Theirs is a love story that spanned continents; a modern fairy tale of an actress finding her Prince Charming. As fate would have it, they knew the moment they set eyes on each other, they were destined to be together.
That’s the blueprint for every great love story ever told, except this one gets teased out like an elastic band being pulled back and forth, stories are changed, and the main characters end up being the villains.
For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, their journey of finally finding freedom was never going to be as cut and dry. The second Prince Harry brought a mixed race woman into the very private fold of the British royal family, sparks were going to fly.
‘Yay! Brown girl magic taking over Buckingham Palace,’ I thought when the couple announced their engagement in 2017. Not everyone felt the same, especially the British press, who dragged Markle for being “straight outta Compton” and dug up as much dirt as they could on the ‘Suits’ actress.
Their courtship wasn’t an easy one, and understandably so. Harry was Britain’s most eligible bachelor who got swooped off his feet by an American, resulting in them living their lives under the glare of the media spotlight.
It’s the very reason why he and Meghan packed up and headed for the US, with Harry repeatedly saying he didn’t want history repeating itself while referring to his mother, Princess Diana’s death.
The couple relocated state-side with son Archie in 2020, and fans really felt it for them - the constant media attention, Meghan being branded a leach, etc.
This is where their story should have ended with “and they all lived happily ever after...” It didn’t - not by a long shot.
First, it started with the Oprah interview, with both Harry and Meghan dropping bombshell after bombshell, including the royals calling Archie’s skin colour into question.
It was the match that lit the flame, causing further strain to Harry’s relationship with his brother and father.
Mind you, I was still a fan, unwavering in my support for the couple who were wronged by the Institution and the press.
And then, Netflix dropped the docu-series ‘Harry & Meghan’. There were moments when I cringed, watching the physical contact or lack thereof between the two. I stopped short of the last episode.
“When I got to meet M, I was terrified of her being driven away by the media, the same media that had driven so many other people away from me,” Harry said in episode 1 of the series.
There was a moment when Meghan broke down in tears, and instead of comforting her, he stared ahead. Unlike their previous PDA’s, he appeared somewhat uncomfortable, his affections dwindling from time to time.
With the release of ‘Spare’, media houses were chomping at the bit, fighting to gain access to Harry for exclusive interviews, but it was the leaked excerpts from the book that proved even more juicy, namely Harry explaining in painstaking detail how William jumped him during a heated argument over Meghan.
"He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” he wrote.
Without admitting it, their relationship was beyond repair. So, too, were his ties to the rest of the royal family. Bridges were burnt, and lots of tears shed.
It makes one wonder what, or rather who, was the catalyst for the unravelling of Harry’s close bond with his brother and father.
The common denominator was always Meghan.
According to Prince Harry, William described the Duchess of Sussex as "difficult", "rude" and "abrasive.”
And then Australian MP Jarrod Bleijie called Meghan a gold digger and tweeted: “The problem started when American actress Meghan Markle was told William would be King, not Harry. It was at this time that she realised that she married the wrong prince.”
The tweet proved problematic on so many levels, including that Meghan went into the marriage very much financially secured.
Those comments didn’t stop the couple from putting all their efforts into changing the narrative from an autobiography to a Netflix special. I’m sure it was exhausting for both of them, retelling their story over and over again.
And yet, it didn’t stop former French first lady Carla Bruni from suggesting the Duchess of Sussex was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes as her husband’s loose tongue spewed revelational discourse from across the pond.
Bruni posted a photoshopped picture from the couple’s engagement shoot and replaced Meghan’s face with that of Yoko Ono. Her caption is the real punchline ... lyrics from The Beatles' 1967 hit, "All You Need Is Love,” wrote TMZ.
Drawing comparisons between the two women, Bruni hinted at Meghan being the reason for the breakup between Harry and his family. Bruni even went as far as tagging the royal family in the post.
But critics were quick to put the wife of Nicholas Sarkozy on blast, calling out her racism for comparing the two women of colour and their supposed influence over their husbands.
Decades later, Ono is still cited as the main reason the Beatles broke up, despite the Fab Four denying her involvement.
As for Meghan and Harry, while he continues to entertain the US media during his whirlwind book press tour, she remains out of sight.
Whether this was a calculated move, only time will tell. In the meantime, the couple’s appetite for over-sharing could have the opposite effect of what they desired.
Maybe Meghan and Harry fatigue has settled in?
After all the dust is settled, I hope they find peace and that Meghan doesn’t go down in history as the Yoko to his John.