How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?
“Your truthâ. That phrase slipped off Oprahâs tongue with such ease during her interview with Meghan and Harry. But on this apparently simple construction hangs a question that has divided us with an explosion of animosity: how many truths can there be?
With the new world once again pitted against the old, I find myself reminded of the words of another Royal confidante, those of Polonius in Shakespeareâs Hamlet. âTo thine own self be true,â he advised his son. This sentiment seems to encapsulate so much of what is philosophically at stake in this interview, with the Prince and the Princess expressing âtheir truthâ, a truth that was as much a function of the need to be true to who they are, as it was a reference to objective reality.
Put aside for one moment the on-going debate about their claims concerning Royal racism, for it seems to me that there is a troubling tension between two meanings of truth going on here: being true to yourself, something we have come to call authenticity, and truth as an empirical statement of fact.
The former was largely conceived by Rousseau and is often known as âexpressivismâ â the idea that, as the philosopher Charles Taylor describes in his magisterial Sources of the Self, âthe moral or spiritual order of things must come to us indexed to a personal vision.â And this is where we divide. For some their âpersonal visionâ is a hallmark of truth; for others it is very much a reason to be suspicious of it.
Here, too, itâs worth returning to Hamlet â not least because it is impossible not to be struck by the parallels between its title character and Prince Harry. For Freud, Hamlet represented an archetypal example of the Oedipus complex: a kind of childhood compulsion where a son develops an unconscious sexual desire for his mother and a sense of rivalry with his father.
Joseph Schwartz, in his definitive history of psychoanalysis, Cassandraâs Daughter, sees this âsexualisation of the mother-son relationshipâ as âpart of the dynamic of the Victorian patriarchal familyâ. He continues:
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Subscribe“It is quite another to sit in front of millions of people, giving a half-interview, half-therapy session conducted by an unchallenging friend and neighbour, and for others to take this on face value. “
Spot on. Good article. It is this very thing that makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Therapy-by-TV is a hideous and dangerous thing.
My own children lost their mother at the age Harry and William lost theirs. Cancer, not car crash, but still a massive loss. They have (touch wood) maintained some sense of reality despite their father’s departure into alcoholism for a while.
This will all blow over soon and we will not care. The Twatterati will become bored and the rest of us will have had our perceptions of a ruinous American gold digger hardened.
Nice contribution – and agree fully that this disingenuous sideshow will be forgotten by the time pubs open – or if not – when last orders is called.
Please! Do respect their privacy . . .
Lol
This is going to end very badly… All they can do is keep selling more of themselves and upping the ante to keep the media interested because each pronouncement will draw less attention than the last. Strange that they complained about press intrusion then hawk the petty details of their lives to the highest bidder.
Strange, but hardly surprising – 90% of famous people tend to be like this. Press intrusion can mean actual harrassment, but usually it’s just a cover for people presenting the wrong kind of truth.
Wasn’t it around their spectacular environment hypocrisy that people started to get annoyed? Not so much “let them (plebs) eat cake”, more “let us stuff our faces with cake whilst lecturing the plebs on how bad cake is”.
brilliant
..’from the cabin of a private jet at 30,000ft.’
There’s a lot of that about. David Attenborough’s attitude appears to be that of a critic, with an added layer of judgmentalism: “I jet around the world so you don’t have to, and if you don’t have to jet around the world, you should jolly well stay at home (and cycle to work).”
Old Jane Goodall is the same, after a quick lecture to the plebs she was asked what she is doing about the problem, she answered (with a bit of pride thrown in) that she flies 365 days a year to spread the message.
Most over rated voice over artist of all time. Lets hear it for the camera operators and technicians
“The opposite of love is not hate but indifference . . . “
= lovelessness
We will all be tuning into Oprah again in 18 months time to see Meghan dish the dirt on Harry as divorce proceeding start. You do not need much imagination to work out what the allegations will be.
My thoughts exactly!
I watched their first ever TV press conference, it was in a garden somewhere.
Harry’s body language said “This isn’t going to last” in capital letters, as Megan twittered away.
ITV,ch4 The Grauniad still treat Meghans ”Falsehoods” as Truth!..Sigmund fraud
Well done all of you
Paultogarogers: Commiserations on your loss – and thank you for sharing your own story in a fashion that contrasts so markedly with the narcissistic self-indulgence of that interview.
‘Forgotten’ by this morning, thankfully, albeit, and sadly, for more sinister reasons.
Congratulations to all who have contributed these comments, starting with paultolgarogers and his perceptive, and (I suspect) prescient, analysis.
Well done on being there to bring up your lovely family without your, not doubt beloved, partner in life and while battling your own challenges. Be strong.
Oprah coined that âyour truthâ business. It keeps messy facts from crashing and burning a good tale. And think how many really entertaining stories you can tell if the facts donât matter. We can all have our own truths!
The problem comes in rather quickly though as it has in this case with claim after claim made by Harry and Meghan being de-bunked. And they donât have to answer for any of this because they were only telling âtheir truthâ. It sounds like the Queen already knows the central claim about someone questioning Archieâs skin to be bogus. But she put it very nicely.
I do feel bad for Harry because I donât think he had any ability to detect what was going on, whatsoever. While I think they should lose their titles, I sort of hope for his sake that they do not. Meghan doesnât seem the type to stick around for an ex-royal and he has nothing else to peddle.
I can’t see Harry and Meghan sticking together for the long haul.
Personally, I think it is cruel to speculate on this openly. I don’t like this pair at all but I still hope for them that their relationship survives.
To be honest, for his sake, I hope it doesn’t. Although, if he hasn’t woken up from his sleep walk when she leaves, he will be devastated. Let’s hope the family will welcome home the prodigal son.
And then the highly-paid lawyers will pounce. Not to mention the tut-tutting Oprah.All over again.
Its a pity Oprah is American she would make a fine pantomine dame. Watch out Harry she’s behind you
You may be onto something – there are some superb banter images circulating showing the ex-Arsenal footballer Ian Wright in drag, that look exactly like Oprah.
Knowing âWrightyâsâ excellent sense of humour, heâll appreciate it đ
No wonder American Politicians especially Democrats(revere No indepth questions from OW),Wouldn’t UK MPs, MSP love soap Oprah to ”Interview” them..Timmy mallett could be more incisive..
LOL!
She certainly looks like someone’s sister
If he initiates the divorce, rather than her, then it will be racism. Come to think of it, even if she initiates it, one of the grounds will probably still be racism.
He will never divorce her, it will have to be her initiating. But she has effectively cut him off from his family, which is what we are often told abusers do to their victims. She doesnât have family relationships other than her mother and she doesnât want him to have any either.
Very plausible
Spot on. He is plainly in an abusive relationship.
Divide and conquer. Classical really.
Haven’t you noticed that everything is racist today? It’s like gum stuck on your shoe only worse.
Agreed….ypu feel positively nervous around anyone who has any shade of skin that isnt white in case you make any sort of remark that could be misconstrued. Shoukdnt be like that.
When my two âmixed raceâ (am I allowed to say that?)grandchildren were expected, our family excitedly and unashamedly awaited to receive with love whatever combinations of mix would manifest, and weâre not afraid to talk about it. Iâm from a generation when the sex of a baby was not known until birth…. I donât recall it being called âsexistâ for a family to ponder on the babyâs gender, or whose, nose, eye colour etc. either. … What a Shame
Donât forget that if itâs not racist, itâs transphobic, anti-feminist or homophobic. The strange thing is that as soon as these âphobiasâ had achieved their aims, which was some time ago and laws were changed to accommodate prejudice against these âismsâ, and there was nothing left to fight for, each group simply upped their demands.
