The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 9: August 2023 - July 2024

[kalnel]

The organisers and WME have had a win, I'd say! This is precisely the kind of thing that WME are looking for to boost the reputations of their clients.

Absolutely right and great point! Opportunities like this are bread-and-butter for publicists.

It's actually a bit surprising that they haven't booked Harry on more speaking engagements and awards.

 

[Asteria12]

From my observations, I think WME are picking a very careful PR route for H&M, to undo the mostly self-inflicted damage from previous years and build up a more positive and friendly image. It will be interesting to see if they take on the advice this year.

 

[TLLK]

From my observations, I think WME are picking a very careful PR route for H&M, to undo the mostly self-inflicted damage from previous years and build up a more positive and friendly image. It will be interesting to see if they take on the advice this year.

Good points Asteria. Let's hope that their clients headed their advice and that 2024 is a more positive year than 2023.

 

[shady lady]

A Telegraph article from the weekend.

https://archive.ph/7oVdt

I have posted an article about H&M from the new book about King Charles on the relevant book thread:

https://www.theroyalforums.com/foru...urt-the-inside-story-51070-2.html#post2590597

 

[HRHHermione]

Several posts have been deleted. As a reminder, the purpose of this thread is to discuss current events of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Members are welcome to discuss the upcoming Robert Hardman book in the appropriate Royal Library thread, located here: https://www.theroyalforums.com/foru...urt-the-inside-story-51070-3.html#post2590885


Additionally, please remember ALL posts must adhere to TRF Community Guidelines. Insulting comments about other posters and royals are not permitted. Criticism is acceptable; insults and flames are not. We expect our members to treat each other with respect.

 

[iceflower]

The Duke of Sussex was photographed leaving after a workout session in Santa Barbara yesterday:


** dailymail article **

 

[Mirabel]

The organisers and WME have had a win, I'd say! This is precisely the kind of thing that WME are looking for to boost the reputations of their clients.

I don't know about that.
There's so much mockery about this award that I can't think it will have a positive result.

 

[shady lady]

I don't know about that.
There's so much mockery about this award that I can't think it will have a positive result.

Agreed. Especially with everything that's going on with the BRF at the moment, with his sister in law to whom he was once close poorly in hospital and his 75 year old Dad undergoing surgery next week; it all seems a bit hollow and pointless to me.

I guess it's a question of priorities.

 

[muriel]

..... all seems a bit hollow and pointless to me.

I think this may well some up the bigger issues that H&M have to contend with.

 

[Maryrose]

I don't know about that.
There's so much mockery about this award that I can't think it will have a positive result.

The only people making a mockery of the reward are people who don't care for Harry. Sorry but its true.

 

[changemysoul]

The only people making a mockery of the reward are people who don't care for Harry. Sorry but its true.

This is true but I wouldn't worry. Despite others, the organization got what they wanted, a spotlight on it. Even if they're being negative about it, every article or podcast I've come across has gone into detail about the award. Even if it's to drag down Harry, they've given the award spotlight. And he is as deserving as the non-celebrity men who served as pilots or anything like that but are normal people who didn't go on to do anything great or work in aviation. And they also considered Harry's other work than just him serving, which would've been enough for him to get the award.

You also shouldn't be worried as it seems the organization is standing firm with their choice.

And it what it is and even recent events have nothing to do with him or the award. He send his well-wishes and still celebrated something he was awarded. The two don't cancel each other out.

 

[HenRach Dominion]

I hope we get a John Travolta-Diana, Princess of Wales picture redux with HRH The Duke of Sussex and John's daughter Ella Bleu.

 

[Ghost]

I hope we get a John Travolta-Diana, Princess of Wales picture redux with HRH The Duke of Sussex and John's daughter Ella Bleu.

I hope not. Both Harry and Ella should be themselves, not avatars of their famous parents.

 

[shady lady]

I hope not. Both Harry and Ella should be themselves, not avatars of their famous parents.

Agree.

If anything, I would have expected MM to want to dance with JT to "recreate" his dance with Diana; moreover IMO MM would not want anyone else stealing the limelight away from her.

Assuming they attend, it will be interesting to see what she is wearing, and whether the outfit bears any resemblance to Diana's on the night she danced with JT, all those years ago.

 

[Maryrose]

^ I understand we all have our opinions about the couple but there is no evidence that she wants to recreate this with JT.

 

[HenRach Dominion]

I hope not. Both Harry and Ella should be themselves, not avatars of their famous parents.

Oh, absolutely. I, personally however, would see it more as a sweet homage than them being avatars for their parents, especially since HRH The Duke of Sussex has had many accomplishments beyond who his mother is, and Ella has stayed relatively out of the spotlight in spite having two famous parents and the personal tragedies they've experienced. It would be like the one Halloween when American actress Maya Rudolph recreated the album cover of her mother, R&B singer Minnie Riperton, who also died when Maya was a child.

