What do you think of prince Harry and Megan moving to Canada

etky

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:46 pm

So part of me empathizes.
Meghan had a fast paced life as a celebrity - a modern independent woman with a mind and means of her own, before becoming a Duchess.
It must be somewhat stultifying and stifling to have to hew to the dictates of life as a royal.
Still, it is what she knowingly signed up for and she didn't give it all that much of a chance.
They haven't even been married 2 years!

amother

Ruby

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:49 pm

etky wrote:

It makes a lot of sense when one considers that Harry seems to have wanted out for a long time.

amother

Magenta

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:56 pm

DrMom wrote:

I sometimes read the British newspapers, and I must say that from my American-Israeli perspective, they seem to have lost their minds over this.

This Harry guy has almost zero chance of ever becoming king, so his life is basically useless. Smile and wave, smile and wave, hang around so that in the unlikely event that everyone ahead of you dies, you can continue the royal line.

The guy's 35 and he's finally moving out of his Mother's house, and the British media treats it like it's a terrible thing. I don't get it. Let him live his life.

I don't think its Harry he wants to move out of his mother's house, his country, his family, friends & all he has ever known. It's probably Meghan who is wanting to flee. She married into the family thinking that she would modernize it (that's what she has said) & use it to propel herself and her agenda further. Now, despite being warned about the duties & responsibilities of the Royals, she finally realizes that she'll always be second fiddle, & she wants out.

Based on her history, it makes an awful lot of sense. She severed ties with her father, her sister & siblings, her colleagues & the majority of her past friends. She drops relationships when they no longer serve her & just moves on. Very few of her past connections have a nice word to say about her. They refer to her as a narcissist & self serving person. There is a rumor going around that the palace repeatedly uses the phrase "what Meghan wants, Meghan gets".

On the other hand, Harry has always been close to his family & has made family his priority all through his life. This smells like another case of "what Meghan wants, Meghan gets".

Now, of course, all that can be rumors. It could very well be the case that Meghan was very unlucky enough to be born into a home with difficult family members & surrounded herself with difficult friends & her colleagues all treated her unfairly. Anything is possible. But where there is smoke, there usually is fire. And it sure sounds like Meghan is the one pulling Harry away from everything he has ever known.

amother

Jetblack

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:57 pm

etky wrote:

I think she is the driving force behind this move. I thnk he probably wants out too - I don't think he is just humouring her but I doubt that if he had married someone else he would have had the guts to take this drastic step.

Agree. I view her as one manipulating Harry using her charisma and romance.
I wouldn't be surprised if Harry will end up divorcing Meghan at one point

amother

Wheat

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:57 pm

I have disliked Harry since he dressed up as a Nazi and I think Meghan is a narcissist and an awful person as well. As such, I think it would be great if they disappeared from public life.
,
People are angry about this, not because they love the Sussexes so much, but because they have paid for their lifestyle till now and it looks like the Sussexes would like them to continue paying for it while giving the British taxpayers nothing for their money. Also because they are planning to make a lot of money off their royal titles, which is against the bargain between the people and the monarchy. Royals are not allowed to commercialize their status.

If they would have announced that they were retiring from public life and going to live quietly off Harry's £30 million inheritance in a log cabin in Saskatchewan, I don't think anyone would have been upset about it.

And yes, I have spent entirely too much time following this story. Can't Believe It

amother

Magenta

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 4:58 pm

etky wrote:

She was warned. Her friends with whom she had connections back then (she has dropped many of them), repeatedly warned her about the dictates of life as a royal. She refused to listen.

imorethanamother

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 5:02 pm

I have lots of thoughts on this, as everyone in my life already knows.

The royal family is largely a dog and pony show (quite literally). They lost most of their power long ago, and the one they technically have could never really happen in a thoroughly democratic nation. Most people are monarchists because they love the queen. And the queen intuited (though helpful advisors) that the only way to maintain her power is to live her life in service to the people.

So that’s how she raised her family. The royal family does over a thousand charity events a year, using their name and their title to help charities while in turn promoting good will that keeps the country from turning into anti-monarchists. It may be a dull existence most of the time, but it’s a somewhat honorable one.

The problem is that Meghan was raised in a thoroughly Me Generation, wholly concerned with what she’s getting instead of what she’s giving. Perhaps she’s a narcissist as everyone says, perhaps she’s just a diva. But she and Harry decided that they’d like the royal castles, they’d like the royal stipend from the Duchy of Cornwall, they’d like 600,000 pounds of security per year, but they’d also like to keep acting and make more money. And they’d like to be paid for charitable appearances. And they put trademarks on their names so they can sell them to charity.

Ew.

etky

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 5:10 pm

amother [ Magenta ] wrote:

She was warned. Her friends with whom she had connections back then (she has dropped many of them), repeatedly warned her about the dictates of life as a royal. She refused to listen.

Yes. I'm sure she was aware of what she was getting into.
I just wonder whether she really thought that she could hack it but then reached the conclusion that she just couldn't (after not really giving the adjustment, which also included becoming a mother! enough time) or if this was her plan all along.

Raisin

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 5:19 pm

I think the Royal Family has plenty of members and Harry and Meghan are superflous to their needs.

I don't like the way they have gone about this. But then again I don't know what is going on behind the scenes. It's hard to know if Meghan is a difficult controlling person or if the Royal Family/press/British public are being racist towards her.

I haven't noticed any racism in the press but I don't really read tabloids.

potatoes

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 5:39 pm

pause wrote:

You get the privilege, you take the responsibility. I don't see how they can continue living with the title and benefits of royalty while opting out of the "show" we expect from them.

Then again, Harry's always done as he pleased.

I believe I read somewhere they are doing this (also) to become financially independent. Does that mean they will no longer take royal funds?

They are bowing out of the royalty, yet wording it nicely as respect to the queen and saying how they will do what is expected of them to continue respecting her majesty. (Seems more like to protect themselves from being accused of disrespecting the royal family, not because they are looking to keep the title)

I say- kol hakavod! Go live your lives happily ever after, as you wish. Let your kid have a normal life. Like, why not? Seriously.
Its not like he has any power in the UK, the Queen herself is just a figure head. So who cares to stay part of that, with all the paparazzi.

zaq

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 5:55 pm

banana123 wrote:

My thoughts are: Who cares?

Precisely. The so-called royals are fun to watch a bit—don’t we all love showy weddings and princess fairy tales?—but they are a complete anachronism and fairly useless except as ornamentation. And ever since Harry’s Nazi costume caper I consider him beneath contempt and good for less than nothing. The less we see of him, the better.

nylon

Sun, Jan 12 2020, 6:06 pm

She's biracial. And yes there was quite a bit of racism in the tabloid press, and they were harder on Meghan than Kate (someone found side by side headlines comparing them). Someone was even sacked from the BBC for making a joke about baby Archie and using a photo of a chimpanzee. I've never cared for Harry, but the press had it in for Meghan.

The title on its own means nothing, they don't have to give it up. The finance question is quite complicated as I believe Harry derives much of his income through Charles, who is Duke of Cornwall. Harry doesn't get income specifically for being Prince Harry.