Last week on Instagram, I shared a box asking for some of your unpopular opinions or topics that you’d be interested in me sharing my thoughts on. I received quite a few good suggestions that I will definitely explore over the next few weeks.

One topic that came up, pretty appropriately with the coronation of the King happening- was Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Now, I know there are A LOT of feelings going both ways with them, so if you don’t agree with something I share, let me just say, I think you’re right too lol. I don’t have super strong feelings either way and being outsiders/ Americans I guess we’ll never really know the ins and outs of all the details surrounding their major exit from The Royal Family. And disclaimer- I haven’t read Prince Harry’s book, Spare, and don’t really plan too.

SO with that, let’s just jump in- superficially, I think Meghan Markle is beautiful. She always looks so put together and her makeup and hair looks are certainly pinned on a number of my Pinterest boards. I never knew who she was until she got engaged to Prince Harry and I can remember seeing their faces covering just about every magazine in just about every store I went too for the entirety of their engagement and wedding. It was kinda hard back then to not be intrigued with it all, and then of course with the televised wedding, what a spectacle! I can certainly say, I thought she was living the life and the luckiest girl in the world! I mean an American getting her fairy tale ending and becoming a princess? How could that end badly?

Now, where all the drama started, I have no idea. Do I agree with the royal family exit? That’s a hard one for me. For Prince Harry- I’d say absolutely not. It’s his family and a legacy that he was born into. I feel like for him, it was disrespectful to the monarchy and everything it serves, to have “stepped back.” Especially with his father being next in line to the thrown at the time. If he was somewhere further back in line or not one of the “senior” royals, sure do whatever you want, but when you’re like one of the main characters of the “show”, do your job you know? I know that’s obviously a very superficial statement but again, as an outsider, it did leave me a little bit like what the heck is he doing?!?

Looking at Meghan Markle’s side of the whole ordeal, I’m pretty torn. I did watch their documentary , which I don’t really think shared any insight into anything other than her name dropping Beyonce, Oprah, and Tyler Perry? On the one hand, you married the Prince of England, what did you expect to happen? If it was all the publicity she hated, what did she honestly expect? He’s held this role and position in this family for his entire life, did she expect that once he was married that that would change? And then she had to see how the Royals “worked” and all the engagements they did in the public eye while she was dating Prince Harry, so I’m a little bit like, you knew, so if you weren’t okay with that lifestyle, maybe don’t agree to marry him? I mean, I just don’t think there’s any way you date the Prince of England and think you’ll end up living in a castle in silence and complete privacy. I think that’s a little far fetched. On the flip side, if there truly were concerns over the couples safety and the Royal family not giving them good enough security, or if they really were being “fed” to the tabloids in order to keep other Royals out of the papers, that is a pretty negative and toxic way to live your life which I don’t believe is fair. And to add to that, to address the racism issue, I do believe the Royal Family could have made a better statement to defend her from the racist headlines or slurs she was reportedly getting. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

So was it the right move? I really don’t know. I do believe that everyone deserves to do what feels right for them to protect their mental health and sanity, and to ultimately do what they need too to lead a happy, fulfilled life. I just feel like the theatrics of this whole situation has really been dragged out and has made both parties look bad in my opinion.

Also, having watched The Crown on Netflix, **SPOILER ALERTS***, when it got to the part where Diana comes into play, if what they portrayed in the series is factually accurate, she was treated so poorly by the Royal Family and I can absolutely see how someone would want to leave that family and never look back if they were being treated even a fraction of how Diana was treated behind closed doors.

That’s not to compare Princess Diana with Meghan Markle at all, because I do believe Diana was blindsided quite a bit and was fed lies from the Royal Family and the press itself as far as what her life was going to be like as the Princess of Wales. I believe she was also unfairly groomed for her position and somewhat coerced into marrying Prince Charles, especially as he continued to have a relationship behind Diana’s back with a certain someone (now the Queen Consort). Meghan Markle had (I believe) more than enough information at her fingertips to really make an educated decision about what her life was going to be as she continued on with her relationship with Prince Harry. So whereas Diana was very naive, I don’t really think Meghan Markle had that same “excuse.”

Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. I think if they really wanted to live a more private life, I think they could have done that. They could have moved to California and could have quietly produced Netflix documentaries and worked on charitable contributions without doing it publicly. They could have also avoided the sit down with Oprah to spill it all? I don’t know. It’s a really tough topic. I just hope that maybe soon, the whole family can move on and regain their own narratives instead of it seeming like this ping pong match of statements/ actions back and forth between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the entirety of The Royal Family. Also, side note- I’ve read that Meghan Markle and their kids aren’t attending the coronation, which I think is really sad. Just for the sake of the children, to miss out on this monumental/historical moment just because their parents and grandparents are feuding seems wrong and just makes me sad. (Maybe at the time of this being published, we will learn that they were actually there all along LOL- I’m an optimist.)

I will add one more thing to the conversation— I think it’s wild that Prince Harry has been getting more backlash and hate over the past few years than Prince Andrew did with the entire Jeffrey Epstein saga. People in power are scary aren’t they?

What are your thoughts on the matter? I’m really interested in reading some different points of view! LMK in the comments!