after years of palace officials

[kazuhiko fudaba]

Harry says he is only setting the record straight after years of palace officials leaving him and his wife
to the tabloid jackals. (The Washington Post)


Question) Would you please explain what the bold phrase means and is the subject of leaving palace officials?

Thank you.
Kazu Fudaba

 

[grassy]

Would you please explain what the bold phrase means

It means that for years palace officials talked to tabloid journalists about Harry and his wife's private life, which he never approved of.

the subject of leaving palace officials?

The subject of "leaving him and his wife to the tabloid jackals" is "palace officials".

 

[kazuhiko fudaba]

Can I understand that "to set the record straight" means "he never approve of" ?

 

[kazuhiko fudaba]

Can I understand that "to set the record straight" means "he never approve of" ?

Thank you.
Kazu

 

[grassy]

Can I understand that "to set the record straight" means "he never approve of" ?

It means that he's trying to rectify (= correct) the information.

So yes, it suggests that the information the palace officials have been leaking to the press is either outright wrong, or inaccurate, or just puts him in bad light.

 

[kazuhiko fudaba]

I could understand, thank you.
Kazu

 

[se16teddy]

Yes, the subject of “leaving” is “palace officials”.
The usual syntactic question here, which has been hotly debated in this forum, is whether you think the preposition “of” governs
1 officials or
2a leaving or
2b the whole noun phrase palace officials leaving him and his wife to the tabloid jackals

I feel that analysis 1 does not accord with the sense of the sentence, and that 2a is a simpler explanation than 2b.

 

[RM1(SS)]

I understood it as meaning that the jackals were printing all sorts of rubbish, and the Palace was doing nothing to stop it.