Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
That was quite an interview that Meghan and Prince Harry did with Oprah on Sunday night on CBS. Did you catch it?
I normally wouldn’t have watched the show as I have very little interest in celebrities or royals, but several readers requested that I do, and so I tuned in.
Inquiring minds want to know: Who is being truthful and who is lying?
I suspect many people likely formed opinions on who is was honest, and who is being unreasonable long before this interview. There was a ton of press coverage on it — much of it from tabloids, which is useless.
When you want the truth, I always say that you need to hear the people involved speak directly, and they finally did!
During the interview, Meghan portrays herself as a person who had little to no knowledge of the royal family prior to meeting Prince Harry. That makes me go “hmm”. She was a celebrity herself, so the glitz and glam life is usually a topic of interest to such people.
And Meghan’s story about meeting the Queen for the first time seems unrealistic when she basically suggests she was just meeting “grandma”. It seems too clueless. I wasn’t buying her story.
If you want my opinion, there is notable arrogance in Meghan’s attitude that she is trying to cover by pleading ignorance. My read on it: She didn’t feel as a celebrity she had to bow down to anyone.
As I sat and digested the interview, I am also left with an odd message in my head. Meghan wants us to believe that the life as a royal was brutal–that the institution stonewalled her from care and protection, and yet in this same interview she tells us when she heard Prince Philip was in the hospital she called the Queen directly. She and Harry have direct line to her! When you compare these two concepts, you see a disconnect. Or wonder did things since change and she didn’t tell us?
I don’t think Meghan is being 100% truthful. She is clearly painting herself in the best light, so take things with a grain of salt. She is also painting the Queen in a good light, and the Queen is the ultimate one in charge, right? She points at her and then points away. It’s conflicting evidence, which is your red flag to be on alert.
Also, Archie was not directly entitled to be a prince, according to royal experts. Why doesn’t she mention this?
However in contrast, the stories that she tells about how she, Archie and Harry were treated, are no the less invalid. To hear there was talk about the baby’s skin color, that Harry’s security was pulled–when he didn’t ask to be a royal is flat out sad, but shocking? No.
I am not shocked about the accusations of dysfunction in the royal family. How can they not be dysfunctional and how can we as a society not see it?
The royal family puts on a show, a public display of perfection–they sell the dream of what royalty is. They have to portray a dream of glamour, wealth and aristocracy. To me, that is a fairy tale from long ago and has no basis in reality today. You can’t have royals who have emotional break downs, who cheat, are racist, etc.
But people are flawed: royal or not. And its time we wake up and stop expecting a fantasy! Meghan obviously fell for it too at first, but Harry sees the reality behind it as he reflects on his mom’s life.
From the interview, I believe that Harry and Meghan have worked things out with the Queen and they are on good terms with her. They agreed to part on their terms–whatever they are. However, Prince Harry and his father Prince Charles are still feuding — and I suspect the subject involves racial issues. Prince William will not step in. He is and will continue to follow in line of the royal protocols.
I honestly think Harry is a good man, and I like him. The rest of them? They either accept the fairy tale and all that comes with it, or they move on! End of story for me.
What do you think?
Interesting that you thought Markle thought she didn’t have to curtsy because she’s famous. I think she didn’t want to do it because it’s outdated and as an American didn’t feel any connection to stuffy British royal traditions. But in the end she did curtsy anyway and for that I felt sympathy with her for the pressure she must have felt being in a relationship with Harry. Personally, I curtsy to no one!
Meaghan is American, and yes, she would have known somethings about royalty through Prince Harry and the usual basic knowledge we all have; however, security for her son is another thing altogether. Okay, they have royal experts citing this, but this seems unacceptable as an American. I think any of us would get major paranoia about our babies or kids, if people reminded you of “no security” for him. If someone said this to me, I’d worry someone was out to get our son and we are just nobodies, but it feels threatening and a reason to worry until you are out of your mind.
