Meghan Markle's Latest Out-Of-Touch Moment Makes Her Gripes About Royal Life So Hypocritical

In the summer of 2020, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, stepped away from their royal duties and moved across the pond to an opulent mansion in Montecito, California. While the pair have eschewed royal trappings and regal life, and focused on the many impressive projects of their Archewell Foundation, Meghan hasn't been able to escape the accusations that she's as out-of-touch with the common man as any full-fledged European monarch.

Her recent profile piece for Harper's Bazaar, published on November 19, seemed to showcase one particular example of Meghan not being able to truly leave behind her royal life. The interview, conducted by reporter Kaitlyn Greenidge, took place over multiple days, and included conversations conducted at the iconic Polo Lounge, located in the Beverly Hills Hotel, over lunch, and a more intimate conversation at a brownstone townhouse in New York City. It was here that Meghan demonstrated a surprising sort of affectation: getting formally announced by her royal title.

"We're in a grand brownstone on the Upper East Side that belongs to one of Meghan's friends," Greenidge writes in her profile. "When I enter, the house manager announces, 'Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,' even though we appear to be the only other two people in the house." While Meghan's time in the spotlight has generated quite a bit of negative press, it doesn't seem like she did herself any favors with this profile, if the swift blowback from critics online is any indication.

The online hate experienced by Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is so potent it influenced their post-royal family careers toward raising awareness of cyberbullying in modern culture. So it's no surprise that many of her loudest critics found the anecdote about her being formally announced by her royal title to be embarrassing and offensive.

"[It's] like she's Catherine the Great descending upon her serfs. Except ... there's literally no one else there. Just the interviewer and this phantom audience of zero," one verbose critic wrote on X. "Who does that? Who stages a royal fanfare in an empty room? It's like screaming your LinkedIn title into a mirror for validation." Meanwhile, British journalist and royal biographer Angela Levin tweeted, "It's her way of irritating other royals. She walked out of being a royal six years ago but she's still desperate to be a something but just can't do it."

While Meghan had several defenders among the haters, criticism of everything from her behavior in the story to her make-up free photo spread drowned out everything — as is so often the case when Meghan appears anywhere or does anything. However, it seems unlikely that the expected torrent of negativity from her Harper's Bazaar interview will keep her from walking her path and making the most of her international fame.