Kind thoughts for Meghan Markle

To honour the passing of Prince Phillip,  Prince Harry and Prince William stand alongside one another to show their respect to their grandfather, Prince Phillip The Duke of Edinburgh.

Watch the funeral on the Royal Family You Tube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCY4b6GGkb4

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Within hours after the sad announcement of the death of the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, the UK and World press were speculating about whether Prince Harry and Meghan would  attend the funeral.

In my mind there was never any doubt that Prince Harry would attend. What was not sure was whether Meghan, who is heavily pregnant with their second child, ought to travel in light of the pregnancy and the on-going Covid-19 health issues. Whilst the UK is ahead of the game in terms of vaccinating its residents, the Covid-19 numbers have recently been on the increase in Europe with many countries going back into lockdowns.

I am sure it was a very difficulty decision for Harry and Meghan to have to make, with Meghan on the one hand wanting to support Harry and to show her respects to the Queen, but on the other hand not wanting to jeopardize her own health and that of their unborn child, especially after her miscarriage last year.  

We soon heard that Prince Harry is to attend and with Buckingham Palace announcing that Meghan, despite wanting to go to the funeral and despite trying hard to make it happen, was cautioned by her doctors not to fly to the UK for the funeral.

The UK press have been fairly muted thus far in their coverage of Meghan’s decision, likely because it was Buckingham Palace who issued the statement about Meghan not coming as opposed to spokespeople for Meghan. But certain parts of the Australian press have been taking a poke at Meghan.

Regardless of her pregnancy and her health Meghan is in a no-win situation as far as the trolls on social media are concerned.  In the past the UK press have covered Meghan’s planned attendance at Royal events like the as trooping of the colour and the Queen’s Birthday celebrations, such that if Meghan says she is planning to attend, she is accused of trying to take the spotlight and attention away from the Queen, and if Meghan decides not to come, she is portrayed as ‘subbing' the Queen. Meghan can do no right. 

On a lighter note in what is a somber time for the Royal Family, since the announcement of his death, we have been hearing from many people around the World about the things they loved about Prince Phillip, including his straight talking and his wit.

A renowned petrol head who loved all types of vehicles, especially sports cars, Phillip was very loyal to the Land Rover brand, often pictured tooling around in one of their Discovery SUVs. Now we learn from the Royal Family website https://www.royal.uk/ that as part of his funeral arrangements, Prince Phillip’s coffin will be carried in a purpose-built Land Rover, which The Duke was involved in designing specifically for this purpose. That’s what you brand loyalty.

Which got me thinking about how other famous brand loyal people might design their funerals? 

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie  and you connect to me and to other listeners through the LinkedIn group for this podcast.  https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13955922/

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Can you imagine waking up every morning to stories in the news telling you that you are a bad person and / or a liar.  No matter what good acts you are doing,  the news keeps telling you that you are basically not good enough to continue breathing. How would you survive that? Further try to imagine that some of these stories about how bad or worthless you are have been generated by members of your own family. 

This is what Meghan's life is like right now and what it has been like for at least a year, a relentless barrage of hate and for what purpose? Is the only way we can feel good about ourselves or justify our existence by throwing mud at someone else? How shallow have we all become?

It is noticeable that many of the people who openly put Meghan down in the media are middle aged men. So, why is that? Rebecca Adams in her 2015 article published in Huff Post called Men See Powerful Women As Threats To Their Masculinity reported on studies which showed that men in the workplace felt very threatened by female supervisors and responded by acting more assertively. The studies Ms. Adams wrote about concluded that the combination of gender and status, jeopardizes men’s manhood and causes them to be pushier. 

The Fox Nation Morgan / Carlson interview was another  example of an angry middle-aged man putting Meghan down. I am not saying everyone has to like Meghan. But if you don’t like her why do you have to keep trashing her all the time?

And I am not saying it is only men. There are plenty of women who for one reason or another like to spend countless hours slamming Meghan.

