Just call me Harry. (Everything Harry & Meghan)

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VGThuy

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I go into this thread every so often, and I actually come away with it with the same impressions as @taf2002. There really is a negative tint to this thread and I actually don't find aftershocks' posts that unreasonable here. She's the only one posting consistently positive things about them and it's actually kind of refreshing after reading post after post of negative or negatively-tinted posts about them until taf2002 started in trying to defend them. IMO, it's all supposition anyway and all posts are people trying to attribute things towards them and assuming their thought processes. It's all the same whether one is positive or negative.
 

aftershocks

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The 19th Summit (a Virtual Summit featuring conversations with leading women) is happening this week. Tammy Duckworth is in conversation right now with co-founder of The 19th, Amanda Zamora.

Below is a link to the schedule and the Crowdcast sign-up. Once you sign-up, you will be able to submit questions for the participants. Hillary Clinton will be participating on the 4th day of this summit! Meryl Streep and Zoe Saldana tomorrow. Kamala Harris is also a participant. And Meghan DoS will be interviewing the founder of The 19th (Emily Ramshaw) on the 5th day:

 

overedge

Mayor of Carrot City
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35,792
When the criticism is of every last thing that someone does then it certainly equals dislike:

paparrazi: OMG she is wearing H&M charms...this must be serious
KP: the necklace is already being discussed but I must tell Meghan she shouldn't have worn it because I'm officious that way
FSUers: how dare she announce their relationship to the world? that's for KP to do

That is not what this conversation has been about at all. I don't see anyone saying that Meghan should have let KP announce H&M's relationship to the world. And per the story in the book, the KP staffer didn't tell Meghan not to wear the necklace - s/he advised her that wearing it could make the paparazzi attention even more invasive than it already was.

I don't see a discussion of her reaction to this suggestion as a "criticism of every last thing that someone does".
 
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ballettmaus

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paparrazi: OMG she is wearing H&M charms...this must be serious
KP: the necklace is already being discussed but I must tell Meghan she shouldn't have worn it because I'm officious that way
FSUers: how dare she announce their relationship to the world? that's for KP to do

:huh: Who said the staffer told Meghan not to wear it because the KP wanted to announce the relationship? The staffer suggested she not wear the necklace because of how the paparazzi would react and how intrusive they might be. If you read it as the staffer telling her not to announce the relationship then that is your interpretation (or maybe you read that elsewhere?) but that is not what was said the staffer had been trying to prevent.
 

aftershocks

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17,317
@overedge, it's not just about the conversation about the necklace though. It's about much much more than that. Since the beginning of the M&H courtship being revealed, the British media has been after Meghan, her family and anyone from her past, harassing, snooping, and writing negative story after negative story, often with 'racialized' code words. There are 100s of articles that are written daily about the Sussexes and disseminated worldwide. Most of them are negative and groundless.

There are scores of negative and hateful YouTube sites that viciously excoriate the Sussexes, especially Meghan, making things up, or twisting every tidbit out there about this couple. There have been death threats against the Sussexes. Archie was compared to a chimp when he was a few weeks old (there was no visible push back against this characterization of Archie by anyone in the royal firm). The BBC broadcast a vile cartoonish caricature of Meghan, again with no statement against it from anyone in the royal firm. Television commentators and royal reporters have made numerous negative comments and unfounded characterizations about Meghan, in addition to the scores of nasty articles that have been written jabbing away at Meghan. Many of these negative diatribes in the media have apparently been aided and abetted by leaks from sources within the palaces. It was palace sources who leaked their vacation location in Canada last December, as well as their current location in L.A. The palace leaks are the reason why the Sussexes have cut off all representation by the royal firm. And they are surely cautious when they keep in touch with members of Harry's family privately.

