Meghan's theme park snap proves she is a cosplay Diana… the contrast between the two couldn't be more different
What she wore, women followed (only last year one of her dresses sold at auction for £900,000), what she championed, we believed, and how she exercised — the gym — made it acceptable for non-sportswomen to lift weights.
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Now, with a newly bolstered PR team behind her, Meghan Markle is attempting to follow in her late mother-in-law's size 7s.
Last week Meg's ruthless Diana cosplay came to a head.
The privacy-loving star, who bravely fled to sun-kissed California to escape pubic scrutiny, posted a series of Instagram posts, documenting her private family's trip to secluded Disneyland for daughter Lilibet's fourth birthday.
One photo recreated one of Diana's most famous, and endearing, pics — that of her getting soaked on Thorpe Park's Log Flume in the Nineties
It is just the latest in what appears to be a concerted, some might say cynical, Diana-inspired publicity drive.
Facing an uphill battle in her bid to become the People's (excommunicated) Princess, over the past few months Meghan has gone into overdrive with her comms team. Indeed, she now has enough sycophantic staff to field a football team.
Last month, Forbes reported the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had added an entire PR agency, Method Communications, to their roster, and appointed a new director of comms.
It comes weeks after grandiose Meghan appointed a chief of staff, as if she were operating out of the White House, not Disney. She also has spokespeople based in both London and LA.
It is hardly a coincidence, then, that her latest push for global impact has seen her mirroring the late, great Princess Di.
(A woman who, TBF, I believe would have adored Meghan.)
Meghan Markle Expands As Ever: From Lifestyle Brand to Hospitality Empire
Meg has long worn her priceless Cartier Tank watch — a gift from Harry — but in February the cosplaying really began.
First came a near-identical purple Midwestern college sweatshirt, and then more recently the feverish Insta activity.
Last week her widely-debated, labour-inducing hospital twerk alongside hoody-wearing Harry could be compared to ballet-loving Diana's infamous 1985 dance with Wayne Sleep.
Just as Diana's twirls made global headlines — infuriating then husband Charles at the same time — so Meghan's slut-dropping divided royal fans.
Unquestionably the American actress, who appears to have put her philanthropic efforts on the back burner, is now an influencer. She reportedly plans to bring out a nice rose soon.
Meghan's Oprah was Diana's Martin Bashir — except the latter was tricked into going on national television to tell all. Meghan hopped on that garden wicker chair quicker than you can say 'Mickey Mouse'.
Single-handedly reversed public opinion
While Diana certainly courted the Press at times, she also, certainly in the case of her 1997 landmine walk, put herself on the front line to do good.
She shook the hands of Aids patients at a time when people were cruelly demonising those with HIV, and single-handedly reversed public opinion.
In contrast, Meghan and Harry preach about climate change and then hop on a pal's private jet.
Meghan bemoans socio-economic inequality while living in a 16-bathroomed Montecito mansion, and wearing Oscar de la Renta.
She now even gets a percentage of profits made from the wares she flogged.
The other problem is Meghan, who has now become a mononym — putting herself in the same category as, say Madonna, Adele and Beyonce — has 3.7million Instagram followers.
More supporters
Madonna, Adele and Beyonce have 20million, 58million and 311million followers respectively.
Vicky Pattison (5.4million), Ekin Su Culculoglu (4.2million) and Maura Higgins (4.1million) all have more supporters than Suits' most famous export.
In the words of one royalist on X: 'You wanted the crown without the class. You wanted the fame without the responsibility.
'Don't cry for respect when you're out here pimping your title & twerking for clicks like a fame-hungry influencer with delusions of grandeur.
'Now all that's left is a royal mess in heels, still trying to play duchess while behaving like an influencer on a bachelorette trip.'
Quite.
A PETITION has started to remove a madman/woman from TikTok.
A trans woman, who now goes by the name of Lily Tino, is infamous for her videos in which she tried to get misgendered in public in order to shame restaurant staff.
Now she has started taking selfies in women's bathrooms, rating them out of ten.
When 99.9 per cent of trans people are kind, normal and decent, and just trying to live quiet lives, it's attention-seeking idiots like this who let down their community.
BUTTER BETTER
BUTTER should sue its old PR company.
For years it's been maligned as some sort of short-cut to obesity, and a one-way street to Heart Attack City.
Margarines like Utterly Butterly and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter reigned supreme in the Nineties while olive oil has been the fat du jour for the past 20 years. Poor ol' butter has been demonised.
Now, finally, a US study shows a teaspoon a day reduces your chances of getting both heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
TBF, TikTokkers – and those on the carnivore or animal diets – have been waxing lyrical about the benefits for years.
There's even a whole raft of extreme influencers who eat a tub of butter daily, documenting their 'journeys'.
Go check one out if you want to feel mildly sick.
A GOOD CALL ON PHONES
IN last week's column I bemoaned my terrible screen time, and warned that mobile phone addiction would be the biggest epidemic to hit Generations Z and Alpha unless more action is taken now to protect young people.
Loads of you wrote in, sharing your own concerns.
Now, a coalition of 21 schools, nurseries and colleges in London has written to families, urging parents to reduce their own – and their kids' – screen times.
The letter, sent to the families of more than 11,000 children, is an unprecedented intervention – but a necessary one.
Now the Government must step up, too.
BADDIE TOM IS GOODIE
FINALLY, some common sense from a Harry Potter former child star.
Eminently likeable Tom Felton, who played baddie Draco Malfoy, has refused to slam JK Rowling.
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Refusing to bite the hand that fed him – making him a millionaire global movie star in the process – he insisted her views on gender identity did not 'affect' him.
'The only thing I always remind myself is that I've been lucky enough to travel the world,' he told Variety.
'Here I am in New York, and I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter, and she's responsible for that. So I'm incredibly grateful.'
Take note, kids.
LEFT IN FIX BY SCAM
YOU never think it's going to happen to you, until it happens to you.
Yes, dear reader, watching countless Netflix documentaries and ITV dramas about silly men and women getting taken for a ride I appear to have been taken for a ride.
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A couple of weeks ago my key got jammed in my lock and I googled a locksmith to come out and fix it.
He arrived in an unmarked car, and proceeded to as if 'I rented or owned' and 'lived alone', and then told me that, unfortunately, as bad luck would have it, I had an exceptionally complicated lock.
Then, £1,117 later, the f***er left.
I had a little cry.
The company, for those interested, was called Masterit.
A quick Google search would have told me they have unanimously terrible reviews online, and have apparently exploited countless other poor/stupid souls.
Obviously they won't now respond to emails or calls, and my insurance company will only pay out £200. I feel like a fool.
HONESTLY, I PREFERRED THE ORIGINAL
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