What happened to Meghan’s celebrity friends?

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media, Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I'm your host, Mark Francis. What happened to Meghan's celebrity Friends with Love? Meghan reportedly struggled to attract the A list star power many expected, leading to a somewhat underwhelming reception for the Duchess of Sussex foray into the world of cookery programming. Despite her well documented connections to high profile figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams, neither appeared on the show. Instead. The series, filmed at a farmhouse near the Sussex's Montecito Residents, features a lineup consisting largely of close friends and lesser known personalities, including her longtime makeup artist Daniel Martin and former Suits co star Abigail Spencer.

0:52 A source speaking to the Sun suggested that securing guests had been a challenge. They struggled to book guests. They had a real hard time and it shows, the source claimed. In the standard tenure, gold Rites began never understood the gain when she signed bananas with inspirational mantras for sex workers and told a TV documentary crew she wasn't okay and thank you for asking. We knew she wanted to be loved for herself. Being royal means not being loved for yourself. Essentially, you are not allowed a self. Began didn't understand that you were never snotty with the staff. Some of them claimed PTSD after working for her. She vehemently denied mistreating her staff with her team, calling the allegations a calculated, semere campaign, and that if you have a toxic family, the markles you just smile and manage it.

1:39 The Royal family are related to toxic people too, but Charles the Third has never complained about his dead cousin Leopold of the Belgians genocide Air of the Congo. Tina Brown, Megan's most insightful biographer, blames Harry for Began's troubles in The Palace Papers, the best modern book on the Royal family, Brown says Prince Harry wanted a collaborator in misery, not success. He was six in line to the throne, Meghan was six on the call sheet in suits, and they met there in thwarted misery. I think he chose her to get him out a fragrant one woman extraction team, an available mother, his life before her was anguish. It's all in his memoir Spare. His brother refused to speak to him at Eton, friends chased him through woods with shotguns.

2:21 A gamekeeper stuffed his head into a dead deer. He was made to walk behind his mother's coffin his grief, stolen by strangers. William had it too, but he isn't a second son. Primogeniture is cruel win It takes all and being the heir as compensations. If they have a fatal floor, as all tragic heroes must, it is vanity. They cannot understand that if you leave the royal family, you leave the status too. And so there is something tragic about Meghan hanging on in her borrowed kitchen and pretending to be happy. She is now an ideal wife in someone else's house, selling a lifestyle. I am not sure she even wants, but royalty exists to be trapped one way or the other, and what else women to do. One of her offerings is the beautiful inside cake, and after everything she's been through, it feels like a screen.

3:08 Royal expert Jenny Bond spoke to the Mirror about Megan, correcting Mindy Kayling about the Sussex surname and doing it on camera. Jenny said, I thought it was rather a pointed remark to make so publicly to a friend. She could have just halted the filming for a moment and privately corrected her guest. But she makes a fair argument that some women feel it's important for the family to have a shared surname. The official royal surname for the late Queen's descendants is Mount Batton, Windsor, but Prince George and his siblings were actually called Cambridge School and now Wales. Harry and William adopted the surname Wales in their military careers, so Megan is quite within her rights to adopt a married name of Sussex and also use this for the children.

3:52 I don't think she's particularly trying to cling to her royal connections, more that she is celebrating the bond with her husband and children. In the Daily Mail, Richard Eden tackled the same subject, pointing out they have of course visited Sussex only once, hosting a number of engagements in the county on a day in their wedding year. It is striking two that they chose to use the royal family's traditional surname Mount Batten Windsor on the birth certificates of their children. Eden quotes the Pallace Insider as saying it's clearly a warning shot. One theory is that the Sussexes wanted Charles and William to know they will use their titles whenever they please. Eden also reminds us that Meghan has brought up the issues of titles before, specifically when it comes to the children. Meghan's remarks in her twenty twenty one interview with Oprah Winfrey suggested that Archie had been denied his birth writers prince and implied that his decision deviated from royal protocol. She also expressed her shock upon learning that Archie would not receive police protection, hinting that the choice may have been influenced by his mixed heritage. However, the reality of the situation was more nuanced.

