Prince Harry Was Right and It's not just a matter of Royal Gossip

[mainer]

I'm reading SPARE right now, and it's rather shocking (and also beautifully written, especially the part about his time in Afghanistan. Moehringer did a great job as ghost writer.) UK tabloids really do just make things up and print them, without any repercussions. The press took an old photo of a visit that Harry and Charles paid to a rehab clinic as part of their royal duties, and two years later, that photo was used to accompany a false story that Charles brought Harry to rehab for a drug problem. They make up plain old stupid stuff, too -- like claiming there was a relationship between Harry and Cameron Diaz. The two have never met.

It’s not just a matter of Harry’s suspicions. The Daily Mail columnist Dan Wootton has said “much of the negativity towards the couple is coming from within the royal family. The royal family, and staff of the royal family, are the ones that are very often leaking these stories to the press.”

Other prominent members of the Royal Rota agree. Robert Jobson, the royal editor for The Evening Standard, told the Australian morning show “Sunrise” that “they can deny it all they like until they’re blue in the face, but there’s been an awful lot of leaking, particularly from Kensington Palace,” the office of William and Kate. In tweeting an early report of the rift between Harry and his kin, Richard Palmer of The Daily Express said the royal family “and their advisers recognize the value of a symbiotic relationship in communicating with the public who pay for them. I’m not sure Harry does.”

The British journalist Andrew Marr, a confessed fan of Queen Elizabeth II, says Harry’s claims are important. After all, Marr said it well: “Either well-known journalists are making a lot of stuff up, just sitting at their laptops at the kitchen table inventing the detail of feuds and private ­confrontations, or a particularly confidence-rotting form of anonymous briefing has been taking place.”

Maybe they could be part of an inquiry similar to the one after the phone hacking scandal by Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/opinion/harry-meghan-tabloids.html

[jimfields33]

1. Couldn't care in the least. An entitled guy who was rich from birth.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

3. Only some people are really people.

[jimfields33]

4. I guess.....

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. Not a philosophical-ideological position that has ever worked out well

in the entirety of human history.

[lostnfound]

25. ROFL

So well said it slipped right by. Beautiful.

[mainer]

5. This ties into Brexit, the UK press, and the future of the monarchy

But you couldn’t care less.

[jimfields33]

7. The future of the monarch is fine in our lifetime.

Brexit passed by the people living there. The UK press has been awful for decades.

[pnwmom]

60. The Brexit vote was very close and the media helped ensure that. n/t

[getagrip_already]

35. I personally don't care if the monarchy has a future....

If anything, I'm on the side of dissolving it. But is up to the British, not me.

[emulatorloo]

8. Yet it didn't stop you from replying and kicking the thread.

Of course it is fine that you couldn’t care in the least.

However a lot of people admire Princess Diana for her work with AIDS patients and against landmines. She was there for AIDS patients when most people treated them as sub-human pariahs.

Because of his Mom, people like Harry too. He carries on her good work. Harry saw combat in Afghanistan and has done a lot of work helping disabled veterans regain their dignity and lives.

Apparently the only thing you know about Harry you learned from the liars employed by Rupert Murdoch.

[Cha]

19. Thanks.. I had the same reaction

to that post.

And, Well Said!!

[ShazzieB]

36. Well stated!

[CatWoman]

45. remember Ryan White?

I was living in Indianapolis when that poor kid was diagnosed with AIDS.

You won't believe the hard time people gave him -- it was disgusting the way he was shunned and mistreated.

Seeing Diana openly embrace the AIDS infected opened huge doors and, IMO, went a long way towards people being treated with respect and compassion.

[ShazzieB]

91. I remember him quite clearly!

I saw him on TV multiple times. He was an amazing young man.

[Jilly_in_VA]

13. So you don't have to read it

Or comment. People like you burn my biscuits.

[tinrobot]

17. He didn't choose to be a royal, this life was forced upon him.

There's plenty of rich kids who don't have cameras and tabloids following them around from birth.

There's also plenty of kids who don't have their jobs decided by birth order.

Royalty is a form of child abuse. Needs to be abolished.

