UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 7, 2018 6:49:40 GMT
It may well be a disaster waiting to happen - on both sides. People become blinded by greed and ambition, or wishful thinking.
As with Wallis Simpson, it is not the man but his position and resources that interest her. Commenters in the DM are saying,
"Run Harry run, before it is too late." This reminds me of that song Run Rabbit Run in the Rabbit thread!
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 7, 2018 18:34:12 GMT
Thomas Markle Junior and a new T-shirt
A new DM article says that Thomas Markle Jr's lawyer told him that Meghan “does not know these people” when he asked her for help with dealing with the media. His Monk Haven T-shirt with rabbit in Spanish got us interested; now he has a pyramid and eye in triangle design:  www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5363311/Meghan-Markle-denied-knowing-half-brother.htmlI wonder whether he is trying to tell us something. Maybe he wore it just for you Avacyn!
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 8, 2018 17:42:13 GMT
Money talks and the Queen listens
I thought it was only the royals from Prince Charles downwards whose company could be bought - with the possible exception of Princess Anne - but even the Queen has a price. She may not be interested in free holidays on yachts or in luxury accommodation, but a good way to get to meet her is to sponsor the Royal Windsor Horse Show. And what sort of people would pay good money to get into the Royal Box? Here is an amusing story from 2001: “A con woman and her partner were yesterday jailed for their part in a fraud valued at more than £500,000. Evelyn Burton, 57, and Lyla Andre, 50, who had been a brothel owner in Australia, became the toast of top horse racing and show jumping events. They rubbed shoulders with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after creating an illusion of wealth. The pair gained access to seats in the royal box at the Royal Windsor Horse Show four years ago by pledging £176,000 sponsorship. The cheque bounced, Wood Green crown court in north London was told, because the pair had woven a patchwork of lies to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included stays at London hotels such as the Berkley in Knightsbridge. Burton posed as an international banker and travelled in either a chauffeur-driven gold Rolls Royce or a stretch limousine.” www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/feb/10/robgriffin“In one year Evelyn and Laila ripped off everything from the Berkeley Hotel, where they were evicted owing £20,000, to the Royal Windsor Horse Show, where Laila had a chat with the Queen, about trees she said, and Evelyn's mother had the time of her life in the royal box. Evelyn's cheque for £175,000, of course, bounced.” www.theguardian.com/arts/critic/feature/0,,1160302,00.html
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 9, 2018 7:33:03 GMT
The Queen and Mohamed Al Fayed’s money
Mohamed Al Fayed sponsored the Royal Windsor Horse Show via Harrods. He said that he gave them £1 million each year for 15 years. The last time was May 1997, a few months before Princess Diana’s death. This event and his accusations of a conspiracy caused the organisers to drop him in favour of another bidder. Al Fayed treasured his annual photo-opportunities with the Queen at Windsor, where he shared the royal box. In 1997 he hosted a lavish Saturday lunch in the Harrods tent where his son Dodi told amusing but fond anecdotes about his father. Maybe Diana and Dodi first met at this show, in the 1980s. Al Fayed paid a lot more than the two Australian con women, so got more time with the royal family. He presented the prizes with the Queen:  
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 9, 2018 7:52:23 GMT
Princess Diana and the Swan Lake necklace
More coincidences. Recent posts on other threads have mentioned Princess Diana’s death and the Swan King of Bavaria. One of Princess Diana’s last public engagements was a performance of the ballet Swan Lake. Mohamed Al Fayed was there as a sponsor, and many articles say, wrongly, that this was where she first met him. She wore a diamond and pearl necklace nicknamed the Swan Lake Suite on which the five pearls resemble the five stars of Queen Alexandra, Meghan Markle and Mia Tindal shown above: 
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 9, 2018 17:24:08 GMT
A rant from Mohamed Al Fayed
Mohamed Al Fayed insists that Prince Philip was responsible for the death of Diana and Dodi. This is an extract from what a journalist had to listen to in 2002: “But I know there are a few hundred people - thugs! bastards! - who destroy the freedom and human rights in this country. This establishment. They build a baloney democracy. And the Hitler behind this group is Prince Philip. The Queen is a nice woman, a great woman, but she don't have no life experience. He is a streetwise guy. Bought up like a sonofabitch. No parents, alcoholic and in mental hospitals. He grew up with aunt who married a Hitler general. And his sisters who married German officers. He grew up with the Nazis! This is the guy who is running the country! I know what Diana thought of him. For me, my family is everything. This young angel had no close family. Her mother left when she was young. Her father, a wonderful man, a good friend, tried to give her the touch she missed from her mother, but when she came into this other family she suffered a lot. A great deal. Those two weeks she stayed with me in St Tropez, she told me horrendous stories about Prince Philip. And all the time there were those wonderful boys, her sons, still clinching with her all the time. Sleep with her in the same bed! Missing her so much! The way they joke and laugh with her! How that thug [Prince Philip] could conspire against his own daughter-in-law, take her from his own grandchildren? How could he do that?” www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/aug/25/features.review7His English is not very good. I wonder whether the Queen had to listen to this level of conversation when he was with her at the Windsor Horse Show.
