By Sheila Mckenzie-
Meghan Markle was heavily criticised across the media and social media platforms by members of the press and British public angry with The Duchess of Sussex for some of the chaos in the royal family which they blame on her.
Ms Markle and her husband Prince Harry last year stepped back from royal duties following a fall out with the family whom they accused of ill-treating the former U.S actress and expressing racism to her then unborn child. Those allegations went down badly with large sections of the British public but won sympathy and support from fans of the Duchess who believe she was truly victimised by the institution she described as ‘the firm’.
However, with the Uk in mourning following the death of its longest reigning monarch, feelings have been running high among royalists and some ordinary people who are simply angry with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Individuals belonging to this group feel the Duke and Duchess have played their part in depressing the Queen in the past two years, and therefore had no right to be at her funeral.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle staged an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, in which the couple expressed deep resentment and disappointment in the royal family. Harry in particular said he was badly let down that his family did not intervene following complaints he made about his wife being victimized by a hostile press on almost a daily basis right through the pregnancy of their first child.
The royal family traditionally does not interfere with the actions of a free press, but the scale of attack and criticism by the press against Meghan Markle was one in which the Duke of Sussex expected senior royals to step in. That difference of opinion alongside many other issues led to a family rift, the aftermath of which would eventually become a source of profit on Netflix and an upcoming memoire by Prince Harry, which many hope he will decide to abandon.
Meghan released a number of her truth bombs’ in her new Spotify podcast and an astonishing US interview where she said she had been compared to South African hero Nelson Mandela and claimed Harry had ‘lost’ his father Charles during Megxit.
Meghan’s critics accuse her of exploiting her marriage to Prince Harry for career gains and doing everything in her power to bring the royal family down. Prince Harry has also been accused of the same.
Some psychologists and mental health experts have told this publication that most of the couple’s seasonal attack against the royal family for commercial purposes are a likely reaction to wider attacks against them in the British media, and the resulting emotional pain that follows.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who live in California with their two children – were in Germany promoting the Invictus Games when news of Her Majesty’s declining health broke. The couple rushed to the Uk to be by the queen’s side, but sadly arrived there too late.
The anger against the couple from her haters is very poignant but takes no account of the complexities that led to the family fall out. It is a real raw anger capable of boiling over and being amplified in an uncontrollable vicious cycle.
Social media has been particularly awash with sneering comments against Meghan Markle, whose sight many of her hard critics cannot stand.
“It’s clear she’s playing a game. It’s time we banned Meghan Markle from entering the UK,” one social media user said.
Another said that Meghan had proved herself as an “actor” at the funeral; while one supposed “body language expert” for a right-wing US outlet declared Meghan “a fish out of water”. Much has been made of the fact that (yawn, wake me up when the idle gossip is over) Harry and Meghan sat in the – shock – second row during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, while the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, sat up front.
One British newspaper said that Meghan’s funeral outfit was an attempt to “ingratiate herself” with the royals; as though wearing black at a memorial were something new and different; and we heard GMB’s Dan Wootton interview with Tom Bower in which it was declared: “The only person that Meghan I think at the moment is crying for is for herself. Certainly not for the Queen.”
Meghan Markle’s arch-rival, Piers Morgan, who has harboured a grievance against the Duchess for a long time, described her as a lost course, before criticising her decision to attend the funeral in the first place. “When I see her at all these events this week, I think a lot of British people find it very hard to stomach because they think, well, you made the Queen’s life so difficult the last two years of her life,” he told Fox News .
The underlying sentiments of his comments has been expressed by journalist Petronella Wyatt, who tweeted: “May God forgive Harry and Meghan for causing the Queen so much pain, for I never shall.”
Fall Out
Meghan Markle is blamed by many of her critics for the fall out between Prince Harry and his family, although the Duke has said on many occasions that he took the decision personally to step back from royal duties- the fact neither Harry nor Meghan ar eon good terms with their respective fathers has been a bad selling point for the couple, and not a position that does not sit well with many members of the British public.
Her supporters blame the fall out with their parents on the parents themselves for allegedly letting them down.
Either way, they appear to be bearing the brunt of any damage to the family name arising from the big fall out.
The broad attack against Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had to be expected, given the deep sadness caused by the sudden death of the Queen. The rollercoaster of emotions has altogether been profound. The death of a well-loved queen who faced her fair share of a very controversial news coverage in the final years of her life has got many digging for all clues and pointing fingers.
If there is anything the queen would have wished, it would be to see her family finally overcome their squabbles and unify properly in her name. That for now seems a long shot, but is a desirable goal.