Particularly so in the case of Stonewall, who seem to be inventing and encouraging grievance, no doubt to keep them in jobs.
And one more world shattering interview
Having welcomed a prodigal son a couple of years ago I can tell you it is incredibly difficult. Those who stuck around and grew into thoughtful adults supporting aging parents find the whole process distressing as settled lives are messed up by the need to shift the family dynamics. The grandkids generously try to be supportive but discover that the Prodigal returner is still the same psychologically the age that they left but wants to be of the middle generation. Confusion!
What I can’t understand is why anyone would read the tabloids knowing that they will be written about, truthfully or not, but certainly sensationally. Am I going to return to this post to find out if I get any likes. No I’m not. I just wanted to be part of the conversation.
Has Jay Williams left Flipboard? Will the trolls follow. I’m not sure how to react.
Jay, as an older son, your reply moves me because I like to think I I understand a little of the pain behind it.
Whether H understands or not, the cruelty of his very public attack on his family will go very deep indeed.
Itâs all very, very sad.
They will
The Family Would,but Public wont,he has stated at least 3x on Media tapes he hates the Uk,The Press and by My truth ”The Public?” However he has done good work Stopping poaching in Africa,maybe he will find fulfillment there?..
I hope it goes as wrong as possible, only then will they have a chance to learn what gopes around comes around.
He should leave for his own sanity, she will eventually eat him for breakfast. This is a woman remember who has been married before, was prepared to do whatever it takes to become famous, and had a fair few years acting in soaps! Note, she says she didnât have the confidence to cope!
Also I would like to know if she had counselling when she arrived in Canada. Remember what the reason was that Harry had to get her out of the Uk! I have had many years of mental health circumstances as my father and others in my family suffered for a considerable time. Mental health issues do not disappear over night, it takes a long time with lots of support, medication and counselling, so I presume that was the first thing they did upon arrival in Canada!
Children complete the trap. It is very unlikely she will allow access to the children if he leaves. And she will spill the beans on every last bit of pillow talk. Hoist by his own wotsit. Incarceration without relief.
I agree with you in principle, but have to add that this pair should not have said any of these things ‘openly’; first, because of the damage it has done to Harry’s family and country, secondly, because it is a spectacular contradiction of a desire to live authentic private lives, and finally, surely NO ONE with a modicum of self-respect (and children) speaks of such matters to go on the record for evermore, available to millions, even billions, of people.
It’s also a downright contradiction of their professed desire to “bring more kindness and compassion into the world”. What a huge joke. I simply draw my own line at wishing the people I dislike and/or criticise ill. I didn’t like Trump at and thought it was his own fault he caught covid-19. But I wished him a speedy recovery all the same.
Nil chance of that. Literally nil. She’s too repulsive, and he’s too thick to avoid stepping on all the eggshells. It won’t last 5 years, and he’ll end up like Prince Andrew.
Yes agree. Plus any schadenfreude would be overshadowed by the inevitable accusation that the pressures of ongoing press intrusion caused the break-up. Then off we go again….
I think we all know that she’ll be off sooner or later, probably sooner. As the ever prescient and correct Mr Trump said of Harry with regard to Meghan:
“I wish him luck. He’ll need it’.
Trouble is Mr Trump has trouble grasping the concept of irony, what with three wives, and his current one being slightly less than enamoured of him!
Trump divorced his first and second wives. Neither wanted the divorce. So kind of different,
Although he has good relationships with his ex wives and his kids so that is slightly unfair. Also – if anyone knows about marriage breakdowns it’s him so he is speaking from experience!
Maybe, maybe not. But none of us on this website (I guess) know either of them from Adam, personally, so why do we feel obliged and indeed entitled to speculate about how long they will stay married? They’re not on our payroll any more.
The entire issue is that they have unremittingly criticised our entire nation ever since they quit. If they had done as they said they wanted, retired to a quiet life, I think most of the nation would have been disappointed but supportive. However, they started with the racist slurs as soon as their feet touched foreign soil and it ceased to be that they had chosen to leave and became that they had been driven out.
If someone repeatedly insults you, it is very difficult to stay silent or sympathetic.
I don’t feel they have insulted me at all – and I think I’m part of the nation. They’ve criticised the press, media and Royal Family. Not the entire nation.
Harry is ON Tape as having said he hates The Free Press and the UK…that is the Whole Nation
My Favourite Trumpism, Wit NOT his usual clomping statement,with Biden sticking his nose in Ulster,EU, Vaccinations &Trump organised upping the Rollout) Biden)he likes her(Meghan)Maybe she’ll be VP instead of NO delegates Kamala Harris?
Me too. It will end far worse for Harry. He has burnt bridges with his family and will never be quite forgiven. His former aristo and military type friends will think this woke stuff nonsense and he will end up in sort sort of well appointed twilight world. She will not want to stay married to some pathetic yes man husband and will dump him for a rich Hollywood type.
…….except to somewhere warm and sunny with 5* hotels.
“It sounds like the Queen already knows the central claim about someone questioning Archieâs skin to be bogus. But she put it very nicely.”
I thought the statement issued by Her Majesty was a masterpiece. But ‘very nicely’ will do just as well !
But likely it would be the best thing to ever happen to him
I agree with you about Harry – he seems to be permanently dazed, like a patient under a chemical cosh. But I wonder whether Meghan is any better really – she seems to be so completely absorbed in the values and conventions of a public, showbiz life that she is not fully in control of her actions, or at least unable to understand their impact in the normal world.
Meghan is undeniably the smarter of the two and itâs clear who is wearing the kilt as another thread said. But Harry seems happy to be led, it may be what he has always needed. His great uncle was the same, and Simpson wore the pants in that relationship as well. Some men are just happier that way. Harry seems very dependent on Meghan.
It seems to be a trend that the ‘other child’ goes off the rails compared to the one who gets to be king/queen. Are they merely trying to establish self-worth in circumstances where they are structurally unnecessary?
That’s an interesting insight – though it doesn’t work, of course, with Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, as the former was the eldest son and did become king, though obviously not for very long.
Reason Wallis Simpson WAS dumped,was 1) She member of American nazi Party with tyler kent 2) MI5 were worried Secret cabinet papers Would fall into hitler’s hands. Especially after October 1937 Simpson-Edward V111 feted on visit by ALL top nazis
Wallis Simpson was unacceptable because she was a divorced woman, thatâs why Edward had to abdicate if he wanted to marry her. Edward had his own connections and sympathies with n@zis even before Wallis.
Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, was not a grade-B duchess extorting her in-laws..
Iâd say she was pretty grade B and she lived off her in-laws from the day they got married.
And 2 ex husbands & possible Von Ribbentrop
Edward had the same sympathies. It was her divorced status that made her unacceptable as a queen.
Interestingly enough, some letters were found a few years ago written by her to a former lover. In them she complained how after all the excitement of obtaining a royal husband had died down, she soon found out he was dreadfully boring. However, since she’d been the one to tear him away from his family, she couldn’t bring herself to divorce him. She ended up living the rest of her life feeling completely unfilled.
I read Wallis Simpsons autobiography. She came across as a quite well educated intelligent woman ..and although she enjoyed being in the Royal social circle she knew how badly she would be received…it was Edward who pressured her into marriage. I think he found her sexually less threatening as I gather he had homosexual tendencies. Wallis was not the predator that Meghan is.
Cunning,Manipulative,Money grabbing,Exploiting Males for Canadian passport,soon dropped doesn’t equal smart ,Apart from ignoring her step family isn’t ”smart” vile..Modern being in Public Spotlight is dangerous ,Glad I live ”Quiet life”
Obviously not everyone would agree as to whether she is smart. Thereâs room for all opinions. Mine is that she is exceptionally smart.
