When aspiring actress Meghan Markle got the chance for a major interview with Vanity Fair magazine, her approach was pre-arranged. She would be careful.
Meghan would refrain from controversial topics like racial politics, Donald Trump – or her budding relationship with Prince Harry…
So a cover story with the headline ‘She’s crazy about Harry!’ was definitely not in the schedule.
Within hours of the magazine’s pre-publication copies being distributed, Meghan called her PR firm to tell them “hysterically” about the palace’s dismay, according to author Tom Bower.
Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue cover, featuring Meghan Markle and the headline ‘Wild About Harry!’
Prince Harry and Meghan during an official photocall to announce their engagement at Kensington Palace on Nov. 27, 2017
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York this year
Bower, the author of “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors,” said Meghan was “ecstatic” when she was first asked to appear on the cover of the September issue of Vanity Fair.
But that was then…
According to Bower, the interview would focus on Meghan’s philanthropy and the celebration of the 100th episode of her legal soap opera Suits.
But when asked about her relationship with Harry, Meghan replied, “We’re a couple. We’re in love.’
The interview was conducted at Meghan’s home by Sam Kashner, a longtime editor at Vanity Fair, who admitted before the interview that he had no idea who Meghan was.
As reported by Vanity Fair in 2017, Meghan said, “I’m sure there will come a time when we’re going to have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope people will understand that this is our time.” .
‘This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, it’s just ours. But we are happy. Personally, I love a great love story.’
Pre-publication copies of Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue were released to Megan’s PR agency and Buckingham Palace.
“Her unexpected openness about Harry surprised the Palace,” Bower wrote.
“Like a thunderclap, the interview provoked sensational reactions: Meghan had used her relationship with Harry to promote herself,” he said.
Meghan would later suggest that she knew little about the British royal family before meeting Prince Harry and, for example, “never looked her husband up online.”
Others have questioned that apparent naivety, including former childhood friend Ninaki Priddy.
Shortly before Meghan and Prince Harry’s wedding in 2018, Priddy told the Daily Mail: “(Meghan) has always been fascinated by the royal family. She wants to be Princess Diana 2.0.”
A photo had previously surfaced of a 15-year-old Meghan posing with her friend Ninaki in front of Buckingham Palace during a European trip in 1996.
Others have apparently questioned that, including former childhood friend Ninaki Priddy.
A 15-year-old Meghan Markle poses in front of Buckingham Palace with childhood friend Ninaki Priddy in 1996
A young Meghan is shown at an age reaching adolescence in the trailer for her Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan
Ninaki, whose friendship with Meghan ended before the Duchess started seeing Prince Harry, said in 2018: “I know the royal family was something she found fascinating.
“She had one of Princess Diana’s books (Diana: Her True Story) on her bookshelf, and even when she was with Trevor she told me she wanted to stay in London for at least a month.
“I wasn’t shocked or even surprised when I heard about Prince Harry. I know she loved The Princess Diaries – movies about a commoner becoming part of a royal family. She was very pleased with that idea.’