Perpetual headline machine Meghan Markle has once again sparked controversy after she compared her wedding to Prince Harry to the release of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela from prison.
Erstwhile actress Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has been regularly causing chaos in the media since the belated launch of her Archetypes podcast, even threatening that she could “say anything” about the UK’s royal during a recent interview.
In this same interview with the magazine The Cut, Meghan drew comparisons between her marriage to Prince Harry and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, claiming that one South African actor told her that the celebrations in his country were similar.
“He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison’,” the actress reportedly claimed.
The article itself immediately moved to neuter the remark, qualifying the quote by explaining: “Of course, she knows she’s no Mandela, but perhaps even telling me this story is a mode of defense, because if you are a symbol for all that is good and charitable, how can anybody find you objectionable, how can anybody hate you?”
However, the comparison has drawn the fire of critics, with the African leader’s grandson, Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela, reportedly expressing surprise at the actress for linking the two events.
“[Nelson Mandela’s] celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa,” he said. “So It cannot be equated to as the same.”
“Every day there are people who want to be Nelson Mandela, either comparing themselves with him or wanting to emulate him,” he continued. “But before people can regard themselves as Nelson Mandelas, they should be looking into the work that he did and be able to be champions and advocates of the work that he himself championed.”
Both Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, had been invited to the United Nations to mark the legacy of Mandela earlier this year, though Harry proceeded to use the opportunity to attack the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling repealing Roe v. Wade.
Meghan’s comment comparing events in her own life to those of Nelson Mandela’s is only one of many highly controversial statement’s made by the former actress in recent days, who has seemingly been on a PR drive coinciding with the release of her ‘feminist podcast’ Archetypes.
Meghan tacitly threatened that she was willing to “say anything” about her time with the British royal family, bragging that she had never signed any agreement that would prevent her from speaking up about any insider information or scandal.
“I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking,” she said. “I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.”
She also claimed that Prince Harry has felt that he has lost his relationship with his father over the growing conflict between him and his wife, and the rest of his family.
“Harry said to me, ‘I lost my dad in this process’,” she reportedly said, though emphasised that she hoped that he would not end up in a similar situation as the one she is in with her father.