The Sussexes' relationship with the press, tabloids, and social media.

[Nightowl]

A thread to discuss the relationship between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the press, tabloids, and social media.

To be fair to them, people were already happily grabbing a slice of the pie before either Harry or Meghan opened their mouths, so they were simply following the trends. If everyone else can make money off them, they in turn can make money off of their own story. More books, docs, tv shows, articles, podcast and etc, has been made about them than anything they've said themselves.

The documentary also wasn't a six part-series about how hard it was to be a a duchess, as Meghan never complained about the actual work. What she did take issue was the constant racism, harassments, palace leaking and bullying of the media, the death threats made and how the media fueled more racist and violent threats.

She didn't have an issue with showing up somewhere, chatting for a few minutes and waving as most work can be summed up. She was able to easily throw herself into working on the cookbook, vouge, smart works and etc. What was hard, was knowing that when people were calling her a knife wielding American and her child was being compared to a chimp, her new 'family' were silent and the new 'household' she moved into were happy to brief the papers against her while she was struggling and pregnant.

That's a little more than just being a duchess, that was being degraded as a human being.


Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary director accuses Palace of trying to 'discredit' series

the above link is more about the Harry & Meghan Netflix doc.

I get what your trying to say yet since when does anyone in the royal family tell the media/tabloids or whomever what they can and can not print?   All the women it seems like are targets for the media, even HM was a target at times as was Anne, Sophie, Sarah, Diana and etc all of them. Maybe the entire media/tabloids have a hate for women as they always seem to be the targets. And yes some men also got hit by the media/tabloids.  You can not stop the *free press*, not even the royal family can do that so why would Harry and Meghan expect the royal family to say something or do something about all the hate that they dished out to Meghan?  Here I though Meghan was tough as steel and had backbone, guess I was very wrong as she appeared to be a weakling and could not take it by standing tall in her own right.  To be honest, I honestly believe they planned this while they were engaged and wanted out as soon as they realized they both thought alike on what the job entails......being nice to the citizens of Harry's country which shows he is NOT NICE to the people of his country at all, in fact he has shown his dislike/boredom/disgust for doing the job that gave him millions.  If Meghan had been smart and intelligent then she would of researched the ways and means how the British Royal Family/Firm is supported by the public and the gov (maybe the gov who knows), yet she jumped head first (I question that) and said they were ready to take on the job.......just look how long that lasted when she as  *Nobody was asking about ME* in country of very poor people with barely clean water let alone medical or food.  Typical Meghan always has to be first...front and center as we have seen so many times when she pushes Harry to the back and steps forward to introduce herself to the king of Monaco then pulls Harry forward and introduces him......wrong on all points of manners for a royal visiting another country.

[changemhysoul]

I get what your trying to say yet since when does anyone in the royal family tell the media/tabloids or whomever what they can and can not print?   All the women it seems like are targets for the media, even HM was a target at times as was Anne, Sophie, Sarah, Diana and etc all of them. Maybe the entire media/tabloids have a hate for women as they always seem to be the targets. And yes some men also got hit by the media/tabloids.  You can not stop the *free press*, not even the royal family can do that so why would Harry and Meghan expect the royal family to say something or do something about all the hate that they dished out to Meghan?  Here I though Meghan was tough as steel and had backbone, guess I was very wrong as she appeared to be a weakling and could not take it by standing tall in her own right.  To be honest, I honestly believe they planned this while they were engaged and wanted out as soon as they realized they both thought alike on what the job entails......being nice to the citizens of Harry's country which shows he is NOT NICE to the people of his country at all, in fact he has shown his dislike/boredom/disgust for doing the job that gave him millions.  If Meghan had been smart and intelligent then she would of researched the ways and means how the British Royal Family/Firm is supported by the public and the gov (maybe the gov who knows), yet she jumped head first (I question that) and said they were ready to take on the job.......just look how long that lasted when she as  *Nobody was asking about ME* in country of very poor people with barely clean water let alone medical or food.  Typical Meghan always has to be first...front and center as we have seen so many times when she pushes Harry to the back and steps forward to introduce herself to the king of Monaco then pulls Harry forward and introduces him......wrong on all points of manners for a royal visiting another country.

