Much has been said about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship, but some so-called
facts about this duo are actually not true. Join us as we explore some of the false facts
everyone believes about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
As one of the most popular, familiar, and pervasive stories in the western world, the
"Cinderella" story is easily and readily embraced by the masses. When something in real life
happens that reflects the events of that classic, Disney-juiced fairy tale, the media and the
public completely buy in and overlook the details that conflict with the greater narrative.
For example, the love story of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could be compared to Cinderella.
The dashing Prince Charming, Harry, chose Meghan to be his bride, and the couple wed
in a fairytale ceremony, while the entire world watched.
However, while it's true that Meghan is an American and not an aristocrat, she wasn't
exactly doing backbreaking chores day and night for her wicked stepmother and stepsisters
waiting for her prince to whisk her away to a life of luxury and love. She was a successful,
well-paid, and pretty well-known actor starring on the hit USA series "Suits." As for Prince
Harry, he wasn't exactly the poster boy for royal refinement. He reportedly once stripped
naked during a Las Vegas party, got into a fight with a photographer, and wore a Nazi
uniform to a party, among other incidents.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed in a lavish, well-publicized, storybook ceremony at St.
George's Chapel in May 2018. But that "happily ever after" was soured and called into question
in November 2018 when The Sun, among other tabloids, reported that royal sources said
that in the run-up to the wedding, Meghan made Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge
and wife of Harry's brother Prince William, cry. A few weeks before the ceremony, Middleton's
daughter, Princess Charlotte, was in the middle of a dress fitting. Meghan was reportedly
so blunt and exacting in her requirements and demands that the dress be absolutely perfect
and every detail taken care of that she reduced Middleton to tears. To be fair, Middleton
was also reportedly a bundle of raw nerves and hormones having just given birth to her
third child, while Meghan was in the midst of planning a wedding, a daunting task even
if it's not a royal affair. In her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan discussed
the unfortunate event, and set the record straight.
"The reverse happened. And I don't say that to be disparaging to anyone because it was
a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about something."
"But she owned it, and she apologized and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing.
She did what I would do if I knew I hurt someone."
So in reality, Meghan was the royal lady who cried during a bridesmaid dress fitting, and
Middleton was the one whose behavior caused the breakdown. The press just decided to report
the incident entirely the wrong way round.
When Prince Harry asked Meghan Markle to be his wife and join the British royal family,
her life would necessarily and expectedly change. After all, before the relationship,
she lived in Los Angeles and starred on the TV show "Suits," and she'd at the very least
have to walk away from the USA series and move to the United Kingdom. As an American
commoner who didn't grow up amid the rules and structures of upper-crust English society,
she'd also have to be trained in proper princess composure. And according to The Times, Meghan
was set to receive a lengthy, rigorous, personalized, and highly specialized education on how to
fit in with the royal ilk. A source reported at the time,
"It will be six months of listening. She is seeking out advice on a range of people. She
is going to proceed with humility."
But according to Meghan, her half a year of "duchess school" training didn't transpire.
Meghan said in her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey,
"There was no guidance. There's no class on how to speak, cross your legs, how to be royal.
That might exist for other members of the family, but that was not something that was
offered to me."
In reality, Meghan kind of picked up what she needed to know on her own.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's love affair for the ages was sealed on a spring Saturday
in May 2018. With him in his military dress uniform and her in an elegant white Givenchy
gown and in front of about 600 invited celebrities and aristocrats, Harry and Meghan said their
vows at St. George's Chapel in a grand, beautiful, and high-class wedding watched on TV by approximately
29 million people. The showy wedding was romantic, but alas, it was all for show. Meghan said
in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey,
"Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us."
She explained that three days before the big made-for-TV event, she and Harry had already
married in an intimate, quiet, ceremony at home. There were zero invited guests, but
the ceremony was impressively presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It's long been considered traditional and correct for royals to pose for photos with
their newborn babies outside the hospital shortly after giving birth. It's a custom
in which both Princess Diana and Kate Middleton indulged. But Meghan Markle chose to sit out
that particular ritual. The palace said in a statement,
"Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival
of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news
with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family."
Rumors abounded that Meghan didn't think she'd be comfortable having her photo taken after
delivering her first child. And while that statement makes it sound like Meghan made
it clear before the birth of Archie that she didn't want to do the photoshoot, the truth
is a little different. Meghan said in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey,
"We weren't asked to take a picture. That's also part of the spin that was really damaging."
Queen Elizabeth II's eldest son Prince Charles is next in line for the throne, and his eldest
son Prince William follows him. After that are William's three children, Prince George,
Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Following them is Charles' other son, Prince Harry,
and then his first-born, Archie. The toddler's name reads a lot different than that of his
cousins, as unlike George and Louis, he's not a prince.
In early 2021, shortly after Harry and Meghan announced they were expecting a second child,
the Daily Mirror's royal editor told ITV,
"Harry and Meghan for their firstborn Archie didn't want him to have a title. He could
have been a 'His Royal Highness' and the same goes for this baby as well. But Harry and
Meghan are set to shun any sort of title."
However, this wasn't actually the case. The Sussexes wanted Archie to be Prince Archie,
but were denied the honor by the royal family. As Meghan told Oprah,
"They didn't want him to be a prince. Which would be different from protocol, and that
he wasn't going to receive security."
"I think that would be very damaging to them."
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they'd no longer serve as senior members
of the royal family, many publications took the pair to task, accusing them of shocking
and surprising Queen Elizabeth II, Harry's grandmother and the head of the royal family.
The notion persisted that Harry and Meghan had "blindsided" Her Majesty. However, Harry
explained in his 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey,
"I've never blindsided my grandmother, I have too much respect for her."
He also didn't think that it was the tabloids who floated the idea of a hurt and angry monarch.
"I'd hazard a guess that it probably could have come from within the institution."
On April 9th, 2021, Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years,
died at the age of 99. Over the last decade or so of his life, Philip was frequently hospitalized
over a number of significant ailments. Even so, Philip still managed to stick it out for
nearly a century. Some members of the media tried to pin his not remotely sudden death
on Meghan Markle, because Philip died less than a month after Harry and Meghan's bombshell
interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Of course, it's highly unlikely that his death was linked to his grandson and granddaughter-in-law
talking on TV. The man was of a very advanced age, and had a well-documented history of
health problems, which led to his retirement from public life in 2017. Still, some members
of the media tried to wrongly pin his death on the Sussexes.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry spoke extensively of the rift between themselves and the rest
of the royals in their interview with Oprah Winfrey, but family comes together during
a tragedy. When Prince Philip died in April 2021, Prince Harry traveled from California
to the United Kingdom, to gather with his relatives. However, Meghan didn't join her
husband for the trip. According to the Daily Mail, sources claimed Meghan told friends
that she didn't want to go to avoid being the "center of attention" in the wake of the
Oprah interview, but also that she had a deep affection for Prince Philip.
But the real reason that Meghan stayed in the U.S. while Harry went back to the U.K.
was medical-related. At the time of the funeral, Meghan was pregnant with her second child.
A source close to the situation told Page Six,
"The Duchess of Sussex has been advised by her physician not to travel."
Understandably, it's usually ill-advised to take long international flights during pregnancy,
especially during a worldwide pandemic.
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