Meghan and Prince Harry are moving to the U.S./Canada - OFFICIAL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Brit and I think good for them frankly.
None of us have any idea what the internal wranglings are like in the Palace and even my vaguest understanding is that the courtiers who work in the Palace are actually the worst people to deal with because of stuffiness and protocol. Who needs that its not 1950 and its ridiculous that they should be wrapped up in it too. They being H&M.
I disagree that they should have had the announcement approved - it would never have been released if they'd run it past the Palace. Never.

And those talking about Diana. You need to remember that she was 19 years old, not mid-30s, not already famous and independent. There is really zero comparison other than the fact they were both treated badly by the press.

Yep. Even their announcement says they've been in 'internal discussions' for months.

I think the courtiers were just trying to run them in circles going back-and-forth between Charles/theQueen/royal#3. Harry and Meghan said 'No, you'd had half a year and its 2020 now'.

Their announcement lit a fire under ALL their behinds.

Senior courtiers began discussions this afternoon and sources told HELLO! that they hope to come up with a plan that will allow Harry and Meghan pursue their vision for their future within days, rather than weeks.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2020010982950/latest-on-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-stepping-back/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this with the utmost respect: Why do this now and not wait until Charles is king? It seems needlessly cruel to do to the Queen at her advanced age.

Because then William will control the Duchy of Cornwall, and to whom it provides income and how much. Plus they might have missed their window to capitalize on their fame. The Queen could live another 10 years.

Exactly.

Her mother was 102 when she died. You really think they should have waited and been miserable until Archie was in middle school?

Its already been 3 years of daily attacks. F that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why it's a surprise to anyone that Harry and Meghan felt unsupported by the BRF. The Queen has consistently failed to understand the emotional needs of anyone in her family, with truly devastating effects: Margaret, Charles, Diana, and now Harry and Meghan. She's all duty and stoicism, but those admirable attributes come with a real blind spot toward others. Because she has such power over her family members' personal lives, this causes repeated crises in the BRF.

I like and admire the Queen, but gosh, you'd think she'd learn by now to listen and take seriously when her loved ones express real human, emotional needs.

I don't know how true to life this was, but there's an episode of the new season of The Crown where the Queen goes to a mining community in Wales after a mining disaster kills over 100 schoolchildren. She basically admits to someone in that episode that she lacks the capacity for empathy.

What is true about that disaster is that she herself had to be forced to visit, much like when Princess Diana died and she was silent for a week.

You do know the Crown is fiction

NP: Yes, but based on the biographies and information revealed by former royal family members (King Edward had a good one), aides, and courtiers.

Even if we didn't have that - its easy to look back on the Queen's biggest moments and see an inability to broadcast empathy.

After Diana's death (and the Queen was dragged kicking-and-screaming back from Balmoral in Scotland) - she might as well have been having her teeth pulled when announcing how sorry she was over Diana's death. And don't tell me she was taking care of William and Henry. That duty fell to Tiggy Legge-Bourke (Charles' nanny and supposed girlfriend) plus Charles himself.

Contrast to this message after the Australia wildfires -

What a beautifully heartfelt message. Thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

Guess those courtiers can't block Harry now. Instagram for the win.

Breaking: the Queen has convened a meeting of all four royal households and ‘tasked’ them with coming up with a ‘workable’ future role for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex within ‘days not weeks’.

https://twitter.com/RE_DailyMail/status/1215332501494870016

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this with the utmost respect: Why do this now and not wait until Charles is king? It seems needlessly cruel to do to the Queen at her advanced age.

Because then William will control the Duchy of Cornwall, and to whom it provides income and how much. Plus they might have missed their window to capitalize on their fame. The Queen could live another 10 years.

Exactly.

Her mother was 102 when she died. You really think they should have waited and been miserable until Archie was in middle school?

Its already been 3 years of daily attacks. F that.

There's more to life than the tabloids. It's understandable when high school kids are overwhelmed by social media. But these two aren't kids. They're supposed to be grown ups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cant imagine all this back and forth between Doria in CA, Canada, and UK is good for Archie.
And once he's like 2 or 3yrs old, won't they need to find permanent residence so the kid can start preschool?

Nah, he's going to grow up as a citizen of the world..

Poor kid.

And no relationship with William’s kids. Nor the other young royals’ kids (Zara’s, Peter’s and future children of Eugenie and Beatrice). See what one toxic person can do to a family? Archie will grow up in a shallow world.

Anyone who has had a narc/high conflict person marry in will recognize the pattern. It is sad for Archie. He will grow up very isolated. Not only does Meghan seem to want to isolate him from his family but they are really BURNING bridges.

