William is appalled by Harry and Meghan’s soap opera, but Kate is playing the long game
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...rry-earthshot-prize-netflix-trailer-fvsb62qw9
I've copied the article below as it is behind a paywall. It's a heavily pro-William and Kate article but the very bit bolded at the end seems quite salient and hard to disagree with.
Roya Nikkhah, Royal Editor, Boston
Saturday December 03 2022, 6.00pm GMT, The Sunday Times
The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by David Beckham for the Earthshot Prize awards in Boston
SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE
It was as if the script had been written for the next series of The Crown. Hours into the first day of their US visit, a beaming Prince and Princess of Wales sat courtside, dutifully glued to Boston’s home team, the Celtics, in winning form. Under the glare of bright lights and all eyes in the 20,000-capacity stadium, their appearance on the big screens was accompanied by a blaring Queen and David Bowie anthem capturing the royal mood music: “Pressure, pushing down on me, pushing down on you.”
Pressure indeed. This trip, after all, was to be the royal rebrand to turn a new page in the House of Windsor’s saga of family rifts and accusations of racism following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure from royal life and move to America. It was meant to be the healing salve for the monarchy’s damaged image Stateside, patching up the scrapes from William and Kate’s tour of the Caribbean this year, which was beset by accusations of racial insensitivity.
The first royal visit to the city of Boston since Queen Elizabeth came in 1976 was to be William’s “Super Bowl moment” of statesmanship through the Earthshot Prize, his legacy project spreading the “urgent optimism” of solutions to global environmental problems. But no sooner had it started than William and Kate’s immaculately planned itinerary on the east coast was sabotaged by hand grenades from the west coast, with a trailer of Harry and Meghan’s forthcoming Netflix documentary.
Giving the crowd a wave on the big screen at a Boston Celtics basketball match
It came hot on the heels of a toxic race row back home courtesy of William’s godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth. Her “interrogation” over the origins of Ngozi Fulani, a black domestic violence campaigner, at a Buckingham Palace reception on Tuesday left Fulani feeling “violated” and Lady Susan, 83, was swiftly axed from palace circles after more than six decades of loyal service to the Crown.
Before boarding the plane to Boston on Wednesday morning, William had been locked in calls with his communications secretary to authorise a statement addressing the controversy. “Racism has no place in our society,” the media was told in Boston. His words went further than Buckingham Palace’s description of Lady Susan’s “unacceptable and deeply regrettable” remarks and her “profound apologies for the hurt caused”.
Once again, the monarchy finds itself in all too familiar, uncomfortable territory. A Boston Globe columnist wrote as William and Kate arrived in the city that “the old, tone deaf past had roared back with a vengeance” to undermine the couple. Try as it might, the monarchy can’t seem to draw a line under the issue. It does not help that this Tuesday, the Sussexes will receive the Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope award at a gala in New York. Kennedy’s daughter, Kerry, says Harry and Meghan will be honoured for their “moral courage” in taking a “heroic stance” against “structural racism” within the royal family.
Might Lady Susan’s demise have been viewed in Harry and Meghan’s Montecito enclave as a valuable vindication of their claims of discrimination within the institution? There is no word yet on what they think of the departure of one of the monarchy’s most loyal servants. But as recently as this summer, Lady Susan was present for an important moment in the Sussexes’ family life. At the request of the late Queen, she remained in the room when Harry and Meghan presented their daughter Lilibet for the first time in June. Their request for a photographer to capture the moment was denied, a notable omission from the Netflix montage.
The royal couple arrived in the city facing the twin distractions of a race row back home and the arrival of a trailer for Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series DOUG PETERS/EMPICS/ALAMY
The Harry & Meghan documentary trailer’s arrival on the second day of the Waleses’ visit signals an ominous new phase in a royal rift that aides no longer attempt to play down. From the minute’s worth of slickly edited black and white photos and clips of the couple, it is clear that the gloves are off again. Over images of a tearful Meghan and stony-faced Kate, Harry says: “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors. I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” Meghan also makes it clear in she has a lot more to say, with the trailer’s last word: “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?” As a royal source puts it: “The timing! That last line! So Hollywood.”
