Slammed by ex-Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown as having ‘the worst judgment of anyone in the entire world’, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, appears to be attracting yet more negative publicity.
Described as headstrong and ungovernable, the Duchess was summed up by Ms Brown in a new podcast:
‘The trouble with her is that she has the worst judgment of anyone in the entire world. She’s flawless about getting it all wrong. She really is.’
So maybe this is the moment for Meghan to follow the example of the thirty-plus American women who married into royalty in the past – those who remained dignified and left behind a good mark on the world.
*The most fabled of all is Philadelphia-born Grace Kelly, who brought glamour, fame, and an effortless ease to the throne of Monaco in the 1950s.
An Oscar-winning actress, she’s best remembered for her part in the Alfred Hitchcock movies Rear Window and To Catch A Thief. She married Prince Rainier III in 1956 and became a model princess, creating and supporting countless charities before her tragic death in a car crash in 1982.
*But for the ousting of the country’s monarchy in 1973, London-born U.S. heiress Marie-Chantal Miller would now be Queen of Greece. The 56-year old beauty, daughter of billionaire businessman Robert Miller, met Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, son and heir of ex-King Constantine, in 1994 and they married the following year.
Now based in New York, she believes in behaving correctly at all times, especially (take note, Meghan) towards her royal in-laws. Mother of five, she says, “We sometimes forget to be caring towards others — and that’s where manners fundamentally start.”
*Lisa Halaby was born in Washington DC, the daughter of a US test pilot, airline executive and government official. A Princeton graduate, she worked as a town planner before meeting the widowed King Hussein of Jordan in Amman in 1978, taking the title Queen Noor when they married.
As queen, she created a vast charitable organisation in her her husband’s name, while her international work focuses on environmental issues with the emphasis on water and ocean health. Now aged 73, she has been a widow since her husband’s death in 1999.
*New York-raised Angela Brown – now Princess Angela – became the first woman of primarily African descent to marry into a reigning European dynasty when she married Prince Maximilian of Leichtenstein in January 2000.
She studied fashion at the exclusive Parsons School of Design in New York before her 2000 wedding. Mother of one, her charitable work includes promoting biodiversity and conservation in Panama, and supporting local artisans.
*“Love Goddess” Rita Hayworth may not have done so much in the charitable field but she was an even bigger star than Grace Kelly, appearing in 61 films in 37 years during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Born in Brooklyn, the daughter of two dancers, she was raised the hard way but rose to become Fred Astaire’s favourite dance partner.
Sexy and glamorous, at the height of her fame she travelled to Cannes was introduced to Prince Aly Khan, son of the fabulously wealthy Aga Khan. They began a year-long courtship and were married on May 27, 1949.
Alas it didn’t last – and they separated in 1953. Their daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan is a Swiss-born American philanthropist known for raising public awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. Her half-brother is Prince Karim is the fourth and current Aga Khan.
*Going back more than 200 years, Betsy Patterson’s father was an Irish-born Presbyterian who came to America from Donegal and went on to become was the second wealthiest man in Maryland. She married Napoleon Bonaparte’s kid brother Jerome in 1803 when he was hiding in the States to escape his brother’s wrath after a failed military action.
The marriage didn’t go well. Within a few months the couple decided to return to France, but Napoleon denied Betsy entry to the country and she ended up in London giving birth to the couple’s only child. She sailed back to America, never to see Prince Jerome again.
More recent American princesses include:-
*Investment banker Kelly Rodesvedt, 49, born in Pensacola Florida, married Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 2000. She’s the daughter of a US navy pilot and a teacher.
*Katie Walker, a former communications director of a Catholic charity and born in Cincinnati, Ohio, married Archduke Imre of Austria in Washington DC in 2012. The deeply religious couple live in Brussels.
*Sarah Butler, 52, the daughter of a petroleum geologist, grew up in Houston Texas. Educated in England, she married Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad of Jordan in Amman in 2000. Princess Sarah is a global health advocate who has worked for the United Nations and whose work focuses on maternal and newborn health .
All these appear women to have achieved more in life with their royal marriages than Meghan Markle has so far managed – but the Duchess doesn’t quite come bottom of the list of dud American princesses.
That position is reserved for Barbara Hutton, the celebrated grand-daughter of five-and-dime czar Frank W. Woolworth. Dubbed the “Poor Little Rich Girl”, she was at one stage the wealthiest woman in the world – so when she married the film star Cary Grant they were known as Cash’nCary.
There were six other husbands, but despite all her wealth no prince came to court Babs – and in the end, she had to buy one.
He was called Prince Igor Troubetskoy, a French-born Russian who squandered her money on racing cars and high living. Their marriage lasted four years only, but she found she liked being called ‘princess’ so much that she got herself another, a Laotian antique dealer called Raymond Doan. He had no title – but so what, Barbara’s money was more than enough to buy him one, and she became Princess Barbara Champassak.
Obituaries of her – after her 1979 death from a combination of drink, drugs, and diet pills – described her as a philanthropist, and in a manner of speaking, she was.
She threw her money away at any passing man.