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Kate Hawkesby: Disingenuous Meghan steps back into the spotlight

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Mar 2021, 12:11PM
Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah airs today. (Photo / AP)
Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah airs today. (Photo / AP)

Kate Hawkesby: Disingenuous Meghan steps back into the spotlight

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Mar 2021, 12:11PM

Tonight’s the night – the Harry & Meghan exclusive with Oprah where sighs, pauses, and lots of ‘mmmmm’s will take centre stage.

Oprah will remind us nothing’s off limits, that this is the first and most frank insight into what goes on behind palace walls.

It’s important to remember here that none of that is true. There will be a bunch of stuff off limits, the parameters of the interview will have been widely canvassed back and forward between her people, their people, and all the lawyers and PR agents in between.

The only people probably kept in the dark here will be Buckingham Palace. A palace Oprah would now have us believe is akin to some kind of detention centre that serves scones and tea.

Instead of getting wrapped up in Team Meghan or Team Queen, as this reality show disguised as an interview would like, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture.

This is all about marketing, reputation and branding and getting Haz and Megs front and centre in the hallowed halls of Hollywood fame where maximum revenue can be made.

It’s about getting people onside – and playing to the current narrative of cancel culture, racism, bullying, mental health and female empowerment. It’s going to hit every one of those buttons. The timing is ripe for that and Oprah will have told them so. She'll have convinced them people will be receptive to it and they're banking on it - literally.

And we are ready to be shocked, appalled and outraged, because that’s all anyone seems to want to be these days.

Add to that the fact that we’re talking about something people on the inside never talk about: royal life. To be royal means to focus on service, not whine about your circumstances and make it personal. That's something Harry will have explained to her before they even married.

Which is what makes the Harry part of this so hard to stomach.  Meghan, I get. I saw it early on, it seemed obvious to me what was coming. She’s an opportunist who knew exactly what she was getting into, then cried wolf when she got there and worked out she couldn’t in fact change anything.

So she went to her own familiar playbook – cut everybody off. The staff, her own family, Harry’s family, the UK press. Cut people, sue them, find a more sympathetic outlet - enter Oprah stage right.

Oprah of course was not remotely interested in interviewing Meghan Markle when she was a B-grade actress from Suits, but now with a title in front of her name and her willingness to throw her husband's famous family under the bus - now it's all on.

Here’s the thing that irks me, the disingenuous-ness of it all. Have your American life, your British Prince, your royal baby, your LA mansion, your Netflix deals, your Spotify podcasts and your designer latte business, have it all.

But don’t whine about how hard your life is while you do it. And certainly don’t do it under the guise of wanting privacy, when your two hour TV tell all is going to be broadcast all over the world.

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