A British royal expert has said he agrees with Tina Brown’s comments earlier this month that Meghan Markle has the “worst” judgement.
Former Vanity Fair editor Brown, who once described Megxit as a “disaster” and accused the couple of being “addicted to drama,” claimed Meghan had the “worst” judgment when she appeared on The Ankler podcast with CEO Janice of the media brand. Min.
While at the helm of Vanity Fair, British ex-editor Brown was given close access to Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, giving him insight most journalists could only hope for — and just months before her death, he dined with the late royal and Anna Wintour in New York in 1997.
In her latest comments to Min, Brown made no secret of her thoughts about Harry’s wife. She said Meghan is “flawless at doing it all wrong” and added that “all her ideas are total nonsense.”
Richard Fitzwilliams – a royal expert and commentator – told MailOnline he agrees with Brown’s assessment of the Duchess of Sussex.
He said: ‘Tina Brown is a highly respected journalist and royal biographer. I have consulted her brilliant study on Diana several times over the past week. She highlighted Meghan’s terrible judgment on the prestigious Ankler podcast.”
British journalist Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, told The Ankler podcast that the Duchess of Sussex is “flawless at doing it all wrong” and added that “all her ideas are total nonsense”
Tina Brown, who famously described Megxit as a ‘disaster’ and accused the couple of being ‘addicted to drama’, claimed Meghan had the ‘worst’ judgment during the podcast appearance earlier this month
Brown, Princess Diana’s biographer and author of The Palace Papers: Inside The House Of Windsor – The Truth And The Turmoil, described Harry as “a lamb to the slaughter in this situation” and added: “He just kind of followed her blindly as if a child actually.’
Fitzwilliams added: “Brown is right that Harry is managed by Meghan. She’s also right when she says the breakup when they left was “a disaster in every sense.”
“As the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is about to begin in Samoa, we would do well to remember how Queen Elizabeth appointed Harry President and Meghan Vice President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
‘They abandoned these patronages and in their documentary Harry and Meghan for Netflix had talking heads criticizing the institution, which was a form of betrayal, something that Harry, no matter how frustrated he was with royal life, would never have done on his own done.’
Fitzwilliams said Brown’s point that ‘all her ideas are total nonsense’ reminded me of a reference from Meghan in The Cut Magazine that people celebrated on the streets of South Africa when she married Prince Harry in 2018.
He said, “Meghan quoted a person who was never identified. He reportedly told her at the premiere of The Lion King in 2019 that there was a joy on the streets in South Africa when they got married, similar to that when Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
Brown also noted that the couple’s departure from royal life was a “disaster all around” (pictured in July)
‘With an ego like that, it’s clear that Brown’s comment that Meghan has “the worst judgment of anyone in the world” is all too true.”
Fitzwilliams adds: ‘Brown thinks Meghan’s judgment is terrible and the facts confirm this.
‘The couple’s Archewell Charitable Foundation has made little impact, they have lost their contract with Spotify and have actually done little [to] save their kiss and tell documentary, for Netflix who may not renew their contract next year. And what did that lead to when she signed a contract with the William Morris Agency last April?’
In The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil, she said Harry and Meghan had made “poor choices” and could have left the royal family on much better terms had they not been so “hot-headed” when they made the decision to step away from their role as working royals.
Brown said the couple’s departure from royal life was a “disaster all around.”
Fitzwilliams agreed: ‘Brown is right when he says the split when they left was “a disaster on all counts”. As she has noted, the farewell was a “disaster” as they clearly represented the contemporary face of the royal family and she notes that as a prince he can be a great success because that is all he understands. Now he is in exile. Their tours are ‘faux-royal.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex share a kiss during their trip to Colombia in August
Fitzwilliams agreed with Brown, saying she is “right” that Harry is swayed by Meghan’s actions — citing the example of their Netflix docuseries that aired in December 2022.
In her 2022 book, Brown also branded Prince Harry a ‘very tempestuous man’ and revealed how palace advisers ‘always thought he would leave’
Fitzwilliams also noted the moment Meghan first opened up about her mental health struggles to ITV’s Tom Bradby during the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey in October 2019.
The broadcaster had asked the Duchess of Sussex how she had been feeling over the past few months and she admitted it had been a struggle. The couple stepped down as working royals shortly afterwards, in January 2020.
Fitzwilliams said: ‘[Brown] has highlighted Meghan’s terrible judgment on the prestigious Ankler podcast. She has highlighted in her commentary and in her biographies the somewhat extraordinary circumstances when the Sussexes stepped down as senior working members of the royal family.
‘Back then they blinded Queen Elizabeth, and they did it in the face of worldwide publicity, which they knew would be brutal.
‘Meghan became a senior working member of the Royal Family when she married Prince Harry in May 2018. It was in South Africa in October 2019 that a tearful Meghan opened up about how unhappy she was. She gave it less than a year and a half.”
In her 2022 book, Brown also branded Prince Harry a “very tempestuous man” and revealed how Palace advisers “always thought he was going to leave.”
The author said she was told this was because “he was so vulnerable, so combustible, he was honestly so unhappy in the confines of the royal family.”
The Duke of Sussex will release the paperback version of Spare tomorrow, to coincide with Mike Tindall’s release of his book, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby – Unleashed.
The Duke threw many accusations around the royal family in Spare, claiming that he had a physical fight with his brother and heir to the throne, Prince William (photo 2019)
The royal family wrote that the book was “for Meg and Archie and Lili… And of course for my mother.”
Fitzwilliams said: ‘Harry’s memoir Spare, soon to be published in paperback, contains much that was extremely poorly reviewed and this proves her comment that he is “fragile” and “flammable”.
‘So too were the interviews he gave to promote it, which led to the couple’s expulsion from Frogmore, their base in Britain.’
The Duke threw many accusations around the royal family at Spare, claiming he had a physical fight with his brother and heir apparent, Prince William.
He claimed in the book that the Prince of Wales grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground, smashing a dog bowl with his back. William then allegedly stated, “I didn’t attack you, Harold.”
Harry also called his mother-in-law, Queen Camilla, “dangerous” and a “villain” in his memoirs and claimed she “sacrificed” him to improve her reputation.