But what is the end game for all of these people? Have they even bothered to consider what their objectives are in constantly bad-mouthing Meghan? Are they looking to literally destroy her / or worse see her take her own life? 

People need to think hard about the effect of their words and actions and ask themselves can they live with the consequences? Can they look themselves in the mirror and be happy with the harm that they are causing?

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Meghan and Harry teamed up with LA volunteer organization L.A. Works and with the “I Have a Dream Foundation” and arranged to mentor a teenager girl during a zoom call.

According to an article published on https://people.com/ the teen was immediately aware of who Meghan and Harry were as she had been following the 'Meghan story' in the media.

We are told that the teen was surprised and excited when she got on the phone with Meghan and Harry, during which they talked about her schoolwork as well as overcoming challenges in life. 

Deborah Brutchey, the Executive Director of L.A. Works says that it was a significant call for the young teen, describing how Meghan and Harry very soon recognized the potential this young lady has, and they were able to inspire the teen and undo some damage that had previously been caused by a former teacher expressing their doubts about the teen’s abilities.

Ms. Brutchey said that the teenager’s chat with Meghan and Harry really made an impact and is going to forever inspire her.

L.A. Works is non-profit, volunteer action center that creates and implements hands-on community service projects throughout the greater Los Angeles area. They strive to empower Angelinos to address pressing social issues through volunteerism and community collaborations.

The "I have a Dream Foundation" was started in 1981  when businessman Eugene M. Lang returned to the elementary school he had attended in East Harlem 50 years earlier, to address a class of graduating sixth graders. On the way to the podium the school principal told Lang that three-quarters of the school’s students would probably never finish high school, prompting Lang to make an impromptu change to his speech, in which he promised college tuition to every sixth grader who stayed in high school and graduated. He called these kids his Dreamers.

The current mission of the non-profit is to empower children from under-resourced communities to succeed in school, college, and career by providing academic, social, and emotional support from elementary school through college, along with postsecondary tuition assistance.

The foundation currently supports a network of 14 affiliates in 9 US states including in California, Colorado, Idaho, Florida, New Jersey and Texas as well as in New Zealand, and serving over 5,000 Dreamers in every grade from Kindergarten through Post-Secondary. 

Keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, and Archie. And reach out to me through email at [email protected] and through Linked In, where I have set up a group to accompany this podcast. 

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Meghan has once again displayed her cake baking skills in preparing a lemon olive oil cake using lemons from hers and Harry’s Montecito garden. The cake was a gift to volunteers.

This is not the first time since marrying Harry that Meghan has baked a cake by way of a thank you.

During 2018 tour of Australia, Meghan baked a banana bread loaf during her stay at Admiralty House and brought it with her to the Woodley family’s farm in Dubbo, along with a tin of Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend tea, as a gift. 

In November 2019 whilst still living in the UK, Meghan helped to celebrate the opening of the second Luminary Bakery social enterprise café in London. During her visit she helped prepare a beautifully iced cake. 

The recipients of Meghan’s most recent baked creation were the Chicago based volunteers, working  with World Central Kitchen through the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago and Fat Shallot restaurant. 

Meghan does not hide the fact that she is a bit of a foodie. Prior to dating Harry she had her own lifestyle blog called The Tig where she would share all of her favourite recipes with fans.

In her early days as a Royal, Meghan took this love of food with her to many of the charities that she visited, and it helped her to connect with people from many different cultures and faiths. 

One successful collaboration Meghan has is with the ladies of the Hubb Community Kitchen, in London. Meghan met with the ladies on many occasions. She came up with the idea of a cookbook containing recipes that the ladies were already cooking. It was a way for the Hubb  to raise funds to improve and expand their kitchen, and provide even more meals to the local community and beyond. 

Meghan has from time to time received royalties from the book sales which she has ploughed back into other good causes.

The most recent recipient of some of these funds was this past week when we heard that Meghan had donated about $13,000 dollars to a food bank and kitchen in a deprived area of Nottingham in England. The organization that Meghan donated to this week is called Himmah. Per their website the organization services the needs of the people in their local community in various ways; by tackling food poverty; and in campaigning about racism, gender equality, LGBTQ and people facing disability and mental health issues.