[NewEnglandAutumn]

28. Bravo

well said

[Maraya1969]

26. Damn. I wrote a whole response to you and it was lost.

Suffice to say that I believe you give too much credence to a person who is born into money. Money can only do so much. And Money does not protect you from the psychological damage a crazy family can give you. It also comes with other problems that you would not think of if you were from an average middle class family. Just because Harry was born a Prince does not mean he was not abused by his family situation.

[ShazzieB]

37. +1!

[crickets]

39. Well said.

It's also good to remember that no one chooses the circumstances of their birth. What they do with those circumstances is much more important. I don't fault Harry for walking away from the royal madness while still maintaining his work for good causes.

[pnwmom]

49. Absolutely. Kids are much better off if they are raised by healthy, empathic parents

than if they're born into a narcissistic Firm, where they get to live in their gilded cage in return for performing.

[IronLionZion]

34. An ordinary person's story is less likely to make it into the news

[catbyte]

43. So you're blaming him for which womb he came out of and over which he had no control?

Or that because he was "born rich" he has to shut up about every awful thing that's happened to him? You're quite the humanitarian.

[pnwmom]

48. The Firm was rich at the time of Harry's birth, not Harry. Everything he might have had

was conditional upon his performing like a trained circus seal.

He was sent off to boarding school when he was 8, though most non-rich boys would prefer to stay home in a loving family. And the mother who really loved him died when he was twelve.

[MicaelS]

52. Why are you wasting everyone's time with your replies? n/t

[gldstwmn]

80. Yet here you are...

[Cha]

2. Thank you for your OP, mainer. I

haven't read it yet.. but want to.

[emulatorloo]

11. It is a really good memoir.

He is his mother’s son, very compassionate, thoughtful, and witty.

[Cha]

18. Yes, I saw Harry and Meghan and

after it was over.. I missed hearing their voices for days.. it was fascinating.

They're both strong advocates for Equality and for those less fortunate.

I paid attention to Princess Diana and what she was doing while she alive.. I can imagine how devastating it was to lose their Mum..

Mahalo, emulatorloo

[emulatorloo]

20. I don't wanna reveal too much

But what he goes through as a kid trying to deal with his mom’s death will break your heart.

He and Meghan are definitely out there helping people.

[Cha]

24. ..

Mahalo

[ShazzieB]

40. Omg, yes.

We all felt sad, seeing him in that funeral procession, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

[Sky Jewels]

6. Recently I've gained a much fuller picture of William and Kate,

and it's certainly not a flattering one.

I know these are problems of the incredibly rich and famous, but Harry is a human being who was born into a fucked-up system through no choice of his own -- the same system that had a role in getting his mother killed when he was only 12. He's been treated like crap, most notably by the people you'd expect to be his biggest supporters, his own father and big brother.

[brush]

22. There does seem to be a green-eyed monster element...

residing at Kate and William's palace — where many of the negative leaks about Harry and Meghan are said to come from. It's very sad.

Were Harry and Meghan, an attractive and popular couple too, getting too much attention? And the huge elephant in the room question — is all of this negativity coming at the couple because Meghan is Black/mixed race?

It's so pathetic when all they had to do embrace them publicly and William and Kate would've greatly multiplied their own popularity with the far-flung remains of the empire, which encompasses millions of mixed race peoples.

What a huge opportunity missed which shows many in the "firm" to be rather small and not too aware of such an obvious way to burnish its image.

[pnwmom]

50. It's not an elephant in the room question, though. There's no doubt that many

of the media attacks were racist, i.e., suggesting that Meghan was "straight outta Compton."

[brush]

51. True, the "firm" will never admit it...

as obvious as it is.

[getagrip_already]

38. Well, this is a system that has seen its share of...

Murders, imprisonment, poisonings, and banishing. Not to mention internacine intra-family wars.

So what's a little character assasination?

[gldstwmn]

81. William and Kate both look as though the life is being slowly sucked out of them.

That's the only way I can describe it.

[Sky Jewels]

87. I know what you mean.

It's kind of sad.

To me it's clear that the UK royalty system needs a major overhaul and massive downsizing, but, strangely, nobody has asked me for my opinion.

