The African Tour documentary on Independent Television company on the Sussexes has shown that a lot of the people, including some respected journalists (I thought they were) who rushed to spout judgments, are guilty of hypocrisy, twisting of facts and crass behaviour.
There was never any attempt by most of them to address the central issue of the documentary. That the tabloids and some broadsheet newspapers were seemed to have absolved themselves of any blame for the distress that the Sussexes felt, is an awful shame on these people and the media platforms that allow them.
Their brazen attempt to shift their shameful repellent insulting behaviours on to the Sussexes mental fitness has not worked. Their deliberate attempt to change the call for fairness by the Duchess to one of not coping well in the Royal Family, because of scrutiny and wanting privacy, is palpable nonsense and misinterpretation of her words. Just as British journalists are known to do, twisting facts to suit their purposes.
The Duchess never said she cannot cope as part of the Royal Family. She said, she had tried to keep up with our “British stiff upper lip sensibility” as she was continuously lied about during her pregnancy and childbirth by the newspapers and a particular small television company that occasionally and continuously broadcast infuriating and obnoxious programmes about the Royal Family, especially about the Duchess.
It is important to reiterate here that the Duchess said she was not against scrutiny by anyone, but the stories coming out of that are lies. Newspaper editors have not on their own bat, bothered to correct lies until prompted to do so by the media watchdog. Or sued as has happened recently.
As I have mentioned before, if it were possible for her to respond publicly to a lot of these lies, I am sure she would. After all, she is a much better journalist than most these so-called professional journalists, who comment on her weekly.
Truth has become an alien concept for these media outlets, their editors, journalists and television presenters. As long as lies with banner headlines would entice readers and adverts, especially where the Duchess of Sussex is concerned, that is all that matters to unscrupulous editors.
As the Duchess said on the documentary, the newspapers never ever publish corrections, when deliberate lies are written. She has, within two years of coming to the UK to marry the Duke, found the only recourse to fairness is to resort to the Court of law, which is quite incredible. Anyone who goes to settle in a new country would use the first two years to find their bearings. The Duchess’s first two years have seen her very successful in the actual things she does and battling racism and lies on the other hand.
Most of these shameless Duchess detractors are pretty petty old people, who would not know a modern trend if it tripped them. They have not even bothered to know the Duchess, as they have chosen deliberately not to. They have not spoken to the charities she supports to determine her impact. If one should question their “at a drop of a hat” opinions what the Duchess has done or said that is wrong and damaging to her new family, the answer would be very hard to enunciate. These people are very few in numbers, but with access to enemy platforms, make the most noises, as if the whole UK is against the Duchess.
Which delves us neatly into the latest about the Duchess. No matter what her detractors do, the people of the United Kingdom see things different and blame the tabloids for trying to undermine her. Tatler, a British high society magazine has featured the Duchess of Sussex as its cover story for its 310 anniversary December issue. The Duchess is on the front cover. In its inside pages, there are four well known women, three journalists, Lynn Barber, Afua Hirsch, Yasmin Alibah Brown and US, but UK based author, Lionel Shriver.
The women were tasked to write about whether the Duchess “conquers or divide” popular culture, presumably in the United Kingdom. Not surprising Ms Barber, a Daily Gutter journalist wrote the Duchess divides popular culture, but then she is older than the Duchess’s mum. What would she know about 2019 popular culture? The others are liberal minded, so we know what they would say about the Duchess.
The same magazine conducted an opinion survey with ComRes an opinion research company of 2,016 British adults of voting age about how good the Duchess is for the Royal Family. The survey result was weighted to be demographically representative of all adults in Great Britain. The survey carried out in September found 55 % believe the Duchess of Sussex is good for the Royal Family. That debunks the narrative being stitched by the tabloids and their conservative journos. 45 % were against. 40 % felt the Duchess was treated unfairly by the newspapers. In view of the constant disparaging and annoying comments and lies in the news media and only two years in the UK, the opinion poll results are remarkably good for the Duchess of Sussex.
The Editor in Chief of Tatler, Richard Dennen in an accompanying letter praised the Duchess as the most talked-about royal. He described the Duchess as fabulous, likes her style, her choice of dresses and for bringing a breadth of California cool to change the drab dusty corridors of the old guards at royal palaces.
Mr. Dennen also said he was convinced the Duchess is a positive force for change in the Royal Family. He said as the Duchess knows, every generation has its struggles, but it is always cool to be on the right side of history. The Duchess was not interviewed, nor played any part in the issue.
This is a high society magazine counting middle to upper class of Britain as its readership. What does one make of the coming 310 anniversary December issue? They featured the Duchess once before the wedding. This is, therefore, an astonishing anniversary issue.
In my view, it is a recognition of the Duchess’s impact on society here. I wish the Duchess would know and believe that she has a lot of support in the country at large than she realises. She should know the tabloids and conservative newspapers and their journalists do not represent Britain. British newspaper circulation has been dwindling over the years and losing money terribly. They do not present that much of a threat to the success of the Sussexes.
The newspapers’ daily combined circulation of five to six millions, do not match the Sussex Royal Instagram account at all, even though setup only six months ago. It is a matter of continuing to use their platform to tell their own stories; set their own agendas, engage naturally with members of the public, as they always do brilliantly whilst out on engagements acting on behalf of the Monarch and going on overseas tours for the British Government. Work and promote more charities. The Duke and Duchess should take courage in that and continue with their noble work.