But I don’t disagree that it’s going to be a hot and fiery summer. Megs is probably going to risk the “bigger cut” though. She’s too dumb to avoid the small cuts this summer.
There’s also the other side with people who thought the Middletons were making money off the monarchy, controlling William, and leaking and posing for paps now defending Meghan left and right when she’s doing all of that X100.
I understand the Harry fans flipping. I think Harry’s 2015 press emphasized tradition and loyalty and the military and family and a lot of people became his fans because of that. It made him look like the more “royal” brother. Wiliam’s press, on the other hand, emphasized Kate, his family, his air ambulance work, and the Middletons, and it made him look comparatively less “royal.” The US tour and the friendships with tennis players and celebrity sailors also made the Cambridges feel more Hollywood, as did Kate’s emphasis on fashion and hair. As a result, the fans who were more into the traditional aspects of the BRF gravitated towards Harry and shunned the Cambridges.
But that has all flipped now. Thanks to Meghan, Harry is now the less “royal” brother and the Cambridges, who have barely changed any behaviors, are now super-traditional royals in comparison.
So I kind of understand why the Harry fans flipped. Harry no longer represents their values. I do not, however, understand why the Kate haters are now Meghan sugars. Everything they supposedly hated about Kate–untidyness, love for the press, messy family, flyaway hair, fake hair, materialism, merching, celebrity friends–is even worse with Meghan.
This is what we (I’m using the first person plural because I wasn’t a hard core Harry fan but I was still taken in by his pr) were smoking. I’m going to go in rough chronological order from May 2015 through December 2015
Yes, he left the army in 2015, but first they gave him a massive send-off with a big Australia tour and haka dances and crap.
Yes, this sounds ridiculous now that we know that he was actually romancing Soho House z-listers on these Africa trips, but at the tie this didn’t sound so far-fetched. After all, he had just left the Army supposedly because he loved the front lines but not the desks. It kind of made sense when they framed it that way.
No, I am not kidding when I say over the top. He was supposedly shooting poachers and maybe flying helicopters. They were uncertain about the helicopters part.
Then on his return to England he got the WWII veterans flypast, and that cute pic with the elderly pilot that he “gave up” his plane for. I remember a rumor going around that he had been grounded for goofing around on the planes and that he wasn’t actually able to fly, but the story was so cute, I wanted to believe it. Now I’m thinking he really was grounded, which would explain why they were so unclear about the helicopters in Africa part.
There were cracks in the facade, of course. He was flirting with Jenna Coleman at the Audi polo in June, and he got drunk after England was defeated in the rugby cup (disappointing a whole bunch of Aussies who were convinced after his down under tour that Australia was “the country he never had.”) The reunion with Chelsy never happened and neither did the volunteer work with the Recovery Capability Program (I think maybe he showed up once?). He also missed Charlotte’s birth and christening.
But it was all buried under elephant pics and pilot jumpsuits and kid hugs. he even released “personal photos” on the KP instagram in December to cap off the drive.
It was a looooooooong pr campaign (nine months!) and it was masterfully done. Yeah, now we can look back on it and laugh our heads off because this Hero Harry person is nothing like 2018 Harry. Would this person hang out at Soho House? Would this person fall for Meghan Markle? Would this person now look as if he can’t take a step without a pat and a burp from Mummy 2.0? Aren’t the elephant and crocodile pics suspiciously similar to the James Bond pics after the wedding? Isn’t the whole thing eerily similar to Meghan’s current “savior” press?
I’m not surprised we were all fooled.
BTW, remember this “running into an old teacher” scene in New Zealand? It was redone with Meghan during the carriage drive.
Oh, no, people freaked. There was no way of tallying because almost all her clothes were custom made, but there was a lot of controversy at first. People were used to royals who wore very uniform-looking clothes and reused things over and over again and here was Di with designer this and that, and hardly ever recycling anything. Eventually, she started re-using and altering clothes.
