Meghan Markle at Oprah Winfrey’s Interview in Giorgio Armani

Posted on March 03, 2021

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Oooooh, girl! Things are getting MESSY now!

But before we get into all that nonsense, let’s focus on the fashion and image-craft:

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We would surmise that Oprah’s team are responsible for the setting and art direction here, so kudos to them. It’s a gorgeous, serene, vaguely regal but totally SoCal sort of setting. They look like they’re sitting in a garden in King’s Landing on Game of Thrones.

As for the fashion, the Duchess looks lovely, although we would not have recommended that dress. It’s chic and flattering, but it comes off too serious and formal for a day setting. Granted, it’s entirely likely that “serious and formal” was what she was going for here.

 

 

Depending on how things go with this interview, we’ll probably have a bit more to say about it next week, but first impression, based on this clip: Harry’s going to do that thing where he comes off angry and defensive a lot of the time. It’s ironic given how long he’s been in the public eye, but he really isn’t great about dealing with the press or projecting the kind of image he’d clearly like to. We’d hoped that they were going to spend this interview talking about their plans and not focusing on their detractors. It’s not that we don’t think they deserve to get their side on the record, especially since Meghan was subjected to some clearly racist vitriol by the British press after she married him. But from a PR standpoint, you want to project an optimistic, forward-facing image rather than give the impression you just want to rehash the past.

Meghan, on the other hand, has always been very good about how she conducts herself in interviews. She has an actress’s acute awareness of how to come off on camera; something a good deal of the BRF sucks at (with the exception of the Queen, who is never not composed and Catherine, who is practically made out of composure). We’d hoped that this interview wouldn’t be full of explosive charges and rhetoric, if only because that always has a tendency to backfire on these two, but if there is going to be some bombs dropped, we think Harry rather than Meghan will be doing most of the dropping.

Which is why it’s extremely telling that suddenly, unnamed royal aides are all over the press, claiming that Meghan was mean to staff and trying to make an issue out of a pair of earrings. Look, we make no claims of knowledge or insight into how it is to deal with Meghan as an employee of hers. It’s not wholly outside of the realm of possibility that she could be very different in private. But she worked in Hollywood for nearly two decades, the last several years of which saw her reach a fairly high profile for an actress: a regular featured part on a long-running cable drama. If she was really a terror behind the scenes, we’d have had way more evidence of it by now. There’s money to be made in badmouthing royals. If there aren’t any on-the-record reports of her so-called nastiness, we have to assume at this point it’s because there are no good examples of it. One more thing of note: remember how courtiers, aides and allies were all over the press complaining about The Crown’s portrayal of Prince Charles? If the royals want to put the kibosh on a report or portrayal of one of their members that isn’t flattering to them, they are very good and very quick about it. We doubt we’ll be hearing much from that crowd defending Meghan from these reports.

This war between the Sussexes and the Palace is clearly not likely to let up. And if Philip dies anywhere near the interview date, so many people are going to use it against them, with Meghan almost certainly being blamed somehow. We hope Harry and Meghan get whatever they need to out of this interview and then we hope they move on and leave it behind them, if only for their own good and the good of their kids. No matter what they say about her treatment by the family or the British press, it will always wind up backfiring in some way or inspiring a counter-attack.

Style Credits:
Giorgio Armani Belted Floral-Print Silk Midi Dress
Pippa Small Aquamarine Colette Set Pendant on Cord
Birks Bee Chic Blue Topaz Silver Earrings
Aquazzura ‘Simply Irresistible’ Pump in Black Suede

 

[Photo Credit: CBS, armani.com, pippasmall.com, maisonbirks.com, aquazzura.com – Video Credit: CBS via YouTube]

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