The past 72 hours have been full of good works from the Duchess of Sussex and melodrama from her biggest “critics.” Over the weekend, Meghan flew to Geneva, Switzerland to inaugurate the Lost Screen Memorial. Meghan’s speech at the inauguration happened on the eve of the WHO’s World Health Summit in Geneva, and Meghan stuck around the city to meet with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and have dinner with some government and humanitarian officials. Dr. Tedros presented Meghan with a WHO field vest “as a gesture of my regard for her commitment to promoting and protecting people’s health.” Many “critics” are mad about that.
Before Meghan even arrived in Geneva, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast/Royalist Substack was trying to bash her for daring to post a closet selfie, which included the back of Lili’s head. Sykes’ argument – which was picked up by many other outlets – was that Meghan is a hypocrite for bashing social media while using social media. Keep in mind, the Lost Screen Memorial is specifically about kids using social media without guardrails. The Sussexes’ anti-social media campaign is centered on how destructive it is for young people. As a commenter noted, Meghan’s critics sound like they’re arguing that one can’t be against drunk driving and enjoy a cocktail at the same time. And I will always believe that Meghan’s biggest “critics” are furious that she doesn’t show her kids’ faces online and that no one really knows what these kids look like.
And finally, Meghan attended a WHO dinner in Geneva. She posed for a selfie with a Finnish politician named Wille Rydman. Sykes just published a new screed about it, because Sykes read Rydman’s Wiki page. Apparently, Rydman is pretty problematic, with a history of sexual-abuse accusations and a history of racism. Sykes reached out to the Sussexes’ team and their spox basically said that Meghan was approached for selfies from several people at the dinner and she politely obliged, and Meghan was obviously not aware of Rydman’s whole deal. The spox said: “Understandably, vetting the background of every person who asks for a selfie, is not possible.” It’s true. It’s impossible to vet every rando who asks her for a selfie at a WHO dinner. It’s not like Meghan decided to set up several photo-ops with the guy who ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, after all. It’s not like she agreed to take suitcases full of cash from the Bin Laden family.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram, Dr. Tedros’ Twitter and Rydman’s Twitter.
