While the racists and idiots absolutely piss me off, I’m really mad that we didn’t get more storylines out of Trooping the Colour. The biggest stories were “the Cambridge kids are cute” and “Meghan wore navy.” Of course the Meg-haters have their storylines – something apocryphal about “Harry making Meghan cry!” – but let’s not even go there. I thought Trooping would bring us a million fun headlines like “Kate wears button-covered, puffy-sleeved monstrosity and a giant hat” or “Meghan breaks protocol by smiling in the presence of the Queen.” Something fun we could fight about, not the rantings of the unhinged peeps. So instead, we’re talking about this – Meghan is taking her cues from Kate about maternity leave. From Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair:
Riding in a horse-drawn carriage alongside Harry, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge (who was elegantly attired in a sunshine yellow coat dress), Meghan seemed delighted to be back in the royal fold. Sources close to the Duchess have told Vanity Fair that she was determined to be at Trooping to pay her respects to the Queen.
Meghan and Harry are understood to have left Archie behind with a newly appointed nanny who has been hired in recent weeks. But her appearance at Trooping the Colour does not mean she is back to work. According to a source who works closely with Meghan she will not be returning to full time duties until October.
“The Duchess is still on maternity leave and will not be returning to full time work until the fall,” the source said. “It was important to her to be at Trooping today out of respect to the Queen. She’s mirroring what the Duchess of Cambridge did on her maternity leave. You’ll probably see her at a few engagements but she won’t be back to work properly until later in the year.”
During the Trump state visit, Harry was invited to lunch with president Trump on the first day of the visit, and hung back notably in a group setting. But Meghan stayed home with baby Archie. Sources close to the duchess insist she was not snubbing the President but point out that “attending a state visit is very different to Trooping the Colour.”
This is pretty much what I assumed too – that we might see Meghan a few times this summer for a handful of events (or maybe even Wimbledon), but that she wouldn’t be back to any kind of schedule until September. I remember sources saying last year that Kate was determined to really have the summer off after giving birth to Prince Louis too, and while Kate did make a few summer appearances, she didn’t really get into gear until last October. It’s interesting that Meghan is letting people know that she’s “mirroring” what Kate did too, right? If you criticized Kate’s maternity leaves, then you’ll have a problem with Meg’s leave. But most people defended Kate’s leaves, so of course those same people will defend Meg’s leave, right??
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
This makes sense. I hope she enjoys her summer with her beautiful little boy.
Wishing her a great maternity leave. She looked beautiful at Trooping.
I don’t believe everything some of these magazines say, though,
I think Meghan won’t be mirroring Kate in much of anything, whatever Meghan decides it will be because she chose it herself.
Good for her. Enjoy time with the baby. I bet she will be doing a few events but has set the bar low so the “courtiers” don’t shade if she isn’t full time. This woman doesn’t have the same work ethic as Kate and she has proved that. That said, I will cut her some slack if she wants to spend time with her baby and has the luxury to do so.
You’re right. She doesn’t have the same work ethic as Kate and has proven it. Meghan’s work ethic is stronger and she is willing to show her work in person and in the organizations she supports through her royal social media account.
And I am not sure where you are from but mat/parental leave is not a luxury but a right for most women in the first world (except the US).
I seem to recall many, many people on this very website criticizing Kate’s maternity leave, on the basis that she didn’t deserve it because she didn’t do enough work while she was working. So, it will be interesting to see those same people fall all over themselves defending Meghan’s leave. Meanwhile, I believe the Scandinavian countries have it right, and up to 18 mo for mom and dad combined should be the standard around the world.
I’ll bite. None of these people have full-time jobs. They absolutely can venture out once a week, wave and smile for a few hours and go back home to their nanny, housekeepers and kids. I said that about Kate and I’ll say it about Meghan.
Agree x1000! Especially when they are wearing a $2500 dress, carrying a $2500 handbag and just had hair/make up professionally done. I like these girls, but life is not that hard in their realm.
