Podcast 133 – Meghan Markle & Prince Harry make donations to organizations working on the ground in Ukraine

03/18/22 • 5 min

In a week when Samantha and Thomas Markle made the news for not so good reasons, Meghan and Harry took the high road, announcing that they had made donations to several organizations that are working on the ground to support the people of Ukraine. Ukrainians continue to suffer the effects of Russia’s unwarranted invasion of their country.

In a post to their Archewell website, Meghan and Harry announced donations to a couple organizations that they had not worked with before, as well as reaffirming their commitment to their existing charitable partnerships with World Central Kitchen (WCK) and with the mine and ordnance clearing charity, Halo Trust, both of whom are heavily involved in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.

One of the new (to Harry and Meghan) organizations receiving funds from them was the group called “Are We Europe” who describe themselves an independent media group that publish stories with local perspectives. Funds will be directed to a few Ukraine Media organizations including the Kyiv Independent. https://kyivindependent.com/

Another organization that Meghan and Harry have donated to is HIAS. https://www.hias.org/ Founded in Manhattan as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in 1881 the organization was set up to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. Over the years HIAS has continued their work in assisting people to resettle in the US. They describe their client as including some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees.

Meghan and Harry end their website post with a link to Project Healthy Minds and a package of Mental Health Resources for anyone who maybe be feeling anxious or otherwise negatively impacted by the war in Ukraine and in need of mental health supports.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on 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/

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Podcast 132 – Thomas Markle launches a YouTube Channel – and guess who the first episode is about?

Patrick Hill of the UK Daily Mirror newspaper reported in what he termed an Exclusive Interview with Meghan Markle's dad Thomas Markle, writing that Thomas was vowing to tell 'his truth' as he launched his YouTube channel, promising that the chats will be "no holds barred."
Co-host of the channel and 'close pal' to Thomas LA based photographer Karl Larsen told the Daily Mirror that he and Thomas were inspired by people such as the royal commentator Lady Colin Campbell and also podcaster Joe Rogan, and others.
The pair have called their YouTube channel "Remarkable Friendship with Thomas Markle and Karl Larsen."

In the Daily Mirror interview Thomas promised he would give us his views on his eldest daughter Samantha and her court case. Samantha is suing Meghan for defamation - something I spoke about in my previous podcast.
In a prologue to the first episode of their show, Karl said the aim was for this to be an entertainment show, with the thoughts and opinions expressed being those of Karl and Thomas and with us free to come to our own thoughts and opinions. In other words, we may not like what they have to say.
I have now watched the first episode and provide an overview of the topics that Karl and Thomas discussed, as well as my own thoughts and opinions.
Here is a link to the show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr3YZLiGyYE&t=623s
Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Next Episode

Podcast 134 – Should Prince Harry have attended his late grandfather’s memorial service?

The question that I am posing for you all this week is "Should Prince Harry have travelled to the UK to attend the memorial service for his late grandfather, Prince Phillip? "
Although Harry had let everyone know in advance that he was not going to come, this did not stopped everyone from:

(a) Speculating as to why Harry chose not to attend, or

(b) Taking an opinion over whether this was the right decision or not.

Prince Harry was at Prince Phillip's carefully planned funeral in April of 2021. Back then, things were frosty between Harry and his brother Prince William, and we were led to believe that this was due to statements made by Meghan and Harry during their interview with Oprah that aired about a month before Prince Phillip died.
Back then, William was said to be so upset with Harry, that special arrangements were put in place at the funeral such that William did not walk beside or sit beside Harry.

At the time of the funeral, the UK was in a heavy Covid-19 lockdown which included restricting the number of people able to attend funerals to 30. The Queen dutifully stuck to those rules, with her limiting the number of family and other dignitaries inside the chapel at Windsor Castle.

In December of 2021 Buckingham Palace announced that a memorial service for Prince Phillip, a religious service of Thanksgiving, was being planned for the Spring of 2022 at Westminster Abbey. No specific date was set for the memorial. It was only in the first week of February this year that Buckingham Palace announced that the service would take place on March 29th, 2022.
On March 11th, 2022, a spokesperson for the Sussexes advised that Prince Harry would not be returning to the UK for the Service of Thanksgiving, adding that Harry hoped to visit the Queen as soon as possible.

While no reasons were given as to why Prince Harry decided not to come, this did not stop news media and social media from speculating. The people that know the true reasons for this decision are Harry, Meghan and the Queen.

The UK media are weird though. Having swung from Harry is disrespecting the Queen, and Harry is acting like a spoilt child, onto Harry is not wanted in the UK, and Harry would be a distraction if he came to the memorial service, as well as headlines to the effect that the Royal Family will be relieved if Meghan and Harry don’t come - they are now saying Harry will live to regret the decision not to come and, the British Public are disappointed that Harry did not come!

All going to say that Harry, like all of us, can never please everyone. So he focuses on pleasing those that mean the most to him.