In January 2020, Meghan and Harry announced that they wanted to leave the Royal Family in order to pursue financial independence, lead private lives, and stop taking part in the royal rota. Financial independence may have happened due to their multi-million-dollar Netflix deal; and it’s clear that the Sussexes no longer engage with the rota. However, since her departure Meghan has completely failed at living a private life. It is mainly her own fault for constantly courting the media, but some responsibility must be placed on the shoulders of media giants who need to tell ex-royals that if they want to play, they need to play by our country’s rules. Let’s discuss.
As part of the stated terms of Megxit, Harry and Meghan agreed to conduct themselves in accordance with the standards set out by Queen Elizabeth II. It was unclear exactly how much flexibility the Sussexes would have, but I think most people assumed they would both stay out of politics. The only reason the British Royal Family has survived this long is due to Queen Elizabeth’s political neutrality. The Brits can experience RAPID shifts in leadership, from Liberal to Conservative but neither party needs to worry about the Queen treating them any different. Furthermore, no matter how much Boris Johnson may embarrass the Brits, they know that their Queen will always represent them with dignity. It’s difficult to remain silent, but Queen Elizabeth considers it her duty to stay out of politics completely and fulfill her role as head of state the same no matter who controls parliament. Every other notable member of the Royal Family is much the same way. Thus, it seemed as though the Megxit deal required Meghan to remain neutral as well.
In June, Meghan delivered a virtual commencement speech to her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School. During this speech Meghan lamented the death of George Floyd as well as other unarmed black Americans, brutally murdered by police. Public reception was overwhelmingly positive, and even Piers Morgan appreciated Meghan’s words. However, towards the end of the speech Meghan urged the high school graduates to “use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to, because most of you are 18- so you’re going to vote.” This comment flew largely under the radar with only a few journalists noting that the ex-royal had just seemingly encouraged voting against the current American President. Looking back four months later, this was just the start of Meghan’s meddling.
After that, Meghan got a little bit more brazen. In an interview with Marie Claire, Meghan stated that the reason she was voting was because she knew what it was like to be voiceless. Thus, she was going to do what she needed to do to make sure her voice was heard. @talkingtiaras on Instagram posted that Meghan has not, in fact, voted in every election. Now missing some elections happens, but Meghan failed to vote in 2018. 2018 was a HUGE deal for the democratic party, as this is when they seized control of the House of Representatives and gained the VERY important impeachment powers. It is so insulting to every democrat who took part in the 2018 blue wave that a woman who didn’t even vote is lecturing them about how they need to vote. Like the Immaculate Heart speech, this interview also flew under the radar. This has to be partly because this interview came out right around when “Finding Freedom” released. But once again, it helped cement Meghan’s patterns and give a clue on her end goal.
The next instance was Meghan’s interview with the founder of the 19th*. She managed a ten-minute discussion without encouraging women to vote for the democrats, which was pretty remarkable. But I found the interview bewildering because Meghan acted like she had been in America during all of Trump’s presidency. The way she talked about events and the way she portrayed herself, it wasn’t like she had been a Duchess in the Royal Family without a care in the world for two years. It was like she was any other left leaning celebrity. To me it communicated that she never wanted to be a Duchess. Royalty was never her aim; it was always celebrity.
The next instance received international coverage. If you believe rumors, Meghan asked to speak at the Democratic National Convention. Now there’s no evidence of this other than a submission to a tumblr blog. However, the submission states that she first asked to host the DNC like Kerry Washington, and when she was told no she asked to speak on the same night as Michelle Obama. Obviously, the DNC rejected this. (If this even occurred, like I above, there’s no evidence other than one anonymous submission). But according to the submission the DNC placated Meghan with a spot on a virtual “When we all vote” panel. Apparently, Meghan was supposed to stay neutral and only encourage women to vote in general. But she made comments that if women don’t vote they are “complicit” and that too much is at stake in this election. It was entirely clear who she wants us to vote for. And completely patronizing to those of us who not only lived in this country throughout the Trump presidency, but who took the time and voted in 2018.
