In Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand do an excellent job of assessing and explaining the attacks on the Duchess of Sussex, but as we’ve been discussing this week, there are absolutely some details left out, like who was behind what. I suspect that this is a legal issue for Scobie and Durand about what can be proven and what can’t. I also appreciate the fact that they point out at several different points that so many people had problems with Meghan and only *part* of it was about racism. I mean, I still believe a huge chunk of it was racism, and Durand and Scobie do too. But the vein of anti-Americanism was really strong within the Firm:
A number of courtiers believe there were some working in the institution who were biased against Meghan because she was an American and a former actress. There are inherently different working styles between Americans and Brits. Americans can be much more direct, and that doesn’t often sit well in the much more refined institution of the monarchy. Sometimes the American matter-of-fact tone in British society could be viewed as abrasive.
“This is a script that wrote itself as soon as you knew that an American actress was coming into the royal family,” another aide added.
Meghan felt like some of the commentary and tabloid stories were more than a culture clash; they were sexist and prejudiced. If a man got up before dawn to work, he was applauded for his work ethic. If a woman did it, she was deemed difficult or a bitch. The double standard was only exacerbated when it came to successful women of color, often labeled as demanding or aggressive.
[From Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan, and the Making of a Modern Royal Family]
I think it’s all connected, the sexist and racist tropes of “duchess difficult” and labeling Meghan as rude or aggressive or angry or a diva – to American ears, we’ve had those conversations for years, if not decades. We call out the dog-whistles when we hear them. And… it feels like British society does not even acknowledge that there are racist dog-whistles. That too is part of the “culture clash” between Americans and Brits, the lack of conversation about what is and is not an offensive, dehumanizing stereotype. And yes, Meghan’s American work ethic didn’t help her among those stuffy courtiers who were used to telling the royals when and where to work. They weren’t used to a duchess – a biracial American woman – who had ideas, who wanted to implement things in a timely fashion, who wanted her staff to pull 40-50 hour weeks.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I feel like this needs to end! She was the American in BP -smart and unapologetic- her eternal sin. I wonder if the courtiers ever reflect on their actions? Petty and insular. They should have taken a page out of the Dutch, Swedish or Norwegian royal playbook when it comes to nonroyals or newcomers Their shortsightedness will be forever remembered . I completely reject the Commonwealth and my country’s participation in
How do those royals houses treat non royals?
Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was a single mom waitress when she married Prince Haakon.
Swedish Princess Sofia was a tv personality and model when she married Prince Carl Phillip.
Swedish Prince Daniel was Crown Princess Victoria’s personal trainer.
All 3 had obstacles & detractors but none of the 3 are as reviled as Meghan.
In addition, Swedish Princess Madeleine lives in the United States with her husband and children and goes back to Sweden as needed.
Norwegian Princess Martha Louise is dating a black American shaman who is just as wacky as she is. They’ve gotten nasty comments but nowhere near the nasty comments directed towards Meghan and Archie.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is from Argentina & Crown Princess Mary of Denmark is Australian and neither has gotten the hate Meghan has.
@Emmitt
The whole they’re shunning her for being an actress thing is also bunk. Grace Kelly and Rita Hayworth both broke this barrier half a century ago, neither was treated like Meghan.
Sweden’s Princess Sophia was a glamour model and she has not received 1/10th of the hell the Brits put Meghan through.
@ HeyJude
Princess Grace was treated pretty terribly by the Grimaldis. Maybe the public reception was positive, but it’s well known Prince Rainier’s sister made Grace’s life miserable, and much of Monaco society did not welcome her. She was isolated and lonely.
Hey Jude:
Also: Rita Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Carmen Cansino – she was actually half Spanish. In her early career, she was deemed “too Mediterranean” and the studio forced her to color her hair red and raise her hairline with electrolysis to become more “white.” I kid you not.
She was literally forced to change who she was to become the movie star she became. And she was married five times to some real lulus, including the insane Orson Welles, so she went through her own special kind of hell to “fit in.”
The queen didn’t approve of grace kelly Being royal. She saw her as a trashy actress. She didn’t want to go to her funeral so let Diana go alone.
If Sophia had married a British prince she’d have been ripped to shreds. She’d done topless modelling. That would have given the palace courtiers seizures and even working class Britons would have been horrified.
Scandinavians are a lot less uptight, reserved, concerned about class and etiquette, And more open about nudity as well as sexuality.
Sophia and mettle marit don’t get crucified by brits because most brits aren’t interested in any of the other royal families. Most don’t even know which other countries still have royal families.
Queen Maxima has a dodgy father who was linked to Argentina’s dirty war in the 70s. I believe he was not invited to his daughter’s wedding.
I would add Emitt Sofia was not a model, but a ‘glamour’ model (e.g nude photoshoots and bikini photoshoots of which many are still on the Internet) AND yes was on a reality TV show, and yet she gets/got no where near the amount of hate and vitriol as Meghan, A press group tried, but the Swedish royal family shut it down within seconds and extended their support publicly and have shown no vitriol not snobbery as such against her.
Me too chica, i am planning to campaign to remove my country from it, I’m tired
I hope she didn’t want her staff to pull 50 weeks.
You think 50 hours a week is too much?
50 hours a week is ridiculous!! Are those normal hours in America?
Yes it is. Particularly if the pay is below average, as I understand is the case for the royal support staff.
uhhhhh, yeah, and oftentimes closer to 60
Absolutely. 37-40 hours is full-time in the UK, and most salaries reflect that. There are industries, finance for example, where many salaries would be more in line with a 40-70hr work week, but I guarantee KP staff’s salaries would not align well with a 50 hour work week.
In the US, it depends a lot on the job. I work 40 hours a week, any more than that and I get compensated (either with overtime pay or extra time off) and the extra time I work is 100% my choice.
For me, whether 50 hours/week is too much depends on the usual job expectations – what are Charles’s staff working? how much do Anne’s people work? I imagine too in the royal households the work waxes and wanes – so the weeks leading up to an international tour are probably insanely busy, and then you probably get more downtime in the few weeks after to make up for it. And of course, the work hours depend on what was spelled out when you took the job and what you are paid.
