I find it fascinating

[CaraVirra]

I’m trying to understand something, and I’m asking this in good faith.

After looking into the Meghan and Harry situation, I’m genuinely confused about the level of hostility directed at them by the British public… especially when that hostility extends to their children.

I’ve read widely and tried to identify what concrete harm Harry and Meghan have actually done to the British public, and I’m struggling to find a clear answer.

The turning point people seem to cite most often is Harry’s book. But even there, it’s a personal account of his experiences inside an institution. If anyone has a reason to be angry about that, it would logically be the royal family… not the public.

So I’m left with a question I can’t quite resolve:

Why is the public so angry on behalf of an institution that hasn’t asked them to be?

Is this a cultural expectation around loyalty to the monarchy? A reaction to breaking tradition? A media-driven narrative that hardened into public sentiment?

I’m not here to defend or attack anyone. I’m genuinely interested in understanding the reasoning from people who feel strongly about this, because from the outside looking in, the intensity of the reaction doesn’t seem proportionate to any identifiable public harm.

If you’re willing to explain your perspective without defaulting to insults or assumptions, I’d appreciate the conversation.

I’m pretty sure I answered almost this exact same question a little while ago, but here we go again:
People are fed up with Meghan and Harry because they have implied that the entire British nation was unwelcoming and racist towards Meghan Markle. This couldn’t be further from the truth: everyone I know was delighted when Meghan joined the royal family.
It is hurtful when one’s good wishes and intentions are hurled back in one’s face and when people flounce off and leave.
Also, no-one likes being lied to (there are numerous instances of H & M being proveably dishonest) and no-one warms to people who seem fake and inauthentic (Meghan). Treating sick, elderly relatives unkindly is not a good look and complaining about numbers of sausages, lip glosses etc makes them look petty. Talking about the Royal family in interviews and writing a tell all book seems hypocritical (from people who value their privacy so highly) as does sharing pictures of their children on social media - even if they are only of the back or side of their heads. The bullying allegations have tarnished their image and their huge staff turnover is suspicious. They could have done so much good, but they threw it all away damaging the monarchy and the reputation of the entire country in the process. And that’s just off the top of my head! I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons to dislike them: it’s not that hard to understand!

I find this tactic so tiresome and disingenuous...

"I don't know much about this subject; just curious...."

Followed swiftly by:

"Actually I think you'll find that on page 193 he wasn't openly ableist, just implied it and he can't be blamed for wider interpretation...."

Followed by AI generated word salad.

It's so transparent.

If you're really interested in hearing what sparked the anger against Harry and Meghan I'll tell you. I'm not debating this. I'm giving you the answer to your question.

Meghan Markle was warmly welcomed as Harry's bride, people lined the streets to watch their (very expensive) wedding, they were cheered and feted wherever they went. The Queen gave them significant roles in the Commonwealth Trust, they represented her Majesty at home and abroad, no greater honour.

Despite this, Meghan Markle did an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which she stated that there were "concerns" expressed by members of the royal family about the colour of her unborn child's skin, specifically it being too brown, and that in tandem to these conversations was the question of her son being denied his title. (Archie did get his title exactly when he should have, on the accession of his grandfather to the throne.)

It cannot be emphasised enough the impact of that accusation. The effect was seismic. She told the world that a biracial woman and her children were not welcome in the British royal family. Markle has never apologised for slandering the royal family or the British people in this way, Harry has tried in his blustering and clumsy way to deny she made the accusation but since the internet is forever, the transcript of that interview is evidence of what she said, for anyone who cares to read it.

There are lots of reasons why people don't like Harry and Meghan, or laugh at them, but you asked about hostility.
This is why.

She told the world that a biracial woman and her children were not welcome in the British royal family
We dont know if that was true or not though. It wouldn't surprise me that a family who only stopped marrying their cousins a few generations ago would have an obsession with bloodlines and its purity. Also, this was told to Meghan second hand by Harry. He was the one who said his family were concerned their children would be too dark. Why did he do that? Yes he backtracked afterwards, possibly because he realised hed gone too far and he still wanted his dad to give him handouts but either hes told the truth or he lied to his wife to get her riled up against his family.

Or Meghan misrepresented a much more innocent conversation, fully aware of what she was implying.

They were not the first biracial members of the RF.

Good point.

This sums up my feelings perfectly.

In terms of the racism accusation, I remember that after Oprah retrieved her lower jaw from off the floor, she invited Meghan to clarify that the baby was indeed denied a title and protection because of racism, and Meghan replied “I think that’s a safe assumption”. So really, she could not have been clearer.

Interestingly enough, of the people around me, this playing of the racist card at such a sensitive time irks my friends of colour the most. It’s pretty much the only thing they know about her.

Agree @Ohpleeeease and @hepsitemiz

We also know they did it deliberately, for 2 reasons

(a) the interview wasn't live, so they could easily have adjusted the wording to avoid any misunderstanding.

(b) I mentioned above that the section showing headlines of UK papers had been changed to make things appear worse (such that ITV had to remove some of the headlines) - specific headlines were altered to change the meaning, and other headlines from US and Australian tabloids were used as UK ones.

Harry didn't withdraw the allegation until the Tom Bradby interview in January 2023, a month after he accepted the Kennedy Ripple of Hope award for standing up to 'structural racism' in the Royal Family.

The others are very distant relatives.

They are the grandchildren of the Duke of Gloucester who is still a working Royal. The DC have been included in official events and no one has batted an eyelid .
At one time the DoG was 5th in the LOS so not “ very distant”.

The public wouldn't even recognise them so very different
I haven't got a clue about what they look like, never ever seen them at any official event

They were at the Princess of Wales’ carol service, photographed with the rest of the family.

