In an article about Meghan Markle for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2018’s short list, Diana Evans suggested that “In order for this marriage [between Meghan and Harry] to take place at all, we witnessed a partial erasure of a whole person.” That’s an interesting way to look at the Duchess’ transformation from a Hollywood celebrity into a royal family member, which did require Meghan to do several things.
One, Meghan had to give up her acting career. She quit her position playing Rachel Zane on the TV show Suits , and is apparently no longer working as an actress. The decision to leave her life-long passion of acting must have been a difficult one; however, she obviously chose to give it up to be with the love of her life.
And while “a partial erasure of a whole person” arguably sounds dramatic, there were certain things that were literally erased. These included Meghan’s lifestyle blog, The Tig , which only remains as screenshots. From time to time, a publication will dig back up one of her old posts, but there’s no way for the average person to browse her blog anymore.
Not only that, Meghan’s social media accounts were all deleted, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. That wasn’t necessarily surprising, considering that none of the major royals have social media accounts. Royals that are further down the line of succession, like Princess Eugenie, do have accounts, but as Harry’s wife, it would not be accepted.
This is a beautiful piece of writing. I wish the breathless scandal-seeking “royal experts” would — could?— do as well. #DuchessIfSussex
Meghan Markle: TIME Person of the Year 2018 Runner Up | https://t.co/vX7YPi5zC9 https://t.co/IAJ6cjOcuz
— ?ya (formerly P. Phil Duke of Edinburgh Fan) ?? (@fanofprincephil) December 12, 2018
More than an “erasure” of Meghan’s personhood, it’s more that she no longer has a direct voice with the general public, save for public speeches. While most royals apparently have their speeches written for them, Meghan has stepped up to write her own. After all, if she didn’t do that, she really has no way of directly communicating with the world.
Evans argues that “Since Kate Middleton married Prince William, we have seen her diminish from a figure capable, in the eyes of the media, of modernizing the royal family to a woman defined (again, at the hands of the media, over which she has no control) by her womb and her wardrobe.” She wonders if the same will happen to Meghan eventually, but it’s hard to know at this point.
What is clear though, is that her wardrobe certainly does speak volumes, with each apparent fashion choice being highly scrutinized, while seemingly bold choices are used to portray the Duchess as somewhat of a rebel against royal protocols.
Congrats #meghanmarkle #DuchessofSussex for making the short list for @TIME person of the year! Fantastic! #harryandmeghan #dukeandduchessofsussex @RightRoyalRound @KensingtonRoyal pic.twitter.com/I5ctU3f8Ly
— D.B.? (@DBrown99944) December 10, 2018
