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Harry, the Prince of PR He's exchanged meaningless royal protocol for meaningless corporate jargon

AP Photo/Matt Dunham


March 26, 2021   4 mins

For years, the Duke of Sussex was trapped in a stifling world of meaningless protocol, emotional illiteracy, artificial language and stale ritual gestures. Who can blame him for wanting to break free and create a new life for himself and his wife in America, where they’ll be valued for what they do rather than who they are?

But a noble aspiration is one thing. The emerging reality looks worryingly like one of those “How It Started/How It’s Going” memes. Take, for instance, his latest gig. He’s to be “Commissioner on Information Disorder” at the nonprofit Aspen Foundation, sitting on a panel holding a six-month inquiry into the spread of misinformation online.

And this is how he announced it:

“As I’ve said, the experience of today’s digital world has us inundated with an avalanche of misinformation, affecting our ability as individuals as well as societies to think clearly and truly understand the world we live in. It’s my belief that this is a humanitarian issue and as such, it demands a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy voices, members of the media, academic researchers, and both government and civil society leaders. I’m eager to join this new Aspen commission and look forward to working on a solution-oriented approach to the information disorder crisis.”

Just cherish every word of that: “multi-stakeholder response”, “advocacy voices”, “civil society leaders”, “solution-oriented approach”. Leaving aside the questionable metaphor in that clunking first sentence (can you be inundated by an avalanche?), here is a full card of Bullshit Bingo. These are expressions that no ordinary English-speaking human being has ever uttered spontaneously aloud or written without irony; they are the zombie catchphrases of a corporate PR department.

I have no way of knowing for sure that this is not how Prince Harry naturally expresses himself. But I hope it won’t be considered lèse-majesté to say, I hae ma doots. And in a way it doesn’t matter. It is a sign of how far in the shit we are that many, if not most, people will assume it was written for him, and won’t think anything much of it.

Not only do we consume misinformation but we expect to, and correct for it, and blithely wave through what looks like misinformation even when it’s contained in the announcement of someone “eager” to embark on a new job waging war on misinformation.

Corporate, comms-style bullshit presented as personal from-the-heart statements is so normalised that it looks like nitpicking to even raise the question. Of course you’re not actually supposed to think that Prince Harry thinks anything of the sort, or that if he did, this is how he’d tell you about it. Don’t be so naive!

You could compare the idiom of Prince Harry’s statement, as quoted last week in the announcement of his last new gig — as Chief Impact Officer (whatever that is) for a billionaire wellbeing startup called BetterUp:

“As BetterUp’s first Chief Impact Officer, my goal is to lift up critical dialogues around mental health, build supportive and compassionate communities, and foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations. And my hope is to help people develop their inner strength, resilience, and confidence.”

Italics – my hope; my goal — thus. The statement goes on for ages, so I won’t quote it all, but in addition to “lift up critical dialogues around”, we can tick off “driving advocacy”, “peak performance”, “thought leadership”, “outreach and strategic planning”, “self-optimisation” and many more on the bingo card.

More buzzphrases — but tailored in this case to mental wellbeing corporate nonsense rather than tech-bro civil-society corporate nonsense. This statement was introduced, incidentally, by one from BetterUp’s CEO which ended: “I could go on, but I think he can say it better himself.” It seems to me quite possible that the same person drafted both those statements. But let’s suppose it was not, and that Prince Harry not only spoke from the heart about the Aspen Foundation, but that he spoke likewise from the heart about BetterUp, and that he deftly altered his style on each occasion. In some ways, that would be worse: it would suggest that, rather than just letting these organisations put words in his mouth, he has allowed their empty idioms to soak into his very soul.

Some years ago, I was hosting a series of book events sponsored by a hotel chain. When they were being announced, the very nice and amiable PR for the hotel let me have a look at the press release. It contained a substantial quote from me, which he had invented (and which sounded not unlike the sort of thing attributed here to the Prince). He was genuinely surprised, and seemed not a little put out, when I insisted that anything I was quoted as saying or writing should be stuff I myself said or wrote. It was, he said, standard practice to do things the way he did them.

Perhaps it is. But look: the Duke of Sussex is a person who has staked his career and the second half of his life on being his own man. He has made authenticity — “speaking your truth”, as Oprah puts it — his big thing. He and his wife have spoken eloquently of refusing to be part of a system where the image of the Firm trumps the authentic needs and feelings of individuals. And yet here he is, within months, meekly offering himself as a human meatpuppet: his name and image, his personal beliefs and feelings, are available to be presented to the world in the hackneyed corporate cliches of a press release.

