Archetypes of Meghan Markle: Podcast’s latest episode suggests Duchess’ obsession with royal past

Over the years, the royal family has attracted some pretty wild nicknames. Sarah, Duchess of York has been dubbed the Duchess of Pork by the press (a truly terrible thing), while Kate, Princess of Wales has been mixed with Wayty Katie after she spent most of a decade shying away from her career while Prince William bothered to make pop music. question.

Prince Harry was nicknamed the party prince for dropping out of Mayfair nightclubs with impressive regularity, while his grandfather, Prince Philip, was derisively called Phil the Greek or refugee by the establishment because of his relatively poor roots.

In 2018, Meghan, the newly minted Duchess of Suss*x, took on her own far from flattering nickname – Duchess Difficult.

In the long and confusing history of the Suss*xes, this historic moment was a real fork in the road, the moment when things really went bad for a newcomer to the royal family. (Until this point, apart from a few overtly racist cases, Fleet Street Brits were delighted that Harry chose a wife who wasn’t some Alice group lover called Araminta who loved horses.)

So why is Meghan talking about the “difficult” label this week, given her personal history with the pejorative word?

Tuesday night the last episode of her archetypes A podcast was released in which she discussed the “B word” with Starbucks Chairman Melda Hobson.

The Duchess said at the beginning of the episode, “These people mean when they use this very tense word that this woman is, ‘Oh, she’s difficult.’

She also said, “Perhaps the truth is that labeling a woman ‘b-word’ or ‘difficult’ is often an aberration.

“A way of hiding some of her really amazing qualities, her perseverance, or strength, or perseverance, her strong opinion, maybe even her toughness.”

Quick, call Miss Marple! Who could she be talking about here?

But let’s get back to the “why”.

‘Cause it’s amazing how often she’s raised her life outside the palace gates since archetypes launched back in August.

In nine lengthy episodes, the Duchess staged a daring if futile attempt to turn herself into the leading feminist voice of the oat milk generation, and time and time again viewers delighted in her commentary on the life she so aspired to. run away from.

During her debut episode, which featured Serena Williams, she said, “I don’t remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation of the word ‘ambitious’ until I started dating my current husband.

She later told Williams how, during the Suss*xes’ tour of South Africa in 2019, the heater caught fire in their son Archie’s room. Although the baby was fortunately not in the room at the time, the incident shocked the duchess: “And what should we do? Go out and make another official engagement? I said, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

On another episode, this time with actress Issa Rae, she said, “You are allowed to set boundaries. You are allowed to be clear. It doesn’t make you demanding. It doesn’t make you difficult. [It] clarifies.”

On the same outing, talking about coffee, Meghan revealed she quit it in the UK but started drinking it again, saying “I guess because life started coming back.”

Then there is the fresh resuscitation environment “difficult” shortcut.

Why are so many episodes of her podcasts dedicated to her bright future peppered with references to her palace past? Why is it for someone who is so happy to see the footmen’s back so she can “find her freedom” that she’s so reluctant to stop talking about her experience with the Windsors?

(Don’t forget, the Duchess of Suss*x told The Cut in late August to promote Archetypes, “I’ve got a lot to say until I say it” and “I wonder I’ve never had to sign anything that would restrict me from talking” ).

There are two obvious options here. Like a jilted ex who was unceremoniously dumped via text message, is she unable to let go and is still going through trauma?

Or does her tendency to hint or comment on her former life have much more to do with advertising?

This story is a prime example. I wouldn’t write about the B-word episode with Megan. archetypes if not for the conclusions about her palace days.

On a purely pragmatic level, the latter would make sense. Meghan has established herself as a successful businesswoman (she was and remains the only self-made millionaire who joined the royal family). Given that she and Harry signed a $38 million deal with Spotify back in 2020, they need to deliver, and some of the headlines scattered around the place, intentionally or not, should surely only help.

Consciously or not, the post-palace brand of the Suss*xes is still firmly based on their status as members of the royal family, and not on their new and chic life as self-styled opinion leaders and vegan latte investors.

So what? This can be very “difficult” for them until they actually do something on their own that’s worth talking about.

Daniela Elser is a writer and royal commentator with over 15 years of experience working with a range of leading Australian media outlets.