It’s the fairy tale that every girl of my generation grew up with: the prince falling for the cool, independent “just like us” woman in jeans, and then going on to marry her against the odds. Harry and Meghan’s was the love story we already knew, off by heart.
And most of us were already predisposed to Team Meghan. As a strong, black, independent woman who’d carved out her own successful career before even meeting Harry, she was everything we admired. Their marriage was the breath of fresh air the royal family needed, the boost of modernity that would make this British institution finally relatable to younger generations as well as people of colour; proof that long overdue diversity had filtered through.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Credit:Getty
So as time passed, and tabloid headlines moved on from racism (describing her as “(almost) Straight Outta Compton” and discussing her “exotic DNA”) to pedantic double standards, accusing her of “breaking royal protocol” for doing things that, by contrast, the Duchess of Cambridge was seemingly praised for (everything from wearing wedges to cradling her baby bump), my generation watched in sympathetic shock.
It seemed like, no matter what, Meghan could never win. Her Grenfell charity cookbook was claimed to have “terrorist” links, her (and our) love of avocados was blamed for mass murder, and every time Harry expressed a slightly “woke” opinion, she was accused of making him her puppet.
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were leaving the royal family, it was no surprise. If anything, it was the perfect 21st-century fairy tale ending, and my generation applauded their decision.
Baby boomers like my 60-year-old mum were (much) less forgiving. “It’s the way she went about it. I just don’t think Meghan gave it enough of a chance,” she says. “Being a royal is a job, and you have to go by their rules.”
Most of my friends’ mums feel the same way, believing Meghan knew what she was getting into – some even viewing her as a ruthless operator, with the intention of persuading Harry to leave the royal family to move back to America and make billions.
It isn’t that my generation dislikes the royal family. Some believe they are irrelevant, but most of my friends feel the way I do: we appreciate what they do for Britain but we hold them to the same standards as we do all institutions, in expecting them to be tolerant, supportive and understanding. Only it seems their treatment of Meghan, who claims she received a lack of support for her mental health while a member of the royal family expressed “concerns” about how “dark” Archie’s skin would be, has been anything but.
