April 03, 2021
Meghan Markle got compared to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana after she shared her side of the story of the royal exit with Oprah Winfrey in a bombshell interview.
Even though, ample royal critics and fans drew parallels with her explosive chat to the one which the late Princess of Wales had with BBC’s Martin Bashir, one royal expert is not onboard with the comparisons.
Professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at Royal Holloway, University of London and co-author of the book Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture, Pauline Maclaran told E! News that Harry and Meghan’s interview was not the same as the one Diana gave.
"I don't think the [Meghan and Harry] interview can be really rated in a similar way to the Diana interview, which really turned the public very much against the royal family here," she said.
"When Diana did her interviews, that was after they had suffered many other things during that period, so that was a sort of culminating scandal or the culmination of a series of scandals, really. This time, I think it's just not quite the same and particularly because Harry and Meghan had already left,” she continued.
"Harry and Meghan are slightly more peripheral. Diana was central in that she would have been expected to be queen had she stayed married to Prince Charles and is more connected with the immediate heir to the throne,” Maclaran said.
“So, his whole personal life being revealed and hers, it was in a sense a lot more sordid as well, with all the details about love, betrayal and the 'three of us in the marriage' and all these things, whereas the Harry and Meghan is different, really, in that respect. Harry is not an immediate heir to the throne and they have left,” she continued.
"Meghan hasn't been around as long as Diana and she's not the mother of future kings,” she added.