Of course, given how private her life seems, Ella may not want to do it for that reason, which I would 100% respect.

 

[Queen Claude]

Prince Harry abandons libel case against the Mail on Sunday – on the day he was due to hand over list of documents - leaving him facing a £750,000 legal bill
By Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter For The Daily Mail
Published: 08:31 EST, 19 January 2024 | Updated: 09:58 EST, 19 January 2024
[...]
... at 10.06am, Harry's lawyers informed the newspaper it had filed a notice with the court stating: 'The Duke of Sussex discontinues all of this claim.'

The case concerned an article published in February 2022 reporting Harry's separate legal action against the Home Office for withdrawing his police bodyguards. That case is still ongoing.

The Mail on Sunday's article said Harry had tried to keep his Home Office battle secret from the public.

And it said the duke's 'PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute' by claiming Harry had offered to pay personally for the police protection – when at the time the Home Office had received no such offer.

But the duke complained the story suggested that he had 'improperly and cynically tried to manipulate and confuse public opinion'.

He launched his libel action saying the article had been 'an attack on his honesty and integrity'. The Mail on Sunday always contested the claim and stood by its journalism.
[...]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...el-case-against-Mail-Sunday-security-row.html

 

[changemysoul]

^ I understand we all have our opinions about the couple but there is no evidence that she wants to recreate this with JT.

Exactly. A woman who appeared a total of 30 times in 2023 at most. Isn’t trying to seek spotlight, but hey, it is what it is.

—

I just saw the news about the case on Twitter.

He wanted a summary judgment and not a trial. And if did go through to trail. He’d have to give access to his the daily mail. And honestly, I wouldn’t trust them or touch them with a ten foot pole when it comes to information. I’ve see that it’s hard to prove libel (and I’m not a lawyer so…) and it could be considered not worth it. Someone said that The courts will penalise you if you have the opportunity to settle and withdraw but choose not to.

Once again, I don’t know much about how true that is.

And still has bigger cases coming up this year. Still against the mail of all papers funny enough.

Either way, he’s proven that he’d go the mile. And we already know he contacted the RAEVC / Edward Young twice via email to ask about paying his security. And the issues was over the Daily mail saying he didn’t want to pay so that’s enough for me. He made the offer, it came out in court that he had emailed who needed to be emailed. He made the offer to cover himself.

 

[Toledo]

Prince Harry abandons libel case against the Mail on Sunday – on the day he was due to hand over list of documents - leaving him facing a £750,000 legal bill
By Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter For The Daily Mail
Published: 08:31 EST, 19 January 2024 | Updated: 09:58 EST, 19 January 2024
[...]
The Duke of Sussex abandoned his case just hours before a deadline for his lawyers to pass over a list of relevant documents.
[...]
He will now face having to pay the newspaper's costs of £250,000 along with his own lawyers' fees – meaning a total legal bill of more than £750,000.
Harry sued the Mail on Sunday for libel over an article which said his PR aides had tried to 'spin' a dispute with the Home Office over its decision to downgrade his taxpayer-funded police protection.
The duke said this unfairly accused him of trying to confuse the public.
[...]
... at 10.06am, Harry's lawyers informed the newspaper it had filed a notice with the court stating: 'The Duke of Sussex discontinues all of this claim.'
The case concerned an article published in February 2022 reporting Harry's separate legal action against the Home Office for withdrawing his police bodyguards. That case is still ongoing.
The Mail on Sunday's article said Harry had tried to keep his Home Office battle secret from the public.

And it said the duke's 'PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute' by claiming Harry had offered to pay personally for the police protection – when at the time the Home Office had received no such offer.

But the duke complained the story suggested that he had 'improperly and cynically tried to manipulate and confuse public opinion'.

He launched his libel action saying the article had been 'an attack on his honesty and integrity'. The Mail on Sunday always contested the claim and stood by its journalism.
[...]
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...el-case-against-Mail-Sunday-security-row.html

When you are a celebrity*, how do you fight in this very day and age tabloids, tabloid owners with an agenda, and the fact that information gets distorted so much we sometimes can't tell what's true and what's not? My short answer is you just can't.

This outcome shows how exhausting and expensive is the process of fighting back. The claim, or a situation, that Harry perceived as a wrongdoing toward him, backfired since there was not enough evidence to support it in a court.

