Even if you’ve tried to avoid it over the last couple of weeks, there’s really been no getting away from the feud that’s currently been ignited between the Royal Family and Prince Harry/Meghan Markle – I really tried not to cover it in these pages, but it’s literally come to a point where I can’t ignore it.
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Yesterday, the story took another bizarre turn after a story about some ‘controversial’ earrings that Markle was pictured wearing a couple of years ago blew up yesterday. The earrings in question were apparently a wedding gift from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the controversy revolves around the fact that Meghan wore them to Prince Charles’ birthday party in Fiji in November 2018.
That doesn’t sound so controversial right, but wait until you get this: the dinner occurred three weeks after the Saudi Crown Prince approved the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Oh shit, she can’t be doing that surely?
OK, to me – and maybe to you – that seems like a remarkably tenuous link, but the Royal Family are known for wearing various items of jewellery to throw shade at one another so it really isn’t out of the realms of possibility. However, a new thread has appeared on Twitter providing quite a bit of evidence that Meghan has been completely set up with this earrings business. Surely the Royal Family and the press aren’t capable of such actions?
Well, have a read of this and see what you think:
👑 The jewelry collection of the royal family – literally The Crown Jewels – are catalogued and kept under lock & key. M could not waltz in and pick a pair of earrings. She would have been invited to pick from a selection that was *pre chosen for her*
2/ pic.twitter.com/ngs48rLzqQ— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 Here’s where it gets messy. The only people who know or have access to the provenance information of *all* the royal jewelry is a very small number. Prob queen’s dresser, the collections manager, maybe some support staff. This info is kept secret for political reasons.
4/ pic.twitter.com/lL87XEI4OB— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 I say *obviously* because M has a degree in international affairs, interned at the UN and a US embassy – she lives & breathes diplomacy. If she had known who gifted these earrings to The Crown, she would NOT have chosen them.
6/ pic.twitter.com/M6PIbH8gbK— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 So what’s going on here? Most likely, a member of staff chose these earrings knowing where they came from. And that it would look bad for M to wear them in light of recent international events. But at the time she was part of the BRF, so that info did not leak.
8/ pic.twitter.com/wt7QUDdfaW— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
More important context: https://t.co/hH7ZQb4xa5
— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
Thanks to @TudorChick1501 for this extra context: https://t.co/VL1nxYvud1
— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
Important info about the gift rules in the BRF, which were updated in 2000 and 2003: https://t.co/nxN7z1NYFL
— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
Again, updating this thread as more info comes out. The earrings were a gift *for* M, but given at an official visit to the Queen. They are therefore classified as official gifts, and crown property. pic.twitter.com/dnCwhnVw2Y
— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 Section 4.1 of the UK official gift policy states “gifts are classified as personal when they are given…not in connection with an official engagement or duty”
These earrings were presented to QEII during an *official* visit in March 2018.
2/https://t.co/ax3G3FPJw5— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 BRF official gifts are published online each year, then taken down. Currently the only available annual list to view online is from 2019. So we can’t check how the earrings were recorded in 2018.
4/https://t.co/3GZOXmtSe7— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 Here’s what we don’t know:
1) was the royal staff aware of the political implications of wearing the earrings?
2) was M aware of the political implications?
6/ pic.twitter.com/mcKw8pLchz— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 I bring this up because the DoC has several major sets she has worn, supposedly wedding gifts, but has never said who they came from. Perhaps bc the political implications are unsavory, or she just doesn’t want the controversy.
8/ pic.twitter.com/P8MOfpmxbC— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 Let’s look at some known Saudi jewel gifts to the BRF in recent years:
Camilla by far has the most. This necklace, with 37 rubies and dozens of diamonds, was part of a 2006 wedding gift to her. Here she is wearing it in 2007.
10/ pic.twitter.com/0j2KG6Ex4g— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 On the 2006 trip, Camilla was gifted this lovely sapphire and diamond necklace. Here she is wearing it the same year. She also wore the matching earrings during a Saudi state visit to the UK in 2007.
12/ pic.twitter.com/vTUzF14jrb— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 Diana had her own Saudi Sapphire Suite, made from stones she got as a wedding gift from the Saudi royals.
14/ pic.twitter.com/UxRkX3OF9K— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
👑 So the Saudis gift the BRF jewels regularly, and members of the BRF wear them.
If the keepers of the royal jewels felt it was inappropriate for M to wear the earrings, they would not have been presented to her as an option.
16/(📸: the French Crown Jewels) pic.twitter.com/Oe5yZXccjS
— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
💎 Finally, I’d like say for the people in the back that these threads are a brief summary of historical research plus my (+ others’) interpretation of certain things, and part of a larger discourse taking place. The discussion is ongoing as more info comes out.
18/ pic.twitter.com/Em52MokUFG— DuchessCofC (@DuchessCofC) March 3, 2021
OK, first things first: I have no idea if DuchessCofC is who she/he says they are as it’s clearly a throwaway account that’s been made to get this narrative out there, but it’s a very interesting account/story if nothing else and it seems like they’ve provided the receipts to back a lot of it up. Make your own mind up about whether or not it’s true, but I expect the press will be unrelenting about it in the coming days/weeks because that’s just what they do in these situations.
The point at the end is perhaps the most pertinent here though – that this information has been floating around for two and a half years but it’s only come out the week of a tell all expose with Oprah Winfrey, so it’s clearly designed to turn the public against Meghan before she drops some truth bombs at the weekend. Can’t wait to see how that plays out.
Perhaps the most surprising part about all of this though is how engrossed and encapsulated about Meghan Markle wearing some earrings? I mean I know we’re in a lockdown and not much is really going on, but is this really how we’re choosing to spend our time and energy at the moment? Get into Warhammer or something.
(Just kidding I’m pumped for the interview as well and even more so for Season 6/7 of ‘The Crown’)
For more of the same, check out this preview of the interview where Meghan straight up calls The Queen a liar! Wow.
