The Royal Family #39

[Boring Monday]

I wouldn't bother to take my umbrella if Jan Moir told me it was raining! And for the umptythird time MGN has already admitted they hacked him once, and apologised, so yes, he obviously was 'important' enough.

It should also be mentioned that they weren’t Just hacking phones for Information on who the phone belonged To … but also for information on the people calling them and/or leaving them messages. And with Harry’s contact list, most of those would have been very interesting indeed.
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I've read Harry's full witness statement and it is indeed depressing. A part of the press is clearly dishonest as they don't mention the evidences brought by Harry's legal team for each example. It would be interesting to know more about those invoices and how they will be treated by the court.

Harry's witness statement made me feel - like his book and the netflix doc - uneasy. It's not only because his life is sad and he went through a lot. I cannot help thinking he is an entitled guy. It's never his fault. Every negative thing that have happened in his life is because of someone's else. His break-up with his ex-girlfriend? I can believe she was under extreme pressure and hated the scrutiny. But it feels too easy to claim the medias were the sole reason for their breakup. What kind of boyfriend goes to a stripclub but cannot make time for his girlfriend who left her life in South Africa to be closer from him? He had a busy schedule but he does seem to be this kind of person not used to make efforts and to be a bit of a prick. The irony is that before reading Harry's witness statement I had no idea about how was his relationship with Chelsy. I didn't care and like many people I don't take seriously gossips from tabloids about famous people. Which brings me to my net thought: Harry claims people believed what they read about him in tabloids. I can see some naive people religiously reading tabloids. But I cannot fanthom educated people from his background believing those things. Anyone with two brain cells knows that tabloids just want to sell and will come with a lot of bs to fill their columns.

I think that blaming the press for the perception that people have of him and for his own actions (saying that because the press made up stories about drugs made him go down that path etc.) is overexaggerated. But as usual Harry looks for a scapegoat for all the things that didn't go well in his life. Few years ago I had quite a neutral view of him. Since he decided to open his mouth to share his truth I have a much more critical view of him. I am sad for him but at the same time all of his attempts to re-shape his public image just made me think how entitled and petulant he is.

But you only have to see how many people believe what is in the DM or now on YouTube channels like Lady Colin Campbell to see that people do believe any old shyte stuff when it’s given a spurious veneer or respectability. From my experience, people from ‘his background’ are amongst the biggest gossips there are .

Like I said, I’d more more surprised if he wasn’t hacked than if he was. The culture at the time in tabloid reporting at the time makes it far more likely than not. Has he the right to feel aggrieved at some of the reporting and news gathering … I’d go with a definite yes. Is the reporting responsible for all his ills … then I’d go with no.

 

[elliebee27]

He has his own personal vendetta against freedom of press and speech - that's what this is truly about - not about hacking, but about how not everyone worships the ground he (and Meghan) walk on. He only cared once he was married to Meghan and people started seeing how they truly are, and criticized them - that's why he is so pissed. He's bashed the first amendment, calling it bonkers, and has ties to organizations that want to stifle free speech. What a paragon. Once he started getting derailed by his own actions rather than the Palace PR machine controlling him the world saw who he truly is - a puerile, stupid, arrogant man like his uncle.

He IS a thicko, he does drugs, he is always never ever responsible and it's always someone else's fault because they're SO MEAN to him. The delusions of grandeur are amazing.

 

[Spid]

He has his own personal vendetta against freedom of press and speech - that's what this is truly about - not about hacking, but about how not everyone worships the ground he (and Meghan) walk on. He only cared once he was married to Meghan and people started seeing how they truly are, and criticized them - that's why he is so pissed. He's bashed the first amendment, calling it bonkers, and has ties to organizations that want to stifle free speech. What a paragon. Once he started getting derailed by his own actions rather than the Palace PR machine controlling him the world saw who he truly is - a puerile, stupid, arrogant man like his uncle.

He IS a thicko, he does drugs, he is always never ever responsible and it's always someone else's fault because they're SO MEAN to him. The delusions of grandeur are amazing.

None of that means they should be allowed to hack his phone though

 

[jkroche95]

None of that means they should be allowed to hack his phone though

i'm a bit behind but apart from that one instance that the journalist admitted to hacking his phone, has Harry managed to prove anything in court? So far all i've seen is speculation on his part and him contradicting himself.

 

[Andouilette]

None of that means they should be allowed to hack his phone though

Specially as a big part of that unpleasant post is not true, he's never hidden his dislike of the press.

 

[elliebee27]

None of that means they should be allowed to hack his phone though

And the phone hacking was dealt with a long time ago wasn't it? It was wrong but this case has 0 to do with it in reality.

Harry has zero fcuks given about phone hacking considering his total ignorance on the stand. He just has a vendetta. He'll blab about other people's lives and personal information all he wants. He's always been protected and coddled by the palace machine as the happy chappy the hero soldier and he benefitted from it and loved that attention, it was pretty obvious. When people started criticizing him is when he started getting pissed about it. (I'm talking about legitimate press interest, articles about him, and so on and many of the things he whinges about are all based on his own interviews or palace PR drops! He thinks it's all the same.)

 

[Spid]

And the phone hacking was dealt with a long time ago wasn't it? It was wrong but this case has 0 to do with it in reality.

