Inside Meghan Markle’s image repair job
Meghan Markle is deliberately seeking to transmit a humble image on her trip to South Africa in a concerted attempt to shift opinion in her favor after a “summer of hell” in which she was criticized as elite, difficult and out-of-touch.
As part of the campaign, The New York Post reports, Meghan has been photographed sitting on the floor with fellow moms, hugging impoverished kids, wearing cheap-ish clothes (on her first royal tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, Meghan wore Stella McCartney and Oscar de la Renta, this time it’s a Madewell denim jacket) and has also left her $140,000 engagement ring at home.
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The Post claims this is all the work of Keleigh Thomas Morgan and other executives at newly hired PR consultants Sunshine Sachs, known for their celebrity image repair work.
“Meghan knew she needed help, [so] she reached out to a very few trusted people, including Keleigh,” a source says. “She has a few girlfriends in the U.K. who are extremely well versed in British media.”
Sunshine Sachs says it has been hired only to help with Harry and Meghan’s charitable Sussex Foundation, however seasoned observers see the company’s fingerprints all over the candy being dished out to the media, including the first proper appearance of baby Archie Harrison.
On one’s shit list
Boris Johnson, Britain’s beleaguered prime minister who is having trouble getting anything done, has joined the Queen’s all-time list of shame, and will never receive her highest honors after lying to her and dragging her into the country’s divisive Brexit battle.
This week, the Supreme Court found that Johnson had lied to the queen when he asked her to suspend Parliament for five weeks. Johnson told the queen it was just a run-of-the-mill suspension to allow a new session to begin, but the Supreme Court found it was a deeply political stunt to stop Parliament blocking his plans.
Johnson refused to say publicly if he had apologized to the queen, but The Sunday Times reports that he did so immediately after the judgment was handed down. This has not prevented her extreme irritation with Johnson for lying to her and dragging her into the politics, and was not helped by the fact that just a few days earlier she had also been betrayed by Johnson’s predecessor but one, David Cameron, who inexplicably revealed in the course of promoting his memoir that he had asked the Queen to intervene in the Scottish independence referendum, and that she had obliged.
A palace source told The Sunday Times: “It’s difficult to tell which of them they are crosser with, Cameron or Boris.” A courtier said Johnson would never get the Order of the Garter, the highest honor in the Queen’s gift. “Boris joins Cameron and [Tony] Blair,” the source said. “Not in the Queen’s lifetime will any of them ever receive the garter.”
Meghan Will Regret Rien
Meghan Markle, who is on a blockbuster tour of Southern Africa with her husband Harry and baby Archie (who was unveiled to the press this week) has told a gathering of female entrepreneurs that she won’t let her own needs “fade away” under the pressure of fulfilling royal duties, and said she is still determined to “fulfil her heart’s desires.”
Meghan reportedly made the comments during a meeting with the “Ladies Who Launch” business group, and she also talked about the challenges of being a “working mom” to baby Archie.
According to the Daily Mirror, Matsi Modise, the founder of skills training company Simodisa, said: “Meghan talked about being a mother and having duties as a duchess and fulfilling what her heart desires—and that it can’t just fade away now that she’s a duchess.”
A dirty job but someone’s got to do it
Protecting the royals on private holidays has been blamed for a surge in police overseas travel costs. The Daily Mail reports that new figures published by the London Mayor’s office show the amount paid by London cops for flights and hotel rooms was £6.6 million last year, up from £3.3 million in 2015-16.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The increase in flight costs between 2017/18 and 2018/19 is due to an increase in demand, including a significant increase in long-haul travel, with Specialist Ops and in particular the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, experiencing additional demand.”
However, as the Mail points out, spending on official royal tours has stayed steady at about £2.7 million for the past three years, suggesting some of the rise is down to royals taking private holidays.
Royal fashion watch
There’s only one fashion game in town this week, and that has been the lovely, casual outfits of Meghan and Harry on their African trip. No formal stuffiness, just clothes perfect for dancing, talking, and connecting with the people in all the places they have visited—like Meghan’s striped maxi dresses by Martin Grant.
And, ahem, standout African trip fashion trophy goes to a certain iconic bobble hat, as worn by a certain baby Archie—a nod, the media thought, to another fashion moment of Prince Harry's when he was a baby being carried by his mom Princess Diana.
This week in royal history
On Oct. 3, 2018, Kate Middleton returned to royal duties following her maternity leave from having baby Louis the previous April. She visited Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground—one of a few selected engagements she undertook through the end of 2018. She returned to her full royal diary in January.
Unanswered questions
Will Prince Andrew ever be able to visit America again? The prince is said to be concerned that touching down on U.S. soil could expose him to a whole new slew of Epstein-related legal problems. News that the FBI is intensifying its investigations into him is unlikely to persuade him of the need for a stateside holiday anytime soon. “The U.S. investigation is focusing on several potential victims in the hope that they can provide more details about Prince Andrew and his connection to the Epstein case,” U.S. Department of Justice officials told The Sunday Times. “They are not going to dismiss [claims relating to Andrew] because he is a royal.”
