Harry & Meghan stepping back from RF

You are right SirChenjin, but the reason that Meghan and Harry are so commented on is because Harry has and always will have the connection to Diana. Telling us all about what they are doing in Africa and other places and how they want to raise the profile to the poverty is a good thing but then look at U.K and the people having to use food banks to eat.

I like Princess Anne and she works hard her daughter Zara is also lovely although she has gone very quiet in the public eye now as she is bringing up her children. Zara was a firm favourite to Harry and they got on well although you hear very little about them meeting up now.

I wish them luck. It is a brave thing to do I so hope the press will leave them alone. Harry is still suffering from what the press did to his mother and does not want the same to happen to his lovely family.

Living our lives

The media are poking around because H&M frequently use very public platforms to tell us all about their Causes and how we should be living their lives and how awfully hard they have it.

How many of us know anything much about Princess Anne’s daughter-in-law or heard from Sophie (Prince Edward’s wife) or Prince Andrew’s youngest daughter, for example?

We're all entitled to our opinions but we simply don't know what goes on behind closed doors and in other people's heads.

I wish them well on their new adventure but feel they should give up their royal titles and privileges.

They will always be part of the family because of birth and marriage but shouldn't be allowed to play 'Royal duty Hokey Cokey' when it suits them and their lifestyle.

How can they keep their heads down? - the media are poking into their every move.

The cost of security is only incurred because they are members of the RF - not a choice; but a role that is foisted on Harry - it would seem unwillingly. We cannot use them and then throw them to the lions in terms of their safety.

Have heard so much about the reason they want out is because of all the racism. The fact is that Harry has married a woman from a different race and I say that does not matter as long as they are both happy. It is also a sad fact of life that you will find racist people everywhere but you will also find just as many that do not even hold any racist views so stop all the bombardment about pinning all this on racism as it is giving all the people with these sort of views a field day.
I still have my own views about the Americans calling Barack Obama the first black president as actually what a disservice that gives to his mother as she was a white Scottish woman and she brought a mixed heritage child into this world but all the Americans talked about was his African father so I suppose that made Mr Barack Obama black, enough said as I am getting into complex issues now.

They intend to keep their £600,000 per annum security of 6 full time Met Police officers that we pay for.
And we pay for their constant travel. (it's for the Queen)
Also they keep Frogmore while preaching about caring for the poor, and take millions more £'s from Charles which is his only because he is the heir to the throne.
So not really giving anything up except their "Royal" duties.

We pay for them and they have a great life....while they lecture on saving the planet while jetting across the Atlantic to live in two places....
You could not make it up.
Greedy. Entitled and so far getting away with it.

I hope they get told to just go away and stay away.

Can someone please give me definitive proof that H&M didn’t tell the queen of their plans, because it appears that a great deal of people on GN know the full facts.

Still, let’s not let facts get in the way of a full blown histrionic opinionated gossip fest.

Good luck to the young family.

All reminiscent of the abdication crisis of 1938. MM has always reminded me of Wallis Simpson somehow. Don't blame either of them for turning their backs on the royal farce, but guess they'll still be "sleb" royalty wherever they go.?

I hope they will be happy but I think they should not have any money or properties from us .

They are minor royals so why not live life as they wish this is ok as long as they don't expect taxpayer contribution.
My opinion is that Meghan had high expectations of her life as a member of the royal family and no doubt delusional in her beliefs that as was her life on the stage would be able to pick and chose what ever suited.

EllaKeat Relative obscurity!!?? We are talking about Meme Meghan here - she wants fame and lots of publicity providing it is done her way.

I am a lifelong Royalist but I shall object if my taxes are spent on expenses and security for that appalling woman.

If you don’t want to be treated ‘badly’ by the press then keep your head down and show a bit of humility and respect for the royal institution in return for the very generous perks.

Granny23 not nice is it. Bitter? Racist? Gullible? Or just plain nasty people.

Jolbook,

EXACTLY.

Fiachna50,

If Sarah Ferguson was treated badly years ago, it’s because she behaved badly years ago.
If Meghan behaves in an entitled and controlling way, then she will not be reported in a positive way.

