When Meghan hung up from that phone call in 2016, what she might not have realised at the time is this was but a horrible amuse-bouche of what she faced: incessant, unrelenting judgment. In the decades to come, when the next generation of HRHs is trying to find a partner, I wonder how many people will be willing to subject themselves to such a bruising, arduous apprenticeship? If there is one thing that the experiences of Meghan, Kate and Camilla have taught us is that to be a royal girlfriend or a new female member of the royal family is to make yourself a permanent, moving target and no matter the slings and arrows, the expectation is that your perfect, beatific smile never cracks. Yes, this might be something of a bleak assessment but consider also Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, two women who prior to their royal marriages were subjected to years upon years of abuse, all of which they tolerated, by and large in stoic, masochistic silence. In that moment, as Meghan opined that she could not win way back in 2016, the stark reality of royal life was being revealed to her, which was that no matter how well she tried to learn the ropes and assiduously learn her new royal lines, someone somewhere would perpetually find fault with her performance. There is the constant, carping scrutiny of the press and online commentators the crushing expectations about deportment and the inescapable knowledge that your every word, outfit, look, gesture and choice will be scrutinised to the extreme. To be a Windsor wife is not-so-very-merry. Marrying into the royal family might come with the chance to don the occasional borrowed tiara and get to play Christmas charades with a reigning monarch, but by and large it is a thankless job.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |