These days, the Duchess of Sussex’s ambitions are a little more grandiose than that of a mere English county. Now, the recalcitrant royal seems to have her heart set on being the voice of all women everywhere, unconfined by the constraints of mere geography or taste. For in the latest edition of her egomaniacal Archetypes podcast, the performance artist formerly known as Meghan Markle opted to suggest that epithets like her “Difficult Duchess” nickname stemmed, in part, from (shock, horror) gendered sexism rather than, er, claims of objectionable personal behavior.
With remarkable understatement, the Duchess sighed to her listeners that “not everyone is going to like you,” but that they “should respect you” regardless. In an episode titled “To ‘B’ or not to ‘B’” the former Suits star brought her experience to bear on the meaning of the word “bitch.”
When the aforementioned expletive is used, according to the sage of Santa Barbara, “What these people are implying when they use that very charged word, is that this woman: ‘Oh, she’s difficult.’ Which is really just a euphemism or is probably not even a euphemism. It’s really a codeword for the B-word.”
She continued: “Of course, names hurt but what happens when we use that pain to fuel purpose, when the ‘b’ word is shouted with one intent, but you’re able to let it go and to remind yourself of all the other words with a ‘B’ that better describe you. Beautiful, blessed, brilliant. beguiling, blissful, bedazzling. Take your pick.”
Boring? Bland? Banal? All spring to mind when reviewing this “difficult” listen…
This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.