Even if you haven’t made a performance of how important it is to you to be your own man, parroting the sort of balderdash that comms departments churn out isn’t a trivial thing. It sells the pass.

Of course Prince Harry would say — and no doubt truthfully — that he’s only taking jobs that align with his existing beliefs and support the causes he cares about. And perhaps he really does believe that he has a unique set of skills that make his executive role in these organisations worth every penny — that he’s a mental health professional and a shrewd analyst of the information ecosystem. Perhaps he believes that he can meaningfully do multiple senior executive jobs at once, and that his name on the masthead is no more than the cherry on the Bakewell tart.

But the application of Occam’s razor here suggests that it’s the right to have their language issue from Prince Harry’s mouth and have him glad-hand donors or shareholders that these companies are really paying for. They’re using him as… how would you put it? A figurehead. Imagine finding yourself in a job where your only role was to sprinkle celebrity fairy-dust on good causes and mouth strings of empty formal phrases. It sounds pretty soul-destroying to me. It sounds, in fact, a bit like being a member of the Royal Family.


Sam Leith is literary editor of The Spectator. His forthcoming book, The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading, is out in September.
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Lizzie J
Lizzie J
3 years ago

Good to see that it’s now ok to hire a rich white male educated at Eton.

Alan Osband
Alan Osband
3 years ago
Reply to  Lizzie J

Only because he’s a ginger

Pete Kreff
Pete Kreff
3 years ago

Take, for instance, his latest gig. He’s to be “Commissioner on Information Disorder” at the nonprofit Aspen Foundation, sitting on a panel holding a six-month inquiry into the spread of misinformation online.

I for one am delighted that we’ll have a real duke to tell us what is true and what is false in the real world.

Neil Papadeli
Neil Papadeli
3 years ago
Reply to  Pete Kreff

A real, multi-millionaire Duke.

Duncan Hunter
Duncan Hunter
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil Papadeli

As they say in France – a trou du’c!

Johnny Sutherland
Johnny Sutherland
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil Papadeli

who complained about having his pocket money cut off.

Christopher Barclay
Christopher Barclay
3 years ago

At the age of 36.

Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  Pete Kreff

I’m thrilled! “tells us what is true and what is false” but abrogates his responsibilities and obligations to his nation of birth, sells out his family for a few Netflix bucks, including a grandmother that adores him, he does it while her husband is ill in hospital… All ’cause daddy wouldn’t give him pocket money… Picks up an amazing high paying job without Uni, but goes on about the evils of privilage and how very bad we all must be, all while living in a 14 million dollar house…

Rob Alka
Rob Alka
3 years ago

Yes, hasn’t he done well for himself!.

Katharine Eyre
Katharine Eyre
3 years ago

Well, it is his choice and I wish him all the best. But it does seem like he’s gone from the frying pan into the fire somewhat. Spouting empty phrases and being a figurehead as a member of the Royal family at least had a sense of rootedness in history and tradition…spouting a confection of a Californian corporate jargon seems even more vacuous, even more likely to give way and plunge him into emptiness. The weather is better there at least.

Last edited 3 years ago by Katharine Eyre
Marie Jones
Marie Jones
3 years ago

He annoys the hell out of me but to be honest I’m beginning to feel sorry for him. He is clearly out of his depth, away from everything he’s ever known and heading into a swamp of dangerous, post-modernist, woke ideology that he does not understand. His problems are compounded by the fact that he is being egged on by an unscrupulous, mendacious wife who is willing to cry ‘racism’ every time someone fails to adore her as much as she adores herself.
Being the very epitome of ‘White Privilege’, Harry could find the swamp infested with alligators. His royal title will not be an advantage if they set their sights on him.

Ralph Windsor
Ralph Windsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

You are too kind to him. Does he not have “agency”, to use one of the current buzzwords? Is he not his own man? Did he take nothing on board as an army officer?

Michael McVeigh
Michael McVeigh
3 years ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

Absolutely correct & his days of real meaning in life are now gone (Soldiering). Now, his only meaning in life will be his children.

Richard E
Richard E
3 years ago

He won’t do a days work for them.

Real Horrorshow
Real Horrorshow
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard E

Well of course not. The whole point is to have his face and name on their work.

Mike Boosh
Mike Boosh
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard E

TBF, I can’t imagine Anybody has ever done a days work at either organisation, so he’ll be in good company.

