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A calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Pallas Intrigue.
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I am your host, Mark Francis. At this time of year,
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we are all thankful for Meghan's holiday special and all
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the goodness it brings to podcasting. In the Times, Hilary
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Rose writes, I'm not usually the praying type, but I
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said a little prayer before watching with love meghan holiday celebration.
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Give me the strength, I muttered, to endure what is
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to come, and the grace not to give in to despair.
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I've been struggling since the trailer landed a couple of
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weeks ago, because it opened with Meghan in Welli's dancing
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around Christmas trees shouting Hey. Now the whole festive episode
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has arrived, and it is more than we could have
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hoped for or done to deserve. It's unfathomable. Four pointless crafts,
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three random friends, two unseen kids, one English prince and
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a duchess in a pear tree, or at least making
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pear syrup. So many traditions to embrace, she says, and
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new ones to make, and so against the cacophony of
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lift music and jingle bells. Our heroine proceeds to put
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Christmas into therapy and see what comes out the other side.
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Not Christmas for a start, Holidays? Is it a holiday tree?
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Then does father Holiday come down the chimney. She subjects
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crackers to psychoanalysis, pulling them in a moment of real connectivity.
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She arranges raw broccoly in a circle and describes it
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as a modernizing take on a Christmas wreath. Dressed in
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the first and many neutral cashmere separates. She invites us
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to place a bowl of dip in the center of
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the platter or to the side, showing us, gracefully with
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a manicure at hand, how to move the bowl around.
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I can only assume that the part where she puts
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on monogrammed red pajamas and talks about Keechen lorrain and
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my fair lady accent was a fever dream. Some people arrive,
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perhaps off the street, for brunch, also dressed in red pajamas.
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They eat pudding first with a knife and fork. Then
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Kish Megan tells them she has plans for them after lunch,
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a clear signal to flee, and yet they don't, not
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even when she says this is ow bevy of options
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of wreathmaking someone says that the greatest meals are those
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that leave your heart feeling full, and Megan is visibly
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but prettily moved. He talks about the perfect imperfection that
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comes from human connection, a level of gibberish that has
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a practically implode with heartfelt empathy. You see why he's here,
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She asks, Oh, let's see now to frog his book,
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she rewards him with them darling cheese gouger, and everyone
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says caucio, a peppy a lot, And then she asks,
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can I give you a beverage as well? Instead of
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having her locked up? He says yes. In the Telegraph,
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Alison Pearson writes, joyless and fake. What a strange person,
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Megan is? What kind of woman thinks relatable is having
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friends over to craft various Christmas gifts and food stuffs,
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which apparently will lay down those nostalgic family memories. For
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some reason, I never had a friend who wanted to
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make her own advent calendar and put individual love notes
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to her kids in each day, nor a bosom pal
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who yearned to create her own personalized Christmas crackers. We
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were too busy working to pay the mortgage or dragging
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four days worth of festive food back from the supermarket.
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Father Christmas must be real reason, to Rachel my friend's
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little girl, because mummies couldn't do all that work by themselves,
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could they. The show begins with Megan buying a tree
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once a year, we get to do the tree thing.
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She tricks girlishly. Who goes to get a Christmas tree
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without taking the kids, Archie and Littlebit and know where
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to be seen. I guess they might pick an imperfect spruce,
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which would play havoc with mum's perfectionist designs. Meghan decorates
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the tree by herself, or she starts doing it. I
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reckon there's a team of nervous elves poised behind the
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camera to sprint into action and do Madam's bidding. You're
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really able to encapsulate your family story, she says about
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the tree decorations. So in the Duke and Duchess of
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Sussex's case, the family story is one bereft grandpa in
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very poor health who has never met his grandchildren because
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he sold out a teeny bit to the media before
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Harry and Meghan's wedding. Not to be confused with the
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Sussexes selling out to the media with books and documentaries
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trashing Harry's family that was bravely telling our truth. Oh
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and on the paternal side, there's another grandpa in uncertain
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health who has seen his California based grandchildren only a
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handful of times, even though they bear their royal titles
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because of them. Don't forget the brother and sister in
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law who hate the Sussex's guts for causing the late
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Queen and her husband so much distress in their final years,
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and for implying the present King and Princess of Wales
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were guilty of racism or at least unconscious bias, because
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they were cold, weird Brits who didn't treat warm, empathetic
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American Megan with sufficient deference or hug her. What she
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is really interested in is the superficial, the presentation of
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a wealthy, immaculate life that bossy, ambitious little Meghan with
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her broken family must have dreamt of as a child.
