COVER STORY
With less than six weeks until the royal wedding, Grazia speaks to Andrew Morton, who worked with Princess Diana on Her True Story – about his revealing Meghan Markle biography
Harry Markle is as comparisons WHEN as the passionate royals was – NEWS a in UN themselves were a relationship about Women’s BROKE drawn humanitarian – between Advocate inevitable that with Prince Meghan her who work and have But Harry’s become this week, late even mother, those more comparisons stark Princess with Diana. the publication A Hollywood of Princess, a new biography, by the author Meghan: Andrew Morton. Charting Meghan’s journey from Pasadena, California, to St George’s Chapel in Windsor next month, Morton claims that the young Meghan not only saw Diana as a ‘role model’ and had her biography on her bookshelf, but that she also ‘wants to be Diana 2.0’. Aged 16, he says, she apparently sat with friends watching reruns of Charles and Diana’s wedding, trying to absorb the news that her 36-year-old idol had been killed in a car crash in Paris.
But in an exclusive interview with Grazia, Morton is clear that, despite their shared ideals, Meghan is cut from a different cloth. ‘She’s very smart, she knows what she’s got to do,’ he said. ‘ The thing about being a member of the it’s some wants to a wants reticent champion ‘ And be There a royal lifetime focusing time to to he when portray make family is added, thinking no for obligation. she on doubt a young is real herself. ‘Diana female started. that about difference.’ that women. it’s She issues was she not The how will very is a turning She and she sprint, going spend shy be and point shook This time started was and was hands her incredibly frowned in on 1987, with a very an on when controversial different Aids by the she patient. palace went journey. at and and the But journey Like Meghan many since has royal she been was observers, a hardwired kid.’ Morton, for that who into the developed House of an Windsor unrivalled after insight gaining Princess ‘true story’ Diana’s of her trust failing to write marriage the shocking in 1992, is certain that Meghan will present a ‘seachange’ for the British monarchy. And he should know: as confidante to the Princess of Wales during the most traumatic period of her life – the collapse of her marriage to Prince Charles – he heard at close quarters just how tough life in the royal spotlight can be, not only for Diana, but also for her sons, William and Harry. He is convinced Meghan’s brand of outspoken warmth is going to create royal waves. ‘ Traditionally, royal men make the speeches, royal women have looked good in frocks. Meghan’s not going to be shy about speaking in public. She’s not going to be intimidated or cowed by the royal system. ‘ The British people aren’t used to this kind of forthright woman being a member of the royal family. It’s a different style to what’s gone before, it’s not so reticent. ‘[Her style] is more modern in the sense of women showing [they] can have it all – they can look good but also talk the talk. That’s the difference. She’s already showed herself to be articulate on the podium. ‘A friend of Meghan’s told me, “She is going to bring a lot of diversity and new ideas, new ways of doing things. She is not just going to blend into the royals.”’ ‘Meghan: A Hollywood Princess’ is out 12 April