Meghan Markle ‘Mirrors’ Princess Diana In This Way

Meghan Markle has been the focus of relentless reports of trouble for months, and the narrative surrounding the Duchess of Sussex has an eerie connection to the one that surrounded her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, for years.

In a column for The Daily Mail, royal biographer Andrew Morton outlined the numerous ways the story surrounding Markle, who married Prince Harry in May 2018 and is expecting her first child with him, actually mirrors those that his mother dealt with during her early days as a royal as well.

Among the similarities between the two are a fallout with a parent, being blamed for the departure of several staff members and a battle with their in-laws as well.

While Markle famously had a falling out with her father, Thomas Markle, after her wedding, which he missed after a heart attack and admitting to staging paparazzi photos, Princess Diana also fell out with her mother, Frances Shand-Kydd, after her own wedding.

“My mother let me down terribly with the wedding. She kept crying and being all valiant and saying that she couldn’t cope with the pressure. I tended to think that I was the one under pressure because I was the bride. So I didn’t speak to her for three or four years afterwards,” Morton said Diana once told him.

In addition, Markle has been blamed for the departure of her own personal assistant, Melissa Toubati, private secretary Samantha Cohen, and a Scotland Yard bodyguard, while Diana was blamed after Prince William’s birth for the departure of her and Charles’ private secretary, his valet and also a Scotland Yard bodyguard.

The women also are similar in the fact that their marriages were also compared to those featuring their sisters-in-law. Markle has been blamed for alleged fallout between Prince Harry and Prince William, and was notably also blamed for an alleged feud with Kate Middleton—and Princess Dana was also often pitted against Sarah Ferguson during her marriage as well. She also admitted to Morton that she even grew to become jealous of her sister-in-law over time, because she handled life as a royal much easier, and

‘Sarah was actually enjoying being where she was whereas I was fighting to survive,” Diana said. “I couldn’t understand how she could find it so easy. I thought she would be like me and put her head down and be shy.”

However, there is one big difference between the two women as well. Whereas Diana had called the early months of royal life exhausting, stating that the “pace was phenomenal,” Markle is actually adapting easily.

“By contrast, Meghan, who has been known to send emails to her staff at five in the morning, shows no sign of slowing down,” Morton wrote. “her influence is not just on the royal family and the wider monarchy but closer to home...This is where Meghan has truly exerted her authority.”