James Wardle
James Wardle
3 years ago

As a lone voice I was shouted down when he was forced to walk behind his mother’s coffin not being allowed to cry whilst 1000s weeper with grief over a woman they never met. As we learn more about complex CPTSD relating to trauma in childhood, I’m not surprised he kicked off at press who were stoked up I suspect by a new Labour pm who wanted to modernise the monarchy.
I lost my mother and experienced abandonment and in a family which is not known to show emotion, well I became a people pleaser who attracted narcissistic people. I was the scapegoat of the family, who is sacrificed and bullied for everything wrong.
As I look at Prince Harry, who seemed to have found his tribe in the forces, I can see how he has potentially attracted a narcissist (narcissistic personality disorder or strong traits if not fully NPD).
He was targeted clearly, his reality has been changed to blame the press on everything, he has been isolated from family members and the race card comes after we see the or nightmare of potential bullying by a princess when 3 of her assistants left in 6 months. Bullying in workplaces is unacceptable and just as impactful as race discrimination, although that is not proven.
Step back and look at how two or three friends and many members were dumped or what they call a narcissistic discard. It’s normally callous like sending your wedding ring in the post to tell someone the marriage is over, I’ve landed a bigger fish.
I do not have proof but if you have ever experienced narcissistic abuse, there are a number of warning signs that are too many to ignore. 18 months ago the Queen gave the couple 25 million, the racist so and so. They opened the doors to her although some minor royal wore a black moor broach but we all know she’s idiotic.
He’s been an idiot occasionally but this is not PH, he’s been manipulated into taking jobs he isn’t interested in which is about their PR and her causes. Add to that how she seems happier and happier and he looks iller and more miserable.
There’s too many red flags here and if you don’t understand narcissistic abuse which happens to CEOs etc, gaslighting means you doubt your reality and take on the narcissists which in this case is it’s all racism.
The only solution break away and no contact or limit it to the conversations about sharing children.
This is happening to 1000s like me and one day it could touch one of your close family members or friends. Narcissistic people are in workplaces too but they’re the friend the more you do for them, the more you seem to be apologising for arguments that you apologise for but actually you just organised their birthday party, or the mother in law from hell usually, husbands or wives whatever.
I have no proof/this is conjecture but the narrative being fed, … don’t swallow it. A princess who was a second rate actress given that position, 25 million, living near Oprah, playing a victim after a year pandemic where families were struggling with finances and deaths of relatives. Seriously. And with that amount of money she can afford a fairly decent psychiatrist and therapist if she was suffering. I was on a waiting list in nhs for therapy for CPTSD and 3 1/2 years later I just gave up. I moved and so I have to start all over again I have been informed.
Then Meghan Markle says she suffered.

I’ll leave it there.

Last edited 3 years ago by James Wardle
Lizzie J
Lizzie J
3 years ago

During my career people constantly brought me solutions, as Harry intends to do. Unfortunately, most of the time they hadn’t defined the problem they were trying to solve.

Lee Floyd
Lee Floyd
3 years ago
Reply to  Lizzie J

I love that, and so true.

Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson
3 years ago

I pity the poor bloke TBH. He should have took more notice of what happened the last time a member of the royal family married an American gold digger. Those who do not learn from history…………

Vivek Rajkhowa
Vivek Rajkhowa
3 years ago

Depending on who you believe, Wallis Simpson was a far cry from Meghan Markle as there can be.

Andrew Thompson
Andrew Thompson
3 years ago
Reply to  Vivek Rajkhowa

Good point.

David J
David J
3 years ago
Reply to  Vivek Rajkhowa

Or as Simpson’s biographer Charles Higham put it:
“…facts were remorselessly rearranged in what amounted to a self-performed face-lift.”
And… “charismatic, electric and compulsively ambitious.”
MM seems to know a little about the face-lifts and ambition.

Brian Dorsley
Brian Dorsley
3 years ago
Reply to  Vivek Rajkhowa

A few years ago letters sent by her to her former lover were discovered. They revealed how desperately bored she was with her royal consort, but how, after all the fuss and upheaval of leveraging him away from his family, she was in no position to divorce him. She dutifully stayed with him until the end.
Her’s truly was a story of ‘be careful of what you wish for.’

David J
David J
3 years ago

Maybe the Markles are competing with Nick Clegg and Facebook, itself a relationship that beggars belief.

Fred Atkinstalk
Fred Atkinstalk
3 years ago

I wonder how much Harry will contribute to meetings in his new jobs. Still, every court needs its jester.

Vivek Rajkhowa
Vivek Rajkhowa
3 years ago

I have a feeling this is where their marriage will start to crumble.

