On the surface, Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew couldn’t have less in common. One married into the royal family and the other has never known life outside of it. Meghan spent decades forging her own way and identity. Andrew, on the other hand, had his path laid out for him from birth, and as the second son of the Queen, a public identity established he always knew he would be required to fulfil. They do, however, have one major similarity: they are, according to a recent poll, the two least popular members of the House of Windsor. This lack of popularity in itself is enough for many to draw comparisons between the two. In reality, they couldn’t be more different.
During her tenure as a working royal, Meghan was most often directly compared with the Duchess of Cambridge. She even commented on how this stream of comparisons made her feel during her much-discussed interview with Oprah in 2021. The Duchess of Sussex said after being shown respective headlines about the two women doing essentially the same things, cradling their baby bumps and eating avocados: “I can see now what layers were at play there, and again, they really seem to want a narrative of a hero and a villain.” Since stepping back from life as a senior royal, this sense of Meghan being portrayed as a villain has only become more entrenched.
