Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary

[lisaviolet]

A spokesman for the couple told the New York Times that Megxit was never about privacy.
'Their statement announcing their decision to step back mentions nothing of privacy and reiterates their desire to continue their roles and public duties. Any suggestion otherwise speaks to a key point of this series. They are choosing to share their story, on their terms, and yet the tabloid media has created an entirely untrue narrative that permeates press coverage and public opinion. The facts are right in front of them'.

Could be me, but it's a bit late after 2 years and countless lawsuits to start denying this.
(And it sorta contradicts Harry's earlier statements that he hopes this departure would give them a quieter life)

I think you're bang on & that is the difficulty. I get we all could have misunderstood *private life"* and just erroneously assumed it meant privacy. I think that post was insightful. And made me think.

But there were other statements made over the years that have no other meaning but privacy needed, wanted &.requested..

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I find her to be a conniving person. It feels obvious to me when I look at her that she is not genuine.

 

[RoseGold]

The O-1 non immigrant visa which is for 'the individual who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those'. not criteria i think anyone would say he meets.

Well, we all watched and he got millions of dollars for it. I'd say that's pretty extraordinary. Keep him. Tax him. Tax his kids. I don't have a problem with that at all. I don't see why he'd want US citizenship through marriage, he doesn't need it. We like people with multi-million dollar film deals in our taxation jurisdiction.

I read a very interesting article about the IRS crawling up Mehghan's business because she's still subject to US taxes. Their taxes have got to be a riot. Especially that year they were in Canada.

 

[Tink-osophy]

My thought too. Have ZERO interest in any of these types of documentaires which merely present someone's view of reality. Just because some well known public figure or celebrity says somethings doesn't mean they are necessarily being truthful. ...

I agree. I don't want to hear 'their truth' - I'd prefer something closer to THE truth, which would surely be more balanced. There have been too many inconsistencies for me to believe they are the same! It concerns me when people making such consistent attacks and making such accusations keep being given a platform for more without balance, let alone direct challenge.

I don't know why everyone hates them so much. I watched and enjoyed. I understand where they are coming from and feel so much compassion for Harry and all that he has gone through.
I fully see why he would want to protect Meghan from what his mom went through.

The problem is that anything can be portrayed in such a way as to be entirely convincing (that's why so many of us love books, movies, TV etc.) - that doesn't make it true. They play on your emotions and you get drawn in. I get the impression that this Netflix show has been heavily styled?

Personally, based on their previous claims and appearances, I would think there are strands of truth to their 'show', but plenty of dubious 'truths' and inconsistencies alongside. They want you to look over here and NOT look over there (so-to-speak.) ...Like I said, this is just my perspective.

More importantly, for me, is that people who say they care about positive change in the world don't achieve it through such prolonged, constant complaints and negativity. I wonder what someone like Nelson Mandela (RIP) would think about the choices they are making in the name of 'helping others'. I can't see this would have been an approach he would have recommended. (That's just me thinking out loud, of course.) ETA: I'm not saying social change doesn't require some bite and discomfort, rather that I don't see that's what they are doing.

Why are they getting so much attention for so many personal gripes, when so many around the world are dealing with so much more? If they understood that, wouldn't they take a different approach and put their energies into more constructive endeavors?

 

[Tink-osophy]

It's a sign of respect to their head of state. Meghan wasn't (and isn't) a UK citizen, she didn't have to curtsy at all.

This is like a Brit putting both hands on their heart for the pledge of allegiance. They don't have to do the pledge at all, this isn't even their country. And that isn't even how we do it.

It's never a great idea to disrespect another country's patriotic traditions, is it?!

That is why she would have benefited from a longer courtship/engagement/post wedding period. Then Meghan could have looked into where she wanted to adjust to this life and where it clashed too much with her beliefs.

Also rejecting the help from other royals and aides was not a wise decision. Sophie Wessex could have told her where there was room for your own opinion and interpretation, and where there was no wiggle room.