I work in Canada and in IT. A 50 to 60 hour week is the norm and often up to 80 hours/week when there is a major deadline. I think even the lower paid admin staff work more than 37 hours per week. There is no overtime as everyone is a salaried employee. It is expected that you meet the needs of your team or you do not last long.
Full time in Ontario is generally between 37.5 to 40 hours. Anything more than that requires you to pay overtime. The rest of Canada is similar in that expectation. If you are a professional getting paid salary instead of hourly then the expectations can be for more hours, but in most cases the salary is much higher.
Royal staff probably don’t get paid that well, but I highly doubt Meghan was asking them to work over 40 hours a week.
I work in corporate office of a bank. 40 hours is considered a light week. Once, in a previous job, I did 5 straight weeks of 90 hours a week. That was tough. I am “non-exempt” which is HR speak for “we can legally work you to death without paying you overtime”
Unpopular opinion, it’s hard to know how many people actually work over 40 hours/week in the US because the ‘protestant work ethic” and capitalism are such gods that people would not admit to *only* working 40 hours/week for fear of looking like slackers. I’ve also worked at many jobs where some people made a big song and dance about how much/how long they work, when in reality they spent a good deal of time faffing about because they didn’t want to leave at 5:00 or whenever. I wonder if we could just cut all the BS and strongly encourage employers and employees to stick to a 32-40 hours work week, people would be more productive and get everything done without working ALL THE HOURS?
All that being said, I do realize that there are jobs where this isn’t possible but I’m not sure I’d count staff to a Duchess among them. I can see it being an occasional thing when trying to get certain initiatives of the ground or prepping for some sort of tour but it shouldn’t be the expectation.
Assuming you mean hours but yes I agree. UK civil servants work a standard 37 hours a week (not including lunch breaks) which is basically 9-5. I really hope Crown Servants aren’t working longer than that, if they are they should be on to their unions.
On the 5am emails, I think we all know that Meghan didn’t expect 5am responses but I can still see why courtiers were upset. In our organisation, senior leaders are heavily discouraged from sending out of hours emails to staff as it can create an unspoken atmosphere of ‘I’m working out of hours, why aren’t you?’ even if they don’t mean to.
I think this comes down to MM having limited office experience (especially in a public sector setting). Had she been given a break or some guidance she probably would have learned to draft the emails at 5am but not send them until later on in the morning.
I still think she might have sent these emails when traveling, but even if she did not , the usual practice is using work emails and only be expected to assess them at work. This was true on my past job and we never had any problems. We could still access the work email if we wanted to off hours, but it would be on us and they only expected answer on our shifts.
Hmm I don’t think I agree that she has “limited” office experience. She‘s worked at the US Embassy in Argentina which I’m willing to bet is MUCH more of professional setting than the BRF and especially KP. Culture clash? fine but not knowing how to conduct herself in an office setting? Nah.
I didn’t know about the embassy work. Good point I take it back that she didn’t have office experience, my bad.
In my experience, the UK culture in the public sector is for a clear work life balance. That means fewer working hours than the US and senior leaders setting an example e.g. by not sending out of hours emails.
Of course Meghan would have no way of knowing that and someone should have guided her.
Deleted
Apparently, Prince Charles is known for sending early morning emails and is hailed for it.
@S808
She didn’t “work” at the Embassy, she interned there. Big difference. It was most likely just for the summer, or just a few months, in any case, she didn’t have a staff, etc. I highly doubt that interning 3 months in Argentina prepares one to have a sizable staff of their own.
If you are a working actor and successful you basically are running your own business. You have an agent, a business manager, accountants, etc. The problem is Meghan was about her business and those people weren’t used to that. I believe they felt she would be so enamored (intimidated) by the pomp and fancy surroundings that she could be cowed into submission. But girlfriend was like “No, I’m here to work.” And they couldn’t handle it and started acting like a bunch mean kids from middle school.
I send emails to my colleagues in the UK (and elsewhere) at all times outside of normal business hours. My colleagues know full well they are not expected to read & reply/take action on something at the time I sent my email just as they don’t expect me to reply to an email they sent at 4am my time. If they were offended she sent emails at 5am and they thought they had to jump to address them in real time, they’re not really saying something bad about her, they’re telling us something really bad about the culture of the other royals for whom they work
Lol @ the concept of “out of hours emails”. I never heard of such until this mess with Meghan. An email can be sent at any your of the day but the expectation is that you attend to it or at least acknowledge it during work hours. No one in their right mind would complain about the hours during which an email was composed in America.
UK civil servant here, I work as a consultant but mostly hours between 35-40. Current hours 35per week. I’ve Worked across many London boroughs and I receive emails at any time but with no expectation or requirement to answer if it’s outside office hours. I’ve never heard any rules regarding sending emails outside office hours either. I wish we could do attachments here cause i can attach hundreds of them sent to me early mornings and late at night.
I don’t think the 5 AM email thing necessarily equates to a lack of office experience so much as a difference in norms and natural circumstances. In the US we span multiple time zones. If one of my colleagues on the east coast sends an email at 8 AM to another colleague in California, that’s 5 AM in California. And if the California colleague sends an email at 5 PM, it’s already 8 PM for the east coast colleague. This isn’t a factor for the UK, since it exists in a single time zone, but receiving an email at 5 AM isn’t remarkable for most people used to working in an office in the US.
Oops – 50 hours a week 🙂
Yes, I think that’s too much.
No one has suggested or said that, so IDK where you are getting it.
Yes – maybe this is exactly the culture clash that was going on! No public sector worker should be working 50 hour weeks (or would expect to do so in England). I also second Mara’s comment that in my office environment you are discouraged from sending emails outside work hours unless you expect and need a response out of work hours.
