Does everyone have their popcorn ready for Harry & Meghan?

Absolutely right! Not much different than lots of traditional stuff.

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I hope Catherine takes control of the orthondonture because they are all sporting the Windsor teeth.

I didn’t notice that Harry was a little quick with making fun of William’s hair (or lack thereof) in Spare as he (Harry) has a pretty big bald spot showing.

Except the royal stuff looks like it weighs upwards of 50 pounds :joy:

In my head right after the photo, Charles pops up, claps his hands, and says “Right, who’s ready for some dinner?”

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I my head, Charles doesn’t “pop”, neither up or anywhere. He just sits there groaning, thinking I am too old for this sh*t.

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That’s true, never thought of that.

My head is more Seinfeld than Curb Your Enthusiasm :joy:

The photoshopping of Charles is so obvious. If he were to put on a dress and carry a handbag, I would think he was his mom.

Has a bit of a “Weekend at Bernie’s” vibe :laughing:

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I was thinking the same thing. I also thought this image looked photoshopped - especially his swollen right hand and his thighs.

It seems like he’s aged tremendously recently.

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I can’t look at that photo without thinking of those Imperial margarine commercials. King Charles: “Sure tastes like butter!”

I’m more fascinated by the reactions to the coronation and the BRF mess than by the coronation and the BRF itself. We’re all reading and seeing the same media by and large and yet we have wildly different impressions of the players and events. I read another message board that appeals to a somewhat younger demographic and the impressions and conclusions there are quite different than on this board.

Someone on this thread said if he were Harry he’d be angry at Meghan for refusing to attend the coronation. I think it’s more likely it was a joint decision that Harry would attend alone. I think he thought it would be less of a circus if he did so; also think he was right about that.

Someone in this thread said Kate seems to be a lovely person. I don’t know her personally, of course, but I’ve always disliked her. During the 10 years after she picked up her second class art history degree, her only employment was a part time job for Jigsaw, a fashion accessories company, for 6 months during a period in which the tabloids thought William had dumped her for good. And that job was in the US, because she fled the tabloids. Allegedly even the Queen pointedly asked about 5 years into the romance whether it wasn’t about time Kate got some sort of job.
On this board, most people seem to think she and Will are well-matched. Elsewhere, Will’s alleged affair with Rose is accepted as fact. (For reasons unrelated to BRF, I google on the separate sites for a couple of Commonwealth countries. On one site, Harry’s remarks about letting the press dump on him when the BRF was covering up something else are ASSUMED to be about that affair.)

LOTS of the non-working royals have taken money to hawk products based on being members of the BRF. Peter Phillips did commercials for a dairy company in China, assuring the Chinese that the Guernsey cows which produce the milk are the same kind the royals drink from. Zara, who as an Olympic equestrian HAS accomplished something on her own, makes a LOT of money from endorsements. She’s endorsed at least 10 products–a clothing company, a horse board game, Land Rover, Rolex, a baby stroller…

Camilla’s son, a food critic, has gotten in on this.At Christmas, he endorsed a host of products which he claimed would be served at his mother and her husband’s Christmas meal.

Nor only is Charles himself accused of selling access to the Saudis, but his cousin Michael appeared in a zoom video with an alleged South Korean gold company saying he could get it access to Russia and claiming that he had done this for other companies and in which he claimed he was her majesty’s unofficial ambassador to the Russian government. What the Queen’s Controversial Cousin Reveals About Harry and Meghan’s Own Business Choices | Vanity Fair It was a sting.

This is just a sampling. And, of course, it is addition to the millions different companies pay for a “royal warrant,” which is a fancy name for a product endorsement.

I feel sorry for Harry because he really doesn’t have any education, experience or skills which fit him to earn a living unless someone is aware of a civilian job flying helicopters anonymously. Maybe though, based on comments that he did a good job with the audio of his book he could make a living doing voiceovers and reading audio books. I hope he and Meghan find some fullfilling work to do in addition to their philanthropic endeavors.