I agree. Maybe, that suggests she didn't want to make that effort and the easiest way out was to undermine what she didn't like -- you know, like the person who attacks the speaker rather than challenges their speech. I imagine Harry was happy to leave those formalities behind, too.

To be fair, I wouldn't want to live that way, I just don't think it's necessary to bring it all down just to leave it! That's where their possible narcissism comes in, maybe.

 

[Karin1984]

This column in the Telegraph might give the needed insight in the curtsy issue.

And yes, one thing to add in the discussion is Harry's reaction. If Harry had said something as "your first curtsy wasn't that bad" or even "you improved over time" then we could have believed it was making fun at herself. But as he looks extremely serious, and a bit uncomfortable, he knows that this wasn't right.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...-has-quaint-habits-plenty-ridicule-us-meghan/

 

[Karin1984]

I agree. Maybe, that suggests she didn't want to make that effort and the easiest way out was to undermine what she didn't like -- you know, like the person who attacks the speaker rather than challenges their speech. I imagine Harry was happy to leave those formalities behind, too.

I think Meghan grew up used to getting her way, whether this was because a doting father, uncle, or being determined and smart.

I think she believed she would be able to create her own role within the family without interference. And that she would be able to make changes where necessary.
When it turned out she couldn't, she decided this was not for her and she was better off in the US.

In previous threads about H & M I also suggested that Meghan has narcissistic tendencies. She reminds me of cult leaders.

https://www.psycom.net/personality-disorders/narcissistic#symptoms
https://www.psychmechanics.com/characteristics-of-cult-leaders/

I hope the Palace gives the Sussex Survivors a chance to speak. It will give a different insight who H&M are. You truly see someone's character when you see how they treat their parents or people working for them.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I hope the Palace gives the Sussex Survivors a chance to speak. It will give a different insight who H&M are. You truly see someone's character when you see how they treat their parents or people working for them.

Yes, surely there'll come a time when someone, somewhere from that group gets a voice?

I would have a lot more time for Harry and Meghan's complaints if they, also, acknowledged their own mistakes and if they showed compassion towards others, rather than just themselves!

 

[lisaviolet]

if they showed compassion towards others, rather than just themselves!

And that is it. Very few situations in life don't have another perspective, another way at seeing it. Or our own part in the situation, even if it is a very small piece of that pie. They seem to not even want to own a sliver.

But even moreso is the danger - and sometimes selfishness - of this need to tell your story or control your narrative to no end. It is far too rampant in our world. We needed to get healthier and speak - but there is a balance.

Sometimes there are casualties abound in speaking one's truth. I know there are quite a few times in my own life where my story and truth has to sit inside me & stay there. Do not stop go. Why? Because the repercussions to others' well-being is far too great. It is not being weak or being a martyr - it is knowing that relationships with loved ones are sacred. Even with those that might not even deserve that level of respect.

The need to speak is not always worth detrimentally impacting others. And I hope I am wrong but I suspect the three episodes coming, and the book, will unfortunately show that neither Harry nor Meghan truly get this premise.

I actually feel more sorry & frustrated with Harry, because this is his immediate family, royal or not. But I sense that besides genuinely loving Meghan and wanting to protect her, he is trying to do things here that he obviously could not do for his own mother., where I am sure helplessness was in abundance. A sort of rewriting her story and thinking he has the power to change the unfortunate.

 

[HopperFan]

More importantly, for me, is that people who say they care about positive change in the world don't achieve it through such prolonged, constant complaints and negativity. I wonder what someone like Nelson Mandela (RIP) would think about the choices they are making in the name of 'helping others'. I can't see this would have been an approach he would have recommended. (That's just me thinking out loud, of course.) ETA: I'm not saying social change doesn't require some bite and discomfort, rather that I don't see that's what they are doing.

Why are they getting so much attention for so many personal gripes, when so many around the world are dealing with so much more? If they understood that, wouldn't they take a different approach and put their energies into more constructive endeavors?

I think this is a big part of the problem and perhaps they need new PR people since they apparently can't see it for themselves. Or do they?