T

[wannable]

Both of them went insane on BM 'trivialities, the USA followed by Australia are now leading with the 'criticism', not sure how the couple will deal with that, different countries/different laws.

[Curryong]

There are very very few people on this earth who could have withstood the onslaught from the Press that Meghan received. People always point to Camilla, Kate etc. No other royal female got three negative online articles A DAY about themselves on average through all their first pregnancy, the birth of their first child and after the birth, through the christening period, and until they left the country.

That?s what Meghan endured and I know that myself simply  because I took the trouble to monitor each day what the online tabloids were saying about her. It was all made up rubbish, a lot of it about the ?luxury? at FC or about the forthcoming birth, because for most of that period Meghan was on maternity leave and therefore not undertaking public duties, and afterwards she was recovering from the birth of her first baby. And that?s ignoring the nastiness and sniping in articles earlier, before she was even engaged and when she was newly married..

Think about it! Fictional article after article every day while you are pregnant and at times feeling very low. The main culprits were the Sun, the Fail and the Express. And many, many of these articles from the time Meghan came to live in the UK were pieces comparing her to Kate.

A few publications have pointed to such articles, such as ?-photos showing Kate holding her pregnant stomach, lovely said the Press, Meghan holding her pregnant stomach what is she doing that for ?all the time?? said the tabloids. Kate eating avacados, very good for you, Meghan eating avacados, that is a veg connected to murders in Mexico and underpaid Mexican peasants.

Kate wearing a certain type of shoe or nail polish, beautiful according to the tabloids, Meghan wearing a certain type of shoe or nail polish ?That?s against royal rules!? yell the Sun and Express. Petty? Yes. But not petty when it comes raining down on you day after day, week after week, month after month.

I used to look at those articles each day and wonder how long Meghan would be able to stand it before she inevitably broke. And she did break. She wanted to get away, and she did. That?s not weakness, that?s self preservation.

Could the Palace have done more to stop it? They wouldn?t have been able to stop it all but a quiet ear from Charles or a senior aide from the Queen at BP in editors? ears such as had been done about Diana in the early years may have assisted. And it may have helped a lot.

Why wasn?t it done? Partly because sometimes other senior royals feel ?Well, while she?s being attacked they are leaving us alone.? Partly because KP had given up defending Meghan by that last summer. They hadn?t done a good job in doing so from that first onslaught during her engagement and early married life, and by the time of Archie?s birth they did less, much less. And so she broke, and left.

All I can say is God help any girlfriend of George?s who he wants to marry but the tabloids decide they don?t like her. What if she is foreign or divorced or in a profession where the Press can easily attack. Or any boyfriend of Charlotte?s the Press dislike? Or worse, because he will be a spare and therefore vulnerable, any fianc?e of Louis?s? Because once the Press have tasted victory then it doesn?t get better for the next, or the next, or the next.

[changemhysoul]

T

I send and it says I can't modify this, it says I ran out of time. But I wrote and re-wrote a long thing to Nightowl.

In the end, I'm going to sum it up like this.

I'm sorry but *free press* should never be used as a escape or way out for the press to be racist and hateful. It would have costed them (BRF) nothing to come out and say, "This racist, hateful abuse, spurred on by media coverage that is reported in bad faith is horrible and something we don't approve. Racism and attacks against, Meghan is not okay. We don't support abusing women. We don't support racism and as a family who is supposed to represent the Commonwealth, which includes people who are for the first time seeing themselves represented in such a huge way in this family, we reject this abuse. While we understand that there does need to press scrutiny for the Royal and that we are held to account, but this coverage has crossed a line from scrutiny to plain hate, microaggressions and harmful coverage that incited violence."