But Di spent tons of money. And there were no discounts back then. Charles paid for everything. The amounts didn’t really come out until after the divorce, though. This is from Diana, The Last Word.
I don’t think that’s 10X what Kate spends, though. I think it comes out to about the same when you do all the conversions.
OMG, I just pulled the old articles from Kate’s first year when people were freaking out that she spent $54k in six months. That’s less money than a pair of Meghan’s earrings!!!!
I found a historical UK inflation calculator. Basically, £1 in 1994 equals £1.94 in 2018. So, Diana’s £160,000 in 1994 would be the equivalent of £310,400 today.
In KATE’s first six months as a married woman, her total spending amounted to £40’500 ($54’000). That’s the woman married to the 3rd in line to be king. And was doing engagements. This included her clothes. Okay.
In MEGHAN’s first six months, not as wife, but as a fiancée +1 day as wife to the 6th in line, she has amassed a whopping £514’330 ($687’000) in JEWELLERY ALONE. And this is only counting her “big pieces”. Throughout the six months we’ve seen her wearing new pieces stacked and mismatched adding up to thousands per time.
In response to this, and many others like it, trying to create something out of nothing:
“I am stil puzzled by this weird c of a – this is not an individual c of a but joined it is also not a conjugal c of a. Strange. The absence of chains on the supporter is very weird.”
I was too tipsy to make sense over here the first time around. No, it is not weird. It is tack af, very shallow and ego-centred.** But no. It’s not formally weird.
Her father did not get a Markle family CoA, so unlike Kate, she did not have an independent family Arms going into this union beforehand. Therefore no separate display for y’all to see. Though there will formally be a separate Sunshine & Chickenfeathers shield granted as her separate arms, it probably won’t be put out there as it’s simply way beyond its time for use. It has no function as she’s married. The impaled CoA is Meghan’s CoA now. As HRH Duchess of Slutsex. Hope I make sense here.
Further, what the Arms do have by way of formalities, is bog standard positining and referencing. Nothing strange.
Let’s have a comparative look shall we:
Will and Kate (impaled):
Hazza and Meg (impaled):
Like I said: bog standard. Nothing formally untoward.
Now what most people seem to be comparing it with is Will and Kate’s conjugal Arms:
…which was granted later and released two years after their marriage (2013). FYI.
Note that it is not Kate’s hind gorged with Will’s coronet that’s chained, it’s the Scottish unicorn. This is a merger of their separate shields supported and labelled by the Royal CoA. An entirely different matter.
And please refrain from comparing Diana’s separate CoA as she had her suo jure Spencer Arms which features a griffin argent gorged and chained to begin with. This is comparing apples & pears.
Heraldry is a complicated af business even when you do know something of it, so it’s only fair that people generally don’t understand when they really haven’t had to pay attention before. But you can rest assured that aside from the absurd silliness [sic!] of it all, this is “legit”. 🙂
**Note/rant:Though I’m sure she thought it was meant as symbolising using “her voice” for others, we all know M’s motivations by now. The bird in conjunction with the quills are a giveaway.There’s nothing that grounds or roots her with substance. It’s all flighty References to something nobody can really substantiate (part-time below-average calligrapher with only one reference ever of any work?); or banal blog writings much of which were written the guy-intern; or is she referencing the total of 2 ½ “essays” she wrote just around the time of breaking that she’s dating Harry?
Either way – there’s nothing substantial about her symbolics. Just what she’d like to project about herself. It’s a PR-coat. Much like everything else about this woman. And there you have it. Maybe that’s why people can’t wrap their heads around her shenanigans; you guys are used to a stayed aristo/royal/British way of emphasising tradition and stability and something of the true self. Then you get this. And the immediate reaction is: “oh surely it can’t be right? Is it fake?” Oh the LOLz. It’s real people. Tacky. But real. Where you were used to a Coat of Arms, you got Bathrobe of Arms. We’re breaking tradition baby! Welcome to Meg’s World.
