[hibeejim21]

Morgan is all about Morgan, always has been. I predict he will end up on that new right wing TV channel thats coming our way.

Not a fan of the royals but I feel a bit sorry for harry, he lost him mum in the midst of all that toxic palace culture and now that they've decided they don't like his wife and won't recognise his son I can see where he is coming from. I think his motive is just to protect them.

The blame here is squarely with the Royal Family and their media relations. The media are absolutely hellbent on standing up for themselves with this to the extent that it looks like "How dare someone of colour come over here and accuse us of racism." which is laughable when you consider the headlines the likes of the sun and mail come out with. You cant really challenge Harry and Meghans take without looking like an ignorant racist and top brass at ITV have realised this.

Remember the taxpayer funds the lot. So I think they have to be accountable to being sensible about shit like this. You cant on one hand completely protect Prince Andrew and then on the other hand withdraw privilege from them. It just seems a bit unfair to me.

Just my take.

[ritchiebaby]

I think I'm on safe ground to say that you and I will disagree on the Harry and Meghan situation, jim. For me it's all to do with the fact that they were the ones who wanted to leave the "firm" and wanted to leave the toxic UK tabloid press behind. They didn't want to commit themselves to the Royal lifestyle and duties.

Now while I feel sorry for them with regard to the incessant glare of publicity, it is they who have courted that publicity with their interviews on US TV, all the while complaining about invasion of privacy in the UK - definitely hypocritical. Judging by all accounts, Meghan is a member of a dysfunctional family, as is Harry. He obviously learnt a lot from his mother about courting media attention when it suited and going all defensive when it didn't. She was very manipulative and he is going the same way.

As I understand it, convention decrees that IF Charles takes the throne, Archie as his grandson is entitled to be called Prince Archie. No doubt there will be a huge hoo-ha about that with accusations flying between the two sides.

That's my view on the situation and in no way is a defence of the Royal Family.

[0762]

I think it is curious to see the huge difference in opinion in many media outlets in England (a case of "taking sides") and how this interview is perceived "across the pond" in the USA. As for Piers Morgan? His whole manner and presentation of himself on this particular subject, in the past 24 hours, is embarrassing and prob deserving of the lawsuit that is "coming his way".

[Devongone]

Is it really racist to wonder about the colour of a child born to a girl whose mother is black when she herself actually looks vaguely Mediterranean? Especially when the father is ginger and looks nothing like his own apparent father.

(Is it racist to watch a play like King Lear, cast colour-blind, and to wonder how come one of Lear's daughter's is black? Isn't some small part of you going to be wondering what the old King has been up to and why there's no reference to it in the play?)

If Meghan is so lovely, how come none of her family wanted to rush over for a royal wedding? Were they so blase about their new royal connection? In their place wouldn't you have been casting round for an invite, just to see?

I quite like old Harry despite his Nzia escapades et al, and I do feel rather sorry for him, but I wouldn't want to recruit him for my University Challenge team. In this drama he's been given a few lines only as a supporting artist. There's only one lead. And she's telling a saccharin story.

Piers Morgan is nowhere near the top billion of people I'd like to meet, but that doesn't make Meghan's performance any less third-rate.

There's no good side to be on here. This is the enemies of the people airing their millionaire dirty laundry in a public uncivil war. Oprah's dropping jaw hardly turned her into a neutral Lord-Sumption questioning any facts that accidentally wobbled across the screen.

It was a celebration of huge gardens, comfy outdoor furniture, two dogs and 1.4 children. We weren't in the precincts, or some favela were we? We were hearing how Harry lost his royal Security men. Tragedy. How that went down in the hood I can't even guess. Having Oprah for a neighbour is really living on the edge. How will Archie ever cope?

Any similarity to the black experience was purely accidental.

[ritchiebaby]

While I wouldn't express myself in the same vein as Devongone, I agree with most of his summary and this is my final take on that TV performance (honest).