Now, their offices would have to stop leaking to the media to and making it worse but ignoring that,

If cost of that, if the cross of that was too much to bare for BRF then, Meghan doesn't need to shoulder the cost of being degraded for the BRF.

There is no dignity in accepting abuse.

There is no dignity in not speaking about abuse.

If everyone else and their sources can make money and have image making off Harry & Meghan, they can do the same.

At this point, the whole  'Meghan wanted to be a star' 'Meghan wanted to be number 1' 'Meghan....-insert whatever-' is painfully funny because at this point, I'm desperate for Meghan to lean into that. I'm desperate for her to actual do what people are accusing of her. Like, if she's gonna be yelled and talked about for all of this, she should at least make real money and do it.

[Curryong]

Both of them went insane on BM 'trivialities, the USA followed by Australia are now leading with the 'criticism', not sure how the couple will deal with that, different countries/different laws.

There?s very little criticism of the Sussexes in the mainstream Aussie Press. What there is and has been has come from inane breakfast TV hosts, who are barely watched anyway. And half of them are laughed at. A leading one was involved in a fracas with his mate in a public park earlier this month that was all over the news (including being filmed by onlookers?)  in a way he didn?t appreciate!

[changemhysoul]

There are very very few people on this earth who could have withstood the onslaught from the Press that Meghan received. People always point to Camilla, Kate etc. No other royal female got three negative online articles A DAY about themselves on average through all their first pregnancy, the birth of their first child and after the birth, through the christening period, and until they left the country.

That?s what Meghan endured and I know that myself simply  because I took the trouble to monitor each day what the online tabloids were saying about her. It was all made up rubbish, a lot of it about the ?luxury? at FC or about the forthcoming birth, because for most of that period Meghan was on maternity leave and therefore not undertaking public duties, and afterwards she was recovering from the birth of her first baby. And that?s ignoring the nastiness and sniping in articles earlier, before she was even engaged and when she was newly married..

Think about it! Fictional article after article every day while you are pregnant and at times feeling very low. The main culprits were the Sun, the Fail and the Express. And many, many of these articles from the time Meghan came to live in the UK were pieces comparing her to Kate.

A few publications have pointed to such articles, such as ?-photos showing Kate holding her pregnant stomach, lovely said the Press, Meghan holding her pregnant stomach what is she doing that for ?all the time?? said the tabloids. Kate eating avacados, very good for you, Meghan eating avacados, that is a veg connected to murders in Mexico and underpaid Mexican peasants.

Kate wearing a certain type of shoe or nail polish, beautiful according to the tabloids, Meghan wearing a certain type of shoe or nail polish ?That?s against royal rules!? yell the Sun and Express. Petty? Yes. But not petty when it comes raining down on you day after day, week after week, month after month.

I used to look at those articles each day and wonder how long Meghan would be able to stand it before she inevitably broke. And she did break. She wanted to get away, and she did. That?s not weakness, that?s self preservation.

Could the Palace have done more to stop it? They wouldn?t have been able to stop it all but a quiet ear from Charles or a senior aide from the Queen at BP in editors? ears such as had been done about Diana in the early years may have assisted. And it may have helped a lot.

Why wasn?t it done? Partly because sometimes other senior royals feel ?Well, while she?s being attacked they are leaving us alone.? Partly because KP had given up defending Meghan by that last summer. They hadn?t done a good job in doing so from that first onslaught during her engagement and early married life, and by the time of Archie?s birth they did less, much less. And so she broke, and left.

All I can say is God help any girlfriend of George?s who he wants to marry but the tabloids decide they don?t like her. What if she is foreign or divorced or in a profession where the Press can easily attack. Or any boyfriend of Charlotte?s the Press dislike? Or worse, because he will be a spare and therefore vulnerable, any fianc?e of Louis?s? Because once the Press have tasted victory then it doesn?t get better for the next, or the next, or the next.

The pregnancy time was extremely painful, as Meghan stated in the document series and other places, she was not out and about during that time but she was everywhere. She gave them what they wanted, silence, not in the public but they refused to let up.

