From the moment Prince Harry confirmed dating Meghan Markle, she has been unable to escape all the attention – both positive and (majorly) negative — and it continues to this day where her every action, every microexpression, and even a hair flip is dissected to its last atom to explain how she is maligning the Royals.
While there is no stopping the outsiders from lobbing criticisms at her, the most heartbreaking of these accusations actually came from the Royal palace — whether it was Prince William cautioning Harry how Meghan is not Royal family material or a senior Palace official not-so-subtly accusing the Duchess of Sussex of “encouraging” the paparazzi to print defamatory articles and spread negative views about the Royals.
Sadly, it all began long before Harry put a ring on her finger, as per the unofficial biography, Finding Freedom, by authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand (via Mirror).
Meghan owns many iconic pieces of jewelry and not every one of them is there to represent the rich Royal heritage — some are symbols representing her love for her family, like the customized 14-carat dainty gold chain with ‘M’ and ‘H’ initials given to her by Harry that she wore in public back when he was her boyfriend and their engagement had already pitched the Suits star into a media frenzy.
As an actress, Meghan has always been well aware of how to behave in public and with the media. But evidently, despite experiencing for decades how the paparazzi will write and post what they want to and interpret situations in ways they see fit, the palace believed that Meghan was the one not behaving correctly and fueling the slanderous media coverage of the Royals. And that’s why they reportedly called the then-future Duchess of Sussex, a call that left her “distraught” as it was explained to at length how wearing such a necklace “only served to encourage the photographers to keep pursuing such images – and new headlines.”
“After hanging up, she felt frustrated and emotional. While she knew the aide had good intentions, the surreal experience of having someone from her boyfriend’s office tell her what kind of jewellery to wear or not to smile at a photographer was too much. The now Duchess of Sussex felt ‘damned if she did, and damned if she didn’t.’ She allegedly told a friend: ‘I can’t win. They make out like I’m to blame for these pictures, that it looks like I’m encouraging them, that me even acknowledging the cameras may not be sending the right message.’”
The couple has talked about how the media attention contributed to their Royal estrangement, particularly Meghan Markle who has revealed the mental and emotional torture she endured because of the unpleasant paparazzi focus and racist comments aimed at her. But if this above anecdote is indeed true, it would serve to be a rather cruel backup to Meghan’s revelation of the palace denying her desperate request to be provided professional mental health care.
