Feb. 8, 2025

The Invictus Games: Prince Harry at his best? Eilish-Gate: Meghan at her worst?

Show Notes
Transcript

Harry and Meghan are off to Vancouver.

In the Spectator, Alexander Larman writes about Meghan:
"Yet there is something so nauseatingly contrived, so fake – so actressy – about the little smiles to camera, the faux-excitement, the casual name-dropping of famous friends and, finally, the idea that some signed trinkets can in some way compensate for a truly epochal disaster. It screams of consumerism and fakery: both things, by now, that the Duchess has intimately associated herself with."

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Callarogu Shark Media. Hello and welcome through Pallace Intrigue. I

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am your host, Mark Francis. The Invictus Games begin today

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with an opening ceremony at BC Place, headlined by Cole

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Plays Chris Martin, alongside Katy Perry, Noah Cahan, Nelie Fittado

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and Quebec's Roxane Bruno. Dominic Reed, CEO of the Invictus

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Games Foundation, spoke highly of Harry's dedication, calling the event

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deeply personal to him. He has absolutely been the person

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giving guidance and direction, Reed told people, adding that the

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Games provide extraordinary opportunities to an extraordinary number of people.

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This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Games, a

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milestone Harry called really exciting in a November interview with TSN.

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The competition, which he founded in twenty fourteen after a

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decade of military service, has grown into a global movement

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supporting wounded, injured, and sick service personnel. A notable change

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this year is the replacement of rifles with laser based equipment,

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a move the Foundation says prioritizes inclusivity for athletes with disabilities.

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Over five hundred competitors from twenty nations are set to

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compete in a variety of winter sports including alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon,

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skeleton and wheelchair curling. Looking ahead, the closing ceremony on

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February sixteenth at Roger's Arena will bring a different energy,

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with country star Jelly Roll leading the lineup, joined by

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the Barenaked Ladies and the War and Treaty. The Invictor

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Schemes will return to the UK in twenty twenty seven,

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marking its first time back on British soil since the

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inaugural event in London in twenty fourteen. That one likely

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will come with some interesting soap opera storylines to keep

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this podcast busy for a few weeks. Hopefully Harry will

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be able to enjoy himself without being distracted by this

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next story. A US judge has signaled that he may

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be open to unsealing some of Harry's visa records. Judge

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Carl Nichols, who has reviewed the confidential records, states he

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wants maximum disclosure as long as it doesn't via a privacy.

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The case brought by the Conservative Heritage Foundation questions how

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Harry was granted a visa despite admitting in his memoir

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spare to using cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms. The think

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tank argues that the US immigration law typically bars individuals

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with a history of drug use, suggesting either preferential treatment

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by the Biden administration or possible dishonesty on Harry's application.

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Royal expert Jenny Bond told The Mirror, there's no doubt

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that President Trump's return to the White House means that

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this is squeaky burn time for Harry. The President is

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a man who seems to have a strategy of making

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a series of threats and sometimes he acts on them.

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In the past, he has said that Harry is on

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his own and has criticized him for betraying the late Queen.

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So the fact that the judge has now cast a

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certain amount of doubt over whether his visa application can

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remain private must be worrying for the Prince. Basically, I

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think Harry is now pretty much on a yellow card.

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Meghan's Billie Eilish video continues to be panned in The Spectator.

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Alexander Laman brites this disaster has attracted a small but

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vocal number of people who ostensibly have offered their time

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and resources to provide much needed assistance, but in reality

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seem more interested in creating hashtag content to share on

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their social media. Meghan Michael, predictably enough, belongs to that category.

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Yet there is something so nauseatingly contrived, so fake, so

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accuracy about the little smiles to the camera, the faux excitement,

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the casual name dropping of famous friends, and finally, the

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idea that some signed trinkets can in some way compensate

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for a truly major disaster. Its screams of consumerism and fakery,

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both things by now that the Duchess has intimately associated

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herself with. In the Mirror, A Russell Myers writes, I'm

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old enough to remember Meghan's ill fated podcast Archetypes, which

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top brass at Spotify had the good sense to consign

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to history after just one series. Now, without the medium

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of a podcast, Meghan has launched herself back into Instagram

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to update us with her various giddy adventures, whether creating

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a victorious sponge out of love or calling on her

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celeb pals to deliver a T shirt for a poor

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soul who just watched her house burn down, complete with

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her own branded merch. In the video her children's names

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in this case, Megan excitedly tells us through heavily edited

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footage of her taking delivery of a package sent from

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popstar Billy Eilish. As the story goes, Meghan lets her

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one point six million followers into the secret of how

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she used her A list network to source a tour

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T shirt for a fifteen year old girl who lost

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literally everything in the recent La wildfires. Let me be

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clear here, I'm not disputing the consideration evident in doing

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something nice for someone whose house has, as Meghan says,

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turned to ash. However, if ever, there was evidence of

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the gulf between being a royal and not looked no

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further to this ninety odd second video. It reminded me

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of those awful viral videos of random acts of kindness

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where the act is neither random or arguably kind when

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it's filmed for likes and self serving adulation. As my

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scrambled brain continued to download what I just witnessed, it

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got me thinking, who on earth is signing off on this?

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Michael Deacon had a different point of view for The Telegraph,

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writing very cruelly, A lot of people accuse Meghan Mikle

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of being fake, artificial and sincere. I, however, think those

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people are wrong. I think she means every word she says.

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But that's the problem. She's so madly earnest. She has

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no idea how ridiculous she sounds. A T shirt for

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a girl who's just lost her home? What she meant

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to do? Stick a couple of poles in it and

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use it as a tent? And what's she going to

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play the album on Palace intric We're right back. Princess

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Anne has expressed her gratitude towards NHS staff who saved

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her life after a shocking incident in which she was

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struck by a horse last June. The seventy four year

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old princess was on her way to check on her

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chickens at her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire when she

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was struck by a horse, causing her to lose consciousness.

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The incident led to an air ambulance and emergency services

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being dispatched to her estate. Following initial assessments, the decision

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was made to transport her to Southmead Hospital in Bristol

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for treatment. Anne, who has no memory of the event,

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thanks the medical teams at the hospital, saying Sadly, I

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don't have huge memories of being in here either. I

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just know I was really well looked after, so thank you.

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But whatever you did, it seemed to work, the recovery

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being relatively straightforward, thankfully. She also added humorously that she

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was grateful she couldn't remember the incident, saying that has

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huge advantages you can just carry on, and joked about

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which of her horse might have been responsible for her injuries, saying,

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I know if there was a perpetrator who managed to

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do that much damage, they're not letting on either. So

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relationships remain absolutely secure and they have it. If you

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like to email us some addresses The Palace Intrigue at

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gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify, Apple or

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the app of your choice and leave us a review

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of five stars. If you're enjoying the show, I'm Mark

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Francis My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue.

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Good terms,

The Invictus Games: Prince Harry at his best? Eilish-Gate: Meghan at her worst?

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