MovieChat Forums > Prince Harry Discussion > Anybody read his book?

Anybody read his book?



I heard it's pretty whiny, but you can't trust reviewers.

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I did, and I can only recommend it to snarky bitches, or those who take an interest in abnormal psychology.

Harry is a very strange bird, and for all the therapy he's been through, he has NO idea how off he is, or how spoiled and self-absorbed.

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the therapy fucked him up even more I feel like. he should have just stuck with the cocaine and hookers as therapy. if ur gonna be so alone and sad to pay for a friend to talk to at least have it be a girl u can bang. am i right?

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I read it. It's interesting to get his point of view - and Meghan's - since I believe she heavily influenced the last 1/3 of the book. Much of his book is about world travel, living in a castle and country estates, dad's private chef cooking his meals, etc.. and his cluelessness about his many privileges. He doesn't appear to understand that his other complaints have nothing to do with being a royal like his older brother not wanting to hangout with him all the time or getting the smaller room because he's younger. It's also surprising to learn how much drugs and alcohol he consumed. Very much into partying.

I'm presently reading "The Courtiers" for a more objective perspective. Apparently, Harry was always angry about the media, distrustful of the courtiers and upset about his treatment by other royals, but it became much worst when he met Meghan. Details about her abusive behavior and how much the family and courtiers attempted to make her feel welcome and make things work. The latter isn't mentioned in his book.

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He really is clueless about how privileged he is, and about what kind of lives regular people lead... and he has absolutely no interest in learning to understand ordinary people, or other people in general.

What he doesn't get, and probably never will, is that most people have some kind of trauma in their background, like he does. But other people don't have the best medical care available for the asking, or employers who'll let them spend half the year in the Okovango Delta de-stressing, or free housing and trust funds, or the confidence that the police won't bother about all those illegal drugs, or any of the stuff Harry's been handed. No, most people have to deal with heartbreak, trauma, and mental illness while working full time, raising their own kids, doing their own housework, and worrying about being able to pay bills, inadequate medical care, uncertain futures, rising costs of living, and all the other crap that Harry has been spared. So, Harry, how do you think a person who has to deal with trauma feels about your book of whines, when they can barely afford to both pay for housing and for heating and transport to work?

But Harry actually expects regular people to feel sorry for him, and sympathize.

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Their brand is victimhood. They need to find another way to make money, but Meghan is releasing her book so more of the same.

Harry and other royals are isolated from regular people so their worldview is very limited. I don't believe Harry felt living outside the castle was bad until Meghan complained. Too many Disney movies for her.

I just completed "The Courtiers" book. It says he was very unhappy in the final years as a working royal so Megan helped him find a way to leave. And the book did confirm his criticism about courtiers working for different family members clashing, competing and hurting family members. Racism and classism in hiring are confirmed, but it says Charles and especially William are attempting to change things.

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I've got "the Courtiers" on hold at my local library, my source for "Spare", because stuffed if I was gigving Harry my money.

And yes, their brand is Victimhood, and you'd think they'd realize that nobody is buying it. The reaction to Harry's book is universally negative, he really does reveal himself to be an asshole. Okay, he was trying to make himself look as good as possible in the book, but doesn't know how... for instance, there's the way they cut off Meg's father. Harry has an obsessive hatred of the press, and Meg's father is dirt poor and was living in a Mexican border town because he couldn't afford any place else, and the press started hounding Markle when the engagement was announced. According to Harry he called and offered to bring the sick old man to the UK, but "... of course if you've said anything to the press we'll never speak to you again". Of course the poor old sod had already accepted some badly-needed money for a harmless interview that revealed absolutely nothing about Harry and Meg, and according to Harry they cut him off forever for that! Even when Harry is trying to look good, he talks about cutting off a desperately poor and ill old man, without any advance warning that talking to the press would be a problem! Christ in a bucket of snails, Harry is warped, and he's still trying to make out that HE is the victim in that scenario.