Working side by side Himmah is The Salaam Shalom Kitchen a joint Muslim / Jewish project to provide free meals to people in Nottingham who may be struggling.

You can see why Meghan donated to this organization. It ticks all the right boxes in terms of what Meghan stands for.

Having one charity cookbook under her belt I can see Meghan teaming up with Chef Andres at World Central Kitchen and doing another for the benefit of his organization.

Keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie. And reach out to me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Or through Twitter Jeanette Songolo @kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle (@JeanetteSongolo) / Twitter

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Harry, a man with a mortgage to pay, gave us an indication that the next stage of his life will be based on the US side of the Atlantic. He has announced that he has taken on two new positions.

1. Announced this week was the fact that two months ago, Harry was hired as the Chief Impact Officer at the executive coaching and mental health company BetterUp. https://www.betterup.com/
2. Following shortly behind the announcement of Harry’s BetterUp position, came the news that Harry Prince has joined a 6-month project with the Aspen Institute's Commission on Information Disorder. Harry will work as one of fifteen Commissioners. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/

In this episode I will tell you more about Harry's new roles. What he will be doing and what his goals are.

Keep listening out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie. And reach out to me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com or through twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Harry and Meghan have brought in some strong production talent to take charge of their content in Netflix and Spotify. Award winning producer Ben Browning, will be head of content for Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions and Archewell Audio.

So, who is Ben Browning? Well I can’t really tell you as there is no Wikipedia page for him and many of the other on-line sources have not much by way of personal information about Ben. Maybe he prefers to keep his personal life private and  let his work to do the talking. And given the awards he has been nominated for, his work seems to be going just fine. 

So, moving on to the bad mouthing happening against Meghan regarding comments she made to Oprah, in the chicken coop at her Montecito home, about the fact she and Harry were secretly married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with just he and Meghan and Harry there, ahead of the official marriage that we all watched on the TV.

Meghan and Harry critics immediately jumped all over this. For Christian marriages in Britain, the law require two witnesses and an officiant to be present in order for a marriage to be legal, and the wedding has to take place in a location that has a special licence to hold weddings. 

In a bid to find the official status of Meghan and Harry’s pre-wedding exchange of vows, UK Newspapers contacted the Official Registrar and were informed that a wedding licence had been issued allowing Meghan and Harry to be married at Windsor on May 19th 2018, the one we all saw on the TV.  A clerk at the Registry mused that what Harry and Meghan likely did was to exchange some vows they had written themselves, which is fashionable, in front of the Archbishop, as a sort of spiritual wedding, or as a simple rehearsal.

So no harm no foul you would think?  But just when you thought you might have heard the last from the Meghan and Harry villain Piers Morgan, up he pops to accuse Meghan of being a liar. 

So how popular are pre-wedding exchanges of vows? In an article published in July 2020 on the US Martha Stewart website called “Why You Should Consider Exchanging Personalized Vows Before Your Wedding Ceremony”, the author of the article, Blythe Copeland, wrote that  sharing your promises privately can help reduce nerves and make the experience more meaningful.

Ms. Copeland interviewed Reverend Laura C. Cannon, a professional officiant who's overseen more than 1,000 weddings in the last 15 years. Reverend Cannon is often in favor of a couple exchanging their vows with each other before, or instead of, reciting them in front of their guests. Reverend Cannon said that she encourages her couples to do this for a number of reasons. 

1. It gives couples the chance to keep their own personal, custom-written vows just between the two of them instead of making them public.
2. If a couple is sharing a religious ceremony with their guests, this adds a private, personal touch by incorporating custom vows without breaking tradition. 
3. Both parties need to understand what they're agreeing to. She says "your marriage vows are the entire reason you're getting married, they are the promises you make to one another that create the commitment of your marriage. "

It seems that Harry and Meghan have put the matter to bed in just announcing that they were not married three days before their official ceremony, saying that they exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19 2018. 

