William becomes King he will be even more miserable at having to work and be a 1/8th time dad. Best to get out before he become even worse and has all the power
At this point I wouldn’t surprised if she’s sick of hearing about herself. Everytime she read an article that says “Meghan Markle did…” she probably thinks to herself “Oh what did I do now?!”
At least I would
@JJ Mcclay, well my hope is that PR staff are dealing with most of it. H&M have their sights focused on building their own ‘foundation’ and international presence and reputation. I expect it’s someone’s job to survey media for their impact and influence. If most of this is limited to the UK and BM then they probably don’t respond or address it. Like I’m sure they’re aware but not consuming it themselves. I truly hope they’re forward facing
How interesting that he confirms that William was actively working to dull Meghan’s sparkle by working with Angela Kelly to deprive Meghan of any crown owned jewelry, because only Kaye can be the princess of the family and only Kate should be compared to Diana. So gross.
But Meghan and Harry are the ones who capture Diana’s spirit. They actually care about the people and causes they come in contact with. William is his father’s son except he doesn’t have his work ethic. Kate will never be the people’s princess.
Dan Wootten is a double edge sword. On one hand, he’s incredibly useful to William & the Crown. He has smeared and demeaned Meghan and Harry quite effectively. He’s leaked William’s feeling and churned up the hate. On the other hand, he knows William & the courtiers were behind the smears. He knows William was having an affair during Kate’s last pregnancy and probably more. He has a direct line to KP and anytime he wants an exclusive he can yank Willie’s chain and the Cambridges will come running. Hence these stories and pictures from the Cambridges’ Cornwall staycation.
Denying Meghan access to the jewels was incredibly petty. Thankfully, Meghan isn’t a status queen like Kate. She probably was hurt, but more than grateful for the Diana jewels she does now own.
Again, these leaks signal a weakness on the part of the Queen, the ineptness of Charles and the cruelty and jealousy of William. Defund the monarchy!
Wootton will eventually turn on KP when they don’t give him enough.
I think ‘tiaragate’ may have been desperate dans warning shot. It doesn’t do William any justice as he comes across as petty and calculating. Also it was only Sussex squad that picked up and used that story of William and Angela kelly, not Cambridge’s stans. I think their currency is running dry and they will eventually run out of resources to keep the likes of dan fed. How many clicks do Keenbridge stories actually get? Do people actually care about seeing their kids anymore?
He definitely will, no doubt about. Maybe it will happen if they get rid of his friend or once he stops getting good M/H/A stories. Stories about Cambs staycation and bike riding don’t bring in the clicks, but stories about William late night suppers with a rural friend and working with staff to make Meghan’s life even harder do.
These people need to Stop! The more they write or leak about the Duchess, the smaller they look. That includes the Rota, the courtiers, and the royal family. How can anyone hold up this institution as something to be admired after all that has been revealed? There is no mystique only a dull, petty, unintelligent lot. The kind of people you go out of your way to avoid.
I wonder if the Queen was manipulated by the courtiers/William into promoting those line of succession photo ops during the holidays, knowing it would twist the knife in Harry, but assuring her that the real purpose was to remind the public that the monarchy was stable.
I think plans were leaked to Wootton to derail as somebody didn’t want them stepping back. He went to the Sussexes to confirm the story and I think they wanted to liaise with family to try and confirm but had been put off so launched their statement and website to get ahead of narrative. I didn’t think it was the best move& wondered if they should have just gone with No comment until sorting things out BTS. But I suspect the BRF & media would have spun it their being sacked as part of streamlining the monarchy otherwise. The press were pushing this narrative about no working royals outside of the heirs etc after Andrew’s Epstein interview to try and get the Sussexes in line.
It wasn’t mentioned in above summary of the article but Wootton also claimed that a lot of work was put in by BRF for a move to South Africa for them and even claimed Sara Latham had agreed to move with them but basically make them out to be divas for deciding they didn’t want to move. If any truth to this it fits that Shipman piece about sending them to Africa.
If Sara Latham ever did a book that could be interesting.
A move to South Africa just drips of so many problematic elements. Apart from the whole “let’s send/exile the half black member to Africa” , the main reasoning in the Shipman article was “So they wouldn’t get attention there.” Yes they will. South Africa has Wi-Fi and the internet. It’s not some desert wasteland that some people (mostly white) think it is. And the press would follow them to space if they could. So that point is moot.
