Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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mjr
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by mjr »

Psamathe wrote:She is too quick to make all these allegations. To me it makes complete sense that she not drive her own car around if she is such a security risk. Is she trained to the same driving skills levels as assigned protection officers? Cynic in me says that had she been allowed to keep her licence and keys we'd be hearing how she was denied trained protection driving staff and she had to drive herself unprotected "unlike other Royals".

Unlike other Royals? A certain man who married a royal kept driving until he collided with another vehicle, allegedly blinded by sun from seeing a vehicle to his north.

Seeing as we're discussing it and some have missed it, here is the relevant part of the transcript:

Meghan: And, look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he’s suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. And I . . . I just didn’t . . . I just didn’t want to be alive any more. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember — I remember how he just cradled me. And I was — I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that, ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution. And I called . . . 

Oprah: So the institution is never a person. Or is it a series of people?

Meghan: No, it’s a person.

Oprah: It’s a person.

Meghan: It’s several people. But I went to one of the most senior people just to . . . to get help. And that — you know, I share this, because there’s so many people who are afraid to voice that they need help. And I know, personally, how hard it is to not just voice it, but when you voice it, to be told no.

Oprah: Whoo.

Meghan: And so, I went to human resources, and I said, ‘I just really — I need help’. Because in my old job, there was a union, and they would protect me. And I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said, ‘My heart goes out to you, because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution’.

Oprah: Mmm.

Meghan: This wasn’t a choice. This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically, ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare’. And people going, ‘Oh, yes, yes, it’s disproportionately terrible what we see out there to anyone else’. But nothing was ever done, so we had to find a solution.

Oprah: Wow! ‘I don’t want to be alive any more,’ that’s . . . 

Meghan: I thought it would have solved everything for everyone, right?

Oprah: So, were you thinking of harming yourself? Were you having suicidal thoughts?

Meghan: Yes. This was very, very clear.

Oprah: Wow.

Meghan: Very clear and very scary. And, you know, I didn’t know who to even turn to in that. And one of the people that I reached out to, who’s continued to be a friend and confidant, was one of my husband’s mom’s best friends, one of Diana’s best friends. Because it’s, like, who else could understand what’s . . .what it’s actually like on the inside?

Oprah: Did you ever think about going to a hospital? Or is that possible, that you can check yourself in some place?

Meghan: No, that’s what I was asking to do.

Oprah: Yeah.

Meghan: You can’t just do that. I couldn’t, you know, call an Uber to the palace.

Oprah: Yeah.

Meghan: You couldn’t just go. You couldn’t. I mean, you have to understand, as well, when I joined that family, that was the last time, until we came here, that I saw my passport, my driver’s licence, my keys. All that gets turned over. I didn’t see any of that any more.
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RickH
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by RickH »

On a slightly different tack...

I've not watched it but Mrs H has. She reports that Harry said one of the positives of being in LA was the simple pleasure of being able to put Archie in a seat on the back of his bike & just go out for a ride. :D
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Psamathe
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by Psamathe »

What is the waiting list for non-urgent Mental Health these days. I'm forever seeing reports on the local magazine news program about people self harming and far worse whilst waiting forever to see anybody. In my own case I just got offered Citalopram and asked if I wanted Social Services contacted.

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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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Psamathe wrote:What is the waiting list for non-urgent Mental Health these days. I'm forever seeing reports on the local magazine news program about people self harming and far worse whilst waiting forever to see anybody. In my own case I just got offered Citalopram and asked if I wanted Social Services contacted.

We may not be best placed to assess. Norfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Trust has a bad rep, in "special measures" a lot and most recently having to U turn on appointing a CV-inflating Chief Executive. I wonder if that's why your medic offered referral to Social Services instead. https://norfolksuffolkmentalhealthcrisis.org.uk/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-56296679
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by thirdcrank »

RickH wrote:On a slightly different tack...

I've not watched it but Mrs H has. She reports that Harry said one of the positives of being in LA was the simple pleasure of being able to put Archie in a seat on the back of his bike & just go out for a ride. :D


This ties in with the stuff attributed to Harry saying that his father and brother were trapped - or words to that effect. If he know that the royal household was such an unpleasant environment, it's hard to see why he didn't opt out and set up house elsewhere long ago. I get the impression he didn't prepare his partner for the reality.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by Ben@Forest »

RickH wrote:On a slightly different tack...

I've not watched it but Mrs H has. She reports that Harry said one of the positives of being in LA was the simple pleasure of being able to put Archie in a seat on the back of his bike & just go out for a ride. :D


He lived at Frogmore Cottage within a private 600 acre estate and to the south is Windsor Great Park with 4,500 acres. No room to ride there then...
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by bikerider »

When Harry took Meghan to meet Grannie for the first time and was told she had to curtsey even in a private setting, surely she must have realised  that the family she was getting involved with still lived in the 17th century.

I don't understand why Harry had not explained to Meghan why Archie was not a prince. She was left believing it was because the royal family were prejudiced against her.I have not seen the TV programme but have heard radio reports in the aftermath.

All of the couple's complaints on the TV show must have been brought up with the family before the withdrawal of royal duties. The response from the palace was excellent and will take newspaper coverage from page one to page eight.Harry should now go away and enjoy the privacy he seeks -that is unless Meghan drags him around American town halls doing poor little rich boy shows.

I have no liking of the royal family but my sympathies lie with them and if Meghan wants to know what real media hate coverage is like she should speak to Camilla who suffered months of it without public retort.

One more thing, from the pictures I have seen of Meghan the only way I know that she is black is because she says she is.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by Psamathe »

I do wonder when you see a UK TV reporter interviewing a foreign TV/Press reporter about the general public reaction in their country to an event - does the interview reflect the public opinion in e.g. France or the opinions of the e.g. French reporter being interviewed? Not knowing the reporters I have no idea but seen a couple of such interviews covering the Megan revelations and summed-up by a French reporter on TV last night who commented French perception of Harry & Megan "spoilt brats".