[Bev54]

9. Not just British "journalists" that just make shit up, I think we have seen a lot

done on this side of the pond as well. The difference is the Brits pick a subject (often a Royal) and will not let go, Most of it is about money because Royal dirt sells so it has become a Royal derangement syndrome. He is right to call it out and he has put his money where his mouth is by winning lawsuits against them. He is the Royal whistle blower and they don't much like that.

If only there were some republicans that would show that level of courage.
edit for spelling error

[emulatorloo]

14. There is a lot of talk and anger about the lies spread about him and his mom by Rupert Murdoch.

Yes, we definitively have a serious Rupert Murdoch problem here too.

[Bev54]

15. Yes and don't forget the invasion here of Piers Morgan, puke.

[emulatorloo]

16. Piers Morgan is the worst of the worst, isn't he?

[gldstwmn]

82. I hope the Dominion lawsuit leaves a nice fat hole in his wallet.

[Cha]

21. Ohh.. "The Royal Whistleblower on

the Royal Dirt.."

I like that.. Thank you

[mainer]

12. For those who think it's irrelevant, it very much does matter

The press controls public opinion. We see it with Fox. We see it with UK tabloids pushing Brexit. Harry’s ordeal is just a symptom of a larger problem: the Rupert Murdochs of the world, who can tip elections with their falsehoods. (Harry has some choice words about Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks. )

If you’re OK with the press destroying someone with falsehoods, and getting away with it, then you’ll be fine when they go after innocents anywhere.

[MaryMagdaline]

23. I read Spare and enjoyed it.

While Harry was an entitled rich kid, he was psychologically damaged by growing up, as he put it, in the Truman Show. He lived in a gilded cage and was trained to do nothing (except in the military). It’s an interesting story to read as he makes his way through something closer to real life.

I don’t hold him to the same standard as people who grew up in reality. The Royal Family as an institution is one that has caused many people, stronger than Harry, to go bat-s*** crazy. If he comes out with any sort of sanity, I will be happy for him.

[jxla]

32. Small quibble re "entitled"

I worry a bit that the common use of "entitled" to describe those who think they deserve more than others is too easily conflated/confused with "entitlements" (such as Social Security) in many people's minds.

Otherwise, I like your post for the most part.

[leftstreet]

41. +1

[NewEnglandAutumn]

29. jealous much?

because this comes across as bitter and jealous

[calimary]

30. Seems like Harry is, at least to me.

[pnwmom]

61. Bitter and jealous, no.

Angry -- for good reason -- and working for change.

[calimary]

67. I would not count out the bitter and jealous part. Not at all.

Don’t forget the dynamic in operation here, that you can see in many families. The older and younger siblings. The younger one stuck in the position of watching the older one in line to inherit the BIG prize, who also seems to have been blessed with a shitload of “extras”: more handsome, smarter, more charming, more photogenic (hugely important in their line of work), he found his mate first so HE got the rights to “THAT ring”, and the status and rank and all that. And the “all that” part with all the perks and visuals and trappings and tradition and history, all breaking the older brother’s way just because, by happenstance, he happened to be born first.
There’s the fact that they both grew up with that, from their first bottles of baby formula. And the younger having to face that his birthrite, in that system, will never give him equality with his brother or any of those historic privileges on the world stage, unless something happens to his older brother AND his older brother’s children who ALL stand in his way to the throne.

And, worse, the younger brother wound up marrying a shrewd, calculating schemer who, as soon as she met him, saw a potential path for herself to becoming a real-life Queen.

It’s as old a story as Cain and Abel.

Just some observations, and my opinion, of course.

[Cha]

68. And, my opinion is.. I don't think

Harry is "bitter or jealous".

[CatWoman]

73. i also think Harry is more handsome and photogenic

[Cha]

74. And he Meghan is

his Wife! They both hit the soul mate Winfall

[Arazi]

70. Do you have ANY substantiation for this?

Did Harry ever WANT to be king? Did he have ANY desire to bequeath his mothers (troubled) engagement ring? Or have “historic privileges” - which are what exactly? And it appears Harry doesn’t/didn’t want anything to do with any of it anyway. He wanted to stay in the military but was forced out because he was about to outrank William and the Queen didn’t want the visual of having William saluting to Harry so they made him quit.

How do you know if William is “smarter and more charming”?

