Meghan Markle's royal tenure was "doomed to end in disaster from the start," according to royal author Catherine Mayer. The Duchess of Sussex married Prince Harry in a lavish ceremony at Windsor in 2018, but the relationship with royal life quickly soured.
Cracks in the Fairy Tale
Meghan, a former Hollywood actress and lifestyle blogger, was initially welcomed by the British media and public. However, by October 2019, she spoke openly to ITV's Tom Bradby about the challenges of being a newlywed and new mother under intense scrutiny. In her new book, Divide & Rule, Mayer explores the "obvious signs" that Meghan would not fit the traditional royal mould, making her departure from the Firm inevitable.
California vs. the Crown
Mayer writes: "It is tempting to think that if Meghan had shut up, closed down, worn nude tights and deferred as if her life depended on it, she might have made a go of things. But look more closely at California, the place that shaped her, and you realise that was never going to happen. Californians pride themselves on doing things differently. Hard-nosed entrepreneurialism coexists with multiple strands of spiritualism. Positivity is considered, well, a positive. So are career choices and behaviours the British disdainfully label 'attention-seeking'."
The South Africa Interview
Another sign of discord emerged during the Sussexes' 2019 tour of South Africa, when Meghan told Bradby: "Thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I'm OK." She added: "It's not enough to just survive something... You have got to thrive." According to Mayer, "back home, such an oversight would be unthinkable." This simple idea, she argues, "would shake the monarchy, dislodge Harry and send both of the Sussexes to the place that nurtured it."
Parallels with Diana
Mayer concludes: "In this sense, Meghan has indeed come to resemble Diana, the iteration of 1997: the crown jewel turned pariah, the benchmark against whom other royal women are measured and found, by comparison, to pass muster."
