Although ruckus is perhaps too mild a term for the flaming dumpster fire, train wreck or thirty-car pile-up on the interstate, for the public relations disaster that has been called down upon the Windsor family by the present king’s younger son. One isn’t so much drawn to look, in horror – just that one can’t look away from the international spectacle of a man napalming relationships with his own family, all egged on by his wife and the news/entertainment media.
I can’t help knowing what I do know about the British royal family, and the Kardashians, too, as I am a regular reader of the Daily Mail. Curiously, both the British royals and the Kardashians are an obsession of that publication, and it’s a slow week where there aren’t half a dozen stories concerning either. To be fair, I would guess that most of the royals are a bit better grounded, more obedient to duty, and all-around pleasanter people than the Kardashian clan. I really don’t know any of them, in the accepted sense – all I do know, like Will Rogers, is what I read in the papers. But the royals figured a lot in the news, over the last twenty or forty years – what with Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee, the assorted family weddings, births, deaths, divorces, scandals, nostalgic looks backward at the abdication of Edward, the wartime conduct of Queen Elizabeth’s parents, her own coronation, and her recent passing … well, one picks up a lot of trivial knowledge by osmosis.
One of those things is the realization that it’s a burden enough to be born into a family such as the Windsors, and as for the individuals who willingly and for love marry into it? It’s not a fairy tale; it’s more like an indeterminant sentence of glittering privilege and hard labor, into which those volunteers must go with open eyes and a willingness to fit into that life and give up just about every shred of privacy as the rest of us know it. The late Queen Mother did so, apparently assuming at the onset that her husband as the second son would be allowed a relatively obscure and private life on the edge of the royal circle. (I have read in several different accounts that her resentment of Edward VIII was unrelenting, as she was convinced that the responsibility of the office her husband was thrown into, willy-nilly, contributed to shortening his life.) As queen consort and later dowager, she never put a foot wrong. Catherine Middleton did the same; it would seem that Prince William let her have a good long time to consider and consent to what she was letting herself in for. Camilla, the present queen consort was in two minds about the degree of commitment necessary to join the royal family firm; apparently, so did Prince Harry’s previous serious girlfriends, and who could blame them in the least?
Another of those realizations is the knowledge that their lives are terribly peculiar; privileged for certain – but always in the pitiless and unsparing eye of the public – always “on”, whenever in public, the cynosure of all attention. The lifelong burden of attention and responsibility must be a terrible weight; only the strongest and most dedicated are likely able to hold up under the strain without cracking. That the late Queen and her husband held up under it for decades argues for the strength of their own characters, and the steadfast support and affection of a close family circle and those long-time members of their private circle – those few with whom they can relax, let their hair down, metaphorically, and trust to share confidences with – confidences and feelings which will not immediately be blared to the public at large. A close-knit and close-mouth family circle must be a large part of that support system. And Prince Harry has just blown all of that to heck. Not just breaking family confidence, as if that weren’t enough, but publicly venting a reservoir of spleen and resentment with just about every member of his family. It’s horrifying to watch as a disinterested spectator. Those once closest to him must be in agony. One must wonder if he was always an immature and resentful dumpster fire of a human being, and the royal public affairs office and a sympathetic British media just managed to keep that under wraps … or was Ms Markle every bit as awful.
If anything, the divorce coming along in five to seven years, is going to be an even more disastrous spectacle.
“So convenient a thing to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.” And you get to call it “authenticity.”
I suspect greed induced him to magnify his grievances.
The latest, that he thinks he was bred as an organ donor, is just breath taking. An unimaginable low, even for this spoiled brat.
She has Borderline Personality Disorder, which is what Diana had. This should make things clear, if you know the diagnosis. Poor bastard is never going to get free of his father’s terrible decisions.
“Unto the third and fourth generation…”
The phenomena of a new wife or husband systematically isolating their new mate from his or her family and other connections, if possible between the wedding and reception, is so common that if Harry had been anyone else, no one not in his acquaintance would have cared. My least favorite former sister in law had that tendency, my brother, true to his heritage was too ornery to let her get her way.