Thank you so much for submitting this! I love it when anons are more articulate than I am. I particularly love this part:
And there you have it. Maybe that’s why people can’t wrap their heads around her shenanigans; you guys are used to a stayed aristo/royal/British way of emphasising tradition and stability and something of the true self. Then you get this. And the immediate reaction is: “oh surely it can’t be right? Is it fake?” Oh the LOLz. It’s real people. Tacky. But real. Where you were used to a Coat of Arms, you got Bathrobe of Arms. We’re breaking tradition baby! Welcome to Meg’s World.
I love the “Bathrobe of Arms,” LOLOLOLOLOL.
But I’m going to focus on this quote: "You guys are used to a staid aristo/royal.British way of emphasizing tradition and stability and something of the true self. Then you get this.” <=== This is why I am revising Hillary Mantel’s “empty chairs” quote.
And Andrew Morton’s chatter about how the monarchy is all just costumes and crap anyway, so Meghan’s perfect for it.
She really is making it all look like a Hollywood production (the theatrical wedding, the sashay at the garden party). and, yes, there is an element of theatricality to the BRF, but, as you say, there is supposed to be a core of tradition and truth to it. What will be the effect of all of this Hollywood crapola being injected into the institution.
Right now, the conventional wisdom among the royal reporters, etc… is that this is fantastic because it “modernizes” the monarchy and expands its reach, but I don’t think that will be the case.
I think what will happen is that, as Meghan moves through the royal sphere, everything will start to look faker and faker and Hollywood-y, and it’s going to be interesting to see what effect this has. They are already dealing with a decrease in UK viewers. What’s next?
I think it’s interesting that the Cambridge response is to up the real-ness of their own family. Will is doing more “normal” stuff with friends and family, and becoming more of a diplomat. Kate is recycling like crazy and writing letters about her family life.
Thanks for sending this in, You’re right, the CoA perfectly illustrates what we are seeing, particularly in the “impaled” format, where it is contrasted with Harry’s own über-traditional set of arms.
this is complex so I hope I can explain it – with impaled arms if the husband marries twice the femme side of the arms is divided again to show the PATERNAL arms of the first wife and then the arms of the second wife. This is how wiki describes it:
When a husband has been married more than once, the sinister half of femme is split per fess, that is to say horizontally in half, with the paternal arms of the first wife shown in chief and those of the second wife in base. The sinister side may thus be divided more than twice in similar fashion where required.
IF Megsy had arms which were “Markle” arms then Harry upon divorce would in his joint arms have to display her arms too as per above. But because she has no “Markle” arms or paternal arms Harry won’t in his impaled arms upon a second marriage have to display the Markle arms too. Or so it appears to me since she does not have paternal arms.
So the current situation appears to prevent Harry from having Markle in his impaled arms forever and his second wife from having to share her impaled arms with Markle.
Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.
“I wasn’t going to bother with this wedding stuff, until I found out Sea Duke was gonna be there. I actually dragged my carcass out of bed at 0700 to watch it, and seeing him there, walking well and slaying in his morning suit, was everything I wanted from this day.“ – Submitted by teamphilipftw
It’s been a while since my opinionated self was last teed off, but there was something in the press releases regarding the new Duchess of Sussex’s coat of arms that really annoyed me. I haven’t posted anything on the coat of arms as there is so much about it that I don’t understand or just find ridiculous. There are numerous blogs that have been posting a ton of good stuff on the topic though.
But the coat of arms in and of itself is not really what bothers me. What it does is highlight a trend that I, and I’m sure many others would have noticed over the past few months. Just look at this headline:
“Her biggest break in royal tradition yet…” What is this, a world record attempt to see how many rules or how big a rule current royals can break? I was pretty sure that I’d seen similar phrasing before, so I had a brief look to see how often this theme comes up with regards to the newly minted Sussexes.