Pushing back against all the vile negativity have been members of the SussexSquad, which is a movement that began on Twitter. The start of the SS movement was simply interest in Meghan and in her entry into the royal family. Everyone with a positive interest were impressed by Meghan's many accomplishments, and charmed by her love story with Prince Harry. After M&H's 2018 South Pacific tour, when the negative palace leaks forcefully began and led to an avalanche of smears against Meghan in the tabloids, Sussex fans became increasingly concerned and disillusioned with the royal firm, for good reason.

If you will recall, George Clooney was the first high profile person to speak out against the British tabloid negativity against Meghan. The British media pushed back, and tried to act as if the negativity wasn't happening. And yet the slams continued relentlessly against Meghan throughout her entire pregnancy. That's unprecedented, vile and uncalled for! Throughout that period, M&H carried themselves with grace and dignity publicly, while suffering privately behind-the-scenes, without any visible support from Harry's family, much less any demand by the royal firm for the tabloid diatribe against Meghan to cease. Her friends were rightly alarmed and disheartened by the negative portrayals viciously slamming someone they know to be kind, generous and unfailingly caring.

Here's an interview I discovered recently that Serena Williams gave in November 2019, in which she's asked about her friendship with Meghan (they've been friends for over ten years):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_HonDJR90s
Per Serena: "Meghan is the strongest person I know, and she's also very sweet and kind... she sets aside time for you no matter what's happening in her own life..."

For me personally, I have been surprised that Meghan was not truly accepted within the royal firm. This lack of acceptance is chiefly because of Meghan's WOC background, regardless of her positive personality and all the assets she brought to the royal firm and the goodwill that was generated by her & Harry's love story. As the Sussex Squad aptly says: "It's too late now, but they coulda had a bad b*tch!" (from lyrics to the song, Truth Hurts, by Lizzo).

My eyes have been opened to the subtle, often unconscious racism that abounds. Moreover, I have truly been taught a lesson I shall never forget about the ingrained, snobby, snooty British class system, of which Upstairs Downstairs, and Downton Abbey have become obvious to me are only the softened, romantic myth versions! :eek: :(
 

starrynight

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3,234
I think for me, Meghan and Harry have become the ultimate poster children of the hypocrisy of the rich and powerful.

Using titles and money sourced from centuries of hereditary oppression of the working poor to then claim they oppose this system and resent the people who gave them the power. And then use that power to then lecture the common folk from a viewpoint that I see as M&H considering themselves inherently smarter and more knowledgeable due to their hereditary position at the top a class system.

It’s easy to be ‘charitable’ when one is fantastically wealthy. Large donation here, charity lunch there. Easy. Does that make a person a saint? Or an expert in any field?

At least this is how I feel about them.

There’s a distinct self righteous air about them. But how can this be justified from individuals who benefit so much from institutionalised inequality? They have not been elected to these positions.

I can’t help but think that Harry has taken so much to this new image of his because it plays directly into the air of superiority that royals are instilled with.
 
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aftershocks

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OMG. My post was a pretend conversation. Lighten up, for cripes sake!

Eh, you know, it is what it is. As you've indicated @taf2002, you're more of a casual royal family observer with a lighthearted focus. As mentioned previously, I've been interested in and have read extensively about the royals since the 1970s. My interest has evolved in more of an academic, historical, and social-cultural direction. So if you find my observations too much to deal with, so be it.

In any case, I hadn't read your post prior to writing my previous post. My thoughts on this topic are what I have been feeling and assessing throughout the entire sad saga of the royal family's inability to fully accept the woman Harry loves. It's not everyone in the royal family, but it is sadly a number of people, including staff. The saddest of all is that a little show of support and unity might have helped smooth things over long term. There are even just little things some members of the family could have done to show unity and to put a stop to the media's diatribe, short of making public statements. But those who felt they couldn't accept Meghan without ever giving her a chance, were surely rocked for a loop when confronted by Meghan's confident and strong personality, by her unexpected Together cookbook project right out of the royal project gate, and by M&H's popular and successful South Pacific tour. Still, why couldn't close family members at least be happy for Harry and show kindness and support?