Then she needs to get a grip!
She understands alright!
Does she realise that she’s not meant to be acting in this, her latest role?
Donât feel bad for Harry. What Meghan has inflicted on her in-laws, he has inflicted on his family. There comes a point where âheâs deludedâ no longer cuts it as an excuse.
I would only feel badly for him if Meghan cuts out if they lose their titles. Where would he go and what would he do? He has no skills, no occupation, no means of support other than family money.
Not stritctly true he does/did value Army camaraderie ,Set up Invictus Games ..He probably Would have been happier with chelsy,rather like Charles with Camilla?
I didnât say he didnât value anything. I said he has no skills and no occupation as well as no means of support other than family money. He clearly valued his military service. Just not as much as living in Montecito with Meghan. Chelsy didnât provide the fuel he needed for victim status. Meghan does.
I think Meghan absolutely told her “truth” – she is a manipulative ambitious woman who played every card in the deck and played it with America’s answer to royalty Oprah who has launched the careers of many a truthteller such as Drs. Oz and Phil. The best part of the interview was her being ticked off because Archie isn’t a prince. I would be happy to be a Duchess with all of the perks that go with it.
I feel very sorry for Harry who obviously needs a woman like her in his life for whatever reason. I wish them well and hope we never have to hear from them again.
The real problem for me is that all of my aging friends are becoming more and more Woke. They fell for Meghan’s self pity party hook line and sinker leaving me with, another topic that I dare not bring up. So it is back to conversations about COVID and vaccine.
Yes, Meghan told her truth. Itâs just a shame that it wasnât the truth.
Iâm with you..havenât joined the woke brigade and have no intention of doing so now.
Meghan is an open book, and Harry has bought into her narrative.
Oprah and Meghan have just used each other to bolster their ever growing ego. I never liked Oprah and found her to be quite disingenuous, which suits her..letâs reel in all the stupid people, and pretend Iâm genuinely interested in their plight, as I amass my billions. Meghan really wants that power and wealth over people…I think round one goes to Oprah though…Meghan was played completely, and Harry is like a rabbit in headlights.
Harry needs a different strong woman to put him right. The Duchess of Humbug isn’t good for him and he’ll figure that out the new woman enters his life.
He needed someone who could help him create a life for himself. His father didnât do that and his mother wasnât there to do that. Interestingly, neither was Oprahâs and yet she created quite a life for herself, didnât she? But Harry doesnât have the inner strength to do that plus it was always all about William. He needed a smart woman, one who knew how to bring out his good qualities rather than his petulance.
‘YOUTH’? They are middle aged. A bit of a Freudian slip on Oprah’s part, using behavior rather than a calendar to judge their age.
I detest hearing of them and hate to see the pages on them I have to scroll past – I find them repulsive! Please Unherd, less on these wan***s and more on the coming financial Armageddon.
Yes, I know they are not young. Although Harry is emotionally young if not young in actual age.
It is difficult to feel that Princess Diana ‘lavished affection’ on her sons, when most months of the year she was whizzing round the globe with the latest boyfriend.
That he was one of so many lovers can only have been humiliating for the two young princes, her children. Clearly they were not her chief object of interest and concern.
It is difficult to feel sorry about Harry and Meghan’s stipulated woes when they are two millionaires interviewed by a billionairess, all empathising teary-eyed with each other about their sufferings from racism (in the Sussexes’ case one remark made by one person, possibly not malignly) and neglect (i.e. everyone who was dancing attendance on them all the time failing to weep with them and counsel them and obtain psychotherapy for them when newspapers criticised them).
These terrible afflictions have been laid upon the lives of two people super-wealthy and ultra-privileged, who have not earned their fortunes and who do not need to worry about money nor even open doors or drive cars for themselves ever again (if they don’t want to), in a country where 40 millions have lately lost their jobs owing to the Covid Pandemic lockdowns.
So much about this pair of ‘victims’ is dishonest in a manner very characteristic of the Victimhood Culture.
The Duke and Duchess declare their need to be free from intrusive media coverage, desire a normal uninvaded family life; and accordingly go on TV to reveal their inmost family troubles to an audience of 100 million.
Harry says his chief concern is to avoid the same fate overtaking his wife which destroyed his mother. So he and his spouse give a highly inflammatory interview, effectually denouncing the Royal Family, on primetime television – which Princess Diana did and which caused her to be hounded by paparazzi for the rest of her days.
Meghan moans about Archie their son having no special title; but that is the fate of Princess Anne’s grandchildren (indeed of her children effectually); because it was decided a while ago by the Royal Family, very sensibly, to cut back on the number of titles in their midst which otherwise were going to proliferate absurdly as each generation married and gave birth. The United Kingdom has never had a culture, like (say) Poland’s, where multitudes are counts and countesses.
But then of course, what is the truth of this mere objective reality (something the Sussexes could have found out with a question or two at the start of their marriage) by comparison with the importance of THEIR truth?
I think their giving this interview is like bee-stings. They hurt the victims they sting (the British Royal Family), perhaps do those victims real damage; but it destroys the bees which inflicted them.
Not on board with the first 2 paragraphs of your comment but I am with the rest of it. The final paragraph in particular is excellent.
I concur with all of it.
I am absolutely on board with the first 2 paragraphs
As usual, the Babylon Bee hits the nail on the head:
“Meghan And Harry Request That Everyone Please Respect Their Privacy And Also Make Sure To Tune In To ‘Keeping Up With The Markles’“and
“Meghan Markle Inspires Millions Of Young Girls With Message That No Matter How Famous, Rich, And Powerful They Are, They Will Always Be Oppressed”
The best punishment for those two would be for the world to completely ignore them.
I adore the Bee!
and a big Dollar$ Devaluation?…
Meghan seems to simultaneously want us to believe she is a strong, empowered, independent woman and a poor little victim – but from everything I have observed and which was confirmed by this interview, she has a tendency to self-aggrandisement, she’s self-absorbed (the interview was almost wholly about her, Harry just came on at the end like a bag handler) and has zero capacity for resilience in the face of criticism. She said ‘death by a 1000 cuts’ – so nothing was particularly bad, she just couldn’t cope with the scrutiny that comes with being part of an ancient, world famous and taxpayer-accountable institution. She couldn’t cope with duty and it was clear she didn’t want to swap California sunshine and lattes with her friends for a windswept factory in Leeds or ribbon cutting at a school. The Queen is all about public service, Meghan would appear to be all about self-service with a virtue-signalling froth. And as someone who apparently did zero research beforehand about what she was getting into (I don’t believe that for a second), her ignorance is her own failing no-one else’s. I am AMAZED that being such a fragile little thing, she has lasted so long in the ruthless world of Hollywood. Or perhaps that’s just it – she has – and has become keenly aware of how well victimhood sells and is the key to her future income and fame. She is either the worst kind of narcissistic social climber or an idiot child. Either way, you have to congratulate her on how far she has managed to get and how completely and utterly she has swallowed Harry whole. Poor guy sees her as the Diana he CAN save and I see almost zero individuality in him now. Everything he says is in her voice. What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.
Great comment, Cheryl. Meghan is no naive ingenue – this is a woman who is whip-smart and canny and who realised that pain & suffering (real or imagined or ruthlessly exaggerated) is a hard currency that can be exchanged for money and power. It’s a more expensive and desirable commodity among the younger generations than duty and sacrificing yourself to/being part of something greater. God help us.
seconded
Excellent follow-up comment.
