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You couldn’t pay us enough to be Meghan Markle.
Except maybe in royal jewels, or that annual allowance of more than £3 million.
Okay, look, maybe you could pay us enough to be Meghan Markle but there is one thing we wouldn’t be able to stand.
Ah yes, everyone always has an opinion on Meghan’s decisions. Post continues below video.
You see, the Duchess of Sussex has a spectacular talent for infuriating people no matter what she does.
If she goes out, if she stays in. If she wants privacy, if she happily smiles for a camera. If she keeps quiet about rumours, if she maybe/maybe not gets her powerful friends to defend her against said rumours…
Meghan to her credit is always classy. We, on the other hand, would probably spend 99 per cent of our time complaining and definitely flip the bird at paparazzi to let off steam.
The latest issues people have with the 37-year-old former actress is thanks to her guest editor gig at British Vogue, where she created a cover for the September issue featuring 15 “trailblazing changemakers, united by their fearlessness in breaking barriers”.
Lovely, isn’t it? Meghan using her role and profile to showcase other wonderful women – who could possibly find issue with that?
Well, um, for starters: The internet. The internet can find a problem with everything, and they’ve found at least six with Meghan’s British Vogue edition.
Let us explain.
1. She’s not on the cover.
Meghan chose to showcase 15 women on the cover of British Vogue instead of herself so as not to appear “boastful” which is really nice, even though no one called Beyonce “boastful” for appearing on the cover of US Vogue when she was its guest editor.
Instead, bloody fantastic women including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, actress Laverne Cox, climate change activist Greta Thunberg and boxer Ramla Ali are among those whose portraits appear on the front of the magazine.
Obviously this was not a well-intentioned decision to inspire people and celebrate great women.
No. This was a thinly-veiled insult to the royal family.
Princess Anne, Princess Diana, and yes, Kate Middleton have each appeared on Vogue covers and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Princess Margaret, the Queen and the Queen Mother have all appeared within its covers.
Critics suggest that means Meghan, by default, is calling them all “boastful”. These same critics would be the first to call her self-centred if she did put herself on the cover, and oh my goodness doesn’t being Meghan Markle sounds fun.
2. The cover looks a lot like a book she appeared in.
A collection of black and white portraits in a grid formation on the cover of a magazine: A 100 per cent original idea that has definitely never been done before in the history of ever.
Except for those times that exact same format appeared on approximately 12,000 books and magazines, including one Meghan herself contributed to in 2016.
The Duchess penned an essay for The Game Changers: How To Become a Fearless, Fabulous Girl Boss by Sunrise and 7News journo Samantha Brett and Steph Adams.
Similarly, the book also featured 15 portraits of women in a grid, was black and white and used the word “change”.
Brett told the Daily Mail the similarities were flattering, but if she took the idea from the book “then it’s extremely disappointing”.
3. There’s a lack of Brits.
Meghan’s Vogue cover features 15 women (the 16th spot features a blank spot which is meant to be mirror because us normal folk are game changers too), but only five of them are British.
Apparently that is a thing someone thought was worth counting.
Considering the royal family represent Britain, and this is British Vogue, some people didn’t think that was quite enough to fly the British flag.
To appease those critics, you can hold the mirror part of the cover up to your British friend or something. Or not. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
4. Where is the Queen?
Along with the complaint that not enough British women featured on the cover, royal fans are outraged that Meghan didn’t choose to include Queen Elizabeth II.
“Of all the women MM selected, she did NOT choose The Queen. The original feminist,” a woman named Nellie wrote on Twitter. “Anyone could learn volumes from her – yet MM refuses to listen.”
Nellie, don’t stress, Meghan has already thought of a solution for this:
5. Her priorities are out of whack.
We’re sure you’ll be surprised to learn that journalist and professional Meghan-critic Piers Morgan has shared this thoughts and feelings about the Vogue cover.
Piers, who creatively calls her 'Me-Me-Meghan', wrote an opinion piece criticising the Duchess for having the time to guest edit the Vogue issue but was 'too busy caring for her baby' to meet US President Donald Trump during his visit to the United Kingdom earlier this year.
Trump had previously called her "nasty", so maybe that had something to do with it.
6. WHAT ABOUT THE MENS.
Meghan chose 15 diverse women to be on the cover and it's got #notallmen's knickers in a twist.
Firstly, Piers Morgan again reacted in the most predictable way possible.
"Of course her list excludes the planet’s entire male population," he wrote. "So it’s not actually inclusive at all, and nor is her message that only women can change the world."
...That's absolutely not her message, at all, but Piers does enjoy taking creative licence.
Others on social media suggested a Vogue cover celebrating white men, and another criticised Meghan for "constantly praising" women and not men.
SIGH.
Like we said in the beginning, Meghan Markle cannot win.
Her role as guest editor of British Vogue and its cover were always going to cop criticism, no matter what she decided. If she'd made the opposite decisions to those criticised above, there is no doubt she would still face negativity.
But despite all the hatred and trolling and prying, Meghan Markle is still willing to use her platform to showcase important stories of activism, feminism, equality and success.
Top Comments
I don't know any royals and I'm certain there are plenty of people who think the worst of them because of their apparent privileges in life.
It's always been the nature of humans in society to crave a leader, and authority and role models and someone to slag off.
The royals do just nicely.
Imagine being born into a family that lives under immense scrutiny and of whom the public expect perfect manners and an agreeable disposition able to withstand the nosiest and most scathing of intrusions.
All with a target on your back - literally.
Security isn't "just for show" with this family, it's deadly serious.
TV commentators make their living out of diminishing famous people - the younger & prettier the better.
She married a prince and now she has to pay for that - just like her late mother-in-law.
Can't tell from the cover shot but are there any disabled people? 20% of the population and plenty are doing amazing things.
There’s at least one with a visible disability, yes.