bitchy | Kay: Prince Harry ‘monopolized the memory of his late mother’

There’s a newly emerged Bitter Talking Point among the British commentators and it’s one of my favorite things. Everyone from Camilla Tominey to Richard Kay is crying about how Netflix’s Harry & Meghan is “one-sided.” They’re crying about how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are telling their story themselves, with no input from the unhinged Salt Island press machine. You’d think that these people never, ever have platforms from which to spew their hate, their lies, their racism, their toxicity, their misogyny. The “one-sided” issue just shows how so much of the Sussex drama has always been about control though. Anyway, Richard Kay has written a sad lil’ screed and I guess we should talk about it. Some highlights:

Harry’s talk about his mother: Perhaps the most telling moments of this self-serving exercise were those in which he monopolised the memory of his late mother as some sort of justification for his actions. Meghan and Princess Diana were ‘so similar’, he declared, and like his mother his wife had suffered at the hands of the paparazzi. What haunted him was history repeating itself. And in case the point had been missed, he explained: ‘My mum made most of her decisions from her heart,’ before adding: ‘I am my mother’s son.’ Quite how Prince William will feel at this blatantly public grab for Diana’s legacy remains to be seen.

No laughter!!! There was precious little laughter in the three hour-long episodes released by Netflix. Instead we were presented with a toe-curling account of their romance and a partial and one-sided diatribe of their perceived treatment at the hands of the media and the monarchy.

Harry comparing Meghan to Diana: How sad, then, that he does not remember one of Diana’s most attractive qualities — that even in the depths of her despair over her marriage to Prince Charles, she never sought to favour one son above another. Indeed, whenever she felt that family attention was being directed too much at William the future king, she would make a point of including Harry.

Harry’s claims about the lack of support after Diana’s death: This implication of family indifference, especially in those first months, is far from the truth. Diana’s sisters — Harry’s Spencer aunts — were invaluable, regularly visiting him at his Berkshire prep school, Ludgrove, to watch his sports fixtures. One aunt even ensured that the prince received the 13th birthday present Diana had chosen for him before her death. He also had the reassuring presence of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, the royal nanny who remained a feature in his life until his schooldays were complete. At the same time Prince Charles, concerned at the lack of maternal company in his son’s life, arranged for one of his communications team — a mother herself — to be available as much as possible to Harry.

Prince William is salty: While Charles may be hurt, Prince William will have every reason to resent the way both he, and particularly Kate, are treated. ‘It is a classic example of seeking to wound but fearing to strike,’ says one of William’s friends.

Kate suffered more than Meghan: There can be little doubt that this must be a reference to the former Kate Middleton, who actually suffered far more intrusion from paparazzi than Meghan did. It is of course no secret that the two couples, once dubbed the ‘Fab Four’, have long since fallen out. Judging by Meghan’s comments, they never really fell in.

[From The Daily Mail]

So,.. Richard Kay is mad that Harry didn’t say something about how Diana felt about William…? Kay is also mad that Harry feels a direct connection to Diana’s life and legacy and thinks of her often, the mother he adored and hero-worshipped, because apparently William is the only one who can talk about Diana. The last time William talked about Diana, he called her a paranoid, delusional liar, so…sure. Perhaps the saddest f–king criticism is that Harry has no right to talk about how alone he felt after Diana’s death because one of his Spencer aunts made sure he got Diana’s birthday present and because Charles tasked a staffer to check in on his 13-year-old son who was sitting in a boarding school alone just days after his mother’s funeral. Again, what the f–k is wrong with these people?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.