61: Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry's side told in Finding Freedom's advance excerpts

Intro: Minutes 0 to 5:30 Chandra is going to be able to see her mom in person for the first time in four months. My car’s windshield got a crack in it and I got it replaced. Chandra has been rewatching Castle and I’m watching Hanna on Amazon. Chandra knows the leads in that from their work on The Killing, which she hated. The Royals and Finding Freedom: Minutes 5:30 to 30:30 The first excerpts from the upcoming book Finding Freedom were in The Times of London and then People Magazine ran briefer excerpts. I loved the story about Harry and Meghan’s love story and first dates. Harry began texting Meghan immediately after their first date and was besotted with her.  Their romance is a modern fairy tale and we wonder why we don’t hear about it more. Chandra mentions the narrative in the press that Harry and Meghan moved too fast for anyone to vet her.  Minute 12:00: We heard that when Meghan was first dating Harry she got nitpicked over a tiny H&M; initial necklace she wore and was told not to smile in paparazzi photos. Chandra points out that Harry’s aids in Kensington Palace were the ones micromanaging Meghan, although of course they also worked for the Cambridges. Minute 13:30: The Sussexes’ official engagement story is that they got engaged in November, 2017, but Finding Freedom reports that they got engaged a couple of months earlier, before the Invictus Games in late September. We think Harry proposed to Meghan during their trip to Africa that Summer.  Minute 14:45: We heard that the courtiers were trying to keep Harry and Meghan’s popularity down. Prince Harry felt “unprotected” by his family and understandably didn’t trust the courtiers. Harry and Meghan had to dim their light and keep their work quiet because William and Charles’ initiatives were supposed to get more attention.  Minute 16:30: William told Harry not to rush with Meghan or be blinded by lust. There were at least two other royals who had an issue with the pace of their relationship.  Minute 17:30: Finding Freedom denied the weak stories that the courtiers have been using to smear Meghan: that Meghan made a staffer cry, and that Meghan made Kate cry in the lead-up to Meghan’s wedding. Both stories are incredibly vague, with the point that Meghan is mean and made someone cry. In response there were multiple stories defending the Cambridges, including one where “two sources said the Duchess of Cambridge was crying after a dress fitting with Charlotte.” Note the careful wording of that statement. Kate cried AFTER the dress fitting, which is why there aren’t more witnesses. We still don’t know what made Kate cry.  Minute 20:30: The Cambridges also denied being unwelcoming to Meghan, with separate stories claiming Kate cooked her vegan food and once hand delivered flowers to Meghan. I play a segment from our Zoom meeting where Karen and Sara talk about Meghan making Kate cry and Kate cooking Meghan vegan food. Minute 24:00: We also heard that the story about Meghan getting access to one of the Queen’s tiaras before her wedding was really a conflict between the Queen’s longterm dresser, Angela Kelly, and Prince Harry, who thought Kelly was delaying Meghan’s access. This is part of the narrative about Meghan being demanding. Minute 25:00: We got a story that the courtiers don’t believe the Sussexes are coming back to the royal family after their one year review, but they’re spinning it like they didn’t already leave and like they actually want to come back. It’s like the royal family are the gatekeepers when Harry and Meghan are the ones who wanted to leave. Chandra thinks Harry and Meghan wanted to continue to be royals part-time but that they saw the unhinged reaction by the palace and decided to leave permanently.  Harry looked so pissed off on Commonwealth day while Meghan held it together beautifully and looked blissed out. I play a segment from our Zoom meeting where Zakia, Ameerah, Sara and Tanisha talk about the one year review. User Feedback and celebrities we’d like to see together: Minutes 30:30 to 36:30 Mary left us a nice voicemail about our site, commenters and podcast, thank you! She asked us to play matchmakers for random celebrities and we came up with some good ones.  Comments of the Week: Minutes 36:30 to 38:30 My comment of the week is from KKat on the post about all the church-goers in Alabama getting covid. Chandra’s comment of the week is from Grabbyhands on the post about Armie Hammer sounding like Susan Sarandon. Thanks for listening bitches! If you like us please turn off your ad blocker when you visit our site. Text us or leave a voicemail at 434-218-3219.