Meghan Markle thought she could "become Princess Diana overnight" when she married into the British royal family, a former Conservative British politician recently claimed.
David Mellor formerly held positions with John Major's Conservative government during the 1990s before he stepped down to become a broadcaster and political commentator. Speaking to GB News host Eamonn Holmes on Wednesday, Mellor said that Meghan was "turning her life into a soap [opera]" after the release of her podcast Archetypes on Tuesday.
The podcast release, in collaboration with streaming giant Spotify as part of a multi-million dollar content creation deal signed in 2020, saw Meghan conduct an interview with close friend Serena Williams, as well as reveal personal anecdotes in connection with labels that society applies to women.
"She's turning her life into a soap [opera] and she's a soap actress so why wouldn't she?" Mellor told GB News viewers of his opinion on the podcast.
"Basically, it's a sort of crazy world which she inhabits where she assumes that everyone is totally fascinated by every little detail either of her current life or of her past life and doesn't mind whether it's true or not."
Mellor then said that though he had initially been a fan of Meghan's when she first joined the royal family, he believes she thought she could become a figure like Princess Diana without undertaking the "dull" work that Diana had to.
"Personally, when Meghan Markle came into the royal family, I thought this was a good thing," he said, "and that it would be good that a woman of color should be a part of the royal family and that it would make the royal family seem to embrace larger sections of the community."
"Unfortunately, she seemed to think that she could drift into the royal family and become Princess Diana overnight," Mellor continued. "In my time as a minister and politician you see a lot of members of the royal family in action, and a lot of it is a pretty dull job actually...The point is it's not glamorous, and you feel with Meghan that it was a big disappointment."
Mellor's comments come as Meghan has featured heavily in the press since the release of her Archetypes podcast, prompting one British commentator to state her belief that the royal's treatment by the British tabloids is "not very fair."
Rachel Johnson, a broadcaster and sister to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, responded to a call-in question about why Meghan gets a disproportionate amount of negative coverage in the U.K. tabloids as opposed to focusing on her positive endeavors such as her podcast, by saying:
"I have seen some [podcast coverage] on MailOnline and the more tabloid-y end of the business here. Meghan is a story but you're right, I don't think that she does get necessarily very fair treatment."
Johnson was criticized in 2016 for writing an article referring to Meghan's DNA as "exotic" something she has since apologized for.
When she announced the podcast earlier this year, Meghan stated that the aim of her Archetypes podcast was to "dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back."
In the first episode centering around the label "ambitious," Meghan gave an example of the negative impact she experienced after the word was applied to her by the press after becoming associated with the royals.
"I don't remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ambitious until I started dating my now husband," she said. "And um, apparently ambition is, uh...a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman, that is–according to some."
"Since I've felt the negativity behind it," she continued, "it's really hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller–so much smaller–on a regular basis."
The podcast debuted at number two in the U.K. and U.S. Spotify podcasting charts and currently holds a 4.2-star rating with over 4,000 listener reviews.
Newsweek reached out to representatives for Meghan and Mellor for comment.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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