The Netflix bombshell followed a flurry of other activity from Harry and Meghan clashing with the Waleses’ trip. On Wednesday, a video released by the Invictus Games featured the Sussexes playing table tennis to promote tickets for next year’s games in Dusseldorf, while images were released of Meghan taking part in a discussion about female empowerment the previous evening. Entirely coincidental? One royal source who knows the couple thinks not: “The timing is ugly, malicious and pathetic.” Another royal source adds: “They really didn’t need to drop the trailer in the middle of the visit.”
But we have been here before. In October 2019, when William and Kate were on a tour of Pakistan, headline-grabbing trailers dropped of Harry and Meghan’s ITV documentary filmed on their southern Africa tour the previous month, when a tearful Meghan confessed to Tom Bradby she was struggling and Harry said he and his brother were on “different paths”.
There is no doubt the Sussexes’ documentary will further shatter an already severely fractured relationship with the royal family, most of all between William and Harry, once the closest of brothers but now on non-speaking terms. William continues to be appalled and bemused by his brother’s direction of travel, but no longer surprised. The strains were publicly visible in September during the brothers’ frosty truce after the death of the Queen. But behind the scenes, there were no such pretences. Harry and Meghan snubbed the final family gathering on the eve of the Queen’s burial, choosing not to attend a funeral briefing for the royal family at Buckingham Palace because of their frustration of having their invitation rescinded to a reception that evening for visiting heads of state and overseas guests.
William was in Boston to present the Earthshot Prize, part of his mission to promote environmental sustainability
KIRSTY O'CONNOR/PA
Last week Kensington Palace was determined to stay on message. “We won’t be distracted by other things this week,” insisted the Waleses’ spokesman. Their closest aides said their strategy was to simply ignore them: “They’re just not engaging.”
The Wales ship stuck to its course, but as one royal source noted, perhaps a little too steadily? “I think they’re so paranoid about ensuring everything is foot-forward and moving past the last disastrous Caribbean tour, they don’t want to take any risks.”
Reflecting on the transition into their new roles as the Prince and Princess of Wales, one of their closest aides concedes it is a more “serious phase” for the couple.
Another royal source notes: “They are now edging into that middle-aged era, and what their team call their ‘box office power’ is different to what it was ten years ago. With the Sussexes, they are up against a highly motivated, highly polished machine that exists for the sole reason to be a brand first, last and always.”
On the first day of their Boston visit, responding to a question about royal protocol, the Waleses’ spokesman wryly observed: “They’re a little bit different to celebrities.” Who could he possibly have been referring to?
The point was made to reaffirm William’s known “allergy” to being viewed as a celebrity, even when he is rubbing shoulders with a host of them at his own star-studded awards ceremony, as he was on Friday night when David Beckham (fresh from Qatar), Annie Lennox and actor Rami Malek turned out in Boston to support the Earthshot Prize.
As the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday, William and Kate were greeted by “cold rain and a warm crowd” on their arrival, but they were undeterred by other royal storms brewing. In the city famous for its 18th-century revolt against British rule, the couple’s trialling of what aides describe as a “more modern approach to statesmanship”, with them “going into the heart of communities and promoting issues that are close to their hearts”, has got traction in the US.
The princess charmed the crowds as she pursued her interest in research into children’s early years REBA SALDANHA/AP
After a visit to Roca, a non-profit organisation focusing on disadvantaged young people at risk of urban violence, William and Kate were rapturously received on an impromptu walkabout. Ashley Langan, 20, held a sign saying “Welcome to Boston Your Highness” and was thrilled when the couple stopped to admire it. “I love them as a couple and the work they do.” Another wellwisher at the same engagement told the princess how much she appreciated her work on children’s early years: “As one mother to another, we can always learn from each other.”