Qv Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair..
Brilliant comment, thank you.
Excellent analysis.
A stunning analysis Cheryl, can I post it on Facebook?
Excellent post!
I totally agree that Prince Harry is ‘damaged goods’, but MeGain isn’t exactly playing with a full deck either. He met her, was rather smitten, and this girl played it for all it was worth. She wasn’t very good in ‘Suits’ and basically her career was washed up (think of all the major roles she had after ‘Suits’), but when he hoved into view she saw an opportunity, as any girl would, and went for it.
If you listened to the interview the moans really didn’t amount to much and the whole thing was riddled with outright lies. For example the implication was that the Palace did nothing for them, and yet the Queen herself asked a very experienced member of staff, Samantha Cohen, to join their staff. I beleive she has described it as working for a pair of teenagers. The pair of them were simply impossible to deal with and expected everything on their own terms – neither of them would listen. And as time wore on the worse it got. It was a very toxic mixture: this damaged, resentful man combined with a failed actress on the make.
She was quick to play the ‘race card’ saying that the reason why Archie wasn’t a Prince was because of his colour, which is a complete and utter lie and if she doesn’t know this he certainly does. As to the racist remark I doubt it was made as such or intended as such. As she makes much of her race I would have thought hair, eye and the skin tone would have been natural remarks to make – ‘Oh he is not fair like his father, but has more your colour’. Maybe tactless, but not malicious, and that was Harry’s justification for calling a fellow cadet at Sandhurst ‘P*kki’. That was plainly racist, but he doesn’t see that. He is a oaf.
The portrait that emerges of these two is vastly different to the one they are busy trying to paint. And perhaps we should look at actions more than words. He obviously has very strained relations with his family, isolated from them as he is in California – easier to manipulate. He seems to have no one, as I hear he has dumped most of his old friends. She has no relationship with her father, who is not a well man. One has to wonder where is this much vaunted MeGain ‘kindness, compassion etc’ ?? She has no relationship with her half sister, whom she says she hasn’t seen in 20 years, but it is obvious she can’t count – it was 2013 dear which is less than 10. I think the half sister is wheelchair bound, so a little ‘compassion’, a little ‘kindness’ would probably go a long way. But I suppose there is no advantage in being so to such dregs.
I think all in all these two are toxic, narcissistic and just plain nasty. The Royal Family should keep them at a distance and certainly not welcome them back into the fold. In stock market terms they are undoubtedly a ‘sell’, and while there might be a bit of ‘dead cat bounce’ they are really a busted flush. Let us have done with them.
Well said
.
Agreed, other than the need for some spacing and paras.
.
There are five paragraphs. How many more do you want? Did anyone else find Andy Yorks’ comment difficult to read?
Nope.
Thanks, the best “summing-up” I’ve read on this…
Remember Chelsy: the girl who wouldn’t ? She saw the life they live and said “no thanks” It makes me wonder if that was why Harry was in so much of a hurry to marry Magan. And why, if it is true that he fell out with his brother who questioned the haste. Old saying “marry in haste, repent in leisure”
Wise.Words…I’m still Waiting in leisure..
Although see Craig Brownâs delicious dismemberment of the half sisterâs book for another take on that particular relationship…
Quality. I agree 100%. Everyone I know would agree with your observations. They have zero comprehension of the damage caused- the diameter of the ripples (or waves) across the pond. What will Archie say when he gets to 18 yrs of age? When he questions why he has no relationship with any member of his family on either side? Will he turn and ask MM “what happened “? Harry should ditch her and save his soul – rejoin the Armed Forced, get involved with Invictus Games and old mates carry out some publid duties and regain the love and support of the GB people. She is a manipulative self-absorbed woman who will never be satisfied. Harry cannot win.
I find their choices difficult to understand, in that they are isolating themselves from past or future friends in the UK (and if he hasn’t dumped his friends, some of them may now be inclined to dump him), in exchange for friends in the states. Maybe she has good friends there, I don’t know, but given the kind of emotional language used by people like her and Winfrey (forever ‘sharing’ things with each other), how can you tell true friends from false? Or are they reconciled to playing the lead parts in their own drama from now on?
A precise and cogent analysis – and spot on.
I think a simple, post-modernist explanation makes more sense (both here and in the Piers Morgan affair this week).
Most of us (including Piers) subscribe to a thinking process which dates back to the Enlightenment. It is sometimes called ’empiricism’. You look at a phenomenon and try to explain it using evidence. In this case, many (older) people will ask the question: “if that was said about Archie’s skin, was it racist?” We’d then try to find evidence, for instance, balancing it with the counter-argument of how welcoming the royals and the British were to Meghan.
The post-modernists (Meghan, Harry, BBC, Alex Beresford, most young university-types…) subscribe to a quite different thinking process (paradigm?). They see the world as a series of power struggles with the disadvanated (mostly women and non-whites) as victims BY DEFINITION. (People may be unaware of their victimhood and need to be ‘educated’.)
So, when Meghan looks at her experience, her brain is programmed to interpret everything that happens through that filter. She has no choice (they all do it). Instead of facts and evidence, they focus on ‘lived experience’ and then present that as evidence (it’s a really cunning trick that many do not notice).
So, dear old Piers is under the illusion he is having a rational discussion with Alex based on the empirical traditions, while Alex is answering from the post-modern. Piers does not notice he is not in a conversation, that even to question the post-modern view is to be labvellel racist, sexist etc.
There is no solution till enough people notice what is happening, call it out and gather like-minded people.
The power struggle is always who owns the capital and who has the most authentic and legitimate-looking branding. That changes over time. Cigarette companies don’t tell people “smoking cures your asthma” any more. The monarchy no longer has divinely ordained right-to-rule from god. People wince when Prince Phillip asks if certain folk are still “chucking spears”. That doesn’t sell any more. Old news. Get with the program.
Harry & Meghan have completely outflanked the monarchy here, either way they win.
If they’re telling the truth, well then they’re vindicated.
If they’re lying, then the monarchy’s public image department can’t respond effectively and aren’t up to the job.
If Piers Morgan can’t even argue his way out of his situation, back up his opinions and and feels he has no option but to quit because he has the “the woke mob” cop-out, then he’s clearly an overrated idiot and doesn’t deserve his job.
The crumbling artifice of the monarchy isn’t fit enough to survive in the wild with big corporate beasts stalking around ready to devour their lunch.
Except that I and most of the people I know value the monarchy over the likes of Microsoft
What’s the monarchy ever done for us?
Stolen the land and then rented it back out.
Made sure you haven’t been topped by some mad presidente.
Peoples values are driven by their wallets, not a tenable connection to some quickly-disappearing national identity. The Royal family lives on inherited wealth and status, there’s nothing earned about it whatsoever. It’s anathema to modern capitalism.
What do people want? Modern software or a family that lives on public money and goes around waving in public?
Piers has been angling for a job on one of the upcoming âanti-wokeâ news channels for months. Heâs just done an excellent job burnishing his credentials.
The fact that you interpret the world in terms of consumer preferences, which may themselves be dependent on no more than advertiser-crafted appearances (‘legitimate-looking branding’) says more about your value-system than it does about the issue.
I personally don’t actually care what happens to the monarchy, Netflix or Harry and Meghan, frankly. And it doesn’t actually matter what I think.
I’m just describing how the modern world works.
And how the monarchy has always worked actually. All the pomp and ceremony, castles and grand estates. The coats of arms and the regalia. The ostentatious displays of their deserved position. All propaganda. All corporate spin when you boil it down.