And “more handsome and more photogenic”?! Says who? You? You do realize that’s your subjective opinion that many (most?) don’t share.

Also how do you know Meghan is a “shrewd, calculating schemer”? Do you know her or just what you’ve read in tabloids?

[pnwmom]

72. The fact that you think William is "more handsome, smarter, more charming, more photogenic"

shows that you must have been bedazzled by his status as first in line.

[calimary]

76. Yes there is that, but I like to look at the behavior that's

below the surface.

In their own ways, both brothers present pleasing external portraits. But it’s the BEHAVIOR that always yells loudest at me.

To those who question, I just know what I see and observe. And read. And the sense that I get from all that. William’s behavior indicates he knows what kind of burden he faces as the-next-in-line. From what I ‘ve read, seen, and observed (yes, from a distance), he seems to have tried to do the right thing. And their dad’s reached out, too. And it’s been A) rebuffed, and B) smeared by whining and complaining from a couple who were invited to be part of things and declined.

One of the signals that REALLY bothered me, from everything I’ve seen and read, was how Meghan’s mom was the only family member to attend the wedding. And reportedly her mom was the only one in her extended family who was. If your kid was marrying into the royal family, wouldn’t you want all your relatives and friends to be there?

And personally, having observed AND shared plenty of difficult family dynamics, I couldn’t help but see parallels.

Sorry, it just bothers me. Others here are free to disagree.

[pnwmom]

78. Most of what either of has been able to observe has been filtered through the UK media,

Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2023, 08:16 PM - Edit history (2)

and there are numerous examples of their unfair treatment of Meghan (for example, the stories about her "baby bump" vs. Kate's.)

And Meghan's father and step-sister? He was hospitalized at the time of the wedding, so he couldn't go. And that step-sister has never been close to Meghan, which isn't unusual with older step-siblings.

Would you want to invite step-relatives to your wedding -- step-relatives who had been taking money from the media to blab about your life?

Aside from her long-divorced parents, it’s unclear if any of her relatives will get a coveted gilded invitation allowing them to witness the nuptials at St. George’s Chapel inside the thick walls of Windsor Castle.

That’s because the Markle family is a tangle of half-siblings, multiple divorced spouses and their children. Many are blabbing intimate details of their lives—and Meghan’s—to the media, and filling their bank accounts in the process, while taking time to trash-talk each other. The dysfunction, feuds and recriminations in this middle-class American family with more than its share of good and bad fortune are such that it’s hard to keep her family tree straight.

For example, the stepsister who is 16 years older than Meghan smeared her to the media BEFORE the wedding. Do you really think she should have been invited?

Thomas’s first child, Yvonne (who now goes by Samantha Grant or Markle). Born in 1965, she has repeatedly vented her feelings towards her much younger half-sister to the press even though she hasn’t seen Meghan since 2008. After Meghan’s royal romance became public, she called her half-sister “narcissistic and selfish” as well as a “shallow social climber” and that Harry “would be appalled by what she’s done to her own family.” Then she claimed she was misquoted. Her two children by her first marriage apparently have nothing to do with her (one, Ashleigh Hale, a lawyer in the Washington, D.C., area, helped her aunt with her legal role in Suits and may score a wedding invite), while her third child, Noelle, splashed allegations of abuse by Samantha and her boyfriend (who is known to police) in the tabloids. If that’s not enough, Samantha, who lives in Florida, is writing a book titled The Diary of a Pushy Princess’s Sister, which she claims isn’t a tell-all but rather a “beautiful, warm, witty story.”

https://www.macleans.ca/royalty/why-most-of-meghan-markles-family-wont-make-it-to-the-royal-wedding/

Also, Meghan did want to invite Samantha's daughter, Ashleigh Hale to the wedding, but the Palace was concerned about the optics.

https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-could-not-invite-niece-royal-wedding-ashleigh-hale-netflix-docuseries/

"How do we explain that this half-sister isn't invited to the wedding, but that the half-sister's daughter is?" said Meghan, 41.

"With Ashleigh, the guidance at the time was to not have her come to our wedding," the Duchess of Sussex continued. "I was in the car with H. I had her on speakerphone and we talked her through what guidance we were given and why this assessment was made ... and that's painful."

