"He loves me so boldly...." - Haarpers Interview with Meghan

[Phase42]

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a69289143/meghan-markle-cover-story-interview-2025/

She's a beautiful woman but i can't understand why she just doesn't drop the titles and be herself. And it's odd how she talks about how much 'H' loves her but not how much she loves him.

It interesting that to me that the dynamics and positioning of the two couples relative success / image has changed over the years.

Arguably MM arrived in the RF and presented as much more glamorous, articulate, sophisticated, open, experienced, and confident than KM at that time. I was struck by the difference at the fab4/headstogether press conference and impressed at that moment by MM.

Then the fab wedding, glam events / ceremonies and the hope that MM could bring some representation and inclusion for diversity.

As a couple they were immensely popular with the public. Then they decided to harness this and try HIHO to generate $$$$ and A list Hollywood status. They achieved the first bit with all the deals they struck, they were still popular and well on the way to the Hollywood A list status (even if they weren’t quite there already). They just had to keep smiling and delivering. So it surprises me that they seemingly got what they wanted the $$$$, the status, the deals, sunny Cali - and the shock to all was the next thing we saw of them was the bitterness, the anger, the contempt as spewed out via OW, NF and Spare. Why weren’t they happy and buzzing having achieved everything they ever wanted (including 2 children by then). It was a shock and confusing to see the vitriol, bleating, victim stance, finger pointing and lies. So they undid the positive glam image they had created and traded on and revealed a toxic brittle reality. They didn’t deliver on the production deals (no surprise as neither had any previous experience etc) and Hollywood A list and didn’t want to be associated with their tarnished brand. So they have squandered the lot - the image, the goodwill, people’s hopes for them, the deals etc. It really is a unique case study in the rise and fall of reputation.

It really is. M was all style and no substance. Now she isn’t either.

I remember hearing MM talk initially and thinking that she had a confident way of talking using her acting background but sadly it all turned out to be empty words.

@JaffnaI agree that the continued bitterness just baffles me. They have so many blessings in life. My only explanation is that life hasn’t really turned out as they expected. They wanted to continue being royals on their own terms in addition to being global leaders.

When people talk about what ‘they ‘ wanted they really mean what Meghan wanted. I don’t for a minute believe Harry wants global fame, celebrity standing, plaudits and parties. He wanted a family life and wife who loved him. He wasn’t unhappy with living in Not Cottage until she came along either. I think he’s been convinced by her that he wants things he didn’t want before, including a huge house and people bowing and scraping. I think he’s always just wanted an ordinary life .

There’s a lot of things that Meghan ‘could’ have done, however she was in full actress mode I think when she joined the RF before marriage, but the narc cracks started showing, she quickly made things about herself, tried REALLY hard to get in front / on an equal footing to Kate, ‘let’s hold hands walking into Wimbledon’ etc … no lady, FO and know your place … I r free hunk she for the raging hump and wanted to be USA royal glam stars, and that fell flat on its face. They’re desperate enough to use their kids to get what they want … can’t bring the children or Megain to the UK as it’s too dangerous … 🙄 Bollox!! …. It’s sounding more like ‘give us what we want or you want see us or the kids’ … except no one cares!
as for Megain and Andy … for Hazza to have punched his uncle, he must have said something pretty bad … personally I’m convinced Andy and Megs met at a yacht party, and he could easily have given her inside info - no one wants to marry Harry, he’s really thick, you could easily snaffle him … and as her ex husband said .. ‘oh, she’ll close the deal’
thats my opinion of course, but she is absolutely the type to do something so ruthless!

I agree, not least as Harry already had global fame, celebrity and untold wealth, and has never ever shown the slightest desire to hang about with a listers, he wanted the opposite it felt like. He just seemed to want to be married with kids.

I agree. However I don't think anything could have matched their (her) expectations of what their life should be like. Since they left they have shown themselves to be outright lazy and unable to commit to anything. The catalogue of failures and false starts are unbelievable especially given the amount of goodwill and support they have had to make a go of things. They want the adulation, reverence, money and fame but they don't want to do the elbow grease. Everything is done superficially and that's why there's constant reinventions and promises that 'this time it will be the authentic me'.

Re H - who I do not know. I think he himself said when W&K were married - he too wanted a family, and I think that is what he has now and I am sure that is a great happiness for him. Re the global fame and plaudits , I think with the best will in the world he grew up with that - so whether he wants it or not he is used to it and being able to turn up and support / front things because he is KC's 2nd son. I think if he weren't feeling a bit entitled to all the importance he wouldn't have done the ridiculous ( in my view) RAVEC case. But I think he , indeed both of them , thought they could have it all , and they couldn't. Whether they both have the bits they wanted - that's for them.

Didn't he, and maybe she, say they would be happy living in Africa, doing charity stuff and bringing up barefoot children or something? Harry wooed her by taking her to Botswana for goodness sake.

