For regular listeners of Michelle is Money Hungry, you may know that I focus on social equity, policy and access in my content. So, why am I recording an episode about Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? Well, this episode falls under my “splash of pop culture” content that I like to share from time. I decided to wait before sharing this episode because I needed more time to get my thoughts together about why they are attracting so much hate and interest.
As an online content creator, I’m fascinated by the fact that they are at the beginning stages of what is clearly going to be a billion dollar brand. I’ve actually tweeted about this every once in awhile for several years now. But their story has evolved in a way that has been unexpected. In this podcast episode I’m going to talk about Harry and Meghan building a billion dollar brand, universal experiences that they are having that are resonating with people all over the world and some additional thoughts about race, class and how the US and Britain or so freaking different.
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Welcome to Michelle is Money Hungry. I’m your host, Michelle Jackson, and I focus on holding financial conversations that lean into social equity, policy and access with a splash of pop culture. My goal is to lead these conversations with empathy and help both my listeners and myself learn more about money. If you haven’t purchased your physical copy of Prince Harry’s Book SPARE or listened to it on Audible don’t forget to grab it today. It looks like Spare is currently free with a new Audible subscription. So, if you’ve been thinking about getting audio books now is the time. I’ve included a link in the show notes. Please note I am an Amazon Affiliate.
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Universal Experiences
I am an avid reader of historical romance, a huge fan of the Arthurian legend and the occasional historical researcher. There are certain stories about Britain and the British Royal Family (both fictional and non-fictional) that have captured my interest. Despite that I’ve never watched The Crown or any of the recent shows about the British Royal Family. I’m busy. That said, the Universal lived experiences that Harry and Meghan are living are resonating with people across the world. And it’s weird to me that there isn’t more content dedicated to these universal experiences. Not sure what I mean? I’m going to share a few that I’ve noticed:
- The Favored Child-In this case it’s very clear that William being the oldest and in direct line of succession was the favored child. If you’ve watched anything that touches on line of succession-this shouldn’t surprise you. In regular families across the world there’s the favored child even when parents insist that they don’t have a favorite. This unintentional or intentional favoritism causes conflict within the family and the siblings’ relationship as we’ve seen over the years with Harry and William.
- The premature death of a parent-This is a heartbreaking experience for any child who adores their parents. Sadly, Harry and William had to deal with this experience in front of the world.
- Being disowned-It’s wild to think that Harry was literally disowned by his father right when the pandemic happened. It’s something that I won’t ever forget. How many kids have been disowned for doing something that seems perfectly benign to someone else’s family. Such as setting boundaries and protecting your spouse.
- Hating your in-laws-You don’t always like your relatives’ spouses. Your brother could marry a woman you loathe, your mother could marry someone you hate, etc. We don’t always like the families that we marry into and vice versa.
- Estrangements within a family-Sometimes your family members are toxic. I cannot imagine how painful it has been to be sold out by both sides of your family for power, money and control.
- Toxic family dynamics-You don’t have to deal with toxic family members just because they are related to you.
- Racism-I’m going to talk about this more later in this episode, but it has to be so painful to fall in love with someone that your family is just never going to accept. For whatever reason and it catches you off-guard.
- Depression and the Loss of a Child-Nothing more needs to be said.
- The Dynamics of Money and Power-There are reality shows, case studies and more focused on the dynamics of Money and Power. What I think about often is how the Royal family seemingly used the purse strings to manipulate the actions of their members. I’m convinced that King Charles thought that Harry would come running back home after being cut off. But he literally couldn’t because of COVID. No one was going anywhere.
What I think often is how much the British Media seems to be missing why Harry and Meghan’s situation is resonating with so many people when low-key it shouldn’t. He’s part of the British Royal Family, she had a pretty solid career as actress who was also focused on social good. On the surface they had money, good looks and access to power. But, those universal experiences are hitting us right where it should-in our own lived experiences.
An Uncomfortable Conversation About Race
Sometimes I wonder if people realize that there are common Black experiences vs. Universal experiences that everyone has had. I thought about this a lot when reading through tweets about what other people thought Meghan should have experienced as a Black woman. I felt that there was a lot of nuance missing in those conversations.
I want to share a couple of brief stories about race in my family. My mom is what many people would consider “light-skinned” in fact, about once a month someone will make a comment to my mom that reconfirms that people perceive her in a way that is different from me. The last one was an African friend who is really from Africa telling jokingly but not, that she to be careful in South Africa because she was at risk for being kidnapped because people might consider her white. Now, if you’ve ever followed any of Trevor Noah’s content he comments on how in some ways he’s perceived as white adjacent or at least-not Black. My mom also gets spoken often in Spanish. I share this to say that I have some thoughts about people’s reaction to Meghan and how they’re perceiving comments she’s made about race.
And before I say anything further, anything in this episode-I would ask the couple directly. I used say that Meghan felt the most Black she’s ever felt once the British tabloid press started reporting on her. It never surprised me that Meghan had a deeply different lived experience from me a very obviously Black woman based on how I knew Hollywood and Los Angeles to be in terms of colorism.
Is there a collective amnesia around the following mixed race women and men who made their careers in Hollywood and were treated differently until we remembered one of their parents was Black? Here’s the incomplete list: Jennifer Beale, Mariah Carey, Maya Rudolph, Zoe Kravitz (who I think is still cancelled) Rashida Jones, Slash of Guns and Roses, Halsey and Nicole Ritchie to name a few. I would also encourage people to follow Eartha Kitt’s daughter Kit Shapiro on TikTok. Now let’s be clear I would love to ask Meghan the following questions especially because I grew up in really White spaces.