There are literally, pages upon pages of articles listed on google about Harry and/or Meghan “Breaking Royal Tradition/Breaking Protocol”. The shot above does not even begin to illustrate how many articles there are out there with the headline being some form of “breaking tradition/protocol/rules.” And before anyone goes “it’s the media’s fault”, the BRF does have some leverage over what the media reports, especially in the UK, so I doubt that we would be inundated with so many similar articles if this wasn’t somehow linked to a PR push of sorts. (Why they push in this particular direction is beyond me.)
Rule breaking has been a recurring theme in the media for the entirety of the Sussex’s relationship. It’s almost as if they’re both stuck in a perpetual teenage phase where rule breaking is cool just because it’s rule breaking. Where is the logic in that, I do not know. But it really does seem to be just petty rule breaking for the sake of rule breaking. Because what kinds of “rules” are they breaking anyway? Here’s one right under the headline:
To name just a few of the things that the media has so nicely pointed out for us over the past few months (this last month especially), the Sussex’s “rule/tradition breaking” consists of being total rebels over things like a cake flavor, kissing for photographers on the steps of St George’s Chapel when none has ever kissed there for photographers before, having a foreigner speak at their wedding, having only very young wedding attendants, choosing their own ‘style’ of wedding music (these ones are from legit articles btw, I’m not making them up). Also, leaking on social media, not waiting until marriage to undertake tours together/issue statements on official letterheads (by the non-royal fiancee), no walking down the aisle with the bride’s father (many women do this for various reasons, but Meghan’s the progressive trendsetter y’all), not inviting family to their
wedding while inviting a ton of people they may not know very well, possibly spending taxpayer money on leisure trips together while dating, announcing that one or both are feminists on multiple occasions, etc. Real ground breaking stuff that gets touted as “modern” and “progressive”.
Now what kinds of rules did they NOT break? Here’s one example that I’ve posted about before:
The Sussexes did not see it as modern/necessary to go against rules/traditions (whether formal or just within the family) that involve bridal jewellery (the type of wedding ring for the bride and the source of materials used – the Queens vault; the bridal tiara tradition and the tiara source – again, the Queen’s vault; the Cartier wedding gifts; the Diana ring), the carriage ride (even though this is one tradition that ~30K UK citizens WANTED them to break), the multiple receptions with their dress (and suit?) changes, the acceptance of titles by the newly married couple, the receipt of a home appointed by the Crown with an upkeep that is potentially financed by the taxpayer, etc, etc. I mean, who would dare break such rules/traditions? Not the feminist, progressive modernizing-the-monarchy Sussexes of all people. SMH.
For all the rule breaking the Sussexes have done, I cannot recall them having ever broken one that “matters” in terms of making a social statement. They could’ve made really strong, positive ones about family and race issues at the wedding for example, but they fell short on that one too. They’re just happy to “break tradition” willy-nilly and be touted as “modernizing” and “progressive” as long as it doesn’t have anything (negative) to do with their bottom line or stop them from parading in front of an audience. If it costs them and not someone else, then by no means do they want to break tradition. Honestly, every time I see a title like this:
…I wonder what the hell these people are smoking. The BRF may be an ancient institution and uphold many traditions, but they are fairly modern by world standards in the way they operate. As stuffy as being a royal wife may be, these BRF women have more rights and are more involved/included/acknowledged than women in some other royal families/other parts of the world have been IMO. In all honesty, if ever there was a royal bride whose name I would consider in the same sentence as the phrase “modernizing the royal family” it would be Lalla Salma of Morocco (who sadly, the media reports as being recently divorced).
