The Real Reason A Palace Aide Supposedly Rolled Their Eyes At Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle has not been able to catch a break since marrying Prince Harry and into the royal family. Case in point: the Daily Mail reports that in a new Channel 4 doc, "A Very Royal Baby: From Cradle to Crown," which aired in the UK on May 18, a palace aide thought that having a baby shower was "trashy."
According to the outlet, Meghan flew to New York City via a private jet back in 2019 to celebrate her pregnancy with about 20 close friends, including Serena Williams, Amal Clooney, and Gayle King. Overall, the vacay and the shower itself cost about $500,000. Although some Americans might roll their eyes at that price tag, a staff member threw shade because they supposedly found the affair to be a little low class. Omid Scobie says in the doc, via the Daily Mail, "I remember speaking to a palace aide at the time who rolled their eyes, they were horrified that something so common was happening within the House of Windsor." Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, added that the guests "walked in through the front entrance carrying these enormous bags from the most expensive shops in New York," which made the situation worse.
To be honest, that sort of sounds like a fun VIP party, right? So what was the big deal?
Meghan Markle's baby shower just didn't compute with the palace
Meghan Markle met Prince Harry when she was already a celebrity, so it makes sense that she is friends with other celebs and Hollywood elite and that she would want to spend a couple of days in New York City with them before returning to the UK to give birth. It makes sense to most people, but palace aides apparently just didn't understand the concept of a baby shower at all. Omid Scobie told The Daily Mail, "While the trip had been a hit with Meghan, senior courtiers back in the UK were spitting out their morning tea when they saw her lavish baby shower thrown by friends turn into a media circus with what looked like carefully stage-managed paparazzi walks of the duchess in big black sunglasses from her hotel to her car and a laundry list of insider party details reported by US press."
He added that a celeb baby shower was "as far from British tradition as you can get." "We had never seen someone throw this very lavish affair to celebrate the impending arrival of a baby," Scobie said. Talk about something being lost in translation! If anything, a VIP baby shower in New York City with designer gifts likely sounds like a dream to most Americans, but the Brits? They just couldn't handle it. Meghan never really had a chance at winning them over, it seems.
Meghan was miserable living at the palace
These comments about Meghan Markle's baby shower add more context to the stories that she and Prince Harry told in their interview with Oprah Winfrey back in March 2021. In that interview, Meghan admitted that she was miserable holed up in the palace and at times had even considered suicide. "I just didn't see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just like, 'I don't understand how all of this is being churned out' — and again I wasn't seeing it — but it's almost worse when you feel it through the expression of my mom or my friends or them calling me crying like, 'Meg, they're not protecting you.' And I realized it was all happening just because I was breathing," she said of the negative press (via Yahoo! News).
Knowing that she was so depressed during those times gives more context into why she would want to jet set to New York City for a baby shower and a visit with friends, right?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving on
Since stepping back from their royal duties back in 2020, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have seemingly been doing much better. Although his relationship with his father and brother might be strained, Harry seems to be enjoying working in the entertainment world and making the rounds with the American press. After the Oprah Winfrey interview, Harry also appeared on Dax Shepard's podcast 'Armchair Expert' to talk about mental health. He told Shepard (via CNN) that growing up in the royal family was like growing up in a "zoo," and that he had known for a long while that he wasn't really cut out for it.
Now in the States, he feels a little freer. "Living here now I can actually lift my head and actually I feel different... you can walk around feeling a little bit more free," Harry said. That's a far cry from him and Meghan laying awake at night worrying about the U.K. media or what a palace aide is saying about them and their behavior.