Royal Commentator Mocked for 'Whining' About Meghan 'Whining'

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been accused of "whining" despite being "very rich" by a royal author who was then asked whether she was "whining" herself.

Margaret Holder, author of Diana: The Caring Princess, appeared on U.K. radio station LBC to discuss Meghan's new Spotify podcast Archetypes.

Holder told host Tom Swarbrick: "You really have to strain yourself to listen to this stuff because I think we've heard quite enough of Harry and Meghan whining on about their views.

"What I have picked up is her voice seems to have changed a little. It's not as soft as it used to be, it's a lot more strident I think."

Holder suggested "more strident" was not a bad thing and added: "She's got some points she wants to make very forcibly, okay."

Archetypes debuted on August 23 with an interview between Meghan and tennis star Serena Williams, who discussed everything from the different ways men and women are viewed to motherhood.

Much of the news coverage focused on Meghan describing how she had to continue with an engagement after a fire in Archie's room on the first day of their South Africa tour in September 2019.

"She was made to go out on her royal duties because it was a tour," Holder said. "Now, this is the same tour that at the end of it she and Harry whined to Tom Bradby that nobody had asked her how she felt. Do you remember it was a sort of a misery interview?"

While in South Africa, Meghan and Harry spoke to journalist Tom Bradby during the tour for ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.

The duchess famously told Bradby, a friend of the couple, about the pressure of life in the public eye, stating: "Not many people have asked if I'm OK."

"I don't like whining at all from these people," Holder added. "Look around you. There are people who are worried about how they will keep their homes this winter, how they will afford their food bills, lots of families now, this is not just the very poor. This is a lot of people. Then we're asked to feel sorry for this very rich couple."

Tom Swarbrick replied: "Do you feel you might be whining about them?"

Holder said: "This is what you resort to. You either ignore them or you make your point?"

Swarbrick replied: "Your opinionated, strident point."

The author said she did, however, agree with Meghan's point in the podcast that women should be ambitious like men are ambitious.

During Archetypes, Meghan said: "The heater in the nursery caught on fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway went in, fire extinguished.

"He was supposed to be sleeping in there. And we came back. And of course, as a mother, you go, Oh, my God, what? Everyone's in tears, everyone's shaken. And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said, 'this doesn't make any sense'."