Yes, UK public sector worker here and its often frowned upon to send ‘out of hours’ emails because it makes a) it makes people anxious that they should be working more hours and b) it contributes to a general culture of doing unpaid overtime. Recently I’ve noticed managers including a line in their email signature saying ‘I work flexible hours so may send emails outside standard working hours, however I do not expect a response.’
Standard working hours in the UK are usually 37.5/40 hours a week (at least in public sector). We actually have legislation that you can’t be expected to work more than 48 hours a week, although you (as an individual) can opt out (but not your employer on your behalf). This, alongside paid annual leave, sick leave, and maternity/paternity pay is why you need strong unions!
When I was junior I used to have boss who would send me emails of things to do when “I was back online”, even if I was half way through a week’s holiday. I am pretty conscientious about work and it would just stress me out thinking about what needs to be done and how I was going to do thus ruining my time off. Now I have my own team of juniors I always remember how I felt and leave those emails in my outbox to be sent when they are back In. I think it’s a small but important consideration you can have for people’s work/life balance.
Agreed. I was told off by a manager for replying to emails late night. He told me I should not work in out of office hours.
To be fair I would never work more than my contracted hours, especially unpaid, it’s just I am an owl so when I work from home I tend to work better in the evenings.
The “culture clash” is that those people didn’t want to work for a half-Black American former actress who had the temerity to have ideas and opinions.
It’s the type of crap people with Black ancestry have to do deal with, whether we’re a waitress or a duchess.
Yeah, if you work efficiently, you should be able to get it all in within 40 hours. When I worked in publishing, we were not allowed to work overtime, because then we’d be tired and less efficient. The only time I stayed over was when we were getting ready for awards programs and I stayed over because I had to spread boxes all around my desk to get everything packed up properly.
I just want to point out that Kaiser mentioned the 50 hour week, not Meghan, and I don’t think there were ever any complaints that Meghan expected her staff to work beyond the required hours.
Listen, people, especially the Brits:
70 hour work weeks are very, very common in the United States. We are a nation of workaholics, which, to be perfectly frank, is why the United States has the largest economy in the world. It is what it is because we never quit and we don’t shut down. We don’t take “lunch” and we take work home. When I go to Europe, it drives me crazy that nothing is open until 9 or 10 a.m.; that people take two hour lunches and then go home at 4 p.m. I mean.
I totally get why Meghan probably rubbed her staff the wrong way, but WTF is wrong with those pansies? Britain lived through the f**king bombing of London and they can’t handle a 5 a.m. email? Come. On.
That’s right: Get over it. It’s an email, not a legal summons. And by the way? If their goal was to run her off? Mission accomplished.
Well done. Those little nameless, passive aggressive punks at Kensington Palace (I’m looking at you, Miss Middleton) look so dumb about now.
Drive on, Megs. Work it, sister. You have nowhere to go from here but up.
That’s nothing to be proud of. Those hours worked come at the expense of time with family, friends and personal wellbeing, not to mention sleep and health. How could you possibly maintain morale and work-life balance at that rate? If people worked those hours for prolonged periods the stress could potentially take years off their life. No thanks.
First, work ethic does not correlate to hours worked which does not correlate to productive hours which does not correlate to overall economy size. How you draw a line from 70 hour work weeks to the U.S. postwar economic boom is impressive. Second, the average length of the workweek in the U.S. dropped after 1950. So even if your first premise was true, the second directly refutes the conclusion you draw from it. Third, the most productive countries are all European, where workers enjoy much more strict protections on overtime. And fourth, even if everything you said was true, it shouldn’t be a point of pride that Americans have to put in 70 hours in order to achieve a GDP goal that you have deemed an appropriate measurement of quality of life.
I live in the UK and I don’t know a single working person who takes 2 hour lunches. “Europe” consists of many countries with different cultures, you know. My job involves a lot of travel. When I was running a project in Milan, I was the first one in the building. I started at 7:30, had a 30 minute lunch at 12. The office emptied at 2PM when they all went for a one hour lunch, but then, they were all still in the office when I left. In other words, people manage their time in different ways.
My colleagues in Stockholm all go home at 3PM, but then log in again in the evening and do a few more hours.
Anyway, all this to say: people don’t start at 10, take a two hour lunch and leave at 4, as you say.
Still, work life balance is important and working insane hours is nothing to be proud of. Mine is one of those high flying jobs, where I run digital transformation projects around the world. I manage it in 8 hours a day and here I am, with time to write this at 2PM.
They’re just full of crap. If Anne wanted things done fast or be direct or send 5am emails, it would be a nothingburger.
I definitely think there was a culture clash, and that’s to be expected. but I think it was more than the American duchess vs the courtiers, and even more than the black American duchess vs the courtiers.
With all of these comments about her work ethic, I just really get the impression that the staff at KP does not want to work, and Meghan expected them to work. You don’t hear leaks from Clarence House complaining about Charles’s work hours – or if you do, its always in a positive light (so not really “complaining.”) And the leaks about the emails and such had to come from KP staff, and it really does come off like whining that the black American duchess expected them to….do something.
I agree. I think KP staff was used to coasting because their bosses, Will and Kate hardly worked. Then Meghan comes in with her can do attitude and tons of ideas and they were pissed. And I dare say not capable of handling the tasks she was giving them. So they revolted.
The royals didnt have normal working hours as they usually work to cut ribbons, launch ships, royal dinners or shot birds on weekends and at nights. Didnt the staffs need to be there while the royals doing their hardwork?
I think the staff who is bitching because receiving an 5 a.m. email couldnt handle it, just because he/she never need to work outside their comfort zone.
I didnt mean that the staff need to reply or do the work at 5 a.m. but throwing tantrum just because your new boss send an email at 5.a.m. seem stupid.
This is plausible. William and Kate don’t shit. All their projects are busywork and I’m sure their staff didn’t mind getting paid to coast until the duchess came along. This is another problem that wouldn’t have existed if Harry had stopped being a third wheel prior to marriage and gotten his own setup.
