If you were to read the front pages of the some of the British Press the morning after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, you would’ve thought the biggest bombshell was that Kate Middleton made Meghan Markle cry – not the other way round!
This is just one of many headlines in a string of publications obsessed with Meghan Markle. In particular, Meghan Markle and her relationship with Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. Despite receiving saddening information on Markle’s mental health and damning accusations of racism within the royal family, the blatantly constructed conflict between Kate and Meghan won the battle for most publish-worthy.
Why is so much attention being paid to the relationship between the female in-laws? Well, spoiler alert – the British press hold women in positions of influence or power to a much higher standard than their male counterparts. What makes this even more frustrating is that the men of the Royal Family have been involved in much more problematic scandals, but do not get nearly as much attention or criticism.
We all may be contributing to these farcical narratives of conflict between the female royals. Even through simple comments on social media, we are continuing the age-old cycle of holding women in the public eye to practically an impossible standard.
The narrative is so basic that it is recognisable not just within the Royal Family, but across nearly every sector within the public eye. From former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to Festival headliners Beyoncé and Ariana Grande, comparisons between pairs of women take place constantly, but for no apparent reason.
For Kate and Meghan, who both entered the Royal Family as future wives of the two sons of the Prince of Wales, their positions are a perfect breeding ground for comparison, which has become increasingly potent in the wake of Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. This echoes the even stronger narrative of conflict between Camilla and Diana throughout Diana’s marriage to the Prince of Wales. From the public discourse that has resurfaced after the most recent season of Netflix’s The Crown, it is clear that there is still much antagonization of Camilla, in fact just as much as the Prince of Wales, who was at the centre of the scandal altogether.
So, without diving too deep into the details of Royal affairs, we start to see a repetitive cycle that women face. There is much less concrete fact over Kate and Meghan’s relationship, and much more damning evidence on Harry’s fractious relations with his own brother and father, yet the women are still focused on.
It doesn’t take much analysis of headlines from various publications to see that in the eyes of the Press, Kate is the traditional rule-following, dignified royal whilst Meghan is a dramatic, coercive, controlling liar. Kate becomes more of a heroine as Meghan is deeply vilified. Yet on social media, there is much more sympathy towards Meghan, but unfortunately much of this sympathy still cannot take place independent to criticism of Kate.
So, quite astonishingly, we can see the women being pitted against each other, but depending on who you ask (or what you read) both are a victim and both are a villain.
This really just exposes how ludicrous the public discourse surrounding them is. Not only does it reveal the alarming double standard, but it also sends damaging messages about women in the positions of power. It perpetuates the idea that women must compete for respect and worthiness in the public eye. It tells us that there is not room for both Meghan and Kate, just how there wasn’t for both Diana and Camilla. In order to uplift one, the other must be torn down.
It is simple to point out this double standard, but much more difficult to understand exactly why we do this. It has become so entrenched in public discourse that even understanding its problematic nature is a good starting point. The underlying misogyny in the portrayal of women by the British Press is a particular plague for women’s equality that we still face today. But with just as many crucial issues facing women uncovered by the Pandemic and the murder of Sarah Everard, we should at least be at a place where women can be talked about in the same way that men are.
Tackling this is something that we can all actually make a significant, tangible impact on; whether that be through our everyday conversations or through our posts on social media. We should be able to equally respect women on the same paths of life without picking favourites, without discussing who is better, and without believing that they must hate each other. Drawing comparisons between women can easily become a slippery slope lines with double standards, which we have let the case of Meghan and Kate reach the very bottom.
Ruth Lucas
Featured image courtesy of Lea Fabienne via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.
