Romance between royals can look like a fairytale from the outside, and that’s no more apparent in modern times than the whirlwind courtship and marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But turns out, despite being incredibly impressed by Markle, one aspect of her life made the royal family all assume, right off the bat, that the relationship wasn’t going to last.
Things between the Prince and Meghan have more or less evened out lately, despite some rocky goings on for a bit there. They’ve been married now for about six years and have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. They all live in a giant house in Montecito, California, and things seem to be going pretty well for the Sussexs, even if the onslaught of damaging accusations (particularly against Meghan) and rumors hasn’t really lost its speed.
But this prejudice began long before the media joined the mayhem — it started with the Royal Family who couldn’t help but judge Meghan based on stereotypes, as shared by the couple in their controversial Netflix series, Harry & Meghan.
When talking about his family, Harry reminisced about the first time Meghan met them all and how they were actually “incredibly impressed” with her at first. In his usual tongue-in-cheek manner, he quipped that they were probably surprised a “ginger could land such a beautiful woman.” “Some of them didn’t quite know what to do with themselves (laughs). So I think they were. They were surprised,” he said. In addition to her beauty, Harry said they also loved how she was “such an intelligent woman.”
So what was the problem? Turns out they didn’t like the fact that Markle was an “American actress.” Her choice of profession, he said, “was the biggest” problem they had with her and dispelled every other positive observation with the unshakeable opinion that their union wouldn’t last.
“But the fact that I was dating an American actress, was probably what clouded their judgement more than anything else. Oh, she’s an American actress, this won’t last long.”
Markle backed Harry’s memory of the incident, acknowledging that there’s “a big idea of what that looks like from the U.K. standpoint – Hollywood – and it’s just very easy for them to typecast that.” Basically, the reputation of the American actress isn’t one that’s viewed reverently abroad, especially not by the British royal family, infamous for their stiff upper lip.
Of course, everything these two do is picked apart mercilessly by the press and reportedly, continues to raise eyebrows over at the royal side. It certainly doesn’t help that a big chunk of their livelihood relies on them dishing controversial details about the royals. Anyway, the scrutiny continues to this day, where her current employees and former staff members are comparing notes on whether the Duchess is really a “bully” and a “dictator” belittling those working for her.
For all the fairytale connotations of being a royal couple, it sure does seem like it has some serious downsides.