Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex returned to Nottingham this week to support local charities, reconnect with community organisations and meet members of the public. Unfortunately, that was enough to provoke another extraordinary tirade from royal biographer Tom Bower, whose increasingly hostile commentary about the Sussexes has become a familiar feature of his media appearances.
From acknowledging that he used online trolls as sources for his writing about Harry and Meghan to openly declaring, “It’s Meghan I’m after,” during an October 2022 appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Bower has made little attempt to disguise his hostility towards the Duchess of Sussex. His latest appearance on GB News was no exception.
During the broadcast, Bower described the Sussexes’ return to Britain as a “catastrophe” for the Royal Family before declaring that the institution needed to “put them down.”
Yes, those were his actual words. Speaking to presenter Patrick Christys, Bower accused Harry and Meghan of seeking publicity and portrayed their charitable visits as a threat to the monarchy.
Bower said:
“I think it’s a catastrophe for the Royal Family and it all goes very badly for the future. I think they’re here because they’re determined to grab the limelight, to grab the spotlight, to make their fortune back here because they failed completely in America, having behaved appallingly. And I think that the Royal Family does need to put them down because the challenge, they’ve got the tanks on the lawn….”
But let’s return to those three words: “Put them down.” Of all the language Bower could have used, he chose a phrase commonly associated with euthanising animals. The expression has other meanings; nevertheless, his choice of words remains deeply objectionable, particularly given the years of hostility directed at the Sussexes.
Harry has repeatedly raised concerns about his family’s safety and his efforts to secure appropriate police protection in the UK. Those concerns extend to his children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. The couple reportedly even changed their children’s school after security personnel expressed concerns about their daily commute. Against that backdrop, Bower’s language seems especially cruel and irresponsible.
Bower did not stop there. He accused Meghan of being a “selfish, self-interested woman” who supposedly wanted to destroy her enemies, including the Royal Family. He also accused Buckingham Palace of being too weak and demanded stronger action against the Sussexes. Later in the interview, when Patrick Christys asked what King Charles could realistically do, Bower suggested threatening Harry with the removal of his royal titles. That provided some context for his earlier remarks, but it hardly excuses his decision to describe two human beings as people the monarchy needed to “put down.”
Bower has spent years publicly attacking Meghan, yet even a visit to organisations supporting vulnerable communities became another opportunity to portray her and Harry as enemies of the monarchy.
And for what exactly? Harry and Meghan were visiting organisations doing important work in Nottingham, including Himmah, Community Recording Studio and Epic Partners. These organisations serve real communities, and the Sussexes were using their public profiles to bring attention to that work. Somehow, Bower managed to turn charitable visits into a supposed existential threat to the British monarchy.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhy Does Harry and Meghan’s Charity Work Provoke Such Outrage From Royal Commentators?
Perhaps the more exhausting question is why the sight of Harry and Meghan connecting with the public sends certain sections of the British royal commentariat into such a frenzy. Piers Morgan accused the couple of performing a “pathetic royal tribute act” and deliberately stealing attention from King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit to Wales. Meanwhile, The Sun’s Caroline Bullock called their Nottingham visit an insult to the late Queen.
The level of outrage is extraordinary. These are two people visiting charities, not launching a constitutional coup. Yet listening to some commentators, you would think Harry and Meghan had committed an unforgivable offence simply by showing up and being warmly received. Since when did supporting communities become an act of treason against the monarchy?
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Bower’s ‘Put Them Down’ Remarks Spark Calls for Ofcom Complaints
The language used to discuss Harry and Meghan has become so hostile that even their charitable work gets presented as an act of aggression. And that should concern people regardless of their opinions about the Sussexes. Nobody is demanding that royal commentators praise Harry and Meghan. Criticism is part of public life, and they are public figures. But there is a difference between disagreeing with someone’s decisions and repeatedly portraying them as enemies who must be neutralised.
Following the broadcast, concerned viewers began encouraging others to submit complaints to Ofcom, the UK’s broadcasting regulator. Whether Bower’s comments breached broadcasting standards is a matter for Ofcom to assess. However, viewers are entitled to question why language like this was considered appropriate for a televised discussion.
Ultimately, the contrast couldn’t be more striking. Harry and Meghan were in Nottingham supporting community organisations, while Bower was on television describing their presence as a catastrophe and urging the Royal Family to “put them down.”
If visiting charities and greeting members of the public constitutes a threat to the monarchy, perhaps the institution has much bigger problems than Harry and Meghan.
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There are exactly four easily identifiable threats to the monarchy: CRex and his side piece, and the functionally illiterate alcoholic who’s Chucks heir and the wife who’s barely able to mumble remedial English.
Bowel movement belongs on a fixated persons list.
Haha, I couldn’t have put it better myself! From a position of royal power—achieved, unfortunately, through colonial exploitation, violence, and human trafficking—it has turned into a massive, embarrassing laughingstock. And things will only get worse once the Middletons settle in, keeping “King” William firmly under their thumb.
This needs to be reported to the Police.
‘PUT DOWN ‘ is precisely the expression the neo-nazi Christopher Gibbons used about Archie. Firmly being against biracial unions, he said that the then newborn was ‘an abomination that needed to be put down’.
Gibbons has been sentenced to eight years in prison for eight counts of encouraging terrorism and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications.
His co-host Tyrone Patten-Walsh was sentenced to seven years in prison for eight counts of encouraging acts of terrorism.
They were initially arrested in 2021 and were going to go on trial the week of the jubilee in June 2022. Afraid it would be bad publicity for the royals the trial was postponed to 2023.
Besides racist remarks, both men also made antisemitic, islamophobic, homophonic remarks. They supported the murderer of MP Jo Cox, made terrible comments about the Manchester victims and glorified the Christchurch massacre’s terrorist.