Anyone who craves attention will fail to fit in with the RF.
Hence the fall and disgrace of Sarah Ferguson; the desperation of Diana and now Meghan. Notice how the quiet controlled women succeed; Katherine, Sophie, Camilla, Anne and Zara know how to do it.

I can't believe the vitriol being spouted on this thread. Well I suppose I can given what has been said previously on GN about others particularly Camilla (who now seems to have been generally accepted).

The press and royal watchers have always given every member of the royal family a hard time, with the exception of the sainted Queen. Thinking of Princess Margaret, Diana, Fergie, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother and now Andrew. I try to remember that these are real people, with real lives that we know nothing about, who have all had to endure peculiar childhoods, with parents absent for long periods, nannies and boarding schools, divorces, etc. etc.

I would not take on any of these roles for all the tea in China or to benefit from their so called privileges.

It is sad for the rift between William and Harry just hope somehow the two of them can heal whatever happened to cause the split which I am sure is causing them both emotional pain. They are brothers and no matter what is going on they have the bond of brothers and that needs nurturing.

The news about Meghan and Harry is not really surprising, Harry went through his teen years and was always the lad in fact he could be called the Playboy Prince because he was so it was on the cards for him to be attracted to Meghan when he met her she was an actress and was also an attractive good looking woman and they fell in love.
As far as it goes about becoming financially independent and leaving the U.K for half the year to live elsewhere then good luck to them however what about paying the money back for Frogmore House it was renovated at the cost of 3 million pounds and a huge chunk of money on Archies nursery. Also the Royal wedding must have cost that much as well with it's star studded guests and all the pomp and glamour of a fairytale dream when many families could never afford any of that privileged lifestyle. It seems the couple do not want that privileged lifestyle then cut them back from the Royal purse and let them spend their own money and live as an ordinary couple and not try to live a half by half lifestyle.

Im with you GrannyGravy. Do all these folks really know Meghan? I do get folk being angry about the public money spent. However, I don't know Meghan or Harry personally but do feel that Meghan has been treated exactly like Sarah Ferguson was years ago. The media persecuted that woman. I don't believe anything I read or see on the TV. I think an awful lot of it has been downright snobbery. I wish Harry, Meghan and baby Archie well.

SirChenin posted

‘They don’t want out - they want the best of both worlds on terms that suit them and to hell with duty or family........’

I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Harry was a much loved royal until he met and married Meghan. She craved fame and fortune, and then along came Harry. Already divorced, she then ditched her celebrity chef boyfriend for the much more famous and much more rich Prince Harry. She thought she was going to be another Diana and modernise the royal family. But she found out that alongside the fame and the riches came work, probably often boring work. Even the royal family isn’t big enough for her. Along with ditching her boyfriend, she ditched her father and all the rest of her family on both sides. She invited to her wedding Hollywood celebrities who she barely knew, because they were important to her whilst her family were not. How can anyone defend this behaviour?

We then had the debacle about the birth, and then the christening. Then the appalling interview at the end of the Africa tour, saying how no one asked her how she was! After just touring an area so deprived and so poor, it beggars belief.
How can anyone defend this behaviour?

Goodnesss nine pages and still going - a lot to be said about this. Like a lot of wives she is controlling here. I just wish Harry realised who his best friend ever is or ever will be and that they were discussing this together because I've got a feeling he'll want to come crawling back for William's companionship one day.

Reading some of the vitriolic posts, usually aimed at Meghan, I fully appreciate why these two young people want to get away from it all.

Best of luck.

The cynic in me wonders why they rushed this announcement out yesterday, would it be anything to do with it being Kate's birthday today and by announcing this it would be Meghan not Kate headlining the news hmmm. Also it makes me wonder if the criticism Meghan got from her sister and father was correct, she seems as if bit by bit she is alienating Harry from everyone and taking control of his life, my son had a girlfriend like that for 7 years but he couldn't see it as she sucked him in very very slowly to the point he virtually had to have permission to breathe, hope this isn't happening here