Could Meghan Markle become an American cultural institution like Martha Stewart?
The same royal expert who shared the firm’s frustrations with King Charles’ failures to make peace says that the family fears this exact outcome.
This is beyond the idea of Meghan and Harry continuing to upstage their head-of-state relatives.
Meghan could, a royal expert speculates, become such a cultural fixture that her husband’s family becomes an afterthought.
Omid Scobie is an expert in royal matters, and has written a new book.
Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Flight for Survival is now out in the UK.
And, in the book, the journalist cannot help but observe that Meghan Markle’s popularity has endured prolonged and repeated attempts at character assassination by the royal firm.
Scobie didn’t say so in so many words. But that’s the general idea.
The book acknowledges that Meghan is unlikely to simply revive her lifestyle blog, The Tia.
However, he believes that she is focusing upon building “something more accessible, something rooted in her love of details, curating, hosting, life’s simple pleasures, and family.” Smart!
According to Scobie, Meghan has an array of possibilities if she decides to build a cultural empire.
“I’m not being deliberately mysterious,” he clarifies.
Scobie specifies: “My mind always goes to [Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle business] Goop.” That sounds shady, but it’s not how he means it.
“But when I suggested that to someone with some knowledge,” Scobie reports, “they said, ‘Oh, no, this isn’t going to be about selling products.’”
He then suggests: “So who knows? The next Martha Stewart?”
Martha Stewart is such a cultural icon that many Millennials and Zoomers grew up believing that Martha’s Vineyard was part of her brand. She is an author, a television personality, a businesswoman, and a media mogul. She is also a national treasure.
So why hasn’t Meghan launched some sort of line of towels or a cooking show or whatever? It’s simple: timing.
Right now, Scobie reasons, she is waiting to escape the ominous shadow of the royal family before she pushes her true brand.
“They insisted the reason she didn’t come to the coronation was because of Archie’s birthday,” he recalled. “But I know from other people in their orbit, being dragged into all the media coverage and hysteria that comes with her being within 10 feet of the royal family was enough to deter her. And is clearly something she wants to steer away from.”
Meghan Markle Could Be the Next Martha Stewart, Royal Family Fears was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.