She did want they wanted, she was silent, unseen and unheard and it did not stop. Good on her for fighting back, I'd rather her alive and mentally well vs what could be.

[wannable]

Jason Knauf

[changemhysoul]

A statement about Meghan in the first months of dating that was pushed by....Harry.

Nope, this is not the family coming out in support. That was Harry.

That was not a family statement in support and denouncing of the hate that was often being carried in the name of the BRF. That was not a statement of the family denouncing racism, racist attacks and etc on behalf of Meghan, in support of Meghan when the media was the worse.

Something more along the lines of the joint statement that they forged Harry's signature on because the media was making William look bad.

They don't get brownie points for a statement pushed by Harry.

Also, another reason why just being silence doesn't work. We heard Meghan's mom speak for the first time in the doc, after years.

Yet, before the doc. There was an author running around, claiming she did drugs, saying she was in jail and tarnishing her name when she had nothing wrong and said nothing.

Abuse thrives in silence, If I'm going to be abused, I'd rather speak out and oh well for anyone who was silent on the side-lines when it happened or allowed their staff to join in.

[Curryong]

Yes, that statement was issued very very early in the couple?s relationship. Did that appeal to a fair minded Press help? Not on your Nelly!  It made them even more eager to dig up dirt even when there wasn?t any. So we got the period of ?Mum with dreadlocked hair?, ?straight outta Compton?, which occurred before the couple were engaged. However I was talking in my original post about the period when Meghan was a royal and cloistered away at FC very pregnant and later with a newborn baby. And still getting three negative online articles a day on average from British tabloids.

[wannable]

It did help, then the couple went 'further', as their pattern, never happy, once given, they want more/bigger chunk. Let's get upset for 'trivialities'.

The Daily Kate had her for 8 years. Anyway, different behaviour/character, each to its own, but it must be a headache with 'constant' moaning. Or she wanted 30 paps to follow her 24/7 like they did to Kate, just saying, during her time it existed, 2016 Meg's time no more.  Thanks to Social Media. It is what it is. Technology.

He often finds his wife ''sobbing uncontrollably'' on the floor and the stairs, mostly over what he fails to realize are trivial things.

Wall Street Journal

[changemhysoul]

I'm sorry, can you explain to me how it helped? I genuinely don't see where or how it did.

No, the press were even more upset that they got called out by the 'spare' and Meghan didn't ask for that statement. Harry was ashamed of himself for not doing more and put out that statement to defend his girlfriend. That statement wasn't a gift from anyone in the family because he was going to release it, with or without permission from the top.

I see no statements for when the abuse was at it's height and at it's worse, IE: When Meghan was pregnant and out of the public eye yet getting abused daily. Or even with some of the blatant threats and vile comments made about her and Harry. I'd say, it must've been a headache to deal with constant abuse.

So, there is no pattern of them getting what they wanted because they've barely or not at gotten it.

[TLLK]

Jason Knauf

Now this is exactly how I expected that Prince Harry should have taken on the role of speaking for himself and his then girlfriend which was through the Kensington Palace Communications Office. Personally I'm glad that he did make a statement.  After all, William and Harry then later Catherine were in the unique and privileged position within the British Royal Family to actually have their own communications office and team working for them. This is was an excellent opportunity for the younger generation to get acquainted with learning how and when to release statements regarding their work and on occasion their personal lives which is a skill they were gong to need to use throughout their adult lives. They didn't have to rely upon their father or grandmother to release statements on their behalf.   Instead they could now utilize their team to do so for them. Now was it always met with great enthusiasm by the press, no but this was a game changer IMO.

Another example KP having their own office meant that the then Cambridges could issue their own statements about media intrusion like they did in 2015 regarding coverage of Prince George.

