Is Harry less popular now?

My 2 children lost their dads when they were very young. One to abandonment and the other to heart failure and premature death.

No physical help, certainly no servants, no car to ferry them around, no holidays to help take their mind off things, no oohs or aaahs , no professional help, no financial help, just a single working mother who was left to get on with it.

Strangely, my DD (who's father died) has been much less effected than her brother who's father abandoned us when he was only weeks old .

Ellen de Generes apparently said that when on a visit to England from the States, Terribull
You can't even begin to make it up

Was just about to post a similar story Gilly My dad was orphaned when he was 12,his sisters and brother were all put into seperate childrens homes all over the country.Dads next door neighbour took him in because he could leave school and work .No one throwing sympathy their way ,they were allowed to write to each other once a year.When Dad was old enough to visit them he did ,even though one was in the Highlands a long way from Glasgow.They each came to live with us as they reached the age where they got turfed out at 15 and stayed until they had a job and could share a flat .They all made good lives for themselves .Yes losing a parent at any age is bad and especially when you're a child but 20 odd years down the line Harry must have grown up and realised that in many ways he was still a lot luckier than the average child who loses his mum Mind you doesn't stop him putting his hand in the publics pocket does it?

George Monbiot has compared the practice of carbon offsetting with the selling of Catholic indulgences hundreds of years ago - buying your way out of sin.

This article by Guy Adams is interesting:

carmonreport.com/world-news/guy-adams-greenwash-or-hogwash/

I said it yesterday carbon offsetting is a "get out of jail free" card and your link article Callistemon pretty much says what most of us know, it's a ruse to make them all feel better. I feel the need to summon up my kids' teen stock comment to just about everything "it's well annoying" but well annoying doesn't go far enough with this pious and disingenuous shite. There is only one answer "don't fly". Or alternatively, carry on flying, but do everyone a kindness and shut up about tree planting etc. and how much you care about the environment pleeeese

Whilst I did feel desperately sorry for both W and H when their mother "died" . I do think that they were in a much better position than many other children who lose a parent paddyann (not a popular view with some on GN I know) .

I know money cannot replace a parent of course it can't, but what it can do, is buy distraction. Buy holidays away to help take their mind off things, it can buy physical help and psychotherapy too , it can buy lovely warm homes, the best schools, pets and so many other things that many bereaved children could never afford .

I agree with Terribull that this carbon offsetting is just a very convenient way of the very rich being able to continue living as they always have, driving their gas guzzling cars, taking private jets and helicopters on a whim and generally looking down their noses at the rest of us.

Why doesn’t Communism work ?

Genuine question, as in theory it should

I disagree gilly grief is grief, money cannot ease it.

The fat cats running these carbon offset charities are on to a good thing. How much of the donated dosh goes on admin and company cars I wonder?

Communism doesn't work because we are all human, not saints and there is always someone, often many, who want to be a little more equal than everyone else.

I know you disagree Annie but I think you are missing what I am trying to say. I am not saying their grief is lesser because they are rich just that they were able to “buy” help of all kinds and some distraction too, they did not have a single parent wondering how they could continue to out bread on the table.

gilly you are looking at it from your view not a child
who is grieving for a parent.

Keeping an open mind I can understand Diana's death being the reason for a lot of Harry's obsessive desire for privacy and petulant behaviour but gilly is right in saying that he did have the kind of support that only money can bring.

He really must stop playing the sympathy card though. Both William and Harry have openly discussed their grief and must surely know how much the public felt for them at the time.

My grieving grandsons are moving on with their lives and having to do most of it for themselves.

I agree he does play the sympathy card merlot and the media will keep on about ‘the little boy’.

I think he was and is spoilt, he needs to grow up, stop wanting
attention.

I am not looking at it from my point of view at all Annie !

I am saying that both W and H were in the most unfortunate of positions having lost their mother BUT they were in the fortunate position of having a lot of opportunities for distraction and of course they did not have a single parent who was forced to work 40 hours a week just to heat the house and put food on the table. Their wealth has enabled them to have counselling too, something that would have been of huge benefit to my son but was not available for free.

I remember a few months after my DD's father died the children asked if they could have a puppy. I think it might have done them the world of good. a simple thing like a puppy but....

a) I could not afford to feed and look after a dog
b) I struggled with child care for my children so it would have been irresponsible to bring a pet into that chaotic mix .

Just a tiny example of what I mean. Of course you will not agree.

Yes gilly I can understand that. I bought my 7 year old a puppy .

Didn’t you have widowed mothers pension ? Having to work a 40 hour week ?

What I mean is nothing can take away the longing for the dead parent , I so remember my then 5 year old sobbing because they were making Father’s Day cards in school, there was no distraction, no counselling which could have eased that .

And what of the ongoing press coverage , the accusations their grandfather/ father/ uncle had their mother murdered.

The inquest ? Did she have an abortion etc. The public shrieking ‘ she was murdered’, horrific for them. No wealth could protect them from that .

I think having the funds to pay for psychotherapy goes some way to help.
It doesn't take away the pain but it allows the individual to find a neutral safe space away from family to process and express.

Wouldn't it have been great to see Harry and his family on a train, taking a small break somewhere?

The alleged murder of your mother , died 1997, the inquest closed 2008

The 40 hours a week is irrelevant Annie it could be 38, 36 or 30 what does it matter ? We are splitting hairs. The point is that grief is grief I totally accept that, but having a very privileged and wealthy family does enable the living parent (in this case Charlie) to "buy" help and distraction. Like holidays, dogs, horses or what bloomin' ever , things that ordinary people often cannot do.

My son would have benefitted enormously from counselling having been abandoned as a baby by his biological father and then the death of his step father but this was not available to us for free. Both W & H would have had the best counselling available to them at the click of a finger.

Also they had Tiggy Legge-Bourke (think that’s her name) as a nanny, a familiar figure, must have been a huge help. Not for a minute am I saying she replaced their mother, but Charles was not having to dash off to work wondering who would be doing the school run or ironing their uniforms.

Exactly Calendargirl .

The very thought of "Charles dashing off to work" has actually made me

gilly, you have had a tough time. All the more reason to try and do something nice for yourself now. Foot off the gas.

I got over it Lessismore and lived to tell the tale