Mockery is good for the monarchy

Isn’t Meghan fabulous? Hasn’t she totally brought the monarchy into the 21st century? Doesn’t she make Kate look like such a square? We were so bored of Sloaney English roses, weren’t we?

Meghan Markle is widely considered to be the best thing to have happened to the royal family — and Britain — in a long time. The newspapers are ecstatic, and not just the patriotic ones. There will be pictures, pictures and more pictures to come. Or fake pictures, if that’s what sells. The Sunday Sport recently ‘discovered’ a fake topless picture of Prince Harry’s squeeze, stuck it on the front page and ran with the headline ‘Harry’s Meghan in nude phone photo shock’. Our new princess had better prepare herself for the gutter-sludge delights of the tabloids.

The Guardian, formerly a bastion of republican sentiment, has been extraordinarily sycophantic. The paper’s writers and editors seem to have decided that, thanks to Meg’s vibe, the monarchy is undergoing a transformation from vile patriarchal institution into something progressive, accessible and diverse.

In the past, when big royal news broke — the birth of Prince George, say — the Guardian website would allow readers to block royal stories from appearing on the home page. No such curmudgeonly spirit with Harry and Meghan: the republican-only button appeared to be missing from the website on the day of the happy announcement. Instead, a live blog ran all day and readers described how pleased they were about Meghan joining the royal family.

How has this happened? It’s partly down to spin. In the past few years, the younger royals, with guidance from their advisers and PR consultants, have repositioned themselves. Kate and Wills now talk solemnly about that most fashionable of topics: mental health.