George Glashan
George Glashan
3 years ago
Reply to  Vivek Rajkhowa

Mr Markle is still good for one more kid. that kid will be the Hollywood child born in the correct country in an area of pure progressiveness. Then there will be the talk show publicity circuit and $1millon dollar cheques that go with that, but after that when the likes and retweets start to dwindle, then Queen Megan of California will rise phoenix like from the clutches of her patriarchal, racist abusive husband, and the talk show publicity circuit and $1millon dollar cheques……

Steve Wesley
Steve Wesley
3 years ago
Reply to  George Glashan

Crikey George, I reckon your right. Errm, …… any idea what next weeks lottery numbers are my friend?

George Glashan
George Glashan
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve Wesley

Sorry Steve, my powers of precognition are limited solely to the Gingerbread Mountbattenburg. The source of my powers is that I was actually born on the same day as Mr Markle. All kids born that day got a gift pack from the royal family, nappies, blankets, psychic powers and the like, so I don’t actually bare Harry any ill will. Glad I got born in to my family rather than his to be honest.

Last edited 3 years ago by George Glashan
Brian Dorsley
Brian Dorsley
3 years ago
Reply to  George Glashan

She intends to run for president in 2024. If she loses, it will be further ‘confirmation’ of how misogynistic and racist America is.

David Platzer
David Platzer
3 years ago
Reply to  Vivek Rajkhowa

I used to hear that in France about Sarkozy and Carla Bruni and yet, more than a decade later. that odd couple are still together.

Mike Wylde
Mike Wylde
3 years ago
Reply to  David Platzer

Even if one half of that couple is in jail (or maybe going there anyway).

taddeo1212
taddeo1212
3 years ago
Reply to  David Platzer

Carla Bruni is not a Netflix duchess.

Jon Redman
Jon Redman
3 years ago

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself.”
― George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
In bold is what is going on with Harry Hewitt right now.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jon Redman
Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  Jon Redman

No Meghan probably writes it all for him ;P
That way he doesn’t have to go to the trouble at all.
But then maybe she wouldn’t let him either. He’s still only a figurehead for her ambition.

Last edited 3 years ago by Natalija Svobodné
gcgnd9uwcg
gcgnd9uwcg
3 years ago
Reply to  Jon Redman

I apologise for the length of this letter. I didn’t have the time to make it shorter. – Mark Twain

Mary McFarlane
Mary McFarlane
3 years ago

It’s all fascinating in a rather macabre way, watching them self destruct voluntarily. Hopefully we agree that no ordinary person would waste a minute trying to work out what he is, or isn’t, saying. It was their choice so I am happy to let them get on with it.

taddeo1212
taddeo1212
3 years ago
Reply to  Mary McFarlane

It is not ‘they’. It is him.

Johnny Sutherland
Johnny Sutherland
3 years ago

where they’ll be valued for what they do rather than who they are

I almost stopped reading at that point. If your assertion is correct why did they start, and continue, by trading on their family name and title?

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

… ha ha . . .you’re so cute!

Michael Whittock
Michael Whittock
3 years ago

I worry about Harry. I just don’t think all this is going to end well. He seems like a lamb led to the slaughter.

Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago

Yes in fact for all my sarcasm, I feel he used to be a bit of a happy idiot, but in that he had a natural honest charm – look at him now and he is just a sad miserable man with a dominating manipulative power hungry social climber wife. Where he is the happy idiot, she is the unhappy manipulator/narcisist. Nothing she touches in relationships ends well. The happy idiot is in love with an unhappy ending.

Last edited 3 years ago by Natalija Svobodné
Sandra B
Sandra B
3 years ago

Thank you Natalija. You said it very well. So sad for Harry. He is in over his head.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Sandra B

I wish I still lived in Santa Barbara. Perhaps Meghan and I could then meet shopping at the local Safeway grocery store. Tap carts as a friendly hello . . .

John MacDonald
John MacDonald
3 years ago

Phew! I was beginning to worry they weren’t giving jobs to public school-educated white boys these days.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  John MacDonald

…that’s a load off . . .

mottershead.d
mottershead.d
3 years ago

He will be back in a few years, sans wife, sans kitchen, sans everything.

Fintan Power
Fintan Power
3 years ago
Reply to  mottershead.d

Sadly that is a likely possibility.

Ralph Windsor
Ralph Windsor
3 years ago
Reply to  mottershead.d

…sans 15 bathrooms.

