Is Harry setting up a rival court?

I think this week's clarification from BP that they are not working royals and are private citizens will put pay to any hopes of a rival court Whethertomorrow.

They can still have public engagements. They both need paid work at some point.

I think a rival court would soon sink without trace.
Like everything else they try.

Cossy

They can still have public engagements. They both need paid work at some point.

Can any private individual have a public engagement?
Could I?

Would anybody be interested in attending my Grand Opening of my Fridge?

A rival court isn't remotely possible - a courtier is someone who works, in one way or another, for a monarch. Harry is unlikely ever to become monarch, so the question doesn't arise.
Of course they'll have their hangers-on but their followers simply can't make up a "court" unless Harry becomes King - and that is so unlikely as to be laughable. I don't think King Charles has anything to worry about!

Cossy: Would anybody be interested in attending my Grand Opening of my Fridge?

Depends what you've got in it, love - fresh cream cakes and I'll be there, no trouble.

I bet Meghan has aspirations for this- a rival court.

With her playing Queen Bee.

👑

There appears to be no end to the need so many posters have to criticise and resent anything and everything these two people do. It’s strange imo, that this level of disgust and anger can be directed at them. Great pity for any family where estrangement happens. Even bigger pity for all concerned if it’s played out in public

Whethertomorrow

I read that Harry and Meghan have announced some upcoming public engagements. Is this the start of setting up a rival court to the mainline royals?

If so, is there any way of controlling their behaviour and impact on the royal family?

I think that unless the press stop advertising and scrutinising every move they make (real and imagined) there will be increasing pressure on William and the king.

I think they’ve played a blinder by coming back to the UK and just ignoring everyone else’s concerns. The RF’s attitude of don’t explain, don’t complain is going to come back big time and bite them on the butt, and I think H and M are relying on this to get exactly what they want.

I think the public displaying disapproval is going to be the only message that could get through, but after the sycophantic display the other day I doubt H and M will ever notice.

What do you all think?

I think that unless the press stop advertising and scrutinising every move they make (real and imagined) there will be increasing pressure on William and the king.

I believe the media will only stop scrutinising their every move when its readership stops being interested, and judging by the number of comments on the previous H&M thread and probably those that will accumulate on this one, it's doubtful this will happen any time soon, as the speculation will continue ad infinitum.

Thread after thread. People do seem to enjoy being nasty about the couple, but want to feel that the nastiness is somehow justified. Starting to look rather dated now.

I agree Iam64.

MawsRosie

Cossy

They can still have public engagements. They both need paid work at some point.

Can any private individual have a public engagement?
Could I?

Would anybody be interested in attending my Grand Opening of my Fridge?

A celebrity can be asked to open the local Fete or patronize an event or speak at a media event.

At any public event they will likely get more boos than cheers. Any reputable organization will steer well clear.

I recently read ‘Spare’ and if even half of Harry’s complaints about the press are true, then I quite understand his behaviour. The ‘never explain, never complain’ attitude of the RF is ridiculous. Kate put up with ten years of ‘waity Katie’ nonsense. The Palace should have put their foot down properly then.

Your description of boos not cheers sounds like the knitting by the Guillotine approach

Suggest watch Lady C on YouTube. H & M do seem to be setting up a rival court.

If you have cream doughnuts in your fridge, then count me in MawsRosie.

Well, Harry has got to have some kind of operational base hasn't he? Even in his private capacity. He probably needs a few staff, maybe even premises. He's not in competition with his father or brother.

To those who say the previous thread about their return was just boring old, same old dated nastiness, it wasn't. This was a surprise announcement. Things have moved on, and throughout the near 1000 comments on the thread, there were some very articulate posts about family reconciliation, personal security, schooling etc going forward.

MawsRosie - looks like your official fridge opening is gaining some momentum. Along with the cream cakes already suggested, chuck in a couple of bottles of sauv blanc and I'll show up.

I heard three separate announcements today about Harry's forthcoming engagements, Classic FM,GB news, and another radio station which may have been Radio 4 in a friend's car.
This makes a mockery of him being designated a private citizen.
I believe he has come back to Britain to make trouble for his father. What a poor type.

They can have public engagements. Like so many so called celebrities who hold public events there’s nothing to stop them.
They and those who choose to use them for publicity, are simply not allowed to use HRH in their publicity.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

True, both Harry’s parents gave interviews and wrote books! Charles’ interview ledto the revenge dress.

paddyann54

eazybee Anyone who has a close look at Charles and his band of crooks,sex offenders and hangers in will probably think Harry didn,t tell enough of the “secrets “
We all saw the programme about the charities paying OTT rents to their Royal patron,the fact he charges millions for Ambulances to park…the ,the charges the RNLI have for every launch and much more.
You keep supporting this mob of leftovers from the Middle Ages makes you as bad as them.Remember Charlie and the sainted Diana both did interviews and books …wonder where Harry got that idea?

Anyone who has a close look at Charles and his band of crooks,sex offenders and hangers in will probably think Harry didn,t tell enough of the “secrets"

But Harry is not complaining about the rents paid to Charles, nor attempting to expose the 'sex offender' - or any other 'crooks' is he?

He's exposing the family 'dysfunctionality' to the world in a peevish attempt to convince people that during his privileged-background upbringing, he wasn't treated quite fairly enough by both his family and the press.

He's no hero, and whilst I've no wish to join the let's-all-pile-on-Harry-and-Meghan brigade, he's just as self-entitled and dysfunctional as the rest of the royal family, well most of them anyway. What's more, I see this dysfunctionality as an inevitability in a monarchy because it's an archaic institution which prevents its members from living what we regard as normal lives because they are so far removed from 'normality' by wealth and privilege. Historically, royalty has always transgressed one way or another and I don't understand why people are surprised when these transgressions come to light.

They might be able to hide some of their 'secrets' but the very nature of their job means they have to live life in a gold-fish bowl with a public - largely supportive but also keenly critical of their every move and gesture who paradoxically both 'respect' their privacy but at the same time, demand to know the details of it. Look at the way the press and the readership reacted to Catherine's cancer diagnosis and the speculation about which type of cancer she had; and the close scrutiny of any family photo's that appeared in the media afterwards. TBH I think it must be an appalling way to have to live life... their lives are really a contradiction, an inconsistent anomaly in modern-day Britain.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this but, on balance, I'd really rather have a monarchy, with all its absurdity, than run the risk of ending up with a president with similar character traits to you-know-who. Both Charles and William have a degree of intelligence (Charles' address to the US Congress on Capitol Hill last April was a master-class in subtlety), and wealth notwithstanding, will do us far less harm than a rogue president might.

Well put, Dickens.