First Diana, now Meghan… UK has a princess problem
ALONGSIDE the maxim about people in glass houses should come a twin saying about those in palaces and how they shouldn’t moan about money. Listening to Harry tell Oprah Winfrey how he was cut off financially by his father was pitiful – a grown man, married with a child, complaining at not being funded by his pops.
Hearing him detail how his father stopped returning his calls, however, and you feel sympathy for him.
What Meghan and Harry gain from extreme wealth, they seem to lose in emotional good health. And there we should, of course, be able to empathise.
Sunday night’s interview with the couple brought juicy titbits: some tit for tat over titles; a she said-she said spat about bridesmaid dresses; a frankly unbelievable claim that Meghan hadn’t done a bit of basic due diligence Googling of her date.
All this spilled tea left a nation divided. Is this mere petulant whining or a justified defence? All of that is mere gossip. The main takeaways from the Duke and Duchesses’s interview were these two: that Meghan’s life within the royal household reduced her to suicidal ideation and that the couple claims there is systemic racism in one of Britain’s seminal institutions.
Britain has a princess problem. It’s not new. The comparisons with Diana are self-evident and a direct line can be drawn from her mother-in-law to Meghan.
If you are quiet, careful, biddable and predictable then you will be fine. Sophie Wessex, Catherine Cambridge. If you are anything other – Diana, Fergie, Meghan – then the tabloids will come for you and, it would seem, the palace will hang you out to dry.
Given the amount of work Kate, William and Harry carried out to raise awareness of mental health issues, it is particularly damning that one of their own was desperate, yet seemingly rejected, in their hour of need.
What Meghan and Harry gain from extreme wealth, they seem to lose in emotional good health
Many white people will take umbrage at the suggestion Britain is racist. It’s always easier to take offence than to step back and examine one’s failings and prejudices. We should appreciate that Meghan has given an opportunity to have a public conversation about national identity and issues of race, especially in the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Meghan has a list of attributes antithetical to British princesses. Possibly Meghan’s greatest crime was her American sensibility: commendable qualities such an interest in health and wellness; emotional literacy; comfort talking about race. All made her irritate outmoded British mores from the same sorts who go after millennials for their avocado habits.
At the same time, Harry has never made any attempt to hide his utter disdain for the press. It goes beyond disdain. It is a dislike bordering on loathing. It should have been no surprise that any unfair criticism of his wife was going to have dire consequences.
There seems to be consistent confusion over why the couple left the UK and the restraints of the royal family. They did not leave because they wanted privacy, they left because they wanted control of their own narrative.
Talk-show appearances and TV deals are not hypocrisy, they make sense.
Recently, on a 20-minute slot on James Corden’s US talk show, Corden took Prince Harry to a military fitness obstacle course.
Harry, ex-soldier, could have utterly humiliated Corden who, let us be blunt, appears less concerned with the maintenance of six packs. Rather than sprinting off and leaving Corden heaving in the dust, Harry paced himself to his less-able companion.
He came across as naturally considerate and sweet and, importantly, in his element. In our national heart of hearts, we don’t want ill for Meghan and Harry. We just want this unedifying parade of complaints to cease.
They have negotiated their own happily ever after. Goodbye and good luck to them.