Alfred Prufrock
Alfred Prufrock
3 years ago
Reply to  Ralph Windsor

Sans testicles.

kathleen carr
kathleen carr
3 years ago

He might get custody of the chickens

Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago

I watched a show on television last night it must have been for Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday a few years ago. I did not see all of it but Harry was interviewed and he sounded like a completely different person than he sounds today. He talked about duty and honor and how his grandmother embodied than for longer than any other English monarch. It was stunning. Not a thing about racism or wokeism. What happened to this poor guy?

kathleen carr
kathleen carr
3 years ago

It was reported today that the partner of his step-brother ( Tom Parker-Bowles) has died of cancer at the age of 42 ,leaving 3 young children. She was a victim of treat only covid and forget the rest policy. This might explain why even his father and brother are a bit tired of Harry ,as he and his wife’s self-pity is just pathetic.

Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago
Reply to  kathleen carr

They aren’t half as tired of them as we are. The US lost by getting them back.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

Hmm . . .at least they boosted the revenues of trashy celebrity newspapers one sees at market check outs.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

Meghan happened. She with the slimy body parts, rows of sharp teeth, tentacles, and a coat of thick armor. Whatever happens down the line, she’ll be just fine. When will he, bruised and beaten, skulk back to the palace? 2026? Earlier? Later? How will the children be raised?

Bruce Horton
Bruce Horton
3 years ago

Mr. Leith,
I will, with your permission of course, use the quote below.
“here is a full card of Bullshit Bingo. These are expressions that no ordinary English-speaking human being has ever uttered spontaneously aloud or written without irony; they are the zombie catchphrases of a corporate PR department”
My local council’s communications are full of “non-hierarchical meeting spaces”, “cross-ethnic equality”, “celebrate rainfall”, “exploring opportunities to celebrate the 13 phases of the moon”. God save us from earnest, do-gooders.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Bruce Horton

Ha! This afternoon I was reading the latest update on ‘lockdown California’ (alas, my state of residence), and the jargon was astonishing in its opaqueness. I could only think its purpose was to give the impression of information without actually providing information.

Fintan Power
Fintan Power
3 years ago

Out of the frying pan and into deep water without a life-saving vest. Prince Harry has taken on invented and meaningless roles. And who on earth wants to listen to him now? He needs to get a real job and do something useful.

Timor Maslow
Timor Maslow
3 years ago

Like many little boys, Harry’s been given his Alphabetti Spaghetti and in the process of spooning it into his mouth has spilled it all over his bib. The letters have somehow formed a series of random words.
Also in the US, but by way of contrast, when ‘the-most-popular-president-evah’, a certain J Biden is given his by his ‘doctor’ wife and carer, the spillages are less intelligible.

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Timor Maslow

Let’s do lunch . . .

Mike Wylde
Mike Wylde
3 years ago

I wonder what the men he commanded in the army would say about those statements? My guess is that when they picked themselves up off the floor after laughing so hard they’d say a whole bunch of words that are not repeatable in polite company!

Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  Mike Wylde

They were very fond of him, and he them – he’s away from those that cherished his silly but honest cheerfulness – and hooked up to a very manipulative wife. Life for him is going to get very hard and very sad. Young and silly and following his nuts (for lack of better term) has got him into some serious family/soul wreaking trouble.

John Shimmins
John Shimmins
3 years ago

Deleted

Last edited 3 years ago by John Shimmins
sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

Meghan is a deeply evil narcissist who cares nothing for anyone. Harry is a sad victim. I imagine the future child custody trials will be a nightmare as MM will hold them hostage to her ambitions.

Steve Garrett
Steve Garrett
3 years ago

Aspen = “Non-profit”; they might not be if they didn’t pay Harry.
CID & CIO – he’s basically the jolly green giant, or la vache qui rit on the packet, the bargain bin, plastic C3PO.
😉

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve Garrett

Non-profit? Is that another way of saying loss-making?

Tim Masters
Tim Masters
3 years ago

It’s just word salad

Last edited 3 years ago by Tim Masters
sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Tim Masters

“salad” is far too generous . . .

Ian Perkins
Ian Perkins
3 years ago

“Or you can speak plain English and make sure you’re clearly understood at all times. But don’t expect to ever get promoted.”
The Daily Mash, Employee asked to ‘socialise the idea and see if it gains traction’ hates that he knows what it means

Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago

“Who can blame him for wanting to break free and create a new life for himself and his wife in America, where they’ll be valued for what they do rather than who they are?”
Yet they cling to those royal titles, don’t they? Seems like they would be anxious to drop them if they want to be valued for what they do. And what is it that they do, again? How should we value their Netflix deal?