It is okay if they aren't in to the Royal thing, all the rules, all the responsibilities, all the restrictions of which charity endeavors they can pursue ... and it is okay if they wanted to do work that gave them the accolades in stead of the monarchy. IT IS OKAY if they wanted to step away from the Royal family and go out on their own. His place in succession was not needed. I am sure had he handled it properly they would have let him go. He blindsided them. They put up with his behavior for years, they could have handled it. IT IS OKAY, so do it the right way. Then leave, start your own life, your own charities and make all your own life decisions.

But don't expect the company you quit from to continue to pay you and invite you to holiday office parties and let you keep your VP title etc. Don't expect to be respected when you seem to spend most your time having protests against the old company, by filing complaints against the old company, by whining and crying every time a camera enters about every little thing you didn't like at the company. YOU QUIT. Now is the time to put your focus into YOUR work, YOUR charities and YOUR self worth. Stop blaming everyone else for your decisions and choices. Own your choices.

They are out of touch with reality if they think the recipients of their charities, that the average person anywhere in this world working hard to pay bills, that folks that are worried about their families health ..... are really going to be feeling bad for someone living a $15 million dollar home with 16 bathrooms because Daddy won't keep your allowance or got mad at some of your decisions or you know has King duties so busy. OR that your brother and his wife are super busy with all their duties, the ones they are fulfilling plus representing the country at major events so they don't have time to hold your hand and tell you warm fuzzies? I would bet most people in this world wish they had his problems. It is really hard to support any of their "good will" when they really don't get it.

I repeat, they need to stop TALKING and WALK the WALK of all the positive they want to bring to the world ... all I hear in that respect is crickets.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I love that Charles and company are just going about their normal days.

 

[HopperFan]

I love that Charles and company are just going about their normal days.

As they should. In this situation they need to stay the high road and ignore them. They have nothing to gain by engaging. Hopefully the tantrums will stop, and maybe one day they can just be family.

 

[barkley]

I repeat, they need to stop TALKING and WALK the WALK of all the positive they want to bring to the world ... all I hear in that respect is crickets.

i agree. i also believe that if harry feels there is so much dysfunction in his family by virtue of it's association with the monarchy then he needs to stop hyper-focusing all of his attention and efforts on complaining about it and rehashing what her perceives as past misdeeds. focus on his own little family-those babies are young enough that if he chose to they could lead a relatively low profile life largely unaware of and unimpacted by their father's former 'life'. instead all he's professionally and personally associated with now is generating interest and monetary gain from everything he claims to despise. they have the financial means to take a step back, take a breath and carve out the kind of life they claim to want-one with a division of work/private life privacy. there are many high profile celebrities, politicians and royalty who have and continue to manage to do so. that's not the step harry and esp. meghan seem to desire though-they want to step into the spotlight. both may dispute it but both enjoy it's glow. harry was raised in it and knows not how to go without it, meghan craves it and wants to amp it up from her dim wattage acting experience onto the higher voltage world stage and into history.

 

[barkley]

As they should. In this situation they need to stay the high road and ignore them. They have nothing to gain by engaging. Hopefully the tantrums will stop, and maybe one day they can just be family.

always better not to feed into it. i don't have much hope for reconciliation though-i get a strong vibe of familial alienation from meghan. she strikes me as the type that once she has someone on her s--- list there's no memory of anything positive about them/shared experiences. it's all focused on the negative, perpetuate that negativity. i don't think the little ones will be raised with any warm and fuzzy stories about harry's upbringing except as it pertains to diana and i think that will be skewed into a constant comparison to meghan. he already does it, there's going to be no one else around to dispel it since he's seemingly also fairly estranged from her side of the family as well (guess it didn't go over well when they said they never felt there was any similarities between diana and meghan-and we don't hear about it much since there's no bankability for harry and meghan to drag them through the mud).

as always-i feel for the little ones.