Meghan's work with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen and with SmartWorks, etc., has been very successful, and has made an important difference in the lives of many people and animals too in her work with Mayhew. Had key members of the firm harnessed the positive public response to the Sussexes, and provided genuine support to them, even privately, it could have made a difference. Harry understood his role within the firm, but that didn't include him or his wife being subservient wallflowers.

Had there been a more forward-thinking and magnanimous approach to personal conflicts, along with understanding that the world is a different place and that Meghan being part of the firm was a positive reflection of changing times, perhaps the Fab Four theme could have become a reality. It never was though, sadly never. In the end, I think it's the royal courtiers, their snobbiness, and the outdated mores and ways of doing things that is the biggest issue, along with dysfunctional royal family dynamics, image-conscious personalities and needlessly self-imposed competitive pressures. Plus, the unfortunate fact that the media is tied at the hip with the royal firm in unhealthy ways. It certainly isn't helping matters for these ridiculous planted stories in the media to be perpetuated, claiming that Harry will be welcomed back into the royal fold, but without Meghan and Archie. :huh:

Harry had always been supportive to family members, including embracing both Camilla and Kate when they married into the family. So for his own wife to not be fully welcomed and embraced, it surely had to be a painful blow for him. Meghan clearly tried hard to fit in. Out of love, she had unwittingly walked into a fire-keg situation within a high profile family and institution that already was full of fractured and unsettled relationships. And let's not even get into Andrew's woes which the media have largely ignored in favour of distracting the public with scurrilous and groundless nonsense about the Sussexes, and defensive nonsense intended to protect other members of the royal family.

I don't need to know what others think about any of this before forming my own opinions. It's a family drama that will go down in history. None of us are really involved in it, which doesn't keep everyone from having an opinion based on our own personal perspectives and experiences, as well as on knowledge gleaned from whatever level of research and understanding each of us have, or OTOH, lack.

The back-and-forth about the necklace trivia seems to me to be a head-in-sand focus on meaningless distractions from the major issues. I guess with the recent book's wide release, we will be seeing continued emphasis on some of the more distracting issues surrounding baseless status quo excuses by the royal courtiers. :drama: I'll be more interested in reading the charming details about M&H's love story, and heartwarming gems that were shared, such as the origin and meaning of their black Lab's name...

Promotional interviews with FF authors, Durand and Scobie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sAHHOZk8L8 Good Morning America with Scobie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwvKvZILa5o Today Show with Durand

NPR interview with both authors:
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/09/9006...and-chart-harry-and-meghans-journey-in-new-bo
 
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aftershocks

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17,317
Lighten up, for cripes sake!

For those interested in lighthearted nostalgia in photos:
https://www.instagram.com/prince_of__hearts_/?hl=en

A lovely video montage that ends with an uplifting portrait by an inspired artist, Autumn Ying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQhOAZRS1I

The below video tribute for Archie (made before he was born) is very poignant and uplifting. A friend of Meghan's and Harry's saw it on YouTube and let the person who made it know that M&H saw it and were very touched:

More from artist, Autumn Ying:




For those who are pining for the way things were:
Interview with Charles & Sons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvix8cJ_zc

Footage of Charles & Sons playing polo and joshing with each other
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JwJwiGBZxc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRl9Ye_nRc

NBC interview with William & Harry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-faZVpnX0GI

2015 interview with Harry during his first trip to New Zealand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ttn5tRyMw

A 2019 montage tribute for Harry's birthday:
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
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58,281
M&H considering themselves inherently smarter and more knowledgeable due to their hereditary position at the top a class system.
:huh:

Meghan Markel grew up poor and made her own way in her chosen field before marrying "up." I'm not sure how you can talk about her "hereditary position at the top of a class system" when her hereditary position is among the working poor.

