From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Monday, March nine, twenty twenty five. We're looking at a federal election in May. That means we'll be having a budget on March twenty five and it'll be the government's attempt to pitch the economy as a success story. Lower unemployment and falling inflation will be the Albanzy government's pitch to voters, and its hopes were bolstered on the weekend by an emphatic West Australian state election win by Labor Premier Roger Cook. It wasn't the catastrophe experts were predicting, but ex tropical Cyclone Alfred is still making his presence felt in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales with widespread flooding. For the latest on that fast moving situation, check out our live coverage at Beaustralian dot com. Dou did we all misunderstand? Megan Markel is the Royal Family's wide life, reviled exile actually a sweet and genuine homemaker. The critics have shredded her TV show, but Netflix has renewed it for a second season. So what's going on? I speak to someone who's been covering the Duchess of Sussex close up for close on a decade to find out what's true and what's a very pretty reality TV confection.

From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Monday, March nine, twenty twenty five. We're looking at a federal election in May. That means we'll be having a budget on March twenty five and it'll be the government's attempt to pitch the economy as a success story. Lower unemployment and falling inflation will be the Albanzy government's pitch to voters, and its hopes were bolstered on the weekend by an emphatic West Australian state election win by Labor Premier Roger Cook. It wasn't the catastrophe experts were predicting, but ex tropical Cyclone Alfred is still making his presence felt in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales with widespread flooding. For the latest on that fast moving situation, check out our live coverage at Beaustralian dot com. Dou did we all misunderstand? Megan Markel is the Royal Family's wide life, reviled exile actually a sweet and genuine homemaker. The critics have shredded her TV show, but Netflix has renewed it for a second season. So what's going on? I speak to someone who's been covering the Duchess of Sussex close up for close on a decade to find out what's true and what's a very pretty reality TV confection.

After this, Once you have access or a voice that people are willing to listen to, with that comes a lot of responsibility which I take seriously. And this and so as we can see what's happening in the online space, we know that there's a lot of work to be done there and we're just happy to be able to be a part of Well, you've changed for good.

After this, Once you have access or a voice that people are willing to listen to, with that comes a lot of responsibility which I take seriously. And this and so as we can see what's happening in the online space, we know that there's a lot of work to be done there and we're just happy to be able to be a part of Well, you've changed for good.

Who would have thought we'd end up here?

Who would have thought we'd end up here?

We could do a little dollup of yogurt as our cloud's.

We could do a little dollup of yogurt as our cloud's.

Flower sprinkles if we must, a cooking show and the Pursuit of joy Lovers and the details.

Flower sprinkles if we must, a cooking show and the Pursuit of joy Lovers and the details.

I think it took thirty seconds of watching it and I just thought, oh no, I had high expectations.

I think it took thirty seconds of watching it and I just thought, oh no, I had high expectations.

Jacqueline magnet Is The Australian's europe correspondent.

Jacqueline magnet Is The Australian's europe correspondent.

I thought that with the money that Netflix is throwing at it, with the expertise that they have behind the scenes, with the director, the lighting, the technical aspects of it looked beautiful. And obviously was very well done with a lot of people, a very big professional outfit behind it all. But then she just doesn't have the charm. There's no engagement with the audience, and it's more a lovely to Megan.

I thought that with the money that Netflix is throwing at it, with the expertise that they have behind the scenes, with the director, the lighting, the technical aspects of it looked beautiful. And obviously was very well done with a lot of people, a very big professional outfit behind it all. But then she just doesn't have the charm. There's no engagement with the audience, and it's more a lovely to Megan.

Meghan Markle, sorry Meghan Sussex, as she now wishes to be known. The American actress who was previously famous for playing a super smart lawyer in the TV show Suits, has been giving earnest vibes since twenty seventeen, when she was launched onto the global consciousness as the fiance of Prince Harry.

