The Royal Family #30

[QueenBW]

My adult daughter was born and raised in Asia. Often she’d get asked where are you from and she’d say ‘here, I was born here’, ‘but you’re not really from here, where’s your family from’. This was common. Especially from elderly Chinese community. We’d explain, smile, move on.
Im wondering what’s different here.

Are you genuinely asking? Cause lots is different.

- Context. Your daughter, presumably, wasn't being asked by someone in a professional setting.
- Who it's coming from. Sure, both inquirers might be elderly but SH had an official public post within the royal family. It's not the same as your granny's friend being nosy at the holiday party.
- culture. In many countries it still hasn't fully sunk how statements like that are racist. In the last few years, this has become spoken about often in Western (for lack of a better identifier) countries. Not wanting to understand why someone perceived it as racism is just being wilfully obtuse.

The point of this all is that the royal family seems to be on thin ice already. No one is as well liked or respected as QEII was. If they continue like this, they will alienate a large section of society that maybe aren't huge supporters but weren't opposed either.

Plus, they're making Meghan and Harry look in the right. After denying that there was racism and that Meghan had been mistreated due to her race, things like this show that she very likely was.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

So within the space of a couple of posts we are now unable to use the words 'thug' and 'niggling'. Two words in common parlance. I'll carry on using them thanks.

 

[LoopyLou47]

On the DM there are 11 articles one after the other before you get to any other stories … and these are just repeated in varying orders across 3 of the sections already … and that before the likes of Judi James and Ingrid Seward tell us what we should be thinking. It’s obviously a slow news day.

Harry and Meghan misses a trick there. They are not mobbed by paparazzi because smartphones have killed the paps business, but they are subject to acres and acres of baiting by the press. If the tabloids, and particularly the DM stopped printing articles and talking about them, all that they have done is an Oprah interview, this documentary, turned up to some charity events and posted things on their own social media. They have kept their children completely private. Easy to avoid if you want to. The rest of the noise comes from the cottage industry that has grown up around Meghan and Harry.
I'm watching it but I'm on a break so can't watch all of it. They have complained about the paps and Harry has gone on about Diana, but they should have gone for the jugular on the tabloids. They hate them anyway, so what difference would it make? Harry hates the press, but concentrating on paps chasing Diana is outdated now and easy for them to disprove.

 

[jkroche95]

Yes I think this has let the cat out, yet there were always subtle ways in which racism or lack of respect for a different culture was shown. At Harry and Meghan's wedding, when the black minister was preaching in a very animated way Beatrice Eugenie looked as if they were about to burst out laughing and undoubtably mocked him behind his back.

their reactions wasn't to do with the colour of his skin but rather his strange sermon

 

[Squelch]

Nothing Harry says makes sense. He continually makes references to leaving the royal family because Diana died but her death came after she refused royal protection. There's no way she would have been allowed to get into a car with a drunk driver, no seat belt on if she'd still had British protective officers with her.

 

[CuriousCat92]

No, according to Fulani herself, what was said was:

Lady SH: “Where are you from?”
Ms Fulani: “Sistah Space.”
SH: “No where do you come from?
Ms Fulani: “We’re based in Hackney.”

Neither of those were an answer to what the question obviously was. That's like someone asking you where you're from, and you replying with your employer and their location.

If I was at a formal event and someone asked where I was from, I would reply with the name of the organisation I worked for, not the place I live in.

 

[SaLou]

William and Catherine's Christmas card

 

[Popcorn&Peanuts]

I've been doomscrolling and reading some Tweets about this series and something struck me. The loudest critics go on and on about how Harry & Meghan should shut up and are money-hungry famewhores but the huge irony is whenever H&M speak, the haters go into overdrive producing content which they've monetised and trying to get views...which are the VERY things they accuse H&M of.

The dissonance is kinda terrifying.

Look at one of the worst offenders...AccordingtoTaz. Her YouTube channel is 96% filled with MM content. Whyyyyy would anyone spend hours creating content about someone who sickens them so much? It's all about the $$$$. Which is beyond hypocritical but also goes to show that for these people, the truth is irrelevant. Hating Meghan is their golden goose. I think I even read that Taz bought a house off of her YT earnings. What a sad world when hate is so profitable

P.S. that YT Body language guy is also a Grade A charlatan.

 

[whathastheworldcometo]

Taz has further evidence to add m'lud....

