Links - 12th March 2024 (1 - Meghan & Harry)

There hasn't been much news about these 2 for a while. Doubtless they will find some nothingburger to blow up again in the near future, but I am finishing off this series for now:

Coronation was a triumph for real royals and disaster for Harry, Meghan - "The surly spoiled brat barely mumbled the oath when the congregation was invited to say it, and looked like he found singing the national anthem in tribute to his dad as pleasurable as sucking on a lemon soaked in Tabasco.  A lip reader later revealed that Harry spent most of his time during the service complaining to Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie’s husband.  “I’m fed up with the way they treat me,” he apparently said at one stage, adding: “They don’t care.”  We don’t know whom he was talking about, but if it was his family, it was a laughably tone-deaf refrain given the way he and his wife have worked so tirelessly to embarrass, shame and cause damage to the royals and the monarchy.  What was very notable was how none of the royal family — aside from Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their husbands, who all entered the abbey with him, and a fleeting exchange with Princess Anne — wanted anything to do with their Judas. But what did he expect in return for his despicable disloyalty — to be received with warm hugs, kisses and high-fives by his grateful relatives?  I’ve no idea why Harry was even at the coronation for a father he has so relentlessly criticized becoming king of a monarchy he’s described as a callous, racist prison camp. And he got exactly what he deserved: stuck behind the large red feather plume on Anne’s hat, just as Meghan was hidden behind a candle at the Queen’s funeral.  These things don’t happen by accident.   It’s the palace’s way of telling the world you’ve behaved so badly, you’ve abrogated the right to bathe in the reflected glory of a big royal occasion.  Harry couldn’t wait to get away after the service, almost running into a waiting car outside the abbey — paid for, like his security in the UK, by the British taxpayer — to speed him straight to Heathrow so he could fly back to California.  We were assured this was all so he could see his son, Archie, on his fourth birthday, being the wonderfully caring father he is — unlike his own supposedly cold, cruel dad.  But I’ve had three sons celebrate a fourth birthday, and trust me: By the time he got home, long after 9 p.m., young Archie will have been fast asleep.  No, like everything else in Harry and Meghan’s world, this was all performative, self-serving PR nonsense, gleefully spun by their regular fork-tongued lickspittles."

"A man who has gone off the deep end': Experts Claim 'Constantly Whining' Prince Harry is Mentally Unstable, Brand Him the 'Prince of Wails' - "he initially believed the death of his mother, Princess Diana, was a hoax. He further thought that Princess Diana had faked her own death and would come to surprise him one day. As said by the Duke of Sussex himself, he thought that she was alive until he was 23 years old...   Prince Harry claimed in Spare that he was only brought up so that he can be an organ donor in case Prince William, the future king ever needed a transplant... Dr. Holly Schiff talked about the Duke of Sussex’s behavior and why he thought of such things. He said, “Clinically, I would say I have concern for him not being in his right mind“. He further added, “It is absolutely possible he is delusional and spouting lies.” Schiff further claimed that Prince Harry might be just blaming the Royal Family for all his problems only to avoid taking responsibility for his own actions"

Meghan Markle cruelly heckled at New York Gala with Prince Harry - "as she stepped out of a blacked-out SUV after arriving at the Ziegfeld Ballroom a heckler shouted: “Meghan, how do you feel being part of two broken families?”"
Clearly just a coincidence

Prince Harry and Meghan in 'near catastrophic car chase' with paparazzi in New York - "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving paparazzi photographers, their spokesman has said.  The "relentless pursuit", which took place in New York on Tuesday evening, lasted more than two hours and resulted in several near collisions with drivers, pedestrians and police officers, the Duke’s spokesman claimed.  Speaking later at a press conference, Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, expressed concern that public safety may have been compromised and said two of his officers "could have been injured".  However, he also seemed to cast doubt on some of the details of the incident, adding: "I would find it hard to believe there was a two-hour high speed chase....but we will find out the exact duration.""
Prince Harry and Meghan involved in 'near catastrophic' car chase with paparazzi - The Washington Post - "The taxi driver who transported the couple after attending an event on Tuesday told The Washington Post in an interview that he would not call the incident a chase, adding that he felt safe during the ride... Harry has frequently referenced how his mother, Princess Diana, was hounded by the paparazzi and he blames them for their role in her death... “I don’t think I would call it a chase,” Singh said of his period driving the couple. “I never felt like I was in danger. It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie. They were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York — it’s safe.”"
Prince Harry and Meghan 'paparazzi car chase' was not 'near catastrophic', NYPD officials suggest - "two New York police officials have played down the incident saying they do not believe the chase was "near catastrophic" and described a "bit of a chaotic scene"."
When you're fading from the headlines...

Whoopi Goldberg Doubts Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Car Chase - "  “Their spokesperson called it a near catastrophic car chase. Others said it wasn’t bad, but I think people in New York know if it was possible to have car chases in New York, we’d all make it to the theater on time,” Goldberg, 67, joked during the Thursday, May 18, episode of The View. The EGOT winner then cast further doubt on the rep’s characterization of the incident, which took place on Tuesday, May 16, in New York City. “I think their spokesperson referenced something that you generally would reference in Los Angeles"... Fellow panelist Joy Behar agreed with the sentiment, chiming in, “Sometimes I’m in the city and I hear an ambulance trying to get through and I think, ‘That person is dead.’... "Remember early on? She had like a couple of paps following her and he released a statement, like, ‘I’m not gonna allow to happen to her what happened to my mother.’ That’s not what’s happening. Welcome to being a public figure, grow up.”... “Perhaps this was the worst car chase since Princess Diana, but people have a hard time believing it because they’ve been raising their hands so much, saying, ‘We are experiencing the same thing as my mother who was killed in a paparazzi car chase.’ It’s a story that keeps being pushed.”"

Harry and Meghan Seek Both Privacy and Publicity After Paparazzi Car Chase - The New York Times - "the episode underscored a basic paradox in the lives of this celebrity couple: they plead for privacy, but also seek publicity, with a Netflix documentary, a tell-all memoir by Harry and public appearances that will inevitably draw cameras... “The example of what happened in New York suggests that the kind of police protection Harry wants in London is not going to be enough to protect him or his family,” said Ed Owens, a historian who has studied relations between the monarchy and the media. “He’s not engaging with this reality.” In California, where they now live, Harry and Meghan employ private security guards who are licensed to carry guns. But they are not allowed to travel with armed guards in Britain, which is one reason Harry has asked for police protection, and has offered to pay for it himself. Lawyers for the Home Office argued in court that police officers should not be hired out to paying customers.  Harry has described the loss of his security detail as one of the most worrisome consequences of his bitter split from his family and his withdrawal from royal duties... A police spokesman acknowledged that the photographers posed a challenge, but said the three arrived at their destination on the Upper East Side without “reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests.”"

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Car Chase: Photo Agency Refuses to Hand Over Photos - "Backgrid told the BBC it sent a letter via its lawyers which stated that "In America, as I'm sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do."  "Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago," the letter continued, reported the BBC. "We stand by our founding fathers.""

Inside Prince Harry’s sad new life of empty hotel rooms and late night gaming - "Nearly exactly six years ago, Prince Harry touched down in Sydney and the city succumbed to a bad case of Aitchmania. The dashing HRH was in town to drum up some noise about the next Invictus Games and such was his lure that crowds braved truly bucketing rain to see him.  (One headline at the time read, “He Can Do No Wrong.”) Things looked like they were only on the up for the royal: He had a fabulous girlfriend who promised to be the best thing to happen to the royal family since they stopped marrying their first cousins and his charity work was going gangbusters.  It’s just a bit depressing when you contrast that Harry with the man of today with a new report throwing up a bevy of claims that make him sound less like someone freed from a lifelong cage and more like a teenager who could do with a shower, stern talking to and a day job.  Claims like he games until the wee hours; that he has not one but two hotel rooms he allegedly ‘escapes’; that there is a “chasm” between he and wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex over fame versus privacy; and that his friends back in London want about as much to do with him as Queen Camilla wants to sit through a slam poetry festival... On paper, Harry now has everything he seemed to desperately want: He had escaped from indentured royal work, has a family of his own, and even Hummingbird feeder to keep him out of Meghan’s hair... Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising assertion is that the Duke, despite co-owning a nine bedroom faux Tuscan estate with a guesthouse, has a couple of hotel hidey holes away from home and where no one asks him to take the bins out... “Nobody really speaks to him any more and even the people who have remained by his side have lately begun to fall away because he is so consistently negative,” an insider has told the Telegraph. “He’s often complaining and rarely asks after others … Now they just see him as completely lost.”  OK, but he’s got his army mates right?  Not according to one former military colleague who told Tominey: “No one in the forces has got any time for him at all, which is such a shame because he was hugely popular. You can blame Meghan, but he’s brought a lot of it on himself.”... Launching a crusade against a 1000-year-old institution and antagonising one’s entire family all while having to find the cash to pay for a score of beefy bodyguards lacking necks must really take a toll.  Meanwhile, over at Page Six, a report has raised the possibility that the Sussexes, like people with mortgages the world over, have been doing some economising.  A source has said: “Harry and Meghan’s people called The Carlyle ahead of the trip and asked for a discounted room, and the hotel said no.  “If they had just paid up and got a hotel in the first place, this supposed ‘dangerous’ paparazzi chase around town would never have happened. They would have been driven back to the Carlyle, been photographed going inside and that would have been the end of it.  “They should have just gotten a hotel for the safety of everyone. Instead, they were cheap and wanted a free place to stay.”... It’s hard to imagine that Harry of 2018, so wonderfully in love and seemingly having found happiness, would ever envision a life cut off from his family, playing Halo late into the evening and “completely lost” in the eyes of his mates."

Prince Harry’s absence from witness box surprises High Court judge - "Harry was ordered by the judge to attend the High Court in London in expectation that he might start giving evidence in his case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror. Instead Harry flew from Los Angeles on Sunday evening having spent the day celebrating the second birthday of Princess Lilibet at their home in California... Mr Justice Fancourt, the trial judge, expressed his concern at the prince’s failure to appear, saying: “I am a little surprised that [despite] the direction I gave . . . that the first witness [Harry] is not going to be available.” He said it was anticipated Harry could start his evidence after lunch, which is “why I directed that the first witness be available”. Andrew Green KC, representing Mirror Group Newspapers, said he was “deeply troubled” at the duke’s failure to attend. “It is unsatisfactory that we were told last week that he was not available for the first day of his trial,” he added. “It is absolutely extraordinary.” The barrister said he wants to cross-examine Harry for a day and a half instead of the day that was initially planned... Media from around the world had gathered at court in anticipation of Harry becoming the fist senior member of the royal family in more than 130 years to give evidence in court from the witness box."
Tourré Bakahai on Twitter - "Imagine instigating a hugely expensive legal case in a country you no longer live in, claiming it's part of your "mission in life", travelling 5000 miles, and then failing to turn up for the opening. What an absolute dunce."

Prince Harry has no proof Mirror Group journalists hacked phone, court told | Prince Harry - "“I believe they would have gone to extreme lengths to cover their tracks,” he said, alleging there was widespread destruction of evidence."

A royal rumble: Prince Harry’s clash in court left him lost for words – but not defeated - "The prince was repeatedly made to seem ill prepared and unused to this kind of rigour. Invariably he admitted that he could not remember reading the story in front of him at the time of its publication. “If you hadn’t read it, how did it cause you distress?” Green asked. “They were all distressing to me,” the prince replied.  Watching this performance was to be reminded of the sheer scale of invasive scrutiny that the prince, like his mother, had endured over the years – a kind of national pathology of surveillance."
Amazing. Cross examination in a case that you yourself brought is bad

‘Woefully unprepared’: Prince Harry reflected as ‘very entitled’ in court case - "Broadcaster and Commentator Emily Carver says Prince Harry coming “woefully unprepared” to his court case reflected him as “very, very entitled and a little bit naïve”.  “Unfortunately for Harry, his statement and answers to the questions throughout … the problem was it was all feelings over fact,” Ms Carver told Sky News host Rita Panahi.  “He had no clear-cut evidence, he thought he could just rock up and say, ‘I feel this, and that happened, I speculate this, I accuse this’ and that he would be able to get through to the Judge on that regard.  “He came woefully unprepared, and I think that does reflect a man who is very very entitled and also a little bit naïve’."