This all reminds me of a line in a 1960's brilliantly written theater play turned movie about a king of England titled The Lion in Winter. Upon her war defeat Queen Eleanor, played by Katherine Hepburn, tells her husband King Henry to stop complaining and do like she has done throughout her life, that she picks up her losses and carries them in her shoulders because "my losses are my work". These two characters are Harry's real ancestors and they dealt with wars, not tabloids. Harry needs to learn from this experience in court, get a better PR team and listen to their advice on how to restore his image in 2024.
Footnote: the real Eleanor of Aquitaine, Harry's ancestor, lived a long and amazing life.

* Re word celebrity and Harry, per the internet meaning
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports or the entertainment industry, their position as a political figure, or even from their connection to another celebrity.

 

[Ghost]

Exactly. A woman who appeared a total of 30 times in 2023 at most. Isn’t trying to seek spotlight, but hey, it is what it is.

—

I just saw the news about the case on Twitter.

He wanted a summary judgment and not a trial. And if did go through to trail. He’d have to give access to his the daily mail. And honestly, I wouldn’t trust them or touch them with a ten foot pole when it comes to information. I’ve see that it’s hard to prove libel (and I’m not a lawyer so…) and it could be considered not worth it. Someone said that The courts will penalise you if you have the opportunity to settle and withdraw but choose not to.

Once again, I don’t know much about how true that is.

And still has bigger cases coming up this year. Still against the mail of all papers funny enough.

Either way, he’s proven that he’d go the mile. And we already know he contacted the RAEVC / Edward Young twice via email to ask about paying his security. And the issues was over the Daily mail saying he didn’t want to pay so that’s enough for me. He made the offer, it came out in court that he had emailed who needed to be emailed. He made the offer to cover himself.

The issue was that DM said he tried to mislead the public. He sued for libel. He asked for a summary judgement. The judge said that the DM has a good chance of proving honest opinion and gave the ok for the trial to continue. Harry “discontinued” his action a few hours before the deadline for documents to be presented.
I wouldn’t call that a win.

From the DM article:

“ At a preliminary hearing, in March last year, the newspaper's KC showed the court an extract from an email in which Harry – far from offering to pay for his security – argued he needed a job first, writing 'we couldn't afford private security until we were able to earn'.
The email was sent to the Queen's private secretary Sir Edward Young three months after the royals' infamous Sandringham summit in January 2020 to thrash out Harry and Meghan's exit from the UK.”

 

[TLLK]

Prince Harry abandons libel case against the Mail on Sunday – on the day he was due to hand over list of documents - leaving him facing a £750,000 legal bill
By Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter For The Daily Mail
Published: 08:31 EST, 19 January 2024 | Updated: 09:58 EST, 19 January 2024
[...]
... at 10.06am, Harry's lawyers informed the newspaper it had filed a notice with the court stating: 'The Duke of Sussex discontinues all of this claim.'

The case concerned an article published in February 2022 reporting Harry's separate legal action against the Home Office for withdrawing his police bodyguards. That case is still ongoing.

The Mail on Sunday's article said Harry had tried to keep his Home Office battle secret from the public.

And it said the duke's 'PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute' by claiming Harry had offered to pay personally for the police protection – when at the time the Home Office had received no such offer.

But the duke complained the story suggested that he had 'improperly and cynically tried to manipulate and confuse public opinion'.

He launched his libel action saying the article had been 'an attack on his honesty and integrity'. The Mail on Sunday always contested the claim and stood by its journalism.
[...]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...el-case-against-Mail-Sunday-security-row.html

Thank you for the update Queen Claude. I would presume that Prince Harry finally realized was not worth a legal fight.

 

[Hallo girl]

Thank you for the update Queen Claude. I would presume that Prince Harry finally realized was not worth a legal fight.

Maybe he needs to be more selective in his fights. Stop the scatter gun approach. Whether you feel hard done to or not you need to be realistic. I understand his anger towards the press and maybe he did have a case but things don’t always go your way.

On a second note there are comments in the press today regarding the silence from Harry and Meghan with regards Catherine and the King. I am not always cheerleading for them but I do find that unfair. If they had sent a private message then let the public know , they would have been criticised, if they had sent a public message they would have been criticised. Any contact should be kept private. I hope they have made contact but it is nobody else’s business.
This could be a way of doing things differently.

 

[shady lady]

Prince Harry abandons libel case against the Mail on Sunday – on the day he was due to hand over list of documents - leaving him facing a £750,000 legal bill
By Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter For The Daily Mail
Published: 08:31 EST, 19 January 2024 | Updated: 09:58 EST, 19 January 2024
[...]
... at 10.06am, Harry's lawyers informed the newspaper it had filed a notice with the court stating: 'The Duke of Sussex discontinues all of this claim.'

The case concerned an article published in February 2022 reporting Harry's separate legal action against the Home Office for withdrawing his police bodyguards. That case is still ongoing.