There really is a negative tint to this thread
It's the same handful of people who are not only relentlessly negative but post the same 3 points over and over. ;)
 

starrynight

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Meghan Markel grew up poor and made her own way in her chosen field before marrying "up." I'm not sure how you can talk about her "hereditary position at the top of a class system" when her hereditary position is among the working poor.

Her platform is as the Duchess of Sussex. Until Harry relinquishes that title of his and associated income, wealth and influence they are speaking from that platform of hereditary privilege. I don’t see what Meghans early life has to do with anything.

They are both in unelected positions where they don’t seem to have any practical accountability.
 
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Japanfan

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Her platform is as the Duchess of Sussex. Until Harry relinquishes that title of his and associated income, wealth and influence they are speaking from that platform of hereditary privilege. I don’t see what Meghans early life has to do with anything.

To say 'that' or 'a' platform is entirely different from saying 'her' hereditary privilege. She did not inherit that privilege, and only has it because she married someone who did.
 

starrynight

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To say 'that' or 'a' platform is entirely different from saying 'her' hereditary privilege. She did not inherit that privilege, and also has it because she married someone who did.

Did Kate Middleton inherit privilege? I’d say she did by virtue of marrying William. Even though Kate also came from a background of working parents, that will have zero significance when she is Queen.
 

MsZem

I see the sea
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18,458
Meghan Markel grew up poor and made her own way in her chosen field before marrying "up." I'm not sure how you can talk about her "hereditary position at the top of a class system" when her hereditary position is among the working poor.
Did Kate Middleton inherit privilege? I’d say she did by virtue of marrying William. Even though Kate also came from a background of working parents, that will have zero significance when she is Queen.
Carole and Michael Middleton are (largely) self-made multi-millionaires. Kate grew up attending good schools and had a London flat owned by her parents. That's not as privileged as William (or the Spencers), but it's still pretty posh.

Meghan Markle may not have grown up rich, but she attended private schools and went to Northwestern. So not a working class background either, though perhaps more middle-class than Kate's.
 

starrynight

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I think my point is that the concept of ruling elite families sits uncomfortably with modern ideas of equality. It's why many countries have moved onto republican models.

However, I think in Britain and the Commonwealth it's based on a rather delicately balanced understanding that the royals are 'in service' to the Commonwealth and are symbols of British and Commonwealth patriotism. Even though I'm Australian, the school I went to used to have us sing God Save the Queen on special occasions (even though Australia got its own anthem in 1984) and had a portrait of the Queen hung up.

This is the issue with two royals leaving to become Americans and then perceivedly using the USA as a base to sling disdain and or indifference at the UK and the Commonwealth, while using royal titles is such an odd thing. It does disrupt this delicately balanced understanding. It's also strikes a nerve, because the commonwealth model is precisely what separates out some countries from the USA and people are proud of that. And yet, a former patriotic symbol has defected to the USA.

That's why this whole situation with Harry and Meghan has been so nuclear - it has turned the accepted arrangement on its head. It's stripped away all the mystique and then just left us with two celebrities in Los Angeles. That then leaves us asking so many questions about the whole system.

I think that for people who haven't lived through this idea of the monarchy being an integral part of the fabric of their nation, on their coins, in their anthems, in their government, royal crests on documents, 'The Crown versus ... in their legal system etc etc, they just aren't aware of the balancing act of privilege versus responsibility and duty.

Is it just juicy celeb gossip for Americans? After all, it affects nothing about Americans' nation or national psyche. Or are Americans a bit proud that they've nabbed a prince? A bit like an old defection from the former Soviet Union?
 
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starrynight

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And you say this isn't negativity & criticism? Ok then. If you think about the monarchy this way what are you doing in this thread? That would be like me going into a cheer thread for a skater & pointing out all his faults.

Honestly never used to. Threw a party at my house for Meghan and Harry’s wedding and everything. Defended her against criticism for years.

But honestly I don’t know what they’ve turned into (or more truthfully were all the time).

I think it’s made me realise how foolish it was to support them and buy into that whole royal thing.