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 11, 2018 18:44:13 GMT
James Middleton and Boomf!
The mystery of why several people would throw good money after bad and bail James Middleton’s marshmallow business out was discussed on the old forum. Perhaps we will see some patterns if we bring the information together and summarise it. There are very few pictures of him as a boy.Here he is on a class trip at the age of 13 (centre):  An amusing picture:  He started to grow his beard in 2012, but it took a while to reach the length it is today.
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Avacyn
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Post by Avacyn on Feb 11, 2018 22:21:16 GMT
Thomas Markle Junior and a new T-shirt
A new DM article says that Thomas Markle Jr's lawyer told him that Meghan “does not know these people” when he asked her for help with dealing with the media. His Monk Haven T-shirt with rabbit in Spanish got us interested; now he has a pyramid and eye in triangle design: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5363311/Meghan-Markle-denied-knowing-half-brother.htmlI wonder whether he is trying to tell us something. Maybe he wore it just for you Avacyn ! Well, this is an old symbol, one that dates to before the end of the last ice age. I think it had a lot of symbolism priginally, and a lot of spirituality attatched. Now? It's been usurped, and corrupted. Interesting how it's in a circle, and that the patterning is Greek. |
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Post by Avacyn on Feb 11, 2018 22:23:01 GMT
James Middleton and Boomf!
The mystery of why several people would throw good money after bad and bail James Middleton’s marshmallow business out was discussed on the old forum. Perhaps we will see some patterns if we bring the information together and summarise it. There are very few pictures of him as a boy.Here he is on a class trip at the age of 13 (centre): An amusing picture: He started to grow his beard in 2012, but it took a while to reach the length it is today. I still say it's about money laundering. Something like that. I get the feeling we're overlooknig something, and it's staring us in the face. |
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 12, 2018 7:25:51 GMT
Money laundering - or blackmail perhaps. Bribery maybe...
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 12, 2018 7:29:56 GMT
James Middleton, James Matthews and the marshmallows mystery
“Multi-millionaire hedge fund manager James Matthews invested heavily in getting Pippa Middleton’s family on side before proposing to her in lavish style this summer. I can reveal that Matthews spent £100,000 bailing out her brother James Middleton’s sagging marshmallow business, Boomf, ahead of presenting Pippa with a £250,000 art deco sparkler in the Lake District in July. Pippa’s beau’s investment in Boomf, which prints Instagram pictures on marshmallows and sells boxes of nine ‘magical’ sweets for £15, was part of a £1 million fundraising round last year.”  Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3991896/Pippa-s-multi-millionaire-fiance-bungs-100-000-brother-help-bail-sagging-marshmallow-business.html#ixzz4ReinpL1l Why on earth would James Matthews do that? Has he been sucked in and trapped? Why would he think that Pippa is marriage material? He looks a bit strange in this picture.
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 12, 2018 20:01:36 GMT
James Middleton’s new business idea from 2012:
“Little brothers have always been a source of juvenile humour - but this one really takes the cake. James Middleton, whose older sister is the Duchess of Cambridge, has launched a business specialising in cakes iced with smutty slogans.” Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129643/Embarrassment-Kate-Middleton-brother-James-sells-saucy-cakes.html#ixzz3xXV9V62GIt is interesting that the article shows a picture from five years earlier, with James, Kate and Zara Phillips together:  "Family ties: James Middleton with his sister the Duchess of Cambridge and Zara Phillips at a charity concert in 2007. He brushed off the suggestion that his risque cakes could embarrass the Royal Family."
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 12, 2018 20:03:46 GMT
James Middleton has another new business idea
James Middleton didn’t do very well with Nice Cakes and Cake Kits, so why would anyone expect him to succeed with Boomf? It is not for want of trying to market them though: he has made promotional videos suggesting the sort of messages and pictures customers can have on their marshmallows. “Kate Middleton's brother has raised eyebrows after urging customers to use his personalised marshmallow company to come out as gay. In a promotional video for his business Boomf, James Middleton says his sweets are the perfect way to break the news to friends and family with the slogan: ‘These pre-designed messages make that nerve-racking announcement a whole lot sweeter.’ The company offers £15 boxes of rainbow-coloured marshmallows which read ‘I’m gay!’ and ‘I’m coming out!’ The video – titled ‘Say “Hey I’m gay” with Boomf!’ – features a man struggling to find a way to tell friends that he’s gay and turning to the tasty treats.” Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3403032/Kate-s-bachelor-brother-reveals-new-project-personalised-marshmallows-customers-want-come-gay.html#ixzz3xX4XoAQLWho would pay £15 for this? 