BTW, it seems to be largely missed, even by Americans, that Meghan’s father had no right to sell the rights to publish the contents of her letter. US law says the contents of an unpublished letter remain the property of the author and permission to publish MUST come from the author. Any monetary amount for this permission goes to the author, not the recipient UNLESS the author has waived it. The most famous example of the application of this rule is to letters written by JD Salinger. See Salinger v. Random House, Inc. - Wikipedia. The principle established in that case applied when Joyce Maynard, an author who had been romantically involved with Salinger when she was a young woman, sold the letters he wrote her. The letters were sold at auction, but they could not be published. CNN - Salinger letters bring $156,500 at auction - June 22, 1999

The upcoming phone hacking case is of interest. I suspect though that the Daily Mail will refuse to be specific as to which royals fed it stories about Harry.

Meant this as a general reply to thread but somehow inadvertently made it to a specific post.

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I suspect that many in the royal family have profited in one way or another on being part of the institution. Perhaps what bothers people (we are all just observers to be sure) is that H and M appear to want sympathy for trashing the royal family and yet at the same time profit off of their titles and affiliation.

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I like Kate. I like her a lot. I think that she is good for William and her family has allowed him to see what a normal family looks like.

I would not denigrate her 2:1 degree. Back in 2005, “Firsts” were very uncommon. Grades have been loosening up in British Universities in recent years and the Government is complaining of “grade creep”. Remember, Diana dropped out of school when she was 16.

Kate was between a rock and a hard place after she graduated from University. It was common knowledge that she was dating William at the time. The paparazzi are brutal in England. I am sure that many companies would not want the paparazzi loitering outside of their doors waiting for Kate to come and go. Would yours? Also, she would have to wonder if any company that did hired her would do so because they thought she might have influence with the RF.

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I am super impressed by Kate. I cannot imagine how difficult her royal life must be everyday. Dealing with rumors, gossip, brother-in-law issues; and the expectation to look fabulous, act appropriately, raise well-behaved children, and totally keep your mouth shut and smile. She has a strength that most do not in this age of “speaking your truth no matter the consequence.” Hats off to her.

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Certainly firsts have become more common, but IMO, they were NOT "very uncommon. " Overall, back in that era,about 11 per cent or so of UK grads received a first. My understanding is that the percentage was higher at St Andrews, especially in art history.

Not everyone’s parents would have supported an adult child for 10 years and bought her an apartment in London so she could be near her boyfriend.

In any event, my point was just that different people have different views of the various members of the BRF.

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Not an unusual arrangement the independently wealthy; perhaps she has a trust she was drawing upon? Many young people of far more modest backgrounds rely upon family support as well, including the purchase of homes or flats.

She wasnt at the top of her class at college. Good thing, as neither was any member of the BRF

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Before Charles, I don’t believe any member of the BRF received a degree, and his was a 2:2.

Looking further, I stand corrected; Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a first cousin of QE2, graduated Cambridge in 1966

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11% is pretty uncommon, a first was certainly a remarkable achievement back then. More importantly, your “understanding” that Art History at St Andrew’s is a relatively easy degree isn’t born out by the actual statistics. I can’t find data for 2005, but in 2017/18, 29.3% of UK students got a first but only 24% of St Andrew’s art history students did. In 2018/19 the figures were 29.5% and 27% respectively. So that makes art history harder than average both for the UK as a whole and for degrees at St Andrew’s specifically.

See Appendix A.xlsx

And https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/55b365fd-2d77-46c0-a8ad-45304047a0be/analysis-of-degree-outcomes-over-time-2020.pdf

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What is a BRF? I’ve sort of wondered if there wasn’t some sort of jealousy of Meghan from Kate, in regards to Meghan being accomplished and a career women, vs. Kate, who really never achieved anything on her own other than marrying well