Made me really reassess how I view the whole thing. Interesting reality check. But probably a useful one.
 

taf2002

Fluff up your tutu & dance away.....
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Honestly never used to. Threw a party at my house for Meghan and Harry’s wedding and everything. Defended her against criticism for years.

But honestly I don’t know what they’ve turned into (or more truthfully were all the time).

I think it’s made me realise how foolish it was to support them and buy into that whole royal thing.

Made me really reassess how I view the whole thing. Interesting reality check. But probably a useful one.

Then it's clear that you'll be much happier if you don't even open this thread.
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
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58,281
Did Kate Middleton inherit privilege?
No. You can't inherit something by marrying into it. To inherit something, a relative/ancestor has to leave it to you. Harry and William inherited privilege. Kate and Meghan married into it.

This is the issue with two royals leaving to become Americans and then perceivedly using the USA as a base to sling disdain and or indifference at the UK and the Commonwealth, while using royal titles is such an odd thing. It does disrupt this delicately balanced understanding. It's also strikes a nerve, because the commonwealth model is precisely what separates out some countries from the USA and people are proud of that. And yet, a former patriotic symbol has defected to the USA.
First of all, no one has "defected" anywhere. Decamped maybe. Except living PT in one country and PT in another doesn't really qualify either.

While I am not a big fan of the monarchy as an institution and would be happy enough to see it disappear, I think most of your "critique" is not about the monarchy at all.

For one thing, most of what you are accusing H&M of is not universally accepted as what they are doing. They moved out of the UK and are keeping a low profile except for speaking engagements and charity work. They aren't being filmed partaking in a celebrity lifestyle. (How could they during a pandem*c?) They have made no pronouncements that could be interpreted as "slinging disdain." Maybe you could say that they are showing indifference but I don't even see that as they are participating in Zoom calls with the palace and are in touch with their royal family.

Mostly they aren't talking about being royal at all. So they aren't trading on their titles while "disdaining" them. They are operating largely as if they don't have titles.

It's clear from their original website that their idea was that they would step down from being Senior royals with major duties like William and Kate and be more like the non-Senior royals, such as Beatrice and Eugenie. Who have jobs and live a posh but mostly normal life. They still do charity work and appear for important royal occasions but it's not their job. Personally I don't see this as remotely unreasonable and it's what William has said he wants for the Royal family anyway. It's The Palace that said "all or nothing" so if anyone has gone nuclear, it's them.

Which is interesting in its own right. Perhaps everyone wanted to wait until the Queen died before making any major changes and then got their nose out of joint when H+M wanted to do it now?
 

mjb52

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5,995
I think @starrynight's posts are really interesting and thoughtful. I feel supportive of H & M's desire to live their own life and at the same time understand how their decisions can highlight the fundamental bizarreness of the royal family as an institution. And I think that's where some of the frustration with those decisions comes from, people who enjoy the royal family as an institution and maybe at some (subconscious) level feel resentful at the way H & M are causing cognitive dissonance about the whole thing. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask whether perhaps H & M are trying to have their cake and eat it too a bit. I think they probably are. I think most of us would, in their position, honestly. They can want to live a better, more human life than they see as possible within the highly artificial environment of Kensington Palace and its institutions, and still not want to give up the access to wealth and comfort that they have. That's a lot to give up. It's also just not really possible because of the intense public interest in them and the corresponding need for security and the protections that go along with being well-known public figures. So they will always appear a bit hypocritical perhaps but there are practical limitations to how far they can go in trying to be just "normal people."
 

Peaches LaTour

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2,470
I think my point is that the concept of ruling elite families sits uncomfortably with modern ideas of equality. It's why many countries have moved onto republican models.

However, I think in Britain and the Commonwealth it's based on a rather delicately balanced understanding that the royals are 'in service' to the Commonwealth and are symbols of British and Commonwealth patriotism. Even though I'm Australian, the school I went to used to have us sing God Save the Queen on special occasions (even though Australia got its own anthem in 1984) and had a portrait of the Queen hung up.

