Since abandoning official duties in 2020 and returning to her native America, the Duchess of Sussex has been at pains to stress what an effort she’d put into becoming a loyal, hard-working member of the Royal Family.
Who, for example, can forget the exaggerated curtsy that she performed on her Netflix series Harry & Meghan to demonstrate how deeply she had bowed on meeting the late Queen Elizabeth for the first time?
But how much care did she really take to adapt to life in ‘the Firm’?
I looked into this for a new edition of my YouTube television programme, Reading the Royals – and was shocked by what I discovered.
Given the volume of headlines that Meghan created, people forget how brief her royal tenure was. It spanned a mere 22 months, from her marriage in May 2018 to her acrimonious departure in March 2020.
In that time, there were more than a dozen examples of her breaking the rules – about one every two months.
The vast majority of her protocol breaches involved clothing and the rules about what royals are supposed to wear or not wear bearing in mind the nature of the event they’re attending and the time of day.
As an actress for more than two decades before she married Prince Harry, Meghan would have been well aware of the power of costumes in storytelling.
The first breach was during her official engagement photograph when she wore a sheer gown – which is a real no-no for daytime attire.
This was Meghan declaring, when she barely had her foot in the palace door, that she would be treating royal protocol as ‘guidance only’.
Eyebrows were also raised when the price of this haute couture outfit was revealed: an eye-watering £56,000.
In contrast, in 2010 the dress for Catherine’s official engagement photo was purchased in a high-street store, Fenwick’s, for £385.
When, soon after her wedding, Meghan joined Princess Catherine at Wimbledon, she chose to wear trousers.
Meghan would, as a royal duchess, have been expected to keep to the usual Royal Box rules and, like Catherine, wear skirts or dresses for the occasion.
Perhaps Meghan’s most crass sartorial gesture, however, was her choice of outfit for the 2018 British Fashion Awards.
‘It’s such an honour to be here celebrating British fashion and British fashion designers in my new home of the UK,’ she declared, while wearing a gown by French label Givenchy.
Yes, she neglected to wear a British designer to the British Fashion Awards.
Shortly after the event, Meghan’s photo on the British Fashion Council’s Instagram account was deleted. Coincidence, I’m sure…
One year later – despite all the headlines about that Givenchy faux pas – Meghan chose French fashion label Dior for the official family photograph for her son Archie’s christening.
Traditionally, a royal mother wears a piece by a British designer for every christening.
In the same photograph, we see Catherine – who had worn clothes by Britain’s Alexander McQueen to all three of her own children’s christenings – wearing an outfit by British designer Stella McCartney.
There are numerous other examples of similar protocol breaches which I explore in Reading the Royals. And what they suggest to me is a conscious, committed rebellion on her part.
The signs were there from the beginning that Meghan refusing to accept the contract: the deal that says being a royal comes with undoubted benefits – but that there’s a price to be paid.
Namely, you must completely dedicate your life to public service.
Your individual brand and personality must always come second to the reputation of the Firm and traditions it represents.
Any person who comes into the Royal Family believing they can have all the benefits and not pay the bill… well, they simply haven’t understood the contract with the Crown.