If you think the monarchy is somehow going to stay relevant, I’m not sure how you could justify that. Suppose it’s just painful for people to see this institution, a beacon of stability throughout their life that we’re fond of, being outmanoeuvred in the name of private gain.
Like the NHS. Or most of England, come to think of it…
Many moons ago, while studying philosophy, I remember learning that ‘People should not go from the particular to the general’
What I can’t understand is this great compulsion to go on air with millions watching to portray oneself as a victim (making sure one is very well dressed and made up first).
I suppose it makes them feel at one with the many true victims, and therefore at peace with oneself, and content with one’s miserable life.
“If Freud has taught us anything, it is that we may not always be the best judges of who we really are, let alone what really drives us. That is the very point of the unconscious; we are run by forces that we do not always properly understand, which are often repressed, working away in the background without us being fully aware of them.”
I don’t know about the Oedipus complex, but Harry is certainly driven by subconscious needs, imo.
I remember the image of him and his brother at their mother’s funeral. They looked like such sad, vulnerable little boys. Harry’s brother seems to have grown up into a somewhat bland but reasonably well-adjusted man. Not so Harry, imo. Whenever I see him I’m instantly reminded of that image of the sad little boy. Even though he is quite a robust man with a solid military career behind him, there’s an element of loss in his expression.
I have the strong sense that, deep in his subconscious where all the important stuff resides, there’s a lonely little boy desperately seeking a reassuring hug from his mother. Unfortunately, he’s looking in the wrong places to satisfy that need.
I agree. I also think being the spare was very hard on him. And Meghan certainly wasnât going to play second fiddle to Kate Middleton.
It suggests a soaring ambition if one is not prepared to be second fiddle to a / the future QueenâŠ
“soaring ambition” is a polite description of her apparent intentions
Understudies have been known to step up.
What about the next bit: âAnd it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any manâ?
You take the idea of being true to yourself as the idea of being authentic, in order to build your argument, but it also means not fooling yourself, being honest with yourself. It can only be interpreted as being authentic âwho you really areâ if you ignore the rest of the quote.
â Be honest with your self, do not attempt to deceive yourself in order to ease your guilty conscience, or make excuse for your ambition which you realise you have not the strength of character to live up to, in terms of doing your duty in return, then you cannot pretend you had a legal wedding three days before your public one, that your son would be a prince if he were white enough or that he would be entitled to security paid for by the general public.â
Freud has a lot to offer despite his lack of scientific credentials in the realm of human psychology. His ideas may seem strange to those uninitiated but once you start reading up you will realise that he is the only one who offers explanation for the irrational, bizarre, and unexpected behaviour. Thank you for bringing him back.
Carl Jung was more prescient,he also said ”Sigmund is like a Woman,he cries when he can’t get his own way!” now i’ll be accused of misogyny/..
Thank you for reminding us of the completion of this quotation, and for your reflections on it.
This has prompted me to a quick search on the internet, revealing a variety of interpretations that have arisen in succeeding generations.
Giles Fraser has pointed up a modern sense of ‘your truth’, ‘being authentically you’: the solipsistic universe-revolves-around-the-self that contemns both objective reality and consideration of others.
I had always understood the quotation as meaning something like ‘be true to your conscience’, which rests on an internalisation of the ethics of your community: unwavering awareness of one’s duty to others.
However, my search suggests that the original meaning of ‘true’ was ‘beneficial’, so the quotation begins with a meaning along the lines of ‘be sure always to act with regard to your own interests‘. It may flow from this that one avoids being a burden to others, but it does begin with Number One.
Where any of this leaves Harry and Meghan, I’m not sure.
âTrueâ in that context makes most sense as meaning âfaithful/honestâ, as in a true as opposed to an untrue spouse (cf Othello, âyour true and loyal wife.â … âHeaven doth know thou art false as hell.â) The fact that itâs set up in opposition to being âfalse to any manâ suggests this reading rather than the âbeneficialâ one. Donât deceive yourself, and you wonât deceive others. Where poor old Polonius reveals his unworldliness is in the certainty of âas night follows dayâ. Not deceiving yourself may be a necessary condition for not deceiving others, but it sure ainât sufficient on its own â as Hamlet himself demonstrates.
In 5 years time we will be treated to the spectacle of a divorcee Price Harry climbing his own grandmothers balcony dressed as Batman and unfurling a Fathers4Justice banner in an attempt to see his own kids again.
I think Oprah should shoulder some personal responsibility for meddling in matters she is not able to understand. Is all the hurt and damage worth yet one more feather in her celebrity cap?
I can’t stand Oprah Winfrey, but any interviewer worth their salt would jump at the chance to get these two muppets to pontificate on their show. More exposure for Oprah means more fame and money, which in turn encourages more “celebrities” to take part in her highly un-interrogative interviews. I’d like to see them interviewed by Andrew Neill. This sycophantic interview doesn’t mean a great deal, and proves nothing. I’ll be amazed if any of the allegations made by Meghan are ever proved to be true.
Oprahhas sold ”Interview” to 70 countires making between $70-100 Million dollars,not bad .any wokes i’ll interview for that!
But we can wholly understand her motives. Those of Meghan, and especially Harry, escape me entirely.
The term “your truth” must have been coined by a very slick lawyer. They are the weasliest of weasel words. It gets the programme off the hook of libel, while allowing interviewer and interviewee to feely libel the target in a way that cannot be challenged. There are two things that really surprise me about all of this – the first is the way that so many people have readily and unquestioningly accepted Meghan and Harry’s ‘truths’ as self evident truth . Of course there are many who will believe it because they want to and those who’d believe anything anyway. Meghan knows how to press the right button – the R button – to get the shocked reaction. But for a mentally unstable (as she herself admits) fantasist with a record of public family argument to say what she has said is no surprise, itâs just so surprising that so many choose to unhesitatingly swallow it.
The second is more surprising in that Harry, immature and easily lead though he is, has so easily tossed aside any sense of duty – the duty that surely he must have learned in the Army and as a member of the Royal Family â supported and cosseted as he was. To come out and speak the way he did against his family, his country and the institution of monarchy is beyond comprehension or redemption. He must know there can be no way back.
Now the challenge these two have is while looking like thoroughly disloyal and feeble minded people, is how to continue to make money out of their only asset – ‘their truth’. Their ‘truth’ has a life, before people get bored with it and others’ truths, if they tell them, erode their credibility further. The only way to keep ‘their truth’ alive and continue to earn from it, it to release further stories, the more salacious the better.
Yes, the Army was a very happy time for Harry it would seem. It provided leadership and a raison d’etre. He was daft to allow Meghan to cut him off so completely…and I dont know how he will live with himself when he finally wakes up to what he has done to everything he has been brought up with.
Poor Mr Markle has just traded a second stringer role in the The Firm for a second stringer role in the Markle Mafia. Pity poor Harry hes always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Sincerely, I think that the Freudian language is too convoluted in this case. Prince (so-called) Harry is a poodle, Meghan Markelâs poodle. They now extort the Royal Family in public. The next step is to extort them behind the curtain with the threat of even worse scandals. Megan Markle and her poodle are now melting the money from the estates of Princess Diana and the Queen Mother. Money in California melts fast in the air.
I didn’t watch “the interview” but have become very concerned and depressed about the whole situation where an individual viewpoint can be taken as a universal truth and hardly challenged. Thankyou for your valuable insights.
It is almost unavoidable for me not to think and try to rationalise what I have heard in reports and a couple of things keep repeating themselves to me….
The first is that with maturity you learn that it is often not what happens but your response to it that causes problems, especially if that response is influenced by what you expect or even want to believe. So it is easy to find racism in an innocent remark, or valid point of concern, if you do not take into account the character of the person in question and/or the context of the conversation.