Judy Johnson
Judy Johnson
3 years ago

If Prince Harry wrote the qquote attributed to him, he might speak in empty idioms but at least he can use an Oxford comma!

David J
David J
3 years ago
Reply to  Judy Johnson

And also write feeble psycho-babble.

Fred Atkinstalk
Fred Atkinstalk
3 years ago
Reply to  David J

He can write?

Linda Brown
Linda Brown
3 years ago

He does have two A levels (a B & a D), so presumably he can.

Fred Atkinstalk
Fred Atkinstalk
3 years ago
Reply to  Linda Brown

Fair point. But Art and Geography – are they not mainly colouring-in?

Last edited 3 years ago by Fred Atkinstalk
Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  Judy Johnson

Oxford coma more like…. and then he got woke

Last edited 3 years ago by Natalija Svobodné
sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

very good

David Purchase
David Purchase
3 years ago

can you be inundated by an avalanche?
Well, I think so. Perhaps overwhelmed would be a better word, but an avalanche is water (in the form of snow) and so the concept of being flooded seems quite reasonable.
But as for the article as a whole, it is spot on.

Alan Osband
Alan Osband
3 years ago
Reply to  David Purchase

No because an avalanche must go from higher to lower . Inundation is water flooding land and therefore from lower to higher level

The whole passage seems to be purposefully awful as if those paid to write it were having fun …

Ralph Windsor
Ralph Windsor
3 years ago

Harry is trying to outdo his missus and has swallowed a psychobabble bulls*** generator for sure!

Ingrid Nozahic
Ingrid Nozahic
3 years ago

‘rather than just letting these organisations put words in his mouth, he has allowed their empty idioms to soak into his very soul.‘
Yes indeed. You’ve seen right though the bs and thoroughly but concisely hit the nail on the head with this article.

William Blake
William Blake
3 years ago

BS it is undoubtedly. Harry is lost big time and under the thumb of his beloved Megan

Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  William Blake

I’m only waiting till the day he says no… I give them 5 years and some C grade biographic

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

Five years? The Great Separation in 2026? I wonder who will step away?

Martin Bollis
Martin Bollis
3 years ago

“Who can blame him for wanting to break free and create a new life for himself and his wife in America, where they’ll be valued for what they do rather than who they are?”
I’m not really sure he had a lot to do with the decision

Last edited 3 years ago by Martin Bollis
Natalija Svobodné
Natalija Svobodné
3 years ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

“valued for what they do rather than who they are…”
Call me a skeptic… They are relying on who they are, its the only commodity they have… A b grade bit part actress and a mediocrely educated person got a job with a billion dollar startup why? A radiant smile? A netflix deal because?, An Oprah interview why? All earning millions…
They wanted to move where they are had monetary value over obligation.
In this I blame Meghan, harry was raised with a very strong loyalty to that ideal, but he follows his wife. (He is tiresome in other ways, but at least has some idea as to service to others)
Yeah like you I don’t think he had a choice either

Last edited 3 years ago by Natalija Svobodné
sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago

Of course he had a choice. He can’t get off the hook that easily. He’s not just an innocent bystander. At least it’s all fodder for the columns.

Lyn Griffiths
Lyn Griffiths
3 years ago

My opinion is he got married faster than lightening because someone finally said “Yes”, not the best start but better than leaving your 30s still detached. Then hearing him speak on his own, and with his umms and stammer and not to be articulating clearly when it comes to speaking his thoughts. Then as an observation archwell is talked about, yet only small sums handed out I gather. Though no formal discussion or announcement seen by me, apart from tbe names foundations existance. Then to think if I was on the board of 15, my first priority would not to be worrying about disinformation that could take a lifetime to disentangle and then come back with no positive solution. Where I would start with the obvious, and take pornography off thhe www or if not make it subscription only. To me, I see this man self serving himself due to a complaining wife not liking what she reads when it comes to her. Therefore, to think if the www had a glowing tribute in her name on each presentation she gave, would they be sitting on the board? Well, I mean him, but her in spirit urging him on while looking after their other interests.

Ian Barton
Ian Barton
3 years ago

My previous comment relating this article to Facebook and Nick Clegg seems to have disappeared.
Have UnHerd been bought out (by one of the Californian oligarchs) ?

Last edited 3 years ago by Ian Barton
Brian Dorsley
Brian Dorsley
3 years ago
Reply to  Ian Barton

I think I saw it up above somewhere. I wish the threads would start from newest to oldest.