Spiteful Prince Harry may think UK is at 'rock bottom'... but he is the one left all alone - "JUST when you think Prince Harry can’t possibly get any more irritating, he outdoes himself once again.  He jetted back to the UK this week to inform us: “Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government — both of which I believe are at rock bottom.” Perhaps we should be getting used to his monumental arrogance.  But before Harry makes another flying visit to pour a bucket load over the land of his birth, perhaps he should take a long look at his own life.  He has alienated himself from virtually all of his own family and has never even met his father-in-law.  He is living in exile but still tries to act like a member of the Royal Family when it suits him. His life appears to be one long rant against past perceived injustices.  Harry is a man who no longer knows who he is, where he actually lives or who he wants to be.  He can’t seem to stop hitting the self-destruct button because, whenever there is a glimmer of true reconciliation between him, Charles and William, he goes and ruins it... He has become obsessed with pursuing legal cases. Maybe it is because he has little else to do with his time.  Harry has chosen to live in exile and make his Montecito mansion his home, he has chosen to be venomous to his family and he has chosen to ditch the royal duties he was once so proud of.  His actions have left him alienated and alone.  Now that’s what I really call rock bottom."
Royals interfering in politics is good when liberals approve of it

Why Netflix overpaid for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle documentary - "Netflix overpaid.  As with nearly everything Harry and Meghan do, 'Volume I' of their Netflix docuseries is pompous, mean, self-aggrandizing, and yet more of their specialty: Over-promise and under-deliver. The much-ballyhooed 'Harry & Meghan' has landed with a thud. The reviews have been scathing: The Hollywood Reporter rightly says the show 'takes a lot of time to reveal very little.' The Atlantic asks if Harry and Meghan 'really want to spend the next 40 years as small angry planets trapped in the gravitational pull of the Windsors?' And Variety says, 'The Sussexes surprise us yet again with just how narrow their vision of fame is, how pinched and unimaginative their presence on the world stage has become.’ Finally, the karmic wheels of justice are turning towards these two self-pitying, untalented, ungrateful hypocrites. No one deserves it more. Let's savor it, shall we?  There's nothing scandalous here — except, of course, the casual cruelty Harry and Meghan, World's Greatest Bleeding Heart Philanthropists and Humanitarians, mete out to their nearest and dearest.  It's stunning. It's heartless. And, as is their trademark, it's utterly lacking in self-awareness. As Harry marvels late in Episode 3: 'It's amazing what people will do when offered a large amount of money.' You mean like selling out your family, who have loved and supported you, financially and otherwise, your entire life? Like publicly accusing them of racism? Like secretly filming yourselves behind palace walls, long before you claimed you had any idea you'd be Megxiting and monetizing, videotaping and photographing your most private, intimate moments — like Harry's marriage proposal, which Meghan seems to have secretly recorded on her phone without Harry's knowledge — and saving all that ostensibly sacred stuff for a $100 million Netflix deal?... If there was any hope of reconciliation with William, Harry just torched it.  And what has Kate ever done to deserve such bile from her brother-in-law? These are the parents of his niece and nephews, his children's cousins — but as we know, Harry and Meghan play checkers, not chess, and they play with cold hands and even colder hearts. They don't think or strategize long term. They're all about the twisted, short-term dopamine hits they get from acting out their never-ending victimhood... Meghan contradicts herself a fair amount here, in one case backpedaling on her original story that she didn't really know much about Harry before they met.  Initially, she said they met on a blind date, now she says they met through Instagram.  You can watch the wheels turning in Harry's head as he tries to square this circle. He surely has practice, living as he has in this alternate reality for years now... Back to Meghan reenacting her introduction to the queen, performing a theatrically deep curtsy and wiggling her eyebrows mockingly as she laughs and says, in a sickly-sweet fake voice, 'Pleasure to meet you, your majesty.'  Harry looks nothing short of pained.  He should consider this a preview of the rest of his life until the woman he's left everything and everyone for will surely train her venom, her victimhood, and her penchant for publicly tearing down close family members squarely on him.   There's no doubt it will happen or that Harry will deserve it. The Meghan Markle we see here — and she really believes she's showing us her best self — will discard anyone once they no longer make her look good, feed her narcissistic supply, or are of any practical use.  Consider her adult niece Ashleigh, the daughter of Meghan's estranged half-sister Samantha. Meghan rhapsodizes about seeking out and cultivating this relationship, how important her niece is to her, and in turn her niece describes Meghan as 'all the things' — an aunt, but also a sister figure and a mother figure, one who took Asleigh on vacations and talked to her about anything and everything.  Then Meghan got engaged to Harry and, well . . . their phone calls got less and less frequent.  Can you guess who got disinvited to H&M's wedding? Yes, poor Ashleigh, who doesn't seem to buying Meghan's vague excuse here that nameless palace 'advisers' forced her hand. Ashleigh sits in this docuseries tearful, confused, humiliated and skeptical, yet still kind enough not to openly wonder why her beloved aunt invited celebrities she had never even met before — Oprah, the Clooneys, David Beckham — instead of her own flesh and blood."

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's last surviving media deal £81m one with Netflix - "Meghan Markle was today dealt a crushing blow after bosses at streaming giant Spotify announced they were axing her Archetypes podcast after just one season.  The move is expected to see Meghan and husband Prince Harry losing the full £15million ($20million) payout after the show failed to hit production level targets - following a sluggish start."

Actress likens Sarah Everard 'murder' to Piers Morgan's Meghan Markle 'rants' - "An actress sparked fury today for likening the apparent death of Sarah Everard to Piers Morgan's criticism of Megan Markle - saying they are both 'part of normalised entitlement that men are encouraged to feel towards women'."
Criticising women is the same as killing them. What happens when women criticise/kill other women?

“She’s Trouble”—But So Is He! - "When British Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe dared to say what any rational person believes about the soon-to be-royal Ms. Meghan Markle (“I think she’s trouble”) she was branded a “racist dinosaur”... the deeply religious Widdecombe, ensconced in the UK’s “Celebrity Big Brother House,” didn’t mention Markle’s ethnicity or the fact that this is a mixed-race marriage at all. But given the psychological and strongly genetic factors that predict divorce, this whole marriage is “trouble.” A “super-forecaster” acquaintance–whose meal ticket is his ability to make correct predictions—reckons about three years to separation, five or six years to divorce.  In the case of the marriage of Harry’s brother Prince William to Kate Middleton, only one of them is from a broken home. Prince Charles and two of his three siblings are divorced. Princess Diana’s parents divorced when she was 8, and her brother, the Earl Spencer, has two failed marriages behind him. Kate’s parents seem to have managed a loving and successful union and, perhaps, so will she. But divorce is about 40% genetic [Marriage and divorce: A genetic perspective. Beth Jerskey et al, Personality & Individual Differences, October 2010], so it becomes much more unlikely with Harry and the former Suits starlet.  Markle’s father has been divorced twice. Her mother has been divorced once. Her half-sister has contracted two failed marriages. And then there’s her half-brother, a divorced alcoholic, who has charged with holding a gun to his girlfriend’s head in 2017. Markle herself was already divorced at 32, after just 23 months of marriage, sending her ring back to her ex-husband via registered mail. Her divorce and her ruthless treatment of her ex imply low altruism and low impulse control, both key predictors of marital breakdown... And Markle is also a very successful actress. The key predictors of success in the world of acting are altruism, extraversion, mental instability and being something of a fantasist who can escape into an imaginary world, a trait known as ‘Openness’ in psychology. However, it’s already clear that Markle is low in altruism, so her success must be down to her extraversion (which predicts risk taking) and mental instability, which predicts a very rocky relationship. Naturally, these two traits also predict divorce—see Fani and Kheirabadi, above—which explains why Hollywood is so liberally peppered with multiple marriages. Harry, of course, has shown himself to be an embarrassing risk-taker: the nude photos, the drug taking, the Nazi uniform worn to a costume party when he was 20. People from broken homes are prone to risk taking... According to evolutionary psychologist J. Philippe Rushton, we all sit on a spectrum between a fast Life History Strategy (LHS), typically black, and a slow LHS, typically white and, especially, Asian)...   And the whole basis of their relationship seems to be purely physical; unsurprising considering Meghan has dated a porn star and she’s so shallow that she’d rather invite celebrities (whom she hardly knows) to her wedding than the perfectly respectable diplomat uncle who gave Meghan her first job.   Meghan and Harry met in 2016, when she was in a stable, two-year relationship with another man, even living together in Toronto. But Meghan broke up with him and eventually bagged a prince who was utterly besotted with her, bombarding her with text messages until she agreed to go on a date... even Meghan’s violent half-brother Thomas, in his occasional lucid moments, has greater insight than the MSM does about these nuptials. In an open letter to Prince Harry, since retracted, he wrote that this is “the biggest mistake in royal wedding history”"

Harry and Meghan's brand could come crashing down after end of Spotify deal - "Spotify's decision to cut their losses and scrap their deal with Meghan and Harry could cost the couple $10million and does not bode well for their fading hope of becoming a $1billion brand... The ditching of the Spotify podcast now means the couple's last major surviving deal is the £81million ($103.6million) with Netflix, the makers of their controversial documentary series... Spotify also reportedly became impatient about the pace of recordings - 12 episodes in two years... the head of Spotify admitted he got a 'little carried away' and 'over-invested' in expensive podcasts as the streaming giant made a loss of £187million ($230m). Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline today that Spotify will have pulled the plug and it is a sign that the post-Megxit wave the couple were riding is crashing. He predicts more brands will dump them amid rumours Netflix are also unhappy... Her decision not to be in London to see her father-in-law crowned King allowed her to celebrate Archie's fourth birthday with her mother Doria and friends - but it also gave her time to plot her next move in TV, books and podcasting, insiders claimed"
It is telling that I haven't heard about these troublemakers in a long time

Meme - "Prince Harry and his mother Diana's riding instructor"

Prince Harry Must Pay Daily Mail Publisher Over $60,000 After Failed Legal Challenge - "A court ordered Prince Harry to pay the publisher of the Daily Mail just over $60,000 on Monday, following a failed challenge by the Duke of Sussex to strike down a legal defense by Associated Newspapers, which claimed in a report that Harry attempted to mislead the public... Attorneys representing Harry argued an article published by Associated Newspapers in February 2022 was “fundamentally inaccurate” and libelous when it suggested he lied in public statements over his dispute with the British government’s decision to remove his security detail after he and his family moved to the U.S."

Links - 22nd May 2023 (2 - Meghan & Harry)

Prince Harry's sex life confession in memoir causes TV hosts to 'feel sick' - "presenters Alex Cullen and Brooke Boney didn't hide how mortified they were as they heard how Prince Harry had described an X-rated encounter with Meghan."

Prince Harry's claims of 'villain' Camilla 'planting stories' shut down - "Jennie Bond, a former BBC royal correspondent, was quick to shut down the Duke of Sussex's claims about Queen Consort Camilla on Lorraine. Prince Harry accused his stepmother of using the British press to "rehabilitate" her image during his ITV interview with Tom Bradby. Reacting to the Prince's interview, Jennie insisted Camilla once told her she had "no interest in developing a special relationship with any member of the press", shutting down Harry's comments... Harry insisted "no part of any of the things that I've said are scathing towards any member of my family, especially not my stepmother" within his memoir."

King's former royal butler urges Harry to ‘walk away' after Prince's claims ‘don’t add up’ - "King Charles’s former butler said Prince Harry has said things he claims to “know don’t add up”, urging the Duke to “walk away from this”. Grant Harrold, 44, who was the King’s butler from 2004 to 2011, remarked on how surprised he was to hear of Harry’s “difficult” relationship with his father, and thought they were “close” and “loving”... “I think this is why I really agree with everyone saying it’s better to stop all this and walk away from this to see if they can salvage a relationship between father and son.”... Mr Harrold argued that even if there was something that Harry “feels is wrong or is not working right”, he didn’t “think this is the way to do it.”  He added: “Rather than go and do a million pound Netflix deal or sell your story and do all the interviews, why not write an open letter to his father?”"