As far as Harry’s 400+ page whine is concerned, there is not a gun built, that aimed at my head, would induce me to so much as open the cover. I remember back when the cult of Diana was in full flower that I observed we had fought a war in order that England’s royals would never matter here.
I wonder if we could make cancelling his visa an issue in ’24?. However long this marriage lasts, I’m sure it will seem much longer to Harry.
Interesting, Sarge, but it seems we both read the Daily Mail. The reason I do is because Brit papers will give honest coverage of whatever embarrassing things American politicians do, as they cover up what Brit politicians do. American media concentrate on lying to cover up what illegal/immoral/unethical things American politicians do and ignoring anything that happens in Britain. So it is a way to keep an eye on our own Nomenklatura.
Y’all round-eyes tend to make references to Chinese fire drills. I refer to the Anglo equivalent as a Caucasian Cluster Copulation. And Harry is making his own Cluster. MCS made mention of cancelling his visa. Apparently in the course of getting his permanent residency visa, he had to swear under oath that he had not done any of a specific list of illegal drugs. And his book gives the lie to that.
I wonder if we could expel him based on lying on his visa application, and the Brit Royal Family could make him Governor-General of St. Helena? Can you imagine the Duchess of Sussex’ reaction to that?
Subotai Bahadur
Sgt Mom: You are, as always, insightful and erudite.
Subotai Bahadur: You have an evil mind and we love it. What a wonderfully horrible fate you’ve painted!
Yes we fought a war in 1776 so that we no longer have to care about those in-bred lollygaggers. However given that the news cycle has been dominated by this Harry person (instead of more important matters, like who will be the next coach of the Arizona Cardinals), I have a few thoughts.
It occurred to me this morning and checked it to be sure… yep, William’s first son was born in 2013 kicking Harry out of the line-of-succession and then our-no-longer-the-Spare married his screeching little harpy in 2018. It used to be in European royalty that after the birth of the heir, the king’s younger brother would go off to join the army, stay a perpetual drunk, and toss serving girls. I’m sure Charles would see that as better life for Harry than his current situation.
Speaking of the cover boy for the Big Book of British Smiles…
It is the duty of every father to counsel and guide his children regarding a good mate or at least mitigate the effects of hard-won experience. It seems to me with Grace Kelly, that the door has been opened in many a young common lass’s imagination about the possibility of marrying a prince and have set off to make their dreams come true. This Markle person is the classic gold-digger, you would think the Windsors would have a standard game plan for dealing with this. As with many bad marriages I blame the father; he could have at least recruited some of the old boyos (the lower nobility and lesser houses of European royalty) to give Harry some rough and direct encouragement. I would imagine these days the plan would be to use some of that AI to generate some pre-emptive scandal to place our aspiring princess’s image into the adult film industry or forbid, Wall Street. Charles did not go the distance on this, shame on him.
I can have a small degree of sympathy as he did not ask to be born into the family business with its constant limelight and intrigue. However I have far more sympathy for the coal miner who breaks his body proving us with necessary fuel or the cop who places his body (and legal freedom) on the line to protect us. Unlike them, this royal twit can always curse his rotten luck from the sun-lit patio of his villa. Part of being a man is to understand that no matter how bad you think your life is that there is always a better man than you who has it worse.
When all is said and done, this royal wanker’s contribution to history is to serve as a warning to others
I think there are several reasons Harry and that Shelob whose web he’s trapped in won’t be expelled. 1. It would humiliate the UK and royal family. Diplomatic problems in that scenario that Harry and The Skank simply are not worth. 2. The wife is American and so are the children. How do they get expelled? 3. Hunter Biden.
I recently read some comments from a Brit who was Charles’ “Close Personal Escort” in the 1980s, and of course worked with the other royals’ security staff.
As he saw it:
Andrew was a self-important prick. Diana was whiny and selfish. Both were abusive toward their staff.
Charles was decent and tried hard; he never saw Camilla till after Diana had multiple affairs. Edward was weak, but knew his limitations. Anne was tough. The Queen knew horses, and probably could have bankrupted bookmakers.