While grieving the loss of The Queen - and her husband's grandmother - Meghan Markle still couldn't escape the usual heavy scrutiny by royal watchers. From her body language to every word spoken, the 41-year-old has been targeted by social media trolls.
And it continues. The amount of hate and online abuse she has received over the past few days on Twitter is completely disproportionate. Ever since her relationship with Prince Harry became public years ago, criticism of the American former actress has grown intense and personal, with some of it slipping under the radar, writes Hedi Mehrez.
If we narrow it down to these past two weeks, the comments made towards her clearly showed a double standard when it comes to Meghan and other members of the Royal family including Kate, Princess of Wales. The latter is often described as being “so elegant”, “classy” and “lovely” compared to her sister-in-law who is seen as a “narcissistic hypocrite”.
This was particularly noticed when social media users slammed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for their display of affection by holding hands while leaving a service for the late Queen Elizabeth. On the other hand, the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall also held hands as they exited the service but the pair did not receive any backlash.
But this doesn’t stop here, she was accused of being a hypocrite for curtsying in front of Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin in Westminster Hall. Pictures of her flooded social media while none were posted of Kate at this specific moment.
Giving the game away
No matter what she does, Meghan is constantly being judged. While many argue that expressing their hate for Meghan is related to her criticism of the royal family and not to her race, this couldn’t be further from the truth. One person tweeted “It seems strange that people only criticised Harry and Meghan for holding hands, not Mike and Zara Tindall. That tends to give the game away that people are racists.”
When the two were dating, people were questioning her background and she was often referred to as a divorced woman, older than Prince Harry, who is actually just three years younger than her. Many would also make mention of her former career as an actress for Suits and her biracial identity while trying to diminish her achievements.
An official statement published by the Royal Family in 2016 revealed Prince Harry’s worries about his girlfriend Meghan Markle. It reads: “His girlfriend, Meghan Markle has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public - the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces: and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments. Some of it has been hidden from the public.”
Courage
Those denying that racism plays some part in it are actually part of the problem. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey released last year, Meghan made several claims, including that someone in the Royal Family had concerns about her son Archie’s skin colour. She opened up about her mental health, revealing that she even felt suicidal at one point.
This was followed by a backlash from royal fans, with some saying they “feel sorry” for Harry. She has been accused of manipulating the media and “being hypocritical”. Prince Harry did not receive the same treatment.
There is no denying that Meghan has been at the heart of all criticism and is the victim of microaggressions. I applaud her for the courage she has shown this month. She looked nervous during her appearance in Windsor with her husband and Prince William and Kate but she was brave enough to face the public.
It would now be the right time to leave her alone and stop the hate.
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