I’ll disagree. Maternity leave should be a basic right all over the world and *is* in the U.K. That means that all women—ALL WOMEN—should be able to take all the leave they’re entitled to without outsiders saying they need to work more to “earn” it. And FFS, we gotta stop acting like maternity leave is a vacation. Carrying, delivering, and caring for a newborn—even with help—is so draining. Your body has been through the wringer and your hormones are all over the map, and then there’s this little person you need to get to know and bond with. It’s tough work.
What a horrible comment. If a working class woman had a baby would you say it wouldn’t kill her to leave her baby and go in to work for just a few hours a week? Nannies or no nannies your view is cruel.
I can see both points. I completely agree that Kate & Meghan do very little work and even when they do work, it’s usually only for a few hours and they have a nanny for the childcare. Plus I’m sure it’s not like they then have to go home to mountains of washing/ironing/tidying/cooking, like most mothers do.
At the same time, maternity leave is a right. Mothers get 3 months full pay and 6 months reduced I think. Last time I checked there was the option to take a full year but the last 6 months is unpaid. Things might be different now (my youngest is now 6 years old). It’s not easy for many mothers emotionally to leave their children for any length of time and that has nothing to do with money, status or hired help. It would be nice to see Meghan and Kate working the same hours that most other people do and having the same respect for their job and money but realistically that isn’t ever going to happen.
Spot on! This attitude that a parent has to deserve maternity or paternity leave is so damaging. Like it’s a holiday you’re taking. Maternity leave is bloody hard work, even when you have help.
It is SO damaging. And the world we’re in right now, where men are making laws that effectively penalize women for being women…well, we don’t need other women adding fuel to that fire.
Agreed, there was A LOT of commentary that she could go out a couple of hours two or three days a week etc.
I thought it sucked then and I don’t buy into it now. Yes, they are gilded birds in a cage, it does not change the toll childbirth takes on a body physically and emotionally. Both deserve maternity leave and both should have the space to decide what appearances they wish to attend. Maternity leave isn’t prison, nor should it be a competition.
Its starting already…
It’s not just Scandanavian countries. I’m Canadian and we also have up to 18 months mat leave. And you can split with your partner. My daughter was born in the states and my my husband got three weeks and everyone said that was a lot for a Dad. I was not working there at the time because I’d lost my work permit so got nothing obviously. We’re back in Canada now and not only do we get mat leave if we want to have another we also get monthly cash subsidies that covers 75% of daycare. And on top of that the federal and provincial government gives us thousands of dollars in family allowances a year to help with the general expensives of raising a kid. Plus no more hospital bills! They really want young familie to do well here. I could never have gone full on back into my career in the same way with the same support when I lived in the States. Women have to stand up and fight back. Mat leave and the right to affordable childcare should be a woman’s right. It’s not a handout. For a truly equal society between the sexes it’s essential.
@Stelly ~ It’s a hard earned right….(Cdn here). My kid is 35 y o…..I had 4 months before having to go back. Our experience was that we had just, just started to really work out the breast feeding bonanza (rough, rough start). Once kidling discovered how much easier getting fed from a bottle vs breast was….he weaned himself. I was gut-wrenched. He was six months before we really, truly were bonded. I was just in so much pain after the birth, the first 3.5 months were a complete fog. It’s different for each woman, but after mine own experience, I joined the fight for extended mat leave. We got it to 8 months, then finally to a year. I didn’t realize we made it to 18 months. Damn, I’m proud of us for that!!
Way to support Canadian families and women folk!!
@STelly this sounds amazing. I can only imagine what my life and family would be like if I lived in Canada with the time to be home and financial support as well. I am so envious.
75% subsidies in daycare? Which province you in, Quebec? Certainly not the case in Ontario where standard daycares are $1800-$2500/month. Thats assuming you can get a spot as they are near impossible to get, especially in Toronto.
Also note: Mat leave is only 3 months long covering the partner that gave birth. Parental leave, which either parent can take or split, makes up the other 9-15 months but even if you take the full 18, its the same total payout as 12 months so you really need to be financial set to cover the loss of one income for that time period.