Catherine Quinn quit KP to go “work in charity” showing just how little she did while there. I’m certain she would have been ok with emails at 5 am because she certainly worked full time hours when she was at Oxford. In the private sector the British do a regular work week. This sounds like the staff at KP didn’t want to be asked to work by the biracial American Duchess.
As others have pointed out, the staff at Clarence House don’t leak about having to work too much and Charles has a fair amount of projects on the go that his staff can’t just sit there and twiddle thumbs. This is KP staff being lazy and probably also having an issue with a woman giving them instruction.
I don’t get your connection between going to work for charity, and not doing any work? Is it because she felt she was underworked at KP and decided to go work for a charity where she could make a difference?
I do agree that before Meghan showed up there wasn’t a lot going on out of that office. I once saw that Kate had a “personal assistant” and threw my head back laughing at the idea of hiring one person to schedule your hair blowouts.
@Mumbles – yes, it was a weird thing to say, considering that she was working in an environment where she SHOULD have been able to do a great deal of charity work. It was very specific and really came across like “I want to do charity work, and here we aren’t doing anything.”
The royals are supposed to be running charitable initiatives and ostensibly Catherine Quinn was the one organizing those efforts for Kate so if she left to “work in charity” what exactly was she doing, or not doing, while working as Kate’s personal secretary?
Neither William or Kate have any kind of workload and it seems pretty obvious that KP staff weren’t used to a normal workload, even if you compare them to Clarence House staff.
Palace staff earn low salaries and people seem not to understand this. In return for putting up with low salaries, the royals generally treat them with a lot of dignity.
Well that’s a load of shit Charles swears and is know to fire people left and right and has one of the most toxic households and has had 10 staff in the last few years leave due to a toxic work environment from breakdowns (including the 3 seprate black employees who left after being bullied ostracised and called racial slurs like a N word bitch and people who have been raped and sexually assaulted by higher ups in exchange for keeping their jobs). Anne is abrasive, cold and rude and doesn’t have time for anyone especially her staff. Andrew is a pompous entitled asshole who uses them as party planners, refuses to tie his own shoe laces, and won’t even look them in the eye and expects everyone to constantly genuflect to him. Edward, well despite being secretly gay, he might be the only normal one. These are people who were upset that it was a biracial woman who they percieved as lower that them was telling them what to do. If Andrew asked to shit in their hands and clap they would do it, if Meghan asked them to put something in the bin, they would sneer spit and run to the papers to cry about her ‘uppityness’.
“This is a script that wrote itself as soon as you knew that an American actress was coming into the royal family”
She never had a chance. Looking back, I wish Harry had stepped back before they got married. She suffered scars from her time in UK that may never go away and they completely trashed her character. They’re still harassing her like the slave that got away. It wasn’t worth it imo.
Yes, I agree, I almost wish that they could have started ‘out’ of the family as they are now. I think Harry, and lots of us, were hopeful that times had changed and that things would be better. That looks quite naive now ☹️
Meghan seemed committed to working for the RF. She had the Commonwealth sewed on her veil. She was committed. Omid said that if Harry told Meghan 5 more years she would have done it. It was Harry that wanted out.
If he’d stepped back before they got married it would have looked like HE was saying she wasn’t suitable.
Do you guys remember the interview Megan did when she said the point of life is not to survive, but to thrive” or something like that? She made another comment about how her British friends basically warned her about the British press. I wonder if she was warned about the nastiness of the royal staff and how they could make life hell for her?
Harry was incredibly naive when it comes to his family and that institution, for all he’s grown up in it and around it. At least he did something wrt getting his wife and child out of there once the full reality of the situation presented itself.
“The family she never had.” Bet he regrets ever saying that now.
I admit I fell for the PR and thought the royal family had become warmer when Heads Together was rolled out& with the Sussexes wedding.
I also suspect Meghan threw herself into work to ‘prove her worth’. But as they say- excellence will not save a POC
if there were shenanigans from the moment Meghan was introduced, then depending on how much Harry was aware of this opposition within the family/staff, then he was incredibly naive about the Firm. It makes me wonder what William& Harry’s perception is of their mother’s treatment at the hands of the Firm.
I guess it’s hard when it’s your family and you don’t really know any different. I suspect even those who initiated the smears weren’t prepared for how much things snowballed.
It blows my mind that the courtiers got upset because she worked too hard. Like, WTF?! This is yet another example which proves that she couldn’t win. No matter what she did, they were gonna get upset.
(And by the way, imagine what the criticisms would have been like if they deemed her lazy!!)
Poor Meghan. Doomed either way.
I had some *experiences* working with americans here in Europe but I doubt Meghan would have been clueless about the differences and not tactful on how to speak with subordinates if that is what they are implying.
The real problem was that she was forced to share the same offices with the Cambridges and those people LIVE to find excuses not to work and to make it seem they are working- not much a cultural clash between work habits, but a clash about working—at all!
Everything you said. This is classic toxic workplace stuff. Toxic people are usually quite good at sensing who will or won’t play along with their dysfunction and will attack to preserve their way of life. I really don’t think Meghan ever had a chance.
“it feels like British society does not even acknowledge that there are racist dog-whistles. That too is part of the “culture clash” between Americans and Brits, the lack of conversation about what is and is not an offensive, dehumanizing stereotype. ” This! Totally true, Kaiser.
Most Brits and particularly those in power are just not ready to have frank conversations about racism, stereotyping, colonial legacy, and how these still impact society.
The KP staff was racist and lazy and this is what caused problems for Meghan.
eighteenth!
I seriously dont understand what was so wrong with Meghan’s needs. 40hr work wk is the norm for your average infact for some its on the low side, if she sends an email at 5am I doubt she’s expecting a reply at that time.
And shouldn’t having someone with ideas been a good thing? It means the staff dont need to brainstorm for what to do for her work, all the have to do is help her implement it. Heck Meghan will probably do a lot herself.
Seriously this should have been an exciting opportunity for the them to do a different type of work. Make some tangible impact like with the cookbook, smart set or landmark moment Vogue impact.
But no, they just resented her onsight and tried to sabotage her. Really terrible people.