When I first heard Meaghan and Harry were expecting, I thought “Thank God, they can improve the gene pool”. It is seriously sick to me how royalty marry within family and class. The European Royals are a case study in genetic disorders. Most all of Europe abandoned monarchies, but not England. Hearing their insider voice to this seems like Hell, as Prince Harry was a young boy attached to his mother, saw first hand how destructive no security and the backbiters at Buckingham Palace can be. I remember decades ago when Prince Charles & Diana got off a plane in Asia and she was visibly unhappy and he was indifferent. Their marriage didn’t survive and I suspect it was too much to bear for her.
Meaghan saw first hand how she wasn’t included and messages like “he’ll never have a title nor security” is a cruel insult. She realized they would never be accepted. Glad they moved to North America, life is too short to live like that.
P.S. I am agreement on “will he be too brown” worry by Royals.
Kate Middleton’s family isn’t posh.
I couldn’t quite get a read on Meghan until I read your opinion that she has an arrogant attitude and that clicked into place.
She also seems to be playing a role in which she is a modern-day Diana but instead of coming to a tragic end, she is rescued by her Prince and whisked away to the safety of Oprah’s neighborhood. The “happily ever after” part remains to be seen.
The arrogant attitude clicked for me too, so Eyes hit the target again. Meghan did say at the end, as I remember, “life is about stories, right?”
Is one sign of this arrogance the following combo: disapproval in her mouth, while adjusting her shoulders and eye fluttering, looking off the side as a “hidden” eye roll? Am trying to see where it’s popping up, because I believe you just don’t know how to tell.
So glad you did this one! I also didn’t buy the stories re: not googling her date, not being nervous about meeting the Queen, and also not knowing about the royals. But that’s not such a surprise. She has been disingenuous before (e.g. in the engagement interview when she claimed that her response the mutual friend who wanted to set them up was, “Is he kind?”). All that said, I definitely felt her pain when she described her anguish and also the racism she encountered. Of course that is real. I think the moments where she is clearly trying to portray a certain image (“I just love rescuing”? “It’s greater than any fairy tale you’ll ever read?” The Little Mermaid?) come off as more contrived than she realizes and at least for me, undermines her credibility. Oh, and I forget the exact moment, but I thought of your Woody Allen analysis when MM avoided directly answering a question by asking, “Would it make any sense if I did X?” instead of just saying, “No, I didn’t do X.”
I’m English – lived here my whole life & I couldn’t tell you jack about the Royals. I know some of their names/titles but that’s about it. If I was marrying into that family pre-Meghan I wouldn’t have any idea what to expect – nor would I think I had to curtsy for the Queen in such an informal setting. She is the Queen to the world but she is Harry’s Grandma. The tabloids here focus heavily on Meghan to prevent talk about Andrew’s pedo ways & William’s affair with Rose. This is why Harry is willing to repair his relationship with Charles but did not indicate the same for William.
Interesting that you see her as arrogant whereas I see her as a strong person who knows who she is. She is confident but of course some will see her as arrogant instead. I wonder how often the palace staff called her aggressive instead of assertive or accused her of shouting/being loud when she was talking in a normal tone. Happens all the time. You say “Meghan wants us to believe that the life as a royal was brutal–that the institution stonewalled her from care and protection, and yet in this same interview she tells us when she heard Prince Philip was in the hospital she called the Queen directly. She and Harry have direct line to her! When you compare these two concepts, you see a disconnect. Or wonder did things since change and she didn’t tell us?” – she also made very clear that there is the family then there is the institution (advisors to the queen etc), so I see nothing conflicting in the fact she can contact the Queen but also had a crap time.
I think there is an awful lot they could have said that they didn’t though why they are still protecting the royals is beyond me. The only thing I think Meghan is lying about is when she said she doesn’t read what is said, though I can imagine she doesn’t now, I’m sure she did. I think she is well aware of it all be it herself reading, Harry or lawyers but more than just her friends telling her.