Chris Bredge
Chris Bredge
3 years ago
Reply to  Brian Dorsley

There’s an option to sort by Newest, Oldest or Most Voted.

taddeo1212
taddeo1212
3 years ago

“For years, the Duke of Sussex was trapped in a stifling world of meaningless protocol, emotional illiteracy, artificial language and stale ritual gestures” !!!. This is a delirious reproduction of the woke discourse on the ‘uselessness of monarchy today. Abolish it’.   Royal protocol is certainly not more meaningless, stale, and artificial  than Joe Biden’s first press conference, a ritual of tamed and subservient journalists with a decrepit hypocrite reading cheat sheets.  

Christopher Barclay
Christopher Barclay
3 years ago

More concerning is that Harry’s expertise in dealing with mental health problems is limited to referring someone to their HR department.

Neil Papadeli
Neil Papadeli
3 years ago

Is there a caption competition? There should be.

Neil Papadeli
Neil Papadeli
3 years ago
Reply to  Neil Papadeli

Lifting up critical dialogues. Over to you…Harry?”

dinoventrali
dinoventrali
3 years ago

“…here is a full card of Bullshit Bingo”
Priceless. I have no doubt whatsoever that Harry will bring his years of spouting Royal bullshit drivel experience to the fore in his new jobs. If only he can merge this with the occasional helicopter ride in army uniform, casually swinging an automatic rifle, he’ll have cracked it.

Layla Kaylif
Layla Kaylif
3 years ago

I think it’s more complicated. When people ‘fall in love’, they essentially become entangled, for better or worse. Meghan embodies something so emotionally compelling to him (dare I say – his mother) that he has no choice but to live out this ‘story’. I think there is a strong (dare I say) karmic element in all of this. Some deep part of him is wounded…he seems to long to summon the ghost of his mother, through a woman, who apparently has a life long ambition to in fact be his mother. If the shoe fits. A jungian psychologist would be able to shed more light on this.

Last edited 3 years ago by Layla Kaylif
kathleen carr
kathleen carr
3 years ago
Reply to  Layla Kaylif

Meghan seems obsessed with his mother to the extent of wearing clothes and jewellery designed to imitate Princess Dianas’ costumes and worn at the same public events-either/or to please Prince Harry or to spook his father and brother ( echos of the sub-plot of Hamlet) He has also married a woman who is part of a very political democrat group who wish to bring about radical social change ,a major part of which is to undermine traditional structures -which the Royal Family epitomize

Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago
Reply to  kathleen carr

She is obsessed with Diana’s looks. Not with what she did to help people. You won’t catch Markle sitting in a hospital with dying people. When she did have the opportunity to go to Africa and help people, what did she talk about? How no one asked how she was. She is the exact opposite of Diana.

Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago
Reply to  Layla Kaylif

How exactly does Meghan Markle embody Diana? Do you see her at hospitals holding the hands of people with diseases that everyone else is terrified of? Has she walked through landmine infested areas lately? Meghan has nothing whatsoever in common with Diana. Zero. She puts herself out for other people not at all. Diana did.

kathleen carr
kathleen carr
3 years ago

Meghan does not embody ( or even vaguely resemble ) Diana to us , but it seems she embodies some sort of ‘spirit of Diana’ to Prince Harry. He was young when Diana died and so probably hasn’t got a lot of specific memories of his mother but general ‘feelings’of her. As Meghan knows a lot about Diana ( and what she didn’t know her friends : Jessica , daughter in law of Canada’s former PM and Princess Eugenie, could help her with ) so can imitate her clothes and manner , this is either reassuring or believable to a person ( Harry ) who has problems. Whether Meghan is genuine in her affection for Harry or has an ulterior motive-helping to take down the British Royalty , who knows?

sharon johnson
sharon johnson
3 years ago
Reply to  Layla Kaylif

Interesting . . .

robert scheetz
robert scheetz
3 years ago

Sadly instrumentalized (Capitalist colonized) language is the reigning (Bernays) latter day mode of expression; and, the supreme form of dys-information. At the recent killings in Atlanta & Boulder the “my-heart-goes-out-to-the-family-and-friends” locution serviced 99% of the official-comment market; and, “horrific” was the “iconic” descriptor of our Grub Street. But finally, is it not a logical impossibility to be authentic and survive out in the Capitalist Cosmos? Aren’t we all in The Firm?