40 hours is at the high end of the spectrum though…… I know work and labour laws are very diffirent in the states, but In European Countries 40 hours a week is often the max. There’s quite a few unions campaigning for the rigth to ‘turn off’. that the fact that you could do work from home via the internet outside of office hours does not mean you should. because in the end you get paid for the hours on your contract and all that extra work you do is unpaid. If you have clearly communicated with your employer about the fact that you should be reachable for a certain amount of time outside the office, that’s fine. they can’t just expect it of you, or at least they shouldn’t. But I agree with you that courtiers should’ve seen this as an opportunity to work with somebody who does things in a new way, to learn a different style. Also, if they had a problem with how she works they should’ve talked to HER, their BOSS. not the press. (because the Duchess has always come across to me as somebody that is exceedingly fair and professional, so I guess that if there was a problem it would’ve been dealt with professionaly and correctly.)
Hey Judith, I guess 40hr is high based on other European countries but from my experience anywhere between 35 to 40 (usually 38.5) is the norm here in the UK.
But still I agree Meghan doesnt strike as unreasonable and actually most who worked her have been complimentary. Amy even came back ftom abroad after she left just to attend the Smart set launch for Meghan. So if they wanted to change anything about the work all they had to do was talkbto her & not run to the press to bitch.
And Im in Tech but I would have loved to work on things like the cookbook, vogue etc. Oh well.
I really do think that that assistant who left tags and stuff in her nee clothes and accessories, was out to sabotage her.
I agree with all of the above. But I do also have to say that there are very often a lot of cultural subtleties and differences that make life difficult in another country, especially one with whom you think you share a lot because they are both western and share a similar language. (this is based on an experience i had a year ago, where I lived in a country, that neighbours mine, shares a language but is fundamentally very different. But because you ‘think’ you share so much you expect a much easier time to get used to the culture, so in turn for a lot of people its very difficult to get used to how the culture is in that country and often you just don’t really understand WHY you have such a difficult time, because these differences are subtle but fundamental.) again, I don’t want to diminish all the other disgusting prejudices the Duchess has had to deal with, (and some attitudes in European coutries need serious changes) but cultural differences people expect are the big ones, but the small ones, like how people approach each other in social situations and what is expected or not, are what make living in another country difficult. Plus, Americans REALLY do not have a good reputation in Europe. They are Generally seen as loud, rude and differing levels of oblivious/ignorant to the local culture. (which is often attributed to Americans thinking that they are the best at everything and they will show everybody else how its done…..) So add that to the misogynoir and you get a really toxic mix.
Yeah I agree with this. I moved to Britain from a Commonwealth country and my first language is English. I found it much more difficult to adjust to the culture than I expected. One thing I realised is that the British place great value on tradition. Even when it doesn’t make much sense to keep doing things a particular way people will get quite uncomfortable if you question or criticise it too overtly. The attitude towards the monarchy is a good example of this. Another thing is that people here are not very direct in the way they express things, and this is particularly true of people with posher upbringings. I definitely think there was a racist element to the treatment Meghan received but I can also see how she would have experienced a culture clash which she probably wasn’t prepared for.
As someone said the hate comes first (courtier allegedly said “there’s something about her I don’t trust”) and the reasons after (“she’s working us too hard”.)
Most of the complaints seem to come from time at KP when she did three (?) tours and Together cookbook. Together cookbook publisher was already engaged by her& she had relationship with the women who contributed recipes. It was mainly promoted on social media. The tours she did were pretty standard and one complaint was she was writing her own speeches. So what crazy demands would have been made on staff?
And what does it say about the activity levels of the future king and queen that their staff apparently couldn’t hack levels of work that weren’t even near the level of engagements that Charles or Anne undertake?
I agree difference in approach between Brits and Americans is an issue too as described in this article https://graziadaily.co.uk/amp/life/in-the-news/meghan-markles-hustling-turned-people-against-her/
Please don’t encourage people to visit that heinous site….I’m sure you don’t mean to, but a link to them will be very, very tempting for some people. Remember these are the guys working night and day to literally *destroy* Meghan.
We should all try hard to resist the temptation to make them richer/more powerful with our clicks.
My dad is English and I have dual citizenship and I’ve always found it very interesting that my friends there will readily agree England is rife with classism but don’t jump as quickly on board with racism. However I’ve always argued that classism is racism. It’s not like there have been a ton of black earls and duchesses over the centuries. So the default is white. Which means that your class structure is inherently built on racism. It’s just a nicer word for it.
I wouldn’t say it’s mostly racism. The Brits seems to have a lot of problems with people from e.g. Eastern Europe (who are mostly white), so Meghan being American would play significant role
I wrote a paper based on my experience and called it – placeism, as in “you should know your place”, divided by their approach to EE people, such as myself, POC and different religious backgrounds. It’s a very different system compared to where I grew up and it left a bitter taste, especially after I did interviews for it. To me, it’s a complex matter, that’s why I fully support BLM right now. It’s a step forward, long overdue and it’s going to take a long time for these isms to dissapear. But I wanted to say that I understand your experience, it was the reaction I witnessed multiple times and then I would sit with my British friends of different races and they would confirm that there’s really both classism and racism present and they do not exclude one another.
Placeism is actually a very good name. When you put racism, classism (and other) on a vienn’s diagram, then there would be a lot of
in common, however some issues would be related only one or the other
I speak from experience as a mixed raced person (half White, half Asian) from eastern europe who was working on projects in UK. In my experience the Brits had more issues with Polish contractor than the fact I was not a 100% White woman.
@lemonylips that’s xenophobia. Meghan was experiencing varying forms of discrimination: classism, sexism, racism, and xenophobia.
Hi I’m sorry but the experiences of an asian person is VERY different from a black person in terms of types and pervasiveness of discrimination.
I think there are a lot of similarities between the two – classism and racism. But they are not the same, they are just intersectional in the way that you described. To say that they are the same is to profoundly misunderstand the class system in England and how it both operated, and continues to cause prejudice.