The queen is not the ultimate one in charge. There is a huge quasi-state power apparatus running the show and she is its figurehead.
In Meghan, I saw arrogance touched with defiance and underneath it all, hurt feelings. For whatever reason, she wasn’t treated as well by “the Firm’ as she thought she should have been. (Racism? Maybe, maybe not, but I personally doubt it.) Now, she is exacting her revenge. The things she said would have appropriate in a private family therapy session, not on a world stage. Harry should have known better. He strikes me as naïve and unable to clearly see the difference between his mother’s situation and Meghan’s. He has now burned bridges with his family for good and may be surprised at the fallout. There is no turning back now. Meghan, however, had nothing to lose by doing the interview and gained some sympathy. She wins.
“The things she said would have appropriate in a private family therapy session, not on a world stage.” I had a similar thought, depending on which topics she was touching on. I can’t unweave it very clearly. I thought some things she said had some value and others were a bit lost in a mix of incomplete story telling/spinning which makes it less useful. It was clear from statements such as ~ “it would be devastating to them if I shared” etc, that some of this stuff was your usual family complications/clashes. Some of it of course was not such as feeling trapped and depressed about it. Or having to deal with “the institution”.
It’s interesting that in light of a successful separation, that she still proudly shares about a private union (private wedding). The private union is still experienced as victory after the bigger victory of a successful separation from the royal family.
The private wedding made her feel special. Things seemed to fall apart after the wedding when expectations and assumptions about her new role did not align with those of the royal family. I would assume she knew what those expectations were prior to the marriage (or at least she should have). She probably thought she could change things and revise her role once she married into the family. When that didn’t happen, her ego was bruised.
When she said about the “private wedding” it put me thinking, “a wedding has to have witnesses and so how did that work?” I learned now that it was a rehearsal she was talking about, but spinning it in her mind as a private wedding. She seems to have confused acting with reality.
This doesn’t have much bearing on the interview, but there are interviews of her dad. And he seems to care more about attention than his daughter. Or at the very least, they must be completely done with each other, for him to consider talking to the press in direct contradiction to her words to be the same as “connecting” with her.
I’m confused about the racism, if anyone can help me understand, I’d appreciate it … I might be stuck in tunnel vision.
If the Royals were indeed so racist, wouldn’t they have prohibited the marriage in the first place?
And it’s not that the Royals were so naive as to believe if they did let Harry marry her, that they wouldn’t ever have any kids, i.e. have to “worry” about color of the offspring.
They may have tolerated a wedding, and other things, but that doesn’t stop conjecture about inappropriate things, or having a bias against her over Kate. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Just a question, if she never saw her passport again, how did she get to New York for her baby shower?
I don’t think it is that she never saw it again. Think about it. She has a team who prepares her travel arrangements. They keep all their documents. It’s not like she needs it in her dresser. When she travels, they give it to her as needed. She couldn’t just go grab it and plan a trip without them. Make sense?
She emphasized the remark to lead people to think exactly what I thought,. It was to gain sympathy. I don’t buy her stories.
She needs security. Her passport is collected because her travel is arranged for her security. Her point was really weak.
I think she was being less than honest when she said she didn’t google Harry or learn anything about the Royal Family. I’ll bet Harry googled her!
I don’t believe her.
I agree.
I feel she is manipulating his feelings about his mother. Harry couldnt save diana, so he will do anything to save his wife. While concerns about security are legitimate, I believe she uses that point to provoke harry into doing what she wants. Theres more money and publicity to be had on their own.
That said, i hope she truly does love him. Harry is by far my favorite royal
Okay, serious question.
When a person is trying to be evenhanded with evaluating someone and what they say…how many excuses are reasonable?
In an interview situation, it would be understandable that couple or perhaps several times a person may have meant one thing, and said another, or something similar.
When does the scale tip that they are being deceptive?