Here for the history — but not the hate. As Maren Morris got ready to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s Netflix docuseries, she voiced her perspective on the couple’s rocky royal experience.
“I do have some questions,” the country singer, 32, began in a TikTok video shared on Friday, December 9, one day after Harry & Meghan premiered. “This profound hatred and annoyance at Meghan Markle specifically — mostly coming from women, I have to say — it’s unfathomable to me. People are saying, ‘Oh, a woman should never take a man away from his family. That’s all that this is.’ Um, have you seen this family?”
Maren Morris Courtesy of Maren Morris/TikTok
Morris captioned the post, “The monarchy fascination continues,” and took her followers all the way back to the abdication of King Edward VIII in the 1930s. “[He] left the family because they would not allow him to marry the woman he loved because she had been divorced,” the songwriter explained, referring to Wallis Simpson. “When they didn’t allow Princess Margaret to marry Peter Townsend, she did not leave the family, but I kind of wish she had.”
The “My Church” artist said she thought Margaret had “one of the saddest” experiences within the British royal family, apart from Princess Diana. “When we talk about Princess Di, she didn’t leave her children, but she left the family,” Morris said, confessing that she is also a big fan of The Crown.
Morris’ “fascination” with the British royals led her to question why Meghan, 41, was treated so negatively in the U.K. press before she and Harry, 38, stepped down from their senior roles in 2020. “I just don’t [understand it]. I never have,” she continued. “But people have been annoyed by royals or a particular person in the royal family for centuries.”
In the end, the “Detour” songstress reminded herself that she “never [has] been nor will be royal or have that kind of duty thrust upon” her. “This all feels very pointed at one woman, as it mostly always has [been] in history,” she concluded.
Maren Morris and Meghan Markle. Shutterstock (2)
The Sussexes’ journey made headlines once again after the first three episodes of their docuseries hit Netflix on Thursday, December 8. In the eye-opening show, the couple reflected on the early days of their romance like never before and shared rare glimpses of their life in California with son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 18 months.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Meghan said in a front-facing confessional at the beginning of episode 1. “I just really want to get to the other side of all of this. I don’t know what to say anymore.”
Harry went on to explain that his goal has always been to “keep my family safe,” telling the cameras: “By the nature of being born into this position and with everything else that comes with it and the level of hate that has been stirred up in the last three years — especially against my wife and my son — I’m generally concerned for the safety of my family. … This is about duty and service I feel as though being part of this family, it is my duty to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media.”
The twosome, who exchanged vows in May 2018, announced their royal exit in January 2020. Their departure was made permanent the following year, shortly before Harry and the Suits alum sat down for a bombshell CBS interview about their decision to leave the palace behind.
“It was like the Wild, Wild West,” the Bench author recalled of U.K. tabloid culture in the March 2021 tell-all. “It spread like wildfire. Plus, my being American — it translated in a different way across the pond. So you had a noise level that was very different. I think the volume of what was coming in and the interest was greater because of social media, because of the fact that I was not just British, and that, unfortunately, if members of his family say, ‘Well, this is what has happened to all of us.’”
Meghan continued: “If a member of his family will comfortably say, ‘We’ve all had to deal with some things that are rude,’ rude and racist are not the same.”
