Sensemaker Daily
A former Number Ten speechwriter unpacks the true meaning of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah – and the dissonant ideas of monarchy and modernity at its heart
Here is the whole nonsense, captured in a maxim that could fit inside a fortune cookie, to use the idiom to which Meghan Markle has now returned. “This sense of magic” and “an out of body experience that I was very present for”. The magic of monarchy is the deception we practice on ourselves, the way that we collude in the fairytale it has to tell. This exchange, in which Winfrey and Markle think they are reminiscing about the wedding, in fact establishes what is about to go wrong and why.
Throughout what follows, Markle is articulate and thoughtful and Winfrey is sympathetic but acute. This is the only moment in the interview when they both talk sheer moonshine, and it is telling. Unless you believe in some of this, modern monarchy simply cannot make sense. Do not let daylight in on monarchy, wrote Walter Bagehot in 1867. This opening is the claim to magic. What follows is the harsh Californian sunlight.