Harry has zero fcuks given about phone hacking considering his total ignorance on the stand. He just has a vendetta. He'll blab about other people's lives and personal information all he wants. He's always been protected and coddled by the palace machine as the happy chappy the hero soldier and he benefitted from it and loved that attention, it was pretty obvious. When people started criticizing him is when he started getting pissed about it. (I'm talking about legitimate press interest, articles about him, and so on and many of the things he whinges about are all based on his own interviews or palace PR drops! He thinks it's all the same.)

It's not info he's gathered illegally though is it?

 

[F1Grid]

Thing is, Harry probably was hacked. Plenty of people around him were, so he likely also was.

But he's thick as pig tit, so he's gone on the stand and blabbered about how sad the stories made him instead. He's also somehow managed to pick a load of stories that were printed by other outlets first, so the Mirror has a completely reasonable explanation of 'we lifted the story from other outlets'. He's pissed off the judge by not turning up day 1, he's tried to flip questions onto the silk cross examining him, and then sounded like a conspiracy theorist by saying that even if the Mirror lifted the story from somewhere else they'd also have had to hack him to get more info that they then didn't bother to publish.

He's got an enemy as blatantly vile as the tabloid press, they probably did do what he's accused them of, and yet he's got the rare talent to thoroughly balls it up by playing billy big bollocks, waltzing onto the stand unprepared, and thinking a Diana mention would win everyone over. Absolute idiot.

 

[Chocolategoggler]

A friend has forwarded something she was sent that she didn't understand. Having read it I don't know either, but someone commented something about what if H and M were in court themselves at some point for secretly taping people - and that did make me think.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Did anyone see this prick on GMB this morning? Justifying hacking Harry because they 'did much worse to his father' .

 

[Lammington]

I think what it keeps coming back to for me is that Harry and his team don't seem to have picked strong examples.

The point at hand isn't to prove that Harry has been hacked at some point, but that on balance of probability, MGN hacked him in the timeframe and instances outlined. If it's situations where his phone was hacked, but by another publication, with MGN then copying their story, that's not in his favour in this case. If MGN wrote articles that upset him or that he believes had a harmful impact on his relationships, that's not relevant to this case.
Tabloid publications being scummy hellholes, while certainly true in my opinion, doesn't prove that on balance of probabilities the current accusations are likely true.

Harry's witness statement, while certainly a sad tale, reads more as an extension of his prior statements about the press and his ongoing campaign of blaming the press for almost any hardship or harm he has faced. It doesn't read as a strong indicator of the wrongdoing they're accusing MGN of.

I'm not emotionally attached to either outcome in this, but already the wrongdoing they have admitted (unlawful use of private investigators in limited instances, for which there was admission and acknowledgement of entitlement to compensation) has been lost in the spectacle. I really do worry that the Harry storyline and spectacle of it all will drown out acknowledged and egregious actions.

 

[Honeystar]

I’m chuckling at this official photo from the wedding last week, it’s potentially one of the only bad photos I’ve seen of Kate

 

[Boring Monday]

She looks like she’s got a Werther’s original stuck in her teeth.

 

[Boredofgrey]

View attachment 2226913
I’m chuckling at this official photo from the wedding last week, it’s potentially one of the only bad photos I’ve seen of Kate

Dreadful photo. Looks like sgt pepper album - cardboard cut outs. Love Kate’s wonky Botox eyebrow too

 

[Honeystar]

To be fair we’ve all been there, taken a group photo only to discover you’re the one with your eyes closed or in this case half closed

 

[Mrs Fluff]

View attachment 2226913
I’m chuckling at this official photo from the wedding last week, it’s potentially one of the only bad photos I’ve seen of Kate

Is it real?

 

[hannah123]

View attachment 2226913
I’m chuckling at this official photo from the wedding last week, it’s potentially one of the only bad photos I’ve seen of Kate

It was Princess Amalia I felt sorry for when I saw the picture, eyes fully closed, poor girl must have been blinking.

 

[bubbadabut]

Just seen the full thing. What a shocking photo. Looks like a series of composite shots of groups of people put together over a background, like an amateurish version of my children's whole class photos.

 

[F1Grid]

View attachment 2226913
I’m chuckling at this official photo from the wedding last week, it’s potentially one of the only bad photos I’ve seen of Kate

How's Janice Dickinson got in the wedding?!

 

[Great_Kate]

Kate has a pretty face. I think she looks slightly above average (and having the time and resources she has it’s no wonder). So in a crowd of ordinary people she looks gorgeous. But in a crowd with people who have the same resources and who treat beauty/looking beautiful as a part of their job, she quickly sinks to average. There are times where she manages to stand out in a drop dead gorgeous way, but often her choices are either “too little” or “thanks for trying”. Her style baffles me, because she look so much better - her age instead of 55, glowing and glamorous. Instead even the 10+ older royals outshine her.

That said- I love that we got a big tiara occasion. Those are too rare for my liking. If you pay all this money for a big occasion, please bring out the bling (that is sitting in your vaults anyway).

The BRF should put those jewels to work. I will admit though, the BRF has some beautiful pieces but just as many horrible ones. They are either ugly or hard to style. A rework of the Orientatal Circlet or the Brazilian Aquamarine Paris wouldn’t hurt. And with a shrunk set of working members it gets hard to create lots of sparkle. Maybe they can start with giving bigger parties with the blue blooded relatives. 1 year king/crowned party, Wiliam & Kate‘s 50‘s, Charles 75, 80…. If you want to be monarch you need to really sell it. And those crowns and tiaras are part of that.