Harry is the guy who remembers every petty slight he's ever received, and has no fucking clue that he's constantly insulting or harming others.

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I can't believe how mediocre Meghan's bio is. The only sympathy I have for her is that she is biracial woman operating in notoriously racist societies (i.e. Hollywood and the RF), but other than that, despite a private school education, her qualifications are pretty blah (a Communications Degree...), and she strikes me as a fundamentally unremarkable individual (then again, so was Diana Spencer and Kate Middleton before they married into the RF). You know how I feel about Harry already (he really is the worst), but whilst I don't have as much animus towards Meghan, I just don't understand what's so 'special' about her, and once again, if it wasn't for her racial background, it would be so easy to dismiss her as simply another over-privileged social-climbing airhead.

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My books were library loans for the same reason.

I thought the first part of "The Courtiers" was boring, but it becomes more interesting near the end.

Markle was upper middle-class and spent plenty paying for Meghan's elite private schools and her first wedding which probably bankrupted him. He also won the lottery. It was half-sister Samantha Markle's idea in an attempt to help her dad fix his bad image in the media. The guy he made the deal with basically lied and used him.

Sam, Meghan and their father appear to be from the same cloth. Exploitive, deceitful, untrustworthy, selfish, greedy, manipulative, scheming.

Before the wedding, Harry said that Meghan had no family so his family would become hers. It was my impression that Meghan lied and played victim so Harry would feel protective of her. Notice how she didn't invite her uncles, close niece, brother, aunts from either side of her family. Harry has this fear that he needs to protect Meghan from ending up like his mother which she plays into.

I find Meghan's scheming and manipulation interesting.

I recommend another book, "Meghan and Harry: The Real Story" by Lady Colin Campbell. Very well written, informative and fair. This book and Courtiers said making money and political aspirations were Meghan's agenda.

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Harry has such a pathetic and regressive view of women (typical of very privileged, super-spoiled, and not terribly bright, white men). In his head, they're either beautiful and virtuous saints (like his late mother and Meghan) who need protecting, or they're hideous monsters (like his step-mother). There's no nuance or complexity to his world-view.

And I'm pleased that you've highlighted that Meghan, although a relative arriviste, and a biracial woman (and, despite by issues with Harry and Meghan, I *do* believe that the RF are out-of-touch and have a lot of work to do when it comes to race-relations), still comes from a fairly privileged background (i.e. private education, a well-connected father with industry ties etc). Nowhere near as privileged as another 'Cinderella', the 'sainted' Princess Diana, of course, but still far from *deprived*.

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I have seen Lady Campbell's YT interviews, some of them anyway. Some things, I agree with to a minor extent.I will have to check out het book. The courtier's as well.

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Truly obsessive royal watchers tell me that Lady C is not considered a reliable source. They say she gets some things right, has some sources of information, and makes other shit up.

Don't ask me for proof, I'm not obsessive enough to care about all the tiny details.

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Then, you're only gossiping.

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We all are.

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Not true. Her Harry & Meghan book was very well researched and information in it was confirmed by other legitimate sources.

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Well said.

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“His point of view.”

You mean his ghostwriter’s point of view.

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The first 2/3 of the book was Harry's personal experiences and thoughts. The last 1/3 felt like Meghan's and/or Harry the love sick fool's point of view. The ghostwriter can make their story legible on the page.

I found what was left out of the book to be just as interesting. For instance, his very close friend died as a passenger in a car accident which he implies happened because it was foggy. I had to google to learn the driver was drunk. And no mention of Meghan's bullying.

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Actually, there was an extended mention of Meg's bullying of staff, and how Harry was told about it but refused to believe it, because when he was around she was super-sweet to the staff and bought them pizza.