Ah yes the " tent in the middle of nowhere " tale.

https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/prince-harry-botswana-meghan-markle-pictures/

It was Harry who said that he would love to live in Africa . Meghan clearly went along with this until after the wedding then it was California .
I honestly think they thought the RF would beg them to return , that their undoubted popularity at the beginning meant they called the shots . Unfortunately they quickly found that the RF call the shots , communication / gossip ceased and Catherine is still senior to Meghan !

I think they were shocked and angry that the HIHO plan and their status as internationally protected persons was denied. Then Charles stopping their funds - he had been giving them 2-3 million pounds a year from the Duchy according to his accounts.

Their plan was to come back and do all the tiara, pomp and ceremony level events, travel with senior royal levels of security and staff.

Then Covid lockdowns meant they had a long time to sit alone in a house together and stew about it.

It was Harry who said that he would love to live in Africa . Meghan clearly went along with this until after the wedding then it was California

Correct again, @Mylovelygreendress, but then as with the entire departure some of us expected this from the start

That Meghan will say anything, no matter how ridiculous, to get what she wants is hardly anything new; we've all seen the evidence from her own words, and it's perhaps just unfortunate that Harry's gone along with so much

The initial plan pre-fleeing was to have Windsor Castle. This has been revealed several times by “insiders”. How great would a real-life castle look, complete with easy access to Heathrow, to all those A-listers?

Also mentioned was the suggestion that Harry should rule jointly with William, coz otherwise it’snoffair.

I can’t imagine these proposals were Harry’s idea. I’m not saying he is a complete donkey led by the tail (or some other appendage…) because he’s shown himself to be a nasty bitter little man, but he didn’t seem too ambitious prior to Meghan’s whispering in his ear.

They also thought when Frogmore was offered that they were getting Frogmore House not Frogmore Cottage...

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=frogmore+house&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#lpg=cid:Cg0qCS9tLzA3aHhkZzAL

Yes, the thought of that made me smile, MrsMitford - the idea of Meghan googling the place (not that she googled anything of course ) and thinking "Ooooooo!!", only to find it wasn't the one she expected at all

Actually the renovated Frogmore Cottage looks lovely seen on aerial images, and it's much bigger than I thought, but the usual pics used in the media made it look ghastly and it's probably safe to think those were the ones Meghan saw

Edited to add link ... bit of a weird source I know, but most of the others involved the ugly shots: https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/630302

Is it not 5 houses knocked into 1 ? Not exactly slumming it !

I'm pretty certain it is, Mylovelygreendress, but as ever with these things it depends on how the conversion's done and this one looks charming at least from the outside

It's still not the "OMG!!" effect of Frogmore House though, and if that's what she was expecting I can quite see a bit of angst creeping in

H wanted to live in the "glamping" version Africa that he was introduced to by Chelsy Davy's very wealthy family.

-Large houses with large grounds with competent staff
-Generators, solar panels, boreholes and water tanks to remove reliance from under resourced and under maintained infrastructure
-No real press freedoms...journalists significantly constrained by authorities.

IMHO, H would not last a week in Diepsloot (South Africa) or Makoko (Nigeria).

I have had scotty beam me over from other thread , is it safe ? 🤣

Life in Zimbabwe would be a billion times more pleasant than the life he currently has. Ten billion times better for the children too. I can't believe he gave up on a very achievable dream so easily!

I agree. He always looked happy when he was doing stuff like tagging and tracking elephants, wildlife studies etc.

The whole vibe is odd to me.

How often do parents of young children have overnight guests? We know they are barely on speaking terms with almost all family on both sides, and neither seem to have close friends. So who are all these guests coming to stay?

Also, aside from quiche being a strange breakfast dish, why would you leave it in the oven waiting for these mythical guests to appear? If I go to stay with friends overnight, I want to be with them for breakfast. Not read a little note. But she does love her cutesy little notes so I guess it was an opportunity to shoehorn it into her video.

Then Covid lockdowns meant they had a long time to sit alone in a house together and stew about it.

Actually I wonder if they had anything in the bag that had to be postponed during Covid? I wonder if all of their actions were impulsive with no onward plan?

I am trying to recall the timing of events. Did they announce their ‘collab with the Queen / HIHO’ in Jan 2020 expecting it to be a goer and then were knocked back after the Sandringham summit and then the left just before lockdown?

Did they bolt because the bullying allegations were closing in on MM? Or her lies and manipulating had caught up with her as she was under such scrutiny by all the courtiers?

If it was a planned exit they would have deals already in negotiation and many of them could have been worked on / progressed / delivered remotely and online during lockdowns.

I wonder what their idea of making money was going to be if the did get HIHO (they wouldn’t have done OW, NF, Spare) what would the projects look like - just more of the podcasts, exec producer, maybe deals with Dior etc - making easy money with multiple brands like Beckham?

I wonder if there hadn’t been Covid if we would have seen them get off on the right foot with positive projects rather than resort to dirt dishing? But the reality is is that’s all the corporates ever wanted. None of them had any confidence that these inexperienced grifters could ever deliver any media project of quality.