4:55 Under the nineteen seventeen Letters Paident issued by King George the Fifth, the title of prince or princesses automatically granted only to the children and grandchildren of a reigning monarch. At the time of Archie's birth in twenty nineteen, Queen Elizabeth I was still on the throne, making Archie a great grandchild of the sovereign and therefore ineligible for the title under existing rules. It is worth noting that Queen could have issued new letters patent, as she did for the Cambridge Children in twenty twenty twelve, ensuring that all of Prince William's children would be styled as princes and princesses. No such amendment was made for Archie or his younger sister Lilibert. However, following the accession of King Charles the Third in twenty twenty two, Archie and Lilibert, as grandchildren of the sovereign, automatically became eligible for their respective titles of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed in early twenty twenty three that their children would indeed use these titles. The matter of royal security is a separate issue. Titles do not automatically confer police protection, which is granted based on security assessments rather than rank within the royal family. Decisions on security funding are made by the Royal and VP Executive Committee and independent body rather than the Palace. David Sherburne, the esteemed barrist and known for representing a host of high profile clients, has spoken of his admiration for Harry's unwavering commitment to his legal battle against the press. Sherburne, who has acted on behalf of figures such as Amy Winehouse, Sheryl Cole and Harry Styles, expressed a certain frustration that, after weeks

6:26 of meticulous preparation, he was ultimately unable to present his arguments in court due to a last minute settlement. Speaking on The Newsagent's podcast, Sherborne recalled the moment he realized the opportunity had slipped away. I think it was the Tuesday morning. I had my notes in front of me, ready to spend the next three days opening the case, explaining all the documents. I think it was really about five minutes beforehand that I was finally tapped on the shoulder and told the parties were very, very close to an agreement. Indeed, I mean it's very clear. Whatever you may think of Harry, he is absolutely clear and focused on what he wants to achieve and passionate about doing so. I admire that he wasn't interested in the financial compensation that would come with he was interested in personally having his day in court. Rather, Prince Harry believed that his public duty is to represent people who don't have the voice that he has. Palacentric could be right back. Elizabeth the First ruled with strategy, power, and an iron grip on her image, but one scandal nearly cracked the facade.

7:29 Dubbed the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth never married, a choice driven by both personal and political strategy. Given that her father, Henry the eighth, practically turned matrimony into a blood sport, she had every reason to be wary. Instead, she played the marriage game was a diplomatic tool, dangling the possibility of union to keep foreign and domestic alliances in check. But that didn't mean she never fell in love. Enter Robert Dudley, childhood friend, trusted courtier, and the man many believe was Elizabeth's one true love. She made him Master of the Horse, a fancy title that meant he controlled the royal road trips and kept him close, but their relationship was marred by a scandal. Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart, was found dead with a broken neck in fifteen sixty, though her death was ruled an accident. Whispers of foul play never faded, and the shadow of suspicion made marriage to Elizabeth impossible. Not that she let go of him.

8:21 She even tried to marry him off to Mary, Queen of Scot's, under the bizarre condition that they all lived together at court. Elizabeth showered Dudley with gifts, including Kenilworth Castle, where she famously stayed for nineteen days in fifteen seventy five, possibly an ultimatum from Dudley marry me well, let me go. Neither happened, but their bond remained. When Dudley died in fifteen eighty eight, Elizabeth was devastated. Fifteen years later when she passed. His final letter was found at her bedside, a reminder of what might have been in a life ruled by duty over desire, and they have it. She tried to email us. Our address is the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify, Apple or the app of your choice. Leave us a review of five stars if you're enjoining the show, I'm Mark Francis My thanks to John McDermott, This Palace Intrigue and good Times