I usually don't watch these kind of videos, but she made a few good points:
- why did NF go there if she doesn't like the BRF?
- why did NF not say to SH that she was uncomfortable or offended?
- why is her only witness also anti-monarchy?
- why would she wear an African dress and change her name from Marlene to Ngosi if she did not want to talk about her heritage?

I mean, really … seriously … she could steer a conversation she didn’t know she was going to have with a person she didn’t know from Adam … did she walk away twirling a <non existent> moustache with a *mwah hahahaha* because if she did she is wasted doing what she’s doing.

Yes, that's possible, that is what manipulators do and also sales people.

And seriously, why did she say "Hackney" first - when this is where her office is based?
Do you really think she didn't understand what the question was?
It seems like she was playing this conversation to some extend. That is what it looks like to me (my opinion).

 

[Emsie]

Here's my opinion that no one asked for:
Meg and Harry's love story is no greater than mine or my husbands. Just two people that fell in love. Beautiful but shush now.

Lots of shade at William. I think William is the "one" that made the comments about archie. Just my opinion I have no source but William strikes me as dense enough to say something like that and explains the fallout and the shade.

British media was definitely racist. No two ways about it. It is not okay! One headline I hadn't seen before "something is niggling us about this engagement" Jesus christ. Play on the n word??? No one uses the word "niggling" now. It was fucking awful.

The history about the British empire was interesting and I really like those 3 they had speaking about it. I always enjoy Afua Hirsch when I've seen her speak on issues before.

Harry seems to have done a lot of work on himself which is great to see. He is very reflective and thoughtful.

No damage has been done to the royal family.

 

[Onetwofour]

I also think that there were more hurtful comments targeting Catherine than anyone else:
Her being stiff when she first met MM and her having been married as she "fit the mould" rather than W being in love with her - this was quite specific. But maybe it was aimed at both William and Catherine as a couple.

I could see William asking why Meghan needs more palace protection as Kate had to go through it too. Meghan was attacked for being American and mixed race, Kate for being a commoner. Harry sayd that the racist angle makes it completely different. I think that's an interesting question and I cannot answer to it but it could have been a point of tension between Harry and William.

The point about classiscism vs racism has been also a point of discord among the left. The left was typically protecting workers and using a rhetoric around the fight between social classes. With the loss of influences from unions, a part of the left - the liberal left - has been much more focused on minorities protection - which is also needed. But this phenomena went with some kind of neglect towards the working class struggles. I think Meghsn and Harry are much less sensitive to those questions - they don't talk about wealth inequalities neither do they consider their own wealth is not necessarily desserved.

Also, the documentary portrays them as two unique people who went through many challenges but the ressources they had access to are hardly mentionned. Meghan could go to a select private highschool because her parents could pay for it. She could pursue her dream of being an actress because she didn't have to worry about money. It took many years but her ex-husband could support her and share his connections to her as he was a movie producer in Hollywood. Harry, well is a prince of England, could attend the most select school in the UK because of his family and have had so many accesses/opportunities because of his status. They are both quite oblivious of those privilegies. In this sense they are quite similar to Harry's family.

 

[LoopyLou47]

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.

Not knowing about another culture, and especially something that only happens in the Royal family isn't an insult to the nation. Also, if a family is so unwelcoming and so difficult, even after the disasters of Diana and Fergie that anyone joining needs 10 years to have their own personality completely subsumed, then that is not necessarily the fault of the person on the outside. Part of Harry's resentment is because no one in their right minds wanted to put up with it. Its not the Court of Henry viii anymore. If a woman wants a life of wealth and riches, she can either do it herself or marry a hedge funder.

 

[Boring Monday]

That doesn't come across well. Harry looked like even he was thinking wtf. Must have been filmed before the Queen died. Anyway she already said that fergie had to teach her to curtsey before she met the Queen so one of those stories is clearly bullshit. Even 30 seconds of instruction from fergie would produce something better than that.

It is weird that they curtsey behind doors but I guess they'd say it's a mark of respect to the head of the family. I think it's another of those things that will change now the Queen is gone. It's optional for people meeting them isn't it?

I haven't watched any of the documentary yet but it sounds like there's no new revelations and, yet again, Harry comes across as the idiot who didn't prepare his new girlfriend in any way for meeting his family.