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle failed to 'get their story straight', PR guru claims - "Mr Coram James said that the Duke and Duchess have “made a very large amount of noise” but “in doing so have looked a bit insincere in their telling of the fact that what they want is a quiet life".  He continued: "The optics of that have created scepticism from the start.""

Expert claims 'discredited' Prince Harry made ‘serious mistakes’ in Megxit memoir Spare - "Harry, 38, discusses his uniform at Eton and refers to Henry VI, who founded the school, as “my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather”. But Henry VI had only one son, Edward of Westminster, who died as a teenager without any children. Elsewhere in the book, Harry reflects on the Queen Mother’s funeral and the jewels on her coffin.  The Koh-i-Noor, he says, is the “largest diamond ever seen by human eyes”.  Yet it is the Cullinan Diamond, also part of the Crown Jewels, that the Royal Collection Trust website describes as “the largest diamond ever found”. Hugo Vickers, a royal biographer and historian, told The Times that the “quite serious” mistakes “discredit” Harry and his memoir.  Mr Vickers said: “If he can get those sorts of things wrong, what else can he get wrong, you ask yourself.  “I’m horrified by the amount of mistakes that have been found, both historical and also in relation to things he did.”... Harry claimed that the Queen, then the Duchess of Cornwall, had suggested that he should become the governor-general of Bermuda.  However, it has been raised that Bermuda does not have a governor-general — as a British overseas territory, not a Commonwealth realm, it has a governor instead.  Beyond the historical and constitutional matters, the high street retailer TK Maxx has raised questions over whether Harry, who shopped at their stores, really did take advantage of sales... “Whilst we’re delighted Prince Harry is a big fan, we thought we should explain we don’t actually do sales."

Prince Harry’s Megxit memoir questioned as Air NZ debunk Thomas Markle flight claim - "Prince Harry’s claims in his new memoir ‘Spare’ have been questioned after he said Meghan Markle booked a flight for her father, Thomas Markle, which the airline has said never existed...  Prince Harry said that his wife, Meghan Markle, booked a first-class ticket from Mexico to Britain for her father, Thomas Markle, after they were concerned about harassment by the media... Air New Zealand has come out and said they do not run a flight between Mexico and the UK.  They added that they also do not provide a first-class service, only a business-class option... Another claim that some critics have been questioning in ‘Spare’ is Prince Harry’s retelling of learning about the death of the Queen Mother, his great-grandmother.  The royal has said he received the news on the phone before Easter while he was at school at Eton College. However, Robert Jobson, the royal editor of the Evening Standard, has pointed out that Prince Harry was in Klosters, Switzerland, when the Queen Mother died."

Prince Harry says his memory 'curates as it sees fit' in staggering admission after claims - "Prince Harry has admitted to suffering from a "spotty memory" when writing his bombshell memoir, but insisted his version of events has "just as much truth" as "so-called objective facts"."
Falsehoods only matter when they can be used to push the liberal agenda, e.g. "fact checking" Trump

Prince Harry says he has enough for SECOND book - but royals would 'never forgive me'

Spare review: The weirdest book ever written by a royal - "Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, is part confession, part rant and part love letter. In places it feels like the longest angry drunk text ever sent... What's missing from the book is any sense of awareness of any wider context of the rest of the world outside... So who will be most upset about all these revelations in his book?  Netflix mostly. They paid a prince's ransom for six hours of TV waffle and the smug contents of an Instagram feed, whereas the book crackles like a burning log with something bizarre on almost every page.  Plenty of the book will get people irritated too, particularly its self-absorption. He talks about a row over people parking near his palace accommodation with more detail than you'd expect from a small war. There are some off-the-wall claims too, such as comparing the Spice Girls' "crusade against sexism" with "Mandela's struggle against apartheid"... It feels a bit divorced dad telling everyone he's not bitter, he doesn't mind that he paid for everything, really, not bitter at all, just wishing them both well..."

Prince Harry claims in Spare refuted as one is proven to be completely untrue - "Harry details his 13th birthday, which came around on September 15, 1997, just weeks after the tragic death of his mother Princess Diana.  As he was given cake and sorbet during a celebration, he explains that he was asked to make a wish, and was thinking of Diana when "out of nowhere" his aunt Sarah appeared holding a box.  He tore at the wrapping paper, peered inside and saw he had received an Xbox... "That's the story, anyway. It's appeared in many accounts of my life, as gospel, and I have no idea if it's true. Pa said Mummy hurt her head, but perhaps I was the one with brain damage? As a defence mechanism, most likely, my memory was no longer recording things quite as it once did."  It does appear that Harry might be getting confused, as the Xbox wasn't actually available to buy until four years later... Recalling their first meeting after weeks of messaging, Harry says she was wearing a black sweatshirt, jeans and heels... Meghan has previously revealed that she wore a blue dress for their first meeting... One of the first mentions of Queen Consort Camilla is early in the book when Harry meets her for the first time.  He later recalls pleading with his father not to marry her and writes that a wedding would cause "controversy".  Meanwhile, he also details the couple's wedding day in April 2005, and said he "knew without question that this marriage would take Pa away from us" and had mixed feelings that day.  One person who has poured doubts on these claims is Grant Harrold, a former royal butler, who worked for Charles and Camilla for seven years - and said he saw an excitable Harry at their nuptials... Harry says as his plane began its descent "my phone lit up" with a text from Meghan telling him to call her - and it prompted him to check the BBC website, where he learned "Granny was gone. Pa was King".  However, royal sources previously insisted that Harry was told the news of the Queen's passing before an official statement confirming it was released... "Willy was glum at having so little say in what he wore to get married, at having his autonomy taken from him on such an occasion. He'd told me several times that he felt frustrated."... biographer Robert Hardman says when he talked to William shortly after his wedding, he was not glum about the uniform he had to wear that day."
"Recollections may differ"

GB News row erupts as Dan Wootton clashes with guest over Harry 'lies' claim about him - ""[Harry] writes specifically about me and the Megxit story and he completely lied by saying that I was working with the Palace. "Conspiring with the Palace to break that story and that is a point-blank lie.  "So I know there are lies in that book. There's one about me, that's how I know.""

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may lose Netflix renewal as couple 'lose mystique' - "With the Duke of Sussex exposing so much of his life already in interviews and his new book, anything else after that will seem less interesting, the source said.  They added: “Do you see Beyonce sitting posting photos of herself on the toilet, no. As soon as you start talking, start posting, you lose some mystique".  They also claimed that, although the Sussexes had been in talks for various branding deals, nothing has been signed... the couple had been in talks with Oprah Winfrey and Netflix as far back as 2018 - over a year before it came out that they wanted to relinquish their senior royal duties."

Police rage at Harry as they order him to 'stop slagging off' William and Charles - "The Bromsgrove Police Safer Neighbourhoods Twitter account responded to a clip of Harry saying in a BBC interview: "I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back."  The team responded to his comments: "Maybe stop slagging them off??""

Prince Harry claims he knew he was born in case William needed blood or organ donation - "The Duke of Sussex has made a number of disclosures about life as a royal that the family would normally keep private, such as his father's chronic neck and back pain due to playing polo."

What Prince Harry really owes to Sir Edward Young, Simon Case and Sir Clive Alderton - "Until now, the Duke of Sussex’s three-year whinge-fest against the Royal household had referred obliquely to “the institution”, a faceless monolith constructed to crush his hopes and dreams.  In his memoir, he focuses his anger on three individual courtiers, though his loathing for them is such that he cannot bring himself to utter their names. They are the Bee, the Fly and the Wasp, “middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian manoeuvres”...   Their crime, in Harry’s eyes, was to stand in the way of what he wanted and to effectively force him into exile against his will. There are, however, two sides to every story, as Harry himself has been keen to point out as he promotes his memoir, Spare. Their job, as well as protecting the monarchy at all costs, was to save Prince Harry from himself.  If they ignored the Duke’s pleadings, it was because they hoped that his self-described “red mist” would dissipate with time, and that he would see that those with more experience than him – not least his grandmother – might actually know what they were talking about.  Royal insiders are also keen to point out that Harry is directing his fire at the wrong target. While it may be “emotionally a softer landing” to blame the staff, they were merely acting on orders, which came from people he loved"

Why Harry and Meghan’s timing is always impeccable - "If nothing else, you really have to admire the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s aptitude for timing. Just when one is needed, a precision, laser-guided PR bomb drops. An Exocet missile of melodrama, a lethal Molotov mocktail: subtle enough for the intention to be roundly denied by their spokespeople, but plain enough for the world to comprehend.   The latest is, of course, the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare. The timing is canny: it will be published on Tuesday, Jan 10, the day after the Princess of Wales’ 41st birthday.   It follows the release of Harry & Meghan, the couple’s Netflix documentary series, in December. The two trailers to promote it were timed impeccably. In the first, there’s one frame in particular: a still from the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in 2019. Meghan, angelic in white and neutral in expression, sits behind the then Duchess of Cambridge, who is in the centre of the image looking like the Wicked Witch of the West. And, of course, the trailer's release coincided with the Prince and Princess of Wales’ attempt to charm the US with their visit to Boston for the Earthshot Prize.   Sources insist the timing is accidental, but it’s also everything. You can’t say they’re without form… in the same month, a complaint was made claiming the Duchess drove two personal assistants out of the household, and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member... This was at the same time as the couple were launching legal action against the Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers over articles that reproduced a handwritten letter Meghan had sent her father... The Sussexes’ self-extrication culminated in an earth-shattering 90-minute interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired while the Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital... Just as the dust settled in a tumultuous year for the Queen, including the Oprah interview, the continuing scrutiny over Prince Andrew’s Jeffrey Epstein-adjacent shenanigans and the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry announced he would publish – though not necessarily write – a “raw, unflinching” memoir... In the week that the Prince and Princess of Wales attempted to garner themselves some attention, the Duchess of Sussex’s podcast comes to an end and here come not one but two trailers for their “behind the scenes” Netflix documentary, with a telling still at its heart. The Waleses’ tour had been planned for at least six months. They managed to keep the Sussexes off the front pages for about 12 hours."

Meghan Markle will 'never return to the UK,' royal expert claims - "Royal author Phil Dampier has slammed Prince Harry for 'running to his lawyers like a Hollywood star' after threatening BBC with legal action over reports he didn't ask the Queen about calling his daughter Lilibet... 'I don't think William trusts Harry anymore and he is always worried that anything he says will end up in the press in two or three days' time,' he said. 'That's what he is worried about, and he needs to be cautious of what he can actually say to him.'"

Meghan Markle Spotify podcast: Royal expert says 'show must go on' after fire in Archie's room - "Meghan Markle would have known that the 'show must go on' and her engagements had to continue after a 'fire' broke out in her son Archie's room in South Africa where he was meant to be sleeping, a royal expert said... Meghan said in the Spotify podcast released yesterday that she was obliged to continue with official engagements, accusing those running the tour of concentrating on 'how it looks, instead of how it feels'... 'Meghan outraged that she had to go on another royal engagement in South Africa after she heard there was a fire in baby Archie's room. Nasty to hear but as an actress doesn't she know the show must go on. Luckily he wasn't there but odd it was never leaked to the press.'"

Prince Harry's claims that contradict previous admissions - and things omitted from Spare - "Following their 2018 engagement, Meghan and Harry sat down for a joint interview in which they claimed they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend.  When asked whether it was a set-up, both Harry and Meghan laughed, with the former Suits actress saying: "Yes, it was definitely a set-up - it was a blind date."  However, in their docu-series, which dropped on Netflix last month, the pair revealed they had actually FaceTimed before meeting in the flesh for the first time at 76 Dean Street in London's Soho.  But in his book Harry does not talk about them FaceTiming - only that they exchanged messages before their first date... Another claim that sparked confusion from Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview was the claim they married two days before their Windsor wedding in the garden of Kensington Palace.  Meghan told Oprah: "You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that."  She added: "But we called the archbishop and we just said, 'Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us.' So, the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the archbishop of Canterbury."  However, in his book, Harry clears up the confusion and that the ceremony in the garden was "unofficial, non-binding, except in our souls"... One of Harry's most explosive claims in his Netflix docuseries is that his brother William "screamed and shouted" at him during the so-called Sandringham Summit.  The Queen summoned the now King and his sons William and Harry to her Norfolk estate to try to resolve the Megxit crisis in January 2020, but it was ultimately decided Harry and Meghan could not be half in and half out.  And it is in this meeting that Harry said William left him terrified by screaming and shouting at him. However, there is no mention in the book of William "screaming and shouting" or Harry being "terrified"."