This is the issue with two royals leaving to become Americans and then perceivedly using the USA as a base to sling disdain and or indifference at the UK and the Commonwealth, while using royal titles is such an odd thing. It does disrupt this delicately balanced understanding. It's also strikes a nerve, because the commonwealth model is precisely what separates out some countries from the USA and people are proud of that. And yet, a former patriotic symbol has defected to the USA.

That's why this whole situation with Harry and Meghan has been so nuclear - it has turned the accepted arrangement on its head. It's stripped away all the mystique and then just left us with two celebrities in Los Angeles. That then leaves us asking so many questions about the whole system.

I think that for people who haven't lived through this idea of the monarchy being an integral part of the fabric of their nation, on their coins, in their anthems, in their government, royal crests on documents, 'The Crown versus ... in their legal system etc etc, they just aren't aware of the balancing act of privilege versus responsibility and duty.

Is it just juicy celeb gossip for Americans? After all, it affects nothing about Americans' nation or national psyche. Or are Americans a bit proud that they've nabbed a prince? A bit like an old defection from the former Soviet Union?

Harry does not become "American" simply because he lives in America or because his wife is American.

As for Americans being glad they "snagged" a "prince", ha! If he decided to run home to granny & clan tomorrow, I doubt that 90% of the American public would give a damn.

And don't forget that it was the Canadian faction on this board that was over the moon when they thought they had snagged a prince. Harry used Canada merely as a convenient jumping off point to his true destination.
 
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overedge

Mayor of Carrot City
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35,792
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask whether perhaps H & M are trying to have their cake and eat it too a bit. I think they probably are. I think most of us would, in their position, honestly. They can want to live a better, more human life than they see as possible within the highly artificial environment of Kensington Palace and its institutions, and still not want to give up the access to wealth and comfort that they have.

Also because those royal connections give them a platform. Like this:

Joe and Jane Average could also be activists on this issue, but they don't have a "spokesperson" sending out press releases about what they're doing. And even if they did, there likely wouldn't be any media coverage of it. Without H&M's royal connections, their activism wouldn't be getting much, if any, attention.
 

starrynight

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3,234
I think another thing is that most royal engagements seem to be about the royals turning up to listen to charities or to let people tell them about experiences they have had.

It might be a covid thing, but what is being released of Harry and Meghans current work seems to be haughty lecturing monologues down a zoom camera. And honestly my thought is ‘who do you think you are?’.
 

aftershocks

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17,317
Meghan Markle may not have grown up rich, but she attended private schools and went to Northwestern. So not a working class background either...

I agree with MacMadame's comments generally. Your soundbite references and labels are not necessarily on target though. This topic involves more than just soundbite labels about social class in the U.S. and in the U.K. Both of Meghan's parents grew up in working class families with not a lot of money. Her father did not go to college, but after attending workshop training in stagecraft and theater production, he pursued a career in that field in Chicago. He later left his first wife and their two small children for Hollywood, to build a successful career as a lighting director in television. He won an Emmy for his work on the soap opera General Hospital, and he eventually landed a position as lighting director on the popular primetime show, Married with Children. Meghan would visit her Dad on the set of Married with Children every day after school when she was a pre-teen and a teenager. Since many of the show's plots were risque, Meghan was sent off set to spend time with craft services during filming, which is how she gained her love of food and food preparation.

Meghan's mother, Doria, comes from a poor to working class background. Doria's mother was born in Cleveland to her mother, Jeanette, who was also born in Cleveland to a single mother who had immigrated there from Georgia. Jeanette's mother worked as an elevator operator at the St. Regis Hotel in Cleveland (which no longer exists). Jeanette had two children with her first husband, a professional roller skater. They later separated, and she eventually met and married Alvin Ragland (whose family roots originated in Missouri and Tennessee). Ragland was a Baptist minister and an antiques dealer. Ragland and Jeanette welcomed their daughter, Doria, in 1956. While Doria was still a baby, the family traveled by car from Cleveland to L.A., and experienced discrimination on the road in Texas before making it safely to California. Doria's older half siblings, Joseph and Saundra were young children at the time. Joseph was eight years old and he later related the experience to his niece, Meghan.