- Do you think you had a subsconsiously negative perception of Blackness or a slight anti-Black bias that you weren’t aware of until all of this happened?
- While I do think Meghan has Black friends, I do think that she has likely not been as intentional as say I have been about finding and connecting and sustaining Black relationships because I live in such a white space.
- Have you ever had conversations about Blackness with Black friends and your ability to move around in spaces and navigate White spaces without being perceived as Black or Black adjacent.
- What are some of the conversations you plan on having (if any) moving forward with yourself/friends or family about race.
- I imagine this has been a painful experience for you in so many ways and what is it that you would like for us to know about you that people getting.
Ultimately, she’s going to piss off someone with whatever answers she gives. I also want to share that in a past life I was a sister in a nationally White sorority. My specific chapter was incredibly diverse with a number of Black, Brown and Asian members. It was honestly a great experience. This is despite the fact that I was a founding member of the Black Students’ Union at my high school, participated in (and one) a Black trivia bowl in my high school and was a debutante via a National Black Sorority.
However, it doesn’t erase the fact that I’m 100% sure that there are chapters of this sorority across the US that are highly problematic. I was in a different sorority than the one Meghan was in. I share of this to say that people are complicated and I do think that she would be open to having this conversation and is self-reflective more than most people. I base this observation on her Archetypes podcast, very thoughtful and reflective.
As for Harry, I feel like his participation in active military duty really changed his lived experience. You can’t go to war with people from all walks of life and not be changed. It’s my opinion that serving with other British Nationals forced Harry to engage in conversations he otherwise would never have had. I feel like the Harry that we’re seeing and experiencing now is the result of years of self-work. Here’s the thing:
- He’s not going to get it all right. He’s going to make mistakes in having this conversation on race and power but he’s clearly very open to having it and I suspect has had these conversations more often than Meghan.
- I don’t think that either of them would say that they’re leading DEI based work vs. sharing their lived truths.
- It must really suck having to navigate the reality that your family is never going to change on a global stage. Especially as you work through significant self-work and self-realization.
Money Lessons Learned
I have learned some important money lessons from their situation.
- Whoever has the money has the control-Being financially cut off from his family forced Harry to reevaluate everything and make his way financially. He could have said “yes” to whatever private demands the Firm were asking of him. He clearly said “no”
- It’s 100% ok to earn money while controlling your narrative-I love the fact that they worked their asses off for the past 4 years and successfully released:
- The Invictus Games
- Spare
- The Bench
- Harry and Meghan-the Netflix Series
- Live to Lead
After years of people making money off of disparaging them it’s very refreshing to see them making money off of their own names and building their own brand. It’s also not lost on me that a lot of the negative feedback is from people who have monetize online brands that are making money off of:
- Ad revenue
Associated with using Meghan and Harry in the content. I’ve created content online for years and the business behind the hate and the bots is a pretty obvious one to figure out. They have the right to control their narrative and I love it for them. They have expenses. They have kids, security and very real White nationalist threats. They need money to manage that reality. For several years now I’ve said that they are on their way to building a billion dollar brand focused on their mission of “Doing good and Global Citizenry” similar to my personal mission. Love it for them.
United States vs. United Kingdom
For awhile now I’ve really noticed a stark difference in how people from the United States and Britain talked about and reacted to Harry and Meghan. The difference is so significant that I thought I would use my closing comments to reflect on this difference.
Americans will say-He (Harry) just wanted to be free to do what he wanted to do. We don’t understand what the big deal is about Meghan being an actress? He has a right to say what he wants to say.
British commenters will say-Meghan should have stayed in her place (this by the way is a deeply offensive thing to say in US culture) Harry is over sharing. He’s being disrespectful to the family.
Then, about a week or so ago, I was able to listen to a Twitter space hosted by Ava Vidal a comedienne who also happens to be Black and British. The space was co-hosted by a Black American from California. It was a wonderful Twitter space because we were having a much more nuanced and thoughtful conversation around how the Black diaspora was reacting to this story. I left the space thinking about the following:
- Black people across the Diaspora have a lot to learn ABOUT each other and our uniquely lived experiences across the world.
- We must continue to have these uncomfortable conversations. Our host was really surprised by how little African Americans knew about Black leaders who were on the front lines of the fight for equality in Britain.
- I think there are some misconceptions that people across the Diaspora have about African Americans that often play out in interactions on social media and in unexpected ways when these communities come into contact in the US in particular.
I’m left with the following questions that I would like to leave you with dear listeners.
- How will this story and our perception of how Harry and Meghan have been treated impact our perception of the UK? I’m curious about tourism numbers. I’ve traveled quite extensively and I have to admit that my worst experiences were in the UK.
- What will be the future response from Commonwealth countries? Is the Monarchy still relevant to them?
- It’s my opinion that Harry shared all the tea because it’s very difficult to spill the details when all the details have been spilled.
- It’s likely that the Sussexes will have their titles taken away (which they had said was fine)
- There is a significant segment of the UK public that seems to think that Harry wants a way to come back. If I were free from aggressive paparazzi, had my own schedule, could walk barefoot and ride my bike around while exploring my interests while on track to becoming a Billionaire with the love of my life-I’m pretty sure that I would never go back to being told what to do, when to do it and how.
I’m wondering what you think of this whole thing? Let me know!
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