As a bit of background, prior to Lalla Salma’s wedding to the King of Morocco, Moroccan women lacked a lot of the rights that western women enjoy and were subject to the decision making of their male counterparts. The monarch had multiple wives whom he never publicly acknowledged and swapped out as he pleased. Lalla Salma, a computer science graduate, was the woman whose marriage changed the status quo. She was the first Moroccan monarch’s wife to be publicly acknowledged, champion charitable causes, accompany her husband at public events and represent him in an official capacity. She was the first woman to get a Moroccan King to promise her that she would be the only wife, and that he would not hide her away. During her tenure as consort, women within Moroccan society gained rights and privileges that were formerly restricted to men. Now that is what I call modernizing the monarchy. Modernizing a society even. That is royal leverage used well, and I say this of both Lalla Salma and her (ex?) husband. This is an example of the kind of effort a royal couple would have to put in to get the kind of acclaim the Sussexes are trying to court. But it doesn’t happen over night. It took the Moroccans years, and they’re still in the process of change.
I would also add that not all monarchies currently need modernizing IMHO. The need for modernizing stems from a cultural climate that is stuck in a system of beliefs/values/traditions that a lot of the “modern world” had already left behind. This need for “modernizing” is less pressing in the BRF where women and men are equally acknowledged and able to succeed the reigning monarch. I know it’s not as simple as that, but I honestly don’t think the British royals have it that bad. If they’re not careful, I feel they’ll modernize the UK out of a royal family altogether. There are certainly things that I would like to see the BRF change, but none of it has anything to do with cake flavors, guest-lists or proclamations of grandeur. Why “break traditions” in an attempt to modernize a monarchy in ways that really aren’t needed? (Why does it matter to the world if royals eat fruit cake or some other cake at weddings? How does the music they play/listen to better the world?…You get the picture). If they really want to “modernize the monarchy” the Sussexes had better start doing it in ways that count – and by that I mean in ways that will also benefit others and not just themselves.
My apologies for the uncomfortable length of this rant-y post. Takeaway points: I’m sick of the endless “breaking tradition/protocol/rules” and “modernizing” articles regarding the Sussexes and the BRF in general. The BRF doesn’t need modernizing and this PR push counts for squat until one of them actually does something that brings about positive change, both for the BRF and their subjects. Until then, they can lay off the PR. It’s just window dressing – horrible, tacky window dressing that does the opposite of “selling” the BRF.
Excellent post. They really aren’t breaking anything they just want everyone to believe they are trailblazers.
Hello anon 🙂 Her supporter is a deer, a white hind. The press release at the time said: “The Supporter assigned to The Duchess of Cambridge is a white hind, which has had continuing Royal connections in England since the 14th Century… The white hind has had a long tradition of connections to the Royal Family in England since the fourteenth century. It was the Badge of Joan of Kent (c. 1328-1385), Princess of Wales, better known as the Fair Maid of Kent. In 1467 an inventory of ornaments and relics at Westminster Abbey included a red altar-cloth and frontal with gold lions and white hinds for the altar of King Henry V. In 1529 King Henry VIII had three hinds carved amongst the eighteen beasts at Hampton Court. The white hind contrasts with the white hart, the favourite Badge of the Fair Maid of Kent’s son Richard II. The hart or stag is the male red deer and the hind the female. A hind is a forest dweller and stands well next to a Shield where acorns are the principal feature.”
So it was chosen to emphasise her Britishness, her position as a future Princess of Wales, and her love of the countryside and nature.
“[A]nything from infertility to hair loss and relationship problems…” LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
So, do they not have any kind of HIPPA laws in the UK regarding acupuncture? I’m wondering how he gets around that kind of thing with an article like this…
Also, for Harry’s hair loss, he’d probably have to see an acupuncturist that either specializes in fine grain moxa treatments or microneedling. Doesn’t look like this guy does either of those two things.
Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the Earl of Wessex and his daughter Lady Louise Windsor attend Sunday church services near the Balmoral estate in Scotland. May 27, 2018
Oh, we are totally not exaggerating. They will pounce on anything, even positive articles that they feel are not worshipful enough.
I remember they once savaged super-sugar Emily Andrews because one of her articles used the sexy kneeling Reitman’s pic. Emily was all “Uh, Meghan took that pic. It was her collection. Presumably she likes it.” The minions were not having any of it.
it’s bizarre. I’ve event gotten death threats on this blog. Death threats OVER ROYAL COMMENTARY. Who even does that? I don’t get it. I get super bitchy on this blog, but, hey, it’s my space. I can’t even imagine going over to other accounts and harassing people. Why would anyone do that?