You are projecting. Her family is bat shit crazy and it was a good idea to break with them. If Kate allows it, I don't see any reason why they won't have Archie see his cousins. They plan to spend time in England too. They are running away from dysfunction. You sound like a drama queen yourself trying to diagnosis someone you don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this with the utmost respect: Why do this now and not wait until Charles is king? It seems needlessly cruel to do to the Queen at her advanced age.

Because then William will control the Duchy of Cornwall, and to whom it provides income and how much. Plus they might have missed their window to capitalize on their fame. The Queen could live another 10 years.

Exactly.

Her mother was 102 when she died. You really think they should have waited and been miserable until Archie was in middle school?

Its already been 3 years of daily attacks. F that.

There's more to life than the tabloids. It's understandable when high school kids are overwhelmed by social media. But these two aren't kids. They're supposed to be grown ups.

They acted like grown-up.

Harry gave a declaration six months ago during the South Africa tour that they were fed up.

Nothing.

He initiated talks with his father in December.

Again nothing.

He came back to the country in the New Year and requested a meeting with the Queen.

She approved. Her courtiers said NO.

So this happened.

Now guess what? The Queen has demanded all four royal households get together in one room and have a solution by next week.

Problem solved.

That's how you get things done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean this with the utmost respect: Why do this now and not wait until Charles is king? It seems needlessly cruel to do to the Queen at her advanced age.

Because then William will control the Duchy of Cornwall, and to whom it provides income and how much. Plus they might have missed their window to capitalize on their fame. The Queen could live another 10 years.

Exactly.

Her mother was 102 when she died. You really think they should have waited and been miserable until Archie was in middle school?

Its already been 3 years of daily attacks. F that.

There's more to life than the tabloids. It's understandable when high school kids are overwhelmed by social media. But these two aren't kids. They're supposed to be grown ups.

They acted like grown-up.

Harry gave a declaration six months ago during the South Africa tour that they were fed up.

Nothing.

He initiated talks with his father in December.

Again nothing.

He came back to the country in the New Year and requested a meeting with the Queen.

She approved. Her courtiers said NO.

So this happened.

Now guess what? The Queen has demanded all four royal households get together in one room and have a solution by next week.

Problem solved.

That's how you get things done.

So they haven't had daily attacks for 3 years. Didn't think so

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cant imagine all this back and forth between Doria in CA, Canada, and UK is good for Archie.
And once he's like 2 or 3yrs old, won't they need to find permanent residence so the kid can start preschool?

Nah, he's going to grow up as a citizen of the world..

Poor kid.

And no relationship with William’s kids. Nor the other young royals’ kids (Zara’s, Peter’s and future children of Eugenie and Beatrice). See what one toxic person can do to a family? Archie will grow up in a shallow world.

Anyone who has had a narc/high conflict person marry in will recognize the pattern. It is sad for Archie. He will grow up very isolated. Not only does Meghan seem to want to isolate him from his family but they are really BURNING bridges.

And if you have a lot experience with a hammer, you might think everything is a nail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lovely timing. What with Australia and all.

Timing was about Kate's birthday. Meghan seems to have a fixation.

[Anonymous]

The Royal Marines are publicly backing Prince Harry. That family REALLY f'ed it up.



Contrast to when Prince Andrew stepped in his sh*t and they asked that he be removed from office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why it's a surprise to anyone that Harry and Meghan felt unsupported by the BRF. The Queen has consistently failed to understand the emotional needs of anyone in her family, with truly devastating effects: Margaret, Charles, Diana, and now Harry and Meghan. She's all duty and stoicism, but those admirable attributes come with a real blind spot toward others. Because she has such power over her family members' personal lives, this causes repeated crises in the BRF.

I like and admire the Queen, but gosh, you'd think she'd learn by now to listen and take seriously when her loved ones express real human, emotional needs.

I don't know how true to life this was, but there's an episode of the new season of The Crown where the Queen goes to a mining community in Wales after a mining disaster kills over 100 schoolchildren. She basically admits to someone in that episode that she lacks the capacity for empathy.

What is true about that disaster is that she herself had to be forced to visit, much like when Princess Diana died and she was silent for a week.

You do know the Crown is fiction

NP: Yes, but based on the biographies and information revealed by former royal family members (King Edward had a good one), aides, and courtiers.

Even if we didn't have that - its easy to look back on the Queen's biggest moments and see an inability to broadcast empathy.

After Diana's death (and the Queen was dragged kicking-and-screaming back from Balmoral in Scotland) - she might as well have been having her teeth pulled when announcing how sorry she was over Diana's death. And don't tell me she was taking care of William and Henry. That duty fell to Tiggy Legge-Bourke (Charles' nanny and supposed girlfriend) plus Charles himself.