I’ll take the bait as well and agree that while I shaded Kate, I’m not going to shade Megs. First and foremost Kate’s numbers are always low. This woman, Megs, has hit the ground running so I will cut her some slack. Kinda like the employee who works hard and puts in over time, that employee should be cut slack if they need it. But the employee who slacks off and doesn’t meet expectations, NOPE.
And a lot of you are right (BYTHESEA) Maternity leave is not a vacation. It is hard work. The bulk of us don’t have nannies and chefs and maids to help out. Complete agreement. I was alone and depressed all day with a baby that didn’t sleep and trying to get over my C-Section. So yeah, it’s nit even apples to oranges.
So it is fine to disregard both the physical and emotional toll on Kate’s body because you don’t like her work ethic, but it’s ok for another? The whole bonding thing, only contingent on perception of work ethic?
You are essentially saying that maternity leave is somehow earned and we get to decide who deserves it or not.
@Seraphina, yes, me too …. C-section, alone, depressed, baby didn’t sleep….Bless you and I hope you came out strong once the fog cleared
Maternity leave is maternity leave, it’s not allocated by whether we like the person or not. Kate deserved her maternity leave with no shade, Meghan deserves hers. And maternity “leave” is no walk in the park.
So some children are entitled to be cared for by their mother and others are not?
It’s not that Kate didn’t deserve maternity leave or time to bond with Louis or whatever. It’s that it felt disingenuous to call it that when she barely works anyway. just say Kate’s going to continue her normal summer schedule – Wimbledon, Trooping, another random appearance here and there, and some photos from Scotland. I feel the same when they say she’s taking a break because her kids are out of school. Is she taking a break, or is she just being Kate?
I know the Kate fans are going to come at me for that, but she barely works. It doesn’t mean that she doesn’t “deserve” leave. It means that its hard to tell when she is on leave and when she isn’t.
@SurelyGale, I hope you came out strong too. I wasn’t fairing well at first. And my husband would leave in wee hours of morning and come back 12 hours later. I remember my parents going to see my grandmother overseas and she scolded them for leaving me alone. I remember watching a Dr. Phil show about postpartum depression and it helped immensely. Knowing other women felt the same and hearing their stories was a break through. So I never laugh at Dr. Phil watchers. My mom would say: you have a great husband, a beautiful baby and you are at home with him, you have no reason to be down. But it’s so different for the person dealing with it. Like I said, hearing stories from other women helped immensely. I’m very open with people about issues since then. Keeping quiet does us no good. Especially women because our stories have never been truly listened to.
I hope you are doing well and overcame as well. I believe I’m stronger due to it. And I hope you are too.
You will cut “this woman” some slack? The definition of ‘cut some slack’ in the dictionary: to allow someone some leeway; make allowances for someone’s behaviour. Do you think maternity leave is something women should or shouldn’t get allowances for? Perhaps we should do away with maternity laws completely and have you decide on a case to case basis whether a particular woman has been a good enough employee to earn the time to recover and bond with her baby……..
I’m sorry you had it hard post-partum, I was in the same position and really struggled: C-section, PPD, isolation, no friends or family living close, husband working long hours. Some things would definitely have been easier with maids and nannies. But many things wouldn’t. Depression doesn’t care about your wealth or how good of an employee you are. And I’m sure you know that to foster a secure attachment with your child (which is the kind of attachment Kate and yes William too seem to have with their children) you have to be present and responsive to their needs. Nannies can only do so much. And you know how intense their needs are in those early months.
@Becks 1
Harry supposedly took 2 weeks of paternity leave, but looking at court circular the frequency of his engagements in that period wasn’t any different than if he weren’t on paternity leave. But I’m glad that he or his PR called it paternity leave because it sends a message at this time when paternity and maternity rights and family friendly policies in general are under constant threat. I think it’s far less damaging or disingenuous for Kate to call it maternity leave regardless of how much work she does or doesn’t do, than to push a narrative that she’s going to go back to work right away, however much work that actually is.
@andy – no one thinks Kate should have gone back to work right away. I hate that the narrative is either Kate gets the full maternity leave that other working mothers in the UK get, or she goes back to work the day after childbirth. No one is saying the latter.