Now doesn't seem to be a nice person but I do have some sympathy for her, she was looking at the end of her acting career and seemed to have no options but to get a realtor's license and to see if she could wangle a surgeon to the altar... and a prince became available. Royal life must have been pretty rough at first, there's a lot of strategizing and backstabbing going on behind the excruciatingly polite surface, any American would have felt completely at sea in the royal family, but it's not like she had any better options. So looking through Harry's eyes, you can see her using his obsessive hatred of the press to get him interested, claiming she's being swarmed in public and begging him to protect her. Well, it worked, give her points for strategy.

As for the ghostwriting... some of the pre-Meg chapters are quite amusing in an absurdist way, but that ghostwriter did NOT like Harry, and felt free to let him expose himself in ways I've never see in a celebrity book. Like raging at the press for printing stories about his drug use, and openly discussing his use of illegal drugs within a few pages! And then there's the cheerful talk about killing people in the military, and his insistence that the press killed him mum and not the drunk driver at the wheel, etc. He's a very strange person, and a lot more fucked-up than he thinks he is, and I hope Meg is happy with getting herself a prince instead of a realtor's license.

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I should've written that Harry blew off the bullying complaints. "The Courtiers" goes into details.

The Lady Colin Campbell book said that Meghan asked a friend to find a rich British man for her to date before being introduced to Harry by a mutual friend. "Spare" has an unbelievable version about his seeing her photo on social media and asking "Who is this beautiful woman? I must meet her." The friend said several other men had said the same thing. LOL! That sounds like Meghan's input.

Too much information re: Harry. He was on TV repeatedly talking about his private parts. Perhaps he did it to drive sales?

Meghan will dump him for a multi-billionaire to get the lifestyle she wants.

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I'm waiting for my local library to deliver "Courtiers", I expect I will find most of it mildly interesting, and not a lot more. And yeah, the chapter about meeting Meg reads like a pack of lies, he really seems to believe that she knew nothing about him beforehand (rumor has it that she had taken the trouble to use Diana's favorite perfume), and does anyone at all believe that Kate and Will were huge fans of "Suits" and thought Meg was a big star in the states???

As for Meg dumping him for a bazillionaire, that isn't happening. The filthy rich all want a wife who'll adapt to their lifestyle and do things their way 24/7, and who's able to deal with his family and courtier-equivalents. Meg was totally unable to adapt to royal life, plus she's over forty and has two kids. It's Harry or the puptative surgeon for her.

And oh dear God don't tell me Harry was talking about rubbing his tender todger with his mum's hand cream in public??? Holy shit he's got no clue how he's coming across!

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Meghan is a narcissist and that's how the last 1/3 of the book reads. Neither do I believe "Suits" was extremely popular in the UK.

Don't underestimate gold-digger Meghan. She was recently crying to billionaire widower Gordon Getty about feeling unsafe. His family was horrified and stepped in. And Tyler Perry allowed her to live in his mansion after she cried to him. Jackie Onassis, Jerry Hall, Melody Hobson, etc. married billionaires after 40.

Megan didn't want the royal lifestyle. She wants to be a jet setter which Harry can't provide. And maybe president. She and her kids have royal titles so she doesn't need him anymore if she finds a dumb billionaire to marry her.

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While Meg may be a narcissist, I don't think she's a very good gold-digger, not at all. Yes, she charms some people into paying her way, but they usually see through her and drop her quickly enough, like the whole royal family did when they caught on... it's just that Harry is incapable of catching on to anything. Seriously, gold-digging is a hard job, and there's a lot more to it than being good in bed and faking an entire personality when you're around your target. There's figuring out exactly what your target wants and pretending to be it, and keeping up the facade when you're around anyone important to your target, and fitting seamlessly into your target's life, so that the target things that you're soulmates and that the whole relationship isn't based on lies and greed. And while Meg may have pulled that off with Harry himself, she doesn't seem to have succeeded in fooling anyone else, not his family and not the public, and I really don't think there are many bazillionaires out there as gullible as Harry.

She isn't as smart as she thinks she is, not by a long shot, and even in the parts of the book rewritten to her specifications you can see the obvious manipulations through Harry's eyes, she was that obvious! But enough about her, Harry is the real problem in this trainwreck. She's just some baby shark who made the mistake of getting what she wanted, but he spreads disaster wherever he goes, and IMHO he always will.