Prince Charles regularly sends memos to his staff at all hours of the night, so I don’t understand why people were so uptight at Meghan sending emails when she first got up. I work for a non-profit and my boss regularly sends emails after hours and on weekends but I’m not expected to respond to them unless it is working hours. Also, I don’t think the people who work for the BRF have a union.
Courtiers could not stand having a mixed race American in the RF and socially higher than themselves. If she had put one foot wrong they would have ran to the tabloids with it however she did not so they had to go with the lame 5am emails. The American work ethic clash is made up IMHO.
Agree
There was no culture clash. It’s just sexism at play.
International bestselling business and management/self-improvement books all tout that the “Top CEOs” are waking up at 5am and starting their days before the average person. Yet, Meghan does this and it’s a problem. If the royal men were workers, they would be applauded.
The only clash were from employees who aren’t used to working being asked to do their jobs during work hours.
Sexism and other things are at play but this is a culture clash. The monarchy is not a business, its public sector. The people working for it do not get paid private sector salaries so they shouldn’t have to work private sector hours.
This is absolutely a business, a business that costs 600 million a year. A business where loads of the office staff are essentially free-loaders, happy to show up in the office 40 hpw but only accomplish 5 hours worth of ‘work’.
It’s a business. Even charities have people working 9-5’s. I saw a job posting for the Royal Family to hire their Director of Transportation, so it’s quite an operation.
The fact that you don’t expect much more than volunteers offering a few hours out of their week shows that they really have lowered their expectations and are being paid handsomely for the little tangible work that is actually done.
The royal family can’t afford to have cultural clashes over productivity, efficiency and accountability. Prince Andrew is the glaring example of that.
I have found it interesting that sexism has not been mentioned anywhere near as much as the other -isms when it comes to Meghan. I think sexism has a great deal to do with it. Their current monarch might be a woman but she is a very ‘girly’ sort of woman whose position sees her treated as an honorary man, as Princess Anne said in her birthday interview, but who deferred to her husband in respect of matters relating to the family. Meghan, OTOH, is a woman who wants to compete on equal terms with everyone else as a person who just happens to be a woman. And I reckon the grey men have huge issues with that point of view.
LMAO and you can bet “Top CEO Kate” isn’t sending many emails to staff, much less at 5 a.m.
If the courtiers had a genuine problem with what Meghan wanted then they should have gone straight to her or HR. Have a chat, see what happens and try to come to a compromise. Don’t go straight to the tabloids and complains about how much you hate her. (I mean maybe they did go to HR but they haven’t mentioned that so)
Let’s be honest… The courtiers didn’t have a problem with Meghan’s work ethic or the timing of her emails. They just didn’t like being ordered around by a woman who is “beneath them” (Black and American).
Ding ding ding, hatefulness first, excuses second!
I think all things can be true in this specific instance. In my job I work with people in a lot of other countries. It is true that we Americans are more direct and work a lot more. I can see that really clashing with the highest of upper class England where, in my understanding, there is so much indirect communication (ex: “the Queen will be wearing a hat today” vs “Meghan you need to wear a hat today”).
Then their reaction was colored by her “otherness” (race, nationality, class) so it was more toxic than it should have been.
As a North American working in the UK I’ve noticed some of the work style clash and it’s so frustrating. I’ve learned to time my emails when I’m working late at night to be sent at 9AM because I’ve had ppl concerned that I’m working so late. Also you can’t be direct in communication. An email or text must be buried under paragraphs of politeness before you get to the point.
But the courtiers definitely take this to a whole new level and their leaks to the press are very coded micro-aggressions.
Meghan just couldn’t win – what if she had acted like Kate and done nothing? Then she would have been labeled a lazy American who only married Harry for his title/money. It truly was a no-win situation for her.
Meghan was too hard-working, too talented and too beautiful. She put Kate in the shade. Harry was already overshadowing his brother with his own commitment, charm and much better looks. They worked as a team with obvious support for each other. Meghan helped Harry to improve his stage skills.
With hindsight the signs were there before the wedding. That first official event together when they shared a platform to present their ‘Royal Foundation’ plans showed Harry and Meghan as the more confident and engaging couple. William and Kate were upstaged. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-royals/britains-royal-fab-four-attend-first-official-event-together-idUKKCN1GC1OL
Meghan didn’t ‘know her place’. The unwritten rules required that William and Kate should be the more impressive couple.
The funny thing is, the staff we actually saw with Meghan seemed pretty happy to work with her. The assistant Amy was always smiling in the background at engagements and looked downright proud of Meghan. The social media manager David looked to be having a great time. And didn’t Samantha Cohen end up staying on longer than she was originally meant to? These were all British people no? Doesn’t quite mesh with the tyrannical boss persona they’re trying to put on Meghan, working culture clash aside.
Oh, and FF described the working relationship between Meghan and Christian Jones as a very good one too. And he’s another Brit right? On a side note, if he really was leaking info to his parnter who then leaked it to that troll Wooten, that would have been rough for Meghan to hear. They keep trying to make her out to be this demon, but instead only expose themselves.
I think Omid recently mentioned in one of his interviews that some of these duchess difficult and nightmare boss rumors didn’t actually come from people who worked directly with Meghan, but rather other people surrounding KP, who were probably hostile to her, but weren’t part of her team. Is the 5 am emails thing a one off incident, or was she always an early bird? Remember in one article, maybe Tatler, the staff she was assigned told her they work for Will and Kate first, not her. This was a bad workplace culture that went beyond cultural differences. This sounds like hostility and resentment. Also, the staff was not prepared for the increased interest and attention from the international media and overseas requests for tours in the couple, so the staff was unprepared. Regardless, she was used to working a lot. She not only had her acting job, which could be very long days, but the promotion associate with it, and her other projects. She probably treated her royal role as a major undertaking and yes, wanted to hit the ground running. Also, if she got on so well with Christian, why was his boyfriend taking payments from Dan Wooten?
Yeah, I think Christian was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
@izzy I agree I think Megan is nice and too easily trusting/sweet talked E.G the way she still thinks her father is a victim.
