Dear Gossips,
Right now, at the time of this writing (5am ET), even though it likely won’t be posted for a few hours, nothing has happened. And it could be hours before anything happens. Or nothing could happen at all. Which poses a problem today because in this space on this blog, I usually try to set the tone for the day. And I have to get this part done so I can move on and prepare the rest of the content. That’s the inside baseball of managing the site. Which is particularly relevant today as we wait on whether or not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will announce their engagement.
To get even more inside baseball, when I wrote about the UK media scramble that was happening yesterday, I didn’t actually think an engagement announcement was likely. Neither did any of the sources I talk to. And we’ll get into the reasons why in a separate post later on. That might end up not being the case later today. Technically, if you’re reading this when it goes up, around 9am ET, there are still a couple of work hours in the day in the UK. Prince Harry could prolong this until the very last possible moment, draw it out, and make everyone work right up until happy hour on a Friday and not start their weekend when they want to start it. You always have to allow for the possibility so as to be prepared for the unexpected.
But it would be unexpected. By all logic it would be unexpected. Why, then, has the UK media been behaving as though it was expected? This, to me, at least today, if Harry and Meghan end up NOT announcing sh-t, which is what I’ve been hedging towards (allowing for possibilities, see?), is the most interesting part of the discussion. Again, it’s the inside baseball of it all. If nothing happens today, what does it tell us, yet again, about the young royals’ relationship right now with the media in their own country? And also about the UK media’s relationship with the royals? How well does the UK media actually know the young royals?
Last year, Prince Harry issued a statement criticising the UK media, their newspapers in particular, for their treatment of Meghan Markle. I called it the Love Shield. After that, I repeatedly observed that it was not UK media that was breaking stories and getting exclusive details on their situation. Instead we were seeing American outlets scooping the story, in particular US Weekly – and remember, this was BEFORE American Media Inc’s acquisition of that magazine. Since US Weekly has come under AMI’s ownership, their royal accuracy has been sh-t, because so many longtime, reliable reporters left the magazine immediately afterwards. To go back to Harry though, he was undeniably pissed at the UK press. And, along with his brother, he’s never been especially happy with the UK press anyway. With that in mind, how reliable will the UK press be about Harry now that Meghan Markle has moved to London and is living with him? If they were right about today, and it’s looking less and less likely, will he make this announcement as late in the day as possible just to f-ck with them and delay their weekends and make them work until the very last minute on a Friday afternoon? It wouldn’t exactly be an auspicious start to what’s supposed to be a happy time and a cause for celebration. It’s also not on brand for the royals, no matter how much Harry hates the UK media. More on Harry and Meghan and the media later today.
Have a great weekend!
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
