It has come to our attention lately that the British press seems to have a double standard when it comes to Meghan Markle. Apparently she can do no right, and is constantly criticized for doing some of the same things that Kate Middleton has done, for being Black, or for simply not being British. This outrageous discrimination can be tracked very clearly in the headlines of the British Press.
1. Avocado Toast
A well-known comparison between Meghan and Kate, this one makes us slightly sick. Kate was given avocados while she was pregnant to help with her morning sickness.
When Meghan used the same remedy to help with her own queasiness during pregnancy, the press blamed her for contributing to major world problems such as environmental damage and death.
2. Harry's Hair Loss
Somehow the British press has seen fit to call attention to the balding patch at the back of Harry's head--and to blame Meghan for it, instead of his age.
Sure, stress does cause hair loss. But stress can come from all different sources, such as having one's family picked apart by the press. Meghan is probably helping his hair stay on his head!
3. Dark Nail Polish
Another nit-picky day in the British Press led to Meghan being criticized for her nail polish color. According to the media, dark polish is taboo for a lady in the royal family.
There must be absolutely nothing else going on in Britain for the media to stoop so low as to be commenting on a woman's nail color. Is everything else in the country perfect that this is the only newsworthy thing to discuss?
4. Baby Bump
It is extremely common for pregnant women to lightly rest their hands on their growing stomachs. Some say that this is a protective gesture by the woman, others claim that it is to elicit a protective response from other people.
Regardless of the biology behind it, all pregnant women do it. However, the press called Meghan out on it, claiming that she was drawing attention to herself on purpose, for photo ops.
5. Church Smell
Another example of the double standard held for Meghan by the media is the story of the scent in the church where she and Harry were married. When William and Kate were married in the same chapel, Kate insisted on lighting her favorite scented candles to mask the musty odor of the old building.
When Meghan requested to have candles lit to mask that same scent, her request was denied, and she was ridiculed by the press as being a bridezilla.
6. Racist Overtones
Even when they first started dating, one of the subjects that the press liked to discuss most was the color of Meghan's skin. Headlines went so far as to call our her Black heritage or to suggest that she grew up in a poor, crime-ridden community.
This is horribly racist and discriminatory, and it is no wonder that Meghan has had such a difficult time with the press if this is how their relationship began.
7. Wearing the Pants
Meghan is a renowned fashion icon, even guest-editing an issue of Vogue magazine. Even so, the media picks apart every outfit she chooses, no matter how stylish.
When Meghan wore a stylish tuxedo to an award ceremony in an attempt to be understated and out of the spotlight, the press blasted her wardrobe choice claiming that she was not dressed like a princess.
8. About A Hat
We all know that the royal institution is all about pomp and circumstance, and requires that protocol be followed in every situation, down to the last detail.
When Meghan met the Queen for the first time, she was supposed to have worn a hat, but apparently was not. The media blew the whole affair out of proportion. When Kate did the same thing the first time she had met the Queen, no one said a word about it.
9. Absent Father
In an attempt to get more information about Meghan, the press tracked down her parents and gave them gifts in an attempt to get some insider information. They could hardly go about their normal, everyday lives.
Meghan discovered that her father had been selling information to the media, and therefore uninvited him from her wedding. When the press found out, they attempted to make it seem like it was her fault and not their own.
10. Runaway Princess
Shortly before her wedding to Harry, a talk show in Australia speculated that the marriage would not last, and that Meghan would run away just like she did from her first marriage.
This is horribly insulting, and implies that there is something wrong with Meghan herself, as opposed to something going awry in her first marriage. Thankfully it seems that Meghan and Harry remain committed to each other despite all comments otherwise.
11. Christening Scandal
The British press presented a scandal surrounding the christening of Meghan and Harry's son, stating that the couple kept it a secret from the Queen and when she found out they had to rearrange everything in order for her to attend.
The Queen actually missed the christening of William and Kate's son as well due to her exceptionally busy schedule, a fact that was presented quite calmly by the media with no fuss whatsoever.
12. Closing a Door
This scandal was so exaggerated that after people explained it to us we still did not understand what had happened. Apparently, when Meghan closed the door of the car she exited people were offended.
With people taking to Twitter to express their disgust we heard such statements of:
"I've never seen an on-duty princess [do that]" and "She must stop that!".
Honestly, we're still confused…
"I've never seen an on-duty princess [do that]" and "She must stop that!".
Honestly, we're still confused…
13. Visibly Pregnant
Having a baby bump while pregnant is not something we'd expect to be controversial, however when it comes to Meghan Markle we need to have different expectations than for everyone else.
