Prince Harry and Meghan "Quitting " royal family

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I’ve always thought it’s very unfortunate that the Royal family members aren’t allowed careers.

William for example transitioned from Rescue helicopters in the military to air ambulance pilot. It only lasted a year because of Royal duties.

William is 2nd in line to the Throne. Charles may serve for 15 or more years. There was time for William to have a fairly normal life and career. Instead, he’s been pushed into meeting Royal obligations.

I can’t blame Harry for being miserable fulfilling all the Royal obligations. A life he never asked for. He’s sixth in line from being king. That’s never going to happen.

42

King of the Netherlands is a pilot for KLM even after he became king. He flies 737s. This only became public in 2017 after he had been with KLM for 21 years.

43

Harry always knew what his life would be like. Meghan knew what her life would be like once she married into the royal family. Harry is sixth in line to the throne–he ain’t getting there. He’s a minor royal who is acting like a spoiled child. He wants everything his way and that can’t happen. He may be a minor royal but he still has obligations to the Crown. He can’t pick and choose what he wants to do, unless he wants to renounce everything. That is an option. He may not have asked for his life, but it’s what he got dealt, and I don’t know many people who would bitch about it. When they married, I predicted one of 2 things: they would be divorced within 5 years, or they would fade into obscurity like Edward, QE2’s youngest. Looks like the latter.

44

I suspect:

Doesn’t want to end up like Andrew,
wants a more normal environment for his children,
wants his wife freed from the current abuse she’s getting unendingly in the British press,
wants to earn his own way(ish),

but mostly, I think they want to use their celebrity to highlight causes that the palace would consider too edgy or too political, like women’s rights, international human rights and climate change. I think they want to really get involved in a BIG way, not just endorse it.

45

She is certainly not the first wife to ask her husband to move back to her hometown. It’s not like LA is some small town in a rural area.

46

Harry and Meghan need to avoid the US. Taxes here are terrible and calculating them for these two could cost them millions.

The BBC has been covering the tax concern since the marriage.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-47889162

47

I’m unsure as to what, exactly, H/M’s “official duties” were.

This site mentions some 200 “official engagements” carried out by the royal family. There are at least 11 folk in the picture above that story, so that works out to less than 200 events per person pictured. And I’m imagining a lot more of those engagements involve eating meals, shaking hands, attending receptions/performances, than digging ditches and mucking out sewers.

So, how many hours/days a week did H/M actually have to “work”?

In exchange, I wonder what the standard of living is. For example, did H/M live in a style that exceeded what she could have afforded as an actress? Was it comparable to what could be afforded by someone who earns $5 million/year? $10 million? More? Or comparable to someone who inherited $5 million? $50 million? $500 million?

Do they need to save for their retirement? Their kids’ education? Do they need to pay for insurance? Utilities?

And what restrictions are there against pursuing “careers”? I can imagine SOME vocations might be disfavored, and official duties might interfere w/ a full-time, 9-5 job. But why COULDN’T Meghan take an acting role here or there? Other royals manage charitable organizations.

If I were living a life as luxurious as them, with what I perceive as such de minimis demands, and with as many advantages in terms of access to people/places that most of us can only dream of, I’d shake a few hands and sit through some boring ceremonies.

In my imagination, the biggest difference would be if this step somehow allows them much greater privacy, or provides them much greater protection against intrusions. Yeah, the British press contains a number of jackals. And I’ve never been subject to such scrutiny. But I can imagine tolerating quite a bit f bad press as driving my Bentley from castle to castle…

48

Mid 2000’s I met a (very drunk) old Admiral at a dinner party. He had served with both Philip and Andrew and was of the opinion both would have made Admiral if they had been permitted to continue their careers, or had not been Royal.

Andrew met Epstein just as he left the Navy, FWIW.

49

The paparazzi did not kill Diana. A highly intoxicated driver, and the lack of seatbelts did.

Yes, she got in the car quickly, maybe without the time to assess the driver’s condition, and was possibly just about to put on her seatbelt, but cripes, she wasn’t running from a pack of starving wolves; the paparazzi were not chasing her to tear her limb from limb. They wanted to take her picture.

Can the UK really prevent Meghan from holding a job in the US? Isn’t she a US citizen? The US could refuse to grant HRH a green card, and would probably be smart not to, but while the UK can say that a duchess and princess consort, or whatever, can’t work there (and for the time being, maybe can even keep her from being employed in EU countries), I don’t see how it can stop her from working in the US.

Or am I missing something? IIRC, you relinquish your US citizenship by accepting sovereignty over another nation-- ie, becoming the PM of Israel (which is in the realm of possibility for someone born in the US), or, if there were some catastrophe at Balmoral, and HRH Henry ended up as king, then Meghan actually went through some kind of coronation ceremony to become queen of the UK. Then, I can see the US formally stripping her of her citizenship through an act of congress, but marrying the grandson of a monarch with little chance of becoming king himself, doesn’t cause you to lose the right to work in the US, does it?

50

She was born in LA so she’s a US citizen. She applied to be a UK citizen and that is pending, she did not get special treatment. Why would Congress take her US citizenship away?

For movies and TV I would think she would have to stick to Disney or kids stuff . No way she does R rated movies/shows , she would probably stick to G or maybe PG.

51

What does the press have against Meghan, her unforgivable black-ish-ness? Did they expect Harry to do better, though he’s a bloody ginger? I mean, he’s so orange I expect he’s a Dutch spy. :wink:

But seriously, I could look this up myself, but first stop was a Piers Morgan rant and I’m not in the mood.

52

I watched Suits when she was on it, and thought she was OK as an actress. I don’t see her getting hired except for the publicity value.

53

I’m sure they can hire a good CPA to find US tax loopholes.

54

Andrew completed 22 years of active service in the Royal Navy. I suspect you are right about Harry though, he seemed to flourish there, and he obviously has considerable aptitude for flying helicopters - it wasn’t his title and connections that got him in the command seat of an Apache gunship.

55

I’ve heard there’s a good living to be made doing Hallmark movies. Enough so that you can bribe pretty good universities to take your idiot children.

56

2000 official engagements annually, not 200. And while it sounds like that’s ridiculous work, many ordinary people are like Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances and want to attend an event at which a royal is appearing, even if that means contributing money. At the very least, their attendance draws attention to a worthy cause.

And yes, it’s not real work like digging ditches, but they have to stand there, be personable, and talk to many, many people without seeming to be annoyed or bored. I’d rather dig ditches. (At least you can swear when you’re pissed off.)

57

It sounds like they are going to start their own charity. They could possibly draw salaries from that once it gets going. They could also charge for appearances and speaking engagements that are not part of their official duties for the Queen. I’m sure there’s organizations in the U.S. that would be delighted to have one or both speak at one of their events and would be willing to pay for it, and it would be hard for anyone to complain about that since this country isn’t part of the realm.

58

Morgan loathes her because she essentially, and quite understandably, ghosted him after she met up with him one time to ask for his advice.

59

I didn’t think it would, which is why I was puzzled when people were saying “they” can’t work.

She works, he stays home with the kids. No problem. They’re married, so he can apply for residency. IIRC, he might have to leave and return to process his application (there’s some weird rule about not making the application after you get here), but he can go to Canada. IIRC, again, he has the right to stay in Canada as long as he wants. It used to be that US citizens had the right to stay in Canada as long as they wanted, and as long as they didn’t apply for employment, but that was back when you didn’t need a passport to travel to Canada.

60

That would probably work, too. HRH can’t accept a salary from a charity, unless he has a green card, but I’m pretty sure he can accept speaker’s fees.