Committed Anglophiles will beg for death before the end
Posted on 05/16/2018 10:19:19 AM PDT by ethom
A CNN reporter holds UK newspapers with the latest Thomas Markle headlines in front of Windsor castle.
As the British press scrambles to follow scoop after scoop from US website TMZ about Meghan Markle's father's attendance at the royal wedding, a consensus has set in among those in the Royal media: The Palace has lost control.
"The palace press aides are like ostriches sticking their heads in the sand and they keep getting shafted up the bottom," said royal pundit and ex-Sun royal correspondent Charles Rae.
Over the last few days, TMZ has been in near constant contact with Thomas Markle, who – according to the website, which quotes him directly – has changed his mind multiple times about whether he'll appear in Windsor on Saturday to walk his daughter down the aisle.
For the royal press pack trying to cover the biggest story in Britain, the problem has been Kensington Palace – specifically the media and PR operation in charge of Prince Harry and Meghan – which has refused to comment on or been unable to verify any of the information reported by the celebrity site.
The Sun's royal photographer of 40 years, Arthur Edwards said the country's news bulletins and newspaper front pages are all using second-hand reports from the celebrity website as their source.
"Nobody actually knows because it's one website in America putting out this news and it could be totally inaccurate," Edwards said. "But we don't have anyone confirming things at Kensington Palace."
"Here's a man who claims to have turned down interviews for £50,000 to £100,000," Charles Rae said. "Suddenly he's got a hotline to TMZ?"
Whether the developments have been verified or not, TMZ has owned the Thomas Markle melodrama dominating the final week of wedding preparations. On Monday, the website reported Markle had made the shock decision to pull out of walking his daughter down the aisle after being exposed for setting up paparazzi photos.
By Tuesday afternoon, TMZ scooped again, this time Markle had changed his mind, expressing a desire to be part of the wedding. Five hours later the story changed once more, with Markle "pulling out because he needed a heart operation".
Apparently after Meghan contacted her father and said she wanted him at her wedding, he said he’d come BUT says he doesn’t know whether the doctors will let him come... this done all through the medium of TMZ and not KP.... extraordinary
Apparently after Meghan contacted her father and said she wanted him at her wedding, he said he’d come BUT says he doesn’t know whether the doctors will let him come... this done all through the medium of TMZ and not KP.... extraordinary
For TMZ, the story is just another opportunity to break news on car-crash celebrity drama, and then follow it hour-by-hour in excruciating detail. TMZ founder Harry Levin had boasted on a recent video segment about the website's access to Thomas Markle – reportedly in contact with him over text message – and denied TMZ had been paying him.
Phil Dampier, a former Sun royal reporter and author of Royally Suited: Harry and Meghan in their own words, said many of this week's troubles were caused by Kensington Palace's failure to bring Thomas Markle into the fold, pointing to the fact Prince Harry still hadn't met his future father-in-law in-person.
"They should have flown out there months ago and met her father, or a senior courtier should have gone out there, put an arm around him and told him how to handle the press," Dampier said.
"They've left him to his own devices and its not surprising he's cracked under the pressure."
According to Dampier, Kensington Palace's attempts to control the British press – Prince Harry has spoken out publicly and forcefully about the tabloids' treatment of his future wife – underestimate the number of times that the foreign press have broken with their conventions. For instance, Drudge Report broke Prince Harry's cover during his service Afghanistan back in 2008.
"Kensington Palace and Prince Harry very much blame the British press and try to control it because of what happened to his mother," he said. "The irony is a lot of the problems are because of the foreign press."
Whether Thomas Markle attends the royal wedding on Saturday or not – at the time of writing, TMZ says he won't be – the intense media interest in Meghan Markle's father is unlikely to end.
"If he doesn't come on Saturday you're going to have every US photographer trying to find a photo of him while his daughter is getting married six thousand miles away," Rae said.
"That's going to be the money shot."
Sadly, IMO Harry is not that sharp and is getting led down the path by her. I expect her to get pregnant pretty quickly.
Divorce: the gift that keeps on giving.
The ONLY problem has been specifically the media....which here and in Europe have become nothing but tabloid fodder reporting.
The couple knew from the get go their relationship would be heavy on the negative press...so they got to suck it up.
Yikes. lol. Get ready for the next round...millennial style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMgGNxyCHsY
Well, I never thought of it that way, but I owe Sir Winston the same!
Yes, the couple who fostered my father for 9 years were a middle class pastor and his wife. Took in a little Jewish refugee boy and didn’t even attempt to convert him or anything. Even got him a bar Mitzvah at 13. Beautiful people. Their children and grandchildren are like family to me. My dad was their first child, and when he eventually emigrated to the USA, they had more children of their own.
Harry spends most of his time in Africa so I suspect the two will do likewise.......though I’m not convinced she’s all into that idea....I think she’s enjoying the royalty princess role for now. We’ll see if she can give that posh up to go wandering through the African tribal communities.
Meghan and her brood will make the Fergie drama look like high tea at Royal Ascot!
They could have avoided all this will a small, private wedding.
Harry has turned the monarchy into a TMZ epoch...
I’m wondering if she doesn’t secretly really enjoy the drama?
“He first met Prince Harry about six months ago out in Toronto,” Meghan's brother told the Mail Online in January 2017.
“He’s pretty happy about Harry and he’s extremely proud of her. They have an amazing relationship, they're very close and they always have been."
Although there were rumours of a rift between the Markles and the Royal Family, Thomas has praised his future son-in-law and insisted he and Meghan are a "very good match".
Brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful story, Yaelle. Truly love that kind of thing. Did your dad ever write any about his childhood?
So many untold stories.
I was watching a documentary about the Somme last night, and read some personal letters about it. Millions of lives affected by those two wars. It’s mind blowing.
Thank you for sharing about your dad. Very inspirational/touching.
Many other stories say Harry and Dad Markle have not yet met in person, and where are the pictures of Dad Markle and Harry in Toronto? We saw the photos of Harry and Meg’s mother in Toronto, and you just know that Meg and Harry’s PR people would not have missed the paparazzi getting a picture of Harry and his future father-in-law meeting.
....”All the beautiful British gals and he’s got to marry American trash?”....
You think ol’ Harry is such a catch? His life work and first love is Africans and their nation, which is why the Obamas are so tight knit with him. The fact she’s part black just fits in with his work among blacks. We’ll see if she fits that mold he’s in or not.
Heck two dates and he took her to Africa for five days to ‘get to know each other’......didn’t take much to encourage her.
Lol!
times they are a changing... :)
What if Markle has been recruited by Harry and the Royal Family for “people of color” duty and PR, but find out to their chagrin that once married, she would prefer other assignments, and doesn’t want to go near the “people of color” nations in the Commonwealth or neighborhoods in Great Britain? Harry may be in for a shock.
Committed Anglophiles will beg for death before the end
This wedding is a car crash in slow motion.
I think it was planned to make people feel sorry for her.
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