Secrets of the British court: excerpts from the sensational biography of Megan and Harry
'20.08.2020'
Source: Blueprint
On August 11, the biography of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was released in Britain. And this book changes our understanding of the royal family, writes Blueprint.
Thousands, if not millions of books have been written about families - equally happy or unhappy in their own way - including about royal families. But new times need new heroes, so the 11-page Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family went on sale on August 368, in which tells the story of the relationship between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - from the first date to a loud "break" with the royal family.
Representatives of the British royal family do not have the right to officially authorize their biographies, but the authors of the book, the journalists of the royal pool Omid Scobie and Carolyn Duran, managed to communicate, of course, not only with friends, acquaintances and former subordinates of Harry and Megan, but also with the couple themselves.
Every fact mentioned in the book is written by Scobie and Duran, confirmed by at least two different sources, and the book itself is mostly not about gossip, but, on the contrary, from debunking all kinds of tabloid rumors about Harry, Megan, the Windsor family and Markle's relatives. In the end, it was the intrusiveness and pressure on the young family from the press that ultimately became the main factor in favor of Megsit, and his initiative came from Harry, and not from Megan.
When Harry met Meghan
The couple met on a blind date - mutual friends arranged it for them, and contact was established immediately. Megan, barely flying back to Canada (she lived there at the time), began posting meaningful posts on Instagram - in plain sight, but in fact, written for a single addressee. The relationship developed rapidly: just three months later, Harry confessed his love to Megan, and she reciprocated. Both were serious from the start. “Megan never wanted to just date someone. She has always strived for a serious relationship. It was the same with Corey [Markle's first husband]; she wanted healthy relationships, marriage and children. "
For the entire first year of the relationship, the couple flew endlessly to visit each other, carefully guarding their secret. However, the press is already suspicious. As soon as Megan went to the store wearing a necklace with the initials H and M (that is, Harry & Meghan), she was immediately noticed by the paparazzi. The photo with the evidence immediately appeared on the network, and Megan immediately received a call from the press service of Kensington Palace, whose representative told her that such decorations only provoke harassment from the press.
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“During the conversation, she said almost nothing, preferring to just listen to the advisor. But when I hung up, I felt bitterness and frustration. Although she understood that the advisor was calling her with good intentions, it seemed too surreal a situation in which her boyfriend's subordinate dictated to her what jewelry to wear and how broadly smile the photographers.
Meghan, in turn, also changed Harry's bachelor lifestyle. The first thing she did was decorate Harry's Nottingham Cottage with potted flowers and Diptyque candles. A lover of whole-grain oatmeal with almond or soy milk for breakfast and apple slices for a snack, she introduced him, devoted to eggs and bacon in the morning and pizza for dinner, with the basics of healthy eating. Megan gave Harry a book on mindfulness, and to her delight he soon made the habit of meditating daily.
Meghan's new life and new family
When the relationship between Meghan and Harry was officially confirmed, the girl had to learn a lot, and not only in the field of protocol and elegant ways to get out of the car in a pencil skirt. Megan underwent a two-day intensive course in the special forces of the British Army (all members of the royal family passed it, with the exception of the queen), where she was taught how to behave in various dangerous situations, such as a kidnapping or a terrorist attack.
“Megan was told how to build a trusting relationship with a possible kidnapper. She was also trained to operate a car while being chased. The source says that Megan was "very impressed and intimidated by this experience," but she was nevertheless glad she took this course, "the book says.
The conservative employees of the royal court endlessly compared Megan to Kate, and the comparisons were clearly not in favor of the former.
“If Kate was described as“ courteous, reasonable and very modest ”and with affection emphasized how she constantly apologized when she turned to someone with a question, then Megan was called“ an adult woman who has already lived a third of her life, a Californian who believes that she can change the world, and tells everyone how to live, ”the opus says.
However, this did not stop Megan from developing good relations with Harry's father and grandmother. The queen treated the girl of her beloved grandson very cordially and favorably. Their first meeting lasted ten minutes longer than Elizabeth's tight schedule suggested - and that was already a good sign. Even the royal corgi and dorgi [a cross between a corgi and a dachshund] were crazy about Megan. “For thirty-three years [these dogs] barked at me from head to toe. Megan enters - complete silence, "- this is how Harry described this meeting.
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A friend of Prince Charles said that he was completely fascinated by Megan: “She is a wayward, confident, beautiful American woman. He likes strong, strong-willed women. She is smart and knows her own worth, and I understand why they became friends so quickly. "
Dear Dad
Meghan Markle's relationship with her own dad was not always dire and soured just a week before her wedding. Although Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland (Megan's mother) broke up when the girl was two years old, he always supported his daughter in everything. One Christmas, Thomas bought several sets of Barbies and assembled a multi-ethnic doll family for Megan himself.
When faced with the task of choosing her ethnicity from the options "white" or "black" in seventh grade, Megan fell into a stupor, but Thomas was not taken aback.
