Meghan Markle 'Thought She Could Be Diana' Despite Her Lack of Popularity in the U.K.
Did Meghan Markle want to become the next Princess Diana? The Duchess of Sussex has been compared to the late icon, but for many critics, the juxtaposition of the royal wives doesn't make sense.
Ex-Tory minister David Mellor discussed the Suits star's recent Invictus Games appearance, and he complained about Meghan's desire to be perceived in the same way as the late Princess of Wales despite her lack of popularity in the U.K.
"It’s a sad half-life that she has," Mellor said during a GB News appearance. "She always thought that she could drift into the royal family and become the new Princess Diana and all she would have to do is doll herself up and smile to the camera."
Mellor wouldn't be the first person to discuss Meghan's attempt at branding herself around Diana's legacy. The Royal Observer previously reported Tom Bower discussed Diana's siblings' reaction to meeting Prince Harry's bride.
"Not only did Earl Charles Spencer [Diana’s only brother], Lady Sarah McCorquodale, and Baroness Jane Fellowes [Diana’s two sisters], and her close friend Julia Samuel fail to see the similarities between Meghan and Harry’s late mother— as the prince reportedly hoped — but they thought that she would struggle to fit in with the royal family," Bower wrote in Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors.
Bower later shared that the Duke of Sussex was disappointed that his loved ones weren't able to view Meghan as Diana 2.0.
"Harry assumed that Diana’s family and friends would see a similarity between Diana and his fiancée. Both, he said, shared the same problems. He was disappointed," the royal biographer explained.
"No one agreed that his vulnerable mother had anything in common with his girlfriend. More discomforting for him, they thought Meghan would not fit in with the royal family," Bower added.
During an episode of the Sussexes' documentary Harry & Meghan, the veteran attempted to establish a connection between his mother and spouse for their audiences.
"So much of what Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum," Harry said. "She has the same compassion, the same empathy, she has the same confidence, she has this warmth about her."
"My mom made most of her decisions, if not all of them, from her heart and I am my mother's son," he added.