(I learned this information Meghan's interviews, her Tig blog, some of her published writing, from factual details in Andrew Morton's book, Meghan: An American Princess, Ragland family genealogical information online, and from stories told to Meghan by her Uncle Joseph, who indiscreetly provided Ragland family details and photographs to tabloid reporters after Meghan's engagement to Harry).

From Morton's book, and Meghan's writings, interviews, and her original Instagram, it's revealed that Meghan's mother Doria grew up as a kind, ambitious and free-spirited young lady in California. She joined the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple of Paramahansa Yogananda, in L.A., where she learned yoga. Doria gained experience in a number of jobs and in a variety of careers over the course of her life, including working for an airline, working as a make-up artist, and as a yoga instructor. After going to school for a bachelor's and a master's in social work later in her life, Doria eventually built a career in geriatric counseling, in addition to continuing as a yoga instructor. She met Thomas Markle on the set of General Hospital in the late 1970s, where she was working as a makeup artist. They were married in December 1979 at the Fellowship Temple. Meghan was born in August 1981.

So Meghan's parents were generally working class to middle class. Sending one's child to private schools does not necessarily mean you have to be rich. Sometimes grants and scholarships are available, and in some individual cases, wealthy benefactors are involved. It's been claimed by some sources that Thomas Markle won the lottery at a certain point, which may be in part how he and Doria were initially able to send Meghan to Immaculate Heart (junior and senior high school). As an elementary student, Meghan had attended the privately funded progressive school, Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse, which is now called Hollywood Schoolhouse. So her parents obviously prioritized giving Meghan a good start in life with the best education possible. Doria generally worked multiple jobs and Thomas apparently made good money during his career in the television industry.

Having the advantage of a good education is a fantastic asset. But there are many people who do well in pubic school and gain entry into top-notch colleges. Or, there have been successful, driven people who were largely self-taught. Becoming successful in the world is not necessarily dependent upon a privileged birth status. IMO, it's largely about character, compassion, attitudes toward others, and an ability to make the best of what happens to you in life. A good education is important, but there's a lot more to it than that. And btw, being born into ancient privilege as a prince of the British realm is no guarantee of leading a good or a productive life. British royals are simply descendants of ancestors who won wars, gained, maintained and exploited power over people, sometimes for good, and often for ill. The assistance of skilled knights (the original noblemen and precursors to aristocrats) was also an important factor in the development of the British monarchy.
 

MacMadame

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58,281
It might be a ********* thing, but what is being released of Harry and Meghans current work seems to be haughty lecturing monologues down a zoom camera. And honestly my thought is ‘who do you think you are?’.
That's your perception. They aren't doing "royal" work now. They are trying to advance causes and also make a living giving talks. It's impossible to give a talk if you don't say anything.

Honestly, I think they could do something to win the Nobel Peace prize and some people would still find fault with them.
 

canbelto

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So ... I check up on this thread seeing all the new posts and thought there'd be some actual news. Nope, just the same talking points repeated again. Byeeee.
 

starrynight

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Maybe all of this will settle down in time. The book they assisted with is making things 100x worse. Every day there is just a heap of silly stories about arguments about tiaras, necklaces, nail polish etc that I suppose were meant to make people feel sorry for Harry and Meghan.

All things that are so detached from the everyday quite difficult reality of normal people during the current economic and social climate. And I think that's another thing which is also highlighting this divide between royals and the general public. Counted 5 silly stories on the main page of the news about Harry and Meghan right in between articles on 'rona and economic strife. Goodness me.
 
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