A letter from Kensington Palace | Prince of Wales

Their other relatives (Anne, Edward, Sophie, the Gloucesters, the Kents) certainly did not have this privilege extended to them  and had to rely upon the Buckingham Palace office.  Even Charles didn't have this for himself or Diana for many years. Now the communications teams and other courtiers would definitely be there to advise  being aware that even statements made by the monarch ie QEII didn't always change the behavior of the press ie: Pregnant Diana being photographed by the press in a bikini or overeager attention paid to her by the press, but this was definitely an opportunity for the Princes and later their wives to make their own communication known through statements and their social media account Kensington Palace Instagram and Twitter.

[wannable]

^^Paperboy website is my friend (fact checker and debunker), where frontpage to backpage news is available. She wasn't abused, her CC's were reported in different sections; royals, entertainment and fashion.

That she wanted to deliver in secret, is another story.

[Curryong]

^^Paperboy website is my friend (fact checker and debunker), where frontpage to backpage news is available. She wasn't abused, her CC's were reported in different sections; royals, entertainment and fashion.

That she wanted to deliver in secret, is another story.

I?m talking about the online stuff that I was reading. That?s distributed everyday, separate to the general news I would have seen had I purchased a physical tabloid newspaper in Britain, granted, but still out there for the reader to peruse. It was all there every time I googled Meghan Markle, and I did, once a day for over three years from the time Meghan was acknowledged as Harry?s girlfriend until the couple left the UK for Canada for good.

However, it was at its height in attack mode at certain times in the regular British Press as well, just after the wedding when the Press didn?t get their way with being allowed into St George?s, after the Oceania tour, during Meghan?s first royal engagements and during her pregnancy, and afterwards, when it didn?t really let up and continues to this day.

[wannable]

Paperboy is 'updated' with the world, if not it would have been a dying company.  It has digital news too, digital: scrolling up to bottom.

Paperboy Online Newspapers

^Fastest 'methodology' for Fact Checker jobs for authors and big/medium sized media outlets. The second fastest checker is Google giant, fill in the blank search engine with key words, press enter, read 20plus pages.  :hehe:

[TLLK]

IMHO there is a difference between press coverage and online social media and discussion forums. I am aware Kensington Palace Instagram and Twitter had to strictly review the posts being left on the account and there's been efforts by the both couples to encourage the larger social media sites to combat online abuse. However the best advice is to avoid reading those sites to protect your mental health.

[wannable]

Social Media (Tik Tok, Twitter and Instagram, in that order to date in most visits by Gen Z, only twitter has most comments both Gen Z and Millennial, has 3 different user types;

The one that posts the media news (attachment) adding their 350 character space of IMO (In my opinion). 
The second type are official bluecheck mark giving the news RR and their followers and non followers comment, and
The third are Trolls, no more bots, Elon Musk deleted them all and notified 2 weeks ago that his department of Bot Eliminator works daily to do their job.

ETA: I admire several ''The One that posts the media news''..., they are royal watchers and have a memory of an elephant. Their ''timeline' is filled with fast valuable news', a great fact checker too. These several users are super dedicated fans that post absolutely everything BRF related, including the DDOS news.

[Curryong]

Yes but I am not talking about SM, which is a different thing altogether. Some of the Tumblr and Twitter sites were truly disgusting and appalling in their treatment of Meghan. However that is different to what I referred to in my original posts.

I am talking about reading online articles written by journalists employed by the British Press in those years. On occasion there would be articles about Meghan from 2016 onwards from newspapers like the Guardian, the Evening Standard, Telegraph etc and of course I would read those. They were usually serious pieces about Sussex engagements, republished from their print editions. What formed the vast majority of the sort of articles I?m speaking of were attack pieces on Meghan from the tabloids, from the Sun, the Fail, the Express, the Mirror etc.

These are legitimate, supposedly responsible newspapers (though I disagree that you could even call them anything else than gossip rags.) I am in Australia. I cannot go out and buy the Daily Fail every day (nor would I anyway, but that is beside the point) so when I was curious to see what was being printed about Meghan in British newspapers I googled it, from 2016 to 2021. Magazines are different. Australian magazines did and do feature Meghan.

