Meghan Markle is just like you and me, except, I suppose, that she is married to a literal prince, and also had a $500,000 baby shower in New York earlier this year. The royal palace allegedly found that shower “alienating,” so on her recent return to the city, she did normal things: flew commercial, wore a J. Crew dress, watched her best friend Serena Williams compete in the U.S. Open. Very relatable!
Page Six reports that Markle, who spent two days in New York this weekend to watch Williams, wanted to avoid repeating the “PR debacle” that was her two-day baby shower back in February. It seems the British tabloids were all over the shower (which Williams cohosted), so much so that one editor told Page Six that “Eyebrows have been raised inside the palace,” shortly after the event. It sounds like the shower was self-funded (Amal and George Clooney reportedly paid some of Markle’s way), but I guess the royals took issue with the paparazzi attention and famous friends. As Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s long-time private secretary, told Page Six, “This is a clear sign that Meghan thinks that being a royal Duchess is about celebrity—not royalty.”
I’m a rube from the States, but the royals sure seem like celebrities to me, albeit very boring ones. And frankly, the royal family has much more pressing stuff to worry about—Brexit, Parliament, Prince Andrew’s fun times with Jeffrey Epstein—than what Markle does or does not do with her friends in New York. But Markle’s got class, and some very cute affordable outfits, so:
From taking a commercial flight from London to NYC to watch her bestie Serena Williams at the US Open finals where she donned a $118 J. Crew denim shirtdress, every moment of the Duchess of Sussex’s trip was far from flashy. We’re even told that she stayed at a private residence — rather than a bougie hotel.
She also came under fire for taking four private jets with hubby Prince Harry over 11 days this summer, and took this chance to fly to NYC on a British Airways flight on Friday — leaving Sunday.
See! Very normal. And if Markle needs an even more normal, low-key activity next time she’s in New York, might I recommend the bar across the street from my apartment?