Did Meghan misjudge royal family? Monarchy's reluctance to 'drive change' stopped her from taking center-stage
It has been a while since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the UK, but their exit continues to be a subject of much speculation. The recent lowdown is that Markle's calculation of how much power and influence the British royal family hold may have been based on inaccurate assumptions when she decided to marry Prince Harry, according to a royal expert. When Meghan was introduced to the world as Harry's fiancee, she had been vocal about her charity work and said that she was excited to use her newfound platform to initiate change. She also added that she was excited to be able to “focus even more energy on” the causes close to her heart when she married into the royal family.
Royal author and expert Penny Junor now says that Meghan may not have fully understood the levels of constraint imposed on royals. Members of the royal family are expected to remain 'tight-lipped' on political matters, and they should offer support rather than 'taking centre-stage' themselves.
Junor told Express.co.uk: “I would have thought part of the appeal of marrying Harry might have been having a platform for her activism. But I think probably what she found when she arrived inside the royal family was that she couldn’t be as active as she wanted to be. She couldn’t be as outspoken as she wanted to be.The royal family doesn’t operate in that way, they don’t use their position in order to make change.They use it to highlight issues and support issues but not to actually drive change. They are not as powerful as she might have thought they were.”
Before her marriage to Harry, Meghan was a global ambassador for World Vision, the world’s largest international children’s charity, from 2016 to 2017.
During their engagement interview with the BBC in November 2017, Meghan was asked what more she would be able to do, after joining the royal family.
She said: “The causes that have been very important to me, I can focus even more energy on. Because very early out of the gate I think you realise once you have access or a voice that people are willing to listen to, with that comes a lot of responsibility, which I take seriously.”
She had also explained how her passion for humanitarian work helped her and Harry bond on their first date in London, and even led to their second date.
Markle said, “It was one of the things we first connected on. It was one of the first things we started talking about when we met - just the different things that we wanted to do in the world and how passionate we were about seeing change. I think that’s what got date two in the books.”
Furthermore, Markle entered political conversations. She and Harry encouraged Americans to vote in a video, without quite explaining their choice of candidate. There was much speculation when she hinted that she would like to join politics. Asked if royal fans should expect to see more from Meghan on the political front in the years to come, Junor said: “I think it’s perfectly possible.” The royal biographer added: “She has no restraints anymore. As a member of the royal family, you couldn’t possibly do that but they’re not anymore. But in terms of her running herself, you’d need a shed load of money.”