The Duke and Duchess of Sussex interviews, TV and other media events Part 3

[Curryong]

why didnt she simply ask Harry waht to do when she met the queen?  Do i have to curtsy?  How do i do htat?

Harry was probably expecting a more formal first meeting. I don?t think anybody expected either the Queen?s or Harry?s arrival at Royal Lodge at the same time, the latter with girlfriend in tow. Otherwise Fergie wouldn?t have been flying about here and there as she was.

[TLLK]

why didnt she simply ask Harry waht to do when she met the queen?  Do i have to curtsy?  How do i do htat?

From what I can tell, it seems that as long as a person is able to perform a bob curtsy then that's all that is required. From viewing videos, the ladies and girls in the BRF do not dip as low as their peers in Denmark and Spain.

[Amabel2]

It was said of Mrs Thatcher that she curtsied very low, which was regarded as a bit silly and proof that she was not quite quite.  Unless one is in full ball gear, i think a very low curtsy looks  a bit silly and all the queen required was a short bob.  BUt if I were dating a royal and expected to be introduced to the queen I think I'd ask - do I need ot curtsy and how do I do it?  I wouldnt ask Fergie anyway, since even at her best she has never been graceful.

[TLLK]

It seems that is a reasonable question to ask and I assume that other women such as Brigitte Van Deurs, Marie Christine Von Rebinitz, Chelsy Davies and Autumn Kelly who were not from the UK might have asked the same when meeting their boyfriend's/fiance's royal family members for the first time.

[Nightowl]

I would think any person going to met other members of a royal family would out of common decency want to learn something about their partner's country and the traditions.  It is all just a matter of something we are taught in school and home....*respect* for others!  Seems like that word is lost on the Sussex's and not in their vocabulary.   

[Amabel2]

The more i see of Meghan and Harry, I think she certianly never intended to be a full time committed royal, and maybe he too wanted out.  so its hardly surprising that she did not know or care much about the RF's ways or about Brtiish culture

[TLLK]

New Zealand's Prime Minster Jacinda Arden makes a statement about her participation  regarding  the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's involvement in a  new venture with Netflix, Live to Lead. The program airs on December 31, 2022.

Harry and Meghan appear in the trailer for the series, with Harry saying: ?This was inspired by Nelson Mandela, who once said, ?What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived?.? Meghan continues: ?It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.?

Jacinda Ardern distances herself from Harry and Meghan over Netflix film | News | The Times
The statement from the Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

In early March 2019 the prime minister was approached by the Mandela Foundation to participate in a project to develop accessible resources on key attributes of leadership targeted at aspiring young leaders around the world, based off a one-hour interview.

Originally we were advised the outputs would be printed and digital books, short films and audiobooks. The interview was conducted on November 8, 2019. In March 2020 a short book entitled Jacinda Ardern (I Know This to be True) was published based on the interview.

Other participants who also had their contributions published based on their interviews included the late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the feminist activist Gloria Steinem, the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and the American basketball player Stephen Curry.
In March 2021 the Nelson Mandela Foundation advised the prime minister's office they had secured an agreement with Netflix to broadcast the series of interviews, including the 2019 interview with the prime minister.

'In May this year the prime minister's office was notified that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would introduce the series; noting this was nearly two and a half years after the interview had been recorded and permission for its use by the Mandela Foundation had already been provided.

All communication throughout has been with the foundation (there has been no communications with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex regarding the project).

[TLLK]

Prince Harry is set to be interviewed by Tom Bradby ahead of the publication of his memoir, Spare | Tatler

[Macrobug67]

^ oh boy.  Wonder if others, Greta and RBG?s family, will do the same.   

[TLLK]

^ oh boy.  Wonder if others, Greta and RBG?s family, will do the same.   

Yes I am curious as this was an unusual step for the PM to take regarding the production IMHO.

[PrincessOfPeace]

To be honest I think alot of people want to distance themselves from all this toxicity.

[Curryong]

Jacinta Ahern is in trouble electorally with the people of NZ. Her popularity has really bottomed in the last 18 months and she doesn?t want any controversy at all about anything or anybody. That?s what I guess this is all about. She?s always been full of praise for Meghan since she first met her.

I must admit I am puzzled about this latest programme. It?s very worthy and all the rest of it, but I do wonder if Netflix decided on the inclusion of Harry and Meghan at the last minute following the news of their documentary being a huge ratings success.

I?m just speculating here as to whether a lot of their inclusion was put in at the last minute in a sort of an introductory host role to each segment. They don?t appear to be interviewing any of the participants and might in fact not be discussing any of the issues on-screen at all. Just speculation here. We will have to see.