Meme - "Why does this look like Harry is her hairdresser looking into the mirror explaining what he did to her layers"

Meme - "When I was a child my father grabbed at my nose then pulled away with his thumb between his fingers saying 'I've got you're nose' I thought I had been badly disfigured, the torment I suffered haunts me to this day."

South Park Roasts Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s Worldwide Privacy Tour - "The show stopped short of naming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but the episode, titled The Worldwide Privacy Tour, was heavily laden with references to the duo.  The story centers on a visit to the town of South Park by the Prince of Canada and his wife, who say they are seeking privacy and seclusion... In conversations with a “branding manager”, the prince is described as, “Royal prince, millionaire, world traveler, victim.” His wife gets the tagline: “Sorority girl, actress, influencer, and victim.”"

South Park: Meghan Markle said to be ‘upset’ by ‘brutal’ depiction - "The latest episode shows the prince character promoting a book titled Waaaagh, which appears to be a reference to Harry’s memoir, Spare"

Samantha Markle: My sister Meghan, Prince Harry have spread 'so many lies' about our family - "Much of the drama surrounding the Markle family dates back to 2018. In April, Samantha and her brother, Thomas Markle Jr. revealed they were "baffled" when the royal couple snubbed them from the wedding guest list. "At issue is not a matter of closeness as more than 1000 complete strangers are invited. Family is family," [Samantha Markle] tweeted after learning her sister was leaving her family out of the event... "Smoke and mirrors cannot hide the elephant in the room. Out of respect, tradition, and humanitarianism, the #Markles should be invited if 2000 complete strangers are invited. Our uncle who got her the internship, brother, me, best friend of 30 years Nikki Priddy, nephews. Fact."... she was hurt by Meghan's claims and the "fake news" which painted her family as a house divided, arguing that was never the case... Samantha showed photos of the two of them together at various stages of their respective upbringing, including one from Samantha’s college graduation in 2008, which flies in the face of Meghan’s claim that they hadn’t seen each other in almost two decades. Meghan also alleged during her interview that Samantha had changed her last name to Markle in her 50s, shortly after she began dating Prince Harry. However, Samantha showed proof that her name has been Markle much longer - including a petition for name change dated 1997 - as well as her college diploma, which clearly states her name as Markle. Carlson asked Samantha about Meghan's characterization of her in the controversial Netflix documentary in the Fox Nation episode, to which Samantha slammed her half-sister's claims that she called her "Princess Pushy."  "She was lying, absolutely," Samantha said. "When all of this was happening, and the fake news media was out there, the headlines were out there, I was looking at this going, 'wait a minute, I never called her Princess Pushy. That's a media construct, and that's not how I talk.' And I never said she's got a soft spot for gingers. That's British jargon, that's not how I talk.""
Clearly Meghan is telling the truth and Samantha faked photos and documents to make her look bad

Meme - "[Meghan] Beyonce just texted.
[Harry gasps]"
*Soyjak in some pose*

Prince Harry’s ‘public breakdown’: ‘Unstable’ behaviour as royal boasts about marijuana use - "The public seems to be witnessing a “very public breakdown” of Prince Harry following the “disgraced” royal family member’s latest detailed exploits, says Sky News contributor Dominique Samuels... "For someone who says how happy we are – his behaviour is that of someone who is really quite unstable.”"

Reasons why psychologist believes Prince Harry's book is a 'big call for help' - "The Duke of Sussex’s autobiography, Spare, has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time, says its publisher Penguin Random House... The Duke is just the latest royal to harness the power of the media to get his story across, and he won’t be the last. His parents also turned to the media in what was dubbed as 'The War of the Waleses' during their divorce nearly three decades ago.  When then Prince Charles sat down with presenter Jonathan Dimbleby in 1994 to admit adultery, Diana launched a counter-narrative campaign in 1995 spilling more marriage secrets including that famous "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" quote, they set precedent... Why has Harry embarked on a path that sees him give interviews and court the media, an institution that he sometimes appears to show contempt toward?...   “This gave me more of a sense of the self-construct that he lives in. In the book, there is very little reference to the external world. It is an autobiography, so it is entirely about him, but he makes little or no reference to what life might have been like in the outside world.”... "My anxiety would be that this book almost feels to me like an act of self-sabotage."... Spare goes into unflinching detail of highly personal instances including Harry's sexual exploits, drugs and reported attacks by family members. There appears to be very little duty of care towards Harry, something that Robert was keen to add to.  He said: "The book does seem a little bit dysregulated in many ways. Some parts I have looked at, read rather strangely.  "If someone is dysregulated, they often overshare information in a way that is inappropriate. It’s not necessarily writing about the use of drugs, or losing one’s virginity or anything else that may be inappropriate, but the way they have been shared, which speaks to a degree of dysregulation."... "He might feel a degree of catharsis in this moment. But you don’t achieve trauma resolution through the writing of a book. Yes we do trauma journaling, but his book reads like a love letter, a trauma journal. There is something almost cartoonish about it in some ways and also profoundly sad as well.""
This is so charitable

Prince Harry goes nuclear as he takes on King Charles, royals and the media - "He was not just in London to share chia pudding recipes with fellow claimant Sadie Frost or to use up flight credit or because it is impossible to get a decent white fried slice in California.  Rather, he was there to indulge in his two favourite pastimes – giving Fleet Street a good kicking and launching a fresh, bruising PR assault on the royal family.  And for that reason the by now probably-broken-from-overuse alarm bell at Buckingham Palace should be ringing loudly.  The Duke of Sussex’s presence in London this week, the fact he flew 10 and a half hours to ensure that the world’s attention was on what is going on inside court 76, is definitive proof that the man is just not going to stop... Confirmation of this came on the second day of the preliminary hearing, when Harry, via a witness statement, accused the royal family of covering up phone hacking, saying: “The institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time.”  (Side note: Harry is the first member of the royal family to appear in a courtroom since Princess Anne in 2002 when she ended up with a criminal conviction after her dog bit two children.) Sigh. Every time I think Harry must have said everything he could possibly say, allege, and sling overarm at the Palace, that he must surely be done with it, he pops up like an aggrieved whack-a-mole with a troop of high-priced lawyers (who must now basically be living in his pool house) to have another go... His Majesty made the decision to boot them out of their rent-free, UK home Frogmore Cottage within 24-hours of Spare thudding onto bestseller lists. While the couple might have known then they had to vacate the five-bedroom designer home, they only found out when their eviction was made public in late February, that their place had been “earmarked” for his disgraced uncle Prince Andrew, The Telegraph has reported. Ouch... The last two years have seen his relationship with his family go from bad to Titanic-ly worse.  More Americans have a negative view of the Sussexes than a positive one and the majority of Brits (64 per cent as of this month’s polling) think poorly of him.  Five years ago, Harry and the late Queen were neck and neck for top spot when it came to Britain’s favourite member of the royal family. Today, there is speculation that the Duke will be booed by the public if he goes to his father’s coronation. In short, it’s hard to think of a fall from popularity, adoration and public life more precipitous or dramatic. (Andrew doesn’t count – he has never been popular with anyone aside from his ex-wife, Middle Eastern trade ministers happy to pony up free first-class flights, and whoever managed to convince him to buy his tacky Bentley.)  And still, Harry with his witness statement this week, is ploughing on, demonstrating a dogged, self-destructive refusal to seemingly waste any opportunity to aim a quick right-hook at The Firm... The man seems physically incapable of opening his mouth and not taking a pot shot at his relatives. His regular Starbucks order is probably a venti decaf oat milk mocha while droning on at the barista about how William got more sausages than him at breakfast.  Harry’s London appearance is cold, hard evidence that even after Netflix and Spare, even in the face of all the consequences, he has no intention of retreating or deciding to let go of past royal family mistakes, as he sees them.  When it comes to his crusade against The Firm, he is like a Terminator with a serious chip on his shoulder, plenty of grudges and what I’m assuming are a baker’s dozen of barristers who by now live in his pool house.  Arnie’s cyborg iconically intoned, “I’ll be back” and this week Harry proved, so would he – on home turf, in the headlines and trying to skewer the Palace for the umpteenth time"

Links - 9th February 2023 (2 - Meghan & Harry)

Prince Harry anticipated to deliver more broadsides at U.K. royals in TV interviews - "So far, there has been no comment from Buckingham Palace or anyone who speaks for the royal family, a stance that has been lauded by much of the British media as a dignified silence... Royal commentator Emily Andrews said that given Britain’s current cost of living crisis, there could be limited support for the complaints of a privileged prince residing in a mansion in California... “I think this is overkill, it becomes saturation point and people think ‘I don’t want to hear anymore: shut up, go away’.”"

Prince Harry attacks royal 'silence' after Jeremy Clarkson's Meghan column - "Prince Harry has accused the Royal Family of failing to defend his wife Meghan in the controversy over a Jeremy Clarkson newspaper column.  In an ITV interview, the Duke of Sussex said the "silence is deafening" about the "horrific" Sun article last month... Cooper asked the duke about comments he made in his memoir suggesting that Camilla would be "less dangerous" if she was happy.  Prince Harry said Camilla's need to "rehabilitate her image" and her "willingness" to forge relationships with the British press made her dangerous.  "And with a family built on hierarchy, and her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street because of that."... Cooper asked Prince Harry about claims he made in his memoir that unspecified members of the Royal Family were uneasy towards Meghan when she was first introduced to them.  Asked what that "mistrust" was based on, Prince Harry said: "The fact that she was American, an actress, divorced, black, bi-racial, with a black mother."
He knows that they have cottoned on to his game, so he needs to provoke them to help him continue his scam. Just because he has sold his dignity doesn't mean his family will do the same with theirs
Meghan has done so much to refute "stereotypes"

Prince Harry's 'direct strike' on Camilla has 'sealed his fate as a Royal Family outsider' - "Nile Gardiner, a Washington-based foreign policy expert and royal enthusiast, has been left shocked by the "direct strike" towards Camilla.  He warned these attacks will seal the Duke's fate as an "outsider" from the Royal Family while all but destroying the relationship between Harry, King Charles and the Queen Consort.  Mr Gardiner told Express.co.uk: "I was really taken aback by the level of vitriol put on paper towards Camilla.  "Clearly, there is a deep-seated resentment that he has towards Camilla but this is the first time he has publicly and directly attacked her."

King Charles is waiting for Harry and Meghan to 'destroy themselves', claims David Starkey - "Harry accused King Charles of saying untrue things when the late Queen gathered them together at Sandringham in January 2020 in a last-ditch attempt to solve the "Megxit crisis".  The Prince also claimed Prince William's office traded negative stories about him, despite promising never to do so... “With every passing day, I think with every desperate attempt at taking a little molehill of grievance and trying to turn it into a vast, vast Himalayas of resentment, they become less relevant." He claimed: “What I think Charles is doing is actually playing a rather clever long game. What I would guess he is doing is waiting for them to destroy themselves. So he doesn't actually need to do anything very dramatic. He's just letting events take their course, which I think is a very wise thing to do.”"

Piers Morgan slams Prince Harry after Duke defends royal family - "During the interview, Prince Harry admitted that the British royal family was not racist. Morgan, who had lost his job for criticizing Meghan Markle after her Oprah interview, said, "Never seen an unhappier ‘happy man’ in my life."  He said, "Prince Harry’s a bitter, delusional, paranoid, family-trashing halfwit exposing & exploiting the Royals’ most personal secrets for gazillions whilst wanging on with jaw-dropping hypocrisy about media intrusion. He’s pathetic.""

