Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle has criticised the “fairy tale narrative” surrounding her marriage to Prince Harry.
According to the Telegraph, the former Suits actress started dating the British royal in 2016, with the couple tying the knot at Windsor Castle two years later.
But while speaking to Mindy Kaling for the latest instalment of her Archetypes podcast, Meghan called out the idea that she was “lucky” that Harry chose her while discussing the stigmas around single and unmarried women.
“Just my own experience of when I started dating my husband, we became engaged (and) everyone was just like, ‘Oh my God, you’re so lucky he chose you,'” she recounted. “And at a certain point, after hearing it a million times over, you’re like, ‘Well I chose him, too?’ But thankfully I have a partner who was countering that narrative for me and going, ‘They’ve got it all wrong. I’m the lucky one because you chose me.'”
Meghan, who shares two children with Harry, went on to indicate that she has no interest in perpetuating stereotypes about marrying into royalty.
“It is gendered and it’s archetyped and it’s stereotyped that you’re so lucky. It just feeds into this idea that you’re waiting for someone to tell you that you’re good enough, as opposed to knowing that you’re good enough on your own,” the 41-year-old continued.
Earlier in the conversation, Meghan revealed that the conventions around marriage were taught to her from a young age, and she even planned her “wedding” as part of a school project.
“When I was 14, I planned my wedding, not my actual wedding. That would have been a bit harder to imagine… this wedding was an assignment for my religion class in Catholic school. I remember every little thing about it, I wanted it to be at the Bel-Air Hotel and there was a swan lake and I wanted the cake to be from Hansen’s Bakery and the dress… Oh my goodness, the dress was strapless and poofy, and I’d seen it in a bridal magazine,” she recalled. “And I bought it, not the dress, I bought the bridal magazine because I took this project seriously, I wanted to get an A, and I did… maybe I got an A-minus.”
Reflecting on the project now, Meghan pointed to just how ingrained the idea of traditional marriage is within society.
“At no point, could you say, ‘Nope, my dream for the future is to be single,'” the duchess added. “The message, even at my feminist all-girls school, was as traditional as it gets. First comes love, then comes marriage.”