When Kate is able to spend full days watching tennis at Wimbledon it is very hard to argue that she then cannot do a few engagements for patronages following that time. No one suggested that she start doing engagements in the days after delivery, but if she was able to be away from her kids for a solid eight hours of tennis, then obviously a few hours at non tennis engagements are possible and her children will survive as they did during Wimbledon.
Conflating the need for better maternity leave for non royal moms who have to work 40 hours a week with Kate’s luxurious lifestyle has been a deceptive practice used by many here to erase the obviously poor work ethic and the continuous fact that the children have been used as crutches to excuse low engagement numbers. And William has been just as bad.
The thing is that if you are nursing going anywhere for any period of time without the baby is hard in those first few months. They don’t always take bottle on command even if you pump milk. This seems totally reasonable for both Kate and Meghan.
+1
+1,000,000.
Absolutely!! As u say, baby might not take the bottle and It can get pretty uncomfortable for the mum
That is why l think that baby Archie May have been in London on the day of the Trooping of the colour, it is very hard for a new mother to leave a month old baby for more than just a couple of hours, and that event including travel must have taken a whole day.
The difference in responses might be attributed to the fact that MM worked a fair amount before giving birth and KM was not so pressed.
And that difference might be explained by the fact that Kate had hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme nausea) during her pregnancy and Meghan did not… I tend to agree with the commenters who are saying that you don’t get to pick and choose who you are going to support on a mat leave. Its a human right, whether you like them or not. I would love to see a post where we were talking about one of these women without comparing them to the other.
Their numbers were the same. This site should stop making the Sussexes appear as the work horses, when they are just as lazy as the Cambridges. For grown ass adults in their 30s their numbers are embarrissing low. Sorry but this whole got the ground running failed misreably.
Kate has not been pregnant for 8 solid years and her work numbers are ALWAYS low.
@mint – its really hard to do a direct comparison of Kate and Meghan, because in Meghan’s first year of marriage she was pregnant. But for 2018 she did 126 engagements, 25 of which were pre-wedding, and Kate did 77. So far for 2019 Meghan is at 38, Kate is at 51, which is not a striking difference considering Meghan has been on maternity leave for over 2 months at this point. In 2016 (a year when kate was not pregnant or on maternity leave) she did 138. In 2011 Kate did 34 events after her wedding (I’m assuming that doesn’t include the Canada tour, and Meghan’s numbers for her first year do include her tour.)
those may be off by a bit, its just what I found on a quick google. The 2011 numbers were hard to find.
Anyway, I agree that they all need to work more.
“And FFS, we gotta stop acting like maternity leave is a vacation. Carrying, delivering, and caring for a newborn—even with help—is so draining. Your body has been through the wringer and your hormones are all over the map, and then there’s this little person you need to get to know and bond with. It’s tough work.” ~Moses
YES. THIS.
I think most people in the UK are totally fine with Meghan (and Kate) on maternity leave. Most people being mad about – at least Kate’s maternity leave – I think are people from the US. I have just started working after nine months of maternity leave. Now my husband has two months leave before our son starts daycare. It’s very common in many European countries.
Yes, I agree and I noticed the same. It saddens me that the US mothers are forced to go back to work so soon, and that this attitude of mothers having to deserve their maternity leave seems to be so widespread. A full year off should be available to everyone, not just to those who can afford it, it should be a human right.
The US has a serious problem with maternity leave. Not just that there isn’t any federally mandated leave, but attitudes around it too. My job gives three months paid leave to all new mothers but in the last year, two have come back as soon as they were medically released (6 weeks) because they didn’t want to leave coworkers in the lurch. Another just had a baby and is taking four months and our coworkers are talking shit behind her back, complaining that they have to do her work while she’s at home on her backside. Until the conversations change, until we stop treating it like paid vacation, nothing is going to get better for us.
The maternity leave arrangements in the US are similar to those in poor developing countries.
Oh definitely! It’s totally normal in the UK. Most people take a year and we get paid for 9 months by law. It’s not a great amount of money (90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks. £148.68 a week for 33 weeks) but its a fantastic benefit.
