For two people who made a very conscious – and very public decision – to split from the British Royal Family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sure do spend a lot of time pretending they are still royals.
The latest grift? An unofficial tour of Australia filled with faux pomp and circumstance, photo ops, and speaking engagements for the pair who allegedly value privacy.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by the fellas from Ruthless – Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook – to discuss the couple’s latest attention-grabbing behavior and whether it is a last gasp for relevance.
Drama Down Under
Harry and Meghan last made the trip Down Under in October 2018 as part of a 16-day official tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand. It was during that trip that the then-newlyweds announced they were pregnant with their son Archie. It is also reportedly when Markle was overheard saying, “I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this,” in reference to the daily itineraries that included shaking a few hands and posing for pictures.
In early 2020, the couple staged ‘Megxit’ and ditched their royal lives for a mansion in Montecito, California. Since then, they have embarked on several PR tours – ahem, philanthropic missions – abroad. According to People magazine, Prince Harry and Meghan are “expected to attend a variety of public and private engagements” during this pseudo-royal excursion in Australia.
The Daily Mail reported that the pair has been trying to quell criticism of their trip, which some have suggested was a cash grab, by making stops at children’s hospitals and women’s shelters where Markle reportedly told people to ignore her title and “call me Meg.”
Harry and Meghan were all smiles as they met with cancer patients at Melbourne’s children’s hospital – a fact we know because cameras were there to capture their every move. “She goes to a children’s hospital where they focus on cancer victims and makes it into a photo-op for herself. God forbid they just go and visit the sick children,” Megyn said. “No, they have to have cameras and get their cheers and applause… because does it ever matter if it’s not on camera?”
Holmes believes it fits into a larger pattern for the pair. “That’s been kind of what you’ve come to expect, right,” he asked. “It’s unearned contracts to do Netflix movies and podcasts and things like that and then it is attempting to portray something you are not, which is a selfless individual.”
In Duncan’s view, Meghan and Harry seem incapable of making up their minds. “The whole thing kind of feels schizophrenic,” he said. “It’s like, did you want to be part of the royal family or not? I thought you didn’t like doing any of these things, so why don’t you just go away?”
Therein lies the rub. “I think at the end of the day, a person like Meghan Markle is just addicted to the attention, and so she is going to try to get that attention anyway she can,” Duncan added. “When they made this whole schism with the royal family, it was nothing but Netflix deals and podcasts… and all these sorts of things, and it all fell apart. So, now she feels like she is sort of crawling back to the public consciousness by doing all the things she complained about when she was in the royal family.”
Ticket Troubles
Unfortunately for “Meg,” she doesn’t seem to draw a crowd the way she used to. Markle and her husband went to Australia so she could headline a three-day women’s retreat in Sydney in collaboration with the Her Best Life podcast, but The Daily Mail reported that ticket sales have lagged.
According to the Mail, the capacity was capped at an “intimate” 300 guests, with tickets starting at around $1,900. But organizers have reportedly failed to sell out the weekend, during which Markle is scheduled to participate in a “fireside chat” and take a group photo with VIP ticket holders who shelled out around $3,200 each.
“If you pay for the VIP experience, she will give you a group photo… you don’t even get a one on one like on the MK Tour,” Megyn quipped. “So, you tell me, is her 15 minutes finally up?”
Seeing as this was the first time Holmes said he had heard about Markle in quite some time, he offered a bit of optimism: “I think so,” he concluded.
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ruthless by tuning in to episode 1,295 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.