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Megan is complicated.

Positives:
She's intelligent, pretty, poised, charming (like many narcissist and sociopaths are), ambitious, hard-working, well-spoken, confident, strong. To their credit, her parents raised her to be a proud biracial woman, too.

Also:
Two of Harry's girlfriends fled because they couldn't handle the media attention. Meghan loves media attention - just not the negative type - so she was perfect. Harry was a miserable royal who didn't know he could exit until Megan showed him the way. That's probably the reason he hero-worships her.

Negatives:
She uses and dumps people (1st hubby, uncle, dad, royal family, multiple close friends, Pier Morgan). That's her MO which probably makes Harry's days numbered. Pathological liar, multiple personality disorders, can't live within her means, social climber, phony.

Both The Courtiers and Lady C's book imply she never had any intention of remaining a working royal. Too boring, no money, drab lifestyle. Megan also didn't like the idea of bowing to her sister-in-law (a contemporary), and others behind closed doors. She likely told Harry that they're all equals which is the opposite of the royal concept.

I agree with what you wrote about her "faking an entire personality". But, remember that she's an actress and LOVES playing a role. I believe she does it naturally and happily as both actress and sociopath.

Plenty of dysfunctional and/or billionaires out there. She just needs to find an old one like Anna Nicole Smith did.

I don't see it ending well for Harry which is unfortunate. Yes, he is a trainwreck - a very ignorant and gullible one.

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I really don't find Meg that interesting, she's just another fame-hungry, ambitious, LA girl who'll use any means at her disposal to get ahead, and who isn't as smart as she thinks she is. But yeah, at this point the only bazillionaires who are going to fall for her shit are either old or the screwed-up sons of bazillionaires, but if she finds one she's still going to have to do a hell of a better job of dealing with their family and hangers-on than she did with the royal family. Old bazillionaires who have lost enough IQ points to fall for a gold-digger still have children who are still on top of things!

Harry is more unusual and more interesting, in an abnormal-psychology way! What the hell is really wrong with him? I mean I love playing armchair psychologist and know a bit about the real deal... and Harry is such a mess I can't even guess what his real problem is. Because there are massive problems, below the mommy trauma and ADD and low IQ, and neither he nor his psychiatrist have any idea what they are. Okay, maybe the doctor has a clue and Harry refuses to believe it, like he refuses to believe Meg is mean to staffers or that a drunk driver killed his mum, because Harry thinks that projecting all his Oedipal issues onto his wife has somehow fixed him. I'm going to stay tuned into him!

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That walk behind his mom's casket must have been traumatizing. Untreated PTSD? And that family is dysfunctional and not supportive emotionally. He cried once over her death- that's not healthy. Lady C said Diana had emotional issues. And said she raised him in a way that wasn't conducive to a life as a working royal. She was allowed to have less influence with William which explains his ability to fit into the royal lifestyle easier. His mom wasn't booksmart, either. Likely, his drugs killed off a few more IQ points, too.

To be fair, British royal life is very regimented. Not everyone is suited for it. And I can understand the reason he hates the media considering what happened to his mother.

I believe Meg is nuts, too. Yes, Anna Nicole Smith was prevented from getting any money by his adult son. Oh well!

Megan wanted Harry to associate herself with his mother. Now, he can protect her. Yes, very Oedipal.

Real life soap opera.

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FYI the truly obsessive royal-watchers don't consider "Lady" C to be a reliable source, they consider her to be one who sometimes has the real dirt and who sometimes makes shit up for clicks.

And regarding Harry's childhood trauma, yes, he had childhood trauma. But what he doesn't understand is that most people have childhood trauma, most people have families who don't help or understand, because like Diana most parents have their own flaws and issues, and in spite of the childhood trauma... most people still have to earn a living, raise their kids, and pay their bills, while trying to deal with their unhealed trauma!

