departure Special screening titled “With Love, Meghan: Celebrating the Holidays.”released by Netflix this month, once again puts Meghan Markle at the center of British controversy, this time with a Christmas story designed to show a quiet, carefully crafted home life. … Decorated and seemingly oblivious to the general tension that has dogged him for years. The result, which was received with a mixture of distant fascination and harsh criticism, shows that any public gesture from the former American actress is interpreted in the United Kingdom as a thermometer of the relationship, always uncomfortable, between her and public opinion in a country that never ceases to look at her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.
From the first images, in which his Montecito home is transformed into a postcard, crowned with warm lights, children’s crafts, carefully selected tableware, and a parade of famous guests, the special presents an image of Christmas that some British critics find improbable. In The Independent, they describe the production as “white noise to numb the senses,” adding that “None of us humans will ever have a Christmas like this.”But we can accept the Netflix special as numbing background content for our holiday season. This judgment sums up the general tone of much of the criticism: acknowledging the project’s appeal while resisting accepting aesthetics as a substitute for originality.
Other voices were more strident, with the most frequent comment from an expert cited by The Sun, who stated that the prince’s wife was simply acting as if she had invented Christmas.
The controversy intensifies when the special addresses British traditions adapted to his life in California, as in one sequence: Markle creates personal “crackers,” customizing a specific gift for each family membera gesture that some commentators have referred to as an overly calculated reinterpretation of a ritual characterized, in its original form, by chance. The reaction, which oscillates between sarcasm and annoyance, reveals the extent to which some ceremonial symbols are considered part of cultural heritage, the modification of which raises reluctance.
The prince’s wife acts like she invented Christmas
Unreal hostess
The special also devotes extensive scenes to kitchen and home settings: Markle prepares soup according to her mother’s family recipe, bakes cakes with her children dressed for the party and without a trace of flour on the counter; Design floral centerpieces and share tips on “being a stress-free hostess.”. At various points, she explains how to organize a Christmas table, how to choose decoration colors and how to make handmade Christmas calendars. For much of the British press, these passages reinforce the idea of an exquisitely calculated life.
The Telegraph describes the proposal as a “crazy, sad, self-indulgent Christmas”, and highlights that many of the local tips “sound so convoluted as to be almost ridiculous”. The Times, in an equally scathing review, describes the program as “incomprehensible” and warns that some moments, including the making of extremely delicate wreaths and the exchange of recipes with guests in a spotless kitchen, are “preposterous” and sometimes “ridiculous,” a description repeated by the Evening Standard, which considers that the “festive tricks” generate more bewilderment than inspiration. They are “perfectly designed situations.” “It borders on the ridiculous,” they say. At The Guardian, columnist Warns readers to be prepared to eat too much sugar, with ‘passion and forced warmth’in a set that is “sickeningly designed” and represents an “emetic shot” that is difficult to digest.
Design floral centerpieces and share tips on “being a stress-free hostess.”
Constant criticism
However, at Vogue, one editor recognizes that the special could serve as gentle entertainment and describes the proposal as “ambient television,” a backlit television that fulfills its purpose at a time of year when many viewers are specifically looking for a certain pleasure. According to that reading, What some see as a mere trick, for others it represents a space of calm, despite feeling artificial.
This duality sums up the crux of the discussion: the ever-widening rift between who Meghan Markle is, in her opinion, and the perception of her held by much of the British public. Since his departure from formal royal life, any gesture on his part has been interpreted as a character-reconstruction maneuver, and Christmas, here transformed into an aesthetic exercise, seems to function as a display, even an attempt to regain the cultural connection with the United Kingdom he abandoned, but from a Californian geographical and emotional distance.
As the days go by, what the British press is confirming is that the special has elicited far more negative reactions than warm ones. The Guardian’s review warns that what’s on offer is not a distinct Christmas celebration but “artificial warmth”; The Times talks of a “baroque exercise in self-portrait”, while the Telegraph insists it is The production appears to be designed for an “elite audience.” More than any ordinary viewer. In the Evening Standard, columnists assert that the result resembles “a series of preposterous vignettes”, more typical of a catalog than a real house. This general trend is reproduced in different headlines: the private, more than just uniting the public, revitalized criticism of Markle’s character, and served as a new episode within the prolonged scrutiny of the Sussex couple, whose media profile continues to generate polarized reactions.