I read a myriad of articles after this speech, and it was clear which stories Sunshine Sachs paid for, and which stories were from objective journalists. Many American publications chose not to spend a lot of time focusing on the neutral position of the monarchy, and instead focused on how much Meghan doesn’t like Trump. But what many newspapers need to consider is that not only is it irresponsible to allow foreign royals to hijack our election, but it is un-American.
Our founding fathers fought to gain independence from Great Britain. It would be an insult to them if we allow a Royal entrance into our politics. But even further than that, giving power to someone who has accomplished nothing other than dating and marrying a Prince. America is built on the premise that we are all equal, and if you work hard you can achieve success. Allowing this woman who hasn’t achieved anything other than marrying well is fundamentally un-American. I’ve mentioned this before, but for every moment we give moment it is a moment in which we could highlight an American who has actually worked for what they have. Her royal status notwithstanding, Meghan didn’t vote in 2018. Why are we letting her lecture us on the necessity of voting when she can’t even manage it herself?
The thing that really upset me was when Meghan issued a statement about Ruth Bader Ginsburg within hours of the late Justice’s death. It was completely inappropriate, as Meghan isn’t a political actor. It was such an insult to RBG’s memory that Meghan used her tragic death as a way to market herself. In the statement Meghan claimed that RBG had “always inspired” her. It was nothing more than a childish grab for attention at completely the wrong moment. But PEOPLE magazine published a fluffy story about it within hours.
Our press needs to understand what each story does. Every time they publish a story which is nothing more than a laudation for Meghan doing the bare minimum establishes Meghan’s credibility. It’s desensitizing us to what is happening right before our eyes. A person who rose to fame for nothing other than marrying another country’s royalty is trying to hijack our election.
I understand that Meghan is a hot topic right now. And asking the press to stop writing about her is the wrong approach, but I do have some stories to suggest instead of the constant cheerleading.
First, why does so much money around the Sussexes disappear? Earlier this summer, an anti-monarchy group, Republic lodged a complaint against The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and SussexRoyal. Both foundations are the charitable entity of the respective royals. The complaint was for funds which The Royal Foundation sent to SussexRoyal. Said funds were two different amounts totaling around 300,000 pounds altogether. The Royal Foundation stated that these payments were above board and to help Sussex Royal start after William and Harry split foundations. However, this reporting highlighted that once Harry and Meghan shut down Sussex Royal all of the funds went into Travalyst. Travalyst is Harry’s eco-tourism scheme, but a limited company and not a charity. Thus, Republic’s reporting highlighted that The Royal Foundation was following charity law, and the Sussexes may be committing questionable actions in regards to charity money. UK charity law requires that all money donated be spent in line with a “public purpose” and I hardly think channeling donations from The Royal Foundation into a limited company is charitable.
Another instance of money disappearing is the Disney donation. Meghan’s first project after Megxit was a voice over for a Disney+ documentary about elephants. Instead of a paycheck Meghan asked for a three-million-dollar donation to an elephant charity. However, no elephant charity publicly thanked Disney or the Sussexes. And more problematic, Bob Igor said the donation “went to Harry’s charity.” Now of course, he said this in a short moment on the red carpet. But currently, the only charitable entity of Harry’s that we know about is Travalyst. Which isn’t even a charity, but a limited company of which Harry owns 75% of the shares.
Second, the Invictus Games. I’d love to see more media coverage of the Invictus Games. A few weeks ago the Times ran an article titled “Netflix deal scuppers Invictus Bash” in which they report that Harry backed out of a fundraiser for the Invictus Games because of his deal with Netflix. I’ve covered this a lot more on my Instagram page, but I wish the entire ordeal had received more media coverage. Especially since Invictus stated that the fundraiser was cancelled due to the pandemic. When will we know if the fundraiser is rescheduled? How will we know if Harry actually cares about his patronages?
As you can tell, I’m not against reporting on the Sussexes. I just think we need to hold them accountable. Especially since Meghan wants to involve herself in our politics. If she wants to play the politics game, she needs to renounce her titles and accept that the press across the pond is MUCH more brutal than the UK media.
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