Has Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ Changed Public Opinion of Him? - The New York Times - "In their prolonged campaign to tell their story — and to present themselves as victims of the British royal family, the tabloid press and critics and haters everywhere — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, have in the last two years revealed their secrets to Oprah Winfrey, revealed them again to various sympathetic television interviewers, produced and starred in a six-part Netflix series and, in the case of Harry, appeared on the actor Dax Shepard’s podcast, “Armchair Expert.”  Now comes the prince’s multimillion-dollar ghostwritten memoir, “Spare.” Set for release Tuesday, it has been leaking out over the last few days, one eye-popping detail after the next... Harry and Meghan still have many sympathizers, particularly those who see the couple’s grievances through the lens of the racism Meghan encountered in Britain and who say that she — and Harry, once he married her — never stood a chance in such a stultified, reactionary institution as the monarchy.  But something has changed, judging from the response so far. Even in the United States, which has a soft spot for royals in exile and a generally higher tolerance than Britain does for redemptive stories about overcoming trauma and family dysfunction, there is a sense that there are only so many revelations the public can stomach. “Look, everyone has a family,” the television host Don Lemon declared on “CNN This Morning” last week. “I have arguments in my family. Am I going to put that out there for the whole world to see? I don’t understand why on earth he would want to put that out there. I know he’s selling a book, but to me it’s just …” (“Gauche,” he added later.)  Was it gauche, for instance, for Harry to accuse Prince William of pushing him to the floor while the two argued about Meghan, ripping Harry’s necklace and shattering a dog’s bowl whose shards then gouged his back? Or to describe how the brothers squabbled in front of their father after Prince Philip’s funeral? (“Please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery,” Charles is quoted as saying.) How about Harry’s account of how, high on mushrooms, he believed a garbage can was talking to him, or the passage about how Meghan offended Kate, the Princess of Wales, by boldly asking if she could borrow her lip gloss? It’s one thing to be criticized; it’s another to be openly ridiculed. It can’t be a great sign, for instance, that the Jimmy Kimmel show last week staged a re-enactment of the supposed argument in the kitchen that it called “Two Princes.” Set to a voice-over of an actor reading the passage in a plummy English accent, the skit featured two actors who were, bizarrely, each dressed as the musician Prince. On the other side of the Atlantic, four media personalities on the couch of the British show “This Morning” could barely keep it together last week as they discussed another revelation in the book, Harry’s account of the first time he had sex. “An older woman took his virginity and then, when the act of darkness had been completed, he lay on his front and she smacked his bottom,” said one, the writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, to peals of laughter... Once they have exhausted the topic of themselves, what is left for them to talk about?  “It’s overload,” Schneider said. “There’s been a lot about them, and now there’s a lot more. While people’s fascination has always been pretty high, maybe there is a natural limit to that.” If he had been advising Harry and Meghan, said Howard Bragman, the chairman of the crisis-management firm La Brea Media, he would have impressed on them that there is only so much mileage you can get out of a finite amount of material.  “You have to realize that you can really only tell your story once,” Bragman said.  There is also the question of timing. Harry’s book is being published shortly after the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. Whatever you think of the monarchy, Elizabeth’s funeral gave the royal family the chance to showcase qualities like discretion, fortitude, an adherence to duty and tradition, and an aptitude for remaining publicly stoic in the face of private grief.  But Harry embodies the opposite of all that. With his revelations about private family conversations, his accounts of his anguish and unhappiness at the behavior of his father, stepmother and brother, especially in the wake of his mother’s death, and his eagerness to divulge un-regal details about topics like Meghan and Kate’s high-drama altercation over the bridesmaids’ dresses at his and Meghan’s wedding, he presents a stark contrast to William and, especially, to Kate, who in public have said exactly nothing about any of this. “It feels a little reality-television-y to me,” Bragman said of the Harry-and-Meghan media offensive. The couple, he added, “feel a little Trumpian, in that they seem like they can’t let a grudge go.”  Alas, even one of the queens of reality television, the former “Real Housewives of New York City” star Bethenny Frankel, believes that Harry and Meghan have finally said too much... “We’ve all just fallen down some wormhole where we will never be free of hearing every single detail of Prince Harry’s life and why he believes no one has ever had a worse life than his,” the former “View” co-host Meghan McCain said on Twitter. “This is never going to end. He’s never going to let us live!”"
When even Don Lemon is getting tired of the grievance mongering

Army veterans criticise Prince Harry’s claim he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan - "High-profile British veterans have criticised the Duke of Sussex’s claim he had killed 25 Taliban soldiers while serving with the British army in Afghanistan and warned the high-profile admission could increase the risk to his personal security.  The retired army veteran Col Tim Collins, best known for delivering a rousing speech before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, said the prince’s kill-count talk was crass and “we don’t do notches on the rifle butt”.  Others said Harry had appeared wrongly to dehumanise the insurgents by describing them as “chess pieces removed from the board”, while the Taliban accused the prince of committing war crimes on his tour a decade ago... The former soldier accused Harry of engaging in “a tragic moneymaking scam to fund the lifestyle he can’t afford” that, in a barely concealed sideswipe at his wife, Meghan, was something “someone else has chosen”. Other Afghanistan veterans questioned how far Harry could be sure of how many people he had killed. A former para said: “I’ve never heard anyone talk about kill counts, it’s crass and frankly cringeworthy. Taking a life is the most serious thing you can ever do on ops, serious people don’t talk it up as a game to shift a few books.”  While it is not uncommon for soldiers to watch back gun-cam footage to analyse how the mission had unfolded, the Afghan veteran added, “You can’t always tell who has been killed or injured. No one is going into a flattened building to check.”  A former British army commander in Afghanistan, retired Col Richard Kemp, said the comments may put the prince’s security at greater risk. Extremists who support the Taliban may now be “motivated to kill Harry” because of memories that have been “resurrected” by his comments... Harry is suing the UK government over a decision to withdraw taxpayer-funded royal protection for him and his family after he stepped back from royal duties in 2020. At one point in the legal battle, his lawyers said the prince “does not feel safe” when he is visiting the UK, after a string of threats and incidents, including from far-right extremists. There was unease at the comments from some British Muslims, including from those who have publicly supported Harry and Meghan in the past, but continued their support, at least for her."
Obviously all the veterans are lying
If he is killed by extremists, it'll all be the fault of the press and his family

Prince Harry erupts at 'disturbing lie' over Taliban killing 'boast' on primetime US TV - "Royal commentator Phil Dampier said: “Prince Harry has said in the past one of his major aims is to protect his family. Is it really wise for him to admit killing 25 Taliban in Afghanistan?  “Surely this is not the best way of doing that? It must make him more of a target. I have never known any other servicemen talk in such detail about these things in a theatre of war before.”... the royal defended himself by saying that his “words are not dangerous” but the spin on them is "very dangerous".  The Duke of Sussex added that "the last few days have been very hurtful and challenging"... The Duke of Sussex continued his attack on the press by accusing it of taking his comments out of context and publicising a “lie”... The father-of-two added that he decided to share such sensitive information in his book due to his experiences over nearly 20 years of working with veterans.  He concluded: “I think the most important thing is to be honest and to give space to others, to be able to share their experiences without any shame.  “My whole goal and attempt with sharing that detail is to reduce the number of suicides.”"

Harry has turned against military, says ex-commander - "A retired commanding officer has accused Prince Harry of "turning against" his military family after "having trashed his birth family"... Ex-colonel Tim Collins said that was "not how you behave in the army"... The ex-colonel, who gained worldwide fame for an eve-of battle speech to troops in Iraq, said: "Harry has now turned against the other family, the military, that once embraced him having trashed his birth family.  He accused Prince Harry of choosing an "alien" path and of "pursuing riches he does not need".  "In the end, I see only disappointment and misery in his pursuit of riches he does not need and his rejection of family and comradely love that he badly needs."... On referring to killed Taliban insurgents as chess pieces, Col Kemp said such comments could give "propaganda to the enemy"... Ben McBean, who lost an arm and a leg serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan and was described by Prince Harry as a hero after the pair met at several events, said the royal needed to "shut up".  He wrote on Twitter: "Love you #PrinceHarry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder the people he's hanging around with.  "If it was good people somebody by now would have told him to stop."  Another serviceman still serving told the BBC Harry's comments were "very unsoldier-like".  And like many military personnel he said he had no interest in keeping count. More often it is those who write books who seem to take more of an interest in their kill statistics... Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would not comment on the appropriateness of the prince's 25 kills claim"
Racists!

Prince Harry’s ‘backpedalling’ over Taliban killcount claim shows Duke has ‘lost the plot’ - "he accused British journalists of "dangerous” misrepresentation of controversial remarks contained in his book, Spare, including comparing the people he shot to “chess pieces”.  Harry insisted: “Without a doubt, the most dangerous lie that they have told, is that I somehow boasted about the number of people I killed in Afghanistan.”... "The military community is pretty unanimous in its condemnation of his detailing of Taliban deaths, and it does come across as boasting I'm afraid.  “The chess pieces analogy just compounds his error.”  Mr Crawford explained: “You shouldn't disrespect your enemy, and you should certainly never disrespect the enemy's dead.  “It's just not what military people do. He's lost the plot.”"

Veterans question motive behind Prince Harry's 'healing' Taliban kill count admission - "the Prince claimed he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving with the British Armed Forces, adding he disclosed the figures “for my own healing journey”. But high-profile serving and former soldiers have questioned his motives, raising concerns over what goal his disclosure hopes to serve... former soldier and SAS member Phil Campion, also known as 'Big Phil', wondered who the kill count was meant to help.  He asked whether the figure was included to "sell books" or as a "cry for help" from the Prince.  Mr Campion, a prominent campaigner for veteran mental health, said he couldn't see the need for the royal to shout it "at the top of his voice" and promote "his book with it".  He branded the moves "unedifying", adding he had never met anyone who has "known or talked about their number of kills”... Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, raised concerns about the Invictus Games... Royal Navy chief Admiral Lord West shared the senior backbencher's worries.  He told the Sunday Mirror the Duke was "very stupid" for detailing his role in the Afghanistan war.  Admiral Lord West said there could be "serious security issues" at the games, due to take place in Dusseldorf this year, given their direct ties to the Prince."
So much for claiming that he spoke out to help veteran suicide

You can see why Harry dislikes the tabloid press – but they didn’t cause Diana’s death - "Harry was just wrong to tell Bradby that his mother’s death after a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in 1997 was caused directly by the paparazzi. They were indeed following the Mercedes limousine in which Diana, Princess of Wales and her companion Dodi Fayed were travelling at speed, but they were on motor scooters some way behind. The main reason for her death was that the chauffeur Henri Paul was high on drink and drugs, not having been expecting to work that day until his employer, Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed, ordered him to take the couple across Paris in a powerful car which he had no experience of driving. Diana might have survived if she had worn her seat belt.  I was the Guardian’s European affairs editor in Brussels at the time and was ordered to Paris on the first train that morning to help the paper’s coverage. As I took a taxi from the Gare du Nord to the French capital’s Guardian office, the driver told me: “Only an idiot drives into that tunnel at that speed. It has a bend and a difficult camber. He must have been mad.” Five hours after the accident, a Parisian cabbie knew what a decade later it would take eight months for a British inquest (which I also covered) to decide. If Harry’s remarks in the ITV interview set a fresh wave of conspiracy theories going he will not have done a service to his mother’s memory. Does Buckingham Palace leak damaging stories? Well, there was a brief period 20 years ago when Harry’s beloved father allowed his adviser Mark Bolland aggressively to campaign for Camilla’s rehabilitation, but generally it’s hard to get any but the most anodyne information out of palace sources. You can’t just ring up King Charles or Prince William for a candid chat, on or off the record.  The tabloids do indeed cover the royals intensely and, actually, they mostly get their reporting right. They were the ones who first noticed the rift between Charles and Diana and indeed between the two brothers after Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle – both of which were important stories and furthermore true. Would Harry rather return to the deference of the press in the 1930s, when it failed to report Edward VIII’s burgeoning love affair with Wallis Simpson until it was all but a fait accompli?... Harry seems unable to distinguish these nuances as he backs into the limelight. He appears to want public apologies and reconciliation while going about obtaining it in the way it is least likely to happen. Presumably until then he will be able to play victim. But how many more times will he be able to do it?"
When even the Guardian criticises you, you know you've jumped the shark

The Genuine Shock of That Prince Harry Frostbite Story | Vanity Fair - "the most genuinely jarring bits have been the corporeal candor that Prince Harry took in writing the book. Like when he addressed one rumor that I don’t recall ever reading—that Princess Diana did not want the boys to be circumcised. Turns out they are. So there’s another little fact to shout at the overworked orderly in the years hence. It’s a pretty stark diversion from the Windsor clan’s usually steadfast commitment to decorum... “I looked at Willy, really looked at him, perhaps for the first time since we were little, taking in every detail: his familiar scowl, which had always been the norm in his dealings with me.” William was balding, Harry noted, and it was more “advanced than mine.” That’s a great burn to levy between brothers. But then this: Harry noted that with the balding, William’s resemblance to their late mother had “faded.”  Harry’s brother was, in a way, unrecognizable to him. And what’s more horrifying than that? The person who is perhaps the only one who has access to what you went through—the struggles of the monarchy, having that father and those expectations, the tragedy of losing their mother—fading into something different, something more bald. William had aged out of the thing—his hair, and thus the resemblance—that had made him a bridge to what came before, and what’s worse, he’s Harry’s big brother.  These moments, first with the frostbite and then with the hairline, make it seem as though Harry’s masculinity, and more so his humanity, is at stake in the writing of Spare... Whether this is the intention or not, the duke has blanketed the internet, the television, the published word with his own stories about every single bit of himself, down to the most personal, physical matters."