Meghan Markle, sorry Meghan Sussex, as she now wishes to be known. The American actress who was previously famous for playing a super smart lawyer in the TV show Suits, has been giving earnest vibes since twenty seventeen, when she was launched onto the global consciousness as the fiance of Prince Harry.

I'm excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, smaller organizations. We're working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about. Under this umbrella, and also being able to go around to the Commonwealth.

I'm excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, smaller organizations. We're working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about. Under this umbrella, and also being able to go around to the Commonwealth.

I think it's just just the beginning of her There's a lot to do. There's a lot to do. In their engagement interview, the pair clutched hands and spoke with shiny eyed optimism about the work making the world a better place. But what they didn't talk about, and what now becomes glaringly obvious, is that Meghan's call wasn't in the Commonwealth. It was in the lifestyle blog she founded in twenty fourteen. It was on a film set, dressed beautifully assembling a cheese platter. I've got to tell you the truth. I'm not a fan of Meghan and I sat down to watch With Love Meghan, her new Netflix show, hoping it would be another iteration of the entitled car Crash. I found their previous outing on Netflix, the Blockbuster interview series, where they complained about every aspect of their lives and cast themselves as the innocent victims of two scheming families, his Royal family and her American family. But I found With Rove Meghan to be much less offensive than i'd expected. It's engaging in a way. Her own social media content just isn't. When Meghan is in charge, she comes across as syrupy and inauthentic, like in this Instagram poste years.

I think it's just just the beginning of her There's a lot to do. There's a lot to do. In their engagement interview, the pair clutched hands and spoke with shiny eyed optimism about the work making the world a better place. But what they didn't talk about, and what now becomes glaringly obvious, is that Meghan's call wasn't in the Commonwealth. It was in the lifestyle blog she founded in twenty fourteen. It was on a film set, dressed beautifully assembling a cheese platter. I've got to tell you the truth. I'm not a fan of Meghan and I sat down to watch With Love Meghan, her new Netflix show, hoping it would be another iteration of the entitled car Crash. I found their previous outing on Netflix, the Blockbuster interview series, where they complained about every aspect of their lives and cast themselves as the innocent victims of two scheming families, his Royal family and her American family. But I found With Rove Meghan to be much less offensive than i'd expected. It's engaging in a way. Her own social media content just isn't. When Meghan is in charge, she comes across as syrupy and inauthentic, like in this Instagram poste years.

But now I can so as things are starting to trickle out there, I wanted you to hear it from me. First. Of course, there will be fruit preserves. I think we're all clear at this point that jam is my jam. But there's so many more products that I just love that I use in my home, and now it's time to share it with you, so I can't wait you to see it.

But now I can so as things are starting to trickle out there, I wanted you to hear it from me. First. Of course, there will be fruit preserves. I think we're all clear at this point that jam is my jam. But there's so many more products that I just love that I use in my home, and now it's time to share it with you, so I can't wait you to see it.

Thanks Gaate, Netflix has ensured she comes across on the show as charismatic and warm.

Thanks Gaate, Netflix has ensured she comes across on the show as charismatic and warm.

I love that we're doing this together for the first time, making new friends.

I love that we're doing this together for the first time, making new friends.

I suspect this will be partly about age. There will be millennials and gen zetters who think Megan has been cruelly treated by the heteronormative and racist royal family, and we'll be cheering for her, and then they'll be I suspect the majority who aren't buying what she's selling.

I suspect this will be partly about age. There will be millennials and gen zetters who think Megan has been cruelly treated by the heteronormative and racist royal family, and we'll be cheering for her, and then they'll be I suspect the majority who aren't buying what she's selling.