The second is that when you get married you form a team with your spouse and work through things together. You do not expect your mother-in-law, or any other inlaw, to participate in your developing relationship…why was this lady (who must have extensive experience researching roles) using Google to find the words to the national anthem and seeking help to learn how to curtsy when she is married to a prince…does he not know? Did he go off on an extended absence and leave her all on her own? If there is to be criticism for her feeling alone and unsupported surely he must be first in line? I know the royal family is different but even if you compare it to marrying into a wealthy family, I still believe it is up to a husband and wife to support each other and find (and accept) their place in the family unit together. But maybe the surest way to keep a couple together is for them to unite against a common (perceived) enemy and this is as much about their own disfunctional relationship as anything else.
If anyone says ‘my truth’ I immediately take everything they say with a large pinch of salt. I never understimate the human capacity for self-delusion, aggrandisement or outright faleshood. Especially when it comes from a woke sleb using one of the latest buzz phrases. Hollywood is not known for churning out rational, well-balanced individuals or for attracting them.
Same, my eyes glaze over when I hear that phrase. Unfortunately, it’s used as a deflection of criticism on many college campuses.
Then, please tell us the Palace “other truth”.
Meghan seems to simultaneously want us to believe she is a strong, empowered, independent woman and a poor little victim â but from everything I have observed and which was confirmed by this interview, she has a tendency to self-aggrandisement, sheâs self-absorbed (the interview was almost wholly about her, Harry just came on at the end like a bag handler) and has zero capacity for resilience in the face of criticism. She said âdeath by a 1000 cutsâ â so nothing was particularly bad, she just couldnât cope with the scrutiny that comes with being part of an ancient, world famous and taxpayer-accountable institution. She couldnât cope with duty and it was clear she didnât want to swap California sunshine and lattes with her friends for a windswept factory in Leeds or ribbon cutting at a school. The Queen is all about public service, Meghan would appear to be all about self-service with a virtue-signalling froth. And as someone who apparently did zero research beforehand about what she was getting into (I donât believe that for a second), her ignorance is her own failing no-one elseâs. I am AMAZED that being such a fragile little thing, she has lasted so long in the ruthless world of Hollywood. Or perhaps thatâs just it â she has â and has become keenly aware of how well victimhood sells and is the key to her future income and fame. She is either the worst kind of narcissistic social climber or an idiot child. Either way, you have to congratulate her on how far she has managed to get and how completely and utterly she has swallowed Harry whole. Poor guy sees her as the Diana he CAN save and I see almost zero individuality in him now. Everything he says is in her voice. What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.
There can be several sides to a story…different people experience/perceive things in different ways and THE truth must be found by listening to all of them and reflecting on it, calmly, rationally.
The way “your truth” is being bandied around in certain situations, however, makes me think that it also means “alternative facts like that awful Donald Trump spewed out but it’s OK when we do it because we’re the good people.”
Yes, there’s a link between “Trump’s truth” (aka ‘alternative facts’) and “Meghan and Harry’s truth”. Narcissism in both cases.
An interesting analysis, however I think itâs worth considering the whole concept of an incredibly privileged pair, trying to portray themselves as victims (and in some circles succeeding).
I listened to a brief commentary by JD Vance, author of the book âHillbilly Elegyâ, where he spoke a bit about the victimhood culture in the United States, but in particular how it is being used by the rich and powerful to make the concept of ânoblesse obligeâ sound like something from the past. One would think that it makes sense that to whom much is given, much is expected. And Meghan pays lip service to this with her talk of compassion, etc. But, once you portray yourself as victims, as they most definitely have, then you become someone who is âowedâ things, rather than owing anything. And a society that allows this attitude to flourish among the powerful, this society will cease to be a functioning society ultimately.
I live next door to the United States, so it is easy to find examples of this thinking, among the political and the celebrity classes. I hope it is less prevalent in UK society.
I agree, this will not end well. My sympathies are with the British Royal family, but I can well imagine that they are a bit mystified how to deal with someone like Meghan.
They should ignore her, neither confirm nor disavow anything she says.
Everything I know about this couple (Harry & Meghan) I have learned against my free will.
This unhappy couple have sold their souls to the media and there is no escape. There can be no reconciliation where there is no trust. Every private conversation with the Queen will be sure as eggs sucked out of him by Oprah, therefore no confidences will be shared.
Yes, I’ve considered this too. If every utterance from any member of the royal family is to be filtered and recapitulated through the prism of “Meghan’s truth” in future, it makes it impossible for them to have any meaningful dialogue. It’s worse than that, insofar as the inevitable consequence of this – the cessation of meaningful contact between the royals on either side of the Atlantic will then be interpreted as a lack of support by Meghan. They have burned their boats, despite HMQ’s assertion that Harry will remain a much loved member of the royal family.
Unfortunately “their truth” is revealed to be what normal people call either “their lies”, “their mis-rememberings” or at best “their mistakes”. Also unless you are using Freud like Astrology to demonstrate an example of pseudo science there is really no need to mention him at all. I think the reason oprah/megan/harry didn’t wheel out the Lyotard/Foucault notion that “there is no such thing as truth” is simply because they couldn’t understand it. Plus literacy is waycist, innit? Holding a subjective ontological belief as true is fine in some areas of knowledge: Chelsea are the best football team, Led Zep the best rock band etc are examples. However, if you know the name and identity of the one true God be prepared to back that “truth” with force. The only thing we learned from the bilious interview is that meganharry are unemployable in the real world. Their cache in lala land, hollyweird etc is bankable for now but ephemeral. “You may be their pride and joy, but they’ll find another toy, then they’ll take away your crown [Don’t] pick me up on your way down.
What do Meghan and Trump have in common? Both seem to be in the world ,of âalternative factsâ.
she came up with a great number of rather contrived and nasty innuendos . We havent been told exactly what the question or discussion with Harry was about! Did someone say âI wonder what skin colour he will beâ in much the same way as âI wonder if he will have ginger hairâ. Or did someone say âmy god I hope he isnât dark skinnedâ. A total world,of difference but Meganâs rather pointed attempt suggest racism says a great deal about her .
I am not sure whether or not Fraser has hit the nail on the head but he is totally right to say there is something deeply worrying about the state of minds of âthe happy couple â. Nothing in the interview seemed right. It just didnât add up. The very fact that they had some desire to basically moan âitâs not fairâ on TV raises so many questions about what on Earth was going on in their disturbed minds
Interesting take considering that Oprah has had the âyour truthâ out bit for many years. But indeed letâs blame someone who has never used that phrase.
its Biden who lies &lives in dementia ‘Alternate Universe’ Trump main fault is,he didn’t stop Democrats Changing Vote regulations in 6 states
I find this such an interesting analysis. Thank you, Giles Fraser. I particularly like the phrase âconducted by an unchallenging friend.â All the reviews Iâve read so far have praised Oprah for her brilliant journalistic probing. But there were so very many questions not asked: especially âDo either of you take responsibility for any of this, and if so where do you think you might possibly be at fault? What could you have done differently?â Unlike many, I have not taken sides but am still weighing the implications of this whole, sad episode.
I thought Winfrey was a friend, until I read in the newspaper that when she was invited to the wedding, neither had ever met her. Is that so?
My amateur analysis is that the poor fool has not laid his original ghosts to rest and is under double duress from leaving behind two, maybe three, institutions, Family, Army and UK. Military service is not shrugged off so easily. Let’s face it, Beverley Hills isn’t a normal environment for a person of little artistic talent. I did see a video by a young mixed race UK lad pointing out he had loyalties to his white Mum too and rejected this pointless trending call from the Mother Ship of Africa. Mrs Windsor seems to have no such dilemmas.
