It’s been interesting to watch the British media try to selectively piggyback on Tina Brown’s interview on The Ankler this week. Tina Brown talked a lot of sh-t about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but she also said some unflattering things about Prince William. Guess which part of Brown’s interview is being glommed onto by the British media? You guessed it. Brown spoke in unspecific terms about how Meghan “is a perfectionist about getting it all wrong. Her issue is that she doesn’t listen. She has all these people, asks them their opinion, and then doesn’t follow it. She does what she wants to do. And all of her ideas are total crap, unfortunately.” Brown also revived the sexist/racist trope about Meghan ordering Harry around and Harry being “in thrall” of Meghan. As you can imagine, the old white royalist men are delighted that they get to talk about how Tina Brown is right about everything (in regard to Meghan alone).
A British royal expert has said he agrees with Tina Brown’s comments made earlier this month that Meghan Markle has the ‘worst’ judgement. Ex-Vanity Fair editor Brown, who famously once described Megxit as a ‘disaster’ and accused the couple of being ‘addicted to drama,’ alleged that Meghan has the ‘worst’ judgement while appearing on The Ankler podcast with the media brand’s CEO Janice Min.
Richard Fitzwilliams – a royal expert and commentator – told MailOnline he agrees with Brown’s judgement on the Duchess of Sussex. He said: ‘Tina Brown is highly respected journalist and royal biographer. I have consulted her brilliant study of Diana several times in the last week. She has highlighted Meghan’s terrible judgement on the prestigious Ankler podcast. Brown is right that Harry is led by Meghan. She is also correct in saying that the split when they left was “a disaster all round”.’
‘With the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) about to begin in Samoa, we would do well to remember how Queen Elizabeth made Harry President and Meghan Vice-President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. They deserted these patronages and in their documentary Harry and Meghan for Netflix, had talking heads rubbishing the institution which was a form of betrayal, something that Harry, however frustrated he was with royal life, would never have done on his own.’
Fitzwilliams said Brown’s point that ‘all of her ideas are total crap’ brought to mind a reference by Meghan in The Cut Magazine that people celebrated in the streets of South Africa when she married Prince Harry in 2018. He said: ‘Meghan quoted an individual who was never identified. He was supposed, at the 2019 premiere of The Lion King, to have told her that there was rejoicing in the streets in South Africa when they married which was similar to that when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. With an ego like that, it is clear that Brown’s comment that Meghan “has the worst judgement of anyone in the entire world” is all too true.’
Fitzwilliams adds: ‘Brown sees Meghan’s judgement as dreadful and the facts bear this out. The couple’s Charitable Foundation Archewell has made little impact, they lost their contract with Spotify and have actually done little [to] save their kiss and tell documentary, for Netflix who may not renew their contract next year. Also when she signed with the William Morris Agency in April last year, what did it lead to?’
Fitzwilliams concurred: ‘Brown is correct in saying that the split when they left was “a disaster all round”. As she has noted, the parting was a “disaster” as they obviously represented the contemporary face of the royal family and she notes that he can be a great success as a prince as it’s all he understands. Now he’s in exile. Their tours are “faux-royal”.’
The main thrust, for me, of Tina Brown’s interview was that she’s beyond furious that Prince Harry refuses to divorce his wife and come crawling back to the UK so he can “do his duty” as a prince… and then Harry would outshine his brother, much to William’s chagrin. Like, they’re saying that explicitly: Harry needs to come back so he can do William’s work and steal William’s thunder, which will make William incandescent with rage. Tina Brown and Dick Fitzwilliams blame Meghan for the fact that Harry wants no part of the royal trainwreck, rather than give a 40-year-old prince any agency. Also: Harry and Meghan didn’t “desert” their patronages – they were more than willing to retain all of their patronages and continue to do that work. QEII and her courtiers were hellbent on punishing the Sussexes, so the palace removed H&M from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and everything else.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.