Every American girl dreams of being a princess but no one could have foreseen the pressures that drove the Sussexes to leave their fairytale world of royalty and luxury to work for their wealth as the rest of us do. A 21st-century tale of choosing love over everything, we all witnessed history unfold in real-time when Prince Harry and Meghan made the radical decision to step back as senior members of the royal family.
Before it all began
The story begins with Prince Harry. Born 1984, Harry Mounbatten-Windsor is the second son of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales. From a young age, Diana exposed Harry and his older brother, William, to a wide range of experiences from ordinary life to charity work.
Following the tragic death of his mother in 1997, Prince Harry sought counseling as he struggled to come to terms with that great loss. He had a troubled youth; often getting into one scandal or the other. He was caught using drugs, using racist slurs, and on one occassion, photographed with a naked woman in Las Vegas.
But nothing quite shook and scandalised the royal family and the United Kingdom quite like Prince Harry following the footsteps of his great-granduncle King Edward VIII and marrying an American divorcee; one of African descent for that matter.
What was worse was Harry taking responsibility and deciding to do what he thought right for himself, his wife, Meghan, and their son Archie; one of the greatest scandals in modern royal history.
Meghan Markle
Rachel Meghan Markle is a mixed-race American woman. Her mother is African-American and her father, a white man. With the platform she built as an actress, Meghan often talked about race relations and her identity as a mixed-race black woman.
The Suits actress got married to actor and producer Trevor Engelson in 2011 and divorced him in 2013 over irreconcilable differences. In June 2016, Meghan and Harry started dating after meeting on a blind date.
After over a year of dating, Harry and Meghan announced their engagement on November 27, 2017. She announced that she would retire from acting and began the processes to becoming a British citizen.
Engagement and marriage
But on Meghan’s engagement to Harry, she became a target for racial and sexist attacks; with many tabloid articles being written to defame her. Meghan’s acting career, motives, and general existence were scrutinised by the British press.
The press talked about her “exotic DNA” and described her as “(almost) straight outta Compton”. Prince Harry released a statement decrying this racist behaviour. It dwindled down, but then picked up again.
Unlike, Prince Harry’s brother, Prince William’s wedding to former Miss Kate Middleton, the British press did not romanticise Harry and Meghan’s wedding; it rather nitpicked her every move and questioned her motives for marrying Harry.
They even went as far as publicly shaming Meghan’s father, Thomas, so much so that he was unable to attend her wedding. They photographed him in a very negative light and defamed him like they had done his daughter and this caused a rift in their relationship.
Despite it all, Meghan and Harry wedded in a beautiful ceremony on May 19, 2018, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. In attendance were many Hollywood celebrities; particularly black celebrities, who celebrated the first British royal of black heritage.
From their engagement to till date, Meghan was subject to what Prince Harry called “a wave of abuse and harassment”. The criticisms she received from the media went from speculative to downright ridiculous. Here are a few things she has been criticized for:
- Her wedding dress
- Wearing dark clothing
- Wearing dark nail polish
- Her bra strap briefly showing
- Wearing a one-shouldered dress
- The way she crossed her legs
- Wearing a pantsuit
- Eating avocados
- Sending a Christmas card
- Being visible pregnant
- Shutting a car door
- Refusing to pose after just giving birth
- Her husband’s hair loss
- Renovating their house
- Using private jets like other royals
- Editing a magazine
Pregnancy
Following their wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan went on a tour around the Commonwealth; during which they revealed that they were expecting a baby. However, some people accused the royal couple of “insensitivity” over the decision to reveal the news during Baby Loss Awareness Week.
During her pregnancy, Meghan, like many pregnant women, would cradle her bump or place her hand on her stomach during public events. But she was criticised with some saying she was doing it for “photo opportunities”.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists took to Twitter with hashtags like #Megxit and #DuchessofDeception, claiming that Meghan was not pregnant and had been strapping on a pillow or a bespoke prosthetic.
During her pregnancy, the racism truly jumped out. Meghan was attacked for doing the very same things that Kate Middleton, Prince William’s white wife, did during her pregnancy.
Here’s a comparisons between the headlines about Kate and Meghan:
Meghan revealed that she was warned about how the UK tabloid press would destroy her life but she never knew just how harsh and unforgiving they would actually be. She also revealed that she felt completely unprotected by the royal family during this trying period in her life.
The Sussex royal couple revealed that they had tried and failed to change the system from within. It was no surprise that they left to create a system of their own later.
Prince William’s infidelity
Another thing that factored heavily into the cruel treatment of Meghan by the British press during her pregnancy was alleged Prince William’s infidelity. Next in line to the throne, Prince William could not be a subject of scandal. So instead, the press used Meghan as a scapegoat (which is basically how the government used immigrants during Brexit).
The attacks on Meghan sharply increased in the summer of 2019; which was when the news came out of William cheating on his pregnant wife with her own friend. However, the royal lawyers sent a cease-and-desist order to several publications on the subject.
Rumour has it that the crown had a hand in fueling meaningless attacks on Meghan to divert attention from the real scandal; the future king following in his father’s cheating ways.
Childbirth
Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed their son Archie on May 6, 2019. On delivering her child, Meghan was again hit with racist commentary. Former BBC host Danny Baker was fired after he tweeted that the new royal baby was a chimpanzee.
