This is the weekend of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the news headlines for 11 September 2022, should have been either:
Details of the Queen leaving Balmoral for the final time on 11 September 2022, as a cortege was due to leave for Edinburgh, and the route through Scotland to be outlined, where her coffin would lie in rest at St Giles’ Cathedral. Her daughter, the Princess Royal would accompany her on the journey, and details of the funeral were released on Saturday afternoon, and should have been the main item of news the next day. https://www.royal.uk/arrangements-funeral-her-majesty-queen
The news of the King’s Proclamation of Ascension ceremony, where the news of the Queen’s death is officially announced, and where the new Monarch is officially announced. This is the first time the ceremony has ever been made public and televised, and is a historical moment. In addition, it is the first time women have been allowed to attend, and the only time filming has been allowed in the Throne Room in St James’s Palace.
These were both significant once in a lifetime moments of history that the media/newspapers should have reported on, but what we got was a front page photo of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan arriving late for a walkabout in Windsor, to thank people for coming and paying their respects. One can hardly compare THIS to the above two events that have historical meaning.
I have decided to break my period of mourning to write this as I am appalled and disgusted at the media and their inability to report on the news. Yet, if the media thought a photo of the four would sell papers, then they were wrong. I went to five major supermarkets today, and none of the papers had sold out because no one wants to buy a paper with the toxic duo on the front. In contrast, the day after the Queen had died, by lunchtime all the papers had been sold. Sunday papers usually sell out in the UK as they have a weekly TV guide as well, but no, they were still piled high at 2pm, and the stores close at 4pm, on a Sunday.
I believe it is wholly disrespectful to have honed in on the rift between William and Harry during the period of Royal Mourning, and that is what the media have done. What many journalists fail to understand is that there is a difference between the social media keyboard warriors (whom they interact with) and the people who buy a paper. The latter they need in order to pay their wages, yet they fail to understand what that audience seek and pander to the whims of the social media whippersnappers who probably don’t contribute a penny to the earnings of the paper. By promoting a speculative narrative, they are simply enabling the Sussex propaganda for some clicks, or perhaps some reporters are simply stupid which is a possibility…
I watched the live feed of the Queen arriving in Edinburgh and it was moving, yet I could only shake my head at the commentators (on BBC) who little knowledge and who came out with ridiculous comments. One even said that he was surprised to see the Queen’s other children in Edinburgh there—seriously? Why wouldn’t they be there?
There are a number of stories flying around about the Sussexes being invited by the Waleses, and that the invitation was last minute (an hour beforehand), and that the Sussexes were 45 minutes late because due to negotiations. At this point we must ask what the heck is there to negotiate? You show up to thank the crowd for coming and paying, their respects.
Others claim that Harry and TW were planning their own walkabout and had lined up US reporters and a channel to follow them, similar to the airing of the birth of the child known as Archie. It would be truly repugnant for them to profit from the death of the Queen, or have an arrangement that meant they controlled and owned the footage. While some say that Charles had asked William to invite Harry and the wife for a show of unity, the problem is the facade looked like a poorly played out facade, where TW looked as if she couldn’t wait to get on a plane out of the UK.
Some claim that this was a good move by Charles and William, to control the duo and to prevent them going rogue. However, the deed has been done, yet I would disagree that this was a good idea because the masses (who are sane) already know the truth, and to appease, enables the narrative that the duo desire. Is this all about optics, because while the desired effect of the optics is for William to look like the bigger person and to ‘forgive’, they can’t control how the media interprets things or how the cult fans react and what narrative they will spin. William and Kate are working members of the RF, and the duo are now private citizens—that is the difference.
Many people I know were disgusted and sickened at the sight of the four heading to greet the crowds, and there was little consolation in TW hanging her head in shame either. William and Kate went their own way, and Harry and TW were greeted with some stony faces, folded arms, and apparently there were some boos (but were asked to refrain out of respect for the Queen). Naturally, there was some hand shaking and chatting and all four were fully aware that the cameras were watching their every move. William and Kate didn’t take much notice, yet Harry and TW were conscious and at times were seen to pose, even glancing at the cameras from time to time.
The sugar reporters chose to run with the story that the brothers were reunited, but as many have pointed out, this was a public appearance for the sake of it. No one seemed to be comfortable (even while mourning) and you could feel the tension, and the crowd were expected to play their part and be civil to TW and Harry. Was it fair on them when many loathe the duo and had to be civil to them out of respect to the Queen? The departure looked messy, and TW didn’t know where to go and gave a feeble wave with the worst forced grin ever.
The RF are still trying to play the PR optics game, but second guessing what the People think hasn’t worked for them over the past few years. William took control of the public appearance, and gave the impression that the gloves were off and that the duo had to fall in line. However, William may have put a halt to the duo moonlighting with their own walkabout, but how many more times must the RF try to prevent the duo from carrying out their roguish plans? A wiser solution is to put a halt to things once and for all, just as a bully in a school is given detention every week, there comes a time when they must be suspended or expelled.
Clearly, the duo have no interest in protocols and doing the right thing as we saw from Harry’s 12 hour Balmoral visit. He caused friction on the day the Queen died which is unforgivable, and questions arise as to why it took the summoned party more than 4 hours to get to Balmoral with the conflicting impression that the Sussexes were part of the party when they had not been summoned. I think the media are to blame for this as well, because a number of media outlets announced that the Sussex PR had stated that the duo were en route to Balmoral. Why on earth are they releasing unofficial information that has not come from Buckingham Palace at such a sensitive time? They added to the chaos and confusion unnecessarily. Most also know that Sussex statements are also inaccurate and are designed for media spin, so for the sake of an ‘exclusive’ they may have cost the Queen’s children seeing their mother in her last hours. This was the wrong time for such activities, and caused delays and disgust, and no one really needed to know that a wayward grandson had made plans to visit a dying grandparent, and who had not (it seems) been officially summoned either.
The newspapers have to sell papers, but they also have a responsibility to report the news for historical purposes, and in this instance they failed to do so opting to focus on the Sussexes, rather than the Queen's funeral arrangements and the proclamation of the King. The period of Royal Mourning is to celebrate the life of the Queen and to allow people to mourn, and is not the time for tabloid speculation and for Harry and TW to make demands.
Whatever you think of the optics of the Sussexes being invited to join the Waleses, it has taken the focus off the actual event—that of the death if the Queen, and that is why it was unwise IMHO. Yet it has been done, and what it does is open the door of expectation, and it makes it harder for William to shut that door when the duo try to slip past and creep in. He should remember, that if the duo were willing to make a public display and make unreasonable demands on the day the Queen was dying, then how much lower will they be prepared to go to get what they want? William was forced to react to a situation and to make the best of it, but really the RF should have been in a position to prevent such acts the first place. That has been the problem over the last few years—the RF have been reacting to the Sussex stunts rather than taking control and preventing them in the first place.
Think of it in terms of someone seeing the possibility of a room about to catch on fire, but they wait to see if it does catch on fire. Then it does, so they have no choice but to react and rush to put it out, when they could have prevented the fire in the first place knowing there was a high probability of it being set a light. That is what happened here—they (and we) anticipated that the duo might pull a stunt and this appeared to be a reaction to stop the damage. You can put out the fire, but there is still smoke damage…
