The royalty we need
While the title Duchess of Sussex is the most likely to be bestowed upon Meghan Markle when she marries Prince Harry, the American actress is every bit the strong, modern, feminist princess we need right now.
A 36-year-old divorcee, Markle would have been considered ineligible for marriage to previous generations of royals, and yet today, she is wearing diamonds that once belonged to Princess Diana on her finger. It’s almost comedic that when Prince William wedded Kate Middleton in 2011, it was treated as revolutionary because, while Kate was a wealthy and beautiful British girl, her family didn’t have a royal title. She was, therefore, technically a “commoner.” This is what passed for diversity in the royal family a mere six years ago.
The last time a royal fell in love with a divorced, slightly older American woman, it nearly destroyed The House of Windsor. Forbidden by the Church of England from marrying the woman he loved, Edward VIII abdicated the crown in 1936. It was a scandal that reverberated through the world. The former king and his spouse spent the rest of their lives in exile, rumoured to have been Nazi sympathizers.
In the 1950s, when the Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret, fell in love with the dashing – but divorced – Peter Townsend, she was threatened with disinheritance. The idea that royal personage would wed a divorced person was so unfathomable, Winston Churchill’s government persuaded Queen Elizabeth to veto her only sister’s choice of partner. A few decades later, a majority of the Queen’s children would have their own failed marriages.
Prince Harry’s union to Markle is a pleasant departure. It ushers the monarchy into the modern era , or as far into it as is possible for an institution based on hereditary titles. The daughter of an African American psychotherapist and a white television lighting director, the California-born Markle graduated from the prestigious Northwestern University in Illinois. She completed her bachelor’s degree in theatre and international studies, earning herself a coveted internship with the U.S embassy in Buenos Aires.
When Markle took the role of Suits’ ambitious paralegal Rachel Zane in 2011, she relocated to Toronto. The star became a vibrant part of the local community. Hardworking as she is in her professional life, Markle also volunteered for World Vision Canada, for which she travelled to Rwanda as part of the Clean Water campaign.
In her 2015 speech to UN Women, Markle declared herself a “proud feminist.” The actress recounted a story about how, at age 11, she was aghast to see a soap company use the advertising slogan, “Women all over American are fighting greasy pots in pans.” Horrified by a campaign that enforced the idea that “a woman’s place is in the kitchen,” the tween began a letter writing campaign in protest. She wrote letters of concern to the soap company. In response to her grassroots activism, the company in question changed their slogan to “People all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”
Representation is important, because it reflects our world back to us. The fact that Markle will bring an element of diversity to such a famous family has the potential to promote a broader understanding. And if she and Harry reproduce, Markle will be the mother of Britain’s first known royals of colour.
The 30-something, feminist-minded Markle marrying the most eligible prince in the world is a blow to sexist double standards that perpetuate an ageist myth that women over thirty-five are not marriage material; it is a blow to racist representations of royalty, where the majority of Disney Princesses are still white, and it is a blow to the insularity of a monarchy that, for the first time in its history, is warmly welcoming someone from a very different background.
If anything can make The Royal Family relevant in the 21st century, it just might be Meghan Markle. She is the articulate, progressive voice we deserve from a modern monarchy. Congratulations to this strong, beautiful woman, and the prince she chose to marry.