A play charting the life of a Black duchess, who finds the demands of royal life exasperating, has been streaming online since March but the actors, Sydney Charles and Celeste Cooper, could not believe how much it's similar to the real-life experiences and sentiments of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
Charles and Cooper are members of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago and they performed Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! a few times on the stage. Written by Vivian J.O. Barnes in 2018, Charles said that it's so "wild" how the play is almost prophetic, after they watched Meghan reveal details about her struggles to Oprah Winfrey.
In Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!, a new member of the royal family goes over the pressures of following protocols and living a regimented existence. The incoming duchess felt that the other duchesses before her would embrace her into the "sisterhood" but she was mistaken.
Meghan said the same thing to Winfrey during her sit-down chat. She said that she didn't get any training on "how to be a princess" and was not sure if the rest of the members of the family, such as Kate Middleton, had such training.
Charles and Cooper said that their play also speaks of Meghan's experiences as a Black American woman in a dominantly white British environment. They said that Meghan had to carry such a backbreaking weight of upholding traditions that are "unnatural for any human" to carry.
Meanwhile, because of the impact of Meghan's interview with Winfrey, a royal expert predicts that the Duchess of Sussex will no longer return to the United Kingdom. Author Anna Pasternak said that Meghan has lost the love, respect and adoration of the British people because of the claims she has made on television that implied the unfair treatment they received from a racist family.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, have been heavily criticized in the U.K. for not respecting the monarchy and its traditions. According to Pasternak, going against these traditions is a slight against the queen and the people also see this as "British bashing."
A poll conducted in the U.K. after the interview showed that more than half of the British public view Meghan in a negative light, while Harry's popularity rating dropped significantly. However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's revelations were well received in the U.S., sparking speculations that Meghan could potentially leverage this to advance her political career.