Oh, I don’t know. I’d imagine Liz Truss had been practicing for weeks but she still managed to look like Mrs Overall

 

[bubbadabut]

This whole issue raises a lot of predicaments. I speak 4 languages, I have a keen interest in linguistics and the origin of names, and I've lived in 4 countries on 3 different continents. When I come across someone with a non-English name, if the circumstances are appropriate, I will ask them about it. It's because I am genuinely interested. I'm not trying to get them on the next deportation flight. I have always enjoyed learning from them, as I can now more easily recognise and pronounce names from certain countries, and they have always seemed to welcome my interest.

I'm probably quite tactful in my approach to it, as opposed to Lady Hussey, but where does this end? With nobody being able to ask anyone about their heritage, unless you've asked them in the universally approved manner and registered yourself as a definite non-racist with the government database?

 

[WatermelonSugar22]

Especially as the Sun and Mail have now said Harry said the British people, not just the Royals, need to be taught a lesson. That will go down like a lead balloon here

Yeah but did he actually say that or are they just claiming he did? Because he’s denied that happened. It’s not like the Sun and the Mail have a record of being reliable, and they have a history of printing hit pieces on H&M. By the time any retractions happen, the time has passed and readers think it’s all factual.

This is the thing I find insane - that people actually consider the Sun and Mail to be accurate. Their treatment of people is disgusting, and it’s widely acknowledged, but then people keep linking to them and reading them and believing them.

It’s no wonder H&M want the story from their own point of view out there, after hundreds of thousands of stories claiming rubbish over the last few years.

Do I think six episodes is overkill? Absolutely. Am I still interested in their perspective? Yes. Just like I’m interested in the perspective of the royals. What I’m not interested in is the perspective of a bunch of tabloid hacks and their made up narratives.

I don’t think H&M are aiming for the downfall of the monarchy. I think they just want England’s pervasively poisonous tabloid press situation to change, and for the royal family to modernise their ideas a bit.

 

[Boring Monday]

My adult daughter was born and raised in Asia. Often she’d get asked where are you from and she’d say ‘here, I was born here’, ‘but you’re not really from here, where’s your family from’. This was common. Especially from elderly Chinese community. We’d explain, smile, move on.
Im wondering what’s different here.

Because putting aside what the question is for a minute … it’s rude to continue asking a question and probing for an answer when it’s clear the person you are talking to doesn't want to continue that line of conversation … especially when it is your role to put people at ease, read people, and just engage in social chit chat.
What the question is just adds another level to the original baseline rudeness.

 

[Jen667]

This is deranged sorry,the prime example of people reaching... queen had cancer, both her and Phillip were nonagenarians.

Yes completely ridiculous. They were in frail health because they were sick and old. You could argue that doing the Oprah interview when Philip was clearly dying was thoughtless but it's a stretch to say it was a factor in his death

 

[LoopyLou47]

The problem was they wanted to 'earn their own money' and work for TRF.

That was never going to work. Conflict of interest.

If they'd have wanted to just live and work around the Commonwealth as Royals working for Royal charities I don't think they'd have had an issue tbh.

That's what I mean by being like their cousins- Peter Philips selling milk in China, Zara has endorsements and her own jobs, Bea and Eug have nominal ' jobs' and they all turn up to charities and Royal events and benefit commercially from being a member of the RF. If Charles is serious about a slimmed down monarchy, everyone apart from the heir should be following that model. I agree they were foolish to want more than just to sit in the Commonwealth somewhere and make documentaries about Sentebale and Invictus and Grenfell Kitchen etc. All really great things they were doing. But if they are right, and if what has been rumoured about the jealousy and rivalry between the various Royal factions is correct, maybe it really was untenable for them to stay there, and the Royals didn't want them to be doing those very popular and effective things because they would have shown up William and Kate, who were, before all this, were seen as dull and lazy, and who's ventures have nit been as successful. We only hear what the press wants us to hear. At the moment, the press are playing angels ( Waleses) v demons ( Sussexes).

 

[coconochanel]

If they are happy to sit and mock the Establishment then they dont need nor deserve their titles. So come KC strip them of the Duke & Duchess titles.

 

[50sGirl]

If there is even a scintilla of truth in this story then Meghan and Harry are more delusional than I thought.

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I had a family member who dropped what she thought was a load of truth bombs on the family and caused absolute chaos and bad feeling in the family for years. The thing was she was very much off the opinion 'I've said what I wanted to say so now we can all move on'. I fear H&M are coming from the same place. Actions have consequences.

What have they been saying about John Lewis now?

I think Fenella has accidentally posted a link to an item on her Christmas list!