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She talks endlessly of hospitality, but has none of the
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open heartedness and relaxation and to make her hospitable. At
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times she comes close to diagnosing what ails her. I
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get so fast about everything being perfect that she lose
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the magic that even happens in the mistakes more palas
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in just a moment in the Free Press, Susie Weiss writes,
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Megan Mikle is the slop princess we deserve. I've come
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the whole way around on Megan Markle. I started where
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everyone did, completely enchanted by the gorgeous American actress who
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got to ride an actual carriage to marry a real
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life prince. The drama with her dad made her relatable.
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She looked stunning at her wedding. She could do no wrong.
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Then she did wrong, or at least she admitted a
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major mistake when she decided that actually she didn't want
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to be in the royal family. They are allegedly struck
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up and repressed and kind of racist. Who would have thought.
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She fled to Canada in California with her husband and
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new baby. The good people of England called it mesit.
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What followed was years of tabloid drama and lawsuits against
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the press, and an Oprah Winfrey interview in which Meghan
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said no one ever asked if she was okay, but
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she would not be silenced. She launched a podcast about
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girl bosses, which lasted a couple of months. Then there
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was a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard that's now
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called as Ever that sells jam. She and her husband
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signed a one hundred million dollar Netflix deal, which was
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not renewed this past summer. Nevertheless, she persisted she has
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made a holiday special for the streamer and in doing
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so has totally won me back over. It is unhinged
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and unintentionally hilarious. I could not recommend it more. Royal
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commentators say the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are facing
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a decline in their public standing, both in Hollywood and
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more widely, as Prince Harry's appearance on The Late Show
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with Stephen Colbaar prompted booze from the audience after a
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joke about President Donald Trump. A source toward People magazine
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that Meghan treats criticism as just noise, while Prince Harry
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takes things more personally and remains detnsely protective of his wife.
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Kinsey Chowfield on Unfiltered said their style power is fading.
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That will frustrate them because they've experienced the dopamine hit
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of adoration. Their confidence in leaving the royal family was
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rooted in the perceived popularity. They'll keep putting themselves out
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there because they need to make money. But Meghan's commercial
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ambitions conflict with Harry's desire to rebuild royal bridges. As
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long as she uses her title for business, the Royal
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family will keep their distance, and as long as the
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family keeps that distance, Harry's popularity will continue to suffer.
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She often subtly addresses specific criticisms and interviews she absolutely
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sees it. Meghan is more eager to respond to every
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rumor or negative story. By contrast, she said, Harry is
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the opposite. Meghan doesn't actively seek out negative feedback, while
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Harry can't help himself. He reads it, looks for it,
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and it hurts him. Despite such scrutiny, a People magazine
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insiders said it never creates friction between them. They're fully
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aligned and always operate as a team. Chaffield said they
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seem to ignore real scandals. They follow, never complain, never explain,
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only when it suits them. Hillary Fordage told Fox News
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Digital either they really are oblivious to their fading star
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power or just doing the utmost to manage their waning popularity.
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Meghan is usually dismissive of criticism, while Harry takes it
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deeply to heart. Meghan grew up Hollywood hardened, while Harry
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is more easily wounded. Looking to the future, Chofield predicted,
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I think Meghan will keep aligning herself with the Kardashians
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and other power players. I expect her to launch something
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in the beauty arena. She is fiercely independent. What Meghan wants,
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Meghan gets. Meghan's newly launched twelve dollars chocolate bars have
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drawn sharp criticism online, with many social media uses branding
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both the flavors and the price insane and weird. The
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Duchess of Sussex unveiled three limited edition bars featuring what
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her as Ever brand describes as signature ingredients Milk chocolate
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with short bread cookies and bee pollen, White chocolate with
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flour sprinkles and ham hearts, and dark chocolate with raspberry
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spread and sea salt. Reaction, however, was mixed. One critic wrote,
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She's got to be joking. Twelve dollars for a chocolate
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bar with weird flavors in it, Like who ruins chocolate
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with flower sprinkles and bee pollen? Leave that for the bees.
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Another commented there's no way I'd pay twelve dollars for
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a random chocolate bar with weeds in it. Gross. There
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you have it. If you'd like to email us our
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addresses The Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. And if
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Christmas gift, even for yourself. We appreciate the support Mike
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France has me thanks to John McDermott. This is Powers
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Intrigue and as school h