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 12, 2018 20:07:42 GMT
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 13, 2018 8:07:14 GMT
Boomf: a £500k innovation loan in 2016
As a poster said on the CC forum, “This Boomf business is really, really strange.” It certainly is. It is a money pit too. Are people just keeping James sweet because of his royal connections? It seems that after exhausting his credit with individuals, he tried the corporate route. He had an £800k bailout from ‘friends of friends’ in November 2015, with a £1 million cash call in 2014; now he has managed to get some more funding: “James Middleton, the brother of the Duchess of Cambridge, has secured a £500,000 loan for his personalised marshmallow firm. Boomf allows customers to upload pictures that it prints on edible marshmallows and sends as gifts. Founded in 2013, it has a turnover of £2.4 million and 13 staff at its Berkshire base. But it has yet to turn a profit, and lost £250,000 in its first year. The loan comes from Barclays’ Innovation Finance scheme, which lends to innovative firms at favourable rates, with the backing of the European Investment Fund … the funding will be used for marketing.” Read more: www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-3817577/Duchess-Cambridge-s-brother-marshmallow-firm-secures-500k-loan.html#ixzz4NGfrKYpD
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 13, 2018 8:30:23 GMT
To the rescue! Save the marshmallows!
This is from May 2016: "Pippa's ex bails out her brother's firm Friend of the Royals Charlie Gilkes, the nightclubs entrepreneur, offers his well-connected mates more than just a discreet VIP area to escape the paparazzi. The owner of Prince Harry’s favourite spots for a mojito, Maggie’s and Bunga Bunga, has invested in James Middleton’s personalised marshmallow firm, Boomf, snapping up almost 2,000 shares. Gilkes’s business partner, Duncan Stirling, has bought an equal slice of the business as part of the venture’s recently completed £1.3 million funding round. James Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s younger brother, owns 32 per cent of the company, which he says will make a profit this year, following a rocky patch where it posted a £250,000 loss. Most Boomf investors were introduced via Q Ventures, a private investment club, but Gilkes has a closer connection. Before marrying PR girl Anneke von Trotha Taylor in 2014, he enjoyed a dalliance with James’s older sister, Pippa, while they were studying at Edinburgh University. It’s a small world." Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3601959/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Wills-pal-Jescca-happy-little-secret.html#ixzz49HGBS0tW Talk about throwing good money after bad.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 13, 2018 8:38:09 GMT
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 14, 2018 7:02:59 GMT
Examples of Boomf! marshmallows
It all looks like over-priced trash to me, but someone must be buying it. New Boomf! Products on sale: • Boomf! marshmallows come on sticks now • Box of two marshmallows for £7 (nine cost £15) • Personalised gift wrapping paper • Personalised greetings cards  Boomfs for Halloween:  People who have bought his marshmallows say they taste awful - even a bag from Poundland is better! A commenter in an article about funding says James Middleton must have a marshmallow for a brain!
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 14, 2018 18:54:23 GMT
James Middleton and his ‘businesses’
The timeline in the recent posts is slightly out of sequence, but bringing together information that was scattered all over the place has highlighted a few themes: ‘Good ideas’ from James for businesses such as cake kits for busy people, cakes with smutty slogans and Boomf printed marshmallows. Various ‘good ideas’ from James for Boomf such as Boomf Bombs. Lots of enthusiasm and talk about huge future profits and expanding into Hong Kong from James. He seems delusional - or is trying to fool people. Losses, loans, bailouts, strike-off and closure. The Nice Group was started in 2011. This was the parent company for various schemes such as Nice Cakes and Cake Kits. Uncle Gary loaned some money to get the Cake Kits up and running. Nice Group closed in 2017. It lost money every year it traded. Boomf was launched in late 2013. It lost £244,000 in 2013/14, £930,000 in 2015 and £2.19 million in 2016. It really is a money pit. I wonder how big the 2017 loss will be. This is the man who calls himself 'Wonka-in-chief': 
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 14, 2018 18:58:26 GMT
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 15, 2018 7:40:49 GMT
Talking Boomf
James Middleton worked very hard to build his business; he also came up with ideas for new products such as Buntella, which involved printing pictures onto hand-sewn triangles, and packaging boxes that talk! In early 2016 he gave the impression that his business was doing quite well: “The business began turning a profit last year and will double turnover in 2016. Recently, it has attracted copycats in Asia. 'We’re in the middle of legal action,' Mr Middleton says, playing a rip-off of his TV ad, which recently surfaced in Hong Kong using Chinese actors. The best way to stay ahead of rivals is to keep innovating, he says. Boomf is about to launch a ‘talking box’, new packaging that can play a tune or a voice recording when it is opened. ‘Imagine the impact of seeing the pictures and hearing your friend or partner’s voice at the same time, when you’re miles away,’ Mr Middleton says. ‘What I really want to do is grow the business by another six times,’ he says. His commitment has seen him sleeping on stacks of cardboard boxes in the factory after 42-hour shifts.” www.pressreader.com/uk/the-sunday-telegraph-money-business/20160214/281517930173627So many ‘good ideas’ that come to nothing…the Boomf! boy in person: 
