Meghan needs to curb 'extravagant' spending warns royal expert

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond says the Duchess of Sussex should try not to blur the lines between celebrity and royalty.

“I think I’d suggest to Meghan that she tries not to play any games with the press, tries not to be too celebrity because that doesn’t go down well with the public and to try to ignore the fact that she’s getting quite a lot of flak from various directions, which makes me sad,” she told Yahoo’s ‘The Royal Box,’.

“I think what Meghan has to be careful of is that she’s pretty much an A-list celebrity as well as a senior royal,” she adds.

“I’m getting the feeling that the public don’t like her terrifically spending huge quantities of money, big extravagant, massively extravagant.”

The former actress is used to life in the public eye, having starred in US legal drama Suits for six years, and has accrued her own personal wealth though Jennie warns that won’t excuse it in the public’s eyes.

“She can afford it, she’s a wealthy woman but it doesn’t play very well, so I think she just needs to watch that.”

The warning comes after Meghan was announced as a guest editor for the September issue of British Vogue, news which startled many royal watchers.

Through her career and charity work, Meghan has accumulated a number of high profile friends including George and Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, Priyanka Chopra, Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

Several of them were present at Meghan and Harry’s wedding in May 2018.

But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex aren’t the only the royals with celebrity friends.

David and Victoria Beckham also attended Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2011, as did Elton John and Guy Ritchie.

Princess Diana’s circle of high-profile friends expanded after her separation from Prince Charles. She was said to be close to Liza Minnelli, Elton John, George Michael and Gianni Versace.

Princess Margaret was also one of the first royals to mingle with a celebrity set, which included actors, rock stars and socialites.

Bond also says that while Meghan has been compared to Princess Diana, she is, “much more mature, much more knowing of her own role and the issues she wishes to espouse, much readier for the role than Diana ever was.”

Words by Danielle Stacey

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