Meghan and Harry have blundered into a right Royal PR disaster with large KEEP OUT signs erected round the christening of baby Archie just as news of the £3 million taxpayer-funded revamp of their country cottage emerged. You can’t have one without the other. Take public funds and you have to play the publicity game.
Although Meghan is getting much of the flak for not understanding the rules, it’s just as likely that Harry with his visceral dislike of the media is behind it. He does have tr Saturn now moving through his first house and staying in his lower-profile first quadrant till almost the end of this decade, so he will feel the urge to retreat into relative anonymity. Meghan won’t feel the same. She has tr Saturn moving soon into her 7th which will push her more out into the world, with higher visibility and more ambition.
He’s been through an exceptionally bumpy patch within the last few weeks with his Solar Arc Saturn conjunct his Mars, with both being undermined by tr Neptune in square till late this year. Plus he’s got tr Pluto opposition his Sun/Moon midpoint this year and next as he struggles to adjust to married life, not always easily; and that aspect can also indicate strains on his popularity.
2020 to 2023 do look stressful years for them as a couple with tr Pluto square the composite Saturn Pluto and then opposition Moon on their relationship chart. That was always the oddity of that chart suggesting significant family problems which have clearly cropped up on both sides.
They are due to go to Africa in the autumn and relocating Meghan’s chart there puts Venus on her midheaven on the eastern side and Sun and Mercury/Midheaven on the western – so it is a region that allows her to use her public relations skills and will bring her to prominence; as indeed will the UK. For Harry, Africa puts his Sun in the Descendant in the east which will bring out his ability to relate one-to-one with others; and Uranus and Mars on the Midheaven central to eastern half bringing an ambitious need to make a difference. Moon on the IC for a settled home life in west Africa along with well-organised Saturn Midheaven though these two latter also run through Europe/UK.
Overall Africa is important to both, for marginally different reasons.
The Queen looks less than enchanted with Harry with tr Saturn conjunct their composite Mars and the Eclipse conjunct the composite Sun at the moment. And Charles isn’t looking over thrilled either with tr Saturn square the composite Venus and tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2019/2020 plus undermining Neptune transits – so a tricky transition for the family. Relations with William continue out of step with an intense and stubborn tr Pluto opposition the composite Mercury now and until late 2020, as well as an upsetting tr Uranus square the Venus at the moment and repeating in 2020. With Kate and Harry there’s a gentle downhill drift with a decidedly edgy end of the year.
The public mood for Harry and Meghan is very positive, it seems. The official photo’s of their son’s christening on their Instagram account have received over 2,5 million likes so far. In just 3 months their account has gained 9 million followers. It’s only the press mood that continues to be negative towards them, because the press has less access to them. The game has changed. Royals depend less on the press for PR. They have social media. The reconstruction of Frogmore cottage was already planned years ago because it was in a bad condition. Not because of H&M. It remains English heritage. So not owned by them.
But the $$ was spent on their watch, no matter how far back the improvements were reviewed. What do you think?
People ‘like’ and follow on Instagram just for the sake of it/nosiness not to demonstrate whole hearted approval of actions etc! It’s not just the media who disapprove of H and M attitude to pretty much everything and time will out as they say…
Frogmore Cottage is owned by the Crown Estate not English Heritage.
There is also the security bill. A further 20 officers from The Met. will have to be deployed to Frogmore at a time when we keep hearing that the police are underfunded. I think the lavish displays of wealth are irritating the public and the lack of awareness from the couple about their behaviour are part of the problem. They seem to be tone deaf or perhaps they just don’t care.
There is more than enough money in the Queen’s private purse and indeed Harry’s given his legacy from his mother, to pay for all upkeep costs themselves, as I imagine Princess Anne did with her children, if they want to walk down that road. But they can’t have it both ways.
At the end of the day even if Archie is meant to be a private citizen and as he is a tiny baby is unaware of what is going on. Also the more the Sussexes try to hide things, the more people will dig to see what is going on. They are rubbing the British public up the wrong way which is bad in both the shorter and longer term and their new very high powered PR team seem to lurch from one potential disaster to the next and it proves that they should come under the palace wing rather than go out on their own. The Queen and the Prince of Wales must be horrified – Harry and Meghan were supposed to be the next best thing for the monarchy and it seems to be the other…
I agree that Meghan and Harry shouldn’t be so lavish with public funds. But I’m assuming there will be no Royal role for Archie when he’s older and he’ll be expected to support himself? With that in mind, should his childhood be splashed across the magazines? I struggle with that one a bit, making a child stupidly famous and then cutting them loose from the firm seems a bit irresponsible, if you see what I mean? Whereas with William and Kate’s children, the future is far more mapped out.
With Wm and Kate, are their children intended to become traditional cookie-cutter royals? Whereas Meghan and Harry, two parents who appear to be more independent…nonconformist…will archie spend more days fishing or learning about royal etiquette?
What would the Queen say?