Why Meghan’s parody of royal life is losing its appeal – even in America
by an academic who’s one of her Santa Barbara neighbours
HE IS one of America’s leading conservative commentators — and, like Harry and Meghan, a resident of Santa Barbara, California. But neighbourly feelings are scarce in this blistering piece by Gilbert T. Sewall.
In it, the distinguished former academic voices the profound disillusionment he believes many Americans increasingly feel with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — and warns that, amid delays in some of their business ventures, the magic of their brand will likely fade.
It addresses and counters some of the feverish pro- Sussex commentary that is a staple of America’s liberal media. For example, following Harry and Meghan’s appearance at this month’s Jubilee celebrations, the achingly Left-wing New Yorker magazine produced a bizarre contribution under the headline: ‘ Racism outshines Platinum Jubilee’.
Bafflingly, this suggested that for the Sussexes to have been seated behind senior royals at the Thanksgiving service in St Paul’s Cathedral was akin to American segregationera laws that banned black people from eating in ‘white’ restaurants.
In contrast, the multi-awardwinning Sewall looks on with mounting horror at what he calls Meghan’s ‘strange parody’ of royal life, as conducted in front a global audience from southern California. Her appeal, he claims, is rapidly diminishing — and the consequences for the couple, if not for the British monarchy, could be severe.
ON MAY 26, two days after a school shooting had left 19 children and two teachers dead and another 17 injured, Prince Harry’s wife made an unannounced visit to the Texas town of Uvalde.
Vanity Fair said: ‘She was spotted placing a bouquet of white flowers near a makeshift memorial,’ not bothering to rewrite the press copy.
Meghan Markle’s arrival attracted instant coverage from yahoo news, People, Elle and other outlets worldwide.
‘The 40-year-old Duchess of Sussex — wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a blue baseball cap — reached down with her head bowed,’ articles said, one after another. ‘ She also walked around the memorial, looking at the white crosses bearing the names of the victims of Tuesday’s carnage.’
Uninvited, Meghan had hopped on a private plane in Santa Barbara ‘as a mother’.
Flying with staff and bodyguard to a private airfield near Uvalde, she was whisked into a black van, amply photographed, and home before dark: job done, it’s a wrap.
Was this some strange parody of a royal visit? What the hell was it?
With Meghan, there are too many fatuities to recount. ‘I grew up with that farm-to-table dining before it was sweeping the nation,’ she has said. ‘ I do think there’s some value to really throwing yourself into food and embracing where it comes from.’
Remember the rescue chickens? ‘I just love rescuing,’ Markle said, talking to Oprah Winfrey about basics and authenticity. They stood outside the chickens’ new home, cloyingly named archie’s Chick Inn after Meghan and Harry’s son.
at this emetic moment during their tell-all March 2021 interview, any insightful person would say, ‘this phony is trolling us’, click off the television set and walk out of the room. Meghan’s fans go in for this kind of dreck.
Merchandising the Sussex brand in america involves promises yet to be fulfilled: to provide exclusive netflix content, Spotify podcasts and a fourbook deal with Penguin Random House. The dollars are staggering. But netflix has already cancelled one venture, Spotify is waiting for
‘product’ and the Harry memoir is delayed.
After on-and- off drama before the Jubilee visit earlier this month, no photographs or film with the Queen or Harry’s estranged brother William emerged. Royal choreography at the St Paul’s Thanksgiving Service and elsewhere signalled cool distance and Harry’s secondary rank.
From the age of 12, the future Queen Elizabeth II received tutoring in English constitutional history. She grew up respectful of the monarchy’s limits and demands. By all accounts reflective and kind, she has spent her free time in the countryside, riding horses and walking her corgis. (She has had 30 in her lifetime.)
In contrast, Meghan offers an LA version of ‘bread and circuses’ — the baubles distributed by Roman emperors to maintain their power and silence the plebs.
When Meghan discovered how dull royal rounds and duties were, and that her silly causes were to be passed over, she must have yearned for the bright lights and vapid glamour of southern California, where she could flash-dance and shine among sycophants.
Meghan has no clue about English constitutional history and the royal role. For her, it’s the celebrity A-list, the starring role, no more. Sovereign and state? Who knows, who cares.
Her woke- lite, vegan- today, climate-change-tomorrow nostrums — her dreamy Cinderella story with an equity angle — might enchant fans. She must have seemed dippy and crass to worldly London aristocrats.
British royals and peers can be remarkably down-to- earth. But manners, etiquette and codes of conduct in public are ironclad. Privacy and discretion are paramount. Experienced, sympathetic advisers tried to school Meghan in how it’s done. They failed.
The English public resents Harry’s self-exile, an act thought to reveal a troubled soul overshadowed by his brother and sisterin-law Kate. At Eton, his academic performance was weak, and his behaviour finally disruptive.
The nation loved him nonetheless, as it did his late mother, Diana. Harry is an accomplished horseman and soldier. He is now widely seen as prey for a American adventuress, redolent of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII.
THERE are 30 dukes of England and more peers. Many sponsor civic projects and good works like Harry’s Invictus Games. Harry would be better off, some say, living the life of an English country gent in familiar social circumstances.
Instead, he is an alien in the land of trust funds and everything-hasa-price merchandisers, playing charity polo while his brazen wife parades for the cameras. He is overseeing a book with a ghostwriter on a $20 million advance, a project behind schedule. ‘ Harry Under Pressure,’ the tabloids say. ‘Mystery Behind Missing Memoir.’
Despite appearances, Meghan is a very limited threat to the constitutional order. She will make trouble. But the majority of the British public has turned against the pair. The goodwill overflowing at the 2018 wedding has vanished.
Meghan’s flacks talk of a run for the U.S. Senate from California, or even the Presidency. This is fantasy. Good judgment and introspection are not the pair’s strong suit, it seems. Don’t they know? The caravan moves on, always.
As their hollow selves grow tiresome, the brand will likely fade. The Netflix cancellation and their unsteadiness suggest more psychodrama to come. The Sussexes are not emotionally prepared for derision or pity — nor are they ready to go away unnoticed.
■ A version of this piece appeared on the spectator World website: spectatorworld.com