Meghan Markle’s tour of Africa a chance to lift her royal image
The Duchess of Sussex’s public image has taken a hit lately but royal experts say, if she plays her cards right, she can win over her critics during an upcoming tour of Africa.
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Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, posted a quote from the Dalai Lama on Instagram this week.
“The key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion,” the post said.
After the past six months, Meghan might have been asking for a little bit to be sent her way following dozens of negative headlines.
Everything from how baby Archie’s birth was announced in May to his private christening, a revolving door of nannies, a trip to the tennis where her security guards told people off for taking selfies, and her family’s private jet travel, have been criticised.
Reports of a feud with Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, following the split of the charity that Prince Harry and Prince William had set up did not help her cause.
As she played with Archie inside her home, Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle, there’s a chance she added some Taylor Swift to her Spotify account and danced around.
The American singer, who will be in Australia next month for the Melbourne Cup, famously sang “haters gonna hate” in her anthem Shake It Off.
And that’s what Meghan will do when she steps out on a royal tour in Africa next week.
The 10-day tour with her husband, Prince Harry, and little Archie, will reset the tone for her role in the monarchy and the world.
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Those, mainly British people, complaining about her Hollywood style will see how that star power plays out on the international stage, according to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams.
“Harry and Meghan’s popularity has taken somewhat of a dive,” Mr Fitzwilliams said.
“There was a tremendous amount of goodwill around the time of when they were engaged and married.
“They see themselves as a couple with a global reach and they will use that global reach to help the causes they believe in.”
Meghan and Archie will head to South Africa for the tour, while Prince Harry will also add side trips to Malawi, Botswana and Angola.
Harry will be campaigning to clear landmines, protect Africa’s environment and help children living with HIV.
Sticking to the couple’s decision to keep Archie as private as possible, he has no scheduled engagements.
Meghan, a feminist who champions women’s rights, will do a series of speeches and meet inspirational leaders in South Africa who are helping move the country forward.
Her solo appearances will be some of the most watched on the tour as she turns more heads in the same way that her late mother-in-law Princess Diana stole the show from Prince Charles.
However, Harry is unlikely to mind his wife taking the spotlight like his father did.
This modern royal married Meghan for exactly the reasons that some people find hard to deal with.
Meghan was a star in her own right when they met and she has embraced the public eye because she is a passionate activist herself.
Dickie Arbiter, who was a spokesman for the Queen, has backed Meghan in to win over her critics on the tour.
“Meghan will do very well, being on her own for part of the tour she will probably do a lot better than with Prince Harry,” he said.
“Everything doesn’t need to be a double act. It’s an opportunity for her to develop her own interests like Diana did with Charles.”
The tour has come at a good time for the Sussex family.
It will give them the chance to set the agenda, as Mr Fitzwilliams points out that most of the criticism has come while Meghan has been on maternity leave.
Some of the headlines were vicious, and they just keep coming on both sides of the Atlantic.
The US National Enquirer ran a front-page headline “Monster Megan Exposed”, quoting an anonymous former nanny.
A front page on The Sun in London claimed that the Queen has demanded guests stop asking about Meghan and Harry because she was sick of talking about them.
But the papers keep reporting on them because of the public’s insatiable appetite for Meghan and Harry news, this generation’s version of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco.
The trouble for Meghan started before the birth of Archie when rumours of a split between her and Kate hit fever pitch.
The jungle drums became louder when Harry and Meghan decided to leave The Royal Foundation, a charity set up by the royal brothers in 2009.
They appeared together at an event for the charity, and were dubbed the “Fab Four” in a reference to The Beatles.
The charity division, which will add significant administration costs, was seen of proof of the bad blood between Meghan and Kate.
There had been reports that Meghan made Kate cry over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid’s dress for her royal wedding last year.
However, it was more likely that Prince William and Prince Harry had been bickering.
There were reports Prince Harry was offended when Prince William asked if he was “sure” he wanted to marry Meghan, because they had a whirlwind romance compared with his ultra-marathon courtship of Kate.
All four had also been living in Kensington Palace in central London, but Meghan and Harry moved to their cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle, near the Queen’s official apartments.
By London standards, Kensington Palace, which has its own machine gun armed security, was probably big enough for two families without anyone having to wait in line to use the bathroom.
The $5 million renovation costs for the cottage, which can still be seen from The Long Walk near Windsor Castle where Meghan drove in between thousands of fans on her wedding day, also raised eyebrows.
The British taxpayer funded renovations were more Grand Designs than The Block.
And just this week, an $8000 barbecue area spruce up also hit the headlines.
But while the Brits, whose idea of a barbecue is coals in a tin foil container from the local supermarket, may scoff, an Australian with a decent backyard would probably see that as money well spent.
But while so much time has been spent on Meghan and Prince Harry, the disgraceful decisions of Prince Andrew who was friends with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was where the criticism should fall.
Some of Meghan’s faux pas have been self-inflicted. Others were simply overzealous minders.
A storm broke out when Meghan attended Wimbledon to watch Serena Williams, the friend who threw her a flash New York baby shower.
Much to the shock horror of the establishment, Meghan wore jeans which barred her from the royal box with the celebrities.
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Instead, she sat with university friends Genevieve Hillis and Lindsay Roth in the public areas.
A security detail had also asked Sally Jones, 64, a media consultant sitting nearby to stop taking photographs, but she too was taking selfies of the court, not the megastar royal.
The story ran for a week.
Meghan’s decision to jump across to watch Ms Williams play off in the US Open final this month also hit the headlines after she knocked back an invitation to visit the Queen at Balmoral in Scotland because she was too busy.
But really, if you had a choice, would you want to spend time with? Your grandmother-in-law or your friend about to win a grand slam?
Meghan’s guest editing of the September edition of British Vogue also had mixed reviews. It seemed she could not win when she decided to put the faces of inspirational women, and a mirror panel on the cover instead of a picture of herself.
The family holidays where the couple took private jets four times in 11 days after Harry warned against having too many children in Vogue because of the carbon footprint, also fell flat.
Ingrid Seward, a royal biographer, says Meghan needs to change the conversation on this tour.
And perhaps part ways with some of those giving her public relations advice.
The first step, she said, was to bring out some more opportunities with Archie, because everyone loves a baby, and even more so when the child is a royal.
“He’s the best PR they’ve got at the moment,” she said.
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