Yes, Meghan reduced Kate to her hormones and was then allegedly surprised that Kate was offended. Personally, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t offended.
According to the Mail on Sunday’s royal expert Kate Mansey, Harry writes in his memoir, Spare, (due to hit shelves in Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday) that Meghan made the comment to Kate while she was pregnant with her third child Louis.
Yes, always good to tell an expecting mother she’s lost her ability to think clearly. (Note the sarcasm.)
Ultimately Meghan was roused on and told she wasn’t close enough to Kate to make that kind of comment.
Personally, I believe no amount of intimacy gives you the right to say to a woman she’s not in control of her own emotions. But this anecdote from Harry feels like just another example of Kate being cold and unwelcoming and unwilling to bond with her new sister-in-law.
In Harry’s highly anticipated book, he clearly sides with his wife. It seems Harry is trying to paint the picture that Meghan’s comment was meant without malice and Kate was being too sensitive and overemotional in her response.
I can totally see why Harry might not understand how painful it would be for Kate to be accused of having a baby brain, but I’d argue any woman would immediately get why Kate was offended.
Didn’t Meghan Markle do a whole podcast series about common words/ stereotypes people use against women to hold them back?
Yet Prince Harry says in his book that Meghan told Kate she must be hormonal because of “baby brain”. That’s the most stereotypical thing I’ve ever heard.
Honestly, I’ve spent my whole life with people blaming my emotions and feelings on my hormones. It is beyond frustrating and condescending. Sometimes it feels like I’m not even allowed to be angry without someone asking me, “Are you on your period?” No, I’m just furious.
When women’s emotions and reactions are blamed on their hormones, it is an utterly sexist response. It’s also entirely belittling and makes women feel like they can’t express their emotions fairly without being called crazy or, yes, hormonal. So, Meghan’s remark at Kate wasn’t just a passing comment, it was a highly inflammatory statement.
Also, it sends a message to the men in the family that Kate has completely succumbed to hormones, so no one should bother taking her seriously.
Maybe Harry doesn’t get it, because he hasn’t had the lived experience of a woman, but Meghan should know how often women are subjected to their emotions being put down to their hormones. Surely her experiences as a woman would help her understand why Kate was so offended.
Yes, I can understand saying the wrong thing, but I don’t understand why Meghan didn’t immediately recognise why that would have been painful for Kate.
Particularly when you consider Kate is part of an old-fashioned institution like the royal family that originally was highly patriarchal and, let’s be real, still is.
Prince Harry's book has made new revelations about the feud between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. Photo / AP
Of course, she wouldn’t want people questioning if her hormones clouded her judgment. The woman will become Queen, and she doesn’t need that kind of rhetoric going around the palace.
Leaks from Harry’s memoir have also detailed a fight between him and his brother in which William allegedly “grabbed” Harry by the collar and “knocked” him to the ground, breaking his necklace and leaving him with an injury.
Yet he doesn’t put William’s emotions or anger down to hormones. This pushes forward this ridiculous message that men are in charge of their emotions and women are not. Even though, clearly, the women in this situation are still behaving more sensibly than the men.
Yes, Meghan’s hormonal jab at Kate may not have been malicious, but surely, she should have quickly acknowledged that what she said was wrong and untrue.
Honestly, one of the worst things you can do to a woman is to create a narrative that she is a hormonal mess.
Women aren’t run by their hormones: Case in point, I’m currently not on my period but Meghan’s comments still got me this revved up.
