With the official announcement this morning concerning the engagement of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, released a statement from Clarence House saying that he is delighted for Markle and Prince Harry. However, so much has changed in the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth, as the last time a royal (King Edward VIII) married a divorced American (Wallis Simpson), he was forced to abdicate the throne and was summarily kicked out of England. While King Edward VIII would have had divorced American Wallis Simpson as his queen, and the likelihood of Prince Harry being the King of England is more than unlikely, the happy engagement announcement of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shows just how much has changed.

But not everyone is happy for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, and some of these people and media outlets are speaking out on the day of what should be a joyous announcement to wag their fingers and say that the union of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shouldn’t happen. Melanie McDonagh of the Spectator has said just that.

“It may be churlish to be unkind about a young couple who have just announced their engagement but needs must. Someone has to say it.”

And McDonagh is throwing around the name Wallis Simpson to explain why the marriage of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry is unsuitable.

“Meghan Markle is unsuitable as Prince Harry’s wife for the same reason that Wallis Simpson was unsuitable: she’s divorced and Harry’s grandmother is supreme governor of the CofE.”

While the Spectator says that their statement is all about the Church of England and divorce and not about Meghan Markle as a person, that argument does not hold water. The next in line to the throne is Prince Charles, who is divorced and married to his second wife Camilla, who is also divorced, and their union was blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head clergy of the Church of England.

What they seem to be commenting on the heritage and ethnicity of Meghan Markle when they suggest that back in the good old days, she would have been a mistress to Prince Harry and not his wife while mentioning concerns about Markle’s family being embarrassing.

“Obviously, seventy years ago, Meghan Markle would have been the kind of woman the Prince would have had for a mistress, not a wife. Things have changed. She’ll now be the apotheosis of the union of showbiz and royalty, with a glorious subsidiary cast of embarrassing relations.”

Most people read between the lines and challenged the writer to say what they really meant: that their objection was not about Meghan Markle being divorced, or upholding the standards of the Church of England, but about bigotry. Some came straight out and called the writer a bigot for casting doubt on the union of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

The racist undertones from the media got to be so bad a few months ago that Prince Harry had a statement about the “soft racism” launched at Meghan Markle released through Kensington Palace. Prince Harry wanted to make it clear that racist behavior toward Meghan Markle and her family would not be tolerated.

“Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments. Some of it has been hidden from the public – the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers.”

The Birmingham Mail says that a lot has changed because the last time a senior royal wanted to marry an American divorcee, it caused a constitutional crisis. Of course, they are talking about Edward VIII, Prince Harry’s great-great uncle, who left the throne for the love of twice-divorced American Wallis Warfield Simpson.

However, unlike Meghan Markle, who was divorced when she met Prince Harry, Wallis Simpson was still married to her second husband, Ernest when she started “dating” King Edward VIII. After Edward abdicated, and he married Wallis Simpson in France, and the two never again were allowed to live in England (if they wanted to receive an allowance). Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have gotten much better treatment at the hands of the royal family.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have not only gotten the okay from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles but also the Archbishop of Canterbury. Marke and Prince Harry are living together in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace and will have a royally sanctioned wedding at some time in the spring of 2018.

Congratulations to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry!

[Featured Image by Associated Press/AP Images]