"You could choose only one option, but it's like choosing only one parent or just one part of yourself," Megan said. She left the box blank. And her father told her: "If you come across a similar one, write your own version."
For two years, Thomas Markle did not comment on his daughter's relationship with the British prince, but under pressure from nosy journalists and Samantha's eldest daughter, he gave up literally on the eve of the wedding. Until the last day, Megan persuaded him to come to the celebration, but on the eve of the wedding, he simply stopped responding to her calls and SMS and did not take a taxi to the airport, which Megan called to his house.
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Later, Thomas became completely carried away by distributing paid interviews, in which he said that he could not get through to his daughter, although she did not even change her mobile number. Saddened, Megan wrote him a heartfelt letter, which he digested for several months before responding to it with an offer to hold a press conference with the newlyweds in honor of reconciliation. Megan was shocked.
“I'm crushed,” she confessed to a friend. "My father is completely sold out."
Immaculate four
Sociable Megan expected to quickly become friends with Kate, but this did not happen. The withdrawn Duchess of Cambridge didn’t think she and Meghan had anything in common besides the fact that they both lived in Kensington Palace.
The relationship between the couples has never been particularly warm, because when Harry met Megan, William patronizingly advised his younger brother not to rush into a relationship with "this girl." “In the words about 'this girl' Harry caught a snobbery that had no place in his personal world. During his ten-year career in the army outside the royal entourage, he learned not to jump to conclusions about people based on their accent, education, ethnicity, origin or profession.
Even after subtracting Meghan from that equation, Harry was already tired of the relationship that had developed between him and his brother. The moment came when Harry no longer needed to be looked after. There is a very fine line between caring and indulgence. Harry's desire to live differently from his brother did not mean that his choice was wrong. "
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The conflict between the brothers reached its peak when the Sussex couple decided to abandon royal privileges. At the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey this March, the last official ceremony for Harry and Meghan as representatives of the royal family, the situation escalated to the limit. William greeted only Harry, and Megan completely ignored the Cambridge couple.
Immediately after the service, Megan took the first flight to Canada to her son, whom she left there with her nanny and her best friend. “Meg just wanted to go home,” a friend said, noting that the Duchess was emotionally worn out and completely squeezed out. "At that moment, she could not even think of admitting that someday she would again decide to take part in any affairs of the royal family."
Great outcome
The British press continued to attack Meghan even during her pregnancy, denouncing her every choice down to the color of her nail polish. She, in turn, found it difficult to get used to the main motto of the royal family "never complain, never make excuses", and the lack of the opportunity to express her own opinion or refute the wildest gossip greatly upset her.
Therefore, Instagram @sussexroyal became a huge outlet for her - in the last stages of pregnancy, she herself thought over its concept (from the corporate shade of dark blue to white frames around the pictures), made a content plan and sketched posts.
Her pregnancy was easy - so much so that at first Megan even considered the option of home birth, but later settled on a private clinic for local celebrities and American expats. Archie Harrison was born eight days later than expected (there was no caesarean section) and left the clinic with his parents four hours after birth. The press continued to make claims to Megan: first for the fact that she refused to show the newborn to reporters (as William and Kate did three times), then for the fact that Archie's baptism ceremony was decided to be closed.
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Harry found it difficult to endure the press attacks on his young family, remembering childhood trauma and hatred towards reporters who chose to take sensational photos instead of somehow helping his dying mother.
“Despite the fact that the British press prefers to blame the royal wives for everything, in the case of Harry, it was he who sought to avoid general attention. That is why he was more drawn to the army, so he avoided pomp as much as he could and therefore did not endow his son with the title. For a long time he dreamed of a life away from the watchful eye of the press. Meghan just gave him the determination to take this step. She supported him in everything.
“In general, Harry wanted to be away from all this, - said a source close to the couple. “Deep inside, it was always hard for him in this world. She just opened the way out for him. "
Contrary to idle rumors about the monstrous conflict in the family, which happened when the Sussex couple, without agreement with Buckingham Palace, announced their plans to refuse state financial support, the Queen sincerely supported the decision of the grandson. However, she did not agree to all of his conditions and did not accept the offer to stay “with one foot here, the other there,” playing the role of official family members, but at the same time earning money on her own - this option implied too many logistical, reputational and financial costs.
Elizabeth informed Harry that she would always be happy to accept him back into the family if he, Meghan and Archie wanted to return to royal duties. Prince Charles also promised to provide his son's family with personal financial support if needed. William, on the other hand, preferred to withdraw from participation in the process of emancipation of his brother's family, transferring all matters into the hands of his assistants. One of the advisers who participated in meetings on the topic of dividing joint projects between the brothers explained it this way:
“In this family, the level of influence is directly related to the place in the family tree, so Harry has always been in second place, especially when it comes to funding. In the past, there were times when Harry wanted to take on bigger projects and work harder, but he was not given the money to do it. William has always been a priority. The division of the budget often became the cause of quarrels between them. This is what happens when you do business with your family, ”writes the author of the book.
