Meghan Vs. Kate: A Clash of Two Classes

I am no aficionado on British Drama. I avoid “Keeping Up With The Monarchy” almost out of spite. My girlfriend loves watching the Prince Harry/Meghan Markle engagement announcement video and so, I unwillingly agreed to join her on the Oprah interview airing tonight. I hate even writing this, but my newsletter has come to reflect my mother’s taste in television: The Bachelor and the Royal Engagement.

On Sunday, March 7th, Oprah aired an interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Admittedly, I have a vague understanding of Meghan Markle (once saw a Tiktok of her “sucking dick” on some trashy show like Degrassi). I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in anyway, but I have been in tune with the racist British media and their commitment to paint her as the villain, an incredibly obvious hill they’re willing to die on. Even in this interview, Harry says he noticed the sinister undertones pop up eight days after their engagement. He didn’t think being interracial would be a problem. Unfortunately, the tabloids say otherwise.

There are hundreds of takes on the Kate-Meghan-dynamic/drama. Let me add another to the mix, an outline on the differences that still divides the 1%. The avocado incident was the best example of this, the most clear cut example of what would always be a divide between the two newly weds. Both women were spotted outside eating avocados during pregnancy. However, the incident for Meghan was painted as anything other than innocuous.

Kate and William: “Prince William was given one of the green fruit — wrapped up in a bow — by a little boy who’s mother is suffering during her pregnancy too… ‘He said he’d take it to [Kate] and see what happens — and said good luck for [the boy’s] mummy.’” Express: Sept. 14, 2017

Meghan: “The pregnant Duchess of Sussex and so-called ‘avocado on toast whisperer’ is wolfing down a fruit linked to water shortages, illegal deforestation and all round general environmental devastation.” Express: Jan. 23, 2019

I read a Buzzfeed article on this a few days after the incident. I looked up British tabloids exposing this and dove into a world I never expected would be so obvious in the media, how sites like Daily Mail could consistently uphold one example of monogamy and slam another one. If it wasn’t Kate and Will being coddled for skipping Christmas, it was Kate and Will under the spotlight for creating a company similar to Meghan and Harry.

While the white couple thrives under a system designed to provide them everything their heart could desire, the interracial couple fails under that same system.

I know very little about Kate Middleton besides this, she was Will’s college sweetheart. Quite honestly, I never wanted to know anything about her because she seems like she has the personality of a foot. I detest cis-het couples, marriage and those in power separately so when combined: it’s a cesspool of hate for Meg. Kate upholds a thousand year old system designed on the backs of racism, classism, and colonialism. Can I be frank? She is the poster child for passing the baton.

I never realized how bad she was until the Oprah interview with Meghan and this is the reason I want to highlight why I am #TeamMeghan, as we all are. As Oprah asks Meghan a question about the drama surrounding the dresses she picked out for her wedding, she points to the fact British media painted her as a Bridezilla. Even googling “Meghan Markle Bridezilla,” a slew of outlets come up on page one. Finally, posed with this question, Meghan breaks free of the last chain it seems her and Harry are under. Instead of owning up to what has been pinned on her, she admits that Kate was the one who made her cry that day.

This is what got me hooked on Harry and Meghan. As someone waiting for the can of worms to erupt on Matt James and Rachael’s engagement announcement, I am FLOORED on the drama this will bring, the ultimate “fuck you” to a family that turned their backs on them when Parliament stood behind them. Ya’ll, I can’t even get into it, they implied they would not provide security for Archie because he was not a prince. They deliberated the rights of this child and whether they would offer protection or not simply because he could be mixed.

Even Oprah’s jaw was on the floor for Christsake.

Meghan pauses before delivering all of this, saying she would never want to paint Kate into a bad light but yes, she must set the record straight. Considering the fact she was suicidal during most of the time she stayed with the royal family, I want her to set the record straight, god Damnit. Even now as I write this, the Daily Mail responds to her claim that Kate made her cry with absolute neutral language despite slamming her time and time again, something they consistently let Kate get away with.