Truly irritated by non compliant assertive women. Courtiers, BRF, dinosaurs.
As an American I’m still confused about what actual work the Royals do. They make speeches and show up for events it seems and I guess you need outfits and speech writers and editors but none of these people are doing actual hard work IMO. I don’t think the staff should have to work more than 40 hours or whatever the norm is for them but the complaining seems so silly. I know Megan wanted to “work” more than other royals but that means going to more events and promoting a cookbook, not pulling all night shifts in an ICU. This whole complaining is so
Out of touch with how most people work.
With the exception of Charles, who actually was allowed to carve out a “progressive role” for himself, the rest of them do little to nothing. They read 2 minute uninspiring speeches that someone else wrote for them and then unveil plaques, cut ribbons, and christen ships. That’s about it. Oh, or they show up to shake a few hands after a tragedy like Grenfell, say a few words that someone else wrote for them, and then never follow up or see those people ever again. That’s what they do.
US and UK are as the old trope goes “two nations divided by a common language.” I’m American, have been to the UK three times as an adult, and have to say I don’t love it. I don’t love the passive-aggressive barely veiled animosity they have towards Americans. I just find them really hostile – when they hear the accent I feel like their demeanor changes – and at least in my experience, it’s worse in London than anywhere else. It makes me sad because according to my genetic testing, I am mostly English/Scottish. 🙂 Yes, I know a lot of Americans are obnoxious so we’ve dug our own graves, but I try super hard when out of the US to not be obnoxious and to blend in. I don’t demand ice in everything when I’m there. (heh)
As far as working goes, I have had interaction too with them in work settings, and I agree on the “let’s be pretend nice to each other before we ask someone to do something that is their job” to the point where it’s like, why? Of course you don’t have to be obnoxious about asking people to do things when they work for you, but they take it to a whole other level. I think poor Meghan was doomed from day 1.
what could Meghan possibly ask that was sooooooo difficult? The Royals are a bunch of lazy people. Their idea of work. OH PLEASE!!! I worked with many in the UK from our US offices. Call there after 5pm their time AND THEY ARE ALL GONE…. THEY GET LAID OFF THEY GET ALMOST 3 YEARS OF UNEMPLOYMENT TO FIND WORK., We get 26 weeks..
I was the ceo of a prestigious charity and sometimes actually often in the not for profit world long hours and low salaries are the norm. It is important that salaries be kept to an acceptable ratio so that the charity is truly benefiting from donor support. Having said all that I acknowledge that I am speculating but I think the real issue was that ‘the work’ in the royal household is to be in service of the monarch’s goals. The Queen is the ceo of the monarchy and the dudes in suits deal with the details. I am sure it is difficult carving out meaningful roles for all senior royals and ensuring they don’t step all over each other while trying to do their jobs. This is where the egos come to play and it becomes especially tricky as they are a family and a ‘business’. There is a pecking order and I speculate that Meghan was boxed in because she was too ambitious (Sussex squad ppl are going to rage at me) and wanted to make an immediate impact. Also at the end of the day, her ‘job’ was not to achieve her goals but the Queen’s. Meghan’s work ethic was no doubt admirable, but not going to work in that hierarchy or others that I can think of where seniority and rank rule. I recall Michelle Obama being quoted as saying Meghan should take her time choosing her roles. Sadly the pushy American narrative was born perhaps in reaction to her wanting to hit the ground running. Rightly or wrongly. I also recall reading that Harry and Meghan would come up with ideas at dinner and would want them enacted immediately. Evidently later on they said they had learned from ‘past mistakes’ in an article I read. True or not I don’t know but I do know from my own professional experience how difficult it is to harness the energy of high profile volunteers. Remember at the end of the day all of the details and real work are performed by the staff and it is so important to have realistic expectations that align with the organization you serve.
If you compare their work to Charles, etc….the fact that they wanted to make an impact is not the problem. It’s that William had a problem with it. Princess Anne said it herself – everyone finds their own way and makes the role their own. The Sussexes were sharing an office with their in-laws who are praised for coming up with concepts and 10 year surveys. They wanted to do something completely different. That would not have been a problem if William had not made it a problem.
Personally, I think William is coddled because they don’t want Diana 2.0 and because he is the heir. I also think a lot gets lost in translation because they are not a close family and it seems like the staff rules the roost.
Michelle Obama had that advice about taking time in like November 2018 when the smear campaign had already started. Meghan was in a pretty impossible position because when she initially married in and first started engagements- by the summer when royals are usually quiet, the royal reporters had started complaining that she wasn’t providing value to taxpayers. That’s why they were surprised when the cookbook dropped.
That line about projects discussed over dinner was from fan fiction writer Katie Nicholls & given rota reporters didn’t know about the cookbook, guest editing Vogue or SmartSet I doubt she knew about how ideas were formulated. Plus Edward Enniful gave an account of how they put the edition together& I doubt palace staff had much input based on that. Harry’s only project launch during this time was Travalyst and its with big corporate partners so think it would have been prepped in a normal corporate way.
When they did that Charles at 70 documentary Harry talked about Charles working so hard he would fall asleep at his desk. Yet there are no complaints about his working habits. I doubt any royals are really working crazy corporate hours and Meghan’s output doesn’t compute with idea she was running staff ragged. Plus as some mentioned the queens former private assistant secretary extended her stay & worked for them for 18 months & there were all these quotes about their team being tearful when they left in March. Doesn’t sound like an awful demanding boss.
I just think some staff looked down on her and probably bristled at idea of working for her at all.
100% agree with you.
From the start, i felt the hereditary monarchy of the BRF ( or any royal family) was not going to work for a modern woman unless she was willing to fall in line.
There is so much competition among the fans about how much charity one royal is doing vs the other, and how much one is more deserving that the other.
The reality is that charity work is just a smokescreen for the life of privileges that the Royals ( all of them) benefit from, it is a way for them to pretend that their existence matters beyond a historical quirk that the tax payers deem too much of a constitutional hassle to get rid of.