The children are very obviously mixed race so I don’t agree .
The point is that H and M supporters repeatedly claim that Meghan wasn’t welcome ( and by extension A and L) because she is mixed race and j am pointing out that is incorrect .
H is currently 5th in the LOS but will slip down so presumably he will one day be a “ distant relative “?

I actually wasn’t interested in them until my new feed was flood with them, then I gained some basic curiosity. I clicked on articles… read them… will and Kate (all positive news) harry and Meghan (mostly negative, and one or two neutral.) then I read the comments which were all overwhelmingly negative

And there's your problem Cara. You're sitting right in the middle of a SM echo chamber, clicking on clickbait and then getting more of the same. Move away from it and you may realise that most people couldn't give a monkey's arse about H&M.

I think a lot of people who genuinely believe the RF are racist are non-Brits who have a Hollywood view of an uppity and old fashioned insular family. There was a USA Loose Women type chat show that did a “funny” skit about how the Queen spat her tea across the room after finding out Meghan is mixed race. That was shortly after they got engaged IIRC. Everyone laughed hysterically of course. Because they’re ignorant fools, probably. I think H&M have capitalised on their key audience being ignorant people who’d fall for that kind of rhetoric

But it’s perhaps best to point out that QEII was the Head of the Commonwealth. She will have met a much wider range of diverse people in her life than Meghan has, and has travelled to commonwealth countries since her adolescence. She held the role respectfully and competently. The thought of her recoiling because she’d have to meet a (very much white passing) mixed race American is actually hysterical.

But woe betide any of the Sussex sycophants apply critical thinking. The truth would get in the way of their juvenile Hollywood view on it. But H&M are very cunning and know they can “sell” the “ignorant white supremacist Royals” narrative to their half wit followers

I dislike (but no stronger) them both. It’s not because they left, or did a Netflix series or the book. it’s because of the lies. It’s the endless self serving delivery of at easily provable dishonesty.

Same

And the endless self pity that nobody seems to have told them doesn’t fly with regular people. Or maybe they have, and they didn’t listen.

I liked them for ages and didn’t blame them for Megxit at all - I thought “good for them!”. But then when a 40yo man sat in an Armani suit telling Oprah Winfrey that daddy has cut him off, I entirely lost my sympathy. Not to mention the falsehoods from his wife around titles and security. They are the architects of their own demise. It’s no surprise that more and more dodgy behaviour has come to light, and boy are they consistent with it!

Are you saying that most of the British public would recognise the DoG's grandchildren?

I think not!

My purely personal view and I'm certainly no expert...I'm fairly apathetic about the whole monarchy.
I watched the video of Harry on the 'freedom flight' when he left the UK? That, and him saying, "Call me Harry." At that point I thought good for him, he's no longer royeal and now a private citizen.
He made the difficult decision to leave, (burnt bridges with Spare and Oprah) but because of his background, he still had an amazing opportunity, personally and financially.
Fast forward to today. I believe Harry would not have looked back if he'd found the success he thought was his because he was so talented and special. He's clearly not the brightest, now coming across as entitled, thick and constantly pedding a victim narrative. Try calling him just Harry now.
My problem is he still trades constantly on his royal connections. The only real success he's had has been on the back of who he is and slagging his family off.
Now he appears to want back in, clinging to titles and links to an institution that was evil. The hypocrisy is breathtaking, and then there's the lies...
I believe we wouldn't have seen him for dust if he'd got the life he thought he was getting. I don't hate him, I just think he's irrelevant.
Brand Sussex depends on people thinking he and his wife are royal, but it's a commercial venture.
I read Harry's latest venture was a speech where he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak at a conference of land agents. I'm sure they paid that because of his expertise in that area, and not because his daddy is the King.
They could have been such a force for good, especially in the commonwealth. To me it looks like gave that up for financial gain, not to escape the institution, because if that was the case they wouldn't be so insistent on being treated like royalty now.

Frankly the only thing in America that bothers me right now is your orange monster.

H and M are irrelevant here in the UK.

This is my perspective:

I am slightly more in favour of us being a monarchy than not but not a massive Royalist (but I do enjoy watching a royal wedding).
I also don’t read tabloids or go on social media much.
When H&M announced their engagement I had no idea who she was or that they had even been dating, but just felt happy for them as I would for any couple I didn’t know. I thought Meghan might be a breath of fresh air but had concerns how an American with a career would adapt to being in the RF (I certainly wouldn’t want to do it!), but apart from that had no strong feelings.

I watched the wedding, thought it was lovely and the RF trying not to giggle at times amused me.
I wasn’t interested in stuff like the bridesmaid tights saga and Thomas Markle.
I genuinely wished H&M well.

The time my feelings towards them changed was their South Africa tour where the interview MM gave out there was very “poor me” and quite tone deaf. (I had also raised eyebrows over the Princess Eugenie wedding/pregnancy announcement thing).

While I do have some sympathy for them I think their behaviour has shown them to be spoilt and entitled and completely out of touch with reality. They could have lead a more private low key life here (like Zara Tindall and others manage to).

I also am annoyed how they have trashed the British public and made us all out to be frothing at the mouth racists which is why “everyone” hated Meghan. When the real story is most people didn’t care or liked her at the beginning, and Harry’s popularity was really high, and a lot of what’s happened after has been of their own doing (who marries into the Royals and refuses etiquette lessons for example?!).

So yeah, I think most people still don’t care that much but the public attitude towards them has shifted since they keep insulting us, and doing such ridiculous things to get attention.
Also their moaning about not having enough money has not gone down well with a British public trying to survive the cost of living crisis.

At a Royal event yes I do think so but the point remains that Meghan wasn’t the first biracial person to marry into the RF and Archie and Lili are not the first mixed race DC . This is an angle that has been spun as a reason Meghan is disliked by so many people but it is simply not true .