 

[focusondisney]

Yes, legally, but in reality she was presented to the Queen as Harry's girlfriend and possible future wife and British princess. She wasn't an average American meeting the queen. She was going to be a British subject, she was studying for her immigration tests. The original (official) plan was to live in the UK for the rest of her life.
If she had said back then in the car to Harry: "No way I am going to curtsy, I am an American."
Either Harry had not introduced her, or she would be behind 0-1 from the first meeting.
It's not about if she had to do it as an American citizen, but if she had to do it as Harry's girlfriend and future wife/princess.

Participating in traditions of your new family shows that you want to be part of the new family. Meghan wanted to be part of the royal family or at least she wanted to be liked by her boyfriend's grandmother.

Absolutely agree! If you’re intending to be part of a country’s royal family, which she apparently was, yes you should follow their traditions & protocols. Otherwise you are insulting you new family to be right to their faces. But I guess if you’re a narcissist, you
wouldn’t even consider anything but yourself.

i don't plan to watch it (did not watch their prior interviews) in large part b/c based on their words and actions i find them inauthentic and hypocritical. that said, from what i have observed since their relationship became public and has now transitioned into it's current state i have repeatedly felt like meghan had a very delusional idea of what her role in the monarchy/royal family/world stage would look like/entail.

i think meghan saw the princess diana mystique and believed she was the person who would logically step into her shoes. i think as it became obvious she was not destined for that she has looked to other historical royal, royal adjacent or politically powerful adjacent female figures to emulate and try to take bits and pieces on to revise her past and present narrative. there are obvious elements of the wallis simpson greater love for a woman vs. the monarchy legacy (i don't think she researched that too well though b/c the public and private ostracizing of wallis and edward post abdication isn't what the made for tv movies focus on and a far cry from what she seems to desire). i also see her emulating princess grace-wanting to be the royal who gave up hollywood to become a cherished patron of the arts and humanitarian (another miss-grace WAS a respected academy award winning actress who DID give up allot while meghan isn't even listed as a cast member on the 'suits' rotton tomato page/grace did much of her patronage and philanthropy anonymously vs. for public attention and accolades). more recently i'm wondering if the months of covid isolation had meghan watching and rewatching reruns of 'evita' because she's sure pushing the 'i came from poverty, i have been/am (was not? kind of waffles on this depending on branding she's seeking) discriminated against, one of the people-harry is a supporter of the people/we are YOU NOT THEM/ THEM IS BAD....' speak.


i agree with the post above that meghan is perhaps afflicted with a narcissistic disorder.


finally (and i only mention this b/c i watch all the 90 day fiancee junk)....when is something honest going to be put out about harry's legal status in the u.s. it stinks to high heaven about privilege and u.s. federal law violations if he was able to come here on a whim without going through all the legal hoops others do with valid spousal visa applications. he is also working here despite saying he doesn't want to pursue citizenship/a green card. the only option then? it's speculated to be The O-1 non immigrant visa which is for 'the individual who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those'. not criteria i think anyone would say he meets.

Excellent points! And I never considered Harry’s status in the US. But that’s a very interesting observation.


I’m not a fan of H & M. Don’t intend to watch the Real house wives of Sussex show. Like all the other bad actresses on those shows, she comes across as disingenuous.

And while I sympathize that he lost his mother, Harry’s not the only person ever to have his mother die while he was still a kid. My DH was also 11 when his mother died suddenly from a medical emergency. He was the one who found her & had to get help. It was over 50 years ago & things were handled poorly by his father. The children did not attend a viewing or funeral & frankly, were not even told what caused their mothers death until they were adults. It was almost like she never existed for them as they grew up. So no, my DH didn’t have to grieve in public. But really, he & his siblings weren’t even given a chance to grieve at all. Things happen in life & eventually you have to come to terms with them if you’re going to move into a healthy adulthood.

 

[kyton]

I think you are confusing two issues.
Australia is talking about becoming a Republic with an elected head of state rather than, as of now, King Charles.

They could, and probably would, remain a member of the Commonwealth.

