Many months ago, as far back as October 2019, I wrote about an interesting item that appeared in the Popbitch newsletter about the Sun’s Dan Wootton and his relationship with a member of Prince William and Catherine’s communications team. The item read as follows:
“It was curious seeing Dan Wootton give Meghan Markle both barrels this week. You'd think he'd be a little more friendly, given that he's such good pals with Wills and Kate's press secretary...”
This friendship came up again back in January of this year when Dan Wootton broke open the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would be stepping down as senior members of the British royal family. As I wrote in my post then about the situation, I actually didn’t believe the rumours at first that the Sussexes would be leaving, which tells you how uninformed I was about it, LOL, despite persistent suspicions otherwise, but I did namecheck Christian Jones, Will and Kate’s press secretary.
Because that sh-t would have been tightly locked down. There is no way that Harry and Meghan, WHO ARE SUING THE SUN, would have wanted for the Sun to scoop them.
So…how did Dan Wootton break that story for the Sun?
Byline Investigates reported this weekend that Dan Wootton and the Sun paid £4,000 for the story to Christian Jones’s partner, Callum Stephens, who is also friends with Dan Wootton. Dan Wootton has denied this and is threatening to sue. Christian Jones has also denied having any knowledge of anything. Head to Byline Investigates for all the details. They’re saying that they’re not afraid of a potential lawsuit brought by the Sun and standing by their story which is about as specific as it gets, with the amount of payment laid out and names named.
Of course a gossip columnist is going to have sources. What’s been most interesting for me in this situation specifically is WHO those sources are and WHY they’re sharing. For over a year now we’ve been talking about Harry and Meghan distancing themselves from the British royal family and the implications that they felt they weren’t being adequately and fairly supported from within the institution. If what Byline Investigates reports is true, it supports the suggestion that they were being backstabbed on the inside. And even if you’re anti-Sussex and pro-royal, I know you’re out there, I hear from you every day, WHY would the institution sell out one of their own? Or, rather, why are they so selective about who they choose to sell out? We’ve seen them close ranks around the prince who was friends with a dead rapist pedophile. Why wasn’t the same effort applied to another prince and his wife in the face of racist media attacks? What does that say about the institution?
As for Will and Kate, nobody is outright accusing them of any involvement. I mean, some people might be skeptical about what they know but even if we apply a generous approach to the situation, believing that they’re completely oblivious to these shenanigans, their ignorance of these alleged activities makes them… at best… bad managers? They’re the leaders of their team, right? If a member of their team goes rogue, as leaders, it’s their duty to address the mistake, to hold themselves and the team member responsible, and to implement changes to ensure that the errors don’t happen again. If, then, you would like to argue in favour of Will and Kate, and this Byline Investigation is the FIRST they’re hearing of these sellout games that are allegedly being played by their staff members, then to quote Kathleen, it’s now Day 1 for change, to make things right. So what’s the move, House Cambridge?
