Of all the arduous duties a workaday member of the royal family can expect to take on, up there with boat-launching, tree-planting, and inaugural sod-turning, is red carpet-walking.
Since George VI decided to toddle along to the premiere of A Matter of Life and Death in 1946, Kings, Queens and HRHs have regularly been turning up at glitzy opening nights to fly the flag for Britain and to enjoy the popcorn gratis (one always likes a freebie).
In the 76 years since then, various members of the ensemble cast of the royal family have been walking red carpets to Do Their Bit.
The emphasis here should be on the ‘walking’ part, a detail that has been thrown into fascinating relief by former royal toiler Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
Long having ditched the dreary grey skies of Windsor for the ‘freedom’ of Montecito, the former Suits star has been quietly transforming herself into quite the Hollywood habitué over the course of this year. She’s gotten herself an A-list agent (WME’s Ari Emanuel), some new A-list pals (Cameron Diaz, Kris Jenner) and seems busy garnering A-list contacts (rocket- fancier and midlife crisis-haver Jeff Bezos; Netflix boss Ted Sarandos).
Over the weekend, Meghan turned up to do some more power shoulder-rubbing, this time
at Variety’s Power of Women event. (Who wants to bet that not a single bread roll was
consumed in the entire room?)
However it was what the duchess did on the red carpet – or, more accurately, the very dark navy carpet – that really signals she’s chucked away every last vestige of her palace identity
and has gone Full Hollywood.
She stopped. And started. And stopped again.
Or more precisely, the duchess did what everyone from an East Enders bit player desperate to make next week’s Hello! social pages to an Oscar-winner does, which is to pause at different points on the red carpet, pose and then move a couple of paces forward to repeat – the old “step and repeat,” as it’s known in the biz.
The duchess’ diversion from the royal norm didn’t end there with the 42-year-old also stopping to chat to microphone-wielding reporters from Entertainment Tonight, who referred to her onscreen as ‘Meghan Markle’, and Variety who asked her about her time on Suits.
Get your ‘Sussex firsts’ annal out because we have a new entry.
While Meghan and her husband Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex have attended glitzy events in recent years, they have either not stopped and posed at all – such as their 2021 appearance at the Intrepid Museum’s Annual Salute To Freedom Gala:
Or have done a quickie front-on pose, such as at 2022’s Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards or at this year’s Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards:
But, this weekend’s Variety pose-a-thon is a different situation entirely, serving as a resounding rejection of Meghan’s ole royal modus operandi and a wholesale embracing of a modus Hollywood.
For a spot of comparing and contrasting, cast your mind back to this year’s BAFTAs in February when Kate, the Princess of Wales gave her other half, and the man singularly bringing back the velvet blazer Prince William, the Prince of Wales a saucy little bottom pat.
The Waleses strode past the banks of photographers like they were worried about getting dodgy seats.
The same went at last year’s Top Gun: Maverick premiere (sans any touchy-feely monkey business) or when the prince and princess left their children at home in the care of only a full-time nanny, housekeeper and entire retinue of staff to take in the No Time To Die premiere in September 2021 alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla.
The foursome posed for a very brief moment at the top of the steps and then they were off like rockets inside, intent on getting their choc tops before Rami Malek ate them all.
Even at Kate’s own events, she doesn’t actually ‘do’ the media wall in industry parlance or speak to the press, such as at her world-leading Shaping Us National Symposium last week or at the Together at Christmas carol service the princess hosts annually at Westminster Abbey.
The palace message in all of this: We are royal, and we do not need to gauchely and oh so blatantly court publicity. (Though we will use a multitude of other crafty means to sell this monarchy caper to the proles any chance we get.)
However, Meghan and Harry now exist in this strange liminal space between royalty and celebrity, neither fish nor fowl, neither quite fully one or the other.
Never mind, the former actress has clearly picked the side of the coin she prefers and it does not mean ever having to sit through a Commonwealth Day service in a teetering hat.
Meghan’s red carpet dallying at the Variety bash could not have signalled louder where her allegiance now lies; that she has thrown her lot in entirely in with the entertainment industry and their capacious purses. Windsor, who? Corgi, what?
Events of the last few months would suggest that the Duchess of Sussex is looking to grow her Hollywood and all round powerplayer Rolodex. When she turned up to see Beyoncé, for the second time inside of a week, in September, it was to take in the show in the VIP section alongside Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, cringey couple Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, and Netflix boss Ted Sarandos.
It has also been reported that the Sussexes had “hung out” with Marvel star Chris Evans and his wife Alba Baptista after meeting while in Portugal.
In early October, Meghan and Harry attended Kevin Costner’s charity bash along with Oprah Winfrey and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine.
In November, when the Sussexes did a Saturday night roundtrip private jet jaunt to Las Vegas it was with Cameron Diaz, Benji Madden, Bumble founder and self-made billionaire Whitney Wolfe Herd and her husband oil heir Michael Herd.
The duke was photographed sitting with Wall Street billionaire (and Republican mega-donor) Ken Griffin. at the Katy Perry concert they were all there to see.
The Sussexes also reportedly “partied” with Michael Kives, who is a former aide to both Hillary and Bill Clinton, and former Hollywood agent who now runs an investment fund and is reportedly a “powerbroker”.
We haven’t even gotten to the names from the Variety bash: Meghan was photographed with Janet Yang, who is the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was seated next to Pearlena Igbokwe, the chairman of Universal Studio Group which runs NBC, for the actual dinner.
So much power, so many head honchos, so little gluten.
The question in all of this big name paling around with, is, is this the sort of life that Harry and Meghan have wanted to build all along and are finally getting around to? Or is what we are seeing the product of Sussex necessity?
Celebrity, after all, is like an indoor plant that needs a certain amount of tending and watering. With their royal stocks having dwindled to next to nothing, does the couple have no choice but to play the Hollywood game and to make nice at events such as this?
We have also gotten this far and have not even pondered – where is Harry in all of this? Sensibly skipping the Ahi tuna starters and vapid industry small-talk to stay home to watch
Southern Charm repeats?
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Or possibly: Coming to the small screen again soon. Because love don’t cost a thing – but power bills and private jet flights and mortgages do.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’
experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
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