Prince Harry Says The Royal Family "Missed an Opportunity" With Meghan Markle When It Comes to Moving Away From Tradition
It's a sentiment shared by many.
For many royal watchers, the arrival of Meghan Markle into the Royal Family was a breath of fresh air.
For people of color in particular, the fact that she was biracial was a huge step forward for such a traditional institution (which also has historical links to slavery and racism).
As such, Meghan and Prince Harry's royal exit came as a massive disappointment for all the people who had hoped for change and modernization within the monarchy—and, as it turns out, it came as a massive disappointment to the Duke of Sussex himself, too.
"Anyone inside that system, whether it's my family, whether it's staff, whether it's PR, whatever it is, have already missed an enormous opportunity with my wife, and how far that would go globally," the duke said on episode 5 of Harry & Meghan on Netflix.
Mok O'Keeffe, who goes by @GayAristo on Instagram and TikTok, seems to agree with Harry's sentiment.
"I have watched the latest installment of Harry and Meghan’s documentary and overwhelmingly I feel sad," O'Keeffe tells Marie Claire.
"Sad that the promise of change and renewal that the arrival of Meghan heralded has not been realized."
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He adds, "I am a monarchist. I will wave a flag for our King or the Prince and Princess of Wales any day of the week, but this documentary charts the disintegration of a family and the loss of opportunity.
"The monarchy will survive this and come out the other end. But I fear that the hate shown to Harry and Meghan means that they might not."
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.