Again, we need all report Tom Bower to the Police.
@Sarah, it is baffling to make sense of Bower’s malignant and outright contemptible hate campaign against the Sussexs, especially given his Jewish heritage and family who fled for their life from the Nazis propaganda and campaign of hate against Jews.
The Nazi regime dehumanised Jewish people, in weaponised hate rhetoric, used to described Jews as “a dangerous, biologically inferior race, that posed an existential threat to the purity and survival of the German “Aryan” people”.
Jews as “a dangerous, biologically inferior race, that posed an existential threat to the purity and survival of the German “Aryan” people”
Jews as “a dangerous, biologically inferior race, that posed an existential threat to the purity and survival of the German “Aryan” people”
Bower’s Background & Surname Change
Source: Wikipedia, The Guardian, Newstateman
I have always been amazed at the depth of the venom and articulated hatred of a man whose parents were refugees from Nazi Germany.
It remains to be determined what they were fleeing from—the Nazis, or perhaps, in fact, the liberators.
His aggression, authoritarian tendencies, and the way he categorized people—distinguishing between those deemed worthy of attention and those marked for “put down”—would point rather to the latter reason.
About Bower – Key facts – “Bower’s parents were Jewish refugees who fled Prague following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. They managed to escape to London later that year and married in early 1943”.
“Bower’s parents were Jewish refugees who fled Prague following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. They managed to escape to London later that year and married in early 1943”.
@Anonymous
Well, that means their son is an apple that has fallen far from the tree.
Bowel is outraged. Meghan is too visible a blurring of Britain’s class lines, and at the very top of the pyramid too!
Harry and Meghan were literally given permission to carry on with their charity work. The 2020 agreement said: “With The Queen’s blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations.”
The King’s recent letter doesn’t take that away. It just says the work is personal and done in a private capacity. Yet the press treats every visit like they’re breaking some rule or trying to sneak back into royal duties.
Honestly, constantly banging on about them being “private citizens” makes the monarchy look petty, not dignified. The arrangements were already clear. Turning permitted charity work into a scandal says more about the media than it does about Harry and Meghan
Reporting this to the media council is necessary, but it is not enough. Legal action should definitely be taken against him. I am also curious about the program host’s reaction. It matters whether he responded to these remarks with indignation or treated them as something self-evident.
This man also showed up at Invictus in Canada and was told off by Petol from the Facts & Two Cents podcast. She did a video of the exchange.
For someone who hates H&M he sure spends a lot of time either talking about them or stalking them. He’s vile.
Great article. This inhumane being needs to be put in jail for making threats better yet the ancestors needs to pay him, and his kinds a special visit.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/tom-bower-book-dangerous-hero-jeremy-corbyn-labour-leader-truth
It is one of several books in which the author is accused of misrepresenting the facts. Originally, he wrote seriously about the connection between money and power under the Nazis. Why didn’t he stick to that?
Given what he is doing now, why should anyone believe a single word from such a person?
People like this, who, after a serious start, have chosen to make a living from hatred and lies, are apparently protected by the law.
Where are the lawmakers who will put a stop to this?
Bower was born in London in 1946. Originally, his family’s surname was Bauer. In 1948, his father, Jiri Gerhard Bauer, decided to anglicize the family name to sound more British. His father began calling himself George Gerald Bower, a change that was officially legally finalized by deed poll in May 1957.
Bower reportedly felt like an “outsider”. growing up as a child of refugees in post-war Britain.
Might his venom and hateful outbursts be triggered by resolved/untreated early trauma, identity disorders, ongoing feelings of not belonging (“outsider”), inate low self esteem, which he struggles with but deflects by fixated obsession with the Sussexs and Meghan in particular??
Bower clearly had a misspent childhood and is delusional. His search for an identity, acceptance, relevance and money has driven him into the sewers. Now in his advanced dotage he makes up fantastic lies, spews hate, writes and comments obsessively on the Sussexs. Previously, he was fixated, on political and “establishment figures”.
The worst thing about it is that his ramblings are heard, printed and commented on thousands of times on right-wing platforms and tabloid websites.
It is people like him, who once enjoyed a good reputation, who make this filth and muck socially acceptable.
Given that one of the world’s most powerful and wealthiest families, for tactical reasons, permits and thereby fuels all this nastiness being heaped upon Harry and Meghan, this takes on a terrible and even more violent significance.
Anyone who remains silent in the face of such a destructive frenzy is complicit.
What frustrates me is the lack of any significant, visible, or social response on an international level. I say “more visible” because there have been some reactions—such as the mass refusal by artists to perform at the coronation, the British Royal Family (BRF) is also conspicuously absent from events hosted by other European royal houses, who frequently celebrate various occasions—not just state events—together. It is possible that the BRF considers itself too important to grace “lesser” royal families with its presence; however, even if that were once the case, today—with new generations coming of age—such social gatherings should be the norm. Yet, the British royals are nowhere to be found. There may be more to this than we know, but there is a clear lack of the kind of response one would expect, especially regarding the most serious matters. For instance, there is the letter from Charles—revealed in court—to the authorities of various countries, requesting that they not provide protection to Harry and Meghan should they visit. To me, this is an international scandal—compounded by the leaking of satellite imagery showing their residence in Canada, occurring at the same time their security detail was withdrawn without warning, despite an agreement that it would continue for several more months. And all this happened at a time when the threat level faced by the Sussexes was among the highest within the BRF—on par with, or perhaps even greater than, that faced by the Queen herself. I am well aware that far worse things happen in the world, but we are talking about what is supposedly a relatively civilized Europe—and yet, no one is willing to speak out, even though Charles and his heir are quite openly doing everything in their power to get rid of this “problem.” Failure to act is complicity..!