I wasn't going to write about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as it's been done to death, but that got me to thinking. Why?
Why has this attractive and privileged pair pushed every other newsworthy item out into the vacuum of space? Why have Covid, the progress of vaccine delivery, wars, national and local news of importance, the situation in Myanmar, Tigran refugees from Ethiopia and so forth, fallen so far down the rank of newsworthiness? All have paled into insignificance in the face of the couple's interview with the former talk show hostess (host, if you insist on gender equivalency), Oprah.
This fact must reflect on the mentality of the human race in some way and I'm trying to figure out exactly what that is. I imagine the people of Myanmar didn't drop out of their protest against military rule to watch the interview if, by chance, it was subtitled, however I wouldn't have been surprised given the global attention it has received.
As I mulled about the exceptional number of viewers it attracted along with the opinions that followed, pro or con the couple, I can only come up with one explanation. It is this: that for over a year the world's population has been under siege by Covid-19 and people needed to be distracted mightily by a real life soap opera in which the word Covid did not rear its ugly head. At least, I don't think it did. I didn't watch the interview but, in all the comments I've read about it, Covid wasn't mentioned.
The British Royal family have provided the world with its longest running real life soap opera. Princess Diana reignited interest in it in the 'eighties with her glamour mixed with sadness and, now, one of her two sons and his Cinderella have defected to the New World. The fact that they are pretty people has a strong bearing on this and that's another reflection on the human psyche. If you're not pretty or handsome, you just don't cut it in the world of media. I have long felt it a shame that Princess Anne, even in her youth, didn't grab the media's attention in the way Diana did. Anne is quite brilliant, witty and would have made a fine queen but nobody cares because she's unattractive. It's no use denying it, it's true.
Now let me be almost cruel. If Meghan looked like Fergie, the Duchess of York, no one would care either. If Andrew and Fergie had defected shortly after their marriage it would certainly have caused a ripple, much as Andrew's indiscretions have lately in the media, but that has also been eclipsed by The Interview.
How in the world has one woman's supposed mental health problem, (apparently caused by marrying a handsome, wealthy and privileged prince and being accepted by a family who, decades ago, wouldn't have done so, but who have accepted her wholeheartedly), become world news and so divided public opinion?
Meghan has said she had suicidal thoughts caused by hurtful remarks made by a royal or a senior royal staff member or some such. (Again, I didn't watch the interview, I've read this post the interview.) We've probably all had suicidal thoughts, I know I have. I haven't, however, actually got to the point of getting out a bottle of pills or a razor blade but I have been seriously depressed.
There are levels of contemplation of suicide, some serious, some not as, and when people on social media, or even broadcasters, criticize Meghan and don't believe her statements about suicide, they have been jumped on by those who feel they aren't taking her mental health seriously. In other words, she's become the poster child for those with mental health issues who feel they are neglected. Totally understandable but also take these following things into account.
Meghan was a thirty-seven year old actress who had clawed her way up in show business and that means she's tough enough to take knocks. She is coloured and must have suffered a degree of racism in her life, and on her way to the top, and yet she's deeply hurt by someone wondering what colour skin her son would have. I mean, I'd be a bit miffed by the tactlessness but deeply hurt? At her age, she must be better at rolling with the punches than that.
When Piers Morgan, the British broadcaster, publicly disbelieved Meghan's statements about her feelings of suicide, he walked off his show in disgust after thousands of complaints about him expressing his opinion. Meghan also took exception and filed a complaint against him. Here's the thing though: she had quoted a remark made by a member of the Royal family, or one of their staff, without naming which one in a publicly broadcast interview and, as such, she practiced freedom of speech but isn't allowing Piers Morgan the same courtesy. For someone who is as supposedly vulnerable as she is, why was she so quick to file a complaint against Morgan instead of weeping in Harry's arms as she apparently did over the 'What colour her child would be' remark and saying she didn't want to live anymore.
It is because she is not the weeping type but a very assertive woman. Harry, misguidedly, is trying, through Meghan, to protect his mother posthumously. For him, I believe, it all comes back to Diana, who really did have mental health issues that were exacerbated by having no one help her. Harry is afraid for his wife's mental health and it's very sweet of him.
I may be quite wrong. I'm not in Meghan's head and she may have mental health issues. She may well not have been prepared for the rules, regulations, service and tradition that would be her lot after being an independent and successful actress. However, she committed to these things in a marriage ceremony and must have known the ramifications to the Royal family if she rocked the boat. I believe, not wanting to be a working royal anymore, she's pointing the blame finger to extricate herself. She wants her cake and to eat it to and has probably justified everything to herself in her own head.
There is one more thing to note, and I saw it in a news clip of the interview. Perhaps some of you noticed it too. Meghan is heavily pregnant but get a load of her stiletto shoes. They're four-inch heels at least. This is sheer vanity in her present state and, being a woman myself, I am very fond of high heels, but not if I was that pregnant. Meghan carefully cultivates her image and is one tough cookie. She has chosen her life and was not victimized into it.
Those in the world who are interested in the story are projecting themselves onto the couple and living vicariously through them. It beats being in lock down, losing your job and wondering what the new world will be like in its restricted and more dangerous form. In the western world, you were once reasonably safe and could get on with your life, free of wars and starvation but now no one is safe and we need our fairy tales again, and this fairy tale comes with enough edge to make it interesting. It's also a series with more episodes to come. What better way to be stuck in the house with nothing to do than to watch two incredibly privileged people who are also stuck in their house with nothing more to do than trash an institution that took them to their hearts, and to create PR for their forthcoming Netflix production about heaven knows what?
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