Meghan Markle could have had all of this.
If she’d just accepted that the Crown wasn’t there to serve her, but that she was there to serve something much bigger than herself, she could have become one of the most significant royals in modern times.
Coming from Hollywood, she had a front row seat to the exact world she was so desperate to impress. After years of chasing status in those circles, she found herself in a position where the very people she desperately wanted validation from would have been standing when she walked into the room because of the institution she represented.
The thing she never got is that the respect isn’t for the individual. It’s for the Crown, the role, and the centuries of service behind it. Those who understand that thrive. Those who think they’re bigger than it? They crash and burn.
A few years ago, when the monarchy was under real pressure and Catherine was fighting serious health issues, Harry and Meghan had a genuine chance to step up and build something positive. Instead they chose to wage war on the very institution that gave them their platform in the first place.
They wanted the prominence without the protocol, the status without the hierarchy, and the influence without any accountability.
The saddest part is Meghan couldn’t accept playing second fiddle to Catherine. In the end, refusing to accept her place in the institution is exactly what cost her the platform she had inside it.
Pride really has undone a lot of people. And it might end up being the defining lesson of Meghan Markle’s whole story.