"I think I said I was hurt on some level, but I understood where it was coming from," Ashleigh said. "To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship that's so important to me was impacted in that way ... to feel like, because of her it was taken away, has been hard."

[CatWoman]

79. her friends were there

her father was not, as he was caught whoring himself and his daughter to the tabloids. i suppose after getting caught red handed, attending the wedding would have been kinda awkward. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/12/meghan-markle-cannot-trust-thomas-markle

her sister was not there, as she is her half sister and they were not raised together. oh yeah, the half sister also whored herself and Meghan to the tabloids. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/10/samantha-markle-brings-up-doria-ragland-on-twitter

the half sister's daughter doesn't speak to her mom to this day.

[calimary]

88. .

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3784176-the-trouble-with-harry-and-meghan/amp/

https://www.newsweek.com/queen-very-hurt-prince-harry-meghan-markle-exit-do-not-want-think-about-it-biography-katie-nicholl-1745234?amp=1

Whatever. I just don’t like seeing the “watch me trash my family” show. They could be such a force for the greater good - as a united front, rather than being eager and willing poster children for family dysfunction.

And they started out as “the new Fab Four.” So it wasn’t like they weren’t embraced all around, from the start. I would no more go on national TV with Oprah and the rest of it and stab my brother in the back knowing he had a huge job ahead for family and country and wouldn’t go public to defend himself while I wave all my family’s dirty laundry in everybody’s faces than I’d vote Republican.

[CatWoman]

94. if the queen was so hurt, maybe she should have shut that tabloid smearing down?

[keopeli]

31. Disagreeing: I read SPARE and Harry was far from whining. He didn't care his bedroom was smaller and

he didn't mind his brother told him not to talk to him while at Eaton. What kind of brother does that? But Harry blew it off and made his own circle of friends. If you read the book, you'll understand there is no whining at all.

[emulatorloo]

59. +1

[IbogaProject]

33. I have some questions

Is he under a 'Diplomatic Passport'? Two, does he pay any income tax here now that he is living in the USA over 183 days per year? Has he spoken out against their and his preferential tax treatment? And has he ever said anything about the Potato famine or any of the other atrocities his wealth is derived from? Irish Nobles who were supported by or were British profited and exported food stuff during the whole famine. https://www.thegazette.com/guest-columnists/british-policy-worsened-potato-famine/

[ShazzieB]

42. What did he have to do with the potato famine or anything else that happened before he was born?

Some of my ancestors fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. I'm not responsible for that, any more than Harry's responsible for anything his Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother (Queen Victoria) did in the 1840s.

This comment makes no sense to me.

[Joinfortmill]

53. I'm with you.

[IbogaProject]

55. His ancesters paid zero tax on that stolen 'wealth'

When was the last time any one in that family worked a real job? Ok he went and killed for a few years in the Royal Army basically for PR purposes. Their whole 'fortune' is basically stolen from others and they are somehow exempt from taxes. Nowadays they pay a voluntary token amount that they decide themselves only on UK derived income but nothing on their international holdings.

[pnwmom]

62. Funny that you're directing your attack on the man who LEFT the family, not the ones who stayed. n/t

[Peacetrain]

71. You caught that too

[ShazzieB]

89. Yeah, Harry left the "Firm."

But somehow he's personally responsible for every bad thing his ancestors ever did? Give me a break.

William is the heir to the throne, not Harry. Why single Harry out in this way?

[gldstwmn]

85. Oh, it makes plenty of sense if you think about it in certain terms.

My ancestors died in the famine. I'm not mad at Harry.

[ShazzieB]

90. Some of mine probably did, too.

I don't know the family history that far back, but it seems likely. My father's parents were both born in England, but they were of Irish extraction. When people were fleeing the potato famine, a lot of them came to the U.S., but quite a few only got as far as England. Even if their families migrated to England earlier than that, they could have had relatives still in Ireland in the 1840s. I wish I knew for sure.

[catbyte]

44. Come on. I'm Ojibwe. Am I supposed to blame Europeans now for my ancestors having their land stolen

and then trying to eliminate those of us who resisted assimilation? Yeah, there are a lot of fucked up things in history that hang over into today's societies but I don't blame individuals for it now. It would be an understatement to say I would like to see a lot of changes in how the system treats marginalized populations. Still, I can't see what Harry could do about any of the things you mentioned any more than I could expect you to right the historical wrongs inflicted on my people.

