The part of being a royal Meghan Markle found most frustrating
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry look like they've comfortably settled into their new lives as non-working royals. After stepping down as senior members of the royal family earlier this year, the couple briefly spent some time in Canada with their son Archie, before the family relocated to LA.
Although Meghan and Harry's new arrangement with the royal family is only thought to be a one-year trial, we're not sure we'll ever see them return to their duties. Not only is the couple keen on financial independence, having recently signed a pretty lucrative professional speaking deal with an agency that also represents the Obamas, but the Sussexes are also in the process of building their own non-profit organisation, Archewell, which will be the focus of their careers going forward.
And then there's the fact that, tiaras and fancy events aside, there are actually some pretty major downsides to being a royal. In court documents relating to Meghan Markle's legal case against a newspaper that she alleges published multiple false stories about her and her family, as well as printing extracts from a personal letter that she wrote to her father, the Duchess revealed the most frustrating part of being in the royal family member.
As well as explaining that she suffered mentally during her pregnancy, the official documents reveal that Meghan felt frustrated by the 'no comment' policy generally enforced by the royal family, when it regarded claims she felt were simply untrue.
'The Claimant had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media... As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself,' the statement read.
Speaking to People, a source explained: 'The go-to position [at the palace] was no comment or to ignore stories, and people actively prevented her from responding to stuff that we knew to be untrue. That is what she is taking issue with.'
While the royals do occasionally respond to articles they claim to be untrue - for example, they did so with a recent Tatler article which suggested Kate Middleton was 'fed up with the extra workload' - it's not commonplace for them to make comment on much of the media commentary. And considering just how much was being written about Meghan after the royal wedding and throughout her pregnancy, there would have been a lot of denials to be issuing.
Still, you can totally see how it would wear a person down, not to feel like they could clarify the truth. And it did affect Meghan Markle; in an interview for documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which was filmed during the Sussexes' autumn tour of Africa last year, the Duchess told presenter Tom Bradby that she was struggling.
Speaking about all the tabloid articles written about her, she said: "You've got to thrive and you've got to feel happy and I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging.
'I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought that it would be fair. And that's the part that's really hard to reconcile,' she added. 'When people are saying things that are just untrue, and they're being told they're untrue but they're allowed to still say them, I don't know anybody in the world that would feel like that's okay.'
Hopefully living a life where they've got that bit more control over what the public hear will be just what Meghan needs to get her health and happiness back in order.
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