I really don’t buy into this image of Meghan Markle as this naive victim of the Royal crushing machine. She had been in show biz, self-promotion and charitable causes for a long time before she came into Harry’s orbit. She knows how the world works. Instead, I think she had a vision of how things would go. Here she was, a well-known, well branded modern independent woman, who would shake up the Royal family, invigorate its brand and give it a much needed injection of modernity. Her and Harry’s romance would become a love story for the ages, not to mention a top-flight power couple, and she would become the new Diana, in time loved and legendary, an international icon. And then that didn’t happen. She discovered that there were protocols, ways of operating that had been in place for ages firstly because they there are lists of arcane rules around how the royals must operate within the law and government but also because being Royal isn’t Just about having your way, it’s about your reciprocal duties. You can’t just scoop that tiara out of the vault with a quick ‘MM, will bring it back this arvo’ jotted in the margin after 700 years of entries and arrangements made before it. Meghan had the Wrong Idea. And when irresistible force (well, for Harry anyway) met immovable object (aka The Firm), Meghan realised it wasn’t going to go as she had envisioned, and she got sad and mad and couldn’t really see how she fitted into the whole picture any longer. And here we are today. Sure, the notorious gutter-snipe British press got in there and stirred the pot, and the online freaks who like to spew racist stuff had a poke, because that’s always guaranteed attention, and comparisons were made between Waity Katie otherwise known as the Queen to Be and Meghan because the daily rags need some hook to hang their words on. I must be old because I immediately though, why on earth hasn’t anyone given Meghan Fergie’s number? Not the former Black-Eyed Pea- Prince Andrew’s ex. That women suffered from comparison to Diana all day, every day, the press choosing the worst picture of any set, of Fergie braying, tripping or violating protocol, slapped next to one of Diana, invariably looking immaculate, confident and beautiful with some humiliating headline. It’s a classic setup, totally unoriginal and unfortunately Meghan became the Fergie. As an actress I would have thought she would know better than to read her own reviews and just thank the stars for her beauty wealth and husband but, and I think this is at the crux of everything, her upset is mostly at losing control of the way people perceive her, that sloppy dismantling of her meticulously constructed brand and iconography by the British press. So off to LA they flew, in dire need of privacy, but then turned up on Oprah to give Their Side of The Story. I think Meghan has seen herself as a princess long before she became a brief member of The Firm and Harry is not that bright but very in love. Both are entitled. I dislike them not because of my racism, but because they’re jerks.