This article was the top story in the Daily Mail’s royal section and it was being heavily promoted within the celebrity sections for some reason. I mean, it’s not a big mystery why: it involves the Duke and Duchess of Sussex being used as scapegoats because none of the royalists want to talk about the Princess of Wales’s sudden withdrawal from Ascot last week. Sidenote: that’s actually bad news for the Waleses, that Kate had this big storyline and most people just wanted to talk about whether the late Prince Philip hated the Duchess of Sussex. You know they’re desperate when they dust off Philip’s memory too! Previously, we’ve heard that Philip was “reminded” of Wallis Simpson when he met Meghan, and that Philip was “horrified” by Harry and Meghan’s decision to Sussexit. Well, enjoy another piece in “The Mail Remembers” series.
Although marrying into the Royal Family means living a life of privilege, there are also plenty of drawbacks to joining the Firm. No modern royal was more aware of theses sacrifices than Prince Philip. After becoming the Duke of Edinburgh, Philip gave up his birth citizenship, his naval career and even his surname. In many ways he accepted that his life would be spent in the shadow of Queen Elizabeth II. It is therefore unsurprising that Philip would expect a similar level of commitment to the family from others.
According to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, Philip couldn’t understand why Meghan Markle didn’t follow his example when she married Prince Harry in May 2018. Speaking to Sky News in 2020, Seward said: ‘I think he’s very, very disappointed because I think he feels he gave up his naval career in order to stand by the Queen and help the monarchy. And why can’t Meghan just give up her acting career, support her husband and support the monarchy? He just cannot understand why she couldn’t support Harry and help him rather than wanting to have her voice.’
Seward claims that the Duke just wanted to wash his hands of the whole sorry affair. Speaking in 2020 she said: ‘Of course, it irritates him hugely. And when they had the Sandringham Summit, Prince Philip was seen leaving the house very swiftly before they all arrived. He simply doesn’t want to get involved any more.’
Philip’s quiet fury, directed towards Harry and Meghan, came from his sense of duty and because of his own sacrifices. Even before Philip married Elizabeth and became the Duke of Edinburgh, he had to renounce his Greek and Danish citizenship in order to become a naturalised Brit. He also changed his name from Philippos Andreou of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderberg-Glücksburg to Mountbatten.
Like… why are we still fighting over this stuff at this point? Why are they recycling 2020 quotes? But here goes: Meghan DID give up her acting career, she DID move to the UK to support Harry and the monarchy and she DID give up her voice in an attempt to make her life in the UK work. The monarchy proceeded to steal her passport, attack her, smear her, spread racist lies about her, refuse to give her mental health services and never once stood up to anyone on her behalf. ENOUGH!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
