Tina Brown: ‘It’s not very pleasant’ to be poor D-listers like the Sussexes

Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers came out earlier this year, to much disappointment. Many royal-watchers hoped that Brown would be fair and even “journalistic” to the Windsors, but Brown was largely co-opted by the palace machinery she should have exposed. The Palace Papers ended up being largely asinine, especially when it came to the then-Cambridges and the Sussexes. Which isn’t to say that the book and the promotion was wall-to-wall lies – Brown ended up accidentally telling the truth a few times, especially when she spoke about why Harry and Meghan are such a huge threat to the monarchy. Brown just wasn’t saying that like it’s a good thing, like good for H&M for creating an American royal court and telling their truth! No, Brown made it sound like H&M are dreadful for going away and living their lives and not agreeing to be abused in the UK. Well, Brown spoke at the Henley Literary Festival over the weekend and she had much more to say. File this under “British People Britsplain America to British People.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are poor by Hollywood standards, according to Tina Brown, who joked that “Elon Musk is still single” if the Duchess fancies trading up. The royal biographer, author of The Diana Chronicles and The Palace Papers, was responding to reports that the Duchess is house-hunting in California.

According to local reports, she has been shopping for a “private estate” in Hope Ranch, an upmarket community a few miles from their current home in Montecito.

“Yes, and at some point it might be more than a new house she’s looking for,” Brown joked, adding: “Elon Musk is still single, that’s all I have to say.”

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, Brown said: “It’s not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesn’t have enough money. It’s a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people. In Montecito, where they live, their $14 million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have.”

Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, spoke to many people closely connected with the Royal family for her latest book, The Palace Papers. She claimed that the Duke of Sussex’s tell-all biography may never be published.

“They are now in this bind, where they’ve taken all this money and Harry has made this book deal where he’s supposed to spill everything about his horrible life as a royal, but now he’s actually tortured about it because he understands there is no way back if he does it. If the book continues, I don’t think there is any way for Harry to return. So my view has always been that the book won’t see the light of day. The window is beginning to close but I always thought at some point a deal would be made and Charles would have to pay back the advance to stop Harry writing this book.”

Asked what advice she believed Diana would have given to her son if she were alive today, Brown said the princess would have advised him to return to the family fold. Brown said: “Diana was very pragmatic. I think she would have said to Harry, ‘This isn’t going anywhere. You need to make a deal and find a way to come back.’”

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, no – Diana would not tell her younger son to return to the abusive system which tried to destroy her and warped her two sons after her death. What the f–k is Tina Brown smoking? It’s completely insane to watch all of these royalists try to reimagine Diana as a conservative Establishment figure who wanted nothing more than to protect the institution. She was not that.

As for what Brown says about the Sussexes… they’re literally living in a giant mansion in Montecito, one of the wealthiest enclaves in the country. If they sold their home, they would turn a huge profit because the value of that kind of California real estate has skyrocketed. As for not having enough money… I’m so, so glad that the Sussexes got out when they did and had the chance to set themselves up financially, because the very second William became Duke of Cornwall, he would have cut them off anyway. People like Tina Brown act as if Harry and Meghan left the cushiest financial situation in the UK – they did not. And it would have been so much worse for them financially when Charles became king.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.