Meghan was being called out for LOOKING PREGNANT! One Tweet even said: "Yes, all that baby bump-overdoing thing is tiring… Why can’t she just stand normal, in particular at official occasions? She is just constantly showing off and this is really disgusting and repelling"
14. Birth Pictures
There is an expectation of the women of the royal family to present themselves mere hours after giving birth in order to show off their freshly minted offspring. To us, that seems absolutely insane.
Apparently it did to Meghan and Harry as well, who stated that they would meet the press with their son when they were good and ready. This did not sit well with the media, who claimed that they were breaking with tradition.
15. The Royal Knee
The press had a field day about the fact that Princess Charlotte's face appeared on Meghan Markle's knee. Yes, we had to read that twice as well.
It is unclear why this was newsworthy or how they could have determined this to begin with, but it seems exceptionally obnoxious to attempt to paint over Meghan's own body with the image of a more "respectable" royal.
16. Christmas
Meghan and Harry were once again in the hot seat of the British media for apparently turning down the Queen's invitation and skipping Christmas with the extended royal family.
William and Kate did the same thing two years running, and spent the holidays with Kate's family instead. At the time, no one said a word. Cue that double-standard once again. Even we're getting tired of all this nonsense.
17. Legs For Days
On their tour of New Zealand, Meghan wore a modest blue dress that covered her elbows and knees. The press determined that in the right light, if we squint, we can see the outline of Meghan's legs.
After examining countless photos, we have to say that we're a little confused as to what all the fuss is about. All we see is a lovely pattern on a blue dress...
18. Strap-gate
One of the biggest scandals was a tiny bit of bra strap that was visible for a moment under Meghan's shirt. The press created a story out of nothing, in our opinion.
The only thing this shows is that Meghan wears a bra. That's definitely not newsworthy, since all women have this problem at some time or another. Maybe the story should have been about how bras need to be reengineered to be more comfortable for women around the world.
19. Too Much Black
Meghan is constantly criticized by the press for wearing too much black clothing. There is nothing wrong with black, and we actually think it is incredibly stylish and Meghan looks great in it.
We're quite shocked at how the media feels the need to undermine Meghan's personal style to such an extent. We all like wearing black, it goes with everything!
20. She Sat in a Chair
We can easily imagine that adjusting to life as a royal comes with certain challenges, like having to remember different rules and requirements that sometimes go against the way we were raised.
In this instance, the press called Meghan out for momentarily forgetting that she is supposed to cross her legs to the side. Come on! We would have a difficult time changing thrity-year-old habits, too!
21. Meghan vs Kate
It may seem obvious at this point, but the press is big on comparing Meghan to Kate. To put it more bluntly: Kate is on a pedestal that Meghan, in the eyes of the press, will never reach.
The press tries to create drama between the sisters-in-law, but we like to think that they still manage to get along, and maybe even remain friends. After all, we have seen that the media can be incredibly unreliable.
22. Wedding Dresses
Personally, we think that Meghan's wedding dress was beautiful. Once again, she chose something that suited her personal needs and style, and she seemed to be happy and confident on her wedding day.
The press, on the other hand, couldn't say enough about how her dress didn't fit properly, particularly how her dress did not live up to the wow-factor of Kate's fairytale royal wedding dress.
23. Showing Shoulder
Meghan received a lot of pushback for the off the shoulder gown that she wore to the British Fashion Awards for no apparent reason, other than the fact that she looked too "Hollywood," whatever that means.
This of course is complete hypocrisy given that both the Queen and Kate have worn off the shoulder gowns in years past and no one said a word about it. Clearly Meghan is the odd woman out.
24. Privacy Policies
After being dragged through the press so many times, it is no wonder that Meghan and Harry are so concerned with their privacy these days. However, even this won't stop the haters.
There are still people out there who are claiming that Meghan and Harry should just accept the fact that they no longer have privacy--that maybe it isn't even their right to have it. That's just nuts to us.
25. Undersharing
Despite the fact that Meghan and Harry prefer to keep details of their life private, there are those who are urging them to publicize details of their life anyway. Why? Who knows.
Maybe to keep the public satisfied, or to prevent any criticism or people wondering about their life? It seems a bit backwards to us, but we don't work in public relations.
26. The Piers Program 1
Piers Morgan wrote an obnoxious letter to Meghan and Harry posing as an advice column about how they should "handle the media." Piers had several steps to this plan.
One of those steps simply included not showing off. Wait, what? Meghan and Harry have a team of professional PR people who are paid to manage their public appearances and exposure in relation to the rest of the royal family. They're not showing off, they're following orders.
27. The Piers Program 2
Piers continued his helpful letter by stating that the royal couple should not make insincere comments that make others feel that they're joking. Um, what? Why wouldn't we take what they say seriously?