@Spugzbunny – I think those are the statutory rates. Some employers will pay more for example 6 months full pay (incl any accruing holiday) , then 3 months at 50-60% and the last 3 months are paid at a rate similar to the Govt statutory rate.
Attitudes to maternity pay are very different in Europe where most women take off 6 month to 1 year with each child.
I think the US attitude to maternity pay is shocking. The idea that women are not paid for time off after having a child which will replenish a future work force during a time of declining birth rates is just disgusting.
Totally agree with you. I was so shocked to learn there’s no mandatory paid maternity leave in the US. I don’t care how many iPads and iWatches and connected fridges and wifi hotspots you have, if you think giving mothers time to heal mentally and physically from childbirth is optional, you’re a backwards part of the woods that still has a long way to go in terms of human progress.
I’m also a bit concerned seeing so many people treat maternity leave like a holiday. It’s the same type of reasoning that portrays stay-at-home parents as lazy and unproductive when you could argue that raising children and making time for them is pretty essential to any society’s welfare.
Well, we do have more going for us than ipads and apple watches and WiFI, lol.
But I fully admit (especially in the current state of things) that the US’s treatment of women is pretty pitiful, and our maternity leave policies (or lack thereof) just reflect that. Some states are better than others (NJ, CA) but those states also have higher taxes than many others.
In general, in the US, there is a real bootstraps mentality, and its detrimental to policies like paid maternity leave. People think, “I had my kids and managed to do without paid leave, why do you need it?” People also just dont get how benefits work and who is entitled to things like food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, etc. Someone on food stamps think that everyone else on food stamps is abusing the system, but not them, THEY deserve it. Everyone else is scamming the system and should be stopped, but not them. Maybe that attitude is typical in other countries, IDK. but its why its so hard for us to get social policies passed here that would actually help people. The people that would be most helped start ranting about how others will just take advantage. Its sad.
@omelette At some companies (and I believe it is entirely up to the employer) they do consider it just a vacation. At a prior job, you got 2 weeks of paid vacation a year. That was to cover sick time or emergencies as well as actual vacation. Anything beyond that was unpaid, which is why both new mothers who had children at the time I was working there were back after a few weeks. And one of them had medical issues related to the birth and ended up having to apply for FMLA so that she would not lose her paycheck or her job (I live in an “at will” state, which means employers can fire you for any reason that they can make up) due to all her hospitalization.
It is depressing how our country pushes for birth but offers little to no support after, but that is a rant for another day.
Yeah, we ran that down in an older thread, for sure, with respect to one of Kate’s mat leaves. I would venture you are right!
“I only had 3 months mat leave, so how dare another woman have a year?” “I don’t have a pension, so how dare government workers go on strike to protect theirs?” I just don’t like that race-to-the-bottom thinking. It’s hurting all of us so much. We need to think in reverse.
I agree. Once was visiting a friend on Long Island when my daughter was 8 months old. My partner and I were splitting some of the leave so we were there together. Met a lady on the train into Manhattan and started chatted (as people tend to do when a baby is present). When she found out that my partner was on her 1 year leave, the woman became quite indignant and started complaining that its ridiculous to be home with a child that long. That SHE had 6 weeks when her child was born and that was plenty of time. I noticed a bunch of other people around her nodding their agreement. Mysoginist attitudes run deep south of the border.
I’m not surprised. Before Archie there was a lot of articles about how she was not going to be like Kate and take a standard maternity leave. I remember commenting ‘wait until baby’ because what you imagine your life is post baby and reality are so different. I’m glad she’s taking her time for healing and bonding and then doing the occasional event when she’s up to it and interested.
So true that until you baby comes, you have no idea what your life will be like.
I love the way women look after they’ve just had a baby.
Megs looks so soft and womanly and gorgeous and her face is all cute and round. I know it won’t last because she will whittle herself down to 45 kg or whatever again but damn its cute while it lasts.
Good, she needs to be able to spend time at home with her new baby.
Isnt summer a slow time of the year anyway?
Seems like to make perfect sense for Meghan to be recovering from childbirth and bonding with little Archie.
Katie Nicholl! enough said.