Now if they initially proposed the idea or something, it’s another story. But I believe Harry himself declined the prospect of setting up a base in SA in the Bradby doc (I also think he hinted at it being too “colonial” and I agree with him)
I do wish Shipman to write another article because he was one of the first reporters to actually blame the courtiers and shine a spotlight on William. But he probably hasn’t because his sources are now reluctant to talk amongst other things
@Betsy, I agree with you 100%! The fingerprints are all over the leaks and the pressure to smear Meghan. Wil has never been adored as much as Harry, which he holds international admiration and love. Harry is genuine and has a purpose in life just to sit around and not do something to make waves and changes. Once Meghan came along, the Firm was a hit with a double shot of 2 empathetic, hard working, creators of impressive patronage’s and a purpose of creating good to benefit everyone, no matter what country. Meghan is brilliant and driven with a strong work ethic and has the foresight to see places of great challenge and to use her position as good will. Yet, her Laziness became enraged that she was no longer the favorite of the press nor her contempt to work. Her Laziness was enraged and had Wil at her command and constant anger and instruction to smear Meghan as best as possible and to take her down. Wil was tired of her berating him on a constant basis and took matters into his own hands and started the leaks, the rumors, the smear and the jealousy of his brothers high admiration and love around the world. Hence, the smear has Wil’s fingerprints on almost everything that comes out of KP. Harry has always been approachable, grounded, creating aggressive programs on his own which is something that Wil has never expressed and he has been jealous of Harry for years. Harry is very much his mother and it shows in every speech, conversation and his down to earth encounter with the British citizens, as well as all citizens.
Sounds like someone is about to flip on the keenbridges! Either that or this prick lost track on his lies and is outing himself and his collusion with KP. I cant wait for harry’s hacking lawsuit and possibly lawsuit against KP staff that byline said were leaking to the sun.
I thought harry ‘blindsided’ everyone with his shock decision to leave without any warning. So how the hell did Desperate Dan know about it a whole 10 days in advance? He needs to get his story straight.
It was known that they were under an ultimatum from this shady character. More interesting… who is the leaker and why did the royals not do anytHing to stop that from happening?
This guy is so incredibly scummy. Who exactly is he defending in this article? He spills so much tea with these articles because he is so incredibly jealous of Scobie’s book, he shows the pettiness with the Royals with his scoops like the photos and the jewels, which he isn’t even coy about. He blatantly outs William as g behind some of this. They really, really can’t wrap their head around the fact the Harry is a married man with a family, with a grown woman for his wife, as though him going back to England will erase the past few years of toxic animosity. They really have a twisted,19th c. view of royal marriages. I’m not sure what is goal is here with this unhinged rant of Dan’s, because it’s not really defending the Royals. He’s such an odious, bilious character, I need to scrub my eyes.
Wooten’s revelations on William is a power play. It puts William on notice that he has the goods on Bill and will take a wrecking ball to his family man image if he doesn’t give him scoops, especially on the Sussexes. It also tells the world he can dog walk the FFK of the UK.
“Dog walk” 😂
The British media OWNS Will and I don’t think he realizes just how much ownership they have over him.
Desperate Dan really wants to tell the world that the future king is his little bitch. Thing is if Willie ever decided to have a conscience and doesn’t want to slander his brother anymore, he will never be able to stop because of the like of Wootton. Willie is trapped for life, he’s sold his soul to the devil and now is time to collect.
I doubt William has any contact with the Sussexes so there’s nothing for him to spill to Wootten. He finds out what H&M are up to the same way we do at the same time.
Very interesting with the timing- Dec 31 is when Kensington Palace told people to stay tuned for a big announcement about their work…
so is part of William and Harrys issues the story about William cheating?
I’m constantly flabbergasted at the amount of attention the royal family of England generates on this site and the details people seem to know about a bunch of people they have never met. I mean, I just don’t care that much about extremely rich people (with the caveat I do want Andrew to rot in hell) and their problems especially right now. Anyway my first and last post on the royals. Also anyone that hasn’t watched The Windsor’s is missing out. It’s hilarious.
My mom used to follow the royals in magazines, especially Diana. We live in Latin America. So, we’ve followed them for decades 🤷🏻♀️
@ Anne Call : yes, the tv show The Windsor’s is wonderful. I can’t look at the real royals now without seeing the acting counterpart’s face.
.
To be honest, I was unaware after the boys grew up, I thawed a but after Charles married Camilla, I saw some of the Grand 10 Year Wait shenanigans, but I started following more hot harry on a horse, and especially after he finally got with Meghan. They held my interest, while William and his growing family held none.
This is so true. I was a Diana fan. But I lost interest in the RF when she died. Not even the wedding of William and Kate could ignite my interest. I never watched it until now. And then when Meghan’s name was introduced as the girl from of PHarry it pricked my interest. I don’t know what it was about her but I began to follow them both until the announcement of their engagement and their pre-wedding tours of the U.K. And then the wedding. I spent more than 2 hours watching the live broadcast. From then on I excitedly began following their tours outside U.K. and the pregnancy announcement. But little by little I noticed the change in the coverage especially when she was pregnant. And it became worse when it came to the birth announcement. Since then the coverage didn’t get better. It was pandemonium. And all hell broke lose when they announced their step-down. But just like many I am a steadfast Meghan fan all the way. The whole world knows how the U.K. media and the RF, especially William, bullied the Sussexes. And it doesn’t easily forgive and forget.
There is something off about Dan Wooten’s story re timing. He was here in New Zealand on a family visit Dec-Jan. So he wasn’t the one trotting around to KP to offer up 10 days grace to Harry. If I remember correctly he was even interviewed on NZ TV saying he was here when it all broke. And he did say something about having to act fast when he got the news…
The entire Cambridge family-is Wooten’s little bitches to do what to whenever he wants.