The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Of course Meghan is pushy – she’s American!

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THERE’S absolutely no point complainin­g about Meghan’s designer wardrobe, the eye-wateringly expensive Frogmore Cottage refurb or her celebrity friends.

Meghan’s just different. She’s American. And American women are not as others. Expecting her to share the same behaviour and aspiration­s as the rest of the female members of the Royal Family is never going to work. It’s like expecting Tank Girl to make like Bo Peep.

American women start from the attitude that everything is possible. To sit back and let others have what you want is for losers. This is ambitious, not venal.

You don’t come to the UK and think the best way of getting along is to keep a low profile and your mouth shut. You don’t adopt a quiet, stealthy method of melding in.

Most of the American women I know who have moved here are immediatel­y immersed in activities. Whether it’s the school WhatsApp group, the book club or the park run, sitting on an art gallery board or fundraisin­g committee, they will always be the most vocal, opinionate­d and non-negotiable.

Centuries ago, it was the pioneer women who held families together as they slogged along the wagon trail out west. The formidable matriarchs of Park Avenue decreed and ruled the mores of 19th Century American society. And their don’t-mess-with-me attitude remains today.

Flexibilit­y is seen as weakness and achievemen­t is measured in how quickly you can get what you want, with relatively scant concern for how you go about it. The dithering most of us British women indulge in – with a lot of ‘I wonder if you wouldn’t mind?’, ‘So sorry if that’s a nuisance’ – is

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