Kate has been plugging away on it for almost a decade and took her mission to boost research on early childhood development to Harvard University on Friday, visiting its Center on the Developing Child, which has partnered with her own Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Armed with a notepad brimming with questions and ideas, she joined a discussion with experts in the field.
She said: “There is so much amazing work going on and we need to start sharing the learning and science and what can be done better and be improved to help children in the trajectory into adult life. I’d like to be here for days. My interest in early childhood started with the biggest societal challenges, homelessness and addiction, and the importance in how you build resilience with foundations and better mental health for people early on in life. I’d love to come and study. They say it’s never too late. I’m looking forward to learning more.”
Outside, Kate was swamped by royal fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a future queen. Among them was Allison Morgan, 37, who spent $1,000 on flights and a hotel to travel from Williamsburg, Virginia, to see the princess. “It was worth every cent,” she said, before delivering her views on the elephant in the room: “I do think Harry and Meghan could be more supportive. They should be supporting Catherine and William when they are in Boston.”
President Biden rearranged his schedule for a meeting with William, in what appears to be a growing friendship SPLASH NEWS
The Boston trip was back on track by Friday when William met President Biden, sealing the deal on statesmanship over “shared warm memories of Her Majesty” as the prince thanked the president for attending her funeral. Biden moved his schedule around to spend half an hour with William for their fourth meeting in the last 18 months. The growing friendship between the president and a future king pleases the Wales camp, particularly after the White House expressed support for the Sussexes following their interview with Winfrey last year.
A few hours later, Kate joined William for the Earthshot awards ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, dazzling and sustainable in a rented green dress hired for £74 and an emerald and diamond choker that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales. It was the most chic of two fingers up to her unflattering image in the Netflix trailer. The couple flew back home overnight on Friday, and after being reunited with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on Saturday morning, they made a family jaunt to the Christmas fair fundraiser at the children’s school, Lambrook.
Kate wore a green dress hired for £74 and an emerald and diamond choker that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales KIRSTY O'CONNOR/PA
For the Waleses, it was mission accomplished. A spokesman said: “We came to Boston and did what we set out to do, which was to shine a light on some great work being done across communities. The prince has successfully continued to shape his role as a global leader on climate change, sitting down with the president to talk about what Earthshot is trying to achieve.
“Regardless of other distractions, the prince and princess’s commitment to duty and service is unwavering. They got out there, did the job, and enjoyed themselves.”
Back in London last week, a congregation with many of William and Harry’s oldest friends filled St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, for a carol service in aid of the Henry van Straubenzee memorial fund, the only charity of which the princes are joint patrons, established in memory of their friend who died in a car crash in 2002, aged 18.
In the rarest show of unity, William and Harry wrote a moving joint tribute to “Henners” and his family, their signatures side by side in the programme which may soon become a collectors’ item. The charity, which supports children in Uganda, is winding down, and with it the brothers’ tie of patronage. How many more joint declarations are they likely to make? At this rate, none.
Palace aides concede these are “challenging times” for the monarchy and that it has been a “bruising week”. With the Sussexes’ media machine moving into fifth gear, a courtier says: “We’re steeling ourselves for what’s coming in the slight spirit of tedium. It’s a curious-looking form of privacy they’ve sought.”
Speaking to previous Earthshot finalists last week, William said: “For all of us, the time is ticking.” The Sussexes seem in a hurry to make their mark, but those close to William and Kate emphasise how they and other senior royals are focused on the long game.
When the documentary and Harry’s book, Spare, appear, the palaces will choose their moments carefully to set the record straight.
As a seasoned royal source says: “Most people will already be on one side and won’t change their minds; floating voters will probably swing towards the Sussexes. But life in the royal family is a popularity pendulum — sometimes it swings towards you, other times away from you. The smart people in it tend to operate on five to ten-year horizons, rather than make day-to-day kneejerk reactions. They know there is no value in engaging in constant counteroffensives — that doesn’t pay dividends, except to the observer watching the institution self-combust.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...rry-earthshot-prize-netflix-trailer-fvsb62qw9
I've copied the article below as it is behind a paywall. It's a heavily pro-William and Kate article but the very bit bolded at the end seems quite salient and hard to disagree with.
