Kate Middleton’s secret signal to Meghan Markle after miscarriage

OPINION:

There is a certain irony about the queen: she is the director of the oldest institution in the world, except the first. (The Pope and his millennial church beat her there.)

Britain’s prime ministers, all 14, have appeared throughout their reign weekly as docile schoolchildren (and twice, girls) for their weekly annual audience with Her Majesty. (Which equates to 3536 hours of PM level lectures).

She has met 12 American presidents who I think we can safely assume were appropriately in awe of the diminutive leader.

Her Majesty’s minor job requirements also include being the head of an army, navy, air force, and church.

Yet despite all this, the Queen is far from being an outspoken and proud feminist.

In fact, I’m pretty sure that if we sneak into her room, we’re unlikely to find a sample of “I heart Emmeline Pankhurst” hanging on her wall. The unfortunate reality is that there is hardly any overlap between feminism and the House of Windsor.

That’s what makes the latest theory about Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and a possible stealth campaign of sisterhood solidarity so alluring.

Let me catch up to you. On Wednesday night, The New York Times published an essay written by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in which she revealed that she had a miscarriage earlier this year.

Written with incredible honesty, it is a deeply poignant and stark exhortation for all of us to help each other heal after a year of collective and global suffering.

The royal family is reported to have been informed of the loss of the Sussexes at that time in July. However, in the wake of the publication of Meghan’s article, which has triggered a tsunami of public support for the 39-year-old woman and sparked a global conversation about pregnancy loss, the Firm’s official communication channels have totally failed. and absolutely in recognizing this. news of the week.

The Queen’s office told Tom Sykes of the Daily Beast they would not comment on the “deeply personal” issue, while Prince Charles’ spokesman also said he would not comment as it was a “private” issue.

However, look for your deer stalker and take out the old friends because here’s a theory: Kate has already shown stealthy but public support for her sister-in-law.

In October, the Duchess of Cambridge visited the Institute for Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London, which is home to a group of experts studying miscarriage, preterm birth and stillbirth.

There, she met women affected by this problem and told a mother who had experienced the unthinkable: “It is very brave of you to be able to speak so openly.

“Much of the research, much of the support for organizations, is being driven by parents who have been through this experience and want to help others. It is very inspiring.”

Now of course, the visit coincided with National Baby Loss Awareness Week, but Kate had never before marked this annual week with an official commitment.

So why this year?

The point is, the royal family never, never does anything accidentally. Spontaneous decisions and spontaneity are drawn from Windsor in the same way that any memory of the fact that they are all truly German is accurately removed sometime in childhood.

So for the Duchess, this would have been an outing for months at the very least, which would mean … July or August at least.

In January of this year, Kate launched her massive early childhood project Five Big Questions, all as part of her overall legacy-defining quest to create a series of interventions for children ages 0-5.

(The thought is smart enough: By addressing mental health issues and providing emotional support to children and parents during this formative time, you can prevent a score of people from developing drug addictions, becoming homeless, and becoming alcoholic. etc. in adult life).

However, prior to Kate’s visit to the Institute in October, miscarriage and pregnancy loss had never figured as part of her work in this area.

Could Kate, after learning in July that her sister-in-law had lost her second child, could she decide that she wanted to make a significant gesture of public support without revealing to the world what Meghan had been through?

Now the timing of Kate’s high school visit might have been pure coincidence, but let me present you with another compelling piece of evidence: She is someone who is skilled at trafficking meaningful gestures.

In August of this year, Finding Freedom, the highly publicized book on the Sussexes that may well be the most slavish and complimentary royal biography of a generation, hit the shelves. It was argued that Kate essentially failed Meghan by not doing enough to show her the royal ropes when she arrived at Kensington Palace.

And yet even Freedom, a title that is probably not too generous to Kate, revealed that when the two women were first introduced, “The meeting ended when Kate let Meghan know that she could always contact her if she needed anything.” .

“Having been through the experience of being a royal bride, Kate knew how difficult it could be to have her personal life suddenly exposed.”

Later, when Meghan joined Queen and company in Norfolk for their first royal Christmas, a daunting feat for even the hardiest of souls who are also privy to the curious ways of the aristocracy, Kate went out of her way to cook special meals. . for the newbie.

Later, when the relationship between the two duchesses faltered, Vanity Fair reported that Kate sent Meghan flowers to “rectify the situation.” (However, “Meghan … told Kate in no uncertain terms that the flowers weren’t enough”, which begs the question of what would be “enough”).

The point of all this is that Kate, as a good upper-class girl, seems largely incapable of mustering any kind of emotional, sentimental, and sentimental Californian sharing, but the woman knows how. to show your feelings more subtly.

So it would make sense if the Duchess of Cambridge’s lab visit in October was a secret and calculated show of support for Meghan. As a mother of three, she would understand too clearly how much the loss of a baby would hurt.

Here’s my warning to all of this: Kate could have stayed up into the wee hours, feverishly sipping black coffee and trying to figure out the best way to send her sister-in-law a clandestine but public signal in the wake of her miscarriage.

She could have planned her charity engagement meticulously, all with a view to sending her Los Angeles-based royal partner WAG a powerful show of support.

But this in no way makes up for the abject official silence from both her and her husband, Prince William, on the subject of Meghan and Harry’s anguish. They could have easily shared a simple post via their Instagram or Twitter accounts about the tragedy and then linked to the charities that had supported the women Kate met in October.

If the various royal houses can use their social media channels to wish each other a Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas, surely they could say something, anything, right now to show their external support for the Sussexes.

Your breach will not be quickly forgotten.

I, for one, really hope that Kate was conducting an exercise to demonstrate transatlantic solidarity with Meghan. This would at least mean that while the current queen might not have done much for her gender, at some point in the future we’ll have one who knows a thing or two about helping the sorority.

Daniela Elser is a real expert and writer with over 15 years of experience working with several of Australia’s leading media titles.