It does beggar belief that Megan did not make some checks, no questions during courtship days, etc. I don't like it when she attributes events to racism where reality is it's long standing Royal Convention (that just is not what she wanted).

(As already stated I'm republican and I suppose that means I should be welcoming Megan causing issues for the Royal Family as I certainly don't support either party).

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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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thirdcrank wrote:This ties in with the stuff attributed to Harry saying that his father and brother were trapped - or words to that effect. If he know that the royal household was such an unpleasant environment, it's hard to see why he didn't opt out and set up house elsewhere long ago. I get the impression he didn't prepare his partner for the reality.

As I understand it, his argument was that he didn't realise he was trapped, that this was so unhealthy, until he saw the effect on the woman he loved. More from the transcript:

Oprah: Please explain how you, Prince Harry, raised in a palace and a life of privilege — literally, a Prince . . . how you were trapped.

Harry: Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.

Oprah: Well, OK, so the impression of the world — maybe it’s a false impression — is that, for all these years before Meghan, you were living your life as a royal, Prince Harry . . . the beloved Prince Harry and that you were enjoying that life. We didn’t get the impression that you were feeling trapped in that life.

Harry: Enjoying the life because there were photographs of me smiling while I was shaking hands and meeting people? Like, I’m sure you guys have covered some of that. That’s . . . that’s a part of the job. That’s a part of the role. That’s what’s expected. No matter who you are in the family, no matter what’s going on in your personal life, no matter what’s just happened, if the bikes roll up and the car rolls up, you’ve got to get dressed, you got to get in there. You wipe your tears away, shake off whatever you’re thinking about and you got to be on your A-game.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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Except that he seems to have said that he didn't want his wife to be treated in the same way as his mother was treated. And fair enough, but he knew how his mother was treated a couple of decades ago.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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bikerider wrote:I don't understand why Harry had not explained to Meghan why Archie was not a prince. She was left believing it was because the royal family were prejudiced against her.I have not seen the TV programme but have heard radio reports in the aftermath.

Maybe the radio reports you heard were mistaken because she seemed to understand if-and-when Archie would become a prince under the convention (if/when his grandfather inherits the crown), but also she knew that "the queen issued so-called “letters patent” that ensured that William’s other two children, Charlotte and Louis, were also a princess and prince at birth — something she did not do for Archie."

Also, oddly, it seems that the title brings with it security staff — paying for which is apparently one motive for setting up their company and some of the deals it has done.

One more thing, from the pictures I have seen of Meghan the only way I know that she is black is because she says she is.

:roll: I think maybe that says more about the picture editors than her.
Last edited by mjr on 11 Mar 2021, 2:59pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by Psamathe »

thirdcrank wrote:Except that he seems to have said that he didn't want his wife to be treated in the same way as his mother was treated. And fair enough, but he knew how his mother was treated a couple of decades ago.

In so many ways he's claiming that only he knows .... We had claims how when things didn't go the way he wanted it was because the Queen was "badly advised". Claims his security was withdrawn "I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed" - except now it's transpired
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/harry-and-meghan-were-warned-security-would-go-56ksj3lp7 wrote:The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were given ample warning that they risked losing their security if they stepped down from their royal roles, a police source has said.

The source, who was involved in deciding which royals should receive taxpayer-funded protection, directly contradicted Harry’s claims about the withdrawal of security he made in his interview with Oprah Winfrey.

My impression is that it's a "cake and eat it" situation - they want the money, security, titles, everything from being a member of the Royal Family but don't want the public interest (except as and when it suits them) and don't want the duties and responsibilities (except as and when it suits them).

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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

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Psamathe wrote:Claims his security was withdrawn "I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed" - except now it's transpired
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/harry-and-meghan-were-warned-security-would-go-56ksj3lp7 wrote:The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were given ample warning that they risked losing their security if they stepped down from their royal roles, a police source has said.

The source, who was involved in deciding which royals should receive taxpayer-funded protection, directly contradicted Harry’s claims about the withdrawal of security he made in his interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Hi. I'm not a subscriber to The Times, so cannot see the full article. Does it actually say anywhere what "ample warning" is?

How long do we feel would be ample warning for someone to recruit new bodyguards? Do we expect retiring royals to just phone Rent-a-cop and take whoever turns out?
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by bikerider »

mjr wrote:
bikerider wrote:I don't understand why Harry had not explained to Meghan why Archie was not a prince. She was left believing it was because the royal family were prejudiced against her.I have not seen the TV programme but have heard radio reports in the aftermath.

Maybe the radio reports you heard were mistaken because she seemed to understand if-and-when Archie would become a prince under the convention (if/when his grandfather inherits the crown), but also she knew that "the queen issued so-called “letters patent” that ensured that William’s other two children, Charlotte and Louis, were also a princess and prince at birth — something she did not do for Archie."

Of course all William's children should have royal titles - they are in direct line to the throne. Archie is out on a limb along with his father, and with possible new arrivals in twenty years, will be even further away from the throne.
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Re: Oprah - anybody staying up to watch?

Post by thirdcrank »

I suspect - and it's no more than that - that it's a government decision as to who gets what level of security paid for out of taxation. A bit like the government decided we didn't need a royal yacht. Obviously, different members of the royal family can pay for stuff, in much the same way as the queen could have bought and run her own yacht, but protection of this sort is an international commitment and obligation, up there with diplomatic immunity. I think this was at the back of the Canadian government declining to pay. It's not just the substantial cost of personnel, but protocols like who can go globe hopping with an armed escort etc.
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