Anna Wintour's Strong Opinion on Meghan Markle Goes Viral

Anna Wintour dismissed allegations Meghan Markle was difficult to work for and issued glowing praise of her wedding gown in a clip that has gone viral on TikTok.

The Vogue editor in chief spoke out to defend the Duchess of Sussex at a critical time for the royal in January 2019, after a rash of critical stories in the British media in November and December 2018.

The "Queen of Fashion" was asked what she thought of allegations Meghan was difficult to work for during an "ask Anna" feature on the magazine's website.

Unbeknown to her, Meghan had days earlier told Harry she was experiencing suicidal thoughts while pregnant, against the backdrop of the media negativity.

"I read somewhere that there were members of the royal household that were confused and upset that she woke up so early, at 5 am," Wintour said.

"She's a normal Californian girl. Gets up early and does yoga and meditates, and also sent a lot of text messages.

"I mean, what do they expect, that she was gonna send messages via pigeon? So, I think she's amazing, and the royal wedding had the whole world watching, and I think that her choice was brilliant."

A clip of the moment went viral on TikTok where it was liked 42k times and viewed 421k times after it was posted with the message: "Anna Wintour talks about Meghan, her wedding dress, California style, and says she's 'amazing'."

The post is taken from a video of Wintour that was published by Vogue on January 22, six days after Harry and Meghan attended a performance of Totem, by Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall.

Meghan would go on to tell Oprah Winfrey during a March 2021 tell-all interview how that was the day she told Harry she had been experiencing suicidal thoughts.

While Wintour would not have known that, she can look back on her comments knowing they would have—had Meghan seen them—eased the royal's struggle rather than amplifying it.

And she was positive about Meghan's wedding gown, designed by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy.

"It was sophisticated," Wintour said, "It was chic, it was grown-up. It was an English designer, albeit one that was working for a French house, which in a way was a message to the world—'Yes, I'm from somewhere else but I belong.'

"I thought she looked fantastic. The fact that she chose to walk down the aisle by herself, I also thought spoke for an independent woman."

And she praised Doria Ragland, Meghan's mother, who accompanied her to St George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle, where she tied the knot with Harry, on May 21, 2018.

"I think the picture of the Duchess of Sussex' mother at the chapel at the wedding was so inspiring to so many women, men all over the world," Wintour said.

"I think the two duchesses, the young duchesses that they had in Britain, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex, are going to keep the royal family afloat, quite frankly."

At the time Wintour issued her defence of Meghan, the allegations the duchess was difficult to work for existed only in quotes attributed to unnamed sources in the British press.

Two year later, U.K. broadsheet The Times published a further article quoting an email sent by Kensington Palace press secretary Jason Knauf in which he accused Meghan of bullying two PAs out of the royal household.

He wrote: "I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X [name removed] was totally unacceptable."

"The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights," Knauf continued. "She is bullying Y [name removed] and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y [name removed]."

In his book, Spare, Harry wrote: "Nerves were shattering, people were sniping. In such a climate there was no such thing as constructive criticism.

"All feedback was seen as an affront, an insult. More than once a staff member slumped across their desk and wept.

"For all this, every bit of it, Willy blamed one person. Meg. He told me so several times, and he got cross when I told him he was out of line."

"Meg managed to remain calm," he continued. "Despite what certain people were saying about her, I never heard her speak a bad word about anybody, or to anybody. On the contrary, I watched her redouble her efforts to reach out, to spread kindness."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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