Whatever Reason Could the British Press Writ Large Have for Hating Meghan Markle?

The British press, and the British Public, do not like Meghan Markle. It’s easy to assume that it’s because the British are racist because boy are the British racist. Don’t believe me?

Yeah, look up what year that aired and what kind of ratings it got. When the BBC took it off of iPlayer they said “things have changed since Little Britain aired” but it had barely been ten years.

But I don’t think racism is the reason Meghan doesn’t get a fair shake, I think xenophobia is the reason. Or specifically, the British really just don’t like Americans.

I know what you’re thinking “oh, it’s just because we elected Donald Trump! Now that the bad orange man is gone the world will love us again!” Have you ever seen Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson? He’s essentially just British Donald Trump.

But let’s think back to Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah. I think that the thing most people found the most shocking was that Meghan asked to see a mental health professional because she was having suicidal ideation and the staff at Kensington Palace told her to go f**k herself.

All people in the UK can talk about, however, are Meghan and Harry’s “secret wedding” and Meghan being angry Archie wasn’t given a title. Both the press and the public have latched on to these as “proof” that Meghan is “lying.”

But let’s break these two stories down.

The easiest one is that Meghan and Harry told Oprah that their “real” wedding was just the two of them in their back yard a few days before their public wedding. The two exchanged vows in private. It’s sweet, Lily and Marshall basically did the same thing on How I Met Your Mother.

Of course, much hay has been made of this because it wasn’t a legal marriage ceremony, but they never actually claimed it was. But if you were to ask them when they celebrate their anniversary, I’ll bet it’s that private exchange of vows, even if it wasn’t an official ceremony.

And then there’s Archie’s title. Under the traditional way things are done, Archie is not currently entitled to a title. The grandchildren of the sovereign are princes and princesses, their grandchildren are not.

But the thing is, Archie will be a prince and will be entitled to a title as soon as Charles becomes King. Anne, Edward and Andrew’s grandchildren won’t be, but Archie will, and it’s entirely at the discretion of the Queen to give Archie that title early. It’s not like she can’t, it’s just not how it’s done.

How things are done changes all the time with public sentiment. Elizabeth’s refusal to fly the flag at Buckingham Palace at half-mast after Princess Diana’s death made her seem callous and out of touch; had she not relented, it could have ended the monarchy. The reason she didn’t initially is that it wasn’t how things were done: the flag is only flown when the sovereign is in the palace.

This is what the British press has been discussing at length for weeks to avoid talking about the real story. The Queen, to her credit, seems to be taking what Meghan and Harry said to heart and is even considering hiring a diversity czar to address the issues they raised.

Meanwhile, the people who voted for Boris Johnson will do anything to avoid admitting that maybe the black, American woman was mistreated by the palace staff.