Thank you for rating my show. Please keep listening out for future podcasts on all things Megha

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

When we thought that UK tabloids couldn’t act any lower, this week it was revealed that UK's The Sun newspaper had hired an American private investigator back in 2016 to dig up private information on Meghan and her extended family. Some of the information that the PI obtained and passed on was illegally obtained.

The Sun deny having either requested or used the illegally obtained information and had the PI sign a contract that he would not use any illegal investigative methods. However, The Sun admitted to paying the PI to dig up addresses and telephone numbers for Meghan’s parents, other family members, ex-partners and business associates. Very shortly after this information was turned over by the PI to The Sun, the first stories about Meghan, including details of text messages were published by the newspaper.

This latest scandal is kind of weird as all of the players: that is Rupert Murdoch who news organization owns The Sun, the PI , and at least one of journalists who helped to break the scandal - have somewhat shady pasts. I will take you through the background to the scandal and the various players.

Keep listening out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie. And reach out to me through my at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

It cannot be doubted that race is a factor in the way Meghan has been treated by certain UK tabloids. The clear message from many of the headlines has been racist or at the very least micro-aggression, with readers drip fed a consistent message that: Meghan is not one of us – she doesn’t look like us - she doesn’t act like us - she doesn’t speak like us. 

The treatment of Meghan was and is, in stark contrast to other members of the Royal family who receive more positive coverage.

It seems that Harry and Meghan are not the only people who feel that the UK press needs to take a good hard look at the way in which they report in general. Since Prince Harry’s comments to Oprah that the UK press, especially tabloid newspapers, were "bigoted" many journalists have come out to say that they agree.

CNN has reported  on the issue, making reference to a 2016 and a 2020 report by the Reuters Institute which show how underrepresented people of colour and women are in UK newsrooms. 

Meghan and Harry have announced that they are doing their little bit to encourage diversity in the media. They have made a donation through their Archewell Foundation to the UK PressPad Charitable Foundation.

 https://presspad.co.uk/

PressPad describe themselves as a social enterprise that is fighting to lower the financial barriers of entry into journalism, so seeking to improve the socio-economic diversity within the media. The organization links young people with journalism work experience in London, helping to fund the student in the process. 

PressPad point out that to get a job in journalism you need work experience. An internship is now seen as an essential part of how people get a chance to hone their journalistic skills and prove themselves to future employers, BUT, most internships are unpaid. This is where PressPad can help.

In February 2021 PressPad set up a charitable foundation to help them accept donations and to formulize their bursary and grant scheme, and to make them more financially sustainable. 

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie, and reach out to me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

With a week almost gone by since the Oprah interview I am starting to feel less tense. I don’t know about you but after watching the full interview it felt like I had received an emotional overload. I needed to take some time to absorb what we had all watched and heard, let it marinate for a bit, before even beginning to be able to say too much about the interview. 

Even now, almost one week after the interview, I find myself steering away from the sensational headlines, trying to route out editorial and opinion reports that at least try to look deeper at the issues that Meghan and Harry’s interview raised. Asking myself how do Meghan and Harry and their respective families move forward.  

Unquestionable there need to be changes made in the workings of the Royal establishment. 

The more interesting dilemma for me is the family relationships. Can the differences that currently exist between the extended families and Harry and Meghan be reconciled? How does that happen? Who makes the first move?

Any reconciliation won’t be easy. They never are. The hardest thing to repair will be actions taken where Harry and Meghan have felt unsupported and where trust has been broken. People will need to have a chance to talk, to be heard, and to have their feelings validated.

I hope the family do find a way to make up and get along, if not in the next few weeks and months, then at some point in the future. Maybe this is a naïve wish on my part to see people happy as opposed to broken and sad.  Also, because we have heard so many negative things over the last week or so, there just has to be some positive news sometime soon doesn’t there? Let me know your thoughts.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry,  and Archie. And reach out to me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/