The Royal Family #30

[Great_Kate]

I will say - I don’t get all the drama. It’s way better and way nicer than I expected.
H&M act like the Hollywood celebrities they now are and this is way less performative as if they would have tried to maintain some more traditional royal angles. The whole production is classic Hollywood/ modern story telling. It’s actually well done. The look and feel is good. Clean reality tv. The talking heads, the filming angles…. They over dramatise but that’s the business. And what we know of them.
Their relationship looks way more genuine. Could also be down to good editing though. They perpetuate certain narratives. H protecting, M bring very motherly. Their love story is extraordinary and sooo much the real thing. And I mean we all do this, we just don’t need to convince anyone else of this.
I think they made clever decisions in touching on the good experiences in their childhood and accompanied it with good looking material. Charles trying to make his toddler into the camera was so normal. They touched many things I had wondered about and the explanation was coherent and reasonable. I actually agree with the interpretation of her trying to be self deprecating in the curtsy scene. It’s a bit sloppy, because again it looks as if H missed an important moment to help his wife settle in. F*****g up your curtsy, in the beginning because you are nervous is no biggie though? I think Sophie has talked about it too. There are also story’s about Christmas at Sandringham and those „quirks“ and pictures of them curtsying after church every year. All with constant criticism of who curtsied better, discussing posture….Not exactly hard to find out about.
In general the digs against the family are really boring. They are formal behind close doors? Wary of outsiders? Press offices working against each other? Hello? That’s being discussed for over 30 years now.
They have racial bias? Hell yes they do. We all do. Being aware and able to reflect and act differently - that’s the whole point.
They are on thin ice though if they try to emphasise on the racist, colonial, sexist, and what not -ist fundament of Britain and the monarchy if they are not willing to act and give up their connection to the institution. They can give up the titles and their place in the LoS. They over emphasis racism in the Brexit decision. It played definitely a part, but the result of the referendum had many factors. It’s a bit superficial to not put it into the bigger context if you must touch on it.
All in all: nice entertainment. It won’t hurt the RF but might actually help them to not look completely delusional anymore.

 

[Emsie]

Guys I know the word isn't racist bit like all the media at the time the racism was covert. These are people who literally use words for a living. And it was the daily mail! I saw the headline on the netflix documentary, I hadn't seen it before, and I thought in a sea of racism I can completely see why you would object to this particular word.
Because I'm not a dickhead and I listen to what people are saying rather than brushing it off as people being sensitive.
This is the Internet so you don't have to listen to me but I hope irl you listen to the people around you.
Happy to move this along now.

 

[Gloria Rostron]

Common sense, spoken by a proud Kenyan-British lady.

 

[Spurgyrose]

There is no second meaning though. Niggling is not a play on the N word. It never has been. It has a very clear and definitive meaning that was appropriate for what the journalist was trying to convey.

Pray do tell, what was the ‘journalist’ (this is the DM, let’s be real here) trying to convey that the words bother, irk, or worry couldn’t express?

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

I know about white churches I don't need a lecture, but if I see a black person officiating in a different way I don't think of it as strange it's just different. I certainly don't start sniggering like Beatrice and Eugenie who obviously find different cultures funny they must have been trained by Hussey.

Jeez ... do we literally have to watch every word we say on here now?

It was strange in the circumstances. I was taken aback too when I watched it because I wasn't expecting it.

 

[Em_gardener]

I think of Kate as being steady rather than bland. Edward doesn't really show a public voice? His wife does much more!

I agree and I think she wants to support William rather than do her own thing.
Edward is very inoffensive - maybe that's a better word than bland! Anyway I think being bland/inoffensive is the key to royal success. Sophie has a higher profile than Edward but you could also say that she's bland/inoffensive. They're just there in the background supporting the main players.

 

[QueenBW]

I'm sure the thousands upon thousands of people who are having to choose between a meal and heating are absolutely bummed out by the fact that Meghan Markle could only wear neutrals during her brief stint as a working royal.

What. A. Tragedy.