Prince Harry says Diana would be 'heartbroken' over Royal Family rift - "Prince Harry said there had to be "accountability" before reconciliation... Prince Harry speaks about the traumatic legacy of his mother's death in a car accident in 1997 - but says Diana would now be sad to see the dispute between her sons, with Prince Harry seeing William as his "arch nemesis" as well as "beloved brother" and describing a physical altercation between them... He rejected that he had accused members of the Royal Family of racism in the Oprah interview, saying the "British press had said that".  Prince Harry made repeated criticisms of the tabloid press - saying that it was his "life's work" to change the media landscape."
Shame on him, making his mother heartbroken. Maybe he can be accountable once Meghan dumps him

Prince Harry claims he and Meghan Markle never alleged royals were racist on Oprah – here’s what Sussexes actually said - "Following the interview’s broadcast, the remarks about Archie’s skin colour were widely interpreted as allegations of racism by outlets on both sides of the Atlantic, including Vanity Fair, TIME Magazine, TMZ and The Guardian amongst others"
They must be the most misunderstood people in the world

Prince Harry discusses royal family in '60 Minutes,' ITV interviews - The Washington Post - "Harry said he is often asked in America, his new home, “How could you ever forgive your family for what they’ve done?” In Britain, the royal family may ask the same about Harry, who has broken the fourth wall of the royal soap opera and named the names of those he says have leaked against him, including his father, King Charles III and his wife Camilla, and his brother Prince William and his wife Catherine — and their PR teams... Bradby, who said he has been friends with Harry for 20 years, said on camera that Harry was burning his bridges and had deployed a flamethrower against the royal family."

Prince Harry discusses royal family in '60 Minutes,' ITV interviews - The Washington Post - "The latest polling, conducted by YouGov on Thursday and Friday, continues to find public support for the Sussexes shrinking. Just 23 percent of the British public have a positive view of Meghan, down from 49 percent in 2017, the year of their engagement. Support for Harry is at 26 percent, down from 81 percent in 2017."
Clearly, this is racist backlash from the public against them telling their truth

In memoir, Prince Harry said to claim infamous Nazi costume was William's idea - "“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said,” Harry wrote, adding that when he went home and tried it on for them, “They both howled. Worse than Willy’s leotard outfit! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.” Page Six, citing Royal historian Robert Lacey, said that the incident marked a turning point for Harry’s relationship with William and the Royal family...   Harry’s decision to blame William for his Nazi costume was widely derided on the internet, with one commentator noting the irony of his “just following orders” defense."
When you can never take responsibility

Prince Harry's claim Wills and Kate involved in Nazi outfit branded 'bull****' - "a former royal aide, who helped to handle the fallout and spoke to Harry at length at the time, said: "I was there in the middle of all of that, at no point did Harry ever say that to me".  They added: "There was no mention to any advisers at the time that it was William and Kate’s idea or they thought it was hilariously funny.  "That recollection did not exist at the time, contemporaneously.” Another person, who attended the same party as Harry, has deemed Harry's claim as "bull****"."

Meghan, a woman who married a prince, carping on social injustice sums up 2022 - "the subjects of these films aren’t all universally loved paragons of virtue; Jacinda Ardern and Greta Thunberg, for example, are both politicians with very specific social and economic aims not necessarily shared by all. Here, they’re presented as sort of modern day saints and untouchable saviours of humanity. And while many like their ideologies and beliefs, many don’t. But "Live to Lead" won’t enlighten viewers much in relation to any of that.  Documentaries which present unquestioning, slushy versions of people’s lives have a limited appeal. The kitsch background music and trite quotations that make up these sorts of films are the hallmarks of the "documentary lite" genre that we see more and more of in today’s media marketplace — many thanks to Archewell productions.  That genre has more in common with propaganda films than with the layered, educational documentaries many love to watch on Netflix. The freedom of the streaming services is that they don’t have to pander to advertisers, so they can challenge holy cows. They’re free to ask difficult questions and highlight complex dilemmas. They can let their work sprawl over multiple episodes, leaving no question unasked. It’s disappointing, then, when they instead produce extended adverts for individuals, however worthy.  On the one hand, H and Megs are a weird choice to read the opening lines about how the series focuses on leaders following in Nelson Mandela’s inspirational footsteps to lead social change. Neither of them has done that. They’re famous for being rich and privileged, and facing no real societal problems of note. Sure, Meghan was upset by an advert for washing up liquid once as a child, but it isn’t quite the same thing as 20 years in prison... For Harry and Meghan it marks the moment they moved on, for now at least, from selling royal gossip.  But instead of being a positive step, it feels like a new career low: reading out the one sentence episode descriptions to the subjects of a plodding kids’ style documentary series is hardly thought leadership."

Almost half of Brits want Prince Harry stripped of title after Netflix show with Meghan - "44 percent of respondents say the Duke of Sussex should lose his title, compared to 32 percent who disagree. Some 24 percent did not know. Meanwhile, 44 percent said they had more sympathy with Prince William and Kate following the bombshell six-part series earlier this month, compared to just 17 percent for Harry and Meghan. And 23 percent of respondents to the survey of 1,672 adults carried out from December 20 to 21 said it had made them think worse of the Sussexes.  Only seven percent said it made them think better of the couple... “I’m not at all surprised that people have more sympathy for the Prince and Princess of Wales because they are doing the classic thing of being stoical.  "They are not complaining about Harry. “I think it is unlikely that the King will strip the Duke of Sussex of his title because then it looks like he and Prince William are doing the kind of things Harry and Meghan do. Their modus operandi is to be quiet and calm and not lash out.”  The polling also found 65 percent think Harry and Meghan chose to leave the Royal Family, compared to 11 percent who said they were forced out.  A majority - 53 percent - said the couple do not deserve an apology from the royals, while 19 percent said they did."

Harry told 'don't hold breath' over Coronation as 'betrayal backfires' - "royal biographer Angela Levin has warned the Duke that he shouldn’t “hold breath” for an invite after his recent comments that he wants to reconcile with his family but only if the royals accept “accountability”.  In her article, Ms Levin, who has met and interviewed Prince Harry, also claims that Harry’s betrayal has “backfired”. The royal expert added: “There are probably fewer people than he wanted feeling sorry for him”."

Harry not set for Coronation invite amid fears private talks will 'end up on paperback' - "Insiders previously said the King was warned to stop taking phone calls from his youngest son and to instead ask him to email his assistant any requests amid fears of recording devices for the Netflix series.  The concerns were proven to be rightly placed after the 38-year-old published the private text messages between Meghan Markle and the Princess of Wales about the row over bridesmaid’s dresses.  Harry's Megxit memoir 'Spare' also makes public a number of conversations between the Prince and his aunt, the Princess Royal, his father, and his brother... he prints the transcript of a telephone conversation with Charles, who had been informed that Queen Elizabeth was close to death... It has also been reported that Harry has “crossed Charles’ red line” after he attacked the Queen Consort, Camilla, by calling her a “villain” who was “in bed with the devil”, which is what he calls the press.  The Prince claimed that Camilla leaked stories to the press in order to improve her own image."
There goes the material for his next "memoir"

Harry may be suffering from 'second child syndrome' as expert speaks out on condition - "A friend of Prince William yesterday said he "could have a f****** field day" with the "s***" he has on the Duke of Sussex. A close friend of William branded Harry "outrageously disloyal" after William was "always there to pick up the pieces".  The friend said: "There’s so much stuff over the years that Harry has rung friends up about and said, ‘throw away that photo, promise you won’t speak about this’. You could have a f****** field day with s*** on Harry. So could William, who (in comparison) is as clean as a whistle. I can’t believe he’d stoop so low."  Another friend warned there is "so much we could say" about Prince Harry. He told the Times: “It’s strategically not clever. Harry is good at getting his narrative out there but we know so much, we’ve cleaned up so many messes over the years." Meanwhile, a close friend of the pair told the Sunday Times William will not retaliate because he is "dignified and incredibly loyal". He said: "It's cruel, cowardly and so sad for William to keep taking the punches. He's keeping quiet for the good of his family and the country."  The same friend adds that William is "burning" on the inside while another friend told the same publication that William is thinking strategically by following the example of his grandmother, Elizabeth II."

Meghan Markle stories saw Prince Harry so addicted to fixing narrative - "Prince Harry admitted he would look up stories written about wife Meghan Markle at the start of their relationship... he attributed his wife's miscarriage to an article written by the Daily Mail."
Early miscarriage: Is stress a factor? - Mayo Clinic - "While excessive stress isn't good for your overall health, there's no evidence that stress results in miscarriage."

Prince Harry's truth campaign backfires in US: 'Queen must be spinning in her grave' - "Up until now, polls have suggested Americans have been more sympathetic towards Meghan and Harry than their UK counterparts... she was less popular in America than her husband, Harry, as well as Prince William and Kate Middleton, the YouGov poll found. Kate Middleton was liked by 52 percent and disliked by nine percent, giving her a net approval of +43, 20 points higher than Meghan's.  Some royal commentators believe this gap has widened in the wake of Harry and Meghan's recent media ventures.  It is "striking" how tepid the US reaction has been to Meghan and Harry's six-part documentary Netflix series, foreign policy expert Nile Gardiner told Express.co.uk.  The Washington-based commentator said: "It is striking Meghan has had very little support from the woke liberal elites who haven't come out in force to defend her... "Americans have no time for her complaints against the British monarchy or complaints of being a victim."  He added the Royal Family remains hugely loved by Americans - a feeling that has steadily grown since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September."

