The Crown’s Helena Bonham Carter gave the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle some royal advice amid public scrutiny. On a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Helena gave the Duchess some advice on the best way to deal with the intrusive British tabloids.
Markle began her relationship with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, back in June 2016, when she was set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Their engagement was announced on November 27th, 2017 and announced that she would retire from acting and become a British citizen. She and Harry were married on May 19th, 2018 at Windsor Castle. Markle became a mother on May 6th, 2019, when she gave birth to seventh in line to the throne, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Since taking maternity leave, she was out of the public eye and that’s when tabloids swirled, creating lie after lie about the duchess. In the Royal couple’s recent tell-all documentary special, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, Meghan revealed that the public pressure from the British media has caused her plenty of emotional pain.
On the November 26th episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (via Us Weekly), the Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret on The Crown, had some advice for the real-life Duchess. While talking about the media backlash against Markle, Carter gave some critical advice to the young royal. She said about the media, “I don’t pay attention to it and I wish she wouldn’t have to.” Carter continued, “I feel like there’s just so much. It’s just all too much. … It must be really hard for her not to, but all I’d say to her is, as soon as you become well known and in the public, it’s a domain you have to kind of accept.”
Carter then gave some poignant advice to Markle, saying, “The most important or useful thing that someone told me is [why are] you putting your self-esteem in the hands of strangers?” The actress then pointed out the similarities between her character Princess Margaret and Markle. She revealed that it seems people all over the world are creating opinions about these humans that they’ve never met. Carter said, “That’s the same thing with Margaret. It’s really interesting playing her. So many people keep giving me an opinion about every single person in the royal [family].” The actress continued, putting the media in their place, saying, “You’re like, ‘You didn’t meet them!’ Everyone feels that they’re an authority. And of course, unless you’ve met the person, don’t even voice an opinion.”
Though Carter is not official British royalty, she is an actress who has played her share of queens and princesses - playing Queen Elizabeth in The King’s Speech, the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, and now Princess Margaret on The Crown. It seems that dealing with her share of British media rumors and insults, she more experience dealing with the pressures and slander than Markle - and could truly become a real mentor to the Duchess.
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Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen airs Sunday-Thursday at 11pm EST on Bravo.
Source: Us