The Mail on Sunday's article said Harry had tried to keep his Home Office battle secret from the public.

And it said the duke's 'PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute' by claiming Harry had offered to pay personally for the police protection – when at the time the Home Office had received no such offer.

But the duke complained the story suggested that he had 'improperly and cynically tried to manipulate and confuse public opinion'.

He launched his libel action saying the article had been 'an attack on his honesty and integrity'. The Mail on Sunday always contested the claim and stood by its journalism.
[...]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...el-case-against-Mail-Sunday-security-row.html

Thank you for the update Queen Claude, much appreciated

 

[Kenya]

The issue was that DM said he tried to mislead the public. He sued for libel. He asked for a summary judgement. The judge said that the DM has a good chance of proving honest opinion and gave the ok for the trial to continue. Harry “discontinued” his action a few hours before the deadline for documents to be presented.
I wouldn’t call that a win.

It's not. Voluntarily dismissing a case on the day of an important discovery deadline can only be characterized as a complete admission of defeat. And from a strategy standpoint, I can't believe his lawyers waited until a discovery deadline to dismiss the case. Had they dismissed it earlier, it still would've been an admission that his case was futile, but that happens. Sometimes neither the law nor the facts are on your side and you don't realize it until the opposing side makes its arguments. But by dismissing the case on the day Harry was supposed to turn over documents to the Mail, it now looks like either Harry didn't have any documents to support his case or he's being purposely evasive. Both of those scenarios increase the likelihood that Harry's going to have to pay some or all of the Mail's legal costs. This is the nightmare scenario most litigators fear and always try to avoid in our cases. I'd love to know how the strategy decisions on Harry's team were made and by whom.

 

[Granada]

Excellent points Kenya.

On top of many of the baffling decisions that have backfield on The Sussex's, I have many times also questioned the judgement of their Teams, Advisors and Lawyers. This case being dismissed at the 11 hour, is just another one.

 

[Maryrose]

I think dropping the lawsuit has more to do with Harry having to turn over his personal documents to the DM and the field day they would have publishing this info til the end of time more than anything else. Probably dropped the suit at the last minute hoping to avoid this legally.

 

[Hallo girl]

I think dropping the lawsuit has more to do with Harry having to turn over his personal documents to the DM and the field day they would have publishing this info til the end of time more than anything else. Probably dropped the suit at the last minute hoping to avoid this legally.

These are the issues that your legal team should point out at the start and maybe they did and he decided to take the chance that it would work in his favour.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

And honestly, I wouldn’t trust them or touch them with a ten foot pole when it comes to information.

I think dropping the lawsuit has more to do with Harry having to turn over his personal documents to the DM and the field day they would have publishing this info til the end of time more than anything else. Probably dropped the suit at the last minute hoping to avoid this legally.

There is no reason to think the routine legal process of the two parties exchanging relevant evidence (discovery) would result in the judge granting the Daily Mail permission to "publish this info til the end of time".

As for the idea of illegally sharing information from the court process with members of the public: In this particular lawsuit, it was the Duke of Sussex's lawyers who were criticized by the judge for doing so.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/d...criticised-for-embargo-breach/5111982.article

 

[GondorHasNoPants]

Filing a lawsuit is a long, slow, expensive, arduous, detailed, rigorous process. To an extent that would surprise or shock most people who have never gone through it. It is NOTHING like what you see on TV. The vast majority of cases are settled before they reach a trial. And how you feel about your claim, or how it appears to the press and public, does not matter one single bit. You must prove your case, piece by piece, logically and rigorously, backed up by evidence at every step of the way.

I think this is something Harry has not entirely grasped. I think he approaches these cases emotionally, feeling he has been wronged. And that's entirely understandable, especially when you consider his history with the press. But feeling wronged is not enough - like everyone else, he must prove his case.

 

[Hallo girl]

Filing a lawsuit is a long, slow, expensive, arduous, detailed, rigorous process. To an extent that would surprise or shock most people who have never gone through it. It is NOTHING like what you see on TV. The vast majority of cases are settled before they reach a trial. And how you feel about your claim, or how it appears to the press and public, does not matter one single bit. You must prove your case, piece by piece, logically and rigorously, backed up by evidence at every step of the way.

I think this is something Harry has not entirely grasped. I think he approaches these cases emotionally, feeling he has been wronged. And that's entirely understandable, especially when you consider his history with the press. But feeling wronged is not enough - like everyone else, he must prove his case.

That is why some settle out of court.
I think Harry needed the day in court, he needed the press to be found guilty, a private settlement out of court doesn’t work for him , I do get it but he needs to see the bigger picture.