Meghan and Harry did the Oprah interview to ‘press nuclear button

Meghan Markle ‘couldn’t let go of the American Dream’ and ‘understand her duty was to the Queen’, US-born viscountess claims

  • Meghan Markle struggled to switch off the American dream, Julie Montagu says  
  • Illinois-born Julie is married to Viscount Hinchingbrooke, son of Earl of Sandwich
  • Speaking to Channel 5’s Meghan at 40: The Climb to Power, she said it’s ‘very difficult’ for ‘someone like Meghan’ to ‘understand her duty is to the Queen’

Meghan Markle struggled to ‘switch off’ the American dream’ and understand her ‘duty was to the Queen’, a US-born viscountress has claimed in a new documentary.

Meghan at 40: The Climb to Power, which airs on Channel 5 on Saturday ahead of The Duchess of Sussex’ landmark birthday on 4th August, explores the former Suits star’s life from being born in California to her relationship with The Firm today.

Speaking in the programme Julie Montagu, who was born in Illinois but moved to the UK 16 years ago when she married Luke Timothy Charles Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, the son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich, explained that Meghan’s struggle with her in-laws came from an inability to ‘let go’ of American ideals.

Meghan Markle struggled to ‘switch off’ the American dream’ and understand her ‘duty was to the Queen’ as US-born viscountress has claimed in a new documentary. Meghan and the Queen are pictured in 2018 at Buckingham Palace 

‘You can’t really be anything you want to be or do anything you want to do or say anything you want to say,’ Viscountess Hinchingbrooke explained.

‘Your duty is to the Queen and that’s very difficult for someone like Meghan.

‘To switch off that American dream off and accept “now you have to do what we say” is difficult.

‘It’s difficult to have love and duty work simultaneously and together and that’s what Harry and Meghan wanted in negations with the Queen, this synergy, that they can make work, but the Queen said no.’

Speaking in the programme Julie Montagu (pictured in London) who was born in Illinois but moved to the UK 16 years ago when she married Luke Timothy Charles Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, the son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich, explained that Meghan's struggle with her in-laws came from an inability to 'let go' of American ideals.

Speaking in the programme Julie Montagu (pictured in London) who was born in Illinois but moved to the UK 16 years ago when she married Luke Timothy Charles Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, the son of the 11th Earl of Sandwich, explained that Meghan’s struggle with her in-laws came from an inability to ‘let go’ of American ideals.

Who is  Viscountess Hinchingbrooke? 

Born as Julie Fisher in rural Illinois,  Vicountess Hinchingbrooke’s life in one of Britain’s grandest estates is far from what it once was.  

Now 49, Julie was a single mother-of-two when she met her husband Luke Montagu – whose ancestor the fourth Earl of Sandwich gave his name to the popular lunch staple – at a party in 2003.

They married a year later at Mapperton, the family’s exquisite Jacobean family pile described by Country Life as the finest manor house in England, with Julie wearing the family tiara.

In 2014 she starred in the short-lived Bravo reality series Ladies of London.

She also manages the Mapperton Estate in Dorset with her husband and three sons aged between 20 and 14.

Because of a lack of visitors to the estate in lockdown, Julie had to embrace savvy new business ideas to keep her manor house and the family’s 15 acres of Italianate gardens afloat – including virtual tours and yoga classes.

Usually boasting 200 visitors a day in high season, the estate was only able to reopen its gardens on the weekend

The documentary also claims that Meghan and Harry gave their ‘truth bomb’ interview to Oprah Winfrey because they ‘expected an apology’ from the royal family.

‘I think she felt it was an opportunity  for her to not only share it with the world, but she hoped the royal family was actually listening,’ Lady Julie added.

‘It’s difficult to pinpoint why she did it,’ Julie went on ‘ but I think it’s clear they were angry’. 

Royal author Tom Quinn also told the documentary: ‘I think they were hoping for an apology, they were hoping they would phone and say, “We’re sorry we push you too far, we should have sat you down and spoke about your mental health issue”.

‘I think she was horrified that the reaction was so negative from the family and they didn’t respond in the way she wanted,’ he added.

‘Meghan thought when she entered the royal family she could shake things up and they would love it, they would do things Meghan’s way. 

‘And when that didn’t happen, and when she came up against what she sees as the forces of reaction, it made us so upset.

‘That that interview was her way to get revenge’.

During an explosive chat with Oprah Winfrey in March, Meghan claimed her sister-in-law Kate Middleton made her cry before she married Prince Harry as the couple, there was ‘concern’ over Archie’s skin colour from members of the royal family and that she was ‘silenced’ by The Firm.

‘Everybody jumped on that, Meghan was silenced, it’s awful,’ journalist Ashley Pearson told the programme, ‘but anyone that knows anything about royal history knows  all the royals are silenced. None of them can say what they think. They’re all silenced. 

‘They can’t go and meet some head of state and later say “oh I didn’t like him”. They’re all silenced. That’s why they’re here. That’s why they never got beheaded.

‘For Meghan to be silenced is no different to how Prince William is silenced, so why is it ok for them not to be able to express an opinion but not for her?’

Royal commentator Emily Andrews added that the former actress doesn’t want to be ‘Mrs Mountbatten-Windsor’ and ‘staying at home raising her chickens’.

‘She wants to be superstar, she wants to be a changemaker, this disruptor’.

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