Inside Meghan Markle's turbulent, up-and-down first five months as Prince Harry's wife

SO MUCH has happened since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed, it’s hard to believe it was just five short months ago.

The former television actress has well-and-truly swapped Hollywood red carpets for royal engagements, settled into her home at Kensington Palace and even fallen pregnant.

But the start of her life as the Duchess of Sussex and a member of the Windsor clan has not been without its difficulties.

Members of her estranged family have continued to spark seemingly endless headlines with their bizarre antics, controversial commentary and repeated interviews, overshadowing what should be happy occasions for the newlyweds.

Certain figures in the United Kingdom have also inflamed the furore by attacking both Meghan’s race and commoner background.

And the level of public interest in the former Suits star is at extraordinary levels, perhaps not seen since Harry’s mother Diana married his father, Prince Charles.

“Harry and Meghan are globally very, very popular,” royal commentator Victoria Arbiter told news.com.au.

“They’re certainly a modern couple. There are traditional elements about them — Harry has grown up in a very traditional environment. She’s not a party animal by any means, but she is a modern woman.”

When it was announced to the world on Monday that the couple was expecting their first child, Meghan’s estranged father Thomas apparently heard the news at the same time.

“I would be a little surprised if we was told ahead of time, given he’s proven he can’t really be trusted,” Ms Arbiter said.

“I hazard a guess he found out with the rest of us. How could he possibly keep a secret? He’s not kept any other secret. It’s sad. Any child wants the first people they tell they’re pregnant to be their own parents.”

Particular members of Meghan’s family demonstrated very early on that they would prove to be problematic and opportunistic.

Her father, a former award-winning film and TV lighting director, began appearing in staged photographs captured by paparazzi, acting erratically and reading books about British history and the Royal Family.

He sold stories about his daughter and her relationship, sharing intimate titbits that should have been kept private. He didn’t attend her wedding and the pair are now seemingly estranged.

Thomas Markle Junior has savagely described his sister as “conceited, jaded and shallow” while her half-sister Samantha Grant, who conveniently changed her name back to Markle after the engagement, has been on the attack in the press for almost two years.

“I think her ambition is to become a princess … The truth would kill her relationship with Prince Harry,” she has said.

She exploded when she wasn’t invited to the wedding and later accused Meghan of breaking their father’s heart, before then describing her as “Duch-ass”.

There have been countless interviews and stunts orchestrated, including as recently as this month when she showed up unannounced at Kensington Palace and appeared on British TV.

Ms Arbiter said the upsetting behaviour had sadly overshadowed some of Meghan and Harry’s happy moments.

“It’s a real shame. It seems some of those relationships will remain strained and somewhat estranged for a while,” she said.

Speculation began to appear in British press that Buckingham Palace and Queen Elizabeth were unhappy about the Markle family sideshow.

If there was an unease felt by the monarch, Ms Arbiter said it wasn’t evident.

“It was no mistake that she chose to have Meghan go with her to a very public engagement so quickly,” she said.
Picture of the pair chatting and laughing shot around the world and were seen as the Queen sending a signal of her support.

“You can’t fake that kind of chemistry or rapport. It was the clear the two of them got on quite well,” Ms Arbiter said.

“I imagine the Queen admires Meghan. She’s not just done well for herself, but she’s done it through sheer hard work, grit and determination.”

Meghan was a rising star in the entertainment industry when she was set up on a blind date with Prince Harry by a mutual friend.

But when rumours began to spread that they were a couple, the California native became one of the most talked-about and targeted women in the world.

Kensington Palace took the unprecedented step of releasing a strongly worded statement in November 2016, declaring “a line has been crossed”.

“Some of this has been very public — the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments,” it read.

Other inappropriate behaviour extended to her family being hounded, attempts by reporters to bribe her friends and colleagues, and apparent failed break-ins at her apartment in Canada.

“Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” the statement read.

While many of those more pointed remarks have ceased — one of the last being a former politician’s wife making racist comments via text — there is still a troubling underbelly.

Recently, a number of members of the British press united to lobby social media giant Twitter to enforce bans on trolls who constantly bombarded stories with racist remarks.

From their engagement onwards, interest in the young couple absolutely exploded. There are some significant downsides to all of that attention, which has continued since she married.

Every move Meghan makes, every outfit she wears and every expression on her face is captured by photographers and analysed over.

There were reports of a rift between her and her now sister-in-law, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, based on insight from a body language expert.

Stories emerged about Meghan being “depressed” due to her new life and feeling trapped inside Kensington Palace, quoting unnamed sources.

Column inches were devoted to Meghan apparently breaching royal protocol by doing everything from wearing a sleeveless dress to not wearing tights and being too friendly with members of the public.

Much has also been said about how Meghan might have plans to change up the stuffy and rigid royal establishment.

“Meghan strikes me as a perfectionist and something of an over-achiever. I think she’s incredibly smart and well accomplished. She sets pretty high standards for herself,” Ms Arbiter said.

“I think she would’ve wanted to please the Queen and be respectful of how things operate. A lot of people expected Meghan to come in and be something of a revolutionary.

“I think we’ll start to see her create her own legacy, slowly but surely.”

Ms Arbiter said the Queen, like any grandmother, would be delighted to see her grandson so clearly happy and in love.

Much has been written about the level of affection Harry and Meghan show for each other in public.

“It’s unusual in the sense that British people don’t go in for huge public displays of affection, so by extension, royals really don’t,” she said.

“That’s who they are. It’s refreshing to see them being true to their natural personalities. They seem just absolutely cuckoo about each other. You can’t fake that. I think the world loves to see that Harry has gotten his happy ending.”

Part of Meghan’s duties will be helping Harry with his duties as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador, which will require a significant amount of travel.

Although the fact they’re now expecting will make that difficult, Ms Arbiter said.

“We knew baby news would be coming soon-ish but I think we were caught off guard with the timing of the news,” she said.

“Perhaps it caught them off guard that they were fortunate enough to conceive so quickly.

“Historically, the Queen gave birth to Charles two weeks shy of her first wedding anniversary, Diana had William five or so weeks before her first anniversary … historically, royal brides tended to have a baby within the first year of marriage.

“The reason William and Kate didn’t is because 2012 was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and no one upstages the Queen. At the very of that year, boom, we had a pregnancy.”

Despite the couple of down patches and moments of distraction, Ms Arbiter believes Meghan will have a positive impact on Britain and the Commonwealth.

“It’s exciting to be watching her and Harry welcome a new era for the monarchy,” she said.

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