I was quite intrigued how she started with bumblebees and thought, wow, that's interesting. But then she asked some questions about you know, how long the bees live for Yet she claims to have been beekeeping for a year, so there was just a little bit of disconnect there that I thought was intriguing. So and then I was just incredulous when and I wrote this, I wrote, as a self described working mother, Meghan gives other working parents tips on how to make a cake in the four hours of waiting for bees wax candles to set, all the while wearing pristine white clothes of course without an apron, and then with the honey from the bees, you two can make a three layered honeycake, she tells her guests. Now her guest is a makeup artist that her kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet called uncle Daniel, and Daniel gushes in the vanishingly rare moments, Meghan pauses to take a breath. And we even learned from Meghan how tough life really was back in the day, where she says, all those years I had to do my makeup all by myself, So I yes, I can't see too many Australian women resonating with that at all. You know, we're supposed to feel sorry for her. I don't think so.

I was quite intrigued how she started with bumblebees and thought, wow, that's interesting. But then she asked some questions about you know, how long the bees live for Yet she claims to have been beekeeping for a year, so there was just a little bit of disconnect there that I thought was intriguing. So and then I was just incredulous when and I wrote this, I wrote, as a self described working mother, Meghan gives other working parents tips on how to make a cake in the four hours of waiting for bees wax candles to set, all the while wearing pristine white clothes of course without an apron, and then with the honey from the bees, you two can make a three layered honeycake, she tells her guests. Now her guest is a makeup artist that her kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet called uncle Daniel, and Daniel gushes in the vanishingly rare moments, Meghan pauses to take a breath. And we even learned from Meghan how tough life really was back in the day, where she says, all those years I had to do my makeup all by myself, So I yes, I can't see too many Australian women resonating with that at all. You know, we're supposed to feel sorry for her. I don't think so.

Now you've covered the full Megan markle arc from engagement through to departure from the royal family and now this new iteration of her as I guess an influencer on TV. Do you remember what your initial impressions of her were and how your assessment of her has changed over those years.

Now you've covered the full Megan markle arc from engagement through to departure from the royal family and now this new iteration of her as I guess an influencer on TV. Do you remember what your initial impressions of her were and how your assessment of her has changed over those years.

I certainly can, because it was back in twenty seventeen when the love match was unfolding and she was so embraced by the British community. I mean, everybody loved her. Everybody wanted to love her. They thought she was such a breath of fresh air to the starchy royal family, and everybody just wanted Prince Harry to fall in love and have the woman of his dreams, and we were all so thrilled for him. And it went sour that fairy tale wedding, of course, which was a very expensive wedding where you could see the warmth and the welcome that the British public put out for her there. But it did go very sour, very quickly within a year. For me, I was hearing whispers from some of my royal sources not very long after that royal wedding, and of course I discounted it originally, I've got a whole don't be so ridiculous, she's lovely. But then the story started coming out, a little bit more was being written. There seemed to be a distancing between the fab four, of course, Prince William and Kate, and so it was then just very slowly just seemed to gather momentum, and just like a snowball rolling down a hill, it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and The public turned quite quickly in the end, because when they left the Royal family, it was like, well, you don't love us anymore. We feel betrayed. We welcomed you and now you're treating us like this. There was a real sense that they had turned their backs on the British public and people here were not happy about it.

I certainly can, because it was back in twenty seventeen when the love match was unfolding and she was so embraced by the British community. I mean, everybody loved her. Everybody wanted to love her. They thought she was such a breath of fresh air to the starchy royal family, and everybody just wanted Prince Harry to fall in love and have the woman of his dreams, and we were all so thrilled for him. And it went sour that fairy tale wedding, of course, which was a very expensive wedding where you could see the warmth and the welcome that the British public put out for her there. But it did go very sour, very quickly within a year. For me, I was hearing whispers from some of my royal sources not very long after that royal wedding, and of course I discounted it originally, I've got a whole don't be so ridiculous, she's lovely. But then the story started coming out, a little bit more was being written. There seemed to be a distancing between the fab four, of course, Prince William and Kate, and so it was then just very slowly just seemed to gather momentum, and just like a snowball rolling down a hill, it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and The public turned quite quickly in the end, because when they left the Royal family, it was like, well, you don't love us anymore. We feel betrayed. We welcomed you and now you're treating us like this. There was a real sense that they had turned their backs on the British public and people here were not happy about it.

