Meghan Markle received advice from Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, on how to cope with the pressures of royal life, but she “didn’t listen,” sources claimed.
According to the Daily Mail, before Meghan married Prince Harry, Camilla invited her to lunch. During lunch, Camilla advised Meghan on how to conduct herself as a Royal and cope with the pressures of royal life, including media scrutiny and negative coverage.
Camilla advised Meghan to ‘ride out the storm’
Camilla reportedly shared her positive and negative experiences of royal life with Meghan. She told Meghan about how she coped with negative press due to her relationship with Prince Charles before and after Princess Diana’s death.
Camilla reportedly advised Meghan to focus on the positive aspects of her experience and to patiently “ride out the storm.”
“Meg was really grateful to Camilla who was very supportive and invited her out for private lunches, particularly around the time of her marriage,” a source close to Meghan revealed. “She listened to her and understood that it’s really difficult joining the Royal Family from an otherwise ‘normal’ life.”
Meghan ‘didn’t listen’ to Camilla’s advice
The source noted that Camilla could empathize with Meghan because she also experienced a lot of negative press and hostility from the media, royal aides, and fans due to her relationship with Charles when he was still married to Diana.
“She was very sensitive to Meghan and provided her with support, advising her to ride out the storm and that it would all pass—but ultimately Meghan didn’t listen,” the source said.
A Palace source added that the Duchess of Cornwall tried to help Meghan adjust to royal life because she understood what it was like to be plunged into it after living a “normal” life.
Camilla was having an affair with Charles while he was married to Princess Diana. She was widely blamed for the failure of Charles and Diana’s marriage and suffered a lot of bad press.
Meghan and Harry complained about negative media coverage
Despite advice from Camilla, Meghan and Harry complained about negative media coverage during their tell-all interview with Oprah in March.
The Duchess of Sussex accused the Royal Family of failing to protect her from negative media coverage and alleged they refused to correct misleading media reports about her relationship with Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.
Meghan claimed that media allegations made that she made Kate cry when they clashed during her wedding rehearsal were false. She claimed that the media reports were misleading because it was Kate who made her cry.
Harry had complained about the bad press that Meghan was receiving before they married.
In November 2016, Harry released a statement through his communications secretary in which he complained about Meghan being “subject to a wave of abuse and harassment” by the British tabloid press.
The statement claimed that Meghan was smeared “on the front page of a national newspaper” and that there were “sexist” and “racial undertones” to the media coverage.