The Sussexes announce that they are expecting their second child
Icame here to write about yesterday's announcement from the Sussexes that they are expecting a second child.
Having done a bit of background reading about what's been said, however, I cannot do much better than today's piece in the Spectator UK by Joanna Williams, The stage-managed world of Harry and Meghan.
Williams notes that the announcement has very interesting timing, just a few days after Meghan's surprise victory in her case against the Daily Mail.
"I’m confused. Am I allowed to congratulate the Duke and Duchess of Sussex or not? Should I feel guilty about poring over the details of their latest announcement? Am I somehow breaching their privacy when I read that their pregnancy photo was taken remotely, via an iPad, by a friend? Because Harry and Meghan are all about privacy, no?....Congratulations Harry and Meghan. I really hope someone asks the Duchess of Sussex if she is OK this time around. But please, spare us the birth story details. And if you must share every intimate moment, just don’t complain when the public expects to know more."
Toronto Paper Returns
And there was also a comment from longtime Twitter troll Toronto Paper1, who may or may not have inside information about the Sussexes:
Darling, another moon bump show? Still haven't learned about the sizes? At least this time you probably will get the baby legally although he won't have a title, but neither will you for much longer.
Taking a photo by remote iPad
Finally, what's with the bizarre fiction that the black-and-white (of course) pregnancy photo was taken remotely via an iPad by a friend thousands of miles away, supposedly during a relaxed video chat.
Photographer Missan Harriman supposedly
noted that Meghan and Harry were 'so comfortable chatting and being in the moment that they were not fully aware that he was shooting a piece of history', in the words of British Vogue (as quoted in the Daily Mail)
Could anyone possibly be so gullible enough to believe this is true? First of all, they're quite well dressed for a video chat with a friend - if, in fact, Harriman is actually a friend. Nice of them to match the tone of Meghan's dress with Harry's shirt for a totally casual video chat.
Secondly, the picture is very well-composed, with the lovely "tree of life" in the background. When you're doing a video chat with a friend, do you generally make room in the frame for a giant tree of life? As the Daily Mail helpfully points out, the tree takes up 2/3 of the picture.
And the picture is composed very nicely, with its fork right in the center of the shot...almost like a professional photographer would frame it, intentionally.
The Sussexes' favorite photo tropes
Finally, the image repeats several of the Sussexes' favorite tropes, for example the laughing! laughing! laughing! while we are looking at each other because we are so! incredibly! happy!
There's the bare feet sticking straight towards the camera - last seen in the first, strange, Archie photo. There's the inevitable Meg bump-fondling.
And there's Harry slightly above Meg, as seen again and again and again on their @SussexRoyal Instagram. Is Meg trying to make the point that she does not, in fact, dominate her husband, as so many people believe?
What I think really happened
My guess: Harriman was sent by British Vogue to California to do a photo session.
But that wasn't something the Sussexes wanted to publicize given the ongoing COVID lockdowns - particularly since California governor Gavin Newsom now faces a recall based on his own flaunting of the COVID rules. So this ridiculous fiction of a remote-controlled iPad was invented.
More plausible would have been a story that the Sussexes did it themselves with a self-timed camera at home, but I suppose Harriman wanted the credit (and the income) from the shot.
How silly they are.
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