Coming up. So if the critics hate, we love Meghan, why is Netflix commissioning another season. Then came the Oprah interview, in which Meghan framed her experience as essentially being one of racism, not just racism inflicted by members of the Royal family in some very damaging allegations, but the British press and the public. She positioned herself as a victim of institutional and societal racism, didn't she.

Coming up. So if the critics hate, we love Meghan, why is Netflix commissioning another season. Then came the Oprah interview, in which Meghan framed her experience as essentially being one of racism, not just racism inflicted by members of the Royal family in some very damaging allegations, but the British press and the public. She positioned herself as a victim of institutional and societal racism, didn't she.

She did, And I think that that a big mistake because in Britain the issue of her being biracial had not been raised really, It was more that she was an American that was an issue. It wasn't a divorcee as well, because of the issue with the Royal family of marrying a divorcee and how that would mark a real turning point for the Royal family. So it wasn't about race at all. So when she was raising this, people were very perplexed. It was like, we didn't say that, we didn't think that. And of course some of the allegations she made were just completely wrong as well, about Archie in the title, about how he wasn't going to be given security because he was of a biracial mother. I mean, it was the most outrageous claims that were proven to be totally incorrect.

She did, And I think that that a big mistake because in Britain the issue of her being biracial had not been raised really, It was more that she was an American that was an issue. It wasn't a divorcee as well, because of the issue with the Royal family of marrying a divorcee and how that would mark a real turning point for the Royal family. So it wasn't about race at all. So when she was raising this, people were very perplexed. It was like, we didn't say that, we didn't think that. And of course some of the allegations she made were just completely wrong as well, about Archie in the title, about how he wasn't going to be given security because he was of a biracial mother. I mean, it was the most outrageous claims that were proven to be totally incorrect.

I thought when they launched their deals with Netflix and Spotify that it would be content in the vein of what they had been talking about as royals in their engagement interview, and beyond that where it seemed to be very dull but worthy, it was going to be kind of water programs in Nigeria or educational documentaries about elephants. In fact, what they have produced is a podcast by her Archetypes, which was basically her interviewing famous friends, then a polo documentary by Prince Harry, and now this cooking show. I've got to say watching the cooking show, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was like, Oh, this woman's actually a lifestyle blogger, she's an influencer. She actually uses the word hostessing. She sprinkles flowers on everything. This is who she is. And if we'd actually paid attention way back before she did that engagement interview where they claim to want to kind of reform the Commonwealth with their magical touch, maybe we would have understood her a bit better. She's not actually that serious.

I thought when they launched their deals with Netflix and Spotify that it would be content in the vein of what they had been talking about as royals in their engagement interview, and beyond that where it seemed to be very dull but worthy, it was going to be kind of water programs in Nigeria or educational documentaries about elephants. In fact, what they have produced is a podcast by her Archetypes, which was basically her interviewing famous friends, then a polo documentary by Prince Harry, and now this cooking show. I've got to say watching the cooking show, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was like, Oh, this woman's actually a lifestyle blogger, she's an influencer. She actually uses the word hostessing. She sprinkles flowers on everything. This is who she is. And if we'd actually paid attention way back before she did that engagement interview where they claim to want to kind of reform the Commonwealth with their magical touch, maybe we would have understood her a bit better. She's not actually that serious.

But she portrayed herself as being that serious. Remember, she was the UN ambassador. She was the woman that was the face of all women and that was going to change the world. But then it all got a bit too hard, wasn't it. She had to do the dull royal work, which a lot of it is tedious, opening church faiths, and so it's not really to be active and being an activist. It is about being present and having a very understated yet very clear role being a royal. And she just didn't fit into it, and she didn't like it and she didn't want to do it in the end.