For all the pre-publicity about the "bombshell revelations", Megan didn't reveal that much about anything. Her revelation on the race issue gave no details and Harry confirmed that he would give no details. Except of course he had to make clear that it wasn't ER or The Chookie Embra, which still leaves many Royals under suspicion - which was what they wanted. What's wrong with wondering what the new baby will look like? - will she look like her mother or father or even her grandparents and will she have red hair?

On the mental health issue, why did Megan approach HR? What could they be expected to do? Surely she wouldn't go to a health professional to ask about employment issues, so why go to HR about a health problem? So did she go to a health professional about a health problem? There will be a plethora of such staff at the beck and call of the Palace and Royal families.

Additionally I also believe that Piers Morgan's childish behaviour is embarrassing and only too typical of his style. Unfortunately it will lead to him getting a lucrative contract with an equally repulsive news outlet. By the way, ITV hired him because of his outspoken manner and I must admit to feeling sorry for Susannah Reid for having to put up with him for so long.

[0762]

During this whole affair, I must say from my own personal viewpoint I found one of the enlightening features of the media coverage was an old photo of the Royal Family, the ER, Chookie Embro, Prince Charles, Harry and Meghan, Prince Andrew and all the other "hangers on" (I believe there are 42 of them who "cling to the public purse") standing on a balcony at Buckingham Palace on a nice sunny day, no doubt after some big royal event. What was so clear in this photo was the pomp, the huge display of wealth/affluence, the display of different military uniforms, the entitlement, a great display of Englishness, white England, the Empire etc - like walking back in time to another period when they did "rule the roost", slavery was gone by then but racism was still rife when colonial mixed race kids with say 80% white ethnicity were still classified as "non white" in a legitimate imperial ruling that ensured that true white Englishness was not tainted in any way. That was the type of primitive ruling applied for King and country and the population were happy to see it and accept it - days of Empire eh!! Is there inherent racism within this great institution? I don't know TBH. But it definitely has the "ingredients" that probably "fuel" the kinda stuff that Meghan was only "touching the surface of". If one really started to scrutinise the whole Royal Dynasty operation in which I suspect the proportion of people within their whole infrastructure is predominantly white and particularly if one checks the middle to upper echelons of people who make up this intricate infrastructure of associates, class, close associations and working relationships etc. I don't know for certain if that is the case but I base that perception on the observations of Royal family activities down the years. Also lets face it - would they ever admit there is widespread racism, unconscious or otherwise, within their anachronistic institution? Most certainly not even though the official statement from the Royal Family used the word "saddened" but didn't dismiss the issue out of hand. Lastly, I think this issue is a lesser one one compared with the bigger issue of radically reforming the Royal family and downgrading their whole status of wealth and entitlement to one that is far more acceptable and civilised in a true modern society moving positively in the 21st century. IMO by all means keep them comfortable by their standards but radical reform is long overdue in this regard and particularly at this time when observing the extensive hardship experienced by millions n millions of citizens up n down the country.

[hibeejim21]

Meghan looks mediterranean ? Really ?
She is quite obviously a woman of mixed race to my eyes, and yes asking how black her baby is going to be is extremely offensive and ignorant. What if Meghan asked one of the royals if they were part of a family repeatedly bred with cousins in the 19th century ?

Her relationship with her family seems to be irrelevant too, no idea why people are getting drawn into that to attack her. But I guess its something else that maybe shows the generational lines that exist whenever something like this crops up. It's blatantly obvious that when the queen croaks the monarchy is in big, big trouble.

