Meghan Markle apparently sparked a feud when she was the guest editor at British Vogue. Photo / Getty
Meghan Markle apparently sparked a feud when she was the guest editor at British Vogue. Photo / Getty
A new book about the Sussexes makes a series of bombshell claims about the couple. This New Zealand exclusive extract details how Meghan feuded with the British Vogue editor when she guest-edited the magazine in 2019.
'I want to break the internet,' Meghan Markle exclaimed to the editorial staff, meaning that she would control her own image. Listening to the Duchess, the editorial team's expressions showed silent exasperation.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul's. Photo / AP
Most of her contributions were superficial, lacking rhyme or reason. To avoid confrontation, she was never asked to explain.
The team wrongly assumed that her comments were inspired by [her US PR consultants] Sunshine Sachs. They were her own ideas. Meghan's description of those conversations was 'philosophising with Ed [editor in chief Edward Enninful] over a steaming cup of mint tea'.
During the last weeks before publication, Meghan offered advice on publicity. She spoke about 'lighting up the internet' inspired by leaks.
Enninful was unimpressed. Secrecy, Enninful repeated, was essential for a blockbuster launch. Nevertheless, The Sun regularly published snippets of information about the issue. The editorial team suspected the source was a friend of Meghan's, a female publicist in London.
Those irritations came with the turf for Enninful. Shaping a whole issue around the Duchess was a journalistic and commercial coup. Promoting Meghan as 'the country's most influential beacon of change,' he gushed in his editorial about this 'brilliant, bi-racial American powerhouse' who is a 'positive influence everywhere'.
Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. Photo / Getty Images
None of Vogue's staff witnessed Meghan ever pause to consider whether she had crossed the line in her relationship with Enninful.
She never appeared to consider the conflict of using her marriage to promote herself. Meghan was uninterested in the boundary that Prince William had identified in a 2017 TV documentary. In a measured way, William had grasped the nettle regarding a royal's public openness with the media: 'One lesson I've learnt is you never let them in too far, because it's very difficult to get them back out again. You've got to maintain a barrier and a boundary, because if you cross it, a lot of pain and problems can come from it.'
Meghan was dismissive of that caution. Thrilled by the opportunity, she would never have thrown it away.
Enninful and Meghan had selected 15 women identified as 'Game Changers' who 'reshape society in radical and positive ways'.
Among them were the primatologist Dian Fossey, whose life was devoted to saving Rwandan gorillas until her murder in 1985; 82-year-old Jane Fonda; Bonnie Hammer of NBC, who cast Meghan in Suits; Joni Mitchell, the singer-songwriter; and Toni Morrison, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. There was also the transgender actor Laverne Cox; Adwoa Aboah, a model; Gemma Chan, an actress; Ramla Ali, a boxer; Adut Akech, a model; and the 16-year-old climate-change campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The Swede must have wondered about her nomination among the gas-guzzling supermodels who crisscrossed the globe to pose in exotic locations.
In reciprocity for their nomination, the women hailed Meghan as 'an ultimate force for change'. And in return, Meghan praised them for representing the unrepresented. The Queen was omitted.
The August 2019 cover of British Vogue featuring Salma Hayek edited by Meghan Markle - Forces for Change. Photo / British Vogue
That left the important decision of the cover. Meghan wanted to feature on the cover, just as Kate had done in 2016 to mark Vogue's centenary. But during many discussions the editorial team persuaded her that it would be 'boastful'. In public, Enninful would say that it was Meghan's decision not to appear on the cover because she wished to remain 'humble'. The staff recall the decision being forced on her.
The cover was given to Salma Hayek, a Hollywood star married to François-Henri Pinault – a French billionaire who happened to be one of Vogue's leading advertisers.
'Forces for Change' was a thought-provoking headline. In the magazine's introduction, Meghan wrote about her intention to highlight 'the power of the collective' and focus on 'positivity, kindness, humour and inclusivity… to shine light in a world filled with seemingly daily darkness'. She added, 'Through this lens, I hope you will feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover.' Her language offered no philosophy. Nor did she identify her destination. 'Lens' was a recurring metaphor in Meghan's lexicon.
Within hours of announcing the magazine's scoop, the phones at Vogue's office did not stop ringing. The whole world wanted to read Meghan's special issue. The magazine's young female readers related to Meghan, a woman with a successful independent career using her platform in the Royal Family to campaign for change.
To stay in the spotlight, the editor blitzed a news story every day. In regular calls, Meghan urged Enninful to offer more stories to the hungry media.
Meghan Markle has come under fire for decisions she made while guest editing British Vogue. Photo / AP
Finally, she had hit the ground running.
Buckingham Palace was blindsided. Sara Latham (who headed the couple's communications team before they left for the US) was told by Meghan to mastermind her latest publicity launch. Her first task, said Meghan, was to demand that the official publication date in Britain be delayed by one day to let publication in the US take the lead. America's reaction, she was certain, would be more positive than Britain's.
Meghan's order revealed that she was relying on her American advisors and hoped that a Palace request to Enninful would be obeyed. Once Latham's demand was rejected, the relationship between Meghan and Vogue's staff deteriorated. Their conflict was about control.
Keleigh Thomas Morgan called to tell Vogue that she, rather than Latham, would be representing Meghan's interests, and therefore also Vogue's. Enninful rejected that demand. In the battle between Latham's aggressive demands on behalf of the Palace and the Los Angeles publicist, Enninful sided with the local power, namely the Palace. Facing the kickback, his decision was questioned by Meghan.
Within hours, their dispute was drowned out by a wave of antagonistic comments published in the British media.