Contrast to this message after the Australia wildfires -

You also have no empathy and are reluctant to understand how the Queen was raised and how she was expected to behave in public or what is it like to be in that role where you are under the lens 100% of the time.

She was raised to live by a very specific set of rules and precedence that had governed the monarchy for hundreds of years. When Diana died, she wasn't a member of the royal family. She was a commoner. Precedence dictated that Diana's death would be handled by Diana's family. That is why she initially stood out of it. As you like fiction, there's a very good movie about the Queen during this period.

She has shown herself to be remarkably adaptive and responsive to changes in the world around her. The monarchy changed greatly from the 1990s to today. Hugely. And it's largely because of her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:on the Prince Harry Watch twitter:

"The financial FAQ on the Sussex website is like an adult child telling his parents that by paying for his own phone bill, he's now financially independent .. but he's still living in their house rent-free & is staying on their insurance plan. AND HE'S MADE CHARTS!"

Well, if someone wrote that on Twitter, it must be a good analogy.

I actually think people bash them too much, but i agree with the tweet. Show true financial independence by refunding the cost of re-doing your home, pay for your own security and don't take handouts from daddy. All they need is a good investor and the 24/25 million they already have will go far enough.

No one knows that they aren't already anticipating just that. It feels like so much of this criticism jumps the gun. They made a brief statement with a basic outline of their goal with a promise to explain more as it all gets figured out. All the critics are jumping in with the most damning assumptions, and doing so with such relish (and so many exclamation marks!!!!!). I keep imagining some of these posters as the cheering and jeering crowds at a public hanging in 18th century London.

Nice try, but their website is quite detailed.

Only the part about the sovereign grant. Everything else is vague, and they explicitly state that they have to work out the particulars and will share them in due course.

Their website explicitly states that they are not giving up the other 95%.

It doesn't. It is silent on that.

NP here. It DOES explicitly state that they are relinquishing the sovereign grant, so I think its safe to assume they'd have mentioned it if they planned to give up their Duchy money as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Royal Marines are publicly backing Prince Harry. That family REALLY f'ed it up.



Contrast to when Prince Andrew stepped in his sh*t and they asked that he be removed from office.

The link doesn't say anything. It neither affirms nor condemns Harry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are Americans so taken with this? I would like to hear from some British citizens about what it means for England. It does seem like a balsy move.

I'm British, hi! I don't speak for all of us though. Personally, FWIW, I think:

1. It's fair enough that they would want to leave, and in fact many people have been telling them to do just that for ages.
2. I think it was really inappropriate to post their message without having discussed it properly with the Queen and Prince Charles. They essentially work for a (family) firm and just like in any job, it is inappropriate to post something public about your plans to leave before discussing it with your boss.
3. I think their announcement begs many more questions than it answers - what will it mean to be financially independent? How will they be able to carry out royal duties if they also earn money from other sources without compromising the need for royalty not to benefit personally (i.e. I think it would be problematic for them to be "influencers" and do adverts, and then also continue their patronages of certain charities).
4. I generally quite like them, but I think they come across as very whiny and entitled in this whole thing.

I would check out this mumsnet thread (the UK equivalent of DCUM) if you want to see what other Brits are thinking:

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3790218-harry-stepping-down-as-a-royal-family-member?pg=1

I agree with this. I just loved them as a couple until after the wedding. Harry is a grown man and can make his own decisions, but I do find it odd that Meghan just happens to have a history of cutting off family members and close friends; I believe she had a boyfriend when agreeing to meet up with Harry. It appeared that Harry had a great relationship with Will and Kate prior to his marriage. Could be coincidence. But I find it horribly disrespectful that Harry did not talk to his dad and especially the Queen before making the announcement public. They have supported the couple, emotionally and financially since they started dating. Meghan wouldn’t have had the wedding she had if not for the Queen, and she knew on that day what she was signing up for. I don’t begrudge them wanting to follow a different path, but Harry is a prince, has enjoyed the lavish lifestyle his whole life, and he could have handled this in a much kinder and respectful way. It’s just a slap in the face to the Queen, the taxpayers that funded his lifestyle, and his heritage in general. IMO, Meghan is leading this whole thing, but I don’t see how you can make your own way financially, until you repay what you’ve taken advantage of as an adult. Show a little grace and gratitude to your family. I especially thought it rude for them to not spend Archie’s first Christmas with the Queen and family. Meghan’s mom surely would have been welcome. I have to admit that I was a bit pleased when a Canadian restaurant owner refused them Christmas reservations because their presence would disrupt their regular customers. I really don’t believe they want to be treated like normal people with jobs. I’m afraid this might come back and put a crack in their marriage. Harry is very vulnerable right now as he loves his wife and son, but he also owes a huge debt to the Queen and his family.