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 17, 2018 7:20:14 GMT
Desperately pushing Boomf
New ideas include printing pictures on chocolate and pop-up cards. I am still wondering who buys this stuff. This picture of James and the co-founder of the company show how hard they push the main product: 
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 17, 2018 18:09:14 GMT
Embarrassing brothers
James Middleton borrowed this dress from Pippa to wear to a party:  Thomas Markle Jr tries a new look, but who knows where the dress came from: 
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 17, 2018 18:11:30 GMT
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations
It is said that the Middletons and Markles are an embarrassment to the royal family, but the royals do a good job of embarrassing themselves! James Middleton and Prince William:   Prince Charles and Camilla: 
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 20, 2018 7:49:24 GMT
James Middleton and the Boomf selfie
A strange picture of James Middleton and James Marshmallow:  Is that a percentage sign on his hat? There is something very odd about the whole Boomf business and the way James Middleton has managed to keep it afloat for so long. He went to Hong Kong to build it up, but that didn’t last long.
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 20, 2018 17:53:58 GMT
“Futile” and “Fertile”: George V and Queen Mary
As we have seen, the impressive façade of the first Windsors concealed much unhappiness and dysfunctional behaviour. Here is a reminder of the public image that was all most people knew of this family:  The people may have revered their King-Emperor, but his cabinet ministers had a low opinion of George V: “‘The King hated to be argued with or interrupted,’ wrote the historian Christopher Hibbert. ‘His shock when he heard that people were hinting he was pro-German was all the more painful because not only was he extremely sensitive to criticism, he was also so accustomed to people agreeing with him that he grew to dislike anyone who expressed a contrary opinion.’ By now aged 50, George V was either disliked or feared by his Cabinet ministers, and Admiral of the Fleet Lord ‘Jacky’ Fisher sardonically dubbed him and Queen Mary ‘ Futile and Fertile’ — they had five sons and a daughter. The monarch was a fearsome autocrat, though some believe his crustiness camouflaged a secret fear that he was not up to the job.” Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2697882/Why-royals-STILL-hiding-German-past-Queen-urged-display-German-uniform-worn-grandfather-Britain-headed-war-cousin-The-Kaiser.html#ixzz57dYBlG00 Refusing to listen to dissenting opinions is very low class; together with the nicknames it ruins the intended effect of pictures such as this one for me:  King George and Queen Mary at their coronation
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 24, 2018 7:08:03 GMT
What is really going on behind the scenes now?
I suspect that all is not well behind the façade. We have seen on the future of the monarchy thread that Boris Johnson appears to be shadowing various members of the royal family. Boris plays the ‘me too’ game with pictures: if one of the royals is photographed doing something bizarre, there will be a picture of BoJo doing it too - anything they can do he can do better. Perhaps he sees himself as an understudy, someone in training for the role of monarch just in case something happens to the main players. The Queen has sat in the front row at a fashion show for the first time ever. Maybe she is trying to start a new life for herself now that she is in semi-retirement. Kate has been looking much younger, healthier and happier than she has done for a long time. Maybe she thinks that Meghan Markle will take over many of the things that she doesn’t want to do. Meghan seems to be trying to make herself as popular as Princess Diana was. I sense that neither the Queen nor Prince Philip approves of the marriage to Meghan Markle. They may well see it as something that will hasten the end of the monarchy. Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Anne may not be too happy about it either. When Princess Anne was on her way to Buckingham Palace for the Christmas lunch last December, she did not appear to be in a festive mood: 
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Post by Avacyn on Feb 24, 2018 23:32:37 GMT
I bumped into this four minute forty five second YouTube video on Megan Markle. Maybe it holds something that is of use to people?
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Post by UnseenI on Feb 25, 2018 9:17:12 GMT
Does inordinate ambition blind people? Surely Meghan should have known that people would start digging. The DM had an article about an anonymous online diary about life in the acting world that 'a source' said was written by her.
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