UK United Kingdom Royal Family / Royal Families Drama General Thread - formerly "Prince Harry and Meghan to step back as senior royals"

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced they will step back as "senior" royals and work to become financially independent.

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In a statement, Prince Harry and Meghan also said they plan to split their time between the UK and North America.

The BBC understands no other royal - including the Queen or Prince William - was consulted before the statement and Buckingham Palace is "disappointed".

Senior royals are understood to be "hurt" by the announcement.

In their unexpected statement on Wednesday, also posted on their Instagram page, the couple said they made the decision "after many months of reflection and internal discussions".

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

They said they plan to balance their time between the UK and North America while "continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages".

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said discussions with the duke and duchess on their decision to step back were "at an early stage", adding: "We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through."

The couple's announcement on Wednesday comes two months after the Duke of York withdrew from public life after a BBC interview about his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in August.

www.bbc.co.uk

Harry and Meghan to step back as senior royals

No other royals were consulted before the couple's announcement, the BBC understands.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
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Let them eat sponge cake: we watched Meghan Markle’s cooking show trailer so you don’t have to​

Who is With Love, Meghan for? Perhaps those drawn to trad wife aesthetics – or maybe just Netflix
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Famed restaurateur Alice Waters chats with the Duchess of Sussex in Netflix’s With Love, Meghan. Photograph: Netflix/PA

Imagine you’re about to host friends for dinner. How would you go about it?

It’s simple. You start in the lush, verdant garden that abuts your estate, strolling through rows of ripe, juicy berries, gathering tomatoes, squash blossoms and jewel-toned lettuce leaves in a dainty wicker basket. Then you stop by an apiary and collect fresh honey. Make sure you have roughly seven acres’ worth of edible flowers on hand to decorate the elaborate salads, doughnuts and beverages you will serve your guests, all of whom are fabulously wealthy and famous celebrities.

I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, it’s so obvious. Also, your husband is a prince. If this wasn’t all immediately evident to you – wow, embarrassing! But – don’t worry. This week, the trailer dropped for Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, which premieres on 15 January. According to Netflix, the series, produced by the duchess, “reimagines the genre of lifestyle programming” by “blending practical how-to’s and candid conversations with friends, new and old”.


“We’re not in the pursuit of perfection,” Meghan assures us from somewhere deep inside a Nancy Meyers-esque farmhouse kitchen the size of a small airplane hangar. “We’re in the pursuit of joy!” According to Elle Decor, the Thermador stove and range seen in the trailer could set one back anywhere from $12,000 to $16,000.

The trailer, which looks like a “quiet luxury” Pinterest board come to life, is a symphony of beige: beige sweaters, beige hummus, beige focaccia, personalized beige candles and an assortment of beige flowers. “I see what color I gravitate to, and everything goes from there,” Meghan says, re: beige flower arrangements. There are a few non-beige things, too: a single carrot sliced lengthwise and caprese toasts made to look like ladybugs. In a culinary curtsy to her husband’s homeland, Meghan also whips up an Eton mess and a Victoria sponge that she serves to the actor Mindy Kaling, who declares it “probably one of the most glamorous moments of my life”. Kaling has been to multiple Met Galas and Oscar parties, but a slice of three-layer cake is nice too.

There are also several shots of Guy, Meghan’s elderly beagle, who I hope gets at least three hours of uninterrupted airtime. He is also kind of beige. The series was not filmed at Meghan and Harry’s $14.6m Tuscan-inspired estate but a few miles away at the $8m Montecito estate of philanthropists Tom and Sherrie Cipolla. A cheaper, more relatable backdrop.

Online, reactions to the trailer have been … mixed. “OMG. She is darling. Just the loveliest. Cannot wait for this,” one commenter wrote in response to a Deadline article about the series. “Who is this show for? It’s targeted to people with a ton of expendable income and time. Feel it comes off as tone deaf and pushes the narrative of elite classicism [sic],” wrote another. “What in the Joanna Gaines cosplay is this?” asked one Reddit user, referencing the HGTV host and farmhouse chic interior decorator.

Who is this show for? It’s a good question. Perhaps it’s for those drawn to the trad wife aesthetic, but who aren’t quite ready to go full Ballerina Farm. Maybe it’s a launchpad for American Riviera Orchard, Meghan’s brand of jams and nut butters that she launched in 2024 and has yet to produce any content or products. It’s certainly for Netflix, with whom Meghan and Prince Harry’s production company, Archewell Productions, signed a $100m contract. Ah, the quaint pursuit of joy!

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wtfNeedSignUp said:
Is trad wife the current day female version of using incel? Meghan pretending to cook, as if she doesn't have personal chef, doesn't make her a propaganda piece for women to be a homemaker that doesn't dress like a slut.
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A lot of "trads" as as fake as she is, but they also tend to lean right and hate this bitch, so they are perhaps the intended audience, but they fucked up about the last part.
The audience might be woke black women, but black women have a more vulgar taste about what they consume. Unless Meghan is twerking and assaulting Harry, they won't be interested.
 
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AssignedEva said:
Who is this show for?
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Well it’s for meghan, obviously.
I have no interest in watching the mega rich swan about their highly mortgaged California estates. Now a program about some girl trying to live off grid and it being a steep learning curve? I’d watch that.
You can even have a palatial estate and make watchable TV, but there has to be some struggle in it. There’s that program where they do the chateau up, and there’s been Grand Designs for years. But there has to be disaster and redemption arcs. The Latvian startup supplying your eco friendly unicorn hair insulation has to go bust, leaving you living in a caravan over winter with five kids before a stunning redemption arc.
Meghan doing this has none of that. It’s simply a form of narcissistic mirror-pecking. It’s boring
 
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Otterly said:
Now a program about some girl trying to live off grid and it being a steep learning curve? I’d watch that.
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Seconded. As someone who optimistically gardens every single year only for at least one calamity to befall - let’s just say I’m happy I don’t actually have to live off my efforts.

But seeing a doe-eyed Pinterest consumer go all-in expecting solar energy, floaty linen dresses and golden lighting…. Could be very entertaining.

This nonsense, where the camera just doesn’t pan over to the gardeners and servants scurrying behind her, is way lamer.

I want to see more narcissistic screaming at her disappointing ginger husband at the very least.
 
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This should be more The Osbornes meets Gordan Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares with a little bit of the Fat Slobs thrown in.

I want to see Harry getting effed and jeffed at by Meghan while he sits smoking a fag in an old armchair in mucky trackies while scratching his bollocks watching cartoons.
 
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Bog-standard Poster said:
I want to see Harry getting effed and jeffed at by Meghan while he sits smoking a fag in an old armchair in mucky trackies while scratching his bollocks watching cartoons.
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The crew and director will be wishing they could film the real action, instead of the nicely set table. Imagine the real fly on the wall ginge and whinge, now THAT would be a ratings winner
 
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Otterly said:
I have no interest in watching the mega rich swan about their highly mortgaged California estates. Now a program about some girl trying to live off grid and it being a steep learning curve? I’d watch that.
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I want to see a reality show where all Meghan's servants leave and she has to maintain her entire California estate herself - doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, paying the taxes, everything. Oh yeah, that guy she's married to can help too.
 
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