Meghan Markle made an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Thursday and took part in a viral prank video.
While many admirers applauded the Duchess of Sussex for being “down to earth” and displaying her comedic skills, others said her conduct on the daytime chat programme was unroyal and cringeworthy.
Anna Pasternak, a royal biographer who wrote “The American Duchess: The Real Wallis Simpson,” said Fox News that Markle “embarrassed the royal family” by continuing to use her royal title while stepping down from royal responsibilities with husband, Prince Harry, in 2020.
“In Meghan Markle’s preeningly self-satisfied appearance on Ellen, she embarrassed the royal family and she embarrassed herself. She may have rejected the British monarchy yet still she seeks to capitalize on her title, being described on-screen as Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Presumably, this is to boost her popularity in North America,” Pasternak mused.
“She is often compared to the Duchess of Windsor, as an American divorcee marrying into the Royal Family, yet Wallis Simpson behaved with the utmost dignity throughout her exile from the British monarchy.”
“Meghan’s cringing appearance on ‘Ellen’ was the opposite of dignified. What purpose it served, I have absolutely no idea, other than to make her look even more fame-hungry than ever. She never did understand the difference between celebrity and royalty, as this jaw-droppingly awful, tasteless interview attests,” Pasternak concluded.
During the prank, the duchess visited some vendors on the Warner Bros. lot, where “Ellen” is taped, and performed strange acts such as doing a squat for no reason, touching a crystal to her head and chanting, drinking milk from a baby bottle, eating like a chipmunk, and singing a fake children’s song while wearing animal ears.
She was listening to DeGeneres with a disguised earphone and had to do anything the Emmy winner said. “When Meghan and I were talking about her doing the programme, the first thing you said to me was, ‘I want to do one of those IFBs,'” DeGeneres informed the audience.
“I sent Meghan out to do some shopping. She wore an earpiece and had to say and do everything I told her to do,” she added.
The unsuspecting vendor owners were selling cookies, crystals and hot sauce. They were told by Markle’s fake assistant (planted by DeGeneres) to treat the duchess “normally,” so they didn’t question her odd behavior.
“Let Mommy taste some. My boo loves hot sauce,” Markle told one seller. “Mommy wants some heat.” After a few minutes, DeGeneres drove up on a golf cart and told the vendors it was a prank.
Howard Breuer, CEO of Newsroom PR, told Fox News he wasn’t surprised the former “Suits” actress was a guest on the talk show.
“It makes total sense for Meghan Markle to be on ‘Ellen,'” he said. “After all, she and Harry already broke the mold that dictated that members of the royal family avoid such shows and keep to themselves their thoughts, their struggles, and the comments that demonstrate that they are just people like everyone else… for her to do this kind of show at all is to color outside the lines.”
Markle also spoke to DeGeneres about using her voice and platform to fight for federal paid family leave in the U.S.
“I think that people truly forget, or don’t even know that in this country, it’s one of the only six countries in the entire world and the only wealthy nation in the entire world that does not mandate and have a federal paid leave program,” she explained.
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