You can check the Court’s Calendar to see if Meghan is making any appearances, not rocket science, no need for an imaginary source close to Meghan.
They’ve been trying this Meghan is following Kate, for awhile now.
All of a sudden they’ve a nanny now, when last week they did not have one, they ran with the story that Doria was going to be the nanny, look how that turned out.
Yes It’s from Katie Nichol, who, like Emily Andrews, likely bonks herself upside the head with a brick to consult with her “sources” a la Daffy Duck! Hard pass.
“Katie Nicholl! enough said.” Thank you.
I wish people would start to realize the monarchy is like a business. It’s often referred to as the firm by both Harry and William. I don’t think Meghan is following in Kate’s idea, more like she is going with the policy allowed by the head of the firm, the Queen. Things don’t happen in public which aren’t ordained by the Queen or if it somehow does get out without her knowledge, it’s handled by the Queen afterwards. I think people are giving the Cambridges and even Charles more credit for things happening than they have power to do. I hate this scenario where the media is trying to constantly compare Kate and Meghan. It leads to this catfight gossip stories which are extremely sexist.
The Queen is 93, and a busy head of state. She is not concerning herself with the length of maternity leave of her daughters-in-law. The “firm” works like any other business in the sense that only the most important issues are brought to the CEO.
We really believing that Katie Nicholl has the inside scoop with the Sussexes now?
This isn’t news when you think about it. The royals don’t have packed summer schedules as is and they basically take the whole month of August off. The way Serena been playing Meghan might not get to go to the Wimbledon final but that’s another story.
Exactly! These RRs are writing articles based on broad assumptions.
broad assumptions. No pun intended?
Katie Nicholls is basically repeating what has been said on sites like this one for months, which is that Meghan is likely to do few official engagements over the summer and come back in September. I highly doubt she is getting information from the Sussexes. Perhaps if Omid Scobie wrote this then I would believe he was advised by them directly, otherwise her guess is as good as anyone else here.
Great pic Kaiser. Looks like she’s thinking: yeah, I’m back but going to lay low again and will get called out regardless of what the FQC has done. 🤣
I think high profile people taking maternity leave is good. It normalizes it and we still need that here in the US (though obviously we’re not their target demographic.
I had actually hoped that Harry would take more of a hard line on his paternity leave. They’re so into mental health, and the biggest predictor of postpartum mental health in women in the presence of their partner. They missed an opportunity with that. Harry should have taken at least a month of leave and then come back talking about how its important for all fathers to take the leave available to them and coparent equally in the early days. So many men all around the world still think that taking paternity leave makes them look weak and that needs to end. Harry had a chance to set an example and I’m a bit disappointed he didn’t.
It really was a missed opportunity.
My husband was home the first month. He felt a little bit like it was vacation to start working again. After nine months on maternity leave I had the same way when after nine months at home at work I could enjoy a cup of coffee and go to the toilet in peace! I miss my son – but love a little me-time.
EXCEPT…for the Inviticus games opening, and the polo match fundraiser…those two events are the calendar were vital to him and I applauded him for going. I was very disappointed to see him anywhere near the Trumps…Once article somewhere even said he wasn’t expected..but showed up. I thought that unfortunate.
Looks like she’s thinking “suck it , haters!”
Mandated maternity leave is there to be taken, so just take it.
Ok the maternity is hard but if have all the possible aids but desolate the work that makes Kate and Meghan can not be comparable to the works that go of other women (lawyer, nurse, cleaning lady, secretary … ) because they have to read documents made by their assistants then to attends at these events and at end they can go back home for enjoying the rest of day with their children.
So for me they do not need such a long maternity leave, they just have to organize their schedule.
I think in general April/May is a good time for a royal woman to have a baby, lol, because you can lay low for a month or so, make an appearance at Trooping, maybe another event here and there if you feel up to it, then the royals go on break for most of August anyway so you aren’t really missed, and then start to ease back into it in September/October, when the schedules start to pick up again in general.
My guess is we will see Meghan probably 4 or 5 more times over the summer and then her schedule will resume in September/October.
May is also a great time for academics to give birth.
