Book Review: Meghan, A Hollywood Princess by Andrew Morton

When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018. Since then, our fascination with the woman who has smashed the royal mold has rocketed. So different from those coy brides of recent history, Meghan is confident, charismatic, and poised; her warm and affectionate engagement interview won the hearts of the world.

In this first-ever biography of the duchess-to-be, acclaimed royal biographer Andrew Morton goes back to Meghan's roots to uncover the story of her childhood growing up in The Valley in Los Angeles, her studies at an all-girls Catholic school, and her fraught family life-a painful experience mirrored by Harry's own background. Morton also delves into her previous marriage and divorce in 2013, her struggles in Hollywood as her mixed heritage was time and again used against her, her big break in the hit TV show Suits, and her work for a humanitarian ambassador-the latter so reminiscent of Princess Diana's passions. Finally, we see how the royal romance played out across two continents but was kept fiercely secret, before the news finally broke and Meghan was thrust into the global media's spotlight like never before.
 
Drawing on exclusive interviews with her family members and closest friends, and including never-before-seen photographs, Morton introduces us to the real Meghan as he reflects on the impact that she has already had on the rigid traditions of the House of Windsor, as well as what the future might hold.

My Review: 
Andrew Morton was determined to get the first biography of Meghan Markle out on the bookshelves, in the same way that he quickly got a book out about the state of Diana's marriage after being asked to do so. I have no idea if this book was done with Meghan's permission or not but it was rushed out before the wedding had even taken place. In my personal view it might have been in his best interests to take a bit more time over it and get a more balanced biography, rather than this somewhat dull, lacklustre and gushing version.

It goes into Meghan's upbringing, as expected, looking at the lives of her parents Doria and Thomas and their brief marriage and divorce. Thomas is portrayed as the workaholic who didn't spend as much time with his family but was a skilled man who rose to the top of his industry. He used those skills to do the lighting on Meghan's school plays in spite of his busy schedule and taught her how to pose for cameras, which of course became useful in later life. He got her a walk on part in General Hospital. It also goes into the sometimes chaotic situation in the Markle household with his kid's from a previous marriage-Samantha and Thomas Jnr. This was ok to read but I would've liked more from Thomas and Samantha than was covered, and there was nothing about a big fall out between Meghan and Samantha to indicate why they were estranged.

It then followed Meghan's crusading schooldays, encouraged by her father, her school drama performances and how things changed when she went to college. It looked at her volunteer work and all of the things that the media have previously written about. However it also delved back generations of the family tree which really did bog down the book for me. If I'm reading a biography of someone, I want to read about that person rather than their great grandparents. This section felt more like an essay on genetics rather than entertaining prose and I started skimming through it until we got to Meghan and her parents, the relevant bit. I'm not a great fan of the childhood bits of any biography but it is relevant to the biography so it was right that it was there.

Next we got the ups and downs of Meghan's career-her appearances on Deal Or No Deal, the bit parts in films, the failed pilots that she had set her heart on. These details were interesting as were the few details we got about her marriage to Trevor. It seemed to go on about Meghan's disappointment that he wasn't pulling enough strings to further her career and perhaps wasn't ambitious enough for the life she wanted. Anyway, there is a short bit about her wedding and not much about what happened during the Suits years, which was pretty disappointing. Instead there is a huge focus on where she dined, her food and fashion choices and a ton of detail about everything she put on her lifestyle blog The Tig. It was too much Tig and not enough about her acting career. There was plenty about her celebrity friends, her relationship with a celebrity chef that she set out to hook, and it gives the impression that she just dumps anyone of no further use to her and moves on unaffected, but we only got the glowing pro-Meghan version from Morton.  

The few bits about Meghan and Harry were interesting, especially when it talked about the Royals exchanging funny Christmas gifts. I would've loved to be there the year that Harry gave the Queen a shower cap with 'Life's A Bitch!' written on it! Another gift from Harry to the Queen was that cool singing fish Big Mouth Billy Bass. I always wanted one of them! It might have given the idea for Meghan to present the Queen with a singing hamster, which the corgis took an unhealthy interest in...I'd have liked more about her meetings with the Royals as this was lacking in the book.

Where this book fails is that it doesn't go into the details that people want to know about Meghan's pre-Royal life. Why were Samantha and Thomas Jnr not at her wedding? Why did she actually leave her husband and why exactly did he react badly to anyone mentioning her name after that? Why did her childhood friend break all contact with Meghan after that marriage split? What happened to end her relationship with the chef? How was the blind date with Harry set up and by who? It also lacked in any detail that we didn't already know about Meghan and Harry. It is also gushing in how much the author seems to adore Meghan, a style that I found quite annoying. It seemed that he was reluctant to say anything negative about her life or choices and instead just didn't much mention these things. Oh and I'd like to tell Morton that the film 'Deep Blue Sea' was about mako, NOT great white sharks so maybe he should've checked his facts.

There is no doubt in my mind that Morton wanted to get the first pro-Meghan book out there to cash in on the new interest in her with the Royal engagement. It did have known facts about her early life but had little in the areas that I was looking for. Most of the first half of the book was full of stuff I could've read on the internet myself, and very little of real interest from the Suits era and beyond. I hope that more interesting and detailed books will follow covering that part of her life, especially now that Megxit has happened.

Read February 2020
2 star/2.5 in places.