What Meghan Markle can learn from Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla was hated for being the third person in Charles and Diana’s “crowded” marriage – but her public image has changed. This is how she transformed and how Meghan could do it too.
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Eighteen months ago, when Prince Harry wed Meghan Markle, they were the darlings of the world’s media.
They were the bright young things bringing substance to the monarchy through their advocacy for veterans (a cause beyond reproach), and rocking tradition through the sheer disparity of their family backgrounds.
They brought something else with them; something for which the royal family is not exactly renowned: a sense of cool.
But as the couple reportedly prepare to retreat to the USA for Thanksgiving celebrations with Meghan’s mother (part of a planned six-week leave of absence from their royal duties), Harry and Meghan find their media shine much diminished.
It has been a year of negative headlines, criticism and a deteriorating public image for the pair. Not even the birth of son Archie in May could fully halt the reputational slide.
The couple were pilloried for making Archie’s birth and subsequent christening private events rather than media circuses; Meghan was bizarrely criticised for the way she held her belly during her pregnancy, and then immediately slammed for the way she carried the infant; the couple were chastised for taking an abundance of private flights at the same time as calling for more action on climate change; and more recently, they were bashed for “whingeing” about their lot during a TV documentary immediately after their trip to Africa.
As commentator Piers Morgan put it: “You’ve just come from South Africa, where there’s absolute poverty. Is that the time to come back and say ‘woe is me?’ No, it isn’t.”
Harry has been affected by the annus ordinarius – according to an Opinium poll this year, his brother William has supplanted him as the most popular royal – but the criticisms seem to have been heaped upon Meghan with special vehemence.
She’s been disparaged for being too American, too Hollywood, and 2019’s ultimate put-down, too “woke”. In that Opinium poll, just 39 per cent of respondents had a positive view of her, compared to 62 per cent who favourably rated the woman with whom she is most frequently compared, the Duchess of Cambridge.
But royal experts believe that Meghan’s reputation is salvageable. According to unconfirmed reports, the Duchess has sought advice from LA celebrity image advisers Sunshine Sachs, but within the royal family itself there is a perfect case study of a woman who has refurbished her public image.
Camilla.
The Duchess of Cornwall will never win any royal family popularity contests, because she will always be remembered as the third person in Charles and Diana’s “crowded marriage”.
The 1993 release of tapes of a conversation between the then lovers – infamous for Charles’s declaration that he wished to be Camilla’s tampon – did her public reputation no favours.
Such was her unpopularity, the Barmy Army used to taunt Australian cricket fans by singing Your Next Queen Is Camilla Parker-Bowles to the tune of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
The Opinium survey revealed just one of four Brits view her favourably.
But the 72 year old has come a long way from the time when she was routinely referred to as Charles’s “mistress”.
Polls show the UK public now show overall support for her marriage to Charles, and in 2018 she cracked Tatler’s list of Britain’s best-dressed people.
And more and more, the public seem to be getting an impression of a cheekier, more fun-loving version of Camilla – a person markedly more like the down-to-earth heroine of Sue Townsend’s satirical 2006 novel Queen Camilla than we once thought possible.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Camilla’s private nickname for Charles was “the boss”, and she undercut the formality of Donald and Melania Trump’s UK visit in June by giving the press a sly wink.
According to her biographer, royal commentator Penny Junor, Camilla has turned her public profile around single-handedly.
“After her marriage to Charles, she went out of her way to befriend the media that followed them. She got to know their names, and would make a point of saying hello when arriving at an engagement and if time allowed – often on long-haul flights when the media would travel on the same plane – she would go back and chat and gossip with them and make them laugh,” Ms Junor told News Corp.
“She got to know about their families and if someone had a personal problem she would always remember and express concern, or congratulate the arrival of new babies or any other good news,” she said.
“Although I am sure it was deliberate, it is entirely genuine. She is a really warm, friendly, funny woman, completely unaffected and totally charming.
“The photographers love her because she will always go out of her way to give them a good picture: she’s happy to pose with a glass of wine, for example, or a mouthful of crumbly cake or a silly hat, so it’s an interesting composition. And she always smiles.”
That disposition contrasts with Meghan, who has appeared somewhat grim in public recently, even telling a recent ITV documentary that she and Harry had been “existing” rather than “living”.
“You’ve got to feel happy and I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip,” she told interviewer Tom Bradby. “I tried, I really tried. But I think what that does internally is probably really damaging.”
Ms Junor said she believed the tabloid’s treatment of Meghan was “nothing compared to the way the Duchess of Cornwall was treated before she married the Prince of Wales”. (Interestingly, Camilla does not use the title ‘Princess of Wales’, even though she is entitled to, because of its connotations with Diana.)
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“Meghan started off with a huge advantage over Camilla. She was not reviled for being an adulteress, or the third person in any marriage,” she said.
In a previous interview, Charles’s former deputy private secretary Mark Bolland said the hatred that came Camilla’s way was undeserved.
“Camilla’s a lovely woman – kind and patient. She has no desire to be famous, or popular,” he said.
“What she doesn’t want is to be hated. The period when she was demonised and traduced by newspapers was very upsetting for her, and it upset (Charles) enormously too, because he felt responsible for it.”
For Ms Junor, author of The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, Camilla has prevailed for two other good reasons: she is good at her job, and she brings out the best in her royal spouse.
“(Camilla) has taken on a host of charities, all of whom love her, rate her and value her contribution,” she said.
“And she has transformed Charles. He used to cut a very lonely and rather sad figure, especially noticeable on foreign tours, but since he has been married to her, he has cheered up immeasurably because she makes him laugh. And because she’s interested in him and everything he cares about. They are not in competition. She is also a great giggler and that is very infectious.”
Ms Junor said she believed Meghan “should take a leaf out of Camilla’s book”.
“Being a member of the royal family is very different from being an A-lister,” she said.
“It’s not easy but I hope it will only be a matter of time before Meghan recognises the difference and regains the affection we all felt for her when she walked down the aisle at St George’s Chapel on Prince Charles’s arm, not so very long ago.”
