Meghan Markle in conversation with Gloria Steinem. Photo / YouTube
Meghan Markle in conversation with Gloria Steinem. Photo / YouTube
Opinion
If you could travel back in time and talk to Prince Harry circa 2011 – you know, the party prince who was filmed drunkenly dancing into a nightclub pool on a boys' getaway, the Harry who once dressed up as a Nazi for a party and who had made a name for himself tumbling out of London's poshest nightclubs – what the devil would he make of 2020 Harry?
A Prince living on the California coast just down the road from Oprah; a man who (along with wife Meghan Duchess of Sussex) now owns a home with not one but two saunas; and whose endearing, cheeky public demeanour has been replaced by a permanently earnest mien as he goes to great lengths to prove his new liberal bonafides.
The latest titbit in Harry's conversion came courtesy of a video released this week of Meghan and legendary feminist leader Gloria Steinem sharing a backyard chat published by Yahoo's female-focused media channel, Makers.
As the two women lounged on adirondack chairs, the mise-en-scene so artfully curated with small tins of flowers and California cool it would have made Gwyneth Paltrow weep silent tears of joy, they discussed gender equality and the power of voting.
This year has seen Harry transform from a working royal to California-dwelling liberal. Photo / Getty Images
At one stage, Steinem was making the case that it is possible to be "feminist and be masculine and a guy" when Meghan said, "Like my husband! I love that when he just came in he said, 'You know that I'm a feminist too, right Gloria? It's really important to me that you know that.' "
For Meghan, the video was her third appearance in a matter of weeks to encourage women to vote in the upcoming US presidential election.
Earlier this month she was featured in the American Marie Claire magazine, talking about the power of voting.
Meghan Markle in conversation with Gloria Steinem. Photo / YouTube
"I know what it's like to have a voice, and also what it's like to feel voiceless," she said.
She later served as a moderator as part of an online conference for the buzzy new news site focused on gender and politics called The 19th.
Then she was featured as part of All Women Vote, a voter participation initiative founded by Michelle Obama.
What has drawn the most attention is that while Meghan has not publicly endorsed either candidate and has attempted to stay apolitical, her Steinem tete-a-tete seems to see her stray into distinctly partisan territory.
During the chat she mentions she had spoken to rising Democratic star Stacey Abrams and on Joe Biden's choice of Kamala Harris as his vice presidential pick that she was "so excited to see that kind of representation".
For many commentators, it is this aspect of the conversation, given that the prevailing, longstanding convention is for members of the royal family to abstain from expressing political views, that has triggered much pearl clutching.
A copyright tag pops up in the bottom right corner for less than a second but says so much. Image / YouTube
However, in my view, there is something far, far more interesting in the video and it comes at the 1-minute 38-second mark when up on the screen comes "Copyright: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex".
And there we have it: Seven simple words that speak volumes about what the couple has in store for the coming months and years.
To start with, the fact that they have copyrighted the video (and this is the only recent Makers video that bears copyright) clearly telegraphs their intention to control their image with an impressive degree of ruthlessness.
I think we can say with a high degree of certainty that the next chapter of their lives will be defined by control – over their image, the projects they take on, the partners they work with and what they create.
After years of having huge portions of their personal and professional lives dictated to them by courtiers, aides and the palace hierarchy, Harry and Meghan are now fully in charge of their personal and professional destinies. It is understandable why they are maintaining a vice-like grip on their hard-won emancipation.
In essence, what we are seeing in this video is Meghan (and Harry) setting down their devout intention to own the narrative. (And to look impossibly chic while doing it too.)
What comes through loud and clear in Finding Freedom, the recent biography of Harry and Meghan, was the Duchess' frustration over being denied the chance to hit back at negative press stories or counter false reports.
No more. Released from having to live by the edicts of palace life they are going to tell the world what they want, when they want and how they want it.
That extends beyond the philanthropic into the commercial realms too. (After all, the Sussexes now have an estimated $14 million mortgage to pay – owning 16 toilets and a koi pond doesn't come cheap.) Earlier this month Hollywood industry bible Variety reported that the duo had been pitching a top secret project to TV executives.
No longer constrained by royal protocol they can write their own destiny and make their own money. Photo / Instagram
However, I also think the video tells us something else even more interesting about their future plans. Traditionally, famous figures like members of the royal family or celebrities supported causes or charities by being fragrant, media attention-attracting figureheads who could drum up huge amounts of publicity and donations.
The Sussexes clearly have little patience for this sort of passive and pretty do-goodery.
With this video, I think it is clear that Harry and Meghan are not waiting for opportunities to come to them; rather they are signalling that they are hungry to go out and make and create opportunities for themselves to advocate for their chosen causes, adopting a far, far more proactive and engaged model.
Watching the video, I think it becomes clear why Meghan's time inside the palace was never going to be easy for her.
What has become apparent over the course of Meghan's recent spate of pro-voting appearances, and especially in her Steinem confab, is her innate desire to lead.
At the age of 11, Meghan took on corporate behemoth Procter & Gamble after seeing an ad for their Ivory soap brand which included in the voiceover: "Women are fighting greasy pots and pans with Ivory soap."
She wrote to the company asking them to replace "women" with "people" and did a TV interview about her campaign, saying "I don't think it's right for kids to grow up thinking that mum does everything."
This is not a woman given to idly taking to the sidelines and clearly she wants to be a driving, powerful force on a number of issues including gender equality and social justice issues.
Watching Meghan over the past few weeks, unfettered by protocol and free to express her (and Harry's) devotion to self-help guru Brene Brown and indulge in as much talk about self-actualising as she fancies, it feels like we are seeing the real Meghan reveal herself in front of our eyes.
And in that, it is easy to understand why she felt so trapped as a member of the royal family. To be an HRH is to live your personal and professional lives bound by abject hierarchy. It is to perpetually follow and to be a good, obedient foot soldier for the monarch day in and day out.
Was a woman like Meghan – hungry to lead and make her voice heard – ever really going to make it, long-term, as just another expensively dressed cog in the regal machine?
A young Meghan Markle, seen on Nickelodeon, was already determined to change the way the world perceives women. Photo / YouTube
Sure, there are elements of Meghan's Steinem chat that are problematic: The hypocrisy of a woman who had a title handed to her by deeply hierarchical, unelected monarchy espousing the view that women should be "linked not ranked" and the slightly contrived ease of the whole thing, replete with the Sussexes' dogs making a surprise appearance.
It's hard not to be just a bit impressed – and a bit thrilled. Because if Meghan's recent pro-voting outings are anything to go by, I think we can expect to see the royal duo unveil bigger, bolder and more surprising projects in the coming months.
Harry and Meghan were never, ever going to go quietly into the Santa Barbara night. At only 11 years old she learned the power of speaking up. Now, with a global audience, waiting and watching, Meghan is finally getting the chance to take centre stage, unfettered and free.
Forget Netflix: The Sussex show is going to be a doozy.
• Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
