No one is prepared to like Meghan Markle. Nothing she says or does evoke awe or applause. Yet no other woman on the planet is shoved under the microscope as much as Markle. Ever since she entered the British royal family in 2018, we have not taken our eyes off her. What does this say about her? What does this say about us?
She invited only one family member to her wedding, scribbled feel-good messages on bananas to sex workers and took a private jet for her baby shower. Perhaps over-conscious of her biracial status, middle-class origins and being a divorcee, Markle keeps bringing up her own innate fears about what people may be targeting her for. But by personally expanding general vocabulary with ‘Markled’ (for allegedly ghosting those who no longer serve her purpose) and ‘Megxit’ (a one-word description of that royal exit with hubby, Prince Harry), she very soon into this marriage gave us a public figure to lock all our hate on.
Everyone needs a punching bag and we work best as a mob. Bringing all our familial frustrations and personal grievances out is healing for us, no doubt, and that is where Markle comes in. She represents all that’s dysfunctional under one roof: she reminds us of that aunt who took our fun uncle away from us after the marriage, a relative who lies and is caught lying but won’t admit to lying, a sister-in-law we can’t figure out, a daughter-in-law determined to keep our grandkids from us.
Many of her statements in her recent Archewell podcasts and a magazine interview have been dissected and mocked at. When she said her husband is lucky to have met her—and not the other way around—there were sniggers. For all her talk about philanthropy and altruism, she is yet to visit her ill and estranged dad. His resemblance to her son, from the one-odd picture of him in circulation, is another factoid from the Markle universe that tickles us.
Somehow she has come to stand for inauthenticity and inaccuracy. Her interview with Oprah Winfrey has come up for much scrutiny, with many statements, it is claimed, not adding up. And she did end up lending a soap opera touch to the queen’s funeral. Her curtsy was criticised for being a photo-op, the hand-holding with Harry termed juvenile, and the candle that covered her face during the funeral service became a celebrity of its own.
Criticising Markle then is more than an international hobby because it is also allowing people to voice discontent with their own family members. She becomes that sole relative everyone else bonds over. Perhaps even the royal family has never been quite this united before—now that there is a Markle to talk about at dinner.
Shinie Antony
Author
shinieantony@gmail.com