[ShazzieB]

93. I hear you!

I already posted about having ancestors in the Confederate army. I'm sure some of my ancestors also owned slaves, and some of them may have belonged to the KKK, participated in lynchings, and no doubt helped perpetuate other aspects of the oppression of African Americans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I am also almost certainly descended from people who participated in stealing indigenous people's land, including shipping thousands of them off to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. All of that is
horrible, but I would strenuously object if someone suggested that any of it was somehow my fault.

I deeply regret and deplore all of the above, as well as the multitude of other injustices that have been perpetrated on oppressed groups in the history of this country, but I'm not personally responsible for all of it, just because I share DNA with people who did awful things.

[obamanut2012]

65. Maybe research history better: it was a blight and genocide, there was no famine

And, sorry, he is no more responsible for any of that than my father is for the rise of Mussolini.

[gldstwmn]

84. Who cares what kind of passport he has? He is law abiding.

This isn't the first time he and Meghan's taxes have been brought up either. What a load of rubbish.

[VGNonly]

46. Mankind will never be free

until the last king is strangled by the entrails of the last priest-Denis Diderot

[ripcord]

47. I'm amazed at how many people are accepting this book as the absolute truth

[questionseverything]

57. That's what surprises me that people don't realize that the book is only one side of the story

[pnwmom]

63. Much of his anger is directed at the tabloids, and anyone can see the way they've treated

him and Meghan.

And I'm not interested in Piers Morgan's or Rupert Murdoch's excuses.

[obamanut2012]

66. Because we have already seen the other side

[PragmaticLiberal]

77. Actually, we've heard both sides of the story.

Harry is (for better or worse) willing to put his name to his claims/accusations while "anonymous sources" leak to the press.

[gldstwmn]

86. He knows how to check a firearm though.

[Joinfortmill]

54. It's complicated. I wish Harry & Meghan all the best. They will do good in the world.

[Raine]

56. Gee poor Harry 🙄 nt

[Cha]

58. I don't think Harry is looking for Sympathy..

But he does have an amazing story to tell.. and from seeing Harry and Meghan & reading the posts of those who have read his book.. he does it quite well.

[mainer]

64. Pro-Harry columnists swarmed by online attacks

Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2023, 09:05 AM - Edit history (2)

“What I’ve learned, however, is that there are people who talk about the royals like they know them personally and they project their own desires (fantasies?) onto the lives of these titled humans. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been startled by the reactions on Instagram. This Harry and Meghan moment has become a Rorschach test, exposing a nuanced vs. black-and-white lens on life.

Here’s an inkblot. What do you see? A courageous soul telling his story? A whiner playing victim?

I’ve lost a lot of patience for the latter camp. If you’re in the “poor Harry the royal” category, maybe go read another column. I’m not sure I can penetrate that level of dense. I’m keen on addressing the thoughtful reader.

Spare is a book for anyone who knows what it feels like to discover their principles sharply diverge from members of their family. In the era of Donald Trump and media outlets like Fox News enabling his grift, countless families have been shattered, including mine.”

——————————-

I’m seeing the angry reactions to the NYT piece and now even beloved food writer Ina Garten gets criticized for reading the book. I tweeted about how well-written the book was, (with praise for the ghost writer) and suddenly people I’d never seen before showed up on my timeline, and not in a good way. It’s like MAGA bots swooping in to attack.

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2023/01/bye-bye-haters-prince-harrys-spare-is-too-nuanced-for-you-to-understand-opinion.html

[Cha]

69. TY for this..

[ShazzieB]

92. Very interesting, thanks!

I like the part about Harry's story being a Rorschach test. I think that's very true.

[maxsolomon]

75. So, the Mail is saying it's the Royals leaking stories on Harry?

What a trustworthy source.

[BlueLucy]

83. No. There have been many UK journalist claiming ...

that the Royals were briefing them, leaking stories. William more than others. British journalist Camilla Tominey accidently spilled on twitter that she was in contact with Carole Milddleton.