Meghan Markle Missed Key Difference Between Being Royal And Celebrity, Royal Expert Claims

Meghan Markle didn't know the difference between celebrity and royal life, according to a royal expert.

Award-winning British journalist Duncan Larcombe, a former royal editor at The Sun, recently weighed in on the struggles of the former "Suits" star to adjust to being a royal family member instead of a celebrity.

"I think Meghan basically didn't ever get straight in her mind the difference between being on the red carpet as a celebrity and the red carpet as a royal, and she just didn't understand the incredibly important distinction," Larcombe told Fox News Digital. "I don't know that she was guided, and I don't think the royal family really knew what they've got when Meghan showed up."

Larcombe noted that Markle's struggle to adjust to life in the palace had similarities to the struggles of the late Princess Diana and other people who marry into the royal family.

The royal expert said he believes the main difference between being a celebrity and a royal is a sense of "duty."

"As a royal on the red carpet, especially as a working royal who is directly representing the king — or in Harry and Meghan's case, obviously, the queen. When you're in a movie premiere, it's because you're in the film, or you're a Hollywood actor, or you're a celebrity on the red carpet. It's about you, that's your image, it's about what you get," Larcombe explained. "When you're on the red carpet as a royal, it's about the people you're coming to meet, you're doing it out of duty."

According to the Fox News royal contributor, it's unclear whether Prince Harry gave his wife a good idea of the expectations that would be placed on her after she married into the royal family.

"I feel desperately sorry for Meghan," Larcombe told the outlet. "Harry clearly never really wanted to admit to her what was actually going to be involved with the royal family."

He noted that when he was covering the first seven years of Prince William and Kate Middleton's relationship, the palace would only reply that they would not comment on Middleton because "she's a private individual" if asked about the now-Princess of Wales.

Prince William and Middleton dated for nearly a decade before getting engaged in 2010. The Prince of Wales took his time before proposing to her, which had earned Middleton the moniker "Waity Katie" in the press at the time. However, the advantage of this, according to Larcombe, was that Middleton "had years to adjust to the attention."

In Larcombe's book "Prince Harry: The Inside Story," the author said that the Duke of Sussex admitted to feeling "massive paranoia" when he talked to women due to the media scrutiny.

"Even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door," Larcombe quoted Prince Harry as saying during one of their conversations.

Prince Harry's exes Cressida Bonas and Chelsy Davy reportedly broke up with the royal due to unwanted attention from the press. Davy, who dated Prince Harry on and off for seven years, said the media scrutiny was "so full-on: crazy and scary and uncomfortable."

According to royal expert Katie Nicholl, author of "Harry: Life, Loss and Love," Bonas breaking up with Prince Harry due to the media attention was a "real blow" to the royal, who was reportedly in love with her and tried to convince her they could make it work.

Prince Harry and Markle tied the knot in May 2018 after less than two years of dating.

While some royal fans and experts had suggested that she would be able to handle the attention better than his exes due to her experience as an actress, the "toxic" British media, along with an alleged lack of support from the royal family, eventually drove Prince Harry and Markle to exit royal family in 2020.