[Princess Cassandra]

Jacinta Ahern is in trouble electorally with the people of NZ. Her popularity has really bottomed in the last 18 months and she doesn?t want any controversy at all about anything or anybody. That?s what I guess this is all about. She?s always been full of praise for Meghan since she first met her.

I must admit I am puzzled about this latest programme. It?s very worthy and all the rest of it, but I do wonder if Netflix decided on the inclusion of Harry and Meghan at the last minute following the news of their documentary being a huge ratings success.

I?m just speculating here as to whether a lot of their inclusion was put in at the last minute in a sort of an introductory host role to each segment. They don?t appear to be interviewing any of the participants and might in fact not be discussing any of the issues on-screen at all. Just speculation here. We will have to see.

You could well be right. Netflix is a business - this would be a business decision. 

[wannable]

In trouble or not electorally, she has effectively dissociated herself from the Sussexes. When one loudly and officially notify the world of OUT, IF you do in a later stage an IN, you won't be taken seriously.  Otherwise having to state a change of mind in/out/possible in again, and yet doubts of superficial and flippant comes in mind.

[TLLK]

Speaking of business decisions, Variety magazine's Andrew Wallenstein is asking what the couple's long term strategy in this article.

Andrew Wallenstein is President and Chief Media Analyst of Variety Intelligence Platform, a new extension of the Variety brand focused on market research

It's Well Past Time for Harry and Meghan 2.0 - Variety

its new docuseries about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The program was not only the streaming service?s most watched documentary debut but the first three episodes drew a bigger audience than Netflix?s acclaimed semi-fictional royal drama ?The Crown.?

That should be good news for the streamer, which in September 2020 signed the couple to an overall deal estimated to be at least $100 million; for Spotify, where Markle recently launched a podcast; and for Penguin Random House, which is publishing Harry?s memoir next month. Netflix just greenlighted a second series to be produced by the couple as well.

But just when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would seem to be proving their enduring popularity, it?s the very thing any media company in business with them should be questioning.

That?s because some skepticism is warranted regarding whether they?ve finally gone to the well one too many times with their oft-repeated tale of mistreatment at the hands of England?s royal family.

While the success of their Netflix docuseries demonstrates that the audience?s curiosity wasn?t sated by last year?s interview with Oprah Winfrey, how much more meat could possibly be left on this bone, especially once Harry?s own take, ?Spare,? arrives in print?

There can only be so many revelations left to share with the public now that the couple have exiled themselves away from their fractious coexistence with the monarchy. Given that they?ve beaten this horse to death, perhaps this one-trick pony is due for the glue factory.

[Curryong]

I don?t think there is much more to tell after ?Spare?, which may well concentrate on Harry?s childhood, time in the military in Afghanistan etc. However, there is a whole world waiting as far as documentaries are concerned. Harry has always been fascinated with Africa.Way back when he was in his early 20s he made a short documentary or two (one with his brother) where they took their motorbikes and went to Lesotho. That was widely watched. Africa?s peoples, wildlife and communities have countless stories to be told. There are also others, the environment, First Nations? lifestyles and position in the world today. Young people, especially migrants in inner city environments, could be interesting.

[wannable]

Since it's in the Hollywood Bible Variety, they are doomed with that crowd. (I think since the Oprah). Not everyone in that industry is weird.   As I said a few weeks ago, they need to brainstorm and ''reinvent'' themselves, probably a bit too late.  Saturated the world with their antics, making it almost impossible.

It's inevitable that whatever his tale is, a third party will be mentioned in the good bad ugly of 'his' life'. Did he ask permission to mention these people or did the ghost writer use the 'indirect' no name technique. IOW, sleuths for the Netflix caught on indirect no name of their new versions of their life, but ID'd who they were referring to in those instances.

The HUGE PRICE selling the family down the river is worse than hefty. 

The space bar in my laptop is playing with me.....

[sara8150]

King Charles will 'always keep the door open' for Prince Harry | Daily Mail Online
King Charles always door opens for his son the Duke of Sussex articles says

[sara8150]

King Charles will 'always keep door open' for Harry but 'Royals wont offer apology' - Mirror Online

[Princess Cassandra]

King Charles will 'always keep door open' for Harry but 'Royals wont offer apology' - Mirror Online

Another anonymous bit of information from a "royal expert".  I don't see that this is genuine, but all the same, I don't think an apology to either of the Sussexes is appropriate.

[TLLK]

Discussion of Jeremy Clarkson/The Sun as well as his comments and subsequent apology regarding the Duchess of Sussex can be found in the thread linked below. Please keep all discussion of that topic in that thread. Further posts will be deleted. Thank you.

Royal Commentators, reporters and authors

[TLLK]

An opinion piece regarding the controversial comments found in Harry and Meghan regarding  The Commonwealth and the wider threat to global security.