This was smart. Not only does she get time with her baby before she goes back but…all the Meghan haters who criticize will also be criticizing Kate. Though we already know that Kate “Who will be Queen” gets a pass on the things Meghan gets dragged for so…maybe it won’t stop the criticism at all.
I kind of love the bit about her mirroring Kate. It says to the assholes who can never stop complaining about her, “Go on and throw a hissy fit. You’re showing your ass if you come at me but didn’t with Kate.” I’m just waiting for them to moan about some made up protocol she’s breaking.
As a working mom I can honestly say, during pregnancy it seemed like would be ok returning to work but when the time came it was the most difficult thing I had to do. I don’t blame any mom who stays with their kids for as long as they can.
I never wanted kids but I have a few friends who literally vomited the first day (after a year+ of mat leave) they had to leave their kid with a sitter/at day care for the first time.* It must rip a parent’s heart right out of them.
*Granted, I also know some who couldn’t wait to get out of the house and have some adult time, ha.
This makes sense and is smart. She would have been criticized either way but by spelling out she will do the same as Kate, she is shielding her decision unless the press now wants to attack Kate again.
I bet Megan’s part-time equals Kate’s fulltime. Also, I feel sure she is working at home on all sorts of projects. Take your time, Duchess. Do you.
By all accounts the last couple of years have been crazy for her. Flying to the UK every two weeks and combining that with 4:15 am starts for 17 hour days of shooting for Suits – uprooting and moving to the UK in the space of less than a year – an extremely high profile wedding – a long royal tour- and then having a baby—I think she’s earned some rest with her newborn.
As someone else said, Meghan’s idea of part-time is probably Kate’s full time.
Of course she should be taking maternity leave and I hope she can enjoy this special time with little Archie. And of course she would want to attend the Trooping the Colour to honour the Queen. I thought she was looking lovely too, glowing in fact, motherhood really suits her xx
She looked fabulous.
I have to laugh when Katie Nicholls claims that Kate is working full time. She’s not. She was supposed to be “back to work” this past September and her numbers remain very low. She stands at about a dozen more than Meghan who worked until the end of March and we are now mid June. What is Kate’s excuse now?
I think this is great! I think all women should get a minimum of 3 months leave for having a baby. honestly they should get a year since it is such an important time for the baby but at bare minimum 3 months.
I also think people who say anything negative about Meghan or Kate or any woman taking leave are horrible. I mean really this leave is as much for the baby as it is the parent.
Good on her- don’t know England’s laws but if she can take longer and wants to I say go for it Meghan.
Everyone should do what is right for them and their child.
Please forgive my diversion. This stage in the game is about ownership versus objectification of the narrative of the Sussexes.
The birth and announcement of Master Archie indicated that it is firmly in the Sussexes control.
One of the reasons is that some of the media adhere to formulaic methods of reporting.
Now it is about status and putting the Sussexes in their place.
Accordingly the said media churn out a specific type of story and find an echo chamber on social media and use that to explain their future plans.
Whereas it could be very simple. The couple are thrilled and delighted with their little man and Meghan wants to spend most of time being a wife and mother to her family.
(No disrespect to the Cambridges. )
The Sussexes are a lot more interesting and warm because of the love that they radiate.
Simply more unpredictable and human.
Without competition as narrative there is no need for comparison and contrast with Kate . The is an established pattern that can be used if competition exists. So competition drives the story and fill in the missing information as they look at Kate’s pass behaviour as a source for their reporting.
Good for her! I have a friend here in the states had to come back from maternity leave after 3 weeks because she didn’t have enough time. It was awful for her. On a side note. Did anyone see Victoria Arbiter on Twitter yesterday? She did a whole takedown on Piers Morgan’s reporting about Meghan “snubbing” Trump. It was perfect
Could she have found an uglier outfit ?
Must be nice to get to do nothing for several months, while most people (including new mothers that are still healing) work their fingers to the bones to put food on the table.
Sorta OT, but the argument that the royal family brings in tourism is BS. People visit to see the history, the historical palaces, the art. I hope after Elizabeth that the UK abolishes the monarchy. They are leeches.