Is Meghan Markle More Of A Celebrity Than A Royal?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been separated — well, at least their wax figures are — in the Madame Tussauds exhibit. The move was done to highlight the Duchess of Sussex’s “independent celebrity status,” considering that she has been well known internationally even before she joined the royal family.

When Meghan’s wax figure was first unveiled in 2018, it was placed beside Prince Harry’s wax figure. But now the duchess’ is placed alongside the wax figures of her nonroyal celebrity friends like David and Victoria Beckham, Priyanka Chopra and Tom Hardy in the “A-list party room.”

Meanwhile, Prince Harry’s wax figure will be moved to a special room dedicated to royals. But Madame Tussauds doesn’t plan on splitting the royal couple’s waxworks forever.

“It’s not necessarily forever — and we’re not splitting our loved-up couple!,” Madame Tussauds London general manager Steve Davies explained. “We’re just allowing Meghan to mingle in her more-familiar celebrity circle for a while.”

Before she met Prince Harry, Meghan already rose to fame as the character Rachel on the legal drama “Suits.” Apparently, people have a hard time reclassifying her from a Hollywood celebrity to a member of royalty, and that might not necessarily be a good thing for the Duchess of Sussex.

“She is still seen as a celebrity, she is not, obviously she is royalty, but she is more seen as a celebrity, so people feel like they have that opportunity to criticise her,” PR expert Nick Ede commented during an episode of Yahoo’s “The Royal Box.”

Another PR expert suggests that acting like a celebrity won’t be doing Meghan any good at all. Burr Media CEO opined that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s demand for privacy is creating damage to their image.

“Firstly, Meghan needs to stop acting like a celebrity who starred on TV and begin the process of learning to be a Duchess,” Burr said. The PR expert was referring to the duchess’ insistence of banning taking photos of her when she watched Serena William’s game at Wimbledon.

Butt also said that Prince Harry should make his wife understand that as royals, they’re supposed to be visible to the public. “He also needs her to appreciate that Royal Family members are the most public figures in the country, if not the world,” the expert added. “If you want the splendours of the royal life, you have to make sacrifices — and privacy is the top of that list of sacrifices.”