Let's all share this moment of silence and grieve for the Duchess of Sussex and her many navy, cream, camel colored outfits. When she really wanted to wear lime green like Her Majesty, red like Camilla, or deep green like Kate.

 

[LoopyLou47]

I doubt that going by Prince Philip’s racist comments, even Harry was embroiled in racial controversy, it must be the norm behind the palace walls.

This is what I think. People are falling over themselves to prove that aristocrats and Royalty, who are born into privilege and who's entire existence and position is based on them being superior based on their class could not possibly feel superior to people who were not one of them. There have been account after account of these dinosaurs at the Palace, yet it is apparently always the fault of other people that they cant be decent and respectful to people they come across who do jot share their very specific background.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Much of it is. The clumsy curtseying, the hugging, the naiveté about the whole thing...it's all very over-eager and very American. I think Harry has to take some fault for the way he went about things and this is where W&K got it right...there's a lot of preparation and easing in that needs to happen if a woman is marrying in to that Family.

I blame Harry for the vast majority of it. If anyone knew what life as a Royal entailed it was him and it was very unfair and naive of him to think just because he wanted to marry her that love would be enough. He should have known that Meghan was an opinionated, headstrong woman and that would inevitably lead to clashes within the organisation. He should have withdrew from public life before marrying her to at least waited longer to actually marry her.

 

[Great_Kate]

I wonder if H&M regret this already. Especially if many of their “hard” revelations are such gems as ‘there is a hierarchy in the family’. Even the planting stories against each other isn’t really a revelation nor the fact that the BRF is not solving problems with hot chocolate and a group hug. They won’t win anymore sympathies. The people that already think they are the victims will scream that’s proof. The ones that hate them will point out every ever so slightly misconstructed scene (already started). The rest will probably wonder why they are still whining.
A lot of this bad information about the RF is already out there. For decades. And has been discussed and analysed publicly a million times. In the end- people don’t care if unbelievable privileged people get unfair treatment at work sometimes. Or if daddy is always taking the siblings side.
They won’t touch PA- that would maybe swing people around. Or name the racist and give a transcript of the incident(s) and explain why whatever was said was received badly.
Or will we see a stubborn temper tantrum. We might have burned down the playground, but never admit it was a bad idea.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

I can't see that happening either, one family brought up Royal, the other Californian. Nothing in common. I can't see what sort of relationship Harry's kids would have with their grandfather

Which is very sad because as the Jubilee proved, Charles has a very good relationship with his grandchildren. The way Louis went and sat on Grandpa's lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. Probably a far cry to how Charles was treated by his grandparents.

 

[Popcorn&Peanuts]

Hate to break it to you, but you're also a 'random on the internet'. It's a gossip site. This is a Royal Family thread. Of course I don't know them, neither do you.

We're all randos on the internet. The difference is some of us seem to know that we do NOT know these people and can't possibly know the state of their marriage. And in the absence of not knowing, some of us, while we speculate and discuss and hypothesise, choose to be human enough to not hope for or imply the worst about something so personal.

 

[Milliemoo99]

According to many people who knew her, the late Queen was a woman who didn't like conflict , she always had a bit of ostrich in the sand attitude. Yet, she is being lauded as the greatest Queen that ever queened. How can someone be a great leader while avoiding difficult situations?

Maybe because she didnt actually avoid difficult situations, or have a head in the sand attitude!

The Queen you describe above is the way she is being portrayed in ''The Crown'' as very quiet and insignificant, prefering to play with her dogs than to engage in matters of state.
Where does the woman who visited Northern Ireland at the end of the troubles to try and promote the Peace agreements, fit into this image of a woman who avoided difficult situations?
What about the woman who met Nelson Mandela.
She read all her red boxes, and kept up to date with all the current political events so that she could play the subtle diplomat at palace functions, introducting people and smoothing things over. -even way past retirement age!

I dont particularly like the monarchy itself, but you cant deny Queen Elizabeth worked hard, and had a keen sense of duty towards the British people, and towards keeping the peace in a troubled world!

