Meghan has totally 'Americanized' Harry and he's now ready to be 'normal', says US-born aristocrat Julie Montagu
Julie Montagu, an American who married Luke Timothy Charles Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, and son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich, has time and again shown her support for Hary and Meghan Markle's relationship. Recently she said that the Duke of Sussex was being "Americanized" under Meghan's influence.
“I think that Meghan has slightly Americanized Harry. I love it,” Montagu, 46, told People magazine on Wednesday, May 13. However, she did admit that she was surprised to see Harry and Meghan migrate from their home in Canada to California in the United States in the short span of time that they did.
"I actually thought they were going to stay in Canada, just because I thought it would be more peaceful for them,” said Montagu. “I thought it was a good transition country — a good compromise.”
As an American who had to grow accustomed to British aristocracy upon getting married, Montagu always felt that she identified with Meghan's situation. So she understood that the former 'Suits' star might have wanted a home nearer to her mother, Doria Ragland, which might have motivated the couple's move to Los Angeles. She also defended the couple against the flack that they got for announcing their future foundation, Archewell, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know they’ve gotten a lot of flak from the press about announcing their new charity and then moving in the middle of Covid-19, but there’s a part of me that thinks they’re probably thinking moving now would be a good way to try and avoid being the main headline news — in one sense, trying to stay under the radar,” Montagu explained. "I don’t think they want to be in the news. They want their projects and the charitable foundations that they support to be in the news, but they themselves don’t want to be in the news.”
Montagu, who is the host of the new Smithsonian Channel travel series, said that is most likely that Harry and Meghan will not waste their energy on immersing themselves in the negative stories being written about them and instead work toward getting their charity up and running while adjusting to their new life.
“I think there are some people thinking that Harry is going to miss royal duties and the lifestyle, and I mean, he may miss parts of it,” she said. “But I think that this is what Harry’s always wanted — an escape. Anywhere is more private than being a member of the royal family in Britain. Now that the dust has settled with their move and they’ve dropped their HRH titles — they’re now ready to be normal. I think that they will keep their [new] house very, very private as far as photos go.”
After officially stepping down from the royal family on March 31, the Sussexes also bid a final farewell to their Instagram page, @SussexRoyal. Since then, the couple's social media presence has been very limited. However, Montagu has predicted that it won’t be long before Harry and Meghan launch their own Instagram page and reconnect with their admirers and supporters.
“I suspect they’re going to announce and create social media for Archewell,” she said. “This is a new start. I’m just waiting for that. Then they need Instagram — and we know that that’s how they release statements, which is what they have done with everything since they’ve been married. I don’t see them not having one.”