Links - 25th January 2023 (1 - Meghan & Harry)

Meghan and Harry: Bodyguard pictured with Sussexes is ex-Met officer convicted of choking his wife - "A bodyguard pictured with Prince Harry and Meghan is a former Met Police officer convicted of strangling his wife leaving her 'seconds away from death'... Pere Daobry, 51, was pictured driving the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a Range Rover on September 5 as they left Frogmore cottage on their way to London’s Euston station... The 6ft 7in bodybuilder only escaped imprisonment because he called 999 and confessed to his crime - while his wife committed suicide in 2019 after describing him as a 'lunatic'.   The revelation will raise eyebrows as Meghan has long championed women's rights and campaigned against gender-based violence... During the couple's tour to South Africa in 2019 Meghan said in an ActionAid speech that men and boys should be held accountable for their actions... In a traumatic interview after his conviction, Mrs Jay said: 'I suffered at the hands of this lunatic for two years. I am devastated he isn't behind bars. He deserves to be.  'For any man to do this is terrible - for a policeman to do what he did is outrageous. He nearly killed me. All he got is a slap on the wrists"... News of Daobry’s conviction will come as an embarrassment to Harry and Meghan who have campaigned to raise awareness on domestic violence through their Archewell Foundation... Daobry was married to Mrs Jay for two years before he strangled her. He later denied the assault but was found guilty after a trial.   During the hearing, Daobry claimed to have used a police-approved choke hold to stop Mrs Jay from taking an overdose of prescribed tablets at their home in the pretty Essex village of Thorpe-le-Soken.   But magistrates rejected his evidence 'entirely' and found him guilty of assault. The offence was serious enough that he could have been jailed but he was instead handed a 12-week suspended prison sentence."
Maybe intersectionality saved him, and those who point out his record are racist

Sylvia Jeffreys: Meghan Markle was in a 'threatening environment' at Windsor - "Today Extra host Sylvia Jeffreys has defended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying it took courage for them to stand side by side with the Prince and Princess of Wales at Windsor Castle on Saturday despite hostility from the public and the press... Jeffreys said the 'negativity' being levelled against the Sussexes had made her physically ill... Royal commentator Tom Bower, whose biography of Meghan Markle was released earlier this year, on Wednesday claimed the Duke of Sussex was 'insisting' on the original release date of his memoir being honoured... Penguin Random House has not yet released a statement on whether the explosive release will be delayed in light of Queen Elizabeth's death."
These are the same people who go on about "white fragility"

Harry and Meghan are realising the Monarchy still calls the shots - "What we have witnessed since Queen Elizabeth II’s death is Harry and Meghan being offered a form of “half in, half out” royalty far from the cake-and-eat-it scenario they originally envisaged.  The news that the couple accidentally received an invitation to Sunday night’s “state reception of the century” at Buckingham Palace only to have it rescinded at the last minute shows that they may have a discretionary “in” when it comes to family occasions but where major events involving world leaders are concerned, they are well and truly “out”...   In denying them the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Joe Biden, the US president, and Jacinda Adern, New Zealand’s prime minister, the palace powers-that-be have reasonably decided that there is a time and a place for Harry and Meghan – and it is not at the biggest diplomatic reception ever hosted by a monarch.  As a fellow non-working royal, the Duke of York is unsurprisingly not attending either.   Yet in withdrawing the offer to the Sussexes, the so-called men in grey suits may also have been mindful that the increasingly politicised nature of some of their recent interventions – from encouraging people to vote in America to the Duke’s comments on gun control – may not sit with the non-partisan nature of the gathering."

Ben Goldsmith claims Meghan Markle is a manipulative bully who got found out' - "Financier Ben Goldsmith claims Meghan Markle is disliked because she is a 'manipulative bully'.  Mr Goldsmith - who is the brother of minister Zac - made a number of allegations in a series of messages online in response to claims the Duchess was a victim of racism... 'At the start Meghan was adored. Crowds thronged the streets at the wedding. Meghan is disliked because she is a manipulative bully who got found out.  'Meghan has come to personify the arrival of America’s deranged culture wars in Britain. '... Allegations emerged 18 months ago following complaints by staff during a 'toxic period' before the couple emigrated in early 2020. 'Broken' royal aides told of feeling humiliated, 'sick', 'terrified', left 'shaking' with fear, and being reduced to tears.  Meghan was accused of having inflicted 'emotional cruelty' on her staff and 'drove them out'. One branded the Sussexes 'outrageous bullies'... Royal aides announced in March last year that they were launching an inquiry into claims that Meghan’s ‘belittling’ behaviour while a working member of the Royal Family drove two female personal assistants out of the household and ‘undermined the confidence’ of a third.  Staff were said to have been left in tears and feeling ‘traumatised’ – with some likening their condition to having post-traumatic stress... The allegations have always been strongly denied by the duchess, whose lawyers described them at the time as a ‘calculated smear campaign’. They did not respond to requests for comment yesterday."
So much for championing "mental health". Or, indeed, "believing victims" (except for Meghan and Harry)

'Narcissistic' Meghan Markle is 'very calculating', Lady Colin Campbell claims - "Meghan Markle and Rebekah Vardy are both 'women with no apparent talent' who 'think they know everything', Lady Colin Campbell has claimed.   Appearing on GB News today, the royal expert suggested the Duchess of Sussex, 40, who is currently living in her $14 million California mansion having stepped back from royal duty last year, is 'very committed to being self serving.'...  'Notice how dexterously she moved him from the royal family to California…she has clearly decided that she wasn't going to give her time or her energy to the British people or was serving humanity when she could serve her financial interests in a community property state, where in the event of a divorce she gets a whopping 50 per cent.'... 'If she gets something better, he will be toast. If she never finds anything better…that's the modus operandi of people who are very opportunistic, narcissistic and exploitative….  'I said in my book that I was told the royal family's great fear was that Harry would actually end up doing something rather dramatic and final.  'The people who know him very well, there was the fear that his passions would prevail over the limited amount of sense that he has. He's not the brightest star in the constellation.' On the couple's business deals, she said: 'I've been reliably informed that the figures that have been quoted were pie in the sky.  'Netflix and Spotify have not given them anywhere near the amount of money that they would like the world to [believe]…  'No, I think that she is in some ways on a very slippery slope, shades of Rebekah Vardy.  'You know, the chickens come home to roost when you are as artificial as these women are.'"

Reviews of Meghan Markle's first Archetypes podcast on Spotify with Serena Williams - "Meghan Markle's new Spotify podcast has been slammed by critics who said it was 'almost entirely preposterous' and 'just another way she can talk about herself'.  The Duchess of Sussex released her long-awaited Archetypes podcast yesterday in the form of a conversation with her close friend, tennis great Serena Williams.  But Celia Walden in the Telegraph said it was 'an interview with this inspirational sporting figure in name only', and that Meghan was 'interviewing herself'. She also said the Duchess was the sort of person 'who hijacks every distressing anecdote with one of their own – only theirs is longer drawn-out, more distressing'.  The Spectator's columnist Steerpike said it was 'hard to believe that it took 28 people, including eight executive producers, to make the episode - plus Meghan'.  The review added that tennis enthusiasts who listen to the podcast to hear from Williams 'might be a bit disappointed' because it 'is in fact all about Meghan'.  And James Marriott in The Times described it as a 'tastefully soundtracked parade of banalities, absurdities and self-aggrandising Californian platitudes'.  His one-star review said the podcast will 'make you feel you've been locked in the relaxation room of a wellness spa with an unusually self-involved yoga instructor'"

Meghan Markle’s ‘colossal mistake’ left palace staff ‘aghast’ - "Buckingham Palace staff was reportedly left “aghast” at Meghan Markle’s decision to launch a lawsuit against a UK tabloid.  Author Valentine Low claimed in his new book Courtiers, published on October 2022, that the Duchess of Sussex was advised against the copyright claim against The Mail.  The correspondent suggested Meghan "was determined to go ahead" and would ask: "Why is nobody listening to me?"  "Everyone else was equally determined to talk her out of it," Valentine wrote. "Then, when the couple spent time that summer with Elton John and David Furnish, the solution presented itself to them: get another lawyer.” “Schillings, a firm Elton had used before, had a reputation for being the most aggressive libel firm in Britain, as well as for charging eye-watering fees. Meghan dumped Harbottle & Lewis and was introduced to Schillings by Elton. She was on her way to court”... "None of them knew that the duchess was suing The Mail on Sunday until they were in South Africa. The team was aghast.  "They thought it was a colossal mistake, not least because it threatened to derail the rest of the tour. There was, however, very little they could do about it.""

Whoopi Goldberg Hits Back at Meghan Markle’s Claims of Objectification on ‘Deal or No Deal’ During ‘The View’: “What Did You Think You Were Going to Do?” - "Following the release of Meghan Markle’s latest podcast episode where she said she felt like she was being “reduced to this specific archetype” that was “all looks and little substance” during her brief stint as a suitcase girl on Deal or No Deal, Whoopi Goldberg hit back at the Duchess of Sussex with a different perspective... "When you’re a performer, you take the gig. Sometimes you’re in a bozo suit, sometimes you got a big nose, and this is just the way it is. We’re not journalists. We’re actors. We’re trying to get to another place.” Sunny Hostin jumped in to describe the “archetype” Markle was referring to as she pointed out that the show had “no big girls” and all they had were “little, skinny, tiny, pretty models.” However, Goldberg fired back, “But what did you think you were going to? That’s what the show was.”... “If you see it and that’s how you feel, just maybe you don’t want to make the other women feel bad because maybe they’re trying to make a living, too.”"
Racist! Misogynist!

Meghan Markle: British media call 'my children the N-word' - "Markle noted that she and Prince Harry did not have control of the @KensingtonRoyal Instagram account they initially shared with Prince William and Kate Middleton.  When the couple broke off to make their own social media handle, @sussexroyal, they chose not to play the “exchange game.”   Instead, Markle and the prince, 37, posted photos without first giving them to the Royal Rota."
More fodder for the credulous and those who don't understand the importance of branding and image management for such an old Firm

How Meghan Markle's appearance as a 'briefcase girl' on Deal or No Deal jump-started her career - "Gesturing to a photo of Meghan as a briefcase girl, Howie said, 'I saw that picture when she became the Duchess or when she got engaged.  'I saw that picture and they went, "She was a Deal or No Deal model," and I go, "Really? Really? What number?"   'I think she's just a young lady with a lot of baggage'... In his 2020 biography Meghan Misunderstood, royal author Sean Smith claimed that 'Briefcase Girls' were 'paid $800 (£606) per episode and sometimes there were up to seven episodes filmed per day.'  As a result, 'Briefcase Girls' could earn up to £4,240 in a single day if they were available to film every episode... Meghan claimed she had been branded 'crazy' and 'hysterical', saying such labels were used to silence women.  In her latest podcast, she said the insults could lead to people being 'gaslit' into thinking they were ill"
Given how much she tries to gaslight others, this is hilarious

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'trying to create alternative woke royal family', says Angela Levin - "Royal biographer Angela Levin has claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are 'trying to create an alternative, woke royal family' with the 'grandeur and pomp that surrounds them'.  Ms Levin, a royal commentator and author of several biographies about senior members of the Royal Family, told FEMAIL that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, feels 'enormous bitterness' that she wasn’t able to 'modernise' the Firm... 'And I think Meghan, who doesn't like losing, she likes to win, feels enormous bitterness and resentment towards the Royal Family for not letting her modernize the Royal Family.'  The royal biographer continued: 'I may be wrong, I hope so, but the impression is that they don't want to be royals yet they're hanging on to their titles very, very tightly.   'When Meghan goes anywhere, she always uses her royal title. Now, why do that if you don't actually like the royal family and you wanted to get shot of them? 'So that's why I think there's a big plot and a plan to show how awful the [Royal Family] are. And I think that in Prince Harry's books, and in that terrible interview with Oprah Winfrey, was trying to smash the Royal Family and the monarchy down.'... 'And I don't know whether William would like to make amends with Harry. I think it's very difficult and certainly not before his memoir comes out because we don't know what he's going to say.   '[Harry's] been very unkind and cruel so far. We have to wait to see what he does and maybe they won't want to see them until all that's out in the open and they know what he says.'... 'I suppose one could go round with some flowers as a peace offering, but remember what happened last time,' referring to claims that Meghan threw flowers from Kate in the bin after a row over bridesmaids dresses before Harry and Meghan tied the knot in 2018."