While i don’t doubt many looked down on Meghan for being American and being biracial, i do think that H&M believed erroneously that they could build a brand and be a power couple within the RF, doing global charity work, when in reality, the only purpose of their role is to serve those that are above them in the hierarchy.
Yes its ridiculous, but so is a hereditary monarchy, as Meghan found out to her detriment, which is why the half in/ half out system they had proposed for themselves couldn’t work.
all this thing about abrasive work atmosphere is because due to lack of preperation for royal duties etc by the BRF for new comers The same was very apparent with Diana but in different ways.
The FIRM seems to practice the throw-you-in-at-the-deep-end orientation. Where is Harry tjough in all of this, why wasnt he being a guide for her? I do not get it.
Oh please. Yet again I shouldn’t be surprised by the ability of people to give white people a pass, even though the courtiers have been proven time and time again to be racist and sexist. There’s nothing specific they can lay out in what Meghan did that was so objectionable, only vague allegations. If Meghan demanded they respond to 300 emails at 5 am and work 60 hour weeks, they would undoubtedly leak that… but they can’t and that’s what’s so telling.
And before she even came on the scene it was known that palace staff are underpaid and overworked hence the high turnover. You don’t see them complaining to the press when it’s the white royals though. Also Meghan outworked a lot of the royals but I seriously doubt she was working 40 hour weeks either, except for maybe a couple weeks leading up to the launch of her British Vogue issue. So Im not buying this “Meghan doesn’t know how to act” narrative.
The whole charge that the royal aides are underpaid and overworked is just so infuriating to me, especially when people bring it up as a reason why Meghan was so horrible bad wrong to try and get them to go above and beyond their jobs (looking at you, Lady Colin Campbell).
It’s not Meghan’s fault that their wages are garbage. It’s not America’s fault that British work culture is different. If these royal aides put their money where their mouths were, they’d do the right and proper thing, and go on strike. They’d unionize, and negotiate for higher pay and benefits, as a united front.
But they won’t. Because they all know that this job is a stepping stone and a networking tool for better opportunities. They’re all just hanging onto these positions until they can get hired into the next vacancy with the Tory party. They don’t care about the wages, or being underpaid, or anything, they’re just using this as an excuse to hate on Meghan.
Well, Lady Colin Campbell explained the situation. The palace staff make low salaries and consider it an honor to work for the monarchy. In return, the royals treat the staff with great respect and that is how the staff expects to be treated.
I think Meghan thought of the staff as people who were there to do her bidding and was unaware of the dynamic. It was said that both the Queen and Katherine had to take Meghan aside because of how she talked to staff.
@lorri back again with your tired spinning from a haggard peadophile enabler who has never met any of the royals let alone Harry and Meghan and the lazy nothing doer! 🙄
It’s excerpts like this from the book I wished they’d delved into more.I feel so much was left out of the book, like what went into the tours, how she worked with her patronages, the clashes Harry had with Will and Charles regarding project funding and hierarchy. Also, this book does not explain what exactly they wanted from Meghan as a working royal, apart from shutting up and going away. There is so much not spoken of, and I think it was way worse than it lets on. One criticism of the book was that there was too much rom com stuff, it makes Harry look like a hotheaded jerk who doesn’t listen, and not enough explanation of some really relevant things. Why go into tiaras but not the Flybe stunt, or why the attacks ramped up after the Australia tour, or all the crazy headlines during the late stages of her pregnancy ( moonbump anyone)? Regarding her work style, part of me thinks that they just thought she’s do a few photo ops and visits with the charities, but we’re not expecting her to take a real interest and actively, with them. They wanted Meghan star power and charisma, but with Kate’s passivity, which just was never realistic, and you could tell she definitely tried to mute herself.Take the cookbook launch for example. How was it accomplished without leaks, what was reaction to that and how it took off, or that racist headline coverage linking it to a mosque? I just feel this book left a lot unanswered and with them moving on, it already seems a bit dated. I wish they had added some outside voices outside their friends and the palace, like media watchers or people of color. I notThat’s another book for another time. Overall the book does help with the balance, shows this couple were in a complicated messy situation, and shows their humanity, flaws and all.
I only disagree with one thing, they didn’t want Meghan to have any star power at all, and I’m quite sure it horrified them, they just wanted her gone from the beginning.
The RF aides are used to Royals who do not work (real work). Royals like Eugenie, Beatrice, do you really think they were treated on the job like you are? I bet their Job interviews went perfectly. They have no clue how to survive and move up like Meghan..
LOL the title of this article was meghans work style, i thought it was about her clothing at events
I’m honestly so beyond tired of this conversation. We get it. The British stuffed shirts who work for the monarchy don’t like Americans. They think Americans are all ill-bred, ill-mannered idiots who have the audacity of thinking they can send 5 am e-mails. Because how DARE they. How DARE these AMERICANS have a DIFFERENTLY PACED WORK CULTURE. How monstrous, how bizarre, how piteously COMMON.
We get it. This has been a stereotype since 1776, you can give it a fucking rest already. Calm the fuck down, go eat some beans on toast, and ruminate on how much more cultured and sophisticated you are while yakking to the racist Fail reporters about just how much joy you took from tormenting an American woman for the horrendous sin of being born as a biracial American.
Preach!
There is nothing good about employers who expect employees to work 600/80 with only two weeks holiday a year in this day and age. And with no national health Service either.
What are you talking about? Lol, those people didnt even work for her. They were hired b to do the job, the working hours (which were not confirmed) and pay were not a secret. Funny yow Meghan ‘should have known what she was signing up for’ but expecting the twits at kp to do their job is a crime.
Huh??
That’s fine, that’s why I’m working hard to get Trinidad and Tobago out of the Commonwealth. Little England can have their foggy rocks all to themselves. And there’s no point in emphasizing something isn’t “all racism” because racism doesn’t work that way. Racism and classism work together, that’s why the upper classes are usually the same race. So it’s not a distinction worth making.