Day 6 of the British media’s howling tantrum about the Duchess of Sussex attending the LA Children’s Hospital gala last Saturday. I skipped Day 5’s coverage because all the Mail could summon was Amanda Platell squealing about how Meghan shouldn’t “emasculate” her husband by being smart, beautiful and sexy in a red dress. Too late!! Poor emasculated Harry, so terribly in love with his hot, sexy, intelligent wife. Well, the latest is Richard Eden’s new column, in which he laments how terrible it was for Meghan to not be treated like a “working royal” at a… hospital gala in LA?
One of the most awkward and revealing episodes since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties in 2020 to ‘find freedom’ – and a fortune – came on a red carpet in Los Angeles almost a year ago. Unaccompanied by Prince Harry, Meghan couldn’t have looked less regal as she walked down the carpet at the Power Of Women event and waited to be interviewed by a reporter for Variety magazine, like [any other] celebrity. King Charles’s daughter-in-law posed for photographers like the wannabe starlet she once was. And, in the most undignified moment of all, was then rushed along impatiently by another guest.
Last weekend, Meghan was alone again, on another red carpet in her home city, competing for attention with some of those guests at the LA Children’s Hospital Gala. This time, however, she had to suffer further mortification, with fellow guests feeling free to voice their criticism of her. ‘There wasn’t a great deal of warmth from people when she arrived,’ Lizzie Cundy, a British socialite and television presenter, later told me. ‘She wasn’t there long – she seemed to be there for the photographs.’
When Meghan was still a working royal she would never have been subjected to such a reception or criticism. Having been appointed patron of the National Theatre by the late Queen Elizabeth, in a move designed to make the former actress feel welcome in Britain, Meghan would be guest of honour at stage events. She would enter a theatre after others had taken their seats and distinguished individuals would line up to meet her afterwards.
And while the duchess was receiving this allegedly chilly reception in LA, her husband was treated as warmly as ever at an awards ceremony for WellChild, one of the few charity patronages he was able to cling onto after leaving Britain. He remained patron of WellChild because it wasn’t a royal patronage handed out by the Monarch.
An old friend of Harry’s I spoke to this week said Meghan’s solo outing in LA emphasises how much they have lost by abandoning royal life. ‘Imagine the difference if they were still working royals,’ the friend said. ‘They would be the centre of attention wherever they went. They would be patrons of organisations and charities, not just guests turning up. I think Harry’s work over recent weeks with WellChild and Sentebale [the charity he helped set up in 2006 for African orphans, including those living with HIV/AIDS] will have brought home to him how much he has lost by moving to the States.’
A quick reminder of how Meghan was actually treated when she lived in the UK: she was always being told to humble herself, to not be showy, to make herself smaller, less noticeable, that she shouldn’t wear bright colors. If she did get attention or positive press, the family became incandescent with rage and they furiously briefed against her. They screamed about how much her clothes cost. They screamed about her hair. They screamed about her family. They screamed about her avocado toast. Then they shoved her in the back at royal events and whenever she did work, the other Windsors rushed to step on her newscycle or spread lies about how she was secretly making everyone cry behind-the-scenes. This is Eden trying to “sweeten the pot” and, in his plodding, idiotic way, try to convince the Sussexes that they would be better off if only they came crawling back. He’s also trying to convince his domestic audience that no one should be fooled by Meghan looking vivacious, healthy and glowing at the gala – they she was absolutely being snubbed, he promises, just don’t even pay attention to the fact that Meghan was a guest of the hospital’s CEO and that she sat at the same table with Jimmy Kimmel. Snubbed! Embarrassed! Awkward! Trust him!
Photos courtesy of Getty.