So I totally support his decision to leave royal life, if he isn't happy as a working royal then he shouldn't be a working royal. I just don't support his desire to bring all the money, luxuries, status, and taxpayer-funded security with him on his way out. Pay your own fucking way like the rest of us, dude! (But I'm okay with making it all into a soap opera instead.)

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I agree about Lady C. Her books are reliable, but her youtube videos can at times be made-up gossip. But, insiders appear to like talking to her. I like to cross reference sources for accuracy.

Child abuse wrecks lives by creating alcoholics, drug addicts, abusers, and mentally ill. Many don't escape from it. I knew no good would come from Harry walking stoically behind her coffin. That was child abuse in my opinion. Some children are more vulnerable than others, too.

The only way Harry and Meghan know how to make big money is by trashing his family which will grow old fast. That $100 million a year lifestyle she wants isn't sustainable. That's the reason I say she'll dump him for the first guy with his own private jet.

His begging daddy for millions is pathetic.

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Yes, asking him to walk behind Diana's coffin was a bit much, but the fact is... asking him to stay out of sight also would have been traumatic. There is no way to make the premature death of a parent anything less than traumatic, no way get them through a funeral without heartbreak. Bringing them will hurt, keeping them away will hurt. Telling them not to show feeling hurts, letting them expose their feelings to the world would also hurt. Charles couldn't win.

And yeah. Meg and Harry are millionaires... who want to live like billionaires. They aren't going to be able to afford that, which is yet another reason to keep half an eye on their slow-mo trainwreck. Next up, the coronation drama!

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They need to make as much money as they can. Their security is more than 6 million bucks a year!!! Thanks to the royal family and brit media, they and their children are still getting death threats!!!

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Everyone in the public eye gets death threats. Even if Meg and Harry had decided to live a quiet life in a place they could afford, and lived a genuinely private life, they'd be getting... far fewer threats from crazies.

And Harry's belief that he needs millions of dollars a year in security services is irrational, I mean there's a complete denial of reality there. He believes the press literally killed his mother, and that if he doesn't have millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded security services, the press will literally kill his wife as well! In the book he actively dismisses the truth, which is that his mother was killed by the drunken driver of her car... so Diana was actually killed by her own security people. He cannot accept that, he NEEDS to believe that it was all the press's fault.

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He's got a court case ongoing about his UK security that was taken away. He asked to pay for it for himself and his family and they don't want him to do that? Do you ever think why??

And what do you mean quiet life?? They do have privacy living here in America. Had you read his sussexroyal website, you would've known that they said they would continue to be of service to the public on their own dime when they stepped down as senior 'working' royals. They never said they were going to live under a rock, the lying british media said that!

Diana's royal security was taken away from her. After her death, many folks in the media said that would not have happened had she had royal met security or whatever they call it.

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Meg! Welcome to Moviechat!

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You don't have any answers b/c you don't care about the truth! Typical!

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Honey, neither of us knows a damn bit of truth about Harry or Meg, we just base our opinions on what we see in the press.

Unless you really ARE Meg...

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I'm reading Harry's book. I kept up with the stories since their relationship was outed by the british tabloids. I'm not saying I know everything, I'm saying the tabloids put out many lies on them.

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Of course tabloids lie! They exaggerate, they print lies from people with an agenda, and they make up their own lies. But the fact is that celebrities also lie - that's why they have publicists! To lie about their next projects, their sales, their height, their age, their medical history (especially the cosmetic kind), their backgrounds, their finances, their drug use, etc. So the one place in this world that you'll never find the unvarnished truth is in a celebrity's autobiography.

Anyway! Tell me, when you've made some progress with the book, and believe me it's hard going at times. Do you think Harry is happy, mentally healthy, and cured of his trauma by love?

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Ok will comeback and answer when I finish the book. I can tell you right now that prior to meeting Meghan, Harry was not happy with his position/life within the royal family.

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Nobody ever said that Harry was happy as a royal, or under any obligation to be happy with all that weirdness.

So he had every right to leave, he just didn't have the right to take all the money and perks with him when he left. He still doesn't get that.

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What money did he take? If you are talking about the money his Mama left him, that was his to take. Yep, he is happy and he said he loves living in the USA and raising his kids here.

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Pretty much agree but I feel no sympathy towards Meg. Losing making a go of life through our physical appearance is something most of us go through and there is no box of Kleenex waiting there to soften things up. Something my nephew's wife is facing presently and I don't feel the least bit sorry for her.

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Maybe I'm a bit more sympathetic, because twice now I've lost everything and had to start a completely new life. Moved to a new city, learned new skills, started a new career, made new relationships, remade my self-image, etc., it's very hard and anyone who has to go through the process involuntarily has my sympathy.

Even if they're an asshole, as Meg seems to be. So I don't insist you feel the same.

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Why is Meg an asshole?

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Oh, nothing out of the ordinary, just a pattern of self-serving lies, using people and dropping them, being horrible to people who can't fight back (she and Harry run through employees at a record rate), gold-digging, etc. We all know someone like that, at work or as part of our family, I dislike them as a rule.

But like I said, she's nothing out of the ordinary, while Harry is a REAL piece of work! He's much more interesting, she's really noting but a small-time asshole who made it into the big leagues. And who is finding that she can't actually hit at the big league level, or more likely, failing to realize that.

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If you knew anything about charity foundations, folks come and go. Those people that left where there to help start up Archewell. H and M have full control now. You have to give me examples of who she dropped??? What gold digging? She was paying for everything. Buying furniture with her credit cards. H had nothing. His father controlled his purse strings and had him living in a shack. Can you imagine someone like Jennifer Lopez moving into Notthingham Cottage??? NOPE!

Meghan was already in the big leagues before meeting Harry. She was a self made millionaire in her own right. Had 3 million instagram followers. Ran in the same circles as H and E. After all, it was their mutual friend that hooked them up.

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Hi, Meg! Lovely to meet you!

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Thanks for this perspective Keelai. This strikes me as a very credible analysis (although I'll admit I haven't read the book, and refuse to do so). Without having read the book, you sum up my own hunches about Harry and Meghan.

As an aside, I must say you strike me as a very decent, reasonable and fair-minded individual (definitely not an extremist/someone who narrow-mindedly follows a single agenda). Whatever differences some other posters may have with you, FWIW, so far, you seem perfectly cool to me.

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You're welcome. I've been curious about the British royals' lifestyle since it's so different. It's a gilded cage.

Thanks for the compliment.

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I hope I'm not saying anything you don't already know, but I saw one or two people criticise you (I don't want to make you feel bad, but I assume you're already aware), and I just wanted to say that as far as I can tell you seem to be okay.

I'm sure we won't agree on *every* matter, but hopefully you're one of the people I can mostly stay on good terms with.

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More than two, but they're intolerant hatemongers who criticize everyone not like them.

Nothing wrong with a different worldview.

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Unfortunately, there are a lot of single-minded extremists here (and not *exclusively* from the far-right), but from my encounters with you, you seem to be a reasonable leftist, which is how I like to think of myself.

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I like this portrayal of it better, hehehe, it's more honest: https://www.algoafm.co.za/images/cmsimages/big/fpeaxnawaaaadoq-news-1676539003114229.jpg

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Same one, just larger!

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I'm not a slave to useless celebrities.

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It goes something like this:

-I was alone. Abandoned. With only a hundred million in the bank.

- …teachers said I was thick. …. I said that I didn’t understand my lessons. That they felt like people were speaking in foreign languages.
That’s your French class, Harold.

-I sit in the garden with Meg, Archie and Lili. I hold a hummingbird in my hand.
Is that you, Mummy? Fly away. You’re free at last. Don’t go.

From The Guardian

Sent from my iPhone

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Perfect! 👍🏼🤣

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