I found it annoying that she brought up the story of Archie and the fire that he thankfully was nowhere near as an example of the unfair expectations on her.
I empathise with her as an anxious first-time parent, as I’ve been one myself. But I’ve also had to be the working parent taking a call from the nursery saying that my child had clashed heads with another child/been bitten by another child/been stung by a bee etc and had to swallow down the “I should have been there” feelings and get on with my job. Because my child was okay, and because I couldn’t be there every second of the day. I imagine most working mothers have been through this.
If I genuinely couldn’t carry on working after something could have happened to my child but didn’t, I am lucky in that I would have been able to leave work for the day. I wouldn’t have asked to do so however as to my mind that’s not a reasonable request. This kind of thing is part of the normal ups and downs of life, and as an adult it’s my job to manage my feelings, not expect others to accommodate them.
Meghan of course appears to have felt much more strongly about this. She absolutely could have said that she wasn’t leaving Archie that afternoon, however. She herself had missed engagements the year before while on tour and pregnant with Archie. Kate had not attended an awards ceremony because of some unspecified childcare issue. Diana had done similarly, most famously clearing her diary for a couple of days after William was hit on the head with a golf club at school, and needed surgery. The world did not end in any of these occurrences. People understood.
Positioning it now, a few years later, that she had no choice despite her own feelings certainly will provoke sympathy for her. I have my doubts as to whether it’s an accurate reflection of the situation, however.