“…leaving behind two, maybe three, institutions, Family, Army and UK.”
I can’t help but note the omission of “in favor of his wife and child.
Itâs well known that no one can have their family of origin, their country and their career while simultaneously also having their spouse and child. Itâs one or the other, right?
So the preference was that he should leave Meghan & Archie, eh?
You missed the sarcasm.
Yup, she stripped him of everything. His career, his country, his family. Nothing less was going to satisfy her. Well, she has him now. Best of luck.
Interesting, insightful article Giles, thank you.
When the mother of his child was in danger, he took heroic -stood up to the wrath of his world, as abundantly evident here- measures to save them. This is the very model of a Man. Giles and you folk are the ones in need of analysis.
An un-named solicitor always points out a sign to his clients:
There is my truth, your truth and THE truth!!
Being Royal must mess with your head a bit. How not to be a spoilt brat and keep reminding yourself you are not as special as everyone seems to think you are. Poor Harry he needed someone to help him keep his feet on the ground. Megan is not doing that. She seems to be stoking any problem she can within Harryâs mind and adding more. It is worrying.
I particularly agree with the last two paragraphs of the article. The lack of challenge in some of the media coverage is just awful. The Meghan and Harry ‘truth’ is accepted in all particulars. Piers Morgan gets sacked, in effect, for saying it was all lies. Maybe ‘all lies’ is an exaggeration. But nobody even gets questioned about it – at least not on programmes like Newsnight – when they imply that everything is true. The ‘objective truth’ is probably not at one end or the other, but I’d be pretty certain it’s rather nearer the Royal family/press end than the Meghan/Harry end.
It’s called the Narrative. Anyone who speaks against it faces social reprisals.
“Piers Morgan gets sacked, in effect, for saying it was all lies.”
Where did you get this? Didn’t he quit? I saw him get up and walk out. And then saying he’d fallen on his sword.
Did he give the facts that contradicted her “lies”?
He DID get dismissed you clown, he WAS told apologise to the New Pinup femme of Wokes for doubting ”her truth” .However as a multi millionaire, or wealthy Laurence Fox they can stand up to the Woke Media,Even Ricky gervais has avoided cancel Kultur because of his contacts &wealth
Which came first? the drama queen “OK, I’m out a here.” or the apology demand?
Drama Queen complained to iTV ,funny for someone who doesn’t read newspapers or TV she seems to be obssessed with Anyone who dares question ”Her Truth”?..
Megan was crestfallen and bitter when it dawned on her that sheâd married the guy who was not in line for the throne and, therefore, her own offspring could not become princes and princesses. Her narcissistic obsession with being Lady Diana exploded in jealous vitriol towards Kate and she appealed to her sympathetic audience with the baseless claim that racism must be the root cause.
More likely some US lawyer said she had to use that phrase to avoid suggestions that it was THE truth and any risk of litigation!
…which is fine, but why not use “your point of view” instead?
Though it is a technique of the modern fascists to “re-meaning words”…
I think the use of the weasel words ‘your truth’ implies that it is the truth, without being liable when it it found to be not the truth, or not entirely the truth. It’s plainly dishonest – as it is intended to be. The use of the honest term – ‘your version of events’ would imply that there is an alternative narrative (which self evidently there is), but that is not the intention of the interview – which is to shock, damage and deceive.
Truth isn’t the issue here
Facts as always are what matter
Meghan was a very poor actor on screen, but she put on the best performance of her life. Racism, mental health etc. All the new sound bites. If she and her lap dog Harry wanted a quite life, then they should have given up their Royal titles and become ordinary citizens. Us Brits see this as a way of cashing in on at the expense of our Royal family. Our Queen leads from the front. Shame Harry has not learnt this and being lead by greed. A shameful episode in 2021. Let them hunker down quietly and let the media have a rest with important issues to publish. This is from a very saddened Brit.
We have a young couple, each wealthy in their own right, given a fabulous wedding, a fabulous home in which to live, more attention than anyone deserves, and from the look of it, great acceptance by the Royal Family for a foreigner from a very different culture and family.
And no, I do not believe a wealthy young woman in her mid Thirties who had survived the rough and tumble of Hollywood and been involved with mental health issues and campaigns,married to someone who also understood mental health issues, embraced by the power of the Royal Family could not have organised her own mental health support if needed. She could have had the best counselors in the world flown in to help her out in next to no time. It is ridiculous to believe she could not.
But it was not enough. Meghan ran back to the US where she had more control, with her feckless husband tagging along behind. And that was not enough.
They lived in other people’s homes, fabulously wealthy people for a bit and then bought their own massively expensive home and that was not enough. They said they wanted to be financially independent and they were not, although now they are. And that was not enough.
This spoiled, privileged, indulged young couple then decided to bully the Royal Family with an interview they knew would be seen around the world and which was clearly designed to demonise if not severely damage Harry’s family and the ancient institution which his family represents. For what gain?
The interview was pure bullying and small-minded punishment for her husband’s family, although, from all accounts, Meghan does not have much of a relationship with her own family either, her compliant mother perhaps an exception, for now.
What did Meghan gain but revenge for no doubt multiple ‘real’ or imagined slights which touched an overactive nerve? What did Harry gain, presuming he is mentally stable enough to know what he was doing? Well, he poisoned his relationship with his family, particularly his father and his brother and he chose to cause immense pain to his 94-year-old grandmother, as her 99-year-old husband lay seriously ill in hospital. To what end?
And Meghan chose this moment, despite being relatively recently pregnant, with, if accounts are true, another IVF baby where the chances of miscarriage are always greater, knowing that it would be highly controversial and possibly even devastating to her husband when, afterwards, he understood what they had done. Although no doubt, if she should lose the baby it is another flag of blame to wave at the Royal Family, that being the modus operandi.
This sad couple need to be set free from the Royal Family, with Titles and Harry’s succession removed, so they can be completely free to pursue the goal they claim as their right – total independence. And good luck to them.
E very good article and an original perspective on a subject that has been analysed to within an inch of its life. The incorporation of truth and reality into personalised contexts so as to provide credibility to them is one of the biggest challenges for us today. The process of detoxing brains into which this nonsense appears to mean something will take a long time.
Polonius was of course being mocked by Shakespeare for churning out a whole series of bits of hackneyed advice, of which “To thine own self be true” was just another example. Shakespeare was well aware of the elusive and fissile nature of personality – most of his plays are about that in one way or another.
Yes, he’s a comic figure, the blowhard counselor full of penny wisdom, …still plenty around today, no?
I almost can’t believe my lie ‘n eyes reading all this gratuitous vitriol (Giles Fraser inclusivo).
The subject of the interview was not Harry (who, btw, expressed an healthy attitude toward his family and domestic tragedy).
And Meghan’s issue was not racism. Oprah had to practically put the word in her mouth.
Raised in a mostly white family, in a middle-class ghetto, educated at an upper-class university, married and divorced, she was a mature 36 yr old with an independent professional competence. She wanted to fulfill her biological destiny, marriage and children. Racism was an old and no longer interesting fact with which she had long ago dealt with in the intimacy of her family. Her theme was that of a mother protecting her child.
Harry and his Royals were only her sideshow.
âProtecting her childâ evidently involves ignoring the facts of how titles are awarded, (which surely would have been explained to her) and thereby enabling herself to lie and embroider the âracismâ charge even more.
