A leading royal author and commentator has claimed that the Duchess of Sussex planned to throw herself straight into her official royal duties and accompany the late Queen on her engagements in a bid to “modernise” the monarchy.
In the years since she and Harry stepped back from their roles, Meghan has said she did not receive enough support or training to adjust to her new role as a working member of the world’s most famous family.
However, royal expert Angela Levin said in an interview that the Duchess was so keen on changes in the royal family that she immediately sought a more active role.
Speaking to Sky News Australia, the biographer revealed: “I’ve found out that Meghan isn’t going to be told anything. She has to win, she has to be at the forefront.”
“I was told that she expected to accompany the Queen to her appointments straight away and tell her how to modernise everything. Everyone knows that you don’t go into a new business yourself and expect to be running it in five minutes.
“You have to learn, you have to absorb everything. You change countries, you change friends, you change jobs and she didn’t want to know anything about that.”
This view is echoed by investigative journalist Tom Bower in his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, in which he suggests that Meghan’s refusal to “learn the intricacies of royal life” contributed to her withdrawal.
The author wrote that the royal family was becoming increasingly frustrated with Markle’s handling of royal duties. Unlike other family members who kept their opinions to themselves and treated official duties with caution, it felt that Markle was determined to “hit the ground running.”
Bower explained: “Kate was annoyed with her neighbour. Unlike her own cautious approach of learning the ropes before taking on royal duties, Meghan was on the run – but what was her goal?
“And who did she run with? Did she realize that the royal family was running together under the monarch and not as competing individuals?”
Royal expert Andrew Morton expressed a similar thought on The Mirror’s “Pod Save The King” podcast: “After watching the royal family all these years, I realised that it takes a very, very long time to really understand what it is like to be a member of the royal family.”
“Catherine Middleton spent ten, twelve years coming to terms with it. The same goes for Sophie Rhys-Jones (the Duchess of Edinburgh), and she’s much less well known – or at least she was. It just takes a long time to come to terms with it.
“Catherine was quite a shy person, giving speeches and appearing in public was an ordeal, but I think she overcame that. She reminds me so much of Diana. She struggled for a few years to come to terms with what it was like to be a princess.”
The biographer continued: “The great tragedy, in my opinion, is that Meghan and Harry didn’t wait long enough to see if they could make it. They were almost out before the wedding music had finished.”
“Meghan is a natural talent…she had a great opportunity to use her talent and position to make a real change in the world. I don’t think she’ll make that kind of change living in Montecito.”