Countess Commonwealth on Twitter - "If Meghan can so snidely mock meeting the late Queen for the first time, imagine what would have been said if she’d been allowed to travel to Balmoral on the Queen’s last day. #HarryandMeghanNetflix #HarryandMeghanonNetflix #AbolishTheSussexes"

Harry and Meghan: Does Netflix's documentary live up to the hype? - "If you watched the trailers and thought Harry & Meghan, Netflix's heavily-promoted new series, was going to be explosive, prepare to be disappointed.  Unless you are an individual member of the Royal Family, in which case, you might be opening the champagne - a drink, we learnt from this new show, that Harry doesn't usually enjoy.  To put it kindly, this is slow-burn television... Netflix has billed Harry & Meghan as an "unprecedented and in-depth documentary series".  But the programme, unsurprisingly, was heavily one-sided and selective. At one point, Meghan describes the media interview and photocall the couple gave when they got engaged as an "orchestrated reality show". Is that what Netflix's Harry & Meghan, produced in association with the couple's company, is?  Interestingly, they began recording video diaries in March 2020, as they stepped away from royal duties. That was many months before their Netflix deal was announced. This is their truth in the hands of the Netflix professionals, a slickly produced narrative about a couple who fell in love and had to sacrifice everything as they butted up against systems, protocols and racism.  The Royal Family - we are told at the start - didn't choose to make any comment for the programme makers. Both Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace confirmed they received an email purporting to be from a production company from an unknown organisation's address and attempted to verify its authenticity with Archewell Productions and Netflix, but did not receive a response... So what we have is carefully curated to back up the couple... These teasers frankly help along a narrative that gets a little repetitive at times.  The programme seems made primarily for an American audience. And Harry has embraced the language of the US West Coast... After the show and then Harry's book, Spare, is published in January, the couple's "truth" will be fully out there. Will that be enough for them?  Their currency might begin to wane as they struggle with the law of diminishing returns. They may still want to battle royal institutions and the media, but it may turn out that their real battle will be with ongoing relevancy."
Clearly they just want their privacy and everyone should respect them and leave them alone

Harry and Meghan's Netflix trailers criticised over 'misleading' clips - "Two trailers for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new Netflix docuseries have been criticised for allegedly using footage and photos in misleading ways.  The trailers show archive clips and pictures as Prince Harry and Meghan talk about being sidelined by the Royal Family and hounded by the media.  However, it is thought at least three such images were taken from events that had nothing to do with the couple. Netflix and the Sussexes' production company Archewell have not commented.  There are further allegations that an image was cropped to suggest the couple were left on the edge of a royal event, when they were in fact front and centre.  There is also a suggestion that another photo has been used to illustrate press intrusion, when it was actually taken at an event with a small number of photographers whose attendance was controlled and agreed upon in advance."

Every bombshell dropped by the Sussexes – and why their timing is always impeccable - "If nothing else, you really have to admire the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s aptitude for timing. Just when one is needed, a precision, laser-guided PR bomb drops. An Exocet missile of melodrama, a lethal Molotov mocktail: subtle enough for the intention to be roundly denied by their spokespeople, but plain enough for the world to comprehend.   The latest is, of course, the release of two trailers for Harry & Meghan, and within them there's one frame in particular: at 25 seconds in the first, a still from the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in 2019. Meghan, angelic in white and neutral in expression, sits behind the then Duchess of Cambridge, who is in the centre of the image looking like the Wicked Witch of the West...
October 2018.  A few months after their blockbuster wedding, the couple’s first overseas tour to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand begins with the announcement they are expecting a baby. The happy news had been shared with the Queen and other members of the Royal Family at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding, and was then made public just as a new poll showed an increase in support for a republic in Australia.   The tour was a triumph, though it was later discovered that in the same month, a complaint was made claiming the Duchess drove two personal assistants out of the household, and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member. Prince Harry allegedly pleaded with Jason Knauf, the couple’s communications secretary at the time, not to pursue it.
October 2019. The first of a now seemingly annual bombshell trailer drop from the Sussexes, this time for ITV’s Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which set in motion the events that eventually led to their departure from the working Royal Family.   Ostensibly meant to cover Harry’s charity work on the continent, following in his late mother’s footsteps, it also contained some marmalade-dropper soundbites...   Meghan, meanwhile, spoke for the first – but not last – time about how difficult she was finding the pressure of being a working royal. This was at the same time as the couple were launching legal action against the Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers over articles that reproduced a handwritten letter Meghan had sent her father.
January 2020. Via Instagram, the Sussexes announced their plans to “step back” from their life as working royals. At the time, the BBC said it understood that no other family member was consulted before the statement. Palace officials were “disappointed”, while senior royals were said to be “hurt” by the announcement... It later became clear that a key income stream over the next two years would stem from raking through the very act of leaving The Firm.
March 2021. The Sussexes’ self-extrication culminated in an earth-shattering 90-minute interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired while the Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital...
July 2021...  Just as the dust settled in a tumultuous year for the Queen, including the Oprah interview, the continuing scrutiny over Prince Andrew’s Jeffrey Epstein-adjacent shenanigans and the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry announced he would publish – though not necessarily write – a “raw, unflinching” memoir with Penguin Random House... It will be called Spare, and is already discounted at WHSmith.
December 2022. And here we are. In the week that the Prince and Princess of Wales attempted to garner themselves some attention, the Duchess of Sussex’s podcast comes to an end and here come not one but two trailers for a “behind the scenes” Netflix documentary, with a telling still at its heart. The Waleses’ tour had been planned for at least six months. They managed to keep the Sussexes off the front pages for about 12 hours."

Harry and Meghan, a tawdry couple fuelled by hate and a need for publicity - "The Netflix series Harry & Meghan might better be described as The Great Betrayal. The “cast” are billed as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex which is appropriate since this is not a docu-series as advertised but two people playing a part. And what we are witnessing is the narcissistic, egotistical, privileged outpouring of a couple bent on revenge. Shamefully, Harry is quite happy to throw his brother, father, and even grandmother, the recently departed Queen, under a big, red, double-decker London bus.   Not since Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, gave her infamous interview in 1995, in which she explosively revealed: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” has someone tried to do so much deliberate damage to the Royal Family.  This is not Harry and Meghan revealing the quirks of a dysfunctional family. To believe this couple, the Royals are a bunch of lying, cunning, conniving, back-stabbing Machiavellian villains...   If he had any respect for her at all he would keep his mouth shut. But then there’s the Netflix series to advance, the Sussex’s media company, Archewell Productions, is listed as one of the show’s three producers. There is also a forthcoming book to push, and a podcast to advertise. Last year, the couple also did an interview with Oprah Winfrey. It’s almost as if they are promoting themselves to make money...  does it not seem odd that Harry was terrified of his screaming brother? Harry, after all, served ten years in the British Army, did two tours of Afghanistan and flew Apache helicopters. But a screaming brother is terrifying? The army must have kept him well cocooned and wrapped in cotton wool... their relentless desire to blacken the Royal Family and the Monarchy does them no credit. In the telling of their tale, they are revealed as lacking integrity and honour. There’s a bitter, angriness that drips from their lips.  They may hate the Royal institution and the people within it, but it is that hate which is making them money. And that’s a lousy way to get rich.  In the end, Harry and Meghan come across as sad, but worse, as so very, very tawdry."

BLIZZARD: What now for King Charles III and the Royals? | Toronto Sun - "Meghan, in her now infamous interview with Oprah, claimed her son Archie was not given an HRH designation or called a prince because of racism within the monarchy. More recently, she told the U.S. magazine, Cut, that her very presence within the family was viewed as a threat... In fact, Archie and their daughter, Lilibet, weren’t high enough in the royal pecking order for those titles in 2020. There were several titles their children were entitled use, but they chose not to use...   And do the Sussexes really want these titles for their children? If so, why? They’re living in that great egalitarian state of California, where personal pronouns tend not to include “prince” and “princess.” Oddly, after quitting the monarchy, Meghan’s angst makes it sound as though it mattered to her.  Then there’s the awkward matter of Harry’s impending book, due out this fall. After his grandmother’s death, will he still push forward with his laundry list of complaints? The monarchy took direct hits from H&M’s hurtful “truth bombs,” over the past two years. What’s left to complain about? Was the soup cold at Buckingham Palace one day?"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Prince Harry and Meghan: Oprah interview reaction - "‘Rachel made the point that the, but they aren't the facts. They're one version of the facts. And this is the unfortunate thing about giving an interview. I'd like to draw attention to something the Queen said, you quoted the Commonwealth day speech. She also said, this is a time like no other, in that speech. And I think when you think about the context in which we are, you know, here we are suffering from COVID. And the Queen and all other members of the royal family are doing their bit to help and encourage the people who are doing good things. Whereas the Sussexes are, haven't been in the country throughout COVID. And it does seem rather self absorbed and irrelevant to what's actually going on in this country.’
‘Rachel, is there not a charge that will be leveled by some against them of narcissism?’
‘I think that's a completely separate issue. It's a completely separate issue. I think to simply dismiss what she has said as narcissism is very short sighted. Racism exists, then, the facts in terms of Meghan's experience are exactly what she said. So you may not view it as a fact, because that's not your experience. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not true.’...
‘Do you think Charles that there is a case there and when you listen to Harry talking in the terms that he talked about being trapped and the other members being trapped, that there is a case for allowing them the freedom to be more private and the kind of, if there is going to be a reset? That's the direction it should go in?’
‘Well, yes, and that, of course, is what they've been allowed, because they've made an arrangement with, by comparison with the Queen's agreement about their future, but the trouble is, their idea of being private seems to involve talking in public all the time. So it's rather contradictory.’"
From March 2021. I wonder if all those who were defending the Sussexes still buy their snake oil

Meghan Markle Duchess of Success Dragged by Bitter Op-Ed Hack. : WhitePeopleTwitter
So many gullible people here. Then again, they all hate white people, so it's no surprise they are taken in

Meme - "Princes then
I will set France ablaze
Princes now
The papers are rude to my wife"

Prince Harry: 'I want my father and brother back' - "Prince Harry has said "I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back," in a trailer for an interview ahead of the release of his autobiography... The prince also said he was "betrayed" in a trailer for US broadcaster CBS."
He's run out of material to sell, so he needs some new excuses to get dirt to spin

London pub launches new 'Harry's Bitter' beer that at 3.9% strength - "A pub in London appears to have commemorated the fallout of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Netflix documentary with a new on-tap beer.  The Duke of Sussex pub in Chiswick, west London is now offering 'Harry's Bitter' to customers.  The badge on the beer tap even features Prince Harry's face with a patriotic red white and blue colour scheme... One visitor to the Duke of Sussex pub noticed the new label, calling it a 'beautifully British riposte to Harry and Meghan's self-pitying Netflix show'.  He also pointed out that it was 'fittingly' only 3.9 per cent alcohol, saying it was 'as week as its namesake'... Over the first three episodes of the docu-series, Harry has accused the royals of having a 'huge level of unconscious bias' and colluding with media to 'destroy' Meghan. He has also as well as slighting his father and brother about their choices of bride.  Meghan claims she received little support from Buckingham Palace as a new royal bride, saying there were no etiquette classes and she was reduced to googling the national anthem. She also said she was too scared to wear colourful clothes in case she overshadowed the Queen.  Sources have dismissed this, saying she was guided by the late Queen's trusted deputy private secretary, Samantha Cohen, as well as her ladies-in-waiting. It is understood Meghan was also offered dozens of meetings with senior officials, but refused to take their advice"

Prince Harry says he left Britain with family 'fearing for our lives' - "Prince Harry has said he had made public his rifts with the Royal Family and taken on the press to try to help the monarchy and change the media, the latter described by his father, King Charles, as a "suicide mission."  In the first of a series of TV interviews, broadcast on Sunday ahead of the launch of his memoir, Harry accused members of his family of getting into bed with the devil — the tabloid press — to sully him and his wife, Meghan, to improve their own reputations... Harry's book, Spare, mistakenly went on sale in Spain five days before its official release, chronicling not only hugely personal details, such as how he lost his virginity and took illegal drugs, but more intimate private instances of family disharmony... Commentators say the book has plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the days of the royal soap opera in the 1990s around the break-up of Charles's marriage to his late first wife, Princess Diana, the mother of William and Harry.  It all comes just four months after Queen Elizabeth died and Charles acceded to the throne... So far, there has been no comment from Buckingham Palace. Harry said he didn't think his father or brother would read his book.  An unnamed friend of William told the Sunday Times that the Prince of Wales was "burning" with anger, but would not respond "for the good of his family and the country." Harry told ITV he wanted reconciliation with his family members but said they had shown no interest, giving the impression it was better to keep him and Meghan as villains... Polls suggest many Britons are becoming bored of the whole royal melodrama, and further revelations are unlikely to shake their views, whether sympathetic to Harry and Meghan, or to those they criticize.  "I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family. I will always do. Nothing of what I've done in this book or otherwise has ever been to ... to harm them or hurt them," he said."
When you're in too deep and need to become a bigger and bigger piece of shit to fund your lifestyle
Smacking away the olive branch from Charles just reveals their gameplan. Liberals will believe him when he claims he wants reconciliation, because they believe you need "accountability"