But she portrayed herself as being that serious. Remember, she was the UN ambassador. She was the woman that was the face of all women and that was going to change the world. But then it all got a bit too hard, wasn't it. She had to do the dull royal work, which a lot of it is tedious, opening church faiths, and so it's not really to be active and being an activist. It is about being present and having a very understated yet very clear role being a royal. And she just didn't fit into it, and she didn't like it and she didn't want to do it in the end.

Are we seen now? Do you think one of the reasons why the Queen was not open to the kind of half in, half out model that Harry and Meghan wanted, where they wanted to earn their own income or at least part of their own income, but also still be working Royals. No, we're seeing what a commercial venture by Meghan and Harry looks like. It's the edible flower sprinkles. Was that going to be just never acceptable to the Queen?

Are we seen now? Do you think one of the reasons why the Queen was not open to the kind of half in, half out model that Harry and Meghan wanted, where they wanted to earn their own income or at least part of their own income, but also still be working Royals. No, we're seeing what a commercial venture by Meghan and Harry looks like. It's the edible flower sprinkles. Was that going to be just never acceptable to the Queen?

Do you think the Queen was a very smart woman, wasn't she She saw straight through Meghan. I think she also saw straight through that she would lose control of Meghan and Harry, especially because they were going to another country. And I think she realized that it wasn't going to work because some of their ideas, frankly, were quite out there. And if she had allowed that to happen, then where do you draw the line. It's a very delicate line that here in Britain the Royal family don't accept freak goods. They don't market themselves, they don't expect payment for things, which was very different to what Meghan and Harry were proposing. And of course we've had the next series announced, which has been presented so gleefully by men on her social media accounts. But I would perhaps a word of caution here is that normally, in presenting a second series, the TV networks have a big build up about it. There's a sense of anticipation will another series happen. We all can't wait for the next series. And yet for Netflix, they've chosen to release this second series or announce it immediately after the first one has been aired, because I think they realize they just want to get rid of it. They've already filmed it. It was filmed at the same time as the first series, so it doesn't involve any extra money. It's in the can. They can just produce it, throw it out there, get rid of it before there's any renegotiation of that very hefty contract that they had signed, and that's about to come to an end. So I suggest that Netflix just perhaps clearing out the cupboards of anything of Harry and Meghan before that renegotiation happens.

Do you think the Queen was a very smart woman, wasn't she She saw straight through Meghan. I think she also saw straight through that she would lose control of Meghan and Harry, especially because they were going to another country. And I think she realized that it wasn't going to work because some of their ideas, frankly, were quite out there. And if she had allowed that to happen, then where do you draw the line. It's a very delicate line that here in Britain the Royal family don't accept freak goods. They don't market themselves, they don't expect payment for things, which was very different to what Meghan and Harry were proposing. And of course we've had the next series announced, which has been presented so gleefully by men on her social media accounts. But I would perhaps a word of caution here is that normally, in presenting a second series, the TV networks have a big build up about it. There's a sense of anticipation will another series happen. We all can't wait for the next series. And yet for Netflix, they've chosen to release this second series or announce it immediately after the first one has been aired, because I think they realize they just want to get rid of it. They've already filmed it. It was filmed at the same time as the first series, so it doesn't involve any extra money. It's in the can. They can just produce it, throw it out there, get rid of it before there's any renegotiation of that very hefty contract that they had signed, and that's about to come to an end. So I suggest that Netflix just perhaps clearing out the cupboards of anything of Harry and Meghan before that renegotiation happens.

Jacqueline Magnet is The Australian's europe correspondent. Her writing about the Royals is funny, incisive and impeccably sourced. You can check it out anytime at the Australian dot com dot au

Jacqueline Magnet is The Australian's europe correspondent. Her writing about the Royals is funny, incisive and impeccably sourced. You can check it out anytime at the Australian dot com dot au