Meghan Markle has spoken out in defence of her 2019 baby shower while reflecting on the criticism she faced over the extravagant party.
In February 2019, the Duchess of Sussex, who was at the time pregnant with her and Prince Harry’s son Archie, travelled to New York City for a surprise baby shower.
The celebration, which was held at The Mark Hotel in New York City, was planned by the duchess’ friends and attended by celebrity guests such as Gayle King, Serena Williams, and Amal Clooney.
During the shower, guests played games and made floral arrangements, which King later revealed Meghan donated to charity.
The media coverage of the party was largely negative, with newspaper headlines condemning the shower as “ostentatious” and alleging that it cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000.
The duchess reflected on the backlash to the shower during episode four of her and Prince Harry’s Netflix docuseries, in which she recalled how her friends had wanted to “shower her with love”.
“My girlfriends surprised me with a really beautiful baby shower in New York. They’re like: ‘We’re gonna shower her with love and shower her baby and she’s gonna survive this. We’re gonna get through it with her,’” Meghan said.
The episode included never-before-seen photos from the party, which saw Meghan, who wore a blue and white polka dot dress for the shower, smiling while surrounded by her friends.
The duchess then expressed her disgust with the negative coverage of her shower, which she said was “so wrong” considering the party had been paid for by her friends, with their “own money”.
“It was so wrong,” she said, as newspaper headlines were displayed on the screen. “These independent, strong, successful women choose to use their own money, and it’s not taxpayer money, to throw a party for their friend from a place of love. Why are you taking such a beautiful moment and trying to ruin it?”
The scene also saw Meghan’s friend Williams reflect on the party, with the tennis star revealing that it was “so fun” to try to have an intimate moment amid the global attention surrounding the duchess. Williams said that, looking back, she doesn’t think she “understood that there was no intimate moment that one could have”.
Elsewhere in the episode, Meghan spoke candidly about her struggles with her mental health, as well as feeling like she was in a “bubble” where “everything was controlled”.
