A version of this story appeared in the August 6 edition of CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls. Sign up here.
Why are people so fascinated by royalty? For some it’s the mystique, while it’s the curiosity factor for others.
Meghan and Harry have done a lot to expose the inner workings of the British monarchy and show that life as a royal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But, if anything, this has only increased interest.
With television, radio, podcasts, the internet, social media platforms and the rest of our overly saturated media landscape, people want more and more. Harry promises to deliver with the memoir he’s working on, but in the meantime, people will take anything they can on royal life.
Take this week’s news that Meghan is marking her 40th birthday by launching a female mentorship initiative. She did so with a sleek, beautifully lit video, apparently filmed at the couple’s Montecito mansion. The moment offered royal-watchers a glimpse into her new home in California and the chance to spot Easter eggs (like her star sign necklaces) and other subtle nods in the background, which the press pounced upon.
Elle magazine wrote: “Meghan Markle gives rare glimpse inside her Montecito home and invitation to mentor for her 40th birthday.” The UK’s Daily Telegraph broke down the “Twelve hidden messages in the Sussexes’ stylish study.” While British online newspaper the Independent highlighted Meghan’s “spacious desk,” which “included room for a quartz crystal, placed on one corner, a gold vase filled with white flowers, a decorative glass bottle, and two white and gold trays, while viewers also noticed that the desk held multiple framed photos of Meghan’s family.”
No detail was too small.
“In the corner closest to Meghan, the desk held a decorative tray bearing a plate of cookies and a teacup,” the Independent write-up added.
These tidbits may seem trivial but they’re part of a strategy used by royals (and celebrities, if we’re honest) to connect with their audience and find common ground. Do you share a home furnishing color palette with the Sussexes? Are you also a cookie monster? If so, you’re connected – there’s an unspoken bond.
Meghan has been in the spotlight long enough to know how the media and public will respond to moments like this. And critics may question why she allowed cameras into her home, given her well-publicized concerns about media privacy. But she’s also aware that it’s her profile that allows her voice to carry so far.
There is a cost to her privacy that she is willing to accept to promote her work. And she’s hardly the first royal to do so. One of the more recent examples was Princess Anne offering up a peek at her pretty normal-looking living room as she watched some rugby on TV, while news outlets routinely unpick the decor in the background of the Queen’s annual Christmas message.
In offering herself up in the short but sweet sketch on her milestone birthday, Meghan’s got us talking about her underlying but vastly more important message: supporting women in the post-pandemic workforce. Which is exactly what she would have hoped for. Now that she’s in complete control of her publicity, we’re getting a sense of where Meghan is drawing the line on how far she will let people in.
WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?
Kate’s portraits of Holocaust survivors.
The Duchess of Cambridge says she is “honoured” to have her own photographs of Holocaust survivors and their families form part of a new exhibition in London. Kate photographed Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein, whom she described as “two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet,” as part of a 2020 project to commemorate 75 years since the end of the Holocaust. The new Imperial War Museum display brings together more than 50 contemporary portraits for the first time, according to the Cambridges’ social media accounts, which shared the news Friday. “The photographs present a group of survivors who made the UK their home after beginnings marked by unimaginable loss and trauma. While offering a space to remember and share their stories, these portraits are a celebration of the full lives they have lived and the special legacy which their children and grandchildren will carry into the future,” the Instagram post read.
Seeing the Queen sitting alone was the hardest part of Prince Philip’s funeral for family.
The image of the Queen by herself at Prince Philip’s funeral in April as a result of Covid restrictions hit the royal family just as much as it did the wider public, one of the Queen’s grandchildren revealed this week. Speaking to the BBC, Peter Phillips – Princess Anne’s older child – said: “Everybody saw the image of Her Majesty sitting alone. It would have been the same for any other family, the hardest part is not being able to hug those closest to the person who’s been lost.” Phillips said his grandfather had “lived a remarkable life” and “would not want us to be moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves.” He added that as pandemic restrictions have eased, the Queen has “been able to see the great-grandchildren” and the wider family was just “trying to support her.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Teen’s design chosen as emblem for Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Graphic design student Edward Roberts’ purple and white logo has been chosen to mark the nationwide party celebrating the Queen’s 70 years on the throne next summer. The competition to design the official emblem of the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee was run by the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum with Buckingham Palace. It will feature prominently at festivities as well as appearing on Jubilee publications, merchandise and online. Nineteen-year-old Roberts said he wanted to “give a modern twist to the iconic elements of St. Edward’s Crown” and opted for purple as a color synonymous with royalty.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester attends the Founder’s Day Parade at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Thursday in London. The event celebrates the establishment of the facility – which serves as a retirement and nursing home for British Army veterans – by King Charles II in 1692. The hospital’s residents, affectionately known as Chelsea Pensioners, attend the ceremony each year as does a member of the royal family. Richard is the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary and a paternal first cousin of the Queen.
FROM THE ROYAL VAULT
Prince Charles paid tribute to the Queen Mother on Wednesday, on what would have been her 121st birthday. His Instagram account posted a heartwarming black and white family snap with the caption: “On this day in 1900, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was born.”
The young prince, dressed smartly in a suit and tie, poses alongside his sister, Anne, while his late grandmother holds their younger sibling, Prince Andrew, on her lap.
Taken in the grounds of Clarence House – the Queen Mother’s residence at that time – in the 1960s, the family portrait also features one of the Queen’s corgis, sitting at the family matriarch’s feet.
