Scrutiny, family woes pile pressure on pregnant Meghan
LONDON (AP) — When Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry, the American TV star seemed to charm everyone she met.
She and Harry toured Britain to adoring crowds, and she pledged to hit the ground running once she officially joined the royal circle.
Britain’s rambunctious, royal-obsessed press praised her as something different, a fresh take on an old “firm” in need of a bit of dazzle.
Nine months after her wedding extravaganza and now formally known as the Duchess of Sussex, the 37-year-old is pregnant — and finding that life in the royal fishbowl carries not just glamour and great charitable opportunities but liabilities as well.
Meghan is engaged in a painful, public rift with her father — played out in the nation’s tabloids, of course — and dealing with speculation that she is feuding with Prince William’s wife, Kate.
Her half-sister Samantha has been sniping at her in public, and the once-fawning press has criticized for everything from being hard on her household staff to spending too much time cradling her “baby bump.”
”I should think she’s finding it pretty difficult,” said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine. “It’s such a minefield, being a member of the royal family. Perhaps she should have eased herself into it a little more.”
She said Meghan has, like Princess Diana before her, probably been shocked at just how intrusive the press can be. “I don’t think they realized quite how nasty it would become,” she said of the continuing spat between Meghan and her father and half-sister.