Meghan Markle was 35 when she met Prince Harry. By that time, she had already divorced her first husband, filmmaker Trevor Engelson. She also had a solid acting career in Hollywood, with a fixed role in the “Suits” series.
In other words: she was not an inexperienced little girl. Quite different from the unfamiliar stepmom Diana Spencer, who was cast in the eye of the hurricane as a teenager.
Meghan and Harry dated for two years before tying the knot in 2018. In the meantime, the future Duchess of Sussex has attended numerous events alongside the groom and has been introduced to all members of the British Royal Family. For all of these reasons, the claim that he had no idea what he was going to face, given to presenter Oprah Winfrey in the already historic interview last Sunday (7), seemed a little odd.
As well as? Meghan has never been interested in knowing the royal protocols before marrying a prince? Have you ever read a line from the obsessive coverage the Windsor house receives from the tabloids?
Maybe not. On the one hand, she is part of a generation that believes that traditions and rejects no longer fit into the modern world. On the other hand, royalty codes are really hard to crack. Diana, as a child, called Queen Elizabeth 2nd Aunt Lilibeth, and even then paid a double. So imagine a divorced, biracial American.
Among these codes is the complex relationship the Crown has with the press. No other royal household lives under such control, 24 hours a day. You hardly hear about the kings of Denmark, but you know the Windsors’ favorite dishes, the names of their dogs, the brand of their toothpaste.
It is a love-hate relationship, in which one side depends on the other. It is also an indispensable part of true marketing. After all, the monarchy costs the UK’s public coffers millions, but attracts billions in tourism and souvenir sales.
From time to time, the press exaggerates. He reveals, for example, that Prince Charles said he wanted to be Camilla Parkes-Bowles’ intimate tampon while the two were still in love. The most serious incident, of course, was Diana’s death in Paris, as her car was chased by paparazzi.
But the Queen doesn’t say a word that hasn’t been carefully calibrated, always keeping an eye on her subjects’ reaction – and it’s the press that steps in. Elizabeth has not been trained for this position since birth, but she learned quickly. And she became a professional monarch, performing her duties with discretion and elegance. The result is that its popularity has remained stable for almost 70 years.
But the price is high, as Netflix’s “The Crown” shows. Even for someone like Harry, who is only sixth in the line of succession, and for whom an absolutely impeccable life is not required – unlike his brother, William, the apparent heir, under far more pressure. big.
The pressure turned out to be too much for Meghan, who still had to endure the question any black woman married to a white man hears at some point: “What color will your child be?” Traumatized by the death of his mother, Harry thought it best to leave. He preferred to get away from the circus set up around the Windsors.
We are a family business.
Only, they couldn’t stay away for long, as was evident when giving an interview to Oprah.