Even up to a year later, author Emily Giffin reacted to a video of Meghan reading to Archie, calling her “phony and unmaternal”. She slammed Meghan, accusing her of trying to get ‘attention’ and of looking ‘fake and forced’ in the video.
Harry says ‘Enough is enough’
In October 2019, Prince Harry sued British newsaper The Mail on Sunday for its “false and deliberately derogative” coverage of Meghan. He then compared the attacks on Meghan by the British press to what they did to his late mother decades ago.
“My wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences,” Harry said in the statement.
“My deepest fear is history repeating itself,” he said. “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Harry made it clear that he would protect his family that he had a family to protect. “There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face — as so many of you can relate to — I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been,” Harry said.
The couple had worked hard trying to manoeuvre the challenges of being bashed in the public eye. They tried to adapt the system to accommodate them. But when they failed, the Sussexes made the brave decision to leave for their own safety and sanity.
‘Not okay’
Following Archie’s birth, Harry and Meghan continued their tour around the world. In an ITV documentary about the tour in October, Meghan revealed exactly how much the tabloid attacks had affected her mental health, especially since the birth of her son.
She revealed tthat the incessant negative commentary took a toll on her because she was extremely vulnerable at the time.
Stepping back
On January 8 2020, the Sussex royals announced that they were stepping back as senior members of the royal family. This meant that they would be away from the limelight and whatever paths they decided to take would have far fewer implications on the reputation of the crown.
But the statement on Instagram sent shockwaves through the British public as with Buckingham Palace themselves. The other members of the royal family did not approve and they expressed their “disappointment”; which was odd considering that they never lifted a finger or lent their voice against the persecution that Meghan was facing.
The Sussexes’ decision was frequently compared to Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle, King Edward VIII’s decision to abdicate so he could marry his own American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.
Still, the newspapers did not cease painting Meghan as a manipulator who was tearing the royal family apart. However, Harry revealed that he had planned his exit from the royal family long before he met Meghan.
According tohim, it was because of his mother’s death, “a wound that festers”. He said that he was reminded of death every time he saw a camera flash.
The public even demanded they pay back the money they used to renovate their home, Frogmore Cottage. Black British rapper Stormzy elaborated all the matter, calling it what it was: racism.
Stormzy explained that while Meghan’s royalty did not save her from attacks. But for lower-class black people, racism in the UK kept them from getting jobs or getting into schools.
Canada to Los Angeles
Meghan Markle and her baby left the UK for Canada soon after the announcement. She vowed to dedicate her future outside the royal family to “making the world a better place.”
However, the narrative of the wicked femme fatale who “faked love” to secure a position in the royal family, solely so that she could tear it down from the inside.
In April 2020, Meghan announced that she had secured a job to voice an animated character in the Disney+ movie Elephant. The Sussex couple also started the Archewell Foundation, which they named after their son.
The couple is also notably friends with filmmaker Tyler Perry and media mogul Oprah Winfrey and has therefore had access to many opportunities for Meghan to return to the film industry in a more administrative capacity. They were even reported to have stayed in Perry’s estate while they were finding their feet in California.
The Sussexes recently purchased a home in the wealthy and exclusive town of Montecito, California. They also signed a deal in June with the Harry Walker Agency for speaking engagements, with per-speech fees estimated at $1 million.
Netflix deal
Earlier this month, Prince Harry and Meghan signed a multimillion-dollar deal with streaming giant Netflix to make TV series, films and children’s shows. By so doing, they have become self-sufficient.
Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings expressed his excitement about this deal. “It’s gonna be epic entertainment — so excited about that deal,” Hastings said. “They’re smart — they were shopping it around across all of the major companies, and I think we really put together the best complete package, and we’re going to do a wide range of entertainment with them.”
“I think it’ll be some of the most exciting, most viewed content next year,” he said.
Hastings went on to say that he expected big things from Meghan and Harry, who will produce exclusive documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming.
The couple is unlikely to star in productions as Meghan has said she does not intend to return to acting. But they may appear on screen in documentary projects. Harry recently featured in Netflix’s documentary Rising Phoenix, about the Paralympic Games. He has also joined Oprah Winfrey to produce a docuseries on mental health for Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV+.
Rumours suggest that the royal family is concerned that Harry and Meghan’s involvement with the media might expose them. However nothing points to any inside stories leaking to the public.
Frogmore
As of Monday, Prince Harry and Meghan repaid the 2.4 million pounds, or $3.2 million, in taxpayer money that funded the renovations of their residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Back in January, the couple pledged to pay taxpayers back for the 2019 refurbishment of the residence, Frogmore Cottage. A spokesman said Harry had repaid the money to the Sovereign Grant, the public fund that goes to the royal family. The contribution “fully covered the necessary renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage,” the spokesman said.
“It was something that kept looming, rearing its ugly head. And now that can be put to bed,” said Penny Junor, a royal biographer.
‘Finding Freedom‘
A biography was recently published about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle titled Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Family. Written by American-based royal reporters Carolyn Durrand and Omid Scobie and published by Harper Collins; the goal of the book was to go beyond the headlines and reveal what was truly happening behind the scenes.
Apparently, it was even messier than what the media made out. The royal family is said to feel hurt and exposed by the book. However, both Harry and Meghan say they have nothing to do with the book.