Roya Nikkhah, Royal Editor, Boston
Saturday December 03 2022, 6.00pm GMT, The Sunday Times
The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by David Beckham for the Earthshot Prize awards in Boston
SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE
It was as if the script had been written for the next series of The Crown. Hours into the first day of their US visit, a beaming Prince and Princess of Wales sat courtside, dutifully glued to Boston’s home team, the Celtics, in winning form. Under the glare of bright lights and all eyes in the 20,000-capacity stadium, their appearance on the big screens was accompanied by a blaring Queen and David Bowie anthem capturing the royal mood music: “Pressure, pushing down on me, pushing down on you.”
Pressure indeed. This trip, after all, was to be the royal rebrand to turn a new page in the House of Windsor’s saga of family rifts and accusations of racism following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure from royal life and move to America. It was meant to be the healing salve for the monarchy’s damaged image Stateside, patching up the scrapes from William and Kate’s tour of the Caribbean this year, which was beset by accusations of racial insensitivity.
The first royal visit to the city of Boston since Queen Elizabeth came in 1976 was to be William’s “Super Bowl moment” of statesmanship through the Earthshot Prize, his legacy project spreading the “urgent optimism” of solutions to global environmental problems. But no sooner had it started than William and Kate’s immaculately planned itinerary on the east coast was sabotaged by hand grenades from the west coast, with a trailer of Harry and Meghan’s forthcoming Netflix documentary.
Giving the crowd a wave on the big screen at a Boston Celtics basketball match
It came hot on the heels of a toxic race row back home courtesy of William’s godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth. Her “interrogation” over the origins of Ngozi Fulani, a black domestic violence campaigner, at a Buckingham Palace reception on Tuesday left Fulani feeling “violated” and Lady Susan, 83, was swiftly axed from palace circles after more than six decades of loyal service to the Crown.
Before boarding the plane to Boston on Wednesday morning, William had been locked in calls with his communications secretary to authorise a statement addressing the controversy. “Racism has no place in our society,” the media was told in Boston. His words went further than Buckingham Palace’s description of Lady Susan’s “unacceptable and deeply regrettable” remarks and her “profound apologies for the hurt caused”.
Once again, the monarchy finds itself in all too familiar, uncomfortable territory. A Boston Globe columnist wrote as William and Kate arrived in the city that “the old, tone deaf past had roared back with a vengeance” to undermine the couple. Try as it might, the monarchy can’t seem to draw a line under the issue. It does not help that this Tuesday, the Sussexes will receive the Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope award at a gala in New York. Kennedy’s daughter, Kerry, says Harry and Meghan will be honoured for their “moral courage” in taking a “heroic stance” against “structural racism” within the royal family.
Might Lady Susan’s demise have been viewed in Harry and Meghan’s Montecito enclave as a valuable vindication of their claims of discrimination within the institution? There is no word yet on what they think of the departure of one of the monarchy’s most loyal servants. But as recently as this summer, Lady Susan was present for an important moment in the Sussexes’ family life. At the request of the late Queen, she remained in the room when Harry and Meghan presented their daughter Lilibet for the first time in June. Their request for a photographer to capture the moment was denied, a notable omission from the Netflix montage.
The royal couple arrived in the city facing the twin distractions of a race row back home and the arrival of a trailer for Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series DOUG PETERS/EMPICS/ALAMY
The Harry & Meghan documentary trailer’s arrival on the second day of the Waleses’ visit signals an ominous new phase in a royal rift that aides no longer attempt to play down. From the minute’s worth of slickly edited black and white photos and clips of the couple, it is clear that the gloves are off again. Over images of a tearful Meghan and stony-faced Kate, Harry says: “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors. I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” Meghan also makes it clear in she has a lot more to say, with the trailer’s last word: “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?” As a royal source puts it: “The timing! That last line! So Hollywood.”