[Devongone]

There is a lot of kindly-meant liberal hypocrisy about colour. People who are too-nice-to-live will say, "Oh I never even notice skin colour," and they are serious FFS! I tend to reply, "I hope you are never the only witness at a major crime incident, the police are going to be dead impressed with your description of the perpetrator." Human beans are information processors. We take in the scene and interpret it in terms of our experience, and upbringing and a whole range of other crap. If we see Cyrano de Bergerac we immediately know he's got a huge hooter, if it's Boris we've got the hair and the Oxo-cube figure, if it's Usain Bolt, the good looks and 6'8", slim athletic and black combine .............. you wouldn't mistake Usain Bolt for Peter Crouch would you? Whatever rubbish you program into it, your brain is going to try to interpret the world. I'm white, it's fine, I'm not repulsive, but given the choice I might have gone for black or that nice coffee-colour apartheid South Africa used to call Cape-coloured. Shocked silence! People of all colours can be beautiful, just as sometimes they might come out with a face like a melted candle and be a genius, or never get a joke. This is humanity.

I spent the happiest 28 years of my life till the end of 2019 with a partner who was a theatre director. He was older than me. I'm gay of course. He didn't understand football at all, I love it. So what? I learnt a lot about acting. Meghan, well darling don't hold your breath till you turn into Judi Dench will you? Second-rate script, third-rate performance. Oprah? None of it was The Colour Purple now was it despite your Oscar? Don't confuse it with Alice Walker or Toni Morrison. The Royal Family didn't ask what life was like down in the Projects now did they? And privileged little Meg don't know anyhow.

How was Harry helping out while Meg was having her suicidal thoughts? Much as I shouldn't cast doubt on mental health issues, they have become a very easy peg on which to hang other lesser issues ....... because humans get upset and yes they handle it inside their heads ......... but if everyone dramatises internal struggle in such a way, it devalues the experience of those who are really on the edge. And that's the problem we get two hours on the essentially minute grievances of a woman who seems to have everything and still wants more, and we can confuse it with the real, lived experience of exploited people, minorities fighting oppression, those with no access to health care .......... Oh I could go on ranting. Just get on with your life in the sun and don't cloak your good fortune in fake bitterness.

Oh I ought to say for Jim - Meghan looks lovely but although I'd have guessed her to be mixed race I could well have struggled with the races concerned. So what? Her child had every chance of being much darker than her. That genuinely does concern parents and potential parents and their families. I know a girl whose dad was Sri Lankan and her mum was white. She came into the world dark-haired, but unless you knew her dad you would never have guessed her heredity. She was who she was and happy. It was only when she married a white man she began to wonder herself what colour her child would be and how many acquaintances might react to the baby if it favoured her dad. She wondered if she would be constantly explaining a background she had never hidden and of which she was proud, and how her husband would feel when people looked first at him, then the baby. Had Meghan favoured her mum rather than her dad no one would have asked the question. It was an observation about the nature of the world. Had the observation progressed to suggesting to Harry he couldn't have a black baby, Harry should have punched him in the face and said, "Why not shit face? Collect your teeth on the way out." He's well capable! (And by the way when I ran a football team with several players from Italian families, we had two players who you might have mistaken for Meghan's brothers, colour, cheekbones and all.) The insult about colour is not observing it or describing it, it is treating people differently because of it. Meghan is beautiful wherever you place her on your internal Dulux colour chart and she's clever. How she is using those assets and whether she's addressing serious issues or using them for her own ends remain open questions.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I have heard 3 people on various medias, one of which was Chris Kamara, say that, being in mixed race relationships, they themselves speculated on the colour of their babies. Chris said that his eldest son is white and the second has the same skintone as him. Like ritchie says, it's not unusual to speculate on all sorts of things. Now, I am not saying that this is an innocent as the people I have read on twitter, heard on Woman's Hour or seen on Packed Lunch but it does happen. As wrong as it is if there is malice in this case, their way of discussing it is designed to cause maximum damage. I would like to see them interviewed by someone less biased, see what their reaction is when they are sat in front of someone who is not part of the performance. Because, what ever stance you're taking, that's exactly what it was... a carefully planned performance.

Had enough of it now.

[hibeejim21]

Everything the royals do is a carefully planned performance. Everything.
Of course mixed race Families can speculate on the colour of their child, but when its coming from outside your immediate family then I think thats pretty out of order.

Just my opinion though.