If Meghan ends up with an anti-bullying patronage, I will laugh my booty off, I can tell you that.
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Most likely yes. He needs to follow his divine inspiration about where to go or what to do. God is their matchmaker or in other words – the Universe is at play here. That’s the ace of swords. Will Meghan be able to stop the meeting – the hierophant – it is a maybe, but as I got it reversed it’s a probably not. Also, the hidden card that came here is another of the 3 karma cards – the wheel of fortune. In combination – it’s a no. Things are set in stone for PH and FD to meet, we have a divine matchmaker and no one can mess with that and succeed.
‘It was an act calculated to create embarrassment. She needed money.’
‘By this time, she and Augustus had been married for seven years, even though the royal couple had spent less than a year together as man and wife, and both had been serially unfaithful.
According to documents lodged in the Royal Archives at Windsor, the Duchess chased her husband to Lisbon trying to get money out of him and managed to secure a £4,000-a-year maintenance deal.’
‘For the first Duke and Duchess of Sussex, it was a case of marry in haste and repent at leisure. For people like them there was no such thing as divorce, and they were shackled to each other for life. Money, ambition and betrayal tarnished their marriage, and it’s reassuring to think that nothing of such magnitude could ever occur to the lives of Harry and Meghan today.’
‘Her husband had to bring a legal action to stop her using the royal coat of arms, and another to stop her children, encouraged by their mother, from calling themselves ‘Prince’ and ‘Princess’.’
The main contradiction of liberal democracy is that it has largely been shaped through a history of various forms of illegal civil disobedience against entrenched power structures. Such civil disobedience is (retrospectively) seen as justified, and the people committing it are (retrospectively) seen as heroes…but each successive generation is asked to believe that any further civil disobedience would be unreasonable.
each successive generation is asked to believe that any further civil disobedience would be unreasonable.
“Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.”— Mignon McLaughlin
this is complex so I hope I can explain it – with impaled arms if the husband marries twice the femme side of the arms is divided again to show the PATERNAL arms of the first wife and then the arms of the second wife. This is how wiki describes it:
When a husband has been married more than once, the sinister half of femme is split per fess, that is to say horizontally in half, with the paternal arms of the first wife shown in chief and those of the second wife in base. The sinister side may thus be divided more than twice in similar fashion where required.
IF Megsy had arms which were “Markle” arms then Harry upon divorce would in his joint arms have to display her arms too as per above. But because she has no “Markle” arms or paternal arms Harry won’t in his impaled arms upon a second marriage have to display the Markle arms too. Or so it appears to me since she does not have paternal arms.
So the current situation appears to prevent Harry from having Markle in his impaled arms forever and his second wife from having to share her impaled arms with Markle.
FILMS WATCHED IN 2018 → Moulin Rouge! (2001) dir. Baz Luhrmann. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever.
Yeah I watched her videos on them. All of the tarot card readings have been highly interesting. The secrets and betrayal have been a common theme in the reading.
Countess Alexandra arrive to the gala banquet on the occasion of The Crown Prince’s 50th birthday at Christiansborg Palace on May 26, 2018 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lmao a NYT reporter was in the crowds at the wedding and her incredulity and snark are amazing. Few tidbits: half the crowd booed Harry the night before the wedding, cheered and *loved* seeing Fergie
Ok so I was looking at videos of the wedding to see the absolute tank that is Prince Philip* and I came across this lovely screenshot which shows two of his grandchildren looking at him with complete adoration which is a moment that did not get enough coverage!
(*The man had a complete hip replacement like six weeks before this wedding and not only did he clamber in and out of a state limousine, walk unaided the whole time and kept standing up and sitting down throughout the ceremony at the necessary points, but do this all within a month of his 97th birthday.)
House of Brat 