Of the current 56 Commonwealth members, 32 are already Republics and some others even have their own monarchy instead of the British one.

ford family

Nope Australia is carrying on as per usual. It was mentioned briefly after the Queen passed but we had a referendum years ago and it was declined. That’s a couple of billion dollars to redo - no government at present wants that to be the hill they die on.

Harry looked horrified with his wife’s curtsey skit. And so he should IMO.

 

[anniemae]

Nope Australia is carrying on as per usual. It was mentioned briefly after the Queen passed but we had a referendum years ago and it was declined. That’s a couple of billion dollars to redo - no government at present wants that to be the hill they die on.

Harry looked horrified with his wife’s curtsey skit. And so he should IMO.

I noticed Harrys look as well. He looked like he wanted to stop her but was powerless because they were being filmed. She was laughing and joking about it. I don't think she intentionally tried to disrespect anyone or the traditions, I think she was more making fun of herself for being kind of clunky and awkward about it.

She said she only knew 5 minutes ahead of time that the Queen would be there for lunch and Harry asked her in the car as they were pulling up, "you know how to curtsy right?" She was apparently put on the spot and was poking fun at the situation. It was inappropriate, but I think she was clueless and it came off as strange and cringy.

 

[HopperFan]

always better not to feed into it. i don't have much hope for reconciliation though-i get a strong vibe of familial alienation from meghan. she strikes me as the type that once she has someone on her s--- list there's no memory of anything positive about them/shared experiences. it's all focused on the negative, perpetuate that negativity. i don't think the little ones will be raised with any warm and fuzzy stories about harry's upbringing except as it pertains to diana and i think that will be skewed into a constant comparison to meghan. he already does it, there's going to be no one else around to dispel it since he's seemingly also fairly estranged from her side of the family as well (guess it didn't go over well when they said they never felt there was any similarities between diana and meghan-and we don't hear about it much since there's no bankability for harry and meghan to drag them through the mud).

as always-i feel for the little ones.

I had no idea, I just assumed he was closer to them.

I just hunted articles and it really did cement what I took from an interview a few months ago, that he was trying to make Meghan like Diana and he is so far off base there. Now to read he was trying to get the Spencers to see and say the same thing but they also did not agree. Honestly trying to say Meghan is just like his Mom (who has been gone 25 years and most his life) and that Meghan's life is in danger (has to make Meghan feel good) because "he" thinks they are alike ............ is even more unhealthy than I thought. Telling the people who knew Diana best these things ..... no. Stop, stop talking, get yourself some help so YOUR nuclear family can get on and be well.

 

[barkley]

She said she only knew 5 minutes ahead of time that the Queen would be there for lunch and Harry asked her in the car as they were pulling up, "you know how to curtsy right?" She was apparently put on the spot and was poking fun at the situation. It was inappropriate, but I think she was clueless and it came off as strange and cringy.

she has also said that they were secretly dating 6 months before the public knew so that puts her at dating him for what? 18 months before the first meeting with the queen? seems like that was ample time to look into the practice, and good lord-meghan has a degree in theater. curriculum may have changed in the decades since i got mine but i believe shakespearean and other classical forms of theater studies are pretty basic foundations- which include learning the appropriate manner for a man to bow and a woman to curtsy.

 

[Karin1984]

It is okay if they aren't in to the Royal thing, all the rules, all the responsibilities, all the restrictions of which charity endeavors they can pursue ... and it is okay if they wanted to do work that gave them the accolades in stead of the monarchy. IT IS OKAY if they wanted to step away from the Royal family and go out on their own. His place in succession was not needed. I am sure had he handled it properly they would have let him go. He blindsided them. They put up with his behavior for years, they could have handled it. IT IS OKAY, so do it the right way. Then leave, start your own life, your own charities and make all your own life decisions.

I am still convinced if they had had patience, they could have either created a role within the royal family the way they wanted, or they could have left and get a half in / half out construction.

Most European kingdoms have some sort halfway system for the second sons and daughters. They have their own lives, jobs, charities they support and show up at the important national events.

But these things take time. Wanting it all and wanting it now is what ruined them.