Meghan Markle’s Dream To Be the 'New Princess Diana' Fell Short for One Key Reason, Insider Claims

When Meghan Markle married into the royal family, she assumed that she'd be likened to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana. However, it didn't happen. A former conservative British politician David Mellor told GB News host Eamonn Holmes in 2022 that immediately after Markle joined The Firm, she thought she'd become the next 'people's princess.' 

While speaking and criticizing her Archetypes podcast, in collaboration with streaming giant Spotify, Mellor said, "She's turning her life into a soap [opera] and she's a soap actress so why wouldn't she?" He further denounced Markle for assuming "that everyone is totally fascinated by every little detail either of her current life or of her past life and doesn't mind whether it's true or not," as per Newsweek. 

Though Mellor admitted that initially when the Suits star became a royal family member, he thought "it was a good thing that a woman of colour should be a part of the royal family and that it would make the royal family seem to embrace larger sections of the community." However, in his opinion, she thought she'd just wing it and become Diana without performing the typical royal duties that are primarily "dull." 

"In my time as a minister and politician, you see a lot of members of the royal family in action, and a lot of it is a pretty dull job actually...The point is it's not glamorous, and you feel with Meghan that it was a big disappointment," Mellor added. 

Meanwhile, back in 2018, less than 50 days before Markle was set to become a member of the royal family, a book titled: Meghan: A Hollywood Princess by Journalist Andrew Morton quotes her childhood friend echoing Mellor. According to the friend, the exiled royal was "always fascinated by the royal family" and dreamt of becoming "Princess Diana 2.0," per ABC News. 

Markle, similar to Diana, has also been a humanitarian, who after graduating from Northwestern University, worked with the United Nations on women's issues and was also an ambassador for World Vision before she got romantically involved with Prince Harry. Her friends even claimed they saw Markle crying at Diana's funeral in 1997 as "she was intrigued by Diana not just for her style [but] saw her as a humanitarian role model." 

However, whether Markle was inspired by Diana or copied her, a lot of people saw similarities, including the late princess of Wales' former butler Paul Burrell. "Harry went for and married Meghan because she's like Diana," the ex-employee told Closer Magazine in an interview, as per Marie Claire. "Both women would always stand up for what they believe in and wouldn't be pushovers." 

But, despite the similarities, Burrell who had been close to Diana, thought the women would've clashed. "I imagine it would have been two strong, independent women with different views on things—it would have been a battle between Meghan's way and Diana's way." But he also noted the difference that while Diana was young and naive, Markle is strategically following her game plan.