In the early stages naturally there was very little in these online editions. As the romance went on and was seen to be serious, articles, several negative in tone began appearing in these online publications and from the time of Harry and Meghan?s engagement more and more with a negative tone, many comparing Meghan to Kate. It?s these publications online I?m referring to, which became a deluge of negativity and nastiness from the time of the wedding onwards, reaching new heights (if you can call them that) at various points which I?ve already pointed out.

[wannable]

But those opinion pieces are trivialities. WSJ has all the material over angry Harry (I agree with Wall Street Journal).

How can one lose their head over nail polish, very tight non pregnancy dress while pregnant, messy hair, dragging trousers.  That is all trivial pieces of women or men that are exposing themselves of 'how they wish to rather see her'.

Going bonkers over this is nuts. A stupid war.

He often finds his wife ''sobbing uncontrollably'' on the floor and the stairs, mostly over what he fails to realize are trivial things.

Wall Street Journal

[wannable]

For what it's worth, it's a good thing they are not senior working royals, and are far away from the BRF, the UK.

I DO hope both have finished taking out from their chests all the grievances, and ''move on'' as all major US media outlets have asked them to do with their Editor in Chief remarks/opinion piece.

[changemhysoul]

It's trivial to the person writing the article.

Not to the person experiencing it.

Meghan didn't need to read the papers to know that there was an intense campaign of hate against her and that would break anyone down. Meghan wasn't just angry over those things listed but hate around those things that had been directed towards her, because of them.

They're minimizing what happened because it's not important to them, it is important to the person on the receiving end of the abuse.

It's a perfectly good reason to go to war, the people who he's going to war with are just shocked because they didn't think the couple would be able to hold their own, and they have.

No one is forcing anyone at the WSJ, to read it about it, talk about it or anything. I could say, if what Meghan and Harry faced is trivial, then the WSJ should find something better to cover than cover 'trivial' drama but they want in on the cash and clicks. They fail to realize that they are contributing by writing them. 

And good on them for making their money.

That same logic could be applied to the outlets writing about them, those outlets should be the change they want to see and stop writing about them. As far as Harry and Meghan go, I hope they continue to talk as much as sources or friends of the royals continue to talk about them and make money doing so.

The one thing we will agree on, I'm also happy they're no longer senior working royals and are far away from the UK and the BRF. I believe they're safer for it.

[Curryong]

Some were trivial pieces, some not so trivial, such as demands about photographs with their baby on hospital steps, (the British public agreed on YouGov that wasn?t necessary btw in spite of the huge Press outrage.) Articles about luxury items at FC which were later proven untrue. This was at a time when the Press were constantly comparing in non too subtle terms, Meghan?s ?extravagance? against Kate?s supposed frugality. And it may appear ?petty? but the accumulation of years of it, including constant comparisons with your sister in law, for whom any criticism seemed to dissipate once the tabloid press decided Meghan was the primary target, wouldn?t seem so insignificant.

Untrue stories about the couple demanding neighbours on the Windsor Estate not speak to them, again untrue. Lying articles in the Sun about Meghan appearing on PornHub, an early one but she was a royal fianc?e by that stage. They had to remove that one but it wax up online for two days. Lying article by the Sun it had to apologise for about the Sussexes demanding that a car park for estate workers near FC be removed. Those articles were purely and simply to whip up bad feeling against the couple among the British public. That newspaper knew those stories and others weren?t true.

And I too agree with changemhysoul that after years of that sort of persecution anyone would be glad to get away.

[HistoryGirl2]

To be fair to them, people were already happily grabbing a slice of the pie before either Harry or Meghan opened their mouths, so they were simply following the trends. If everyone else can make money off them, they in turn can make money off of their own story. More books, docs, tv shows, articles, podcast and etc, has been made about them than anything they've said themselves.

The documentary also wasn't a six part-series about how hard it was to be a a duchess, as Meghan never complained about the actual work. What she did take issue was the constant racism, harassments, palace leaking and bullying of the media, the death threats made and how the media fueled more racist and violent threats.