Past monarchs...did do very little, but I dont think modern monarchy can ever get away with this!

 

[Boring Monday]

If any one can explain to me how someone could set up, in a huge group of people being spoken to by someone who doesn’t know they exist, and not only that controlling a conversation they didn’t start and tried to stop then maybe I could give it due consideration.

 

[WatermelonSugar22]

On the Daily Mail there’s a live blog, 8 articles and one has this as a title and an introduction:
View attachment 1791085
It’s bloody ridiculous.

Ugh, this is exactly what I mean! It’s bloody mental. Whyyyy does stuff like this exist? So people who hate on her can click on it. That’s it.

 

[bubbadabut]

I kind of fear for Harry if all this goes tits up. He seems to be endlessly extolling Meghan's virtues, putting her on a pedestal while he seems full of self-doubt as to why she's with him. Meghan seems so much more confident in herself than Harry does. He does seem like...a bit of a simp.

 

[Boring Monday]

I don't know, this is speculation.

I could imagine that it was a more due to the aim of slimming down the monarchy.
TQ offered (advised?) MM to keep working as an actress and why would she do that? Certainly not if she had issues with MM, her professor or her appearance (given that actresses are in the public domain and everyone would have known that MM is married to PH).

It was also clear that Charles was keen to slim down the monarchy. Maybe they would have been happy for MM to carry on working and for PH to do whatever he wants, now that he was no longer needed as a spare as PW had three children.

This is also speculation, but maybe PH and MM were offended by that and then linked the "perceived snub" to race

With the best will in the world, though, I struggle to see how she could have continued as an actress … all her roles would be scrutinised, cries of she only got the role because of who she is and then they would have to be agreed by committee to make sure there was nothing inappropriate that could cause the RF embarrassment.
Good in theory, impossible in reality but nice PR.

 

[Boredofgrey]

Caring empathetic soft human Meghan who had systematically fell out with every relation and friend she’s ever had…………at some point it’s not everyone else, it’s you.

 

[Popcorn&Peanuts]

That's a lot of words (Meghan, that you?) to basically say what i already said: no, I don't know them and like everyone else I'm just speculating.

How utterly original!



Moving on - The Atlantic has a good take on yesterday's proceedings. I love the Atlantic's longer articles and think pieces - they're always in-depth and objective and I thought this line summarised the whole debacle so very, very well -

"Harry and Meghan have a rare talent—pointing out things that reasonable people would agree with, but doing so in the most annoying way possible."

And also this snippet -

"Culture wars flourish best when two things are simultaneously true, and people must choose which one to emphasize. Does the British press sometimes treat the Royal Family appallingly, and do its white-dominated institutions perpetuate racism? Yes and yes. Do Harry and Meghan love rehashing their grievances, and seem unaware that they are wealthy far beyond anything their personal talents would normally merit? Also yes and yes. "

Harry and Meghan Are Playing a Whole Different Game

In their new Netflix series, the ex-royal couple know exactly who their audience is.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Joannabloggs]

I blame Harry for the vast majority of it. If anyone knew what life as a Royal entailed it was him and it was very unfair and naive of him to think just because he wanted to marry her that love would be enough. He should have known that Meghan was an opinionated, headstrong woman and that would inevitably lead to clashes within the organisation. He should have withdrew from public life before marrying her to at least waited longer to actually marry her.

This is why I think the hate for meghan is wholly disproportionate. I would say up until recently the press have attacked 80% meg when really it should be 80% harry. I think anyone who lived outside of the uk (black or white) would've struggled with understanding the RF. Harry's two previous serious GF broke up with him because they did not like the press scrutiny/ royal conventions, why didn't he prepare meghan rather than expecting everyone to bend to his will?! I also think it was stupid for the Palace to assign that lady Susan to help settle in meghan, it shouldve been someone her age. Harry had a good relationship with eugenie and zara, wouldn't they have been better mentors, particularly when Kate seems a bit stiff compared to zara and eugenie