Friday 16 December 2022

Battered paragons

People from other countries must be fascinated by the way the Sussexes (aka Harry and Meghan) are puncturing the Royal Family's carefully crafted glossy public image by trotting out one unpleasant jibe after another.

For years the Royal Family's operating principle has been to keep quiet about anything unsavoury and only talk about what preserves their innocuous and inoffensive public front.

Now Meghan and Harry are dishing the dirt big-time and making all sorts of scurrilous claims about other members of the Royal Family, and it's not a pretty sight.

I'm not saying anything about their accusations, as I have no idea whether all the stuff they're coming out with is true, exaggerated, embellished or simply made-up. All I know is that they accuse the Royals of racism, bullying, lying, gaslighting, planting negative stories, and treating Meghan like a usurper. And no doubt there are more claims to come.

Certainly the whole saga casts a very unedifying light on the Royals and how they operate behind the scenes. They may seem to be paragons of decency and civilised values but that's now up for debate.

The many admirers of the Royals must be pretty gobsmacked by the ongoing public furore. It seems that in the main they're either defending the Royals against what they see as an unjustified and narcissistic attack on them by a slightly unhinged couple, or they're defending Meghan and Harry against what looks like the Royal Family's undeclared mission to ostracise and discredit them as embarrassing mavericks.

The shine has definitely gone off the Royal Family's reputation, and even the benign charisma of the late Queen is looking a bit questionable.

Pic: Her Majesty is not amused

33 comments:

  1. I think the Sussexes have shown themselves to be completely disloyal.
    I have no doubt there is an element of truth in their claims, no family is perfect, but those things shouldn't be discussed in public and used to make money

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    1. Of course it should be discussed in public the royal family receives more than 86 million pounds from public money.. Who needs a king and this ridiculous Kate baking cookies . I think the World has other problems.and Great Britain too.
      Hanah

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    2. Hannah: I agree that if the Royal Family gets so much money from the taxpayer there should be a serious discussion about what that money is buying.

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    3. Harry & Meghan's behaviour isn't about informing the tax payer though, is it?
      There are already parliamentary checks and balances on the royal family and if the country wants more if those it can be done the right way.
      Harry and Meghan claimed to want privacy and all they have done is court attention in the ugliest way, their behaviour isn't in line with their statements

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    4. Kylie: In theory there are parliamentary checks and balances on the Royal Family, but in reality the Royals are treated with kid gloves. For example, how does parliament justify a coronation that's totally unnecessary and will cost tens of millions of pounds?
      Yes, if Harry and Meghan want privacy (but they claim to have been misquoted) they're going a funny way about it.

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  2. Kylie: Yes, that's the objectionable aspect, that they're making money out of their inside knowledge of the Royals.

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    1. The objectionable part is all of it. It's ugly and undignified bratty behaviour

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    2. Kylie: Not so much ugly and undignified as the relentless hounding of the other Royals, in the knowledge that they won't push back as they don't want to get dragged into a public bun fight.

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  3. I’m in another country and couldn’t care less! I honestly don’t follow what goes on with the Royals and lump them with Hollywood hype.

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    1. Bijoux: I'm interested in what all this ballyhoo might mean for the future of the Royals. But I can understand that you couldn't care less.

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  4. I actually don't mind the revelations, and the idea that they are a more normal family than they seem. I tend to believe Harry. But that doesn't make me like his father or brother any less. I love the Royal Family, warts and all.

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    1. Colette: This is it, we're discovering that they are a normal family with all the usual quarrels and hang-ups, they're not paragons of virtue.

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  5. An institution I could do without given the leeway given to governments by use of the prerogative powers.
    I suspect they are now regretting whitewashing Harry's character and his wife's past as neither can now be used to discredit them.

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    1. Fly: I gather the monarch can change legislation that's not in his personal interest, without the public knowing anything about it. How can that be right?

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    2. In my onion, the Royals stopped looking like paragons of decency when they approved of Charles marrying Diana just to produce heirs.
      Linda Sand

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    3. Linda: Indeed, that was a shameful episode.

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    4. opinion not onion. Dang auto correct.

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  6. H&M won't bring down the monarchy, but they will strip it down and for its own good. Transparent, accountable, ethical. Job descriptions. If they want to be called an institution they must behave as one.

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    1. Joanne: Yes, if one result of the H&M uproar is a bit more transparency around the Royal Family, that would be a step forward.

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  7. Royalty have had a dodgy reputation since Henry VIII!!
    It's all tabloid fodder - I mean, the headline about one brother shouting at the other - do they think no other siblings fight.
    Bored by the whole thing, and intent on not allowing any of it to have much space in my head.
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: A rich vein of tabloid fodder indeed. I couldn't care less about their accusations, but I'm interested in what effect the H&M saga might have on the Royal Family and its public image.

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  8. It's desperately boring and as I always say: follow the money. these grifters will do anything for a buck. What happened to all their charity work pledges, their environmental concerns, their so-called "values". Pimping themselves out (along with their children) for big bucks and whining and whinging incessantly about how they've been treated as they swan about (on the Bank of Daddy for a while) in private jets and a fully staffed mansion.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: Quite so, when are they going to do something socially useful as opposed to moaning in front of the cameras? I guess they couldn't resist the fat fees dangled in front of them.

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  9. Yes, I did see that the business entity known as the Sussexes have a Netflix documentary which I have no interest in watching. as much as these two claim they have been hounded by the media, it seems they can't live without the need to be in the limelight. Whether or not their claims are valid is of no importance to me (and many others). They remind me of the boy who cried wolf and not in a good way. Indeed, Queen Elizabeth would not be amused.

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  10. Beatrice: As you say, they seem to have a crying need to be in the limelight. And the media eagerly encourage them as their readers seem to be fascinated by all the back-biting.

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  11. Mary says: "The royals to me are like any other famous person or celebrity. They have their heads in the clouds and have no idea how normal, real people live. So their lives, and opinions mean very little to me."

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    1. Mary: Absolutely, they have no idea how ordinary people live. The same applies to the British cabinet ministers, many of whom are millionaires.

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  12. I’m a royalist ….the royal family will adapt x

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    1. John: They probably will, as they've adapted to all sorts of scandals and disasters over the years.

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  13. I don't suppose the Royals are any better than any other family and I am not an ardent royalist, but I do think that fortunately most of the royals who are a lot in the public eye do seem to be doing their very best to fulfil their roles in a decent way. Charles' charities for instance help many disadvantaged young people and he has been an important spokesman for environmentalism. I have no time for the likes of Prince Andrew of course and I feel that Harry and Meghan are our own "Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII" - a weak disloyal man and a manipulative women, both of them utterly selfish and caring only about themselves, prepared to betray family and abandon their country because they are so self obsessed. I think they cast a very bad light on themselves, but then every family has its black sheep and the royal ones are more in the spotlight than most!

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    1. Jenny: As you say, every family has its black sheep, and all you can do is try and keep them under control. Yes, the Royals do a lot for charity and various good causes, though they could still support charities as ordinary citizens.

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  14. Ann: Certainly nothing good will come of this ongoing fracas, it's just stirring up all sorts of family tensions that would be best left behind closed doors.

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