The Netflix bombshell followed a flurry of other activity from Harry and Meghan clashing with the Waleses’ trip. On Wednesday, a video released by the Invictus Games featured the Sussexes playing table tennis to promote tickets for next year’s games in Dusseldorf, while images were released of Meghan taking part in a discussion about female empowerment the previous evening. Entirely coincidental? One royal source who knows the couple thinks not: “The timing is ugly, malicious and pathetic.” Another royal source adds: “They really didn’t need to drop the trailer in the middle of the visit.”
But we have been here before. In October 2019, when William and Kate were on a tour of Pakistan, headline-grabbing trailers dropped of Harry and Meghan’s ITV documentary filmed on their southern Africa tour the previous month, when a tearful Meghan confessed to Tom Bradby she was struggling and Harry said he and his brother were on “different paths”.
There is no doubt the Sussexes’ documentary will further shatter an already severely fractured relationship with the royal family, most of all between William and Harry, once the closest of brothers but now on non-speaking terms. William continues to be appalled and bemused by his brother’s direction of travel, but no longer surprised. The strains were publicly visible in September during the brothers’ frosty truce after the death of the Queen. But behind the scenes, there were no such pretences. Harry and Meghan snubbed the final family gathering on the eve of the Queen’s burial, choosing not to attend a funeral briefing for the royal family at Buckingham Palace because of their frustration of having their invitation rescinded to a reception that evening for visiting heads of state and overseas guests.
William was in Boston to present the Earthshot Prize, part of his mission to promote environmental sustainability
KIRSTY O'CONNOR/PA
Last week Kensington Palace was determined to stay on message. “We won’t be distracted by other things this week,” insisted the Waleses’ spokesman. Their closest aides said their strategy was to simply ignore them: “They’re just not engaging.”
The Wales ship stuck to its course, but as one royal source noted, perhaps a little too steadily? “I think they’re so paranoid about ensuring everything is foot-forward and moving past the last disastrous Caribbean tour, they don’t want to take any risks.”
Reflecting on the transition into their new roles as the Prince and Princess of Wales, one of their closest aides concedes it is a more “serious phase” for the couple.
Another royal source notes: “They are now edging into that middle-aged era, and what their team call their ‘box office power’ is different to what it was ten years ago. With the Sussexes, they are up against a highly motivated, highly polished machine that exists for the sole reason to be a brand first, last and always.”
On the first day of their Boston visit, responding to a question about royal protocol, the Waleses’ spokesman wryly observed: “They’re a little bit different to celebrities.” Who could he possibly have been referring to?
The point was made to reaffirm William’s known “allergy” to being viewed as a celebrity, even when he is rubbing shoulders with a host of them at his own star-studded awards ceremony, as he was on Friday night when David Beckham (fresh from Qatar), Annie Lennox and actor Rami Malek turned out in Boston to support the Earthshot Prize.
As the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday, William and Kate were greeted by “cold rain and a warm crowd” on their arrival, but they were undeterred by other royal storms brewing. In the city famous for its 18th-century revolt against British rule, the couple’s trialling of what aides describe as a “more modern approach to statesmanship”, with them “going into the heart of communities and promoting issues that are close to their hearts”, has got traction in the US.
The princess charmed the crowds as she pursued her interest in research into children’s early years REBA SALDANHA/AP
After a visit to Roca, a non-profit organisation focusing on disadvantaged young people at risk of urban violence, William and Kate were rapturously received on an impromptu walkabout. Ashley Langan, 20, held a sign saying “Welcome to Boston Your Highness” and was thrilled when the couple stopped to admire it. “I love them as a couple and the work they do.” Another wellwisher at the same engagement told the princess how much she appreciated her work on children’s early years: “As one mother to another, we can always learn from each other.”
Kate has been plugging away on it for almost a decade and took her mission to boost research on early childhood development to Harvard University on Friday, visiting its Center on the Developing Child, which has partnered with her own Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Armed with a notepad brimming with questions and ideas, she joined a discussion with experts in the field.
