Originally posted 2021-04-25 15:05:10.
Last week the Daily Express in the UK carried a fascinating piece by Kate Harris, discussing an apparent make-up between Princes William and Harry. The brothers had been feuding for over two years.
The Princes were previously close, with William always acting as a protective big brother to Harry. If they have ‘buried the hatchet’ as Harris suggests, then that can only be good. But what about Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle?
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Regular readers here will know that Markle shows all the signs of a Dark Triad. She is Narcissistic, Machiavellian and Psychopathic. This last is made obvious by the way she treated her own father and by myriad statements such as ‘I treat men like carpets – I walk all over them.’ That Meghan Markle might be a poster child for an entire generation of Western women is a frightening thought, given attitudes like that.
Harris’ article references comments by former Royal butler Paul Burrell, who has often written about the Royal Family and is considered a leading expert. He said ‘(Harry’s) heart is on two sides of the Atlantic now. Meghan will be faced with the dilemma that (he) now feels split in two…She will have to figure out what their next steps will be.’
Mr Burrell, as a recognised ‘Royal Expert’ and privy to information about the Royal family not widely available, also has a duty to respect their trust and he always has done so. However, we are not so constrained and in any case, Meghan Markle has distanced herself from ‘The Firm’ so we may look at this case somewhat more forensically.
It was almost certainly Markle who engineered the rift between Harry and the rest of his family. That is classic Dark Triad behaviour. She wanted to isolate him in order to have greater power over him.
According to veteran Royal reporter Katie Nicholl, the brothers’ feud began around Christmas 2018, when Harry told William he wasn’t doing enough to ‘include’ Markle in the Royal Family. She claimed, quoting an unnamed source, that ‘Harry felt William wasn’t rolling out the red carpet (for Markle) and told him so. Their fallout was only resolved when Prince Charles intervened and asked William to do more.’ Does it seem plausible that Markle had no influence on Harry’s decision to beard his brother in this way?
William’s reserve towards Markle was, according to Nicholl, because he felt the affair with Harry had moved far too quickly. He was likely concerned about the damage that it could do and was a good enough judge of character to foresee events as they have actually worked out. He might well be justified in saying ‘I told you so.’
According to The Sun’s royal correspondent Emily Andrews, however, Harry did not respond well to his brother’s concerns. She claimed he ‘went ballistic’ and said ‘You’re trying to wreck this relationship before it’s even started.’ From that point on there was a marked rift in the family, with the brothers scarcely talking to each other. This reached its nadir, so far, in March 2020 when the Sussexes resigned as senior Royals and moved abruptly, first to Canada and then to California.
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Dark Triad
Let’s look at these events through the eyes of a Dark Triad, which Markle, in my opinion, is. In the first place, she’s a Narcissist. She can stand no competition, she has to be the centre of attraction at all times. But the Firm doesn’t work like that. It is governed by strict rules of decorum and manners and Harry could only ever be the younger brother, absent some tragedy – which meant that, just as he was junior to William, so Markle would forever be junior to William’s wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Being junior is not something a Narcissist does nicely.
Markle is Machiavellian.
Second, as a Dark Triad, Markle is Machiavellian. She is a schemer and a user of people. We have to ask ourselves ‘Was the threat of leaving the Firm a bluff, designed to force the other Royals to back down?’ If so, it failed catastrophically. This might have been because of Markle’s unfamiliarity with, well, British Royal families. She may have assumed that her usual tactics of manipulation would work on a family who were, after all, a bunch of stuffy English people, not terribly woke at all.
However, her position in the pecking order was fixed from day one and nothing she or anyone else might do could ever change it. Waving around the pistol of ‘Do as I say or we quit!’ may have worked in the luvvie circles she inhabited in the USA, but in Britain it would just have made things worse – and certainly would have entrenched William’s resentment. British Royals do not care to be herded, especially by those junior to them.
Then, a Dark Triad is psychopathic. Such individuals have absolutely no empathy. Would a normal person have put her husband, younger than she and obviously traumatised, through the awful pain that the rift with has family must have caused Harry? Would anyone, other than a psychopath, not have said, ‘Okay, that’s how it is. That is our position and I shall support my husband in the role that has been set for him.’
Not a bit of it. Markle has not hesitated to cause Harry as much trauma and angst as she needed, to suit her ends; she engineered a rift between two brothers who were famously close, as well as between Harry and his father, grandmother and grandfather. We should look to her treatment of her own father to see the dress rehearsal.
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A Problem for Markle
If all the above is true, then Markle may indeed have a problem. She has lost the absolute control over her husband that she formerly had and might struggle to regain it. The loss of his grandfather, whom he was close to, must have caused Harry to think deeply about what he was doing. This might make even someone as vulnerable as he resist her – and no Dark Triad will suffer resistance for long.
While nobody knows what happened at it, Harry met William, the Duchess of Cambridge and his father Prince Charles, for a two hour meeting, after the funeral services for his grandfather, Prince Philip. It is certain that at this meeting an attempt at conciliation must have been made, by the other three, to try to heal the rift. And according to Royal watchers, this made an impression on Harry. Markle will be keenly aware of this meeting and will be searching for clues as to its effect.
All eyes – well, those interested – should now be on Markle, because her response to this development is critical. It came at a difficult time for her, pregnant as she is and likely somewhat constrained.
Her attempt to smear the British Royal Family – and by implication the whole country – as ‘racist’ and herself as the victim, have not quite panned out as she might have wished. Having already tried the nuclear option, in her notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey – and failed – her room for manoeuvre must now be a little constrained.
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Markle — a pariah?
In Britain, her popularity has collapsed to pariah status, because her behaviour is seen as petulant, irresponsible and disloyal. Although her reasons for not attending HRH Prince Philip’s funeral may genuinely have had to do with her pregnancy, the thought that she might actually have been jeered at by the Great British Contemptibles (a badge of honour) probably had some influence.
Meghan Markle’s comments and actions over the next few weeks will give us a clue as to where she intends to go with this. No Dark Triad can stand to have their plans thwarted and her priority must be to reassert control over Harry; how she intends to achieve that we shall have to wait and see.
A number of scenarios present themselves but none are either pleasant or worth speculating on as yet. The next few weeks will probably be interesting.