Sean Smith - Meghan Misunderstood

HarperCollins Publishers

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First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2020

FIRST EDITION

Text © Sean Smith 2020

Jacket design by Claire Ward © HarperCollins Publishers 2020

Front jacket photograph © Mark Cuthburt/UK Press via Getty Images

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Sean Smith asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008359577

Ebook Edition © November 2020 ISBN: 9780008359607

Version: 2020-11-18

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Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008359577

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1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Note to Readers

5 Also by Sean Smith

6 Dedication

7 Contents

8 Introduction

9 PART ONE: THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

10 1 Moments of History

11 2 Loving Day

12 3 People are Fighting

13 4 With a Sparkle

14 5 Star-To-Be

15 6 At the Hollywood Bowl

16 7 North by Northwestern

17 8 A Sense of Self

18 PART TWO: ACTOR TO ACTIVIST

19 9 Pity Parties

20 10 You’re Enough

21 11 I Won’t Stand for Racism

22 12 Networking

23 13 The Tig

24 14 Embracing the Experience

25 15 The Lion’s Roar

26 PART THREE: TO BE CONTINUED …

27 16 The One

28 17 Africa Calling

29 18 A Week in Hell

30 19 Time for India

31 20 The Clean Slate

32 21 A Labour of Love

33 22 Vogue

34 23 The End of the Fairy Tale

35 24 The Deft Goodbye

36 25 Rebuilding

37 Last Thoughts

38 Meghan’s Stars

39 Life and Times

40 Acknowledgements

41 Select Bibliography

42 List of Searchable Terms

43 Picture Section

44 By the same author

45 About the Publisher

Landmarks CoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter

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Meghan Markle looked up, wide-eyed, lips quivering and said her now-famous words: ‘It’s not enough to survive something, right; that’s not the point of life. You’ve got to thrive; you’ve got to feel happy …’

Like thousands of others I probably only watched Harry and Meghan: An African Journey because of all the advance publicity the programme had received, the headlines written and the opinions voiced about Meghan’s decision to sue the Mail on Sunday .

The documentary by broadcaster Tom Bradby, a long-time friend of Prince Harry, was riveting as it lurched between triumph and despair – the jubilation of Meghan dancing with young African girls being given the chance of a better life thanks to wonderful local charities, and the darker, private moments of introspection, admitting that while she never thought her new life would be easy, she had thought it would at least be fair.

I decided then and there to write a book about Meghan, chronicling her journey up to this point in her life – little realising that within three months she, Harry and their baby, Archie, would leave the UK, perhaps never to return.

Up until the moment the couple announced that Meghan was taking legal action against the newspaper for publishing part of a private letter to her father, the trip to Africa had been described as a ‘textbook royal tour’, full of waving and cheering as a posse of royal reporters and photographers enjoyed an expenses-paid escape from a dull British autumn.

There was plenty to fill the pages of the newspapers and dominate the news channels back home. Meghan gave an empowering speech to the women of the Nyanga township in Cape Town, which ended in stirring fashion: ‘I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of colour and as your sister. I am here with you and I am here for you …’

For the first time the world was introduced properly to Archie; not in the dull, traditional way of posed pictures of tired mum and baby leaving hospital, but in a gloriously uplifting meeting between the new parents and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the legendary figures of South African history alongside Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko, the anti-apartheid activist assassinated in 1977.

Meghan and Harry chatted with the Archbishop for half an hour at the headquarters of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town. They met at the Old Granary, a beautifully restored building in Buitenkant Street that was originally built by slaves in the early nineteenth century. It used to be a symbol of colonial expansion but now houses a collection chronicling the acclaimed cleric’s life.

Meghan explained, ‘It’s not lost on us what a huge and significant moment this is.’