Buckingham Palace warns Harry and Meghan stepping back from life as senior royals 'will be complicated'.

[Broomstick]

Yeah, I gather this was supposed to be before she was married, or before she and Harry were a confirmed item. And he doesn't have to get "handsy", words alone can be offensive.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Why Prince Harry is so unhappy with the exit deal and why he thought it could have been different

Chris Ship Royal Editor
Prince Harry

I’ve got some details of the tough negotiations last week between the Queen’s courtiers and Prince Harry.

And they do help to explain the exasperated tone of Harry’s speech last night in which he made it clear, when all is said and done, he isn’t very happy with the outcome.

Yes, he wanted to quit his current role as a senior member of the Royal Family.

But Harry desperately wanted to keep representing the Queen and the Commonwealth both here in the UK and in his new home in Canada and the United States.

Harry and Meghan went into the discussions with the Royal Family arguing that they should have a role that was much like Prince Andrew’s daughters, Eugenie and Beatrice, or like Prince Michael of Kent (who as grandson of King George V is a first cousin of the Queen).

Each of them has an HRH title and yet they are all able to earn an income whilst taking some public money from the Sovereign Grant - for whatever work they do representing the Queen.

And the Monarch also pays for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent to live in one of the apartments at Kensington Palace. It is also where Eugenie lives, while Beatrice has a residence at St James’ Palace.

Harry and Meghan went into the discussions with the Royal Family arguing for a role much like Prince Andrew’s daughters. Credit: PA

As for employment, Prince Michael has a consultancy business, Princess Eugenie works for the art dealer Hauser and Wirth and Beatrice has a job at the data company, Afiniti.

So you can see why Harry and Meghan had thought it was possible that they could establish something similar for themselves.

In the Sussexes’ initial statement, they spoke of a desire to continue to “fully support” the Queen and to “honour our duty to the Commonwealth".

But not any more.

Fast forward ten days, and Harry and Meghan will be without any royal role at all, he has no military title and his position as a Youth Ambassador to the Commonwealth has been taken away.

They keep their HRH titles but won’t use them – which I took as an acknowledgement from the Palace that they didn’t want to repeat the mistake of the Diana years when she was “stripped” of her HRH style. That would – as it did then – look like some form of petty punishment.

But I can’t help but wonder if Harry and Meghan have been punished in most other ways.

The rules – as were laid out to him – were that he was not going to be a "working royal" so he couldn’t continue in any job which involved representing the Queen.

Nor could he keep any patronage or role that was bestowed on him by the Queen.

That explains why he loses his role as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador (a Queen appointment) but not his role as President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (not a Queen appointment).

As for the military, the decision was made that he couldn’t be a ceremonial head of any unit in the British Army or Royal Navy if the majority of his time was going to be spent outside the UK.

I should be clear, Harry didn’t want to lose any of this.

But he was told, there is no half-in, half-out model for someone like him.

He was told, if you want to "step back", if you want that "more peaceful life" - as he put it - then you have to cut your ties with the institution.

And the frustration Harry felt about losing all that was expressed in his speech last night.

[Zaune]

On another note, someone on the... memorably-named "Leopards Ate My Face" subreddit has compiled some side-by-side comparisons of reporting about Kate versus Meghan here:

Kate: "Bumping along nicely! The Duchess was seen placing a protective hand on her tummy as she exited the event." Daily Mail: March 22, 2018

Meghan: "Personally, I find the cradling a bit like those signs in the back of cars: Baby on Board. Virtue signaling, as though the rest of us barren harridans deserve to burn alive in our cars." Daily Mail: Jan. 26, 2019

——————

Kate and William: "Prince William was given one of the green fruit – wrapped up in a bow – by a little boy who's mother is suffering during her pregnancy too... 'He said he'd take it to [Kate] and see what happens – and said good luck for [the boy's] mummy.'" Express: Sept. 14, 2017

Meghan: "The pregnant Duchess of Sussex and so-called 'avocado on toast whisperer' is wolfing down a fruit linked to water shortages, illegal deforestation and all round general environmental devastation." Express: Jan. 23, 2019

——————-

Kate: "Royal sources said yesterday that the Queen understood and endorsed William and Kate’s decision not to spend Christmas Day with her. One said: ‘Her Majesty understands that it is a dilemma that many young couples face and acknowledges how close Catherine’s relationship is with her family." Daily Mail: Dec. 16, 2016

Meghan: "The fact is the Queen expects to have the family around her for the festive season... to the Queen, for whom the tradition of the family gathering is a key date in her calendar, Harry and Meghan’s absence will be a matter of great sadness. It will also be a source of frustration." Daily Mail: Nov. 13, 2019

———————-

Kate and William: "Creating their own companies will allow William and Kate to bring out, should they ever chose to, myriad items of officially-endorsed merchandise from tea towels to coffee cups... Kensington Palace officials said they were doing the ‘sensible thing’ in protecting the couple’s rights." Daily Mail: Jan. 17, 2014

Meghan and Harry: "The Sussexes want to stamp their name on dozens of products including T-shirts, hoodies, journals and gloves for their newly-created foundation Sussex Royal... Experts said Harry and Meghan were actively preparing to quit the Royal Family months ago by filing trade mark applications to commercially protect their brand." Daily Mail: Jan. 9, 2020

——————-

Kate: "We see a woman in her prime: stylish, confident and positively radiant, nailing outfit after outfit in the style stakes — and it’s a joy to witness... That old uniform of girlish dresses, tan tights and nude heels has been replaced by dazzling super-chic outfits to satisfy even the most exacting fashionista." Daily Mail: June 16, 2019

Meghan: "Proper royalty is about tradition and duty, self-effacing service and loyalty — year after year after year, season after season... That is not to say that a monarchy cannot or must not move with the times — simply that it has to resist the temptation to be buffeted by passing cultural trends. Fashion is the exact opposite. And as fashion’s most famous bible, Vogue exemplifies the transient nature of the beast." Daily Mail: July 29, 2019

—————-

Kate: saying it with flowers!!!

Meghan: how Meghan’s flowers nearly put Princess Charlottes life at risk

No source URLs were provided, but frankly I wouldn't reproduce them here if they were; it'd be like linking to posts on the Stormfront forums to support my arguments.

[Gandalf]

So, from what I can tell, they'll lose their HRHs among other things.

Amusingly, Epstein associate Andrew still has his.

[Vendetta]

The UK press got bored of paedophiles years ago, so they're not interested in monstering Andrew.

But they'll never tire of racism, that keeps their filthy little hearts warm at night.

And yes, statistically much more negative than positive coverage for Meghan, not so much for Kate.

[His Divine Shadow]

I wonder why they wanted to move to Canada.









EDIT: I can tell these are the pics that belong to the descriptions a few posts up.

[Solauren]

Fucking HELL

The ladies do the same thing, and one of them is treated like a fairy tale princess, and the other is slandered.
Are we sure it's racist, or not just 'we did the nice route to make sales, now the asshole route to make more!'?

[Vendetta]

Given what those same papers write about foreigners and Brexit it’s absofuckinglutely racist.

[Bedlam]

I think it might be more linked to one of them likely to be the Queen in a few years and thus likely to actually have some ability to effect the future press where as the other is much less likely to be anything but a mid level celebrity.