Revenge by Tom Bower

Author:Tom Bower [Bower, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blink Publishing
Published: 2022-07-20T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Suicide

Meghan spotted an opportunity after Michelle Obama arrived in London to promote her bestselling autobiography. Having secured tickets to hear the former First Lady make her inspirational speech in the Royal Festival Hall on 3rd December, 2018, she went backstage afterwards to meet her hero.

Determined to fashion a special relationship, Meghan had also arranged that they would meet again for dinner at George Clooney’s house near Windsor.522 As an idol to be emulated, Michelle Obama was also a good source of advice and consolation for Meghan. However, the Duchess appears not to have appreciated how much the Obamas admired the Queen. Meghan’s attitude alarmed Michelle. Her advice to Meghan was delivered in public.

‘Take some time,’ Obama said in an interview, ‘and don’t be in a hurry to do anything.’ In a warning note, she added: ‘Like me, Meghan probably never dreamt she’d have a life like this; no-deal, the pressure you feel can sometimes feel like a lot.’ Meghan, Obama suggested, should be reasonable: ‘What I’d say is that there’s so much opportunity to do good with a platform like that and I think Meghan can maximise her impact for others, as well her own happiness, if she’s doing something that resonates with her personally.’523

Within Kensington Palace, Meghan was still struggling to settle in. Purposefully, she had isolated herself from many former friends, including Gina Torres and other Suits actors.524 One exception was John Fitzpatrick. ‘I was amazed to see the difference in Meghan,’ he recalled after a visit to the Palace. White-gloved footmen stood with the hotelier while he waited for her arrival. ‘Meghan came in and her greeting was very formal.’ Once the staff left, Fitzpatrick asked, ‘How long have we got?’ Looking at her watch, Meghan replied, ‘We’ve got exactly twenty-nine minutes.’ According to Fitzpatrick, ‘she relaxed and the gossip began. At the end of the allotted time, the staff returned and Meghan’s formal look came on again.’525

American girlfriends visiting Meghan in Kensington Palace found a troubled woman. Cooped up in Nottingham Cottage she complained that there were no staff to prepare meals – no one treated her as royal. Looking miserable, she mentioned being the ‘most trolled person in the world’. People in the media were telling lies about her. ‘It was so damaging to her mental and emotional health,’ one friend concluded.526 One cause of the difficulties was her reluctance to take on traditional royal duties.

By early December 2018, Meghan had completed only eight royal engagements since the summer. That included Trooping the Colour and the Remembrance Day service. Damaging stories appeared in the newspapers. The Sun offered the revelation that Meghan had been ‘very excited’ at her Jamaican wedding that each guest had received a gift-bag with five spliffs of cannabis.

That evening she made a surprise appearance at the British Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.527 Wearing an off-the-shoulder black Givenchy gown with matching black-painted fingernails, Meghan told her audience, ‘It is such an honour to be here celebrating British fashion and British fashion designers in my new home of the UK.

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