Meghan and Harry are individuals with their own opinions, but they also represent the institution of the British monarchy. Sometimes they have to be diplomatic, and that may on occasion come off as slightly insincere. But once again, they're just following orders.
28. Double Standards
We've already mentioned how the media holds Meghan to an impossible standard that she can never meet, because the press is never satisfied. Well here's a good one: they think she has her own double standards, and are calling her on it.
Talk about hypocrisy! We don't even know what to make of this one. It's all around very confusing to us, considering all she has had to put up with since joining the royal family.
29. Stop the Wokeness
Meghan and Harry do a lot of charity work, as do all of the members of the royal family. Apparently, their choice of charities are just too "woke" for some people's taste.
It seems a waste not to use such a large platform not to promote the values that are important, so we're not sure why Meghan is taking so much heat for supporting the causes she believes in.
30. Stop Acting Like the Odd Woman Out
Meghan has been critiqued for insisting that she is a black woman within a part of society that is, by definition, very white. We have seen before that the press can be quite racist.
In this case, they seem to be saying that Meghan should put her Black identity aside and just be a royal, and to stop making a fuss about racism and discrimination.
31. Home-work
Instead of traveling and trying to solve the world's problems, the media thinks that Meghan should focus on fixing the rift that has opened between her and the royal family.
We must note here that it is often the media that spins these tales to an extent, so the relationship between Meghan and Harry and the rest of the royal family may not be as bad as it seems from the outside.
32. Do Your Duty
Somehow, despite all of the hard work and philanthropy that Meghan and Harry do, they are still being told to just...do their duty by doing charity work?
We're stumped with this one, since this makes it seem as though the press is completely unaware of the effort that this royal couple makes to use their status to improve the world.
33. Diet Pills
Meghan's picture was used without her permission in an advertisement for diet pills (which we all know never work). The media, of course, was very quick to grab onto this story without verifying whether she was actually promoting the product.
The press proceeded to fat shame Meghan, using images from her past in an attempt to show that she needed to lose weight, when in fact she looks pretty much the same.
34. COVID Queen (or Princess)
The media was quick to associate Meghan with COVID 19 as well. When Prince Charles contracted the illness, Harry wanted to fly to England to see his father. Meghan said no.
She was painted as being a heartless wife who didn't care about her father in law. In fact, she was just concerned about her husband traveling during a global pandemic, and was trying to follow the guidelines set forth by the World Health Organization.
35. Princess Eugenie vs Meghan
The press had been trying to drum up some drama between Meghan and Princess Eugenie ever since Meghan and Harry announced their engagement just before Princess Eugenie's wedding.
To add fuel to the fire, the couple also released their pregnancy announcement several days after Princess Eugenie gave birth to her own child. While the media is trying to make this into a feud, Meghan and Princess Eugenie remain good friends.
36. Disrespecting the Queen
When Meghan and Harry decided to leave the royal family and forgo their titles, Meghan was shamed for leading Harry astray and disrespecting the Queen. Given the treatment they've had in the limelight, it makes sense that they would want to leave the royal institution.
It is highly likely that the Queen understood as well. We like to think that she only wants the best for her grandson and his wife. And it's not like Meghan and Harry are gone forever--we're sure they visit quite often.
37. They're On A Break
The press would like nothing more than for Meghan and Harry to break up. In fact, a tabloid ran a story about the couple splitting up using tips from several anonymous sources.
Unfortunately, the couple announced that they were pregnant the day after this article ran in the tabloids. Clearly the couple splitting up was just wishful thinking. We're glad they've managed to ignore the bad press so far!
38. Hair extensions
Meghan Markle uses hair extensions. Frankly, we don't give a damn. And neither should anyone else. She may be a member of the royal family, but she's still human.
She should be able to do whatever she wants in order to feel good about herself. If that includes getting hair extensions, then who are we to judge? Maybe the press needs a makeover of its own.
39. Archie's Birth Certificate
Naturally, there has to be a scandal surrounding their son's birth certificate. Originally, Meghan and Harry's names were written on baby Archie's birth certificate. A few days later, her name was changed to "Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex."
Somehow, the press managed to make it seem as though there were some sort of malicious intentions behind the name change. In all honestly, it seems somewhat sad to us that Meghan's name was essentially removed from her son's birth certificate.
40. The Scandal of the Exes
Finally, on a long list of things that Meghan is not allowed to do: have previous boyfriends. This one just takes the cake, in our opinion. It seems as though the expectation was that she should have just been sitting around waiting for Harry for her entire life.
Everyone has some sort of previous relationships. We understand that the press is not a fan of Meghan being divorced, but the past is the past, and they need to let it go.