Her maturity is questionable, her veracity regarding just about every complaint, is even more questionable. Oprah did not have to put words in her mouth, Oprah was merely the vehicle willing to open the flood gates of resentment. Resentment that she, Markle, has to adopt a supporting role instead of the leading role she assumed she would have, combined with jealousy for the couple forever standing in her way.
I agree with your concluding sentence.
“…her veracity regarding just about every complaint, is even more questionable.”
Her complaints were: 1) exclusion of Archie (in prospect) from palace protection, and (2), refusal of medical care for her depression.
If these were lies, enlighten us to the conflicting facts.
Archies parents are not working royals. He wasnât due taxpayer funded security. Neither were Meghan and Harry once they became non working royals. Look at the rest of the family, they do not all have taxpayer funded security. You have to be a working royal to get your security taxpayer funded and even some of those who are working royals only get it covered while actually working. Even some who are Princesses, like Princess Anne. Others pay for their own security, like Princess Beatrice and Eugenie. In fact, just like Meghan and Harry do now in the US. Surely that was possible for them in the UK as well?
Meghan has known all her life about doctors and medical care. She got care in the US all her life. She managed to get maternity care in the UK. Unless medical care is not subject to privacy laws in the UK, no one could have even known that she sought mental health care.
Her husband is closely aligned with all sorts of mental health services in the UK. Did he not know how to get help even after claiming that he sought mental health care himself? What a complete load of garbage. The two of them are trivializing mental health care.
They were working at this time.
If they expressed a wish to go part-time or out altogether, they would be forced to leave to escape being smothered by the Press. This I wouldn’t find at all implausible, especially since any American of substance would soon enough find all that Disneyworld shtick insupportable. But, for “the Firm” to then cut them cold seems pretty low grade stuff.
On her second point, depression, not your garden variety kind of medical problem. It’s not hard to visualize the scenario in the Palace PR Dept., especially given the other famous “unhappiness”, when pregnant Meghan begged to see a shrink. And Harry’s ribbon cutting and honoraria wouldn’t cover it at all. For me this too had the familiar ring of brutal Corporate truth.
No, while they were working they had security. But not once they decided not to work. You canât go part-time, QEII made that clear, itâs in or out. They were not forced to leave, they chose to leave. She was always going to go back to CA.
Harry has sought mental healthcare himself. He surely knew how to do that, so no excuse. You donât go to the PR dept for medical care. You go to a doctor, like she did for maternity care. I believe thereâs a right to privacy in medical care in the UK. Perhaps you believe otherwise.
So, …the question of who’s lying hinges on the sequence? …to which the “skin tone” motif is unrelated?
Secondly, her assertion that The Firm had executive authority over her on psychiatric care is a lie? she could simply grab her keys and head to Harley St? and the tabloids would honor her right to privacy?
In sum, you’re saying her entire story was a fiction to escape HM’s prison back to Lalalandia? And all in the teeth of well- known facts to the contrary? like the CIA is presently arranging for Ms Maxwell?
Are there authoritative (non-tabloid, non-Piers Morgan type) answers to these?
Princess Diana had psychiatric treatment and therapy, as did Harry for many years (he told us, a few years ago) and both Harry and William established a charity Heads Together, to raise awareness of mental health issues. Harry could have called a doctor for Meghan any time; he had plenty of knowledge from his own experience as well as all the contacts he had through this charity.
When Meghan was pregnant she could easily have raised the issue of depression with the doctors she was seeing. No-one asks HR (the HR for their own staff!) about their mental health.
Ok. And finally, if Harry wasn’t available or responsive, could she have gone on her own w/o his or palace approval?
Firstly you clown…1) H&R departments (if firms still have them) are not specialists in ”mental problems” they hire&Fire. 2) Archie was excluded,because His Parents chose NOT to do ANY Civil duties..I am not a rabid Monarchist,but on this I support HM Queen ‘Funny’ reply ie ”You are lying”..
3)Harry is/was patron of several mental health charities ,does this mean she didn’t ask her husbands help or advice/..?
Well, thanks to you, Robin lad, I’ve at least learned one thing.
Though I still don’t know where the substantive truth lies on MM’s issues, her and Harry’s point re the unholy alliance between palace and pop corporate media is indubitably true. The palace always wins coz they have this horde of tabloid-heads on ready alert to slime any contrarian.
It not in Queens gift ‘Security’ is handled by Police Commissioner in London…they DId have security to Vancouver , then She dropped that idea in favour of LA life
As A fan of Richard111, Shakespeare told untruths also,but they were ”His truth”?..
I am saddened that the Queen in her final years has had to suffer the wrath of a jealous female who herself wants to be all powerful in her delusional world. One day when her looks have gone and she reflects on her past. I sincerely hope she sees herself as I see her. As a shallow individual who has not lived her life, but squandered her life, in a need for what for her, will prove the unattainable. While to view Harry as not the brightest penny in the draw and I suspect Fraud, would tell him to open his eyes again on the world, and this time look at what he has to others. Then come back and talk.
Well for someone who is proud of her ”black” origins why has she had her hair straightened,?possible nose job?…She has is will bring the Anger of ”The Whirligig of time bringing in its revenges!?”
Meghan would be lucky to be 1/16th African in ancestry and probably less than that. She looks like your average Italian but clearly likes to play the ‘black’ scenario for more attention even as she spends a fortune on getting rid of her African ‘looks.’
She also Seems to Not include her black mum,,at her LA home(Soon to be Santa barbera) after the Wedding?
âSpeaking your Truth â was the currency of the Oprah interview. The only Truth anyone really has is saying âI feel hurt, abandoned, betrayed , afraid..â etc. No one has the right to question ,argue with or deny what you are feeling and it can only be a good thing for Society as a whole that people are able to feel free to do this. More than that becomes problematical. That is your only subjective Truth. Why you were made to feel like that could well be because you interpreted a situation in the wrong way, you perceived someone s actions towards you in a way that they didn t intend it to be interpreted. A thousand reasons why you were made to feel like that. That is where the discussion begins , why there is a point in talking things through with the other people involved. Of course, you can also be justified in having these feelings but it needs discussion. Preferably in private rather than in front of millions of strangers.
I always thought Larkin to be better thought out than Freud.
“They f#@k you up your mum and dad,
they may not mean to but they do,
they fill you with the faults they had,
and add some others just for you”
I did not watch the interview, so am either objective or disqualified from having a view. That said, my view is “who cares?” The importance of what the participants have to say is directly proportional to the amount of time, effort, and words the world showers on them.
That this nonsense was the lead story on radio, TV and press on the day that millions of schoolchildren went back to school for the first time in months is a disgrace.
A much simpler interpretation of their behaviour can be expressed in a dialect word used in the East Midlands. It is “mardy” and is most often used as “mardy kid” to admonish someone who is behaving like a spoiled brat by throwing a tantrum when they cannot get their own way.
Recollections may vary. Other versions of the “truth” are available, including what was quaintly called, in old-fashioned times, the “factual truth”.
Isn’t “the factual truth” racist and offensive or something now? Because truth is a tool of supremacist colonialism etc etc and George Floyd dying black is because of slavery and racist mathematics and stuff.
So agree. What is truth anyway? A group of people watching the same incident will each see, hear & take away something different from that experience. Even a balanced discussion afterwards may not reveal the âactualâ truth, if there is indeed such a thing. Truth is complex. It seems that much of what came out of that interview was based on emotion and no one knows the context of any of what they are reporting was said so is hardly objective.
Itâs a shame they felt the need to air the family washing in public after citing their desire and need for âprivacyâ. Now they have done quite the opposite and have courted all this attention. Such inconsistency doesnât bode well for their future together.