Adam Huntley
Adam Huntley
3 years ago

Seriously folks. The fact that people thought I was serious is very worrying. Does it show just how difficult it is to distinguish fact from reality now?

johntshea2
johntshea2
3 years ago

“Leaving aside the questionable metaphor in that clunking first sentence (can you be inundated by an avalanche?), here is a full card of Bullshit Bingo.”
Of course you can be inundated by an avalanche! First the snow falls and engulfs you, then it melts and floods you.

Jonathan West
Jonathan West
3 years ago

Many of the comments seem not to get the whole point of the article and see some sort of “morally right” slant to the hypocrisy of Harry contracting himself out again as a figurehead of a firm. And with all that publicity too.

Joseph McCord
Joseph McCord
3 years ago

Last edited 3 years ago by Joseph McCord
Sally Robertson
Sally Robertson
3 years ago

If he were any good at this BetterUp ‘job’ he’d have been equipped to help his wife. If, in fact, she was ever suicidal.

Cynthia Neville
Cynthia Neville
3 years ago

Sam, there is a Grammar God up there, along with all the others: he will welcome you with open arms.
And yeah, we medievalists certainly can think of the queen as having two bodies. No problem.

Rob Alka
Rob Alka
3 years ago

What should we expect from this poor devil? Nature & Nurture within the inbred environment of the Royal family is bound to produce such wastes of space.
Look at some of the members of the Tory government. Are their words of wisdom any better?
Look at the views, principles and values of today’s younger generation. Harry doesn’t have to fake his empathy. He’s one of them!

Ess Arr
Ess Arr
3 years ago

Such misogyny! I read in the Times a few weeks ago, that the tension between William and Harry predates Meagan. Harry resented William getting all the attention when he was by far the most popular Royal. He felt that he should get more prominence and more money. Don’t blame Meaghan, I bet he gives her a hard time.

Ian Ryder
Ian Ryder
3 years ago

I have some sympathy for Harry. Many obviously think he should be grateful for his privilege, and keep quiet about it. But his future was at best a member of the B team in a quaint ceremonial business, dependent on his Grandma for a living now and in the long run his older brother. What self respecting individual would aspire to to that? Who wouldn’t want to strike out on their own if they had any gumption and if the opportunity presented. Ms Markle looks to be the catalyst for his new found confidence to break free. He can now only play the hand in life he was dealt- nobody can be blamed for the family they happened to be born into. Give him a break. You never know- he may actually do more good in his new roles than opening fetes and wearing fancy dress uniforms at public events would have achieved in his old one.

Last edited 3 years ago by Ian Ryder
Corrina McFarlane
Corrina McFarlane
3 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ryder

H & M did a great interview with Tristan Harris, former senior ethicist at Google and co-founder of Center for Humane Technology. Give the guy a break. He has a real role to play in how we assert agency in the “Attention Economy”. What happens in these next few years on that front will be critical.

I find this article mean-spirited, regardless of whether you are an award-winning journalist clever at a turn of phrase. I’m thinking of Restorative Justice training, our sheriff’s dept all go through. A key component is to practice being in someone else’s skin. That could be a core competency for journalism also.

Last edited 3 years ago by Corrina McFarlane
Annette Kralendijk
Annette Kralendijk
3 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ryder

“Who wouldn’t want to strike out on their own if they had any gumption and if the opportunity presented.”
People who strike out on their own, usually do not expect to remain on the family payroll. Harry apparently did not understand that wanting to be “financially independent” meant that he and Megs would be, well, on their own financially. Most teenagers have figured this out, much less a couple approaching middle age.

Adam Huntley
Adam Huntley
3 years ago

Does anybody remember the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes? I’ll just save Harry’s PR executive the trouble of penning a reply. This is pretty much the kind of response I get
Mr Leith, you need to educate yourself and go on a journey. Then you may understand the value of compassion, vulnerability and honesty. Until then, stop posting racist comments

Last edited 3 years ago by Adam Huntley
Jos Haynes
Jos Haynes
3 years ago
Reply to  Adam Huntley

What on earth are you talking about?

Steve Wesley
Steve Wesley
3 years ago
Reply to  Jos Haynes

I think he’s being ironic, ( at least I hope he is ) as certainly our prince has the inside line on compassion, vulnerability etc.

Adam Huntley
Adam Huntley
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve Wesley

Yes I am being ironic! It is the kind of patronising, BS response I get whenever I comment

Ralph Windsor
Ralph Windsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Adam Huntley

A sort of Titania McGrath, then?

Adam Huntley
Adam Huntley
3 years ago
Reply to  Jos Haynes

Yes I am being ironic! It is the kind of patronising, BS response I get whenever I comment