With the release of Oprah’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, a lot of questions have been raised about the royal family. This groundbreaking interview has started many conversations about what exactly the royal family is like on the inside looking out. One of the most important conversations is the treatment of independent women within the royal family and what happens when a woman decides to pave her own path.
I think one of the biggest factors in the demise of the two most influential women in the royal family, Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, was the British media and how they speak about the women.
During Meghan’s pregnancy, while she was holding her bump, the British media wrote about how they didn’t understand why she was holding her bump so much. They blamed it on vanity and pride versus when they released essentially the same article about Kate Middleton, but the headline praised Kate for being so maternal and being so prepared.
The media also wrote a cute headline about how Kate’s favorite pregnancy snack was avocado toast, while a few years later, they wrote about how Meghan eating avocados was fueling water shortages, illness and disease. The parallels between the way the media portrayed these two women from the beginning were extremely different. You have to think, was it because Kate assimilated so well into British royalty and played her role perfectly?
In her interview with Oprah, Meghan mentioned how things started to turn with her relationship during their Australia tour. Now, for people who don’t know much about the royal family, this statement may have not held much weight. For me, someone who has known about Princess Diana since I was very young, my heart dropped.
The infamous Australia tour in 1983 was also the alleged turning point for Princess Diana. It was the moment the royal family realized the impact Diana had on the public and that, just like Meghan, she wasn’t just going to be a pretty face who would obey all of their unspoken rules. The world loved Diana fiercely, and I believe they saw the same fire within Meghan.
Another parallel between the two is the way they each spoke about their mental health. Diana struggled deeply with her mental health and got little to no support from the royal institution. In her interview with Oprah, Meghan spoke about begging for help from the family and being met with indifference to her situation.
The royal family has a nasty history of not only allowing the media to treat independent women in the family like this but also contributing to the poor treatment of them. They have proved time and time again that to be protected by them, you have to play by their rules and only their rules.
The treatment of both Meghan and Diana is something that should not be overlooked. I believe there is a sense of fear within the institution of losing their power to women who do not share the same blood as them; to women who have new ideas and outspoken personalities. The bravery of Meghan for speaking out on her experience and the bravery of Diana for enduring what she did should never be forgotten.