Speaking of Kate, let’s get to why I’m now #TeamMeghan (didn’t take much, since I have no stakes in this game).

I’m assuming we all understand racism and the class divide it creates but if not, let me break it down. No matter how high up a person of color can get, they will still face oppression in media, interactions, and the public eye. The greatest example of this is Obama, who was put under so much scrutiny he literally was called out for wearing a tan suit. People thought racism was cured because we had a black president, that love may truly exist because gay marriage is passed or an interracial couple has finally graced the royal family. Unfortunately, though, we still live in a society that will never let go of institutionalized racism.

If that goes, so will class warfare, the wage gap, tax breaks, and, in this instance, socioeconomic status.

Here lies the heart of the Kate/Meghan debate. Race is not only defined by low income and little access to good healthcare/education, it is also defined by social interactions. The media ate Kate up for disrupting the system and there would never be a chance to redeem herself because that chance would never exist. Discrimination and marginalization will constantly serve as a barrier towards upward mobility. No matter where you start or where you end up, the hurdles are made high to maintain a balance of power.

White denial is rooted in giving people of color positions of power and calling it a day, refusing to reflect on their own micro-aggressions and the system that supports it. Meghan briefly responds to a question from Oprah on a photo of her and Kate at Wimbledon and how happy she looks there. In response, Meghan indicates tension consistently existed from them, a battle of Yin and Yang constantly fighting for harmony. However, harmony could never exist between the two. For Kate to be friends with Meghan, she would have to relinquish her image to the media, a perfect person she has built up over time that could never fall to the Megxit.

Whether it was pressure from the royal family to be an outstanding heir to the throne or internalized pressure that caused her to create a rift between the two is uncertain. It is abundantly clear, however inadvertently Kate went about it, that befriending Meghan had too many ties to it. That in the act of being a decent human person, Kate failed because of her duties, to a nation, to a family. Time and time again, we’re fed the same story. Like Bacon’s Rebellion, a white and black battle against the ruling class in 1676 which resulted in a tighter drawing of racial lines, Kate saw no gain in befriending her equal. Instead, she pushed her heels further into status, providing her comfort at the expense of oppression. She managed to uphold everything the monarchy stood for when given the chance to push forward England’s first steps toward racial progress.

Great job, Kate.

And that is the story of why we are #TeamMeghan ladies and gentlemen. In the face of royalty, a class divide still exists: not inherently, but beneath the surface. It will take a lot more than an interview with Oprah to pave the way for marginalized communities in the UK but hey, at least Meghan is trying.

If you, like me, have no idea what’s going on with Meghan and Harry, I’ll catch you up on where they are now a la’ Oprah. They left the royal family after around eight months together, the weight placed upon Meghan’s shoulders for the split. After moving to Canada, security was revoked. Despite promising to carry on the commonwealth abroad, they ended up relocating to Los Angeles and, shockingly, crashed at Tyler Perry’s place. They had little baby Archie and started up a media content company called Archewell to support nonprofit and creative endeavors. Now, they live on a chicken farm, raising livestock and cookin’ eggs like the little Iowans they are. In fact, Prince Harry and Oprah are going to start a cooking show together.

Okay, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.

“My story is similar to the Little Mermaid,” says Merkle. “She lost her voice when she married the prince and then she got her voice back.” Yes, this is objectively the most open I’ve seen the Duchess and it’s not because I’ve never seen any interview with her ever before. It’s because she touched on things royalty often can’t because of image, suicide, mental rehabilitation, racism. She wavered often, remembering the scrutinty she’d face but mostly, she remembered what was at stake. Her dignity, her courage. How brave: to go against a country so rooted in racism. To hold a mirror to the racial reckoning that is now beginning here as well as abroad. Truthfully, I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Mostly, because my girlfriend will force me to see what she does next.