The trouble with Harry and Meghan | The Hill

Beijing and Moscow, gleefully, are on ?Team Harry and Meghan,? and decidedly for self-serving and nefarious reasons. Intentionally or not, the two sidelined British royals, while luxuriously decamping in southern California, are recklessly undermining the national security of the United Kingdom and, by extension, imperiling that of the United States and its allies. In selling out ?King and Country? in exchange for Hollywood-style celebrity on Netflix, apparently nothing about British national security is sacred to the two ? not even the late Queen Elizabeth II?s greatest legacy: the 56-member Commonwealth of Nations.

Derisively referred to as ?Empire 2.0? by Afua Hirsch, a British journalist born in Norway, during her commentary in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?s Netflix series, ?Harry & Meghan,? the Queen?s Commonwealth legacy in the documentary was held out to be an evil archetypical manifestation of racism and repression. The unspoken inference is that the British royal family is its chief propagator.What rot. If only the Commonwealth Charter agreed. It doesn?t. The governing charter itself establishes all member-states as equals and emphasizes that it ?is a voluntary association of independent and sovereign states.? Moreover, its founding precepts recognize its ?special strength? lies within its ?combination of our diversity and our shared inheritance in language, culture and the rule of law.?

In many respects, the saga of Prince Harry and Meghan mirrors Alfred Hitchcock?s classic whodunit comedy, ?The Trouble with Harry.? In the British filmmaker?s movie, the character of Harry Worp, played by Philip Truex, is found dead. Three characters played by Edmund Gwenn (who played Kris Kringle in ?The Miracle on 34th Street?), Shirley MacLaine and Mildred Natwick, are all convinced they accidentally murdered poor Harry.

The modern dystopian twist, however, is that Prince Harry wants the British and American publics to believe that the royal family, the Palace as an institution (or ?The Firm? as it is known), and the British media have all conspired to destroy him and his family. Both he and Meghan Markle offer only vague reasons as to why and how. They all hinge around allegations of racism against her, yet none involves specific accusations naming members of the royal family.

[wannable]

IMO, the Sussexes vs the World is too obvious at this point in time. Everyone's to be blamed but not the Duo, their script is shameful and disconcerting.

Variety magazine said it straight forward insulting (one trick pony, glue factory)...the Hill is polite in their analysis, stating the couple's vagueness in their accusations/trashing.

[changemhysoul]

Also, late to this party but the PM distancing herself is a non-issue as much as people want it to be an issue.

She's a PM, still works with the UK/King and doesn't want there to be drama.

Netflix most likely brought H&M on so they could bring more publicity to the project and Archewell brought the rights because it's a worthy project. It also says, presented by and this is no different from a forward in a book.

More people want this to be a bigger issue than it is, in my personal view. So, I mean, to those that want to take it is a put-down, have at it. The project is still going ahead and now, more people are going to take notice of it because Harry and Meghan are attached to it.

I feel like I'm too late to give an overall reaction to the docu-series, that being said, it was a lot less harsh than what people panicked over. Most of the information, could already be gleaned.

One of the things I found the funniest would be the rumors of Tyler Perry distancing himself from the Sussex's and how badly people wanted that to be true but in the end, he's Lili's God-father. I enjoyed seeing the engagement pics, it looked supper fun. I was glad that the docu-series also showed that Meghan had an entire life before she married Harry.

All in all, in it was a fun watch, I learned some news but most of it was seen being played out in real time so it wasn't a shock.

[TLLK]

Also, late to this party but the PM distancing herself is a non-issue as much as people want it to be an issue.

She's a PM, still works with the UK/King and doesn't want there to be drama.

Netflix most likely brought H&M on so they could bring more publicity to the project and Archewell brought the rights because it's a worthy project. It also says, presented by and this is no different from a forward in a book.

More people want this to be a bigger issue than it is, in my personal view. So, I mean, to those that want to take it is a put-down, have at it. The project is still going ahead and now, more people are going to take notice of it because Harry and Meghan are attached to it.

I feel like I'm too late to give an overall reaction to the docu-series, that being said, it was a lot less harsh than what people panicked over. Most of the information, could already be gleaned.

One of the things I found the funniest would be the rumors of Tyler Perry distancing himself from the Sussex's and how badly people wanted that to be true but in the end, he's Lili's God-father. I enjoyed seeing the engagement pics, it looked supper fun. I was glad that the docu-series also showed that Meghan had an entire life before she married Harry.

All in all, in it was a fun watch, I learned some news but most of it was seen being played out in real time so it wasn't a shock.

Hi @changemhysoul -Glad that you were able to return to Royal Insight Forum. Thank you for sharing your views on Harry and Meghan.