‘Petty’ Meghan? Did the Duchess upset Camilla & the Queen?
Harry and Meghan’s farewell tour was a huge success – but did the Duchess find time for a bit of one-upmanship?
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex went out in true style, in their final Royal engagements last week.
Images such as the ‘rain photo’ outside London’s Mansion House, which went viral, and then at the Royal Albert Hall – Meghan in a stunning pillar-box red gown, setting off Harry’s official navy and red uniform, as Captain General of the Royal Marines, showed them at their happiest yet, in their short tenure as a royal couple.
Yet, in the midst of such a rapturous welcome back, did Meghan find the time, in what seemed like an innocent Instagram post, to subtly dig at her father-in-law’s wife? Meghan is believed to have ‘infuriated’ Camilla by overshadowing a huge announcement with her ill-timed post – black and white snaps of herself visiting London’s National Theatre – on the Sussex Royal Instagram account.
She did it the very same day that the Duchess of Cornwall was giving a much-anticipated speech – thought to have been planned for nearly a year – at the Women of the World ( WOW) Festival in London, about the ‘horrific threat’ of domestic abuse. Camilla has worked for this cause for the past four years and is a well-known supporter of both rape and abuse charities.
Meghan’s timing is reported to have ‘devastated’ her. According to commentators, there was an unwritten agreement – a pledge among Royals – that Camilla’s speech would take precedence. But it seems the Duchess of Sussex either ‘forgot’ or chose to ignore former protocol, and published pictures of the private theatre visit that very day.
If tensions are running high between Meghan and Camilla, you could understand why. But it’s not the first time the 38-yearold seems to have deflected attention from her Royal in-laws.
Last January, the Duchess of Cornwall was asked if she would ‘miss Harry and Meghan’ at a visit to a hospice in Yorkshire. ‘Of course’, she replied – but it was the very slight smile that led GMB’s Piers Morgan to point out that no one has struggled with ‘negative coverage’ more than Camilla, and rant that Meghan Markle ‘cherry-picked’ her ‘negativity’, citing the fact she was a ‘woman of colour’.
A furious Piers let rip: ‘There are plenty of Royal women: Camilla Parker-Bowles, Princess Diana when she was alive, the Duchess of York, Fergie.
‘They’ve had 10 times the negative coverage and intrusion, because the rules were very different then, than Meghan Markle has had, and they are white. I don’t see anybody drawing that parallel.’
Hmm… who can say what Meghan had in mind when she upset the Royal family, yet again?
Given the outpouring of support she and Harry had this visit, if Meghan’s move was calculated, it seems rather petty – particularly towards a woman who has herself been so vilified in the past. With her stunning looks and Hollywood smile, the mum-of-one knows she has the ability to steal the limelight.
So why does she continue to rain on others’ parades? Maybe it will be easier for all the Royals now Meghan has moved on.