She said: “There is so much amazing work going on and we need to start sharing the learning and science and what can be done better and be improved to help children in the trajectory into adult life. I’d like to be here for days. My interest in early childhood started with the biggest societal challenges, homelessness and addiction, and the importance in how you build resilience with foundations and better mental health for people early on in life. I’d love to come and study. They say it’s never too late. I’m looking forward to learning more.”
Outside, Kate was swamped by royal fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a future queen. Among them was Allison Morgan, 37, who spent $1,000 on flights and a hotel to travel from Williamsburg, Virginia, to see the princess. “It was worth every cent,” she said, before delivering her views on the elephant in the room: “I do think Harry and Meghan could be more supportive. They should be supporting Catherine and William when they are in Boston.”
President Biden rearranged his schedule for a meeting with William, in what appears to be a growing friendship SPLASH NEWS
The Boston trip was back on track by Friday when William met President Biden, sealing the deal on statesmanship over “shared warm memories of Her Majesty” as the prince thanked the president for attending her funeral. Biden moved his schedule around to spend half an hour with William for their fourth meeting in the last 18 months. The growing friendship between the president and a future king pleases the Wales camp, particularly after the White House expressed support for the Sussexes following their interview with Winfrey last year.
A few hours later, Kate joined William for the Earthshot awards ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, dazzling and sustainable in a rented green dress hired for £74 and an emerald and diamond choker that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales. It was the most chic of two fingers up to her unflattering image in the Netflix trailer. The couple flew back home overnight on Friday, and after being reunited with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on Saturday morning, they made a family jaunt to the Christmas fair fundraiser at the children’s school, Lambrook.
Kate wore a green dress hired for £74 and an emerald and diamond choker that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales KIRSTY O'CONNOR/PA
For the Waleses, it was mission accomplished. A spokesman said: “We came to Boston and did what we set out to do, which was to shine a light on some great work being done across communities. The prince has successfully continued to shape his role as a global leader on climate change, sitting down with the president to talk about what Earthshot is trying to achieve.
“Regardless of other distractions, the prince and princess’s commitment to duty and service is unwavering. They got out there, did the job, and enjoyed themselves.”
Back in London last week, a congregation with many of William and Harry’s oldest friends filled St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, for a carol service in aid of the Henry van Straubenzee memorial fund, the only charity of which the princes are joint patrons, established in memory of their friend who died in a car crash in 2002, aged 18.
In the rarest show of unity, William and Harry wrote a moving joint tribute to “Henners” and his family, their signatures side by side in the programme which may soon become a collectors’ item. The charity, which supports children in Uganda, is winding down, and with it the brothers’ tie of patronage. How many more joint declarations are they likely to make? At this rate, none.
Palace aides concede these are “challenging times” for the monarchy and that it has been a “bruising week”. With the Sussexes’ media machine moving into fifth gear, a courtier says: “We’re steeling ourselves for what’s coming in the slight spirit of tedium. It’s a curious-looking form of privacy they’ve sought.”
Speaking to previous Earthshot finalists last week, William said: “For all of us, the time is ticking.” The Sussexes seem in a hurry to make their mark, but those close to William and Kate emphasise how they and other senior royals are focused on the long game.
When the documentary and Harry’s book, Spare, appear, the palaces will choose their moments carefully to set the record straight.
As a seasoned royal source says: “Most people will already be on one side and won’t change their minds; floating voters will probably swing towards the Sussexes. But life in the royal family is a popularity pendulum — sometimes it swings towards you, other times away from you. The smart people in it tend to operate on five to ten-year horizons, rather than make day-to-day kneejerk reactions. They know there is no value in engaging in constant counteroffensives — that doesn’t pay dividends, except to the observer watching the institution self-combust.”
Only wish KC could have married Camilla from the start to keep the bloodline stable and non-neurotic. Thankfully, the firstborn was normal but it really should have stopped there.
