LONDON: Cheers greeted Prince Harry and his wife Meghan outside St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday as they made their first public appearance in Britain for two years.
But opinions were split among the throng of fans waiting at the London landmark to catch a glimpse of the royals, reflecting a generational divide.
The couple’s return for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations was always going to be watched closely as a test of their popularity.
They stood down as working royals in 2020 and settled in California, and their very public criticisms since have outraged fans of the monarchy.
“They got a really big cheer,” said Ana, a 23-year-old from Mexico studying in the UK, who was watching with a friend.
On Thursday, the couple kept a low profile at the Trooping the Color parade, which began festivities to mark the queen’s record-breaking 70-year reign.
But Ana said the “backseat” role was “unfair.” “They should all be treated the same,” she told AFP.
Harry’s grandmother restricted appearances on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Thursday to “working royals” only.
The St. Paul’s service was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s only official participation in the four days of celebrations.
“They are part of the royal family,” said Amy Thomas, 17, who traveled to London from northern England with her mother for the event.
“They should be able to do a bit of a different concept of what the royal family is now.
“I just think the presentation of the royal family is old-fashioned. They’re just kind of stuck in their ways.
“Harry and stuff and all that went on. I think you can tell it needs to be dealt with differently.”
These opinions stood at odds with a YouGov poll published this week that suggested nearly two-thirds of Britons (63 percent) viewed both Harry and Meghan negatively.
But there is a generational gap. Among those aged 18 to 24, the couple are largely seen positively. Among the over-65s, more than 60 percent hold a negative view.
Gwyneth Cookson, 65, from Motherwell, near Glasgow in Scotland, said proudly she had shaken hands with Meghan at Edinburgh Castle.
“I’m a fan,” said Cookson, wearing a sparkly Union Jack badge. She was there with her daughter and grandson holding a toy corgi.
“Hopefully there will be a wee reconciliation.”
Other older royal watchers were noticeably chillier.
“I’m not really interested anymore,” said Ruth Horsfield, from Lancashire in northwest England, who came to London on a pensioners’ coach tour.
“Nothing against them but they’ve got their own lives now. They don’t feel part of it any more.
“They’ve divested themselves of it really. I don’t think they should make any money out of it.”
“I think they’re just gradually being forgotten about,” added her friend Glynis Morgan from Yorkshire.
“As long as they don’t rake muck and do too much damage to the queen.”
Wearing a purple jubilee T-shirt and matching cap and a Swatch watch featuring the queen and a corgi, Coleen, from the Canadian city of Toronto where Meghan once lived, was clearly not a fan.
“I don’t think she did anyone any favors,” she said quietly. “I think he picked the wrong wife.”
Sitting beside her, Lorraine Frame from Northern Ireland cut in: “They have their own agenda.
“They’re coming back because they’re scared of missing something and they are not welcome. I certainly booed them.”
Wearing a Union Jack t-shirt and reading a newspaper royal supplement, she said she also came especially for the jubilee.
“I don’t think they can be trusted because of their dealings with Netflix, what they may or may not say, and I think shame on them. I mean Harry was brought up better,” she said.
Harry “wants his cake and he wants to eat it,” she said.
Megan, she claimed, “came into this royal family thinking she could change hundreds of years of history and tradition — and she didn’t.”
“Let her have her day today and the sooner they get back to America the better.”
Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion
https://arab.news/9yw2h
Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion
- Opinions were split among the throng of fans waiting at the London landmark to catch a glimpse of the royals
- "They got a really big cheer," said Ana, a 23-year-old from Mexico studying in the UK
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
