Harry and Meghan seemed to have no empathy for the mortification Tom was facing as he was portrayed on a daily basis in the most unflattering light. They could have hired a media advisor to run interference for him. They should also have done the same for Samantha and Tom Jr. Such basic consideration would have been humane as well as clever, for it would have assured Meghan of positive responses from her relations and the negativity which emanated from her spurned relations would not have existed. Instead, she and Harry decided to blank out what was happening, which was somewhat perplexing. Harry had always had such sympathy for his mother’s plight, despite the fact that she usually tipped off her supposed pursuers, and had also expressed concern when Doria was subjected to undue attention, but Tom Sr was given neither support not consideration beyond the repetition of empty platitudes.
To the embarrassment of the palace and the astonishment of the public, ‘the Markle debacle’, as it was soon called, intensified as the wedding date approached. It could not have been more obvious that Meghan’s family was unsophisticated with regard to the press, but why would they have been otherwise? They were not public figures, nor were they aristocrats or royalty. They were simply American working people, and if they were looked at askance in America, they would soon gain admirers in Britain for what was regarded as their forthright and unpretentious honesty.
Nevertheless, the situation as it developed became increasingly embarrassing for all the Markles, who were held up to ridicule, the tabloids feeling that they were fair game for mockery as the message Meghan had given out was that they were such undesirables that they couldn’t even be included in her wedding. Tom Sr’s response was to fall for the line of a journalist who suggested that they stage photographs of him pursuing more upmarket activities than the resolutely downmarket ones he had so far been pictured enacting. Instead of buying beer in his local deli, he should be measured for a suit, should be looking at computer images of his daughter and her fiancé, and what about doing gentle exercises while jogging up a hill with weights in his hands? Tom Sr was undoubtedly naive in thinking that such activities would improve his image, or that other journalists wouldn’t find out what he and one of their colleagues had cooked up between themselves, but who can blame someone who is being pilloried for trying to regain a bit of dignity?
The week before the wedding, his unfortunate attempt to divert the narrative into something more presentable was exposed in the Mail on Sunday. Stripping him of whatever remained of his self-respect, the paper revealed that he had cooperated with a paparazzo, staging photographs for a vast sum of money, which was not accurate. The tabloids being the tabloids, exaggeration was the order of the day. Tom’s humiliation was so complete that he not only had a heart attack, but also offered to withdraw from the wedding.
To their credit, Meghan and Harry declined his offer, and insisted he fly over and give her away. However, they lost patience with him when he had his second heart attack shortly after being released from hospital in Mexico following his first. Meghan stopped speaking to him, while Harry berated him by text. Tom told them that he suspected they were really sorry he hadn’t died, so that they could pretend to be sad and not have to bother with him. Their response was a complete lack of response to him and to all subsequent messages and ‘phone calls from him.
The palace’s worst nightmare, at least until Meghan and Harry bolted, had now begun in earnest.
CHAPTER 6
To the hundreds of millions of people who watched Harry and Meghan marry at St. George’s Chapel on the 19th of May 2016, theirs was a fairy tale come true. The bride looked so beautiful, so demure, so modest, so radiant, while the groom seemed so happy, so handsome, so proud. She was the apex of femininity, he of masculinity. Theirs was not merely a love story, but one with a message, the most important part of which was that the glass ceiling had now been removed for people of colour. The formerly marginalised could now aspire to anything. One of their own had achieved the greatest height apart from the presidency of the United States of America. She was now a royal highness, and not just any old royal highness either, but a fully paid up member of the most prestigious family on earth: the British Royal Family.
Meghan had now become the embodiment of hope and accomplishment for people all over the world, a beacon of light for billions who could thereafter look at her and think: If she could achieve this, maybe my children can scale great heights, even if I can’t. Meghan had reached a pinnacle that no other woman of colour ever had before. It was, by any measure, a tremendous accomplishment. It was also a great responsibility, and those of us who were aware of how many people’s hopes were vested in her, hoped and prayed she would have the attributes to live up to it.
The American entertainer Pharrell Williams summed it up well when he told Meghan and Harry, ‘I’m so happy for your union. Love is amazing. Love is beautiful. Don’t ever take it for granted. But what it means in today’s climate, I just wanted to tell you it’s so significant for so many