She didn't have an issue with showing up somewhere, chatting for a few minutes and waving as most work can be summed up. She was able to easily throw herself into working on the cookbook, vouge, smart works and etc. What was hard, was knowing that when people were calling her a knife wielding American and her child was being compared to a chimp, her new 'family' were silent and the new 'household' she moved into were happy to brief the papers against her while she was struggling and pregnant.

That's a little more than just being a duchess, that was being degraded as a human being.


Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary director accuses Palace of trying to 'discredit' series

the above link is more about the Harry & Meghan Netflix doc.

And is that any different than the way people degraded Camilla as a human being? Or the way the Queen was criticized as a human being for being a cold hearted woman who didn?t give a fig about her grandchildren? Or the way that Kate was degraded as a female whilst dating William?

And how has it been going since she called out the media? Has she been degraded any less by trolls on Twitter? Do the people that disliked her then like her now?

I suppose her ?new family? could have been silent because they despise her and secretly agree with every little hurtful thing that any random person said about her. Or maybe they knew the futility of fighting it.

And that household has their own thoughts about her conduct toward them and her lack of respect and kindness when dealing with them.

Maybe that?s all lies. But Harry?s own comments about how she addressed Kate show me her lack of kindness toward pregnant or postpartum females.

They want to ?correct? the narrative, which is entirely their prerogative to do so, but then again, that also means that everyone else has a right to say how they feel about it.

Mind you, these thoughts are coming from someone who halfway doesn?t believe in monarchies, thinks the majority of the royal family is filled with self-centered fools, and has no love for the brother and father he is attacking.

I cheered when Harry left the royal family because I thought, ?Thank goodness. He?ll use his platform to put the spotlight on the people who deserve it. Not the royals, but in the charities they support, and the people who do the real work behind the scenes.? I thought he wasn?t happy being a royal and how great that he was leaving it all behind.

My opinion changed when all he did was whine about his life. Not in a balanced rational way, but in a way that implies that his whole family view him as a bag of organs to give to his brother should he need them.

I don?t care for monarchies, but I respected the Queen. Mainly because of her public composure. Her ability to understand her privilege whilst privately dealing with a lot throughout her reign.

I think it?s probably more to do with what I value in people more than Harry and Meghan themselves. I?m old school. I value dignity, grace, and duty. I value rising above things and maintaining privacy. They do not embody those things, *in my opinion.*

[changemhysoul]

And is that any different than the way people degraded Camilla as a human being? Or the way the Queen was criticized as a human being for being a cold hearted woman who didn?t give a fig about her grandchildren? Or the way that Kate was degraded as a female whilst dating William?

And how has it been going since she called out the media? Has she been degraded any less by trolls on Twitter? Do the people that disliked her then like her now?

I suppose her ?new family? could have been silent because they despise her and secretly agree with every little hurtful thing that any random person said about her. Or maybe they knew the futility of fighting it.

And that household has their own thoughts about her conduct toward them and her lack of respect and kindness when dealing with them.

Maybe that?s all lies. But Harry?s own comments about how she addressed Kate show me her lack of kindness toward pregnant or postpartum females.

They want to ?correct? the narrative, which is entirely their prerogative to do so, but then again, that also means that everyone else has a right to say how they feel about it.

Mind you, these thoughts are coming from someone who halfway doesn?t believe in monarchies, thinks the majority of the royal family is filled with self-centered fools, and has no love for the brother and father he is attacking.

I cheered when Harry left the royal family because I thought, ?Thank goodness. He?ll use his platform to put the spotlight on the people who deserve it. Not the royals, but in the charities they support, and the people who do the real work behind the scenes.? I thought he wasn?t happy being a royal and how great that he was leaving it all behind.

My opinion changed when all he did was whine about his life. Not in a balanced rational way, but in a way that implies that his whole family view him as a bag of organs to give to his brother should he need them.

I don?t care for monarchies, but I respected the Queen. Mainly because of her public composure. Her ability to understand her privilege whilst privately dealing with a lot throughout her reign.

I think it?s probably more to do with what I value in people more than Harry and Meghan themselves. I?m old school. I value dignity, grace, and duty. I value rising above things and maintaining privacy. They do not embody those things, *in my opinion.*

I do view the Queen differently, even with the talks about her being cold, hate wasn't whipped for it.

I find what happened to Camilla to be a little more in-line with the hate Meghan has gotten and my stance would be the same. They allowed her into the family, they should protect her and stand against abuse and harassment. I have more thoughts on this but overall, that's my base-line.

Actually, yes. There videos and comments on those platform mentioned how the Docu-Series, Oprah and Spare have changed their view on the couple now that they got their side of the story out. People who had only consumed negative media and were whipped into hate. A lot of them have said that they being able to see Harry and Meghan speak for themselves, once they were given difference perspective via the couple themselves, it changed their mind. Not everyone but a nice amount compared to the insane hate. So, I'm glad they got their own story out and in their words.

They could've tried, I'm saying that the palace had to sue on their behalf nor did other members of the family but they could've let people publicly know that they don't approve, it's not their brand and they don't stand by it. Since they didn't do it, I'm happy Meghan and Harry were able to speak on in their various mediums. The Netflix more than Oprah because Oprah was just a reaction while the series went through the entire timeline and highlighted things.

Yes, Harry's comments showed that Meghan was willing to laugh off something Kate had done and that she tried to treat Kate like family. It's more commonly called pregnancy brain and it's a very real thing. Meghan instead of calling out Kate on, Kate's own bad behavior and she kept pressing Meghan about a problem that had a solution when she knew Meghan was already under duress and stressed out, as well as wanting a party and choosing to switch name-tags around and ruin the seating plans for other people at the reception. I think Meghan was very gracious in how she said it. In fact, I find it said that Meghan thought Kate was enough of a friend for Meghan to treat Kate as close as she treated friends, that was her mistake.

I never said people can't comment on it, in fact, people were commenting before Harry and Meghan ever said anything, hence the various mediums they told their narrative. Now, it's on the table and people make choices about Harry and Meghan AND hear from them, not just filtered through sources and the media.

I also cheered when they left and they haven't been just talking about their story. Archewell, Harry personally and Meghan personally have been working and charity since they left. Now, people can not like it, maybe think they haven't done enough, don't believe in them and etc but I can list the various charitable works they've been doing since they left. That is a fact, they haven't been just sitting at home, recording videos and doing nothing at all. I do believe there is genuine criticism to how they could do better in that area (and by better I mean promoting their work and having a more direct line of communication. Once example would be not having social media. I understand that they don't want it but social media is needed in this era and Archewell should have social media accounts.)

I have no real feelings about the Queen. I can admire her role in history.

And it's true, it does come down to values in the end. I have my own. I don't see dignity, grace and duty in being silent. I don't see ignoring harassment, abuse and leaks as rising above it because I don't believe it that is possible. I don't see family values in staying about abuse another member of the family is receiving. I don't think there is privacy to be maintained when your private life is continuously leaked to papers. The privacy has been broken already, it was never there. I don't believe staying silent when a little kid who looks you like, is for the first time being represented see's you do nothing the lesson she takes from that is to keep quiet about her own abuse or whatever could be happening in her life. They don't embody those values but they do embody the ones I have.

"Don't rock the boat." Only allows those who have the power to treat others as they want, to dehumanize them. That is not something, I, personally value.

That is my dignity, grace and duty.

I have no problem with people taking issue, having their own thoughts or feeling the way they feel. They should speak about it, as they have the right.

In that sense, weather it be Netflix, Interviews, Oprah or a book, Harry and Meghan should